Saturday
May092015
Ask Nathaniel
Saturday, May 9, 2015 at 6:24PM I will I will I will answer reader questions this week. Sorry for the sudden lapse in the series after a great start in early April. Your questions go in the comments. I pick 8 or 10 to answer unless I sense that you're Turing testing me...
P.S. Tomorrow's podcast is Ex Machina related so if you have any questions for the team about that movie (or something else for the podcast) you can ask those questions here, too.
Reader Comments (25)
Non-film: which newly announced fall TV pick-up are you most excited for?
Dying to know your favorite performances and/or films of Gene Kelly. And in that vain: what are your top dance sequences in film.
Which actor/actress (who hasn't done so yet) do you think would be great in an improvisatory, mumblecore style film?
San Andreas--thoughts?
Podcast q: thoughts on Alex Garland's career/work so far? 2nd podcast Q: Favorite Gleeson? Next Q: Top 5 robots/AI in film? (& yes, Machina, Blade Runner, Alien, Aliens and Terminator films are all eligible).
Which non-actor, based on presence/charisma/glimmer of emotive talent do you think would make a good actor? They don't have to become rangy like Fassbender or Streep, but certainly someone very effective for certain roles. All this brought to mind by my recent backreading of your 9 to 5 articles and missing the unique charm that Dolly Parton brought to her roles.
Alright, here it goes yet again:
Can u please recast Birdman in another decade? The 80s, 1985 maybe? Please?
Rank your remaining Best Actress winners in order of anticipation!
What actor/actress are you incapable of separating from a certain role, i.e. it's hard to critique their new film since they'll always be Character X to you?
Nikita: 1985? Hmm. I can't speak for the blog runner, but I'll try to be clever in casting the core eight:
Riggan Thomson: Christopher Reeve (He hadn't quite hit the nadir of the Superman franchise that is The Quest for Peace, but Superman III is embarrassing enough that there's a way you could see he'd be able to fit.)
Mike Shiner: Christopher Walken. (I can't quite imagine a more interesting choice for that character in mid 80s.
Child of Riggan: Fred Savage (One of the better child actors of that general era and, even though I am switching the gender and lowering the age, I WAS intentionally aiming for 7-9 at 1985 due to Christopher Reeve only being 33. Note: This version of Birdman is set during one day in the summer.)
Lesley Truman: Julie Christie (I'm going for "older than the guy" here, because you go too much younger than 33 and you start heading into jailbait territory.)
Jake: Danny DeVito
Laura Aulburn: Jessica Lange
Sylvia Thomson: Ellen Burstyn
Tabitha Dickinson: Olivia DeHavilland
Volvagia: Some interesting choices there. Olivia doesn't travel any more so hat one might be problematic. How about Geena Davis for one of the women's roles?
Your favorite Kirsten Dunst performances, and do you think she should've been nominated for an Oscar by now?
Do you watch any anime series and what are your favourite anime series??
Second question, how do you judge/review a movie? Based on your personal connection with the film; based on how the film achieve what it set out to do; based on its message and story-telling; based on how the film will stand out (or not) in the future; based on how the film push the boundary to show different aspect of cinema; or a little bit of everything?
Ex Machina gives us another brilliant Oscar Isaac performance. Any chance this year he'll be recognized for being consistently fantastic?
Because I've abandoned Emmy hope, if someone from Mad Men was to win an Oscar, who would it be and for what?
Very specific question for the panelists: favorite performance by an actress playing a bald character.
What? It is somewhat related to Ex Machina!
The Cannes Film Festival start May 13th. Of the Palme d'Or winning films you've seen what are your 10 favorites?
F - I always think about that and Lana Del Rey comes to my mind for some reason.
My question - who would you love to (or think should) have an artistic comeback? (preferably someone older!)
Nat, could you give your best-to-worst ratings of the last ten Foreign-language Oscar winners (i.e. from Tsotsi to Ida)?
I'll go with my question from last time: not that the world needs more biopics, but considering that we're never going to be through with that genre, is there any person (perhaps in coordination with a major event in his/her life) that you would like to see get the biopic treatment?
Do you see Gaspar Noe's filmography (I Stand Alone, Irreversible and Enter the Void) as evidence of unparalleled achievement in filmmaking or are you not impressed by him?
What about the unanswered questions from the last go-around? That said, which contemporary starlet (say under early 30s) has the greatest potential to reach a Streep-like level of acclaim?
Did you all find Gleeson's character a little too simple and more a machination of plot necessities than a fully formed character?
Who is your favorite recurring character on Mad Men?