Months of Meryl: The Giver (2014)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

#47 —The Chief Elder, leader of a dystopian society.

MATTHEW: In Lois Lowry’s 1993 young adult novel The Giver, a society recovering from near-ruination divides its people into communities and, in the process, mistakes sameness for equality. In the 2014 film adaptation of Lowry’s Newbery Medal-winning classic, a production team looking to make a quick buck on the under-18 set mistakes glossy superficiality for storytelling simplicity and basic filmmaking competency. Despite its undeniable following and long-held status as a formative literary staple for American adolescents, The Giver was somehow omitted from my middle school reading list. I’m positive Lowry’s tale has its merits, but whatever those may be, they are almost entirely undetectable in this version from journeyman director Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American).

Noyce’s iteration centers around Jonas (Australian twink Brenton Thwaites), a 16-year-old who we are told possesses uncommon brilliance and “a capacity to see beyond,” assets that earn him the title of his community’s Receiver of Memory...

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Review: "Bad Times at the El Royale"

by Chris Feil

Drew Goddard has become a Hollywood go-to screenwriters for charging genres with new life, molding The Martian with equal parts brainy science and dopiness and both upholding and subverting the monster movie with Cloverfield. Bad Times at the El Royale is his first return to the director’s chair since the horror spoof-but-also-not-a-spoof The Cabin in The Woods, and again he has perhaps bitten off more than he can narratively chew.

This time Goddard is taking on pulpy pop noir, setting for a showdown at a highway hotel bisected by the California-Nevada border. Checking in are Cynthia Erivo’s quiet lounge singer Darlene, Jon Hamm’s chatterbox vacuum salesman Laramie Sullivan, Dakota Johnson as a mysterious woman named Emily, and Jeff Bridges giving the most Bridges as a suspicious priest named Father Flynn. The writer/director has Tarantino on the brain as Agatha Christie, chaptering the film by the various rooms hosting each guest and slowing revealing the night’s dirty deeds from each of their perspectives. Think of it like a heterosexual Clue mixed with a bisexual Reservoir Dogs, but not as fun.

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Tues Top 10: Oscar's All Time Favorite Supporting Actors

by Nathaniel R

Tommy Lee Jones in JFKLet's discuss Oscar hiearchies, again. This one is ultra specific but we're doing it for balance since we did the supporting actresses last week. Who are Oscar's 10 favorite supporting actors of all time? We'll work the ranking like so: Supporting nominations count most, with wins acting like half a nomination to help determine rank. The tiebreaker is the spread of time of nominations which can denote either long term fandom on the Academy's part or shortlived enthusiasms.

In contrast to supporting actress where the leaders were clear and the nomination counts higher but among fewer people, very narrow statistics separated all of the runners up from the top ten. Though if you must know, the unlucky #11 was Tommy Lee Jones, who would have ranked 5th on the top ten had he won the Oscar for Lincoln AS HE SHOULD HAVE. But we'll discuss Tommy and the 7 other working actors who almost made the list after the top ten under "who's next?". But for now a shout out to the departed. They left behind great performances and almost made this list: 

• Gig Young (1951, 1958, 1969*)
• Martin Landau (1988, 1989, 1994*)
• Charles Coburn (1941, 1943*, 1946)
• Melvyn Douglas (1963*, 1979*)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (2007, 2008, 2012)
• Charles Bickford (1943, 1947, 1948)
• Anthony Quinn (1952*, 1956*)

okay on to the top ten list...

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Beauty vs Beast: Guess Who's Coming

Jason from MNPP here wishing everybody a Happy Golden Globe Nomination Day - I hope everybody's favorite thing got a nomination (and since everybody's favorite thing is clearly Helen Mirren I know it's true). We're taking our "Beauty vs Beast" series to a film that did well but maybe not as well as expected (no director, no screenplay) - Jordan Peele's masterful horror comedy Get Out, which we just happened to re-watch last night in an effort to reaquaint ourselves with a movie that was fading from memory.

And I'm glad I did because some of the issues I'd had the first time (I'd found its metaphor a little scattered) came more into focus, and I was reminded of its many strengths - Peele juggles all sorts of genre and tonal trickery with ease, and I love every single performance in the film (yes even whatever Caleb Landry Jones is doing). So much so that choosing the right opponent today for Daniel Kaluuya's justly nominated work in the lead gave me pause - arguments could be made to face him against Catherine Keener or Betty Gabriel here. But ultimately I laugh harder at Allison Williams eating Fruit Loops and listening to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack than I do at any other joke, and so...

Whose team are you on?

Chris

Rose

build quizzes

PREVIOUSLY Rooster done got himself trampled against Mattie in our True Grit poll last week - Hailee Steinfeld took over 3/4s of your vote. Said cal roth:

"Steinfeld is B R I L L I A N T in this. "The soul already fled the body" or something like that. She reminded me a young Jodie Foster in the way she is fierce above all things, without even realizing she isn't that strong. That category fraud still stings."

Beauty vs Beast: Grit's the Word

Jason from MNPP here wishing the actor Jeff Bridges a happy 68th birthday today with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" poll. What's your favorite performance from Bridges? Mine is far and away his performance in Peter Weir's wildly underrated 1993 plane-crash survivor drama Fearless, but that movie doesn't lend itself well to this series. So instead we'll go with something more recent, namely his turn as "Rooster Cogburn" in the Coens' 2010 update of True Grit. Don't you wish he'd won his Oscar for this rather than Crazy Heart? And we'll pit him against his fine co-star and co-nominee Hailee Steinfeld. Good luck with this one!

PREVIOUSLY Last week twas everybody's current favorite momma drama Lady Bird's turn in the hot seat, and daughter came out victorious - Saorsie Ronan went all Baller / Anarchist and took 55% of your vote. Said chasm301, giving me a good chuckle:

"Lady Bird is basically the most instantly iconic teen movie character since Cher in Clueless. (Ok maybe Regina George or Tracy Flick). She gave this victory to herself. It was given to her by her and me too."