OTD: The Whisperers, Marlee Matlin, and "The Power of Love"

On this day (August 24th) in showbiz-related history...

1890 "Father of modern surfing" and part time movie actor Duke Kahanamoku born in Hawaii. We've written about him before. Where's his biopic?

1967 The Whisperers premieres in London. It's about an old poor woman living in solitude who is beginning to lose her grip on reality. Dame Edith Evans sterling work was instantly lauded - she won Best Actress at Berlinale and from such disparate groups as the NYFCC, NBR and the Golden Globes. She landed her third and final Oscar nomination in the Best Actress lineup (sadly only the winner, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner's Hepburn, was less than superb in that shortlist!). At the time Evans was the oldest Oscar nominee of all time in any acting category having just turned 80 years old. That record has since been undone but she's still the third oldest lead actress nominee after Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (also 80, who won) and Emmanuelle Riva for Amour (who was 85).  Have you ever seen The Whisperers? It's haunting and quite a time capsule of contemporary British cinema of the time. [And check out Nick Davis' 5 star review of this legendary performance]

1985 Huey Lewis and the News hit #1 with their theme from Back to the Future "The Power of Love". The music video had a cameo by the car and Christopher Lloyd's "Doc" though it was mostly just the band playing in a bar. Best Original Song was one of the film's 4 Oscar nominations (it won for sound effects editing).  In case you haven't yet heard, 1985 will be our "year of the month" in September as we build to the next Smackdown.

2012 Remember that movie where Michael Shannon was evil (wait, that's not helpful) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a bicycle messenger (now that's more specific). Premium Rush opened on this day. Isn't it weird how some movies, like that one, feel much more ancient than they actually are while others from years earlier feel fresh as daisies? 

Happy Birthday to Them!
← Oscar Winner: Usurper of Kathleen Turner's and/or Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress statue. More generously we must admit that it's super impressive that Matlin trailblazed by refusing to be a one hit wonder, turning that splashy debut into such an unlikely but full career. She's been working ever since!
Oscar Nominees: Ava DuVernay (13th), Anne Archer (Fatal Attraction), Ronee Blakley (Nashville), Robert Pulcini (American Splendor)
Cool Talents: Actress Elizabeth Debicki, Wit Stephen Fry, Auteur Takashi Miike, Novelist A.S. Byatt
80s Touchstones: Steve Guttenberg (Cocoon, Can't Stop the Music, and so many more) and Gordon Wanecke (My Beautiful Laundrette!)

Today's 5: Kerry Butler, Isabella Rossellini, Waterloo, and More...

Five mood boosting assignments for you this morning. Celebrate this day (June 18th) in showbiz history with us!

2010 I Am Love and Toy Story 3 both open in US theaters. When it rains it pours sometimes with quality at the movies (sadly we also get droughts). The former, an Italian masterpiece starring Tilda Swinton as a foreign trophy wife caught up in an affair and family drama, was the Best Film of the Year (according to yours truly) and the latter a Best Picture nominee and colossal hit for Pixar. Sadly they're sullying its legacy with a sequel even though it reached such a perfect circle-of-life conclusion. Sometimes you need to let perfect things go.

In their honor today: Reminisce about your favorite scene from each. Such great great pictures, right?

More after the jump including a Broadway great and ABBA's breakout smash...

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Today's 5: Batman Begins, Dick Tracy, Lara Croft...

Happy Thursday!

Five mood-boosting ways to celebrate this day (June 15th) in movie history

2005 Batman Begins opens, taking Christopher Nolan from critical darling to mainstream sensation, particularly for the fanboys. It also reignites the Batman franchise which we'll never be free of. In short: it's a good movie but it basically doomed us to countless retellings of origin stories we already sat through and reboot culture. Thomas and Martha Wayne have now died so many times... (sigh) 

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Today's 5: Slim Shady and Bruce Almighty (among others)

Have you seen the newest picture of Mera (Amber Heard) from Aquaman? There it is to your left. This is remarkably colorful -- Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin level saturation on the color wheel -- though they'll surely fiddle with the color in post (sigh) since we can't have bright things. (Speaking of DC -- with Wonder Woman getting good advance buzz, should we be hopeful about Aquaman now?) 

Anyway, Amber Heard was on the brain as one of today's curated 'anniversaries to use as mood boosters'  today. Ready? Let's go... 

May 23rd Anniversaries

2016 Amber Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp one year ago today.

In honor of this event: Take a step toward getting out of that toxic situation / relationship / job / whatever that's no good for you. 

2004 The 57th annual Cannes Film Festival wraps up...

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Today's 5: Mother... Father... girl in the pit...

Five mood boosting assignments culled from showbiz anniversaries today. Try these exercizes at home won't you, and report back? Nobody does but I'm dying to hear stories on how it went!

May 22nd 

2011 The 64th Cannes Film Festival closed with Christopher Honore's sorta musical The Beloved starring Ludivine Sagnier and Catherine Deneuve. Terence Malick's The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or, Nicolas Winding Refn was Best Director for Drive and Kristen Dunst took Best Actress for Melancholia, and Jean Dujardin won Best Actor for the Artist only to repeat the win at the Oscars several months later.

In The Tree of Life's honor today: perform a very monologue alone in nature about your mother and father. If you don't have nature near you, say it to a plant. 

More after the jump including a curious Nicole Kidman and a Bonded Grace Jones...

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