James Caan (1940-2022)

by Nathaniel R

autographed photo -- for sale here

Oscar nominated screen legend James Caan died yesterday evening at the age of 82. The news came via his official twitter account. His uncommonly masculine star persona was often deployed for menace but his charisma read 'leading man' even though that mode happened less often. His career was marked by stratospheric highs, major lows, and some degree of ambivalence; He regularly turned down roles (including several that became iconic for his peers) in both movies and on television. He's best remembered today primarily for two pieces of art, the gangster epic The Godfather (1972) and the fan/artist thriller Misery (1990). They don't paint the whole picture of that expansive career though which began in the early the early Sixties and and will stretch into next year. He completed one picture, set for 2023, a darkly comic crime/action movie starring Pierce Brosnan (with Caan playing his mob boss) based on the novel Gun Monkeys. He also did some filming for a sheriff role in a crime drama called Redemption though we don't know if he had completed his work there. 

After the jump a selection of 10 key roles to understand his career if you'd like to program your own Jimmy Caan film festival at home...

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Best Shot Picks and Nathaniel's Choice from 'The Godfather'

by Nathaniel R

Our film title this week on Hit Me With Your Best Shot was in honor of the restoration of The Godfather (1972) for its 50th Anniversary. Here are the Best Shot choices from seven participants and my own towards the end of the post. Click on the images that follow to read the corresponding articles. I'll be "talking" inbetween the images about a film I've never written about before (!) as I select my own... 

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Claudio's Best Shot Pick: The Godfather (1972)

The next episode of our series, ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot,’ arrives tomorrow night. It’s focused on The Godfather on the occasion of its new restoration. You still have time to participate. For now, as something of a preview, here’s Cláudio’s entry.

The Godfather is one of those canonized classics about which there is nothing new to say. Its themes and visual strategies have been overanalyzed ad nauseam across decades, from Coppola's Viscontian staging to Gordon Willis's shadowy cinematography. Choosing the best shot from such masterpiece and justifying that choice is thus a complicated exercise where one risks obsolescence, repetition, utter failure. Indeed, of this season's best shot challenges, this was the hardest...

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Tweetweek

It's funny because it's true.

one of the craziest parts of hollywood is learning that most celebrity’s email addresses are like, cateblanchett @ gmail . com

— Johnny LaZebnik (@jlazebnik) March 21, 2022

 a couple minutes of amusing distraction for you via curated tweets awaits after the jump...

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Tweetweek: Madonna Bootcamp at Wayne Manor

This is actually a great question. 

People keep listing Robert Pattinson's acting credentials to show he’s more than Twilight, but what I wanna know is when did we as a society decide playing a vampire was silly and playing Batman was prestige

— Kenny Keil (@kennykeil) March 5, 2022

More curated tweets involving The Godfather, The Power of the Dog, the genius of Laurie Metcalf, the upcoming Madonna biopic, and of course The Batman are after the jump...

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