The first time I saw “Apocalypse Now” I staggered out of the theater stunned by what I had seen on screen. I remember sitting on Bloor Street with this burning need to tell people what I just witnessed, what I had seen and how profoundly it had galvanized my soul. At that moment I began writing about film, giving up the dream of being an actor and becoming a critic-historian. Francis Ford Coppola altered the course of my life, and his films have changed the way I see and think about movies.
Category: Daily
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Heading across the pond
I’m off to London later this evening for the next two months. I wanted to chime in and say that I’m happy the new digs and philosophy of the site has been met with a good burst of conversation, and I look forward to further growth throughout the year as we approach the Oscar season. Updating may or may not be spotty from me in the coming weeks. I’m not yet sure, as I’ll be in the throes of an internship I REALLY don’t want to screw up (at The Times of London…gulp). But I expect John, Blake, Gerard, Guy and, when he finally starts chiming in, Brian to more than pick up the slack.
Enjoy yourselves. And, as always, enjoy the movies.
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Great new Dern book!!
He was nominated for an Oscar just once for his riveting performance in “Coming Home” as a vet who cannot wait to go to Vietnam, and once there cannot wait to get home, horrified by what he sees, betrayed by the dream of what he believed war should be.Bruce Dern was best known in the 70s as the go-to guy to play crazies. Sadly what most people missed is the fact he was a gifted actor, capable of doing so much more. He was the best part about “The Great Gatsby” as pompous Tom Buchanan and gave an Oscar-worthy performance as the Vietnam vet-turned terrorist in “Black Sunday,” still one of the best films ever made about terrorism. Dern was both electrifying and terrifying as Michael J. Lander, who cannot wait to drop a bomb into the Super Bowl.
He dominated “Smile” with a broad comic performance that is among the finest of his career, and is forever remembered as the dude who gunned down John Wayne, shooting him in the back in “The Cowboys.”
In the years after “Coming Home” for which he should have won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (sorry Walken) he became a leading man in films such as “Middly Age Crazy” and “Harry Tracy” before fading from view in the late 80s. He emerged on TV recently in “Big Love.”
I never tired of watching Dern on the screen. Whether it was in “The King of Marvin Gardens” or “Silent Running” he was a charismatic and interesting actor.
The actor has written a new book entitled “Things I’ve Said But Probably Shouldn’t Have,” which is an exceptionally honest read moving through his career discovering how he landed some roles, and how some others slipped away from him. I read the book in two days — devoured every word. Loved it.
One of the great actors of the 70s, Dern ended up being typecast. He never enjoyed the career of a Nicholson or a Hackman, but he was (still is) a superb actor. The book is a worthy read, and hopefully will take people back to his films. It did for me.
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No Oscar for ‘Valkyrie’ in 2008
I have to admit, I was looking forward to “Valkyrie,” Bryan Singer’s film about the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Yes, I’m aware that the film stars Tom Cruise, but the remaining cast, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Wilkinson was intriguing. The film also re-united Singer with Christopher McQuarrie, his screenwriter from “The Usual Suspects.”
The Sunday Times now reports that the film has been pushed to 2009. Originally scheduled for a summer 2008 release, the film received its first push-back to the fall earlier this year. The paper cites a senior executive at one of Britain’s leading cinema chains who says, “I know there have been all sorts of problems with this production and we will not be screening it at all this year.” The article also notes, ” The quality of Cruise’s German accent was widely commented on. The film has also had to have reshoots after footage was damaged in labs.”
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Fans anxious for the ‘Dark’ — What about Dr. Jones?
When I posted last week’s poll regarding most anticipated summer films, I had an inkling Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” would be a heavy favorite. I didn’t, however, expect it to claim nearly 75% of the readership’s votes. Impressive, indeed. (And you all know which direction I leaned on that one.) “Indy 4” and “Wall-E” were the only other competitors with numbers worth mentioning.With that assessment out of the way, and with “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” set to be the net big thing — both at Cannes and with a May 21 release approaching — I wonder what the general opinion is of this film’s actual existence. It’s been nearly two decades since Indy swung into theaters (ironically, along with a “Batman” installment and a Bond film still to come, like this year). I’ve had my reservations since the beginning, but at times, they are overridden by the strong desire fo rthis flick to kick major ass.
So what say you? Is it a disaster waiting to happen or, perhaps, the redemption of George Lucas and his recent desire to tinker with cinematic antiquity? Tell is this week’s poll!
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Best year in film? 1974, no question…for me.
I love it!
When I began writing for this site it was my hope to be able to cover current Oscar material and reach back into the past to perhaps gain insight into how the Academy has thought, how that impacts today’s voting, and pay tribute to the films both honored and snubbed. Mr. Rutherford’s comments about 1973 got me to thinking about the best year in film, and while 1939 was a terrific year, as well as 1956, for me the finest year, with great films that hold up equally today is 1974.
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Out of the bag…
Call me crazy, but I think it’s a little brave for Warner Bros. to have gone ahead with marketing a Scarecrow figure for the upcoming “The Dark Knight,” despite those of us more than aware that the character shows up in the film. No?
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1973: the best year in film?
Mr. Foote has prompted several interesting discussions about the Best Picture and Best Director winners and losers, as well as the best film of the 1980’s.Taking the discussion a bit broader, I thought it might be appropriate to ask: what is the best year in film?
1939 stands out, certainly. “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” “Wuthering Heights,” “Stagecoach,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Love Affair,” to name a few. This year contained the most films listed on the AFI list of Top 100 American movies of all time, so maybe that should answer the question. Or not.
1942, the year of “Casablanca,” “Cat People,” “The Magnificent Ambersons,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” also impressed the AFI crowd.
1964 was another strong year. “The Americanization of Emily,” “Becket,” “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” “Mary Poppins,” “My Fair Lady,” “Topkapi,” “Zorba the Greek,” “The Pink Panther,” again to name just a few.
1980 was a fine year. “Empire Strikes Back,” “Caddyshack,” “The Shining,” “Melvin and Howard,” “Raging Bull,” “Ordinary People,” “Tess,” “The Elephant Man,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Airplane!” and “Flash Gordon,” are still talked about and watched today.
Some people loved 1999, a year than included “Being John Malcovich,” “Fight Club,” “Magnolia,” “Election,” “Three Kings,” “American Beauty,” “Cider House Rules,” “Sweet and Lowdown,” “Run Lola Run,” “The Limey,” “The Matrix,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Insider,” and “All About My Mother.”
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Amadeus deserving Best Pic winner
OK! OK! Right you are, “Amadeus” was indeed a worthy winner in 1984 for best film. It was my hope that by not writing about it, you folks would realize I too liked the film, but in truth I should have covered it. I was worried about the article becoming too long.Milos Forman made a masterpiece out of the Peter Shaffer play, a stunning study of art and the differences between genius and mediocrity as played out in the Vienna Court during the time of Mozart. Imagine being old Salieri and listening to your own music become extinct while that of your hated rival becomes immortal. And the only two people who really knew how brilliant Mozart’s work was were Mozart and Salieri, who quietly in the film despises Mozart the man, but adores Mozart the artist.
I love the manner in which the wigs of Mozart are pink or purple, slightly different from the rest to suggest his rebelliousness, which came across in his music. He was the punk rocker of the opera set during his short lifetime.
F. Murray Abraham was superb as Salieri, best of all when he is standing over music written by Mozart and realizes it is truly astonishing, while Tom Hulce is his equal in every frame as the brilliant Mozart.
What I liked best about the film was the study of two artists, each in love with their art, one reasonably talented, the other gifted beyond human measure, finally coming face to face to create on Mozart’s death bed where Salieri sees and hears first hand how that brilliant mind composed, and simply cannot keep up. And what a stroke of genius to use the music of both on the soundtrack??!! A period masterpiece that never feels like a period film at all.
And each one of you is right…I should have discussed it because I love it.
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The 80s yielded one great Best Pic winner: ‘Platoon’
Ten awards for Best Picture were handed out throughout the 1980s, one of the worst decades for film in history, and I’d wager that only “Platoon,” the Oscar winning giant of 1986, can lay claim to being a great film.Oh, that is not to say there were not great films made in the 80s; there were indeed, but nobody went to see them, despite rave reviews. Many of the decade’s very best films were released and abandoned, to be re-discovered on video, at that time a very new addition to the film industry.
“Raging Bull” ended up being the finest film of the decade, hell one of the five greatest films of all time, yet Oscar did not see it that way. Somehow, Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece lost the Oscar for Best Picture and the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Film to Robert Redford and “Ordinary People” — a well crafted film, but hardly the raw and angry work of the former.
That same year would see the releases of “The Empire Strikes Back” — a superior film to the first “Star Wars” installment, yet snubbed for a nomination for Best Picture — and Richard Rush’s “The Stunt Man,” which might have been a strong choice for a nomination as well.
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Indy screenings
Well the press invite to next weekend’s all media screenings of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” landed yesterday afternoon. Four showings on Sunday starting at 10 in the morning. It seems like it’s been a while since there was one of these all day free-for-alls. When was the last time, “King Kong,” maybe? I don’t know — but the tragedy (well, a personal tragedy, in any case) is that I’ll be across the pond as of Tuesday. So I’ll be checking it out on opening day with everyone else.
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‘Synecdoche, New York’ — another makeup contender?
Rope of Silicon recently posted a series of stills from upcoming releases, including Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” films and Fernando Meirelles’s “Blindness.” But this image from Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” has me wondering if we don’t have another major contender for Best Makeup, a category shaping up to be more competitive than in years past.
Here’s the pic:
In addition to this new hopeful, I’d say there are solid bets to be placed on “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” and “Tropic Thunder.” Not a shabby start.
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Who joins the great Best Picture snubs this year?
It happens every year, a great film, in some cases destined to be remembered more than the eventual Oscar winner is snubbed for a Best Picture nod, or gets nominated and loses to an inferior film that happened to capture the public’s attention at that particular point in history.Some of the greatest films of all time lost the top award, “Citizen Kane” among them, arguably the greatest of all time (though I disagree). “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, easily John Huston’s best work, joins the list, as does “The Searchers,” which is in my opinion the finest western ever made and contains the greatest John Wayne performance of all time.
Remember “Rocky” winning over “All the President’s Men,” “Network” and “Taxi Driver?” Or “Kramer vs. Kramer” over “Apocalypse Now?” In the last twenty years, Oscar has pulled some howlers, some choices that left me nearly putting my foot through the television upon the announcement. The first time I remember being really, truly angry at a lame decision was in 1981 when “Chariots of Fire” bested Warren Beatty’s “Reds,” which I believe to be among the best films of the 80s.
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Time Warner weeds out indie filmmaking
The news that Time Warner is phasing out Picturehouse Entertainment and Warner Independent Pictures was a bit upsetting this morning, I have to say.WIP may not have hit any major strides (though a Best Picture nominee one year after it became a brand wasn’t too shabby), but I believe Bob Berney had built something special at Picturehouse, a company that was beginning to look like a real home for filmmakers and visions you can’t put into little boxes.
Of course, the “dependent” circuit, as it were, has claimed this sort of artists’ haven thing for some time. But long ago many of them began to succumb to the same inflated budgets and profit-obsessed mentalities as their parent companies. I never got that vibe from Picturehouse.
Just look at some of the product: “Fur,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Tristam Shandy,” “Mongol” and “La Vie en Rose,” featuring a lead performance whose ultimate Oscar victory caught more than a few people off guard.
Forgive me, but the notion that the now in-house New Line Cinema is somehow going to reach the niches that Berney and WIP did is a stretch. The potential seems all too clear for the brand to go back to the genre-soaked days of old, Dimension Films to Warners’ Miramax. But I’m happy to be proven wrong.
But for me, it’s a sad moment. I liked what Berney had cooking and on the occassions that I spoke to him about this project or that, I thought he had a pretty hip (and, thankfully, realistic) vision of what he could do at the company.
But what do I know?
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Lead actress contenders also join interesting group
As the piece on actors managed to spark some interest and debate, of course I have to explore the women. Though I am studying just the last 20 years, the Best Actress Oscar has often left some of the greatest performances as mere nominees, or in some cases not even that.Katherine Hepburn, though nominated for “The African Queen,” “Summertime,” and “Long Day’s Journey into the Night,” sat at home while others won; sometimes they were deserving, sometimes they weren’t. Gloria Swanson gave possibly the greatest performance by an actress never to win the award with her seething work in “Sunset Boulevard,” easily among the most iconic portrayals in film history. Shall I even mention poor Judy Garland? Robbed of her Oscar for “A Star is Born?” Into the 60s we have Anne Bancroft’s Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate” and Jane Fonda’s brilliant turn in “They Shoot Horses Don’t They?” — each of them Oscar losers.
Since 1988, there has been an equal amount of questionable winners in the lead actress category, beginning with Jodie Foster’s win for “The Accused” in a year that saw Mery Streep astound audiences in “A Cry in the Dark,” which won the New York Film Critics Circle award. One year later Jessica Tandy won the Oscar for “Driving Miss Daisy,” besting critics fave Michelle Pfeiffer, who won honors from the LA and NYC critics, as well as the National Society of Film Critics. Insiders had stated that Tandy was destined to win the Oscar the moment she was cast, and indeed she responded with the finest work of her career.
