In Contention

Tag: Marcia Gay Harden

  • THE LONG SHOT: When you wish upon a star

    “Mila Kunis is so winning Best Supporting Actress this year,” remarked an independent filmmaker to me over drinks today, referring, of course, to the 27 year-old’s sly breakout turn in Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” This was no idle fan statement. The man knew his Oscar onions – his theory was built upon established Academy affection for hot ingénues in sashaying support roles, as well as the current absence of any obvious frontrunners in the category.

    Still, even as he explained this, my eyebrows must have shot up somewhere past my hairline. As the writer who caught hell from many readers for daring not to predict Natalie Portman among my Best Actress nominees last month, the prospect of Kunis even getting nominated for subtly smoking work in an outré arthouse thriller hadn’t crossed my mind. I told him as much while emphasizing, as an admirer of the performance, how much I’d like to be wrong.

    “That’s what everyone says to me,” he replied. “‘Oh, she’s a revelation, I’d love to see her nominated, but she won’t be.’ Whenever I start hearing that kind of talk about a person or a film, that’s when I go to the bookies and put money on them. If everyone’s seeing the same thing in them, who’s to say the voters aren’t?”

    (more…)

  • THE LONG SHOT: The next best thing

    Diane Kruger in Inglourious BasterdsAs the season hits its stride, and precursors turn murky perceptions of pack leaders and stragglers into harder realities, I find myself wondering how I would fill out my ballot if I were an Academy member.

    That’s not the same as wondering what I would fill my ballot with – as Kris just did today. Unlike many voters in the Academy and precursor ranks alike, who seemingly run out of ideas two slots in (“Hmm, did I see ten movies this year?”) and then reach for the names they’ve heard everyone else mention, I have no shortage of worthy suggestions for inclusion, whether people are talking about them or not.

    No, I’m referring to the how, the method, the strategy. Is it as simple as jotting down the films and individual achievements one admired most over the past 12 months? In a perfect world, yes. But do considerations of which of one’s favorites – and, indeed, least favorites – pose a threat in the race necessitate some compromise?

    Were I an Academy voter, in other words, would I give “35 Shots of Rum” one of my Best Picture slots, knowing full well it doesn’t having a snowball’s chance of a nomination? Or would I be a little craftier, and give the slot to “The Messenger” – a fine film that I love less, but that has slightly more hope of knocking something truly undeserving from the Oscar lineup?

    (more…)

  • The Great Performances: 2003

    Sean Penn in Mystic RiverThere is little doubt in my mind I am going to take some heat this week, so let’s kick it off right away with my belief that Sean Penn deserved his Best Actor Oscar for “Mystic River,” a performance of overwhelming ferocity and staggering emotional power.

    Yes, I too loved Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation,” and would have loved to have seen him win, but he didn’t, and frankly he lost to a stronger performance (in my opinion). I know it is a cliche to say the nomination is the reward, but I would hope that Murray would be happy with that.

    But there were so many great male performances in 2003!

    Robert Duvall was superb in “Open Range” as the wily old rancher who ends up in a gunfight for his life with his friend, played by the also fantastic Kevin Costner, by his side. Tom Cruise gave a great performance in “The Last Samurai” for director Edward Zwick, while Russell Crowe was again brilliant in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” adding to his string of stunning performances.

    (more…)

  • The Great Performances: 2000

    Tom Hanks in Cast AwayMichael Douglas was robbed.

    The already Oscar-christened actor gave a career-best performance in 2000 in Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys,” but he got no love from the Academy. Worse, his performance was easily among the five best of the year and won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actor prize.

    That having been said, I don’t think Douglas actually deserved the Oscar in 2000.  That honor belonged to Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” for a performance that was nothing less than astounding. For two and a half hours Hanks commands the screeen, moving into silent film territory for a stretch, the actor using strictly his body and face for the performance. Anyone who has ever, and I mean ever, doubted his range needs to take a hard look at this film.

    The five nominees for Best Actor in 2000 were Hanks, Russell Crowe for “Gladiator,” Ed Harris in “Pollock,” Geoffrey Rush in “Quills” and Javier Bardem in “Before Night Falls.” For me, Douglas was the most glaring omission, followed by George Clooney’s Gable-esque work in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” which I think remains one of the actor’s very best pieces of work.

    (more…)

  • 6/8 Web Round-up

    Cover of Batman and Robin #1• The “Oh yeah, what happened to her?” blurb of the week. [Associated Press]

    • Yours truly covers Grant Morrison’s latest monthly, “Batman and Robin.” [Batman on Film]

    • David Poland analyzes the brave new world of media ad buys. [The Hot Blog]

    • Tom O’Neil on Geoffrey Rush’s new acting triple crown with last night’s lead actor Tony. [Gold Derby]

    • Marcia Gay Harden won lead actress from “God of Carnage,” by the way, while the film won best play.  “Billy Elliot” cleaned up, though. [TonyAwards.com]

    • With “Brüno” on the way, Michael Deacon digs into the elusive Sacha Baron Cohen. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Mickey Rourke works “The Wrestler” across the pond. [The Guardian]

    • Out-of-the-blue story of the day: motorcycles big on the big screen have retailers hopeful. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Glenn Kenny sees no grain in the “Dr. Strangelove” Blu-ray release, thank you very much. [Some Came Running]

  • Hope Davis lands a Tony nomination for ‘God of Carnage’

    Hope Davis in God of CarnageBack in March I expressed some slight irritation over the fact that Marcia Gay Harden was pulling attention away from my new crush Hope Davis for her admittedly brilliant turn on Broadway in “God of Carnage.”  It’s not like I have it in for Harden or anything, mind you.  All four principles in the cast deserve awards recognition for their work in the superlative play.  But Davis, I felt, stood out from the rest of the pack.

    Well it seems the Tony gods have smiled down on Davis today.  The actress landed a nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, right alongside Harden.  Co-stars Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini also wracked up nominations for lead actor and the production also popped up in the Best Play and Direction (Matthew Warchus) fields, bringing the tally to six.  Bravo to all involved.

    I haven’t caught anything else that’s current so I can’t comment on the rest of the field, but it’s nice to see that Scott Rudin’s double-dip with “Carnage” and Eugene Ionesco’s “Exit the King” (four nominations) stuck the landing.

  • Davis flies under the radar

    (from left) Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis in the Broadway production of God of CarnageFrom AP drama critic Michael Kuchwara on the Broadway production of “God of Carnage”:

    The real revelation of the evening, though, is Harden, usually seen in much more somber roles such as her Oscar-winning performance as Lee Krasner in the film “Pollack.” In “Carnage,” she undergoes the play’s most startling transformation — from quiet, considerate woman concerned about such tragedies as Darfur to a bellowing harridan who’s not above throwing a punch or two. It’s one of those swell, showy comic portraits that has Tony nomination (and probably the prize, too) written all over it.

    Don’t get me wrong.  I pretty much agree with every word written here.  But I just wish Hope Davis’s slow burn (which simmers a bit more than Harden’s fireworks display) had garnered more than broad priase like “delicious self-effacement that hides a simmering rage” and an aside about one moment of showmanship that really says less about the character than most everything that precedes it.

    But, like I said…I’m in love.  Perhaps I’m biased.  There’s also this great Arts & Leisure piece on Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini, worth a look.

    Anyway, with theater on the mind, I’ve been shamed by the fact that “August: Osage County” has eluded me since it debuted in Chicago and New York two years ago, but I finally caught up with it this afternoon…and it makes me want to put down my pen, take up a different line of work.  Depressingly brilliant piece.

  • Crush

    Hope DavisAlright, I’ve got to confess an undying love here and now, a lingering sort of obsessive interest, both cerebral and, of course, physical, in an actress that can do no wrong.  Ever.  I’m talking to you, Hope Davis.

    There, I said it.  Sure, you’re 45 (as of Monday, so Happy Birthday) and I’m 27, plus, you’re married with children.  So running off with some silly blogger is probably not your cup of tea.  I get it.  But now you know.  Just consider it.

    In all seriousness, though, I thought Davis and her trademark comedic timing pitch-perfect in the New York production of “God of Carnage,” which I saw earlier this evening after missing the Ralph Fiennes-starring London leg last summer.  Marcia Gay Harden was equally entertaining and James Gandolfini really sold the money lines in an intriguing performance.  Jeff Daniels was perhaps a tad histrionic, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Davis.  And even though I’ve always been something of a fan of her decidedly accomplished work, it didn’t quite hit me until tonight’s show just how much of an under-appreciated talent she continues to be.

    And to circle it back, am I alone in thinking she’s a total fox?  Maybe it’s just a crush.

  • What about Melissa Leo?

    Yesterday, Kris pondered whether Kate Winslet’s Best Actress Oscar is quite the sure thing it appears to be on paper, or whether Meryl Streep can surf in on a tide of veteran goodwill and spoil the Brit’s party yet again.

    I’ve been saying since nomination day that I can’t imagine Winslet losing yet again, least of all for a performance in a Best Picture nominee (the first time she’s had that luxury since her non-starter nomination for “Titanic” in 1997). If she wins the BAFTA on Sunday, as almost everyone suspects she will, her campaign stays comfortably on course; if, however, Streep manages to pull off an upset, I may well change my mind.

    But allow me to play devil’s advocate for a minute. Why has the competition been reduced to two performances that are by no means necessarily the strongest in the lineup? Let’s perform a process of elimination. Streep’s performance has been polarising from the get-go, with the reverberations of Variety’s notably harsh review still being felt in the critical community. (As “Doubt” opens today in the UK, a number of critics find themselves bewildered, with the Guardian describing her work as “beyond absurdity.”)

    Of the competition, Angelina Jolie has drawn even less critical consensus than Streep, so it’s safe to say she’s out of the running. Anne Hathaway looked to be a frontrunner at one point, and barely anyone has a bad word to say about her performance, but judging from the tepid Academy reaction to her divisive film, I can’t help feeling that her ship has sailed. Kate Winslet’s performance has also been widely praised, and it’s clear that a large faction of the Academy appreciates “The Reader” — but it’s still a film with some notable detractors, and not everyone likes the way Harvey Weinstein muscled it into the race.

    And so we arrive at Melissa Leo. In many ways the odd woman out in this year’s star-heavy Best Actress race, she is arguably the one nominee whose performance — and film — have attracted the least criticism from any quarter. Critics have showered superlatives upon Leo’s raw, career-defining performance, with the venerable Roger Ebert singling her out as his favourite of the nominees.

    (more…)