Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Wishing Ms. Taylor a happy '78th!

What a life she's had, and she's still going!

Do you think that...

...Virginia Madsen looks just like Ronee Blakley?

They look like sisters!

Nick Jonas: A Dramatic Actor?

Another random topic, but I got thinking. You know how almost every famous person these days has to play with career changes? Rappers becoming "actors", actors becoming directors, Disney channel stars becoming pop stars, etc... I've read that Joe Jonas has an interest to persue a legit acting career along with his music. While I don't see this as a "bad" idea, I just don't think Joe has "it" -- that sense of actorly instinct, something that I think his bro Nick could have. Why? I don't know, maybe its because of his quiet, reserved nature matched by his intense face/demeanor that can project deeply felt emotion that would serve him well. Just ask Chloe. In other words, he has the look and face of an actor, and the title suits him better than his brother Joe.

What say you?

RARE OSCAR STUFF!

Back from 2000, an overview of the Supporting Actress race!

Celso's Alternate Academy Awards - Best Actress in a Supporting Role

NEW IDEA!

Okay, so you know how those Supporting Actress' are the ones every cinephile loves best? Well I thought we could have a little fun with the category. All you have to do is this; send to me by email, a list of 3-5 Supporting Actress performances that are your absolute favorites. Winners, nominees, or even non-nominees. Along with the list write a 'lil blurb about why they are your favorites, then I can post your thoughts, and we can do what we do best...DISCUSS!

*Also, for future preference, what cool, fun Oscar projects/activities can Twister do, in which everyone gets to participate, and get involved?

My email is: moviemania55@aol.com

Please spread the word! Thanks!

Twister

Happy Birthday, Drew!

It's all you, Drew. It's all you.

Mystery Feet...

Who's nasty claw-like piggy-toes are these?

Don't know? They belong to Ms. Joan Crawford.

She showed off her dogs while promoting Mountain Dew back in 1969.

Scary, but really funny.

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

"He's come back...and he's very angry!"

~~~~~~~~~

By this point, Michael Myers had been doing the same slasher shit for well over ten years, so the producers (those money grubbing Weinstein's) thought that in order to keep and hold the audiences interest, they must expand on explaining the boogeyman. Yeah, not that great an idea there. Michael Myers is who is he is because he originally was just purely, simply evil, but the fact that they gave him a reason and more understanding just diminishes who he is.

~~~

So it is now 1995, and after six years of being unheard of Mikey is back. The film starts off with the heroine of the previous two films giving birth to a baby while being held captive by her Uncle Michael. It's never explained if Michael had raped Jamie (which is sick) or anything. It is heavily implied, however. Jamie escapes but eventually meets her demise in a abandoned barn where Michael finds her and cuts her body up with a deadly machine. Back in Haddonfield the family that raised Jamie's mother Laurie, the Strode's (Jamie Lee Curtis) now live in the Myers House. What is completley ridiculous is how none of the family members living in the house (besides the jackass father) knows that the house once belonged to the Myers family. Really? None of them ever knew that the lived in the most infamous house in town?? Anyway, we now follow Kara Strode played by Marianne Hagan who creates a strong, likeable character who get unfortunatley trapped in a night of mayhem. It just so happens that Tommy Doyle, who was babysat by Laurie in the original film, lives across the street from Kara and her family. He like Dr. Loomis, has an obsession with killing Michael. Tommy is played with determination by a young Paul Rudd, and he seems very commited to his role/performance.

Michael belongs to a cult, and for his last sacrifice he needs Jamie's (his?) baby which Tommy is hiding. The cult and curse aspects ruin the film, and really had no place, but in the producer's cut they go into it a lot deeper I suppose. Tommy has to protect Kara and her almost catonic son Danny as well as the baby Stephen. How will he do it?....

 Now, by itself, the film's alright -- it's very dark, not just lighting wise but the subject matter and Michael is actually played as a very ominous and frightening shape of terror. It has some nice kills, but the blood and gore is at times favored over suspense and build up (which is key). The biggest problem with the film is of course the rough story and plot development, because of having to cut/remove scenes which drastically changed the entire film. The performances are actually pretty good with the standouts being Hagan, Rudd, and Pleasence in his last film role. This film also marked the last chapter in this storyline (Jamie's as opposed to Laurie's), before moving on to the more simplistic followings of Halloween: H20, which is a direct sequel to Halloween 2, and ignores the fourth, fifth, and sixth films. I perfer Laurie's storyline to Jamie's mostly due to its real suspense, and how it does not get all tangled up in stupid characters, unnecssary gore and sex, and lame plot developments.

Halloween 6 is a fun film for Myers fans, that's usually pretty good, but never all that great.

What say you??

My New "Adaptation" Video

Adaptation - "Wild Horses"

Tell me what 'yall think!

The Chinese Michael Jackson

Yikes!

Who Are Your Top 5 Favorite Nominees?

A handful of bloggers have compiled lists of their favorite Supporting Actress nominees, so I got a cool idea: you can email me your five favorites than I can tally which nominee appears the most and I can post them and we can all discuss.

So remember, your five favorite Supporting Actress nominations, and if you want tell why.

My email is: moviemania55@aol.com

Please contribute and tell others!

Does Laura Dern Look Like A Banana To You?

In a really odd way, I think she does...

Performance Review: Julianne Moore in "Boogie Nights" (1997)

Ensamble films are big with the Academy, and the nominations the films recieve usually spread across the board (i.e. Nashville, Gosford Park, Pulp Fiction, etc.) of categories. When the film comes around to the acting groups, Oscar picks one to three standout performances to nominate (usually for supporting), but sadly, most of the time, these nominations stay nominations, and never evolve into a winner. Winner or not, one performance that stands out amoung a whole gallery of talented actors and performances in one of my favorite films comes from the surprises handed out by....

...Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights (1997)

Julianne Moore plays Amber Waves, a beautiful, professional porn actress in the late 1970's California.

Amber lives a life that includes being a part of a tight-knit family, made up of those in the porn industry. She lives with her friend/husband figure, Jack Horner (an awesome Burt Reynolds) who directs the films she stars in, and is the head of the clan. It would seem that a star like Amber can get whatever she wants, when she wants. But like the other characters, Moore's Amber is flawed mess. However, Moore permits her to wear a mask of sweet confidence - all smiles and no frowns.

That is when she is in public. Hiding behind her ostensibly happy facade, is a sad, lonely, and desperate woman, unable to get back on track again. Much of Amber's backstory/history comes from her broken home she left behind for the life she lives now. She no longer has custody of her child, and although she doesn't actually face the fact that it was her choice of lifestyle that led her to this, Moore conveys that deep down Amber does know, but chooses not to distrupt the flow of her new life by facing such haunting truths. Her depression has her caught in a horrible addiction with cocaine which only makes this woman even more an imperfect creature.

It is once Dirk Diggler (Mark Walhberg, giving a star-making perf) joins the family that Amber's maternal nature comes alive once again. In a way, Amber sees Dirk in two different perspectives: as a sexually exciting young man, and as a boy she feels needs to mothered and nurtured. Moore skillfully weaves these two indelible feelings together to create the link which connects Amber to those around her; she finds a way to be both a guardian and a friend/partner. Mixing business with pleasure, is what she's best at.

Something that I had missed before within the narrative is how through Amber, the other characters try to fulfull their desires - business or pleasure wise; Dirk finds a maternal figure, Maurice begs of Amber to have Jack cast him in a movie, she acts a friend to many, and her intoxicating persona is used to help Jack get people to see his dirty filcks. Moore doesn't attack the part, so much as she glides into it. She is by turns, vivid and shocking, puctuating her scenes with the slow, foreboding downfall of Amber's self that is just haunting to witness.

In one wild and quickly paced scene, Amber and Rollergirl (Heather Graham, who should have gotten a nom) are couped up in Amber's room snorting coke and talking about what they desire, but cannot actually achieve. This scene is touching, startling, and alive.

A coke-fueled Amber rants and raves about how she wants to get out of her life ("Too many things, too many things, too many things!"), but she (along with Rollergirl) can not dig their way out of what they are stuck in and instead opt to not leaving the room.

The scene also features the touching interaction when the lost and confused Rollergirl asks the loving Amber to be her new mom. Amber agrees and the two imbrace. Moore plays the scene with an honest poignancy, conveying how Amber needs that emptyness filled in her life, and she needs the pain and confusion to go away. Throughout the film, Amber continually switches roles in peoples lives and how she fits into them, and to her immense credit, Moore never seems to miss a beat in crafting a character who is many things to many people.

Not too long after, Amber once again tries to gain custody of her son in front of a judge. This is perhaps the single scene where Moore is now "Maggie" and not her porn persona "Amber", and Moore tragically communicates the discordency from who she really is (the quiet, sad Maggie) to what she has tried to become (the wild, care-free Amber) to cover up for her sadness. Now, with the ugly truth staring her in the face, Amber is now forced to realize that she in fact did play a part in the way her life turned out.

Simplistic, yet complex. Vivid, yet esoteric. Moore's brava work in this rich, dark, imaginative film ranks amoung her very best. Finding light and soul in an otherwise depressing character, Julianne Moore shines her way to the top as an essential piece that connects to all around her, to form a beautiful, near perfect puzzle.

A brilliant actress, a great role, a performance for the ages.

Best Supporting Actress 1992

Oh yes. That year. That category. Everyone seen it and loves it for its oddness and its surprises, and here it is...

Jack Palance, the drunk bafoon he is, was on stage, visibly loaded, while he presented what is probably the most shocking win in Supporting Actress history. I just love the inexplicable pauses he takes while talking, and as he presents the nominees he says, "Joan - Judy Davis in Husbands.....and Wives".

I just have to point out how Miranda looks like a plastic French model, complete with the brows, and the cut-short bangs. Doesn't really work though.

Then Palance says that the category consists of all foreign women: three Brits and one from Brooklyn. Judy Davis' reaction to being called a Brit when she is Australian is very funny.

"And for the best performance by an actress in a supporting role...

...The Oscar goes to.... - Palance waving his hand around like that idiot uncle at a wedding making a toast.

Yay! Marisa is the winner! But...

...what the fuckin' hell was with Pesci and his freaky pedophile look complete with the beard, glasess, and nasty mop.

Best Actress 1967

Another one of those awkward Academy years came in 1968 (for '67), specifically in the Best Actress category. It was one of the best line-ups in the categories history, and voters gave the prize to Katherine Hepburn's perfectly okay, not award worthy performance. But, lets take a look...

Mr. Sidney presented the award, but he felt as if he was rushing it all; just dying to see who won the award and if the Academy would really give it to Kate. They did.

Anne Bancroft looked very sad/dissapointed for some reason. She probably knew that after winning only five years before, they would give it to someone else. Just hold in those tears for a few more minutes, Annie!

The old lady of the group, Edith Evans was not showcased well at all that night. Although it might be her fault for looking as if she was falling asleep during the show. Seriously, look at her eyes, this is how they were constantly that night. Eh, I guess she knew that even after the Globe win, she just wasn't gonna win. And hey, there's Carol!

Faye always looks intense, but she took it to another level here. Almost scary. I can't imagine what she looked like after she found out that not only she didn't win, but that her film only won a single award. Instead of coming off as a sexy tigress, she comes off as a vicious, man eating one. No thank you.

Audrey was a presenter so she was shown waiting nervously backstage - not just happy to be nominated, but she did have an Oscar, and she was alot more wothier than the other Ms. Hepburn...

~~~

But really - why did the Oscar go to Kate for? With Audrey, Faye, and Anne I would think that Kate would be out of the running, but that competition was so much superior to that of a small, forgettable role in an out-dated liberal film.

Performance Review: Emma Stone in "Zombieland" (2009)

Amoung the film's I had seen throughout 2009, a little flick called Zombieland is one that is quickly making its way to my favorites. Why? Because like Superbad, the film is raunchy, crude, and hilarious BUT posesses a genuine heart and sweet-natured underscoring that works wonders. And of course, out of the four main performances given by the cast, one just had to stick out for Twister. I am, of course, referring to the undeniable charm, wit, and coolness radiated by...

...Emma Stone in Zombieland (2009)

Emma Stone plays "Wichita", one of the few humans left in a world of decay and destruction, a.k.a "Zombieland" where the deadly creatures scower around looking for human flesh to munch on. We are introduced to the character when "Tallahasse" and "Columbus" (two humans sticking together to fight off the zombies) are in a deserted grocerey store looking for Twinkies.

The film does not give its characters real names, but instead names of geographic locations, which in a wierd way adds to their myseriousness. Stone's Wichita, from her first moment, comes off as a damsel and distress; beconking the guys for help right away. What's soon discovered is that Wichita and Little Rock (an adorable Abigail Breslin) her little sister, are sneaky con gals who fake a zombie bite to steal their weapons and their car.

Although the two sisters don't have much backstory, we do quickly identify with them and their predicaments. Wichita has one rule, that the only trust is between she and her sister, and to not let anyone else come close. In their jouney, Witchita's main goal is to give her sister the childhood she used to have, by traveling to the supposedly zombie free amuesment park, "Pacific Playland". To Stone's credit, she never plays Witchita as the bitch that she's written as - while tough, she's soft - and Stone lets us see how, for her sister, Witchita must keep her chin up even during the toughest times for Little Rock's happiness.

It's not too long after that the two girls cross paths with Tallahasse and Columbus again, and carjack them. The scene begins with awkward talk, as Wichita keeps on her "mask" trying to disguise her vulnerability and what else she withholds. Stone projects a pragmatic bitterness, but finds ways for Wichita's real feelings to weave their ways out before she drops her mask.

Once Stone's Witchita does take off that mask after feeling an empathetic connection to Columbus, we too feel closer to her, knowing that this other person was just waiting for an excuse to come out. Stone plays Witchita's growing relationship with Columbus at a steady beat, and never tries to rush the characterization against the proceedings.

With the gang setteled down at Bill Murray's luxrious mansion ("This guy has a direct line to my funny bone!"), there comes a sequence of scenes where each character connects and opens up to each other - Breakfast Club style. Stone conveys Wichita's own genuine happiness, and her thought that this newfound fun could be something very special.

As she gives Columbus the dance he never had, Witchita blossoms into someone who deeply wants to love and to be loved, and finds a way through the kind-hearted Columbus. While maintaining the humor ("You have the guts of a guppie, but I'd hit that.") Stone crafts a poignant picture of who Wichita is and was -- before zombieland to the distance from where she stands right now. After an awkward interruption from Tallahasse, the moment is broken, and just as a long desired kiss was in the midst of taking place. With her mask firmly back in place, Wichita realizes that she had almost broken her rule of not getting close to anyone, and the distance between she and the others opens back up.

Back to her job as her sister's guardian, the two once again ditch their male companions, and Wichita is finally able to give her sister back a little bit of her lost childhood by arriving at the park. She made someone happy, but made someone feel alone and dissapointed, and Stone's face belies her regret and confusion about the situation. Soon enough, the zombies make their way into the park, and who else better to rescue the damsel in distress than Columbus? After being rescued, Wichita is now complete; she has selflessly helped her sister, found love and family, and no longer has to had behind a facade.

Emma Stone's sweet, enduring work in this fun film is much like her part as Jules in Superbad -- delightful, funny, and heartfelt without pushing it. She infuses the role with subtle complexities texture, and winning charm without ever betraying the lightness of the film or character.

How does she do it? That's called talent, baby...

Best Supporting Actress 1973

During the 1973 presentation of Supporting Actress, there were in fact some things worth noticing:

For one, Linda Blair looked pissed! After she was exposed as fraud, there was no way she was walking home with the Oscar. Her moody, teenage girl ways got the best of her that night. No more pouting!

Poor Sylvia probably knew she wasn't going win, but she looks so chill and relaxed like, "yeah whatever, just give the damn award".

I just love how the people only applaud when Jill says Tatum's name while reading the nominees. They were dead silent for the other ladies.

I love Madeline's reaction to hearing the winner! In fact, they all look happy except for the pouting Ms. Blair, that little sour puss she is.

Then we get Tatum's creepy looking grandfather come up with Tatum to mumble some inaudible bullshit to the audience. It's like, let the girl have her freakin' moment! Hell, even Paquin got to go up there alone, but this old timer just ruined the whole thing.