Happy Birthday To The Queen of Wisecrack!

Eve would have been 101 today!

Here's to one of the best comedienne's of all time!

S.A. Nominees I Want To See

*Not in any order

Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) - Yeah, I know, I've heard it all, but I actually want to see for myself what I think of Bacall's performance. I really can't imagine it being all that bad, even though she was directed by Babs, and had to act with her. This seems to be a performance/nomination that used to be talked about all the time due to it's shocking "loser" status, but it seems people just don't care anymore...they're just happy she didn't win, I guess. Yes, her win would have been more for her career than her actual performance, but I'm interested in checking out the latter. *Also, you gotta love that shot of Bacall "feeling" herself while on the phone.

Joan Cusack in In & Out (1997) - I have heard many great things about this underrated performance, and I have been wanting to see it but have yet to find the time. She's a great comedienne, who always lends support and humor to any film she's in, so I suspect her work here shouldn't be too different. Plus, she delivered a comedic performance in a category made up of four other dramatic nominees so you know she had to have made some kind of impression on members who pass over comedy too often.

Marisa Tomei in In The Bedroom (2001) - An actress as talented and dedicated as Tomei, it's hard to believe she only has three nominations. Yes, she does have an Oscar, but her win has never been totally adored by cinephiles/the general public. I've heard that here she really showed her potential for being a dramatic actress with this performance, and even now she is Sage's pick for that year as well, after replacing Jennifer Connelly.

Lynn Carlin in Faces (1968) - I rented the film back in the summer back never got around to actually watching it, so I still am looking foreward to seeing Carlin's celebrated work. Sage is a big fan of this performance (which was beaten by Gordon's overrated win), and many others have reacted positively so I hope can do the same.

Some others; Mildred Natwick in Barefoot in the Park, Dyan Cannon in Heaven Can Wait, Susannah York in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Amy Adams in Junebug, Holly Hunter in Thirteen, Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street, May Whitty, Mrs. Miniver....

My New Video

My Next Year Of Review Will Be...

"1988"

The nominees were....

* Joan Cusack in Working Girl

* Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Liasons

* Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist

* Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl

* Frances McDormand in Mississippi Burning

* Bear with me; these profiles may not be up for a 'lil while due to re-screenings and first screenings of this years nominees. If you have any links to any of these films please let me know, as I unfortunatley do not own any of the nominated films (dammit). Thanks!

Supporting Actress 1975: The Outcome

5. Lee Grant in Shampoo

"Despite showing flashes of Felicia's desperation and longing for something real and different, Grant's Felicia never seems to be totally in sync with the rest of the film, and because Grant stays on the same on the same tiresome note of pouty fussiness that the performance loses steam and shrivels up into a into a shrill caricature."

- T W O  H E A R T S -

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4. Sylvia Miles in Farewell, My Lovely

"Jessie could have been a loud, broad caricature who we feel nothing for, yet Miles humanizes the character with flashes of longing and desperation, while effectively underplaying Jessie's antsy intentions and desires with grace, subtlety, and nuance."

- T H R E E  H E A R T S -

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3. Brenda Vaccaro in Once Is Not Enough

"Vaccaro could have followed the rest of her costars and acted as an empty shell, but she seizes the opportunity and creates a genuinely funny and memorable character. Brenda's Linda is a delightful side-line character infused with authentic verve and gusto without ever forcing her comedic effects, resulting in a wickedly fun and enduring comic creation."

- T H R E E  H E A R T S -
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2. Lily Tomlin in Nashville

"Tomlin conveys the longing and despair, communicates the urges hiding beneath Linnea's cover and her backstory, and its in that face and those eyes where she transports us to places, experiences, and emotions that are both descreetly secretive and startlingly public. Subtle, compelling, magical work that's some of the best the category has ever seen." 

- F I V E  H E A R T S -

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1. Ronee Blakley in Nashville

Throughout her performance, Blakley emanates a spirited, happy, and radiant disposition which forms superb contasts to Barbara Jean's haunting emotional truths, while remaining earthy, grounded, and incredibly humane. Her singing is exquisite, and she ably displays the real engimatic, puzzling disconnection between the soulless, fragile, unstable being she really is, and the flawless goddess she appears to be; a disconnection she masks with uncertain hope. Emotionally honest, haunting, compelling, and angelic. In other words....perfection.

- F I V E   H E A R T S -

Oscar picked Lee Grant

But Twister see's things a bit differently by giving his vote to Ronee Blakley (duh).

What say you?

Performance Profile: Sylvia Miles in "Farewell, My Lovely" (1975)

Always an actress known for her distinguishable presence in films, Miles was a real wild card on screen. Her two nominations were both for two very different characters; her first was for Midnight Cowboy, playing a wily, scheming, loud, bitchy hooker named Cass. Her second nomination was for her quiet, underplayed role in Farewell, My Lovely where she memorably portrayed a lonely, wased up floozy. It's interesting to compare the two characters and see how Miles toned down all that energy and intensity to meet the needs of her character.

Miles' Jessie comes into play when Phillip Marlowe (a noir-ish private eye) comes to find that she has infromation and connections to find a certain person. Jessie is a woman who was once the showgirl all the men adored, and was once used to attention. Now, she is a boozy, bored, and desperate woman, however thanks to Marlowe's appearence on her doorstep she feels that lively joy and happiness that once made her who she was.

Like a flower blooming, Miles conevys Jessie's growing enthusiasm of having someone finally come to see her and reminisce about the good 'ol days. In many ways the character is written as a flat, plot device whose sole purpose is to move the story forward; yet Miles plays the role with grace, subtlety, and stunning nuance. She creates a charcater with a fully interesting backstory/history with the tid bits she's given.

She shows Jessie's anxiousness towards Marlowe, and how he might be the key to something new, but never lays it on too strong. Jessie could have been a loud, broad caricature who we feel nothing for, yet Miles humanizes the character with flashes of longing and desperation, while effectively underplaying Jessie's antsy intentions and desires.

It's excellent supportive work that remains enduring and engaging and is certainly a deserved nomination, indeed.

- T H R E E   H E A R T S -

Flick Zingers: "Citizen Kane" (1941)

* Citizen Kane (1941) - Directed by Orson Welles

Yeah, I know..."the greatest film of all time" seems more to me as one of the boringest of all time. I was expecting to love it, or at least be interested in it, but neither turned out too well. Maybe I just need to see it again, but I found the film to be dull, hollow, and an all around excercise of style over substance. The photography is effective and piercing, but the rest just falls flat. The acting is cartoonish and unconvincing, the characters aren't fully drawn or compelling, and it offers no real emotional resonance or depth.

Performance Profile: Ronee Blakely in "Nashville" (1975)

Blakely's stunning achievement in Nashville had audiences and critics talking, gasping, and even crying. Although much of a film career never fully formed afterwards, Blakely's true talent for acting shined here, and has yet to stop glowing. Her work remains as pristine, fresh, and authentic today as it did back in '75.

Barbara Jean is without question Nashville's most essential character and is the centerpiece of the picture. She is the most beloved country music star around and she's come back to the place she calls home. Barbara Jean we soon discover is a fragile being; in her first scene Blakely conveys Barbara Jean's cheerful, positivley radiant disposition, until she collapses in public causing a frenzy of attention.

Blakely's real accomplishment in her complex role is demonstrating how Barbara Jean must always maintain the illusion that she is perfection. But when we see her out of public and away from the attention, we see Barbara Jean for the emotionally unstable, lost soul she really is. She's empty inside, yet to the world she is a true enigma; a mystery that stays solid because no one tries to solve it. Blakely honestly shows how distant Barbara Jean's two selves are from each other, and just how unnerving mental illness can be, especially on the edge of a nervous breakdown and being on the top-flight status she's on.

What I also truly admired about the performance is that, although the character is very showy by nature, Blakely does not exploit this aspect of her character and act like she owns the place. She stays true to the character, never overplays anything, and keeps her performance firmly grounded, despite the fact that Barbara Jean is a mess of a woman.

Ronee Blakely also does something that Jennifer Hudson thought she could do; singing that matches her acting all the way. I don't why she never made it big as a recording artist, but Blakely's voice is absolute perfection; the true voice of an angel. We can hear the hurt and pain in her voice as she opens her soul for her adoring fans. Blakely opens Barbara Jean's true, empty self while singing, but its disguised in a way that only she could do it. The scene at the Old Opry where she rambles on about her childhood when she should be singing, is done in a haunting, nuanced manner, and Ronee never misses a beat.

That last scene made me literally jump forward in my seat. I knew it was coming but I just didn't want it to happen, and it's because of the enduring characterization Blakely had already established.

It's a performance detailed by such sharp, pitch-perfect execution and such raw, haunting humanity, that it finds a place in your mind and soul and never leaves. Flawless work.

- F I V E   H E A R T S -

Performance Profile: Lee Grant in "Shampoo" (1975)

Lee Grant's performance is one that has attracted attention from both sides of the love-hate spectrum, and remains one of Oscar's more peculiar winners. Her role as a horny, rich housewife, despite being the most underwritten, is rather interesting within the film.

Felicia is a character that's hard to really connect to or even really understand, and Grant fumbles with this already problematic situation. She's written as a selfish, bitchy, heartless woman and the problem is that she stays this way and never changes. Grant's Felicia never seems to be totally in sync with the rest of the film, and its because Grant stays on the same on the same note the whole time. Everyone else grows and changes except Felicia. In terms of characterization, there is little; except for pouty fussiness which never evolves into anything enduring or deep.

Despite all this, Grant does show flashes of Felicia's desperation and longing for something real and different. Her highlight is the resturant scene where she is really a hoot to watch, and her line readings are fantastic.

Overall, it's a performance that starts off fun and engaging, but loses steam and shrivels up into a into a shrill caricature.

     - T W O  H E A R T S -

Performance Profile: Lily Tomlin in "Nashville" (1975)

Nashville is a film filled with all sorts of engaging, unique people who lives intertwine within the course of five days, and lodged within the array of characters we find Linnea Resse. She is possibly the only character with the least flashy storyline, and the quietest characterization. She is a woman with quite alot on her plate, yet to the unsuspecting eye, everything seems to be normal. But I assure you, Lily Tomlin's performance is anything but normal.

It's a performance that feels completley satisfying and complete, and is composed of the little moments within the character's arc. Linnea is the loving mother of two deaf children, a wife to an uninterested business man, a gospel singer, and the past fling of a horny rockstar. She's a woman who must keep the different components in her life in order, and while seemingly open about what she does, she very quietly keeps them close to her. She's a person who loves, but wants to feel loved.

Much like Julianne Moore's brauva work in The Hours, Tomlin conveys the longing and despair of a woman who wants something else in her life. Without actually being there, Tomlin communicates the urges hiding beneath Linnea's cover and her backstory; the urges that lead to her secret experiences that remain closed off from anyone else's knowledge. It's in her face and those eyes where she transports us to places that only she (and we) know of. Each part of Linnea's life, both open and secretive, are projected from her mask-like face.

In the famous "I'm Easy" scene, Tomlin just sits and stares. That's it. And it's perfection. Letting all of that bottled emotion radiate off her face as Tom sings a song just for her is both sad and beautiful. We can feel Linnea's needs and desires ooze off the screen and into our hearts silently. Tomlin is subtle, compelling, and underplays each of her scenes resulting into something magical. I often think of Tomlin's performance as a piercing embodiement of the human spirit; a lively representation of what anyone that is human can feel and comprehend to.

- F I V E  H E A R T S -

Performance Profile: Brenda Vaccaro in "Once Is Not Enough" (1975)

Vaccaro's sole nomination is never looked upon nicely. For the few people that have seen her performance, they hate it, along with the nom. The film is a dry, hollow, boring soapy-drama (the really bad Lifetime kind) that is all around horrible. In fact, the only effective parts of the film involve Brenda Vaccaro.

Brenda plays Linda Riggs, a horny magazine editor that becomes friendly again with a woman, January (who had brain damage; don't ask) that she once knew from high school. Linda adopts January as her new best gal pal, and helps her get back on her feet while recovering. Now, Vaccaro's Linda is a bundle of energy and fun, which is how she is scripted, but Vaccaro breathes some amusing life into a underwritten plot device of a character. She could have followed the rest of her costars and acted as an empty shell, but Vaccaro seizes the opportunity and creates a genuinely funny and memorable character.

Much like the great Eve Arden, Brenda's Linda is a delightful side-line master of wisecrack, who tosses her zingers, and no matter how bad the dialouge is, she always seems to hit them on mark with verve and a loads of gusto. She never forces or strains herself for comedic effects; it just flows. 

But, the only real downside to Vaccaro's performance is that while she is wickedly amusing, she never really is able to give an emotional grounding to Linda or make a fully cohesive characterization. Yet, most of the blame is on her film, so I hold Brenda only partially responsible.

Out of nothing, Vaccaro creates a character infused with delight and real humor, without ever losing the wit or energy even when the movie hits its worst points.

- T H R E E  H E A R T S -

Okay, so you know how...

.... it seems every film blogger is doing a ranking of each Bets Actress year (Sage, Fritz, Joe, etc.)? Well, I thought of doing that except with Best Supporting Actress (duh). I have been thinking of a new project, and for right now this seems like a fun idea. It won't be like my previous rankings, but rather one nominee at a time (to keep 'yall in suspense!). Even though it had already been done, I want to go back to a year I'm particularly fond of and talk about to refresh some memories. The first year will be....

"1975"

You know you saw it comin'!

Three Big Birthday's!

*Bette Davis would have been...102

*Gregory Peck would have been...94

*Spencer Tracy would have been...110

"Charlie's Angels" (2000)

*Click to enlarge images

"Thanks for the offer...but my hands aren't going anywhere near your staff."

"I like fast everything..."

"Hee, hee!"

"...she's just so...black!"

Poor Drew!

Awesomeness!

"King Kong Palm!"

"And that's kickin' you ath!"

Underrated Oscar Wins

Underrated Winners