Chicago (2002): Cinematic Delight

Why is Rob Marshall's Chicago one of the best, if not the best, musicals to come out of Hollywood within the last twenty years? It's all on account of his own dazzling creativity and respect for old fashioned class that makes this a genuinely delightful experience. His direction is elegant, focused, and sophisticated without ever becoming cold or condescending.

This is a film where the musical numbers are showcased so exquisitely they jump off the screen and welcome you to enjoy in on the fun. Unlike the abominable Moulin Rouge!, this film is infused with both a keen sense of superb comic timing and serviceable playfulness that conveys subtle shades of depth without ever losing its's charm or wit.

Among the songs in the film my favorite is Roxie, sung by Renee Zellweger who is just perfect as the jazzy baby turned murderess who comes to start enjoying her infamy. Much of Chicago's success is thanks to Zellweger who carries the film with her funny, sexy, and all around luminous performance. It's her understanding of the character and her vocal/dancing abilities that make everything work. Well, almost everything. The one real weak link in the film is Catherine Zeta Jones' (undeservedly) Oscar-winning performance of Velma Kelly. You can read all about what I think here, but lets just say Jones is a better dancer than she is an actress.

It's a real musical with heart and soul where the energy is poppin', and each musical number is nothing short of show-stoppin'.

Coming Up....

.....Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Liasons

I promise soon....

I'm feeling left out of all of the ranking fun that's been goin' on!

My "Virginia Woolf" Recut Trailer

Performance Review: Kim Hunter in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951)

Throughout my film experiences I have discovered many cinematic gems which find their way into my list of all-time favorites almost immediately and never diminsish in terms of love and quality. It is in these types of films where I have located special performances of such rich depth and emotional connection/understanding that they become permanently lodged into my memory. A particular example of this enduring admiration comes in the form of.....

....Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Kim Hunter plays the famous role of Stella Kowalski in Tennesse Williams' masterpiece play/film, A Streetcar Named Desire. Stella is rejoined with her sister Blanche (Viven Leigh in a flawlessly rich and exquisite performance) when she comes to stay with Stella in New Orleans after losing their childhood home, and as she slowly gets sucked into a whirlwind of insanity.

Stella had moved away from Belle Reve years ago, much the dismay of Blanche, and had started to develop a life and direction different to that of her sister who wanted to keep everything that was intact with as little change as possible. Blanche has her fair share of secrets (primarily about why has come to visit now) which she keeps tightly to herself, and Stella respects that privacy and understands that even though her sister is in her time of need, that she needs not to smother her but to lend her some breathing room.

Basically, Stella wants to reach out and lend a helping hand to Blanche, as she knows how great of an ordeal she's been through and how her vast insecurites are taking over her line between reality and illusion. However, Stella happens to be married to a brute named Stanley Kowalski (the raw, magentic Marlon Brando in one of the best performances of all time) who's hatred of Blanche grows and grows as she pushes herself more and more into the couples lives.

Hunter's first real big accomplishment in this complex role is staying in sync with Brando's Stanley in their love-hate relationship. This "bond" between these two individuals is based solely off of their sexual attraction towards one another, and how even Stella may at times hate Stanley's guts...

...she is always drawn back to him because of pure, animalistic lust that compinsates for their lack of real emotional connection as husband and wife.

The chemistry between Hunter and Brando is completley authentic; sexy, charged, raw, and compelling. This is needed one hundred percent as their relationship is emotionally essential to the film's overall effectivenes.

As Blanche begins to take serious notice of Stanley's abusive, disturbing behavior she pleads to Stella to get out of this life she shouldn't have even started living, and even as Stella explains to Blanche that she is perfectly happy and content the way her life now is, Hunter successfully conveys that Stella is in fact hesitant about it all.

There is that slightly foggy air where Hunter's Stella hides her true dissapointments, confusions, and uncertainties to better herself and to those around her.

Hunter's second big achievement is acting as the films only real level-headed anchor and keeps the proceedings grounded, both with aplomb. Her Stella is bascially a pawn caught between two oposing forces (Stanley and Blanche) who both try to win/pull her over to their side, but thanks to Hunter's artfully nuanced playing, she lets this engimatic problem hang in the air. Although Stella expresses warmth and concern for both sides, Hunter keeps Stella rather ambiguous in who's side she is truly on, which in turn, lends even more multi-layered depth to this already complicated picture.

Throughout her performance, Hunter always maintains a certain clarity, and even when playing off of Brando or Leigh she can still provide a powerful, naturalistic, and unsentimental disposition. That's no easy feat, my friends.

In fact the ending of the film actually helps finish Stella's arc. In the play, even though deep down Stella knows that Stanley raped Blanche she still stays with her husband because some desires (sexual) are stronger than others (moral). But the film's ending shows Stella seeing how much she had misjudged Stanley ("I'm not going back up there...not this time!") and leaving him with their baby. This ending truly boosts Hunter's characterization because the goodness, strength, and integrity of the character we have seen throughout the movie are put to good use as she uses all of those traits to find her way out. The play just drops that all and has Stella scurry back to her man. But the movie truly supports the performance, and it's Hunter who makes those few final moments so devestatingly heartbreaking.

In ways both big and small, Kim Hunter's performance helps to greatly elevate this flawless gem of a film, and her work in the role remains subtley astounding and vividly humane in the graetest ways possible. It's why she's one of the best winners this category has turned out...

Heads Up!

Hey guys, I know its been a week but I'll pull these profiles altogether soon!

It's the end o' the school year so things are being wrapped up (thank God), so over the summer I should be posting alot more!

Twister

Performance Profile: Joan Cusack in "Working Girl" (1988)

"Can I get you anything; coffee, tea...me?"

Tag-along nominations are tricky in this category. Of course by "tag-along" I am referring to those nominations which simply ride the coattails of a film's success (Latifah in Chicago, Gyllenhall in Heart, Driver in Hunting, you get the idea). Most of the time they are shockers and are written off as uneeded and inexplicable (usually do to limited screentime), but I offer an exception to that norm with Joan Cusack's nomination for Working Girl.
--

Cusack has the role of Cyn; the protective and caring best friend of Tess, and yes, they are working girls. Cyn is the kind of person anyone would love to have as their side-kick, and the role is written as a side-kick on the page, but what's on the screen is something totally different.

The movie follows Tess' growth into a mature, bussiness woman and the steps she takes to get there. Cusack's performance is basically weaved throughout the film and even though she has minimum screen time (about 8 minutes) the director (the incredible Mike Nichols) respects the character just as he does the lead. When Cyn pops up its usually to show how much Tess has changed and how she is being pushed further from her. Cusack's first big accomplishment is showing the fear and desperation Cyn feels as she believes she is truly losing her best friend to a bigger and better life. She conveys that she isn't jealous of what Tess has and will have, but the way of how she's getting there and how she is pretending to be someone she's not. In a sense, Cyn keeps Tess grounded and its deeply felt.

Cusack also ably mixes the blend of the broad comedy with emotional weight. And while it is broad comedy, Cusack finds subtlety and humanity that most actress' would have missed. Much like Eve Arden's Ida in Mildred Pierce, Cusack's Cyn anchors the proceedings, and acts as its emotional and level-headed guidance throughout. She shows how much she cares for Tess and shows how strong the history of their friendship was and how she desperately needs to hang on to that.

Cusack does something I love to see in a supporting performance, that is of course, actually supporting the narrative and the lead actors. Never does she try to steal any scenes from anyone or grab your attention, but she hangs back and knows her place in the film.

From almost nothing, Cusack brings lovely shades to the character and creates a vibrant, supportive, and delightfully funny human being where some stupid, wacky caricature could have been. What supporting acting is all about....

Performance Review: Pam Grier in "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" (2002)

I don't know why I'm doing this, so please, bear with me. The actress up next in the review spotlight is....

....Pam Grier in The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)

Okay, first of all, I happen to like this film. It was critically lambasted when it was released and still is to this day, yet I still think that it is just fun to watch; breezy, cool, and mindless eye candy. It's far from a perfect film (ya think?), but there are much worse films out there, so I can't complain that much. Anyway the film follows Pluto (Eddie Murphy in a performance that coasts simply on his charm and charisma, but it's nice) a night club owner from the future who gets involved with some serious gangstah's while on the moon. While on the run and hiding out, he comes across his protective mother (Grier) who wants to help him in his time of need.

She's the cool kind of mom, the kind that wears futuristic styles of clothing, and is an excellent shot when it comes to using her trusty Star Wars-ish blaster/gun thingy. Truth be told, Grier hardly even gives a performance at all.

This isn't her fault, but the character is incredibly underwritten and she has less than five minutes of screen time. I almost feel that most of her performance was left on the cutting room floor, due to the fact that she has but one lengthy scene, then just pops back again about twenty five minutes later. The script never expands her character to let her be a bigger part of the plot, but instead uses her as a mere device.

It's too bad, really. Grier shows Flura's need to get her only son off the moon and away from trouble, insisting that "he's got listen to his mother". But Grier's character could have also had made the movie better just from her presence of being their more often. She's sassy and smooth, and the movie really could have used some more of her.

She's only given one scene to get all dramatic and emotional, but again, its hardly enough. Come to think of it, this reminds me of Ruby Dee and her Oscar-nominated performance in American Gangster. Sure Dee had a tad more to do and she leaves a much bigger imapact when she's gone (SLAP!), but both deliver performances that you wish there was more of and are restricted to tiny appearences.

There may not be much on her plate, but at least Grier gives us a taste of what could have been....

Best Actress Project

In keeping up with recent blogs on Oscar survey's, I thought I would contine down that road with the next category, "Best Actress". Here are the requirements -




* List the five best winners you believe to be the best to have won the Oscar. Then, pick the five worst performances that have won the Oscar. Then you rank them, from 1 to 5. With 1 will receive 6 points, and from there each rank receiving one less point. Just as with past survey's, there will be a Worst/Best runner-up winners as well.


* After that, email your picks to me at: moviemania55@aol.com. Also, please comment on the winners you picked, and tell why you chose them. All of the comments sent about specific performances will be listed under their name. When listing comments, make sure to leave the name you want to use so reader's know you wrote it.


* Your picks will be "due" by May 30th, but the date might be extended if needed so. Last but not least, please, please, please, spread the word around about this survey. To anyone from past surveys, or any film/Oscar lovers. It would be greatly appreciated!


Use this video to jog your memory of the winners!

Birthday Boy

Birthday's sure are awesome, aren't they? Today, Twister turns another year older and couldn't be happier.

Try to guess how old I am now, and whoever gets the closest.....is simply the one who got the closest. Haha!

The LAMB Awards!

Are you going to try to get noticed by voters??

Twister made a "campaign" ad to promote MovieMania during these voting times. I thought of considering myself for a few categories; can't hurt, right?

* Click to enlarge

Whatta ya think?

Cheesburgers For Sex?

Performance Profile: Sigourney Weaver in "Working Girl" (1988)

"I am, after all, me."

Sigourney Weaver's loss in the supporting category this year proved that if you get two nominations in two different categories you will not always win. Her nomination for Supporting Actress came from her performance as Katherine Parker in Mike Nichols' delightful (and still fresh) comedy, Working Girl.

The character comes into play when Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith, in a glowing, star performance) is reassiagned to be financial executive Katherine Parker's new secretary. The role is scripted as the boss-from-hell routine on the page, but what's interesting is how Weaver doesn't illuminate Katherine's sneaky ways quite yet, and instead makes her into a likeable person. But - a person who may or may not be what she seems.

Upon viewing the film again recently, I have come to see that Weaver actually does some pretty solid work, unlikewhat I had noticed before; her comedic timing is impeccable, she does some inspired work in terms of acting choices, and she knows exactly what she's doing while on screen.

Yet, I still remain unconvinced that a full character is being projected here. This is more to fault the script for, considering Katherine is never really fleshed out. She is basically in two big chunks of the movie, the begininng and end, and during those scenes the script never really creates a character, but a caricature. And yes, in those later scenes when Katherine is written as a cartoon, Weaver just goes along with it. Just making a more detailed cartoon. Although she never goes over that expected edge, she doesn't really humanize Katherine, and gives into the writing. The one moment when I really saw something deeper was when she is exposed and basically backed into a corner ("get your bony ass out of my sight!") ; we see some real fear and embarrasment and its fun to watch her spiral down.

It's a performance that anyone could have really played, and probably have played it even better than Weaver, which sort of sours me overall. Despite the negatives, Weaver is funny and smart in her approach, making her character interesting and unique even with the limitations of the writing.

* To add even more surprise I'll reveal all of the individual ratings only during the final outcome. Stay tuned! *

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