Sunday 26 December 2010

Open(ish) Thread

First up....

Forrest Gump or Pulp Fiction

Let's have a fair debate over these two popular Oscar-winners and discuss our similar and opposing views. Thought it would interesting just to see where things could lead to! Please just openly jump in and contribute anything you have to say whether it be positive or negative so we can seriously talk about things. Also, if you have anymore ideas for "this or that" please let me know.

Saturday 25 December 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Hoping you all have a very merry Christmas today!

Saturday 18 December 2010

Performance Profile: Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles (1974)

I'm beginning a bit early here than I expected, but I begin now with the interesting, intriguing and almost seminal work of...

Madeline Kahn plays Lily von Shtupp, the seductive, floozy blonde dancer/entertainer in Mel Brooks'  parody of the rootin' tootin' old west in America. 
Kahn's Lily walks into the film nearly half-way, and is introduced to act as a briefly central feminine standpoint when she is asked to snare the town's (black) sheriff into a trap of lusty passion and to generally play a caricatured ditz.  
Her introduction also includes her musical number, "I'm Tired" which she performs in a saloon to many horny cowboys-- a hilarious bit where she tells of the whole game, and does a little interacting with an audience member ("Is that a ten gallon hat or are you just enjoying the show?"). The scene displays Kahn's impressive comic physicality and dexterity for words/dialogue, especially when speaking in her catchy German accent.
After her show-stopping number, the film lazily uses Kahn's Lily as a shallow plot device when having her seduce the sheriff and then to keep him in her adoring trap of erotic love.
Now there's something unusual happening here; Kahn's performance -- which is widely considered among cinephiles as both equally memorable and hilarious -- just seems to bubble for a bit then fizz down flat. It's much more the film's fault than the actress', but the character and the performance simply end up becoming  banal and stale pretty quickly. My enthusiasm upon seeing Kahn's work fell flat when the movie hardly uses a character with potential but doesn't even seize the time that we have to watch her do her thing. Kahn's tries her damn hardest to inject some comic energy and zest, but she's handed a caricature, not a character.
Madeline Kahn's real memorable turn came a year earlier with her shaded, nuanced, and humane work in Paper Moon that actually seems to be less admired than her forgettable cartoon of Lily von Shtupp. The actress is a trouper, but when she's stuck in a dead end from the get-go, she's doomed.  

Thursday 16 December 2010

The Next Profiling Year Will Be....


The nominees are...
* Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles
* Talia Shire in The Godfather, Part 2
* Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express
* Valentina Cortese in Day for Night
* Diane Ladd in Alice Dosen't Live Here Anymore

Any early guesses/predictions?

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Hey Guys

Hey 'yall, sorry its been kind of dead here for a little while, with not even the all of the Christmas Quotables being posted. It's been pretty hectic for me recently; college stuff, school, family stuff, and getting everything  from shopping to all things festive things done in time for Christmas.

I really want to get some more holiday things done on here (and soon!), but I want to let you guys know that I have I am doing a new Supporting Actress Profile year -- which should be coming a little bit after the holidays.

I have decided to put off 1995 for now but come back to it later. So can you guess the year? It's one that's not very popular (though it's interesting), and features a winner that is infamously known as one of the worst ever...  

Sunday 12 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Days 11 & 12


"Stewie, go to sleep!"
~~
"This doesn't involve you, Lois!"
~~
"I don't want to have to come in there."
~~
"I don't want to have to come in there!"

from A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas (2001)

Saturday 11 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 10


"At least I'm tryin' to help you, you ain't never helped nobody."
~~~
"Yeah, well I'd like to help you get the hell out of here!"

from Huh-Huh Humbug (Beavis and Butt-Head)

Performance Review: Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)

Among the most famous Oscar "upsets" of the past twenty years some have caught more of a sense of some kind of "infamy" I guess you could say. While Oscar has certainly has a solid track record for picking the sweet bird of youth (which has extended for some time now), it seemed absolutely no one expected so big of a shock on Oscar night in 1997. It's an odd case of the actual winner not receiving the backlash, but the favored losing nominee actually getting the "Haha" when she did not win. Whether or not that's fair game, the world was stunned that Oscar didn't choose the heavily predicted nomination of...
...Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)

Lauren Bacall plays Hannah Morgan, the old wisecracking Jewish mama of Rose (Babs, basically playing out her vain life story) with whom she lives with in a cozy, well furnished New York apartment. 
Hannah's life has been still and vacant for some time now, after the death of a husband and the prospect of raising two daughters who each share a different place with their narcissistic, over-bearing mother.
Because Hannah was a once gorgeous beauty in her youth, she feels as if she's beginning to fade away from the spotlight -- a spotlight she tries her hardest to reclaim, like attempting to upstage her daughter at her own wedding by appearing in bright purple glitter gown. Though she may be "stuck" living with her, Rose's many neuroses seem to be no match for Hannah's self-absorbed, pain in the ass, wicked, antagonizing ego, as this Monster Mother's job has been reduced to criticizing Rose and having a ball playing Devil's Advocate.
As Rose begins to experience life and love in a whole new way, Hannah (as usual) attacks such notions with daggers and doesn't trust that this could be any good for her ugly duckling daughter.
This includes interrogating Rose's new lover and being shocked to discover that his non-lusty intentions are not at all what she expected and that the guy just might be suited for her daughter -- though never actually letting such thoughts exposed at the expense of her nail tough persona.
Bacall is used mainly as device within the narrative to pop in every now and then as a breath of air. Her wit, comedic timing, and charisma are deployed by Bacall herself and by Streisand to have Hannah stand as a kind of moral compass for the film, while also serving as some pretty funny comic relief to spice everything up. Now, although these elements might combine to craft a pretty solid performance the actress, the outcome is sadly more rickety than anything.
With Babs at the helm of the movie, Bacall's performance seems to crumble at the lack of her bland, directorial talent. Instead of allowing the actress to play a character who breathes in some sort of independent reality, Streisand only sees the opportunity to use Bacall's signature hard-edged charisma and personality. It's too bad that, in playing Hannah, Bacall channels her charisma over her characterization (flattening it) instead of through it.
But I do fault Bacall again for staying on her one single note of stiff deviance, instead of developing the character to discover some kind of depth or emotional integrity beyond her thin, ballsy persona. She almost totally neglects the human behind the mask and her would-be complex interiority; by doing so Bacall simply doesn't isn't capable of conveying Hannah's desperation of being abandoned and left in the dark forever.
Though despite all of that there is one moment which changes my view on Bacall's Hannah, and gives us a hint of something deeper beneath the surface. When a down-on-her-luck Rose goes to her mother looking for some answers to her messy situation, she asks, "How did it feel being beautiful?". Hannah takes a moment to take it all in, until she let's down her guard and quietly responds, "It was wonderful". It's a tender scene where Bacall lets us see a resonant glimmer of the human soul under the broad, showy persona, and makes her nomination a worthy one.
Her other scene in he kitchen where she talks with Rose about the past and the present further surprisingly supports the nomination, as Bacall again successfully expels the humanity of the character in service to the story.
But then for her brief closing scenes, where Hannah has to grow as a character, Bacall (as well as the movie) oddly jump back to the persona facet and never gives her characterization a rounded, contoured arc. The loose ends dangle for the character and it's frustrating for her to just hang on the edge with no sense of closure. Although the performance, I think, is worthy of the nomination, it's somewhat shockingly inconsistent; with Bacall oscillating between persona and person with little fluidity or reasoning. It's a nice, pleasant career capper for one of Hollywood's most beloved icons.   

Thursday 9 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 9



"Yeah, me too, I wanna go home and see my family."

"You don't have a family, bumhug!"

"Uhhh, oh yeah."

from The Beavis and Butt-Head X-Mas Special

CineBites: American Graffiti (1973)


" ★ ★ ★"

Just a little while before Star Wars swept into into everyone's imagination and became a massive pop culture phenomenon, director George Lucas had an idea of capturing a "moment" in America that centered on the lives of youths as they prepared for the next chapter in their young lives. His idea of this snapshot of nostalgia would take us back into a past-time where we could observe an ensemble of characters interact and live out their last bits of innocence before entering the zone of complex, adulthood.
We have one single night -- packed to the brim with cars, rock 'n roll, booze, and babes -- basically an adolescents dream come true. At the center of the film, Steve (Ron Howard) and Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) are graduated high school seniors who have their sights set on college and a life outside of this 'ol town where nothing new ever seems happen. The two best friends, though, have their own personal issues to sort out before they move further into deeper territory; Steve is having trouble letting go of his girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams) as they are being geographically ripped apart. He suggests that "seeing other people" will help them grow as a couple, while she remains hesitant about such an idea. At the same time Curt is having serious reservations about leaving and going off to a whole new world, and leaving everything innocent behind. Filling up the remainder of the film are other youths including the stereotypical geek, the ditz, and the rebel -- each bearing there own individual threads within American Graffiti's multi-thread ensemble narrative. All having their own story which ties in with the main themes.
The film is one of the first that constructed the "teen" and "coming-of-age" genre that's still very actively popular even today; the kind of film that usually explores and observes the "realism" of what there characters are experiencing and how the how's and why's of it all. Going into American Graffiti, I held my optimism close and had high expectations, mostly based off of the film's popularity, rave reviews, and it's status as one of the greatest and most respected films of all time. My reaction; well, let's just say that all of the expectations had been dropped with a thud long before the finale. Instead of viewing the masterpiece everyone else had obviously seen (and enjoyed), I saw a misguided, disappointing, and almost nearly artificial mess in nearly every respect.
My problems with the movie come in spades, but are mostly linked back to Mr. George Lucas and for a couple of big reasons. A director largely known for his technical achievements, Lucas never truly had a way with humans -- as in actors/characters within his films. His lack of skill for writing and sketching characters (not epic battle sequences) and the dialogue they speak is on full display here, and it very nearly murders this movie. In a movie that is almost character-driven, the main goal is to give the people some sort of engaging or layered characterization for a sturdy foundation (on the page) from them to build from, but here (as usual) Lucas seems more interested his work with the camera and not what's happening in front of it. It's something that diminished his three prequel films in the Star Wars series, and a reason why the "force" left him years ago.        
It's not so much a show of incompetence by any real means, but rather a seriously shaky handle on material which had some real potential from the get-go. This misfiring finds its way into the direction of the central narrative which plays it too safe, too low-key, and too boring. I personally love films that confine it's narrative to a single night/day, where everything seems more gripping and engaging, but Lucas' direction and script feel incredibly dull and flat-footed that there's little excitement or freshness resonating from it. Whether the characters are at a dance, riding in their cars, getting into fights, or being a bit naughty, I never felt any true genuine depth or reasoning for these events to happen. They just happen. And they go along to a pace that drags and misses any air of wit, briskness, and verve to keep things bouncing steadily. The narrative's first half  has something akin to all of which it lacks (in flashes mind you), but when the second half trudges around it takes a nasty nose-dive into pure stupidity. Instead of rescuing the plot and the characters to give them a feel of some kind of revelation or depth, everything becomes all the more muddy and doesn't even have an arc. Not or the individual characters, nor for the narrative, and everything just stops with little insight on how or why. When the characters should have been experiencing something profound/life-changing or some sort of an emotional journey (which would have provided them with a character arc), they never grow or change a bit.
Yet, I do put half the blame on the actors in their respective roles, as it is also there job to create believable and plausible characterizations even when the script they have to work with lets them down. The biggest "let down" in the acting department is all thanks to Ron(nny) Howard's horrible performance as Steve. There's a reason why Howard left the screen to pursue a spotty directing career behind the camera, and this performance is valid evidence for anyone who's left wondering. His portrayal of Steve is disjointed, bland, and emotionally vacuous in scene after scene. He literally walks through the movie along with Richard Dreyfuss, and Cindy Williams giving a strained and tiring performance as Laurie. Dreyfuss fairs the best out of that lead-trio, but he seems just as lost in the (not-so-complex) role as the others do. I must now unfortunately acknowledge the film's sole Oscar-nominated performance given by Candy Clark -- as Debbie, the blonde ditz with a head full of bubbles, Clark is given a simple character -- but her performance actually degrades the simplicity into the ground. When she should be sexy, hilarious, fun, and bursting with energy, Clark is as uninspired as her surroundings. I was hoping (because of the nomination) that Clark might elevate the role beyond stock cliches; to build some kind of emotional architecture into the character to convey her desperation and her growth out of it over the course of the night -- well, none of that happened. She could have gave depth and dimension to the thin role, but I didn't spot any true humanity or shading in her work. Click here for my full review of her performance.
But -- the one element that truly transcends American Graffiti is the unexpected performance given by Mackenzie Philips. As the precocious Carol, Philips spins gold from coal the minute she jumps into John Milner's hot ride and joins him for a night of fun on the town. Her every moment on screen feels fresh and unpredictable, and she infuses the role uncommon with gusto, poignancy, and humor that the rest of the film simply extended to. Her narrative thread is by far the most interesting and fun, and she actually crafts a simple yet enduring character arc of a person who feels lonely and neglected, to one who finds friendship and acceptance by someone she grows to truly appreciate and enjoy. Her characterization is both luminously sweet and humane, provides American Graffiti with its only nuanced, emotional depth and genuine character portrayal by far. Hard to believe Oscar overlooked her in favor of silly fluff.
It's truly disappointing that the film eventually swallows itself into nothing (its status as a "classic" continues to baffle me) and it remains peculiar that George Lucas was able to pull off magic with Star Wars when considering his obvious limitations as a director on display. Though the seams here are exposed without any real care tended to them, and its sad to say that American Graffiti could have been a deserving classic, but its inconsistency and fatal flaws keep it from becoming one of the greats. 

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 8


"I look hot!"

from Deck The Halls (2006)

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 7


"Make sure you shut the curtains!"
~~~
"Whattya' doin'?"

from Christmas With The Kranks (2004)

Christmas Quotables: Day 6


"Ahh! Looks like we got a little visitor!
Don't put the little guy away on my account!"

from Deck The Halls (2006)

Sunday 5 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 5


"Put that cookie down, NOW!"
from Jingle All The Way (1996)

Saturday 4 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 4

"Would you like a Christmas cookie?
You're my cookie and I could gobble you up!"

from Black Christmas (2006)

Surprises Coming Up....

I gotta upcoming surprise for Malcolm that I hope he likes. It's taking a bit longer than usual because Blogger's acting up again and pissing me off.

Does anyone know how to upload pictures without it saying "server rejected"?

Friday 3 December 2010

Oscar Season Stuff

Though I really need to catch up on recent Oscar upcomings, I have two performances I would like to fully endorse, that sadly the Academy will probably overlook when it comes nomination time, which is a shame.

First for Best Actor; the perfectly-pitched comic madness of...

...Russell Brand in Get Him To The Greek
Brand is one helluva inspired comedian, but he is also seems to have a genuine talent for real acting as well, as his Aldous Snow is a comedic tour-de-force which transcends the usual funny performances in other comedies these days to become something larger and more important. He actually subtly crafts a truly remarkably character (even more than what's written) who's growth and change are conveyed in both hilarious and poignant ways. Aldous' character arc is brought to life by the humanity Brand infuses into this wacky role, which makes his performance all the more emotionally satisfying.

And for Best Supporting Actress; the shocking, genuine work of....

...Chloë Moretz in Let Me In
I'm hoping that she could become a new Abigail Breslin, and this performance is valid proof that she very well could. I was going to see this movie thinking it was just some other horror film (my friend doesn't like to see any other kind....sigh) in a lame-ass assembly line...but I was so wrong. Let Me In is so much more a human drama than a straight up horror film and I was surprised to be completely won over, and especially by young Moretz. She plays a 300 year old vampire still living in a child's body, and feels so out of place in a world where she must kill to survive. It's when she meets Owen, a boy her age, that things begin to change and a innocent emotional bond is made between these two outsiders. Moretz generates real complexities that go deeper than the role requires; conveying a whole lifetime of confusion, loneliness, and desperation that pierced my heart. She isn't so much playing a "kid" and this is by no means a "kid performance", but rather it's completely mature, richly shaded, and deeply moving work of a very humanized monster.

I haven't heard much buzz for either performance, especially Brand, and they seem like types that the Golden Globes would pick up, but Oscar would pass over. It's really sad too, because these are worthy of winning the award -- not just being nominated.

Why do you think?

Thursday 2 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 3

"Buzz, your girlfriend, WOOF!"
~~~
From Home Alone (1990)

Christmas Quotables: Day 2

"I heard a woman screaming, 'yeah, oh yeah!'. And then I heard his voice say, 'that's right you ain't going to....s-h-i-t right for, a month."
~~~
"Well sure, Santa fuckin' someone in the ass."

- John Ritter and Bernie Mac from Bad Santa (2003)

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Christmas Quotables: Day 1


"And why is the carpet all wet, Todd?!"
"I don't know, Margo!"
--
from Christmas Vacation (1989)

Click here to see the scene.


Tuesday 30 November 2010

Hilarious Video!


Judy and Liza at their best. I think Joe'll like this!

Sorry I can't get the video/picture up...blogger's havin' problems.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Performance Review: Michael Jackson in The Wiz (1978)

As I move on to another, no quite so random Performance Review, I take a peculiar look at a performer not well associated with the medium of film. He's a somewhat recently deceased legend who has been one of largest icons of American music and overall culture with a near universal fan base. His contributions to pop culture and music were enormous, yet within the last twenty years he had been the butt of every perverted joke and had pretty much become a joke himself. But there was a different time once. A time when he made his only solid film appearance and was seen as a accomplished mature performer with some seriously unique talent -- both can be found in the imaginative, captivating performance given by...
----
Michael Jackson plays The Scarecrow, one of the first discoveries made by Dorothy (Diana Ross, sometimes surprisingly great in the role) once a blizzard sends her into the imaginary, bizarre world of Oz.
Dorothy finds Scarecrow in a big junk yard being harassed by a flock of creepy human-ish crows who surround the frightened man made out of garbage.
The crows tease and mock Scarecrow and ruin any shred of confidence he has left, as he wishes only to walk and experience an existence beyond being propped up on an old pole. And yet despite his dead-end situation, he quotes philosophers such as Socrates and Confucius (from his straw stuffing) looking for meaning and hope in his confusing, odd reality. He sings of his desperation in the catchy ballad, You Can't Win, before Dorothy offers him a helping hand.
She gives him a little confidence boost, suggesting that he can do anything he wants to with time and knowledge; but Scarecrow sadly admits that he doesn't have a brain. Dorothy asks for his company on her way to find The Wiz, as he can just maybe get Scarecrow the brain he always thought he never had.
So the two set off down the famous Yellow Brick Road, and get things pumpin' with the incredibly catchy Ease on Down the Road, singing and dancing all along the way. Jackson -- in his first and really only acting role -- seemed to be a interesting casting job. Only known for his hugely popular musical performances, Jackson was never really thought of as ever becoming an "actor", but rather a song and dance type of guy.
But this unusual, yet legendary role seems almost nearly tailor made for him. Jackson's once greatest gifts as a performer are used in full service to this childhood tale; superb musical talent, his unique child-like voice, his uncommonly vibrant charisma, and his limber physicality. When a big performer hits the screen, they usually have a bad habit of upstaging/or "scene-stealing" from both the other actors and the material -- none of this is ever even close to touching Jackson's performance. He is a prime example of the refreshing term known as a "scene-lifter"; when the actor prefers to elevate everything rather than take it all down with him. But still, Jackson actually acts in the film without coasting or wallowing in his charm, and the outcome is something simply extraordinary.
The novice actor puts so much feeling and texture into such a simple character that Scarecrow resonates in a surprising way. He even registers completely in scenes when the focus isn't totally on him; yet he still packs each close up or quick reaction shot in revelatory emotional states and character detail. Jackson's ever-consistent characterization works for his own arc as well as when actively interacting with the others around him. He's both always present "in the moment" and "in the character" and the heart, warmth, and dedication he pours into the role is visible in every frame.
Although nothing will ever best the original Wizard Of Oz, the Scarecrow character here is given more of a emotional journey as well as a intellectual one, and Jackson in every scene crafts his character's arc from this being who sees no hope to a new being who has experienced love and friendship as well as discovering his own gifted intelligence he had all along but just never saw it in himself.
It's all of this which make Scarecrow's last few moments so deeply touching, but there's still something else happening that extends beyond the actual film. The Wiz captures and showcases a time in Michael Jackson's own reality that is reflected in this soulful, emotionally textured performance -- a time that reflected the real Michael Jackson. The sweet, innocent and humble Jackson with the same radiant qualities infused into this character. Long before he became a controversial, creepy, living caricature of himself, who tried ever so hard to change who he was, because he missed or chose to ignore everything already had going for him; like the Scarecrow and his brain. The Wiz snapshots this truly genuine Michael at his most open and true, a time in his life that didn't last, but is forever frozen on celluloid. Something I don't think anyone could trade for. We are not just witnessing the Scarecrow's emotionally pungent transition, but the transitional loss of something beautiful and real.
Scarecrow recites one final line of true wisdom, not from a piece of paper, but from his heart:

"Success, fame, and fortune, they're all illusions.
All there is that is real is the friendship that two can share."

It's a beautiful statement, and one that couldn't have been more relevant to both the character and Jackson himself, as he lived a life filled with such illusions and emptiness until they overcame him to the point of no return. He had to rely on the tight bonds between he and others to keep going, and it only worked for so long. You can even hear such honesty in Jackson's voice -- as if he knows what's happening and just can't stop it.
Leave it to Michael Jackson and his actorly gifts to take an inanimate "object" and make him so poignantly human in nearly every way possible.
This is all why his performance isn't merely "special", but an extraordinary example of art, not simply imitating life, but beautifully reflecting it in cinematic form.