If you were trying to pick a tough category for me, Zahveed, you did a good job. 1997 is not a memorable year for nominees in this category, in my opinion. At the time I felt the Sweet Hereafter, the Ice Storm, Jackie Brown, Eve's Bayou and the Wings of the Dove deserved slots more than the five that ended up there. Ten years on, I have never revisited a single one of the five actual nominees in full; just in bits and pieces on television at most. Perhaps the answer I give should be the one I'd most like to rewatch in full today.
I suspect I'd make the most people happy by picking L.A. Confidential. But though I recognize craft in it, I never really took to it. It feels like a novel trying to be a film but failing to be particularly cinematic; it's rather hollow inside (like the town it's depicting, I suppose one might say, but still).
As Good As It Gets is an easy elimination; there's hardly a phonier film I can think of ever nominated in this category. Being in a theatre filled with laughing audience members while I sat there cringing away at practically every scene was its own kind of memorable I guess.
You know, I think I'd probably like to watch Titanic again the most. Despite its bloated length and simple-minded screenplay, it's got a good cast and is certainly the most cinematic of the options here, if in a kindof late-Cecil B. DeMille way. Perhaps if a 70mm print showed up at the Castro Theatre--oh, wait, one did last summer and I skipped it. I don't think I'm passionate about this film to use up my final pass on it.
The Full Monty was certainly harmless enough. Better than any of the copycats it inspired- at least the ones I've watched. I remember its gimmicky quality most of all, but upon further reflection of the film I recall that its portrayal of working-class Northerners was relatively free of the usual cliches. But I'd have to put up with all those crappy disco songs if I watched it again, wouldn't I?
And then there's Good Will Hunting, which I believe I was rooting for (knowing it had no chance of course) in this category at the time. I definitely liked it then, but in the intervening decade it has had a lot of negative baggage attached to it: the cesspool that Robin Williams' career fell into since winning the Oscar, the stardom of Matt & Ben (I have not caught up with either man's sole writing credit since 1997 despite hearing good things about them--Gone Baby Gone and Gerry in case you were wondering), the utter mediocrity of Finding Forrester, which in some ways feels like a pea from the same pod. It's hip to bash Good Will Hunting but is it because of its unfashionable genre- the "male weepie" or because it's a particularly insufferable example of the genre? I don't know, but I'd be more interested in finding out than in sitting through most of the rest of these choices. I'll go with it.
Cinemanolis: Best Actress, 1960
[PO] Penelope's Elimination Game
Ah! Anthony Hopkins' shot at a deserved Best Actor trophy dashed. Dashed! Rent ye 'The Remains of the Day'. Or 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' or 'In the Name of the Father' for that matter. I believe unless I'm mistaken that Tom Hanks is Oscarless now.
Are Steph and Akash's Oscar choices going to be revoked? I'm just wondering.
Edited By Sabin on 1204957492
Are Steph and Akash's Oscar choices going to be revoked? I'm just wondering.
Edited By Sabin on 1204957492
"How's the despair?"
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OscarGuy
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One of the easiest I'll ever have to make in this game.
The English Patient is lovely to look at, but I'm not going to be known as the guy to pass only on cinematography...and besides, I still consider it inferior to my choice in this category. Never saw Michael Collins or Fly Away Home and you guys know I'd never give an award to Fargo.
Evita is a sumptuous feast of color, lighting tricks and magic. I'd say this is one of the best aspects of the film overall.
To Zahveed: let's see what you do with Best Actor, 1993.
The English Patient is lovely to look at, but I'm not going to be known as the guy to pass only on cinematography...and besides, I still consider it inferior to my choice in this category. Never saw Michael Collins or Fly Away Home and you guys know I'd never give an award to Fargo.
Evita is a sumptuous feast of color, lighting tricks and magic. I'd say this is one of the best aspects of the film overall.
To Zahveed: let's see what you do with Best Actor, 1993.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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The Original BJ
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Woops, didn't realize I was holding this up.
Of the ladies I've seen, I'd have voted for Glenda Jackson easily. But I only have one pass left...and I can anticipate that there will likely be an Oscar I'd feel even worse about taking away in this game in the future.
I can't give it to Ali McGraw because...well....duh.
So I'll give it to Jane Alexander, an actress I've always liked who unfortunately never got the one role needed to carry her to Oscar glory.
OscarGuy: Best Cinematography, 1996.
Of the ladies I've seen, I'd have voted for Glenda Jackson easily. But I only have one pass left...and I can anticipate that there will likely be an Oscar I'd feel even worse about taking away in this game in the future.
I can't give it to Ali McGraw because...well....duh.
So I'll give it to Jane Alexander, an actress I've always liked who unfortunately never got the one role needed to carry her to Oscar glory.
OscarGuy: Best Cinematography, 1996.
Wow... I've only seen two of these. Haven't seen You Can't Take It With You but by all accounts it doesn't hold up well alongside Capra's classics, so it can go. The Adventures of Robin Hood is marvellous fun, far and away the most successful filming of the legend and a definitive Flynn movie. But I give it to La Grande Illusion, which while falling short of the brilliance and sharpness of Rules of the Game is still a fabulous movie, deeply affecting and quite devastating.
Original BJ (I think...) - Best Actress 1970
Original BJ (I think...) - Best Actress 1970
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FilmFan720
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What a fitting film to award today, in light of our recent events!Penelope wrote:I'm going to give it to Robert Preston who's both hilarious and heartfelt as the flamboyant Toddy in Victor/Victoria.
rudeboy: Best Picture, 1938.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
- Minor Myers, Jr.
This is actually a pretty good line-up. Louis Gossett Jr. is great in what is, admittedly, a clichéd role, but I'm going to take away his Oscar.flipp525 wrote:Pen: Best Supporting Actor, 1982.
I haven't seen The Verdict in years, but I'm sure James Mason was his usual terrific self; and since he already has a Peneloposcar, I'll look elsewhere in this category.
John Lithgow is wonderful in The World According to Garp, but the funny thing is that he's more believable as a woman than as a former football jock!
I'm really tempted to give this to Charles Durning, who steals The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with his showstopping "Sidestep," but I'm going to give it to Robert Preston who's both hilarious and heartfelt as the flamboyant Toddy in Victor/Victoria.
rudeboy: Best Picture, 1938.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Big Magilla
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Sorry guys…
I'm going to have to take away Humphrey Bogart's one and only Oscar. Perhaps he'll be rewarded elsewhere in this game and if not, oh well. He's not a particular favorite of mine anyway. There are too many other legendary performances in this category to consider. And as popular as Bogart was as the boozy riverboat handler sparring with Katherine Hepburn's uptight Christian missionary in The African Queen, I much prefer him as Audrey Hepburn's adoring, hapless suitor in Sabrina.
There is, of course, the initial urge to award Marlon Brando for his iconic (and, it must be said, homo-erotic) turn as the swaggering, blustery, dominant Stanley Kowalski and all he represents of the foreign element encroaching oh-so-barbarically(!) on the Southern gentility embodied by the cobwebby, bare-bulb-fearing Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. And I'm a huge Tennesse Williams fan, too. To make awards history by awarding one film with all the acting Oscars is also tempting, although I suspect Malden and Hunter may lose theirs' somewhere else (who, in god's name, took away Leigh's award? Blashpheme!).
I've never seen the Frederic March version of Death of a Salesman, although I was considering ordering it on that rare movie site that was posted a couple months back.
So it's between Arthur Kennedy and Montgomery Clift. I really love Kennedy's performance in Bright Victory. It's brave, emotional and satisfying, managing to hit all the right notes along the way as a man coping with the devastation of blindness. The film is also a fairly unsentimental look at the plight of returning veterans who are now physically-impaired.
All that said, I simply can't pass up the opportunity to award good ole Monty, one of the most natural, haunting and, even in the role of a murderer, sympathetic actors I've ever encountered. As iconic as the scene is of Stanley Kowalski screaming "Stella!" up at the staircase in the pouring rain , I think Clift's encounter with Liz Taylor in the billiards room in A Place in the Sun leaves far more of a lasting impression. Clift finds the perfect escalation for his character whose desire for another kind of life forces him to commit a horrible crime. A harmless social-climber becomes an emotion-less killer, yet Clift never loses the humanity of his character. It's a wonderful performance from a truly gifted actor.
As an interesting and serendipitous sidenote, I just read an article in The Washington Post this morning about Chester Gillette whose fate provided the inspiration for Montgomery Clift's character in A Place in the Sun (as well as Dreiser's brilliant source material). Gillette was sort of the original Scott Peterson, if you will. We are coming up on the centennial anniversary of Gillette's execution for the murder of his pregnant lover, Grace Brown (the Shelley Winters character in the film, a decidedly supporting performance I might add). His prison diaries were recently published. Gillette's supposed religious conversion as witnessed through his journals was arguably for the sake of appearances had he been granted another trial. However, some critics cite it as a genuninely religious epiphany. Interesting read nonetheless.
Any fans of A Place in the Sun should definitely check out the Dreiser novel An American Tragedy from which the film is based. It was a story perfectly suited to Dreiser's naturalistic view of the world. As a newspaperman, Dreiser often sifted through the periodicals for story ideas.
Pen: Best Supporting Actor, 1982.
Edited By flipp525 on 1204758474
I'm going to have to take away Humphrey Bogart's one and only Oscar. Perhaps he'll be rewarded elsewhere in this game and if not, oh well. He's not a particular favorite of mine anyway. There are too many other legendary performances in this category to consider. And as popular as Bogart was as the boozy riverboat handler sparring with Katherine Hepburn's uptight Christian missionary in The African Queen, I much prefer him as Audrey Hepburn's adoring, hapless suitor in Sabrina.
There is, of course, the initial urge to award Marlon Brando for his iconic (and, it must be said, homo-erotic) turn as the swaggering, blustery, dominant Stanley Kowalski and all he represents of the foreign element encroaching oh-so-barbarically(!) on the Southern gentility embodied by the cobwebby, bare-bulb-fearing Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. And I'm a huge Tennesse Williams fan, too. To make awards history by awarding one film with all the acting Oscars is also tempting, although I suspect Malden and Hunter may lose theirs' somewhere else (who, in god's name, took away Leigh's award? Blashpheme!).
I've never seen the Frederic March version of Death of a Salesman, although I was considering ordering it on that rare movie site that was posted a couple months back.
So it's between Arthur Kennedy and Montgomery Clift. I really love Kennedy's performance in Bright Victory. It's brave, emotional and satisfying, managing to hit all the right notes along the way as a man coping with the devastation of blindness. The film is also a fairly unsentimental look at the plight of returning veterans who are now physically-impaired.
All that said, I simply can't pass up the opportunity to award good ole Monty, one of the most natural, haunting and, even in the role of a murderer, sympathetic actors I've ever encountered. As iconic as the scene is of Stanley Kowalski screaming "Stella!" up at the staircase in the pouring rain , I think Clift's encounter with Liz Taylor in the billiards room in A Place in the Sun leaves far more of a lasting impression. Clift finds the perfect escalation for his character whose desire for another kind of life forces him to commit a horrible crime. A harmless social-climber becomes an emotion-less killer, yet Clift never loses the humanity of his character. It's a wonderful performance from a truly gifted actor.
As an interesting and serendipitous sidenote, I just read an article in The Washington Post this morning about Chester Gillette whose fate provided the inspiration for Montgomery Clift's character in A Place in the Sun (as well as Dreiser's brilliant source material). Gillette was sort of the original Scott Peterson, if you will. We are coming up on the centennial anniversary of Gillette's execution for the murder of his pregnant lover, Grace Brown (the Shelley Winters character in the film, a decidedly supporting performance I might add). His prison diaries were recently published. Gillette's supposed religious conversion as witnessed through his journals was arguably for the sake of appearances had he been granted another trial. However, some critics cite it as a genuninely religious epiphany. Interesting read nonetheless.
Any fans of A Place in the Sun should definitely check out the Dreiser novel An American Tragedy from which the film is based. It was a story perfectly suited to Dreiser's naturalistic view of the world. As a newspaperman, Dreiser often sifted through the periodicals for story ideas.
Pen: Best Supporting Actor, 1982.
Edited By flipp525 on 1204758474
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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MovieWes
- Professor
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Dropping out for a while. Got lots of work to do and don't have time to check up regularly to see if my turn is up.
I just have one request -- please leave Lawrence of Arabia alone! :;):
I just have one request -- please leave Lawrence of Arabia alone! :;):
"Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution." -- Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)