skimpole

What about the female leads in Ishtar and Wings of Desire? I'm inclined to think lead/supporting and supporting.

I saw six movies this week. A Thousand Clowns, like many prominent movies of the fifties and sixties, was based on a play. I wonder whether my lack of enthusiasm for it is because it too rigidly follows the contours and beats of a play, or because the play itself isn't very good. It may be the latter, since we're basically waiting for Jason Robards to be more responsible, but in the meantime he gets to fool around with Barbara Harris instead of immediately following killjoy William Daniels' advice. Sid and Nancy is a grueling film, a sort of movie of what it's like to be in a pathological relationship when you're too addicted to act either responsibly or remotely competently. Certainly, it doesn't put the best light on the punk scene, which is musically more interesting than one might gather from the film. Camp de Thiaroye is an African film from the famed director Osmane Sembene. It deals with a mutiny by French African soldiers fed up with their mistreatment near the end of the second world war and brutally crushed by the French. It's an interesting film, though I saw it under awkward conditions. The film is in French, the youtube video had Portuguese subtitles, and the auto-translate back into English had a 30 second delay. Weary River a silent film that was sort of converted into a sound film which deals with a thug who finds redemption as a singer of sorts, did not leave much of an impression on me. The Young in Heart is an amusing trifle with Janet Gaynor, Roland Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Billie Burke all giving good performances as a conman and woman family who are redeemed by the old woman they hope to scam Finally, I am Not Your Negro is a documentary in which the words of James Baldwin, as read by Samuel L. Jackson, are played in a background of America's racism problem. Some of this is effective, and some of it is eloquent. But it doesn't get to the heart of conservative self-justification that racism basically ended after the Voting Rights Act was passed and that any problems are the fault of liberals or of African-Americans themselves. One needs a sharper scalpel these days.

Actor Erland Josephson, The Sacrifice Michael Rooker, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Kyle McLachlan, Blue Velvet Tom Waits, Down by Law Robert De Niro, The Mission Runner-ups: John Cleese (Clockwise), Denis Lavant (Mauvais Sang), Jeff Goldblum (The Fly), James Woods (Salvador), Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters), Sean Connery (The Name of the Rose), Eddie O'Connell (Absolute Beginners), John Lurie (Down by Law), Jeremy Irons (The Mission), Wang-Chien Wen (Dust in the Wind), Tseshang Rigzin (The Horse Thief), Danny DeVito (Ruthless People), Nigel Terry (Caravaggio), David Bowie (Labyrinth), River Phoenix (Stand by Me), Gary Oldman (Sid and Nancy), Charlie Sheen (Platoon), Jeff Daniels (Something Wild), Andrei Boltnev (My Friend Ivan Lapshin), Julian Sands (A Room with a View), Actress Sigourney Weaver, Aliens Marie Riviere, Summer# Patsy Kensit, Absolute Beginners Tracy Camilla Jones, She's Gotta Have it Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet #Also known as The Green Ray Runner-ups: Geena Davis (The Fly), Xin Shufen (Dust in the Wind), Helena Bonham-Carter (A Room with a View), Giulietta Massina (Ginger and Fred), Chloe Webb (Sid and Nancy), Mia Farrow (Hannah and Her Sisters), Barbara Sukowa (Rosa Luxemburg), Whoopi Goldberg (Jumpin' Jack Flash), Jennifer Connelly (Labyrinth), Helena Bonham-Carter (Lady Jane), Bette Midler (Ruthless People), Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God), Supporting Actor Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters Roberto Benigni, Down by Law Lance Henriksen, Aliens Dean Stockwell, Blue Velvet Runner-ups: Tommy Redmond Hicks (She's Gotta Have it), Paul Reiser (Aliens), Spike Lee (She's Gotta Have it), Daniel Day-Lewis (A Room with a View), Tom Towles (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), Michel Piccoli (Mauvais Sang), Bill Paxton (Aliens), Max von Sydow (Hannah and Her Sisters), Michael Biehn (Aliens), Tom Berenger (Platoon), Willem Dafoe (Platoon), Denholm Elliott (A Room with a View), Dennis Hopper (River's Edge), John Canada Terrell (She's Gotta Have it), Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), John Wood (Lady Jane), Ray McAnally (The Mission), Allan Edwall (The Sacrifice), F. Murray Abraham (The Name of the Rose), Michael Lonsdale (The Name of the Rose), James Fox (Absolute Beginners), David Bowie (Absolute Beginners), Supporting Actress Laura Dern, Blue Velvet Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters Tilda Swinton, Caravaggio Juliette Binoche, Mauvais Sang Meg Ryan, Top Gun Runner-ups: Guorun Gisladootir (The Sacrifice), Maggie Smith (A Room with a View), Carrie Hehn (Aliens)*, Jenette Goldstein (Aliens), Tracy Arnold (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), Susan Fleetwood (The Sacrifice), Barbara Hershey (Hannah and Her Sisters), Beatrice Romand (Summer/The Green Ray), I.0.ne Skye (River's Edge), Nicoletta Braschi (Down by Law), Hope Lange (Blue Velvet), *Juvenile performance of the year Not seen: Round Midnight, Mona Lisa, The Morning After, Crimes of the Heart, Peggy Sue Got Married, Hoosiers -------Blue Velvet joins Reds and Paris, Texas to get nominations in all four acting categories. -------Why is it so hard to type Ms. Skye's first name?

1982 Pink Floyd: the Wall Gandhi Fitzcarraldo Missing Blade Runner L’Enfant Secret Diner Koyaanisquatsi—Life out of Balance The Verdict Victor/Victoria Runner ups: The Night of the Shooting Stars, Yol, Passion, Tootsie 1983 Fanny and Alexander The Man with two Brains Sans Soleil L’Argent Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life The King of Comedy The South The Right Stuff Nostalghia The Ballad of Narayama Runner ups: Zelig, Videodrome, Twice upon a Time, The Ship Sails On, My Brother's Wedding, Pauline at the Beach, City of Pirates 1984 Splash Paris, Texas Stop Making Sense All of Me The Wannsee Conference The Legend of Suram Fortress Once Upon a Time in America The Killing Fields The Cotton Club Birdy Runner-ups: Broadway Danny Rose, Love Streams 1985 Shoah Brazil Come and See Ran Back to the Future Clue Tampopo Hail Mary Manoel on the Island of Wonders/Manoel’s Destinies Almanac of Fall Runner-ups: The Official Story, A Time to Live and A Time to Die 1986 Aliens Summer Blue Velvet The Sacrifice Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer The Horse Thief The Mission Absolute Beginners Mauvais Sang She’s Gotta Have it Runner ups: Sherman's March, Down by Law, Mammame, Dust in the Wind, River's Edge, Platoon.

My best actress this year was Norma Aleandro in The Official Story. The movie won the oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, while Aleandro won the Best Actress prize at Cannes. The movie is about a teacher, in her forties, living under the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, She has adapted a baby, now a charming four year old and becomes curious whether the daughter was actually stolen from a murdered political prisoner, since such murders, and such thefts were quite common under the regime. Aleandro herself spent the dictatorship in exile in Spain. Her performance, notwithstanding the subject matter, is a reserved subtle one.

I nominated Myrem Roussel for best actress in Hail Mary. Here is more on the movie from Studies in Cinema blogspot: When Jean-Luc Godard's 1985 film Hail Mary (Je vous salue, Marie) was initially released, it set off a firestorm of protest. According to an article in a contemporary issue of Film Quarterly, the film was met with everything from "the Pope's Vatican Radio denunciations and Italian magazine covers depicting barebreasted blondes on crucifixes, to Catholics lighting candles and shaking rosaries outside offending theaters." The film was banned and the subject of boycotts, and religious leaders worldwide deemed it blasphemous (the above quote, which the DVD displays almost as a badge of honor on its cover, is just one example). But what was at the heart of the controversy? Why all this fuss? First and foremost, there was the plot. Godard's film is a modern day retelling of the virgin birth. Here, Mary (Myriem Roussel) is a basketball-playing high school student who works at her father's gas station. Her boyfriend, Joseph (Thierry Rode), is a school drop-out who drives a cab. Mary suddenly becomes pregnant. But she's a virgin. How can this be? Predictably, Joseph is not exactly thrilled by this news. Rather, as would be expected, he is confused, suspicious and, at times, angry. The angel Gabriel (Philippe Lacoste), arriving via airplane, tries to provide some reassurance, but the situation is not an easy one for Mary, Joseph and their friends and family. How does a young girl like this cope with such a thing, and how does this sudden revelation affect her life, her worldview and her relationships? These are the more reflective issues explored by Hail Mary. But to some, these ideas—indeed this very story—are not to be tampered with. Instead of seeing the film as a unique way in which to examine what such an occurrence would mean for those involved, instead of seeing the evolution of young Mary from average teenager to sacred vessel as one of deep religious transformation, many saw it easier to dismiss the film immediately, often sight unseen. Adding to the objections was the considerable amount of nudity in the film. Roussel was well into her twenties by this point, so she wasn't really a teenager, thus her age shouldn't have been a factor. But perhaps the idea of seeing this present-day virgin mother naked was too much for some. However, in all reality, the nudity makes perfect sense. Here you have a young, chaste girl inexplicably with child. Doesn't it stand to reason that her body would be of the utmost importance? Wouldn't it be natural for her to therefore appear naked when she questions and examines her predicament? Or, take it from Joseph's angle. He hasn't touched her. Has someone else? Is she lying? ("I'm pregnant but still a virgin" would be a pretty tough declaration to go along with.) Obviously her body is now sacred, but Joseph is after all a young man. He probably has desires as would any other. Maybe he could at least see her naked? In any event, Hail Mary was met with its fair share of detractors. And as such, many people have not seen the picture. Most have probably never even heard of it. But it's a worthwhile film, one that, if nothing else, should elicit some discussion and consideration. If one can step back from the sacredness of the Biblical text and just look at the film for what it is and what it presents there are moments of tremendous power to be discovered, even for nonbelievers or those of another belief. Hail Mary speculates on a great number of issues pertaining to the nature of faith, of human interaction and of how potential or actual holiness can situate itself in a contemporary world. This being a Godard film, none of this is simplistically spelled out, but it is there. Hail Mary could be placed roughly in the middle of Godard's third phase of filmmaking. This is nearly two decades after his "French New Wave" days and years after his overtly political video experimentations and his Dziga Vertov period of filmmaking in the 1970s. By this point in his career, Godard was in the midst of a return of sorts to more narrative but nonetheless radically inventive productions. Such blatant religiousness was rare though. There was occasional religious imagery in his films, and the irregular quote alluding provocatively to religion would pop up (from Weekend (1967): "Didn't you hear what he said? Marx says we're all brothers!" "Marx didn't say that. Some other communist said that. Jesus said that."), but there was nothing like this. Later though, in his multi-part Histoire(s) du Cinéma (1988-98) this passage stands out: "Cinema, like Christianity, isn’t grounded in historical truth. It tells a story and says, 'Now, believe.' Not 'Have faith in this story as you do in history,' but 'Believe, whatever happens.'" Godard himself was raised Protestant, but at the time of Hail Mary he no longer practiced. However, as he said in the aforementioned Film Quarterly, "I'm very interested in Catholicism. I think there's something so strong in the way the Bible was written, how it speaks of events that are happening today, how it contains statements about things which have happened in the past. I think, well – it's a great book!" He continues, "And somehow I think we need faith, or I need faith, or I'm lacking faith. Therefore maybe I needed a story which is bigger than myself." Hardly the words of one who is seeking to wound the religious sentiments of believers. Ultimately, Hail Mary joins the ranks of films like the groundbreaking The Miracle (1948) made in years previous and such works as The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Passion of the Christ (2004) and even Dogma (1999) made since; it is a film of significant meaning and remarkable artistry, but one that tends to get obscured by a controversy that, in all reality, was relatively isolated and, in time, proved to be rather reactionary. If you're looking for something different to watch this time of year, Hail Mary would certainly be a bold selection, but a worthy one. As a side note though, if you're seeking a more conventionally religious film, one still presented in an innovative fashion by a most unlikely of filmmakers, Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), which I've written on before, would be another recommendation.

I want to say more about Almanac of Fall, which got a nomination from me for Best Actress. Here I'm quoting from the review by Jonathan Rosenbaum: The plot and characters of Almanac of Fall are crystal clear. All of the action takes place in the roomy apartment of Hedi (Hedi Temessy), an elderly woman who lives with her son Janos (Janos Derzsi) and her nurse Anna (Erika Bodnar). A recent addition to the household is Miklos (Miklos B. Szekely), Anna’s lover; another recent addition is Pal (Pal Hetenyi), Janos’s former and now unemployed schoolmaster, who moves in at Janos’s insistence. The main issue for all five characters is money, which Hedi has and the other four characters want. The relations between them are often edgy and quarrelsome and at times even violent, although at the outset, Anna gets along quite well with Hedi, serving as a friend as well as a nurse. The action proceeds mainly through a series of dialogues between two characters at a time, in or between various rooms, during which they either form temporary alliances or engage in conflicts: Anna speaks to Miklos in their bedroom, Hedi and Janos quarrel about money in the living room, Anna in the kitchen addresses Hedi in the bathroom, and so on. Over the course of the film, Anna sleeps with all three men, and Pal, desperate to pay back a loan, steals and pawns Hedi’s gold bracelet, an act that eventually unites the other four characters against him. Most of the time, each character seems to be acting on his or her own behalf, conspiring against the others; the emotional climate is Strindbergian, reflecting a continual series of power struggles, and it suggests at times the films of John Cassavetes in its intensity. The amount of time that passes over the course of the film is somewhat ambiguous; scenes usually follow one another abruptly, without much sense of how much time has passed between them. The writing and acting are sufficiently controlled and effective to give this story a strong dramatic appeal, but what gives the film its greatest interest is Tarr’s elaborately choreographed mise en scène: he treats every scene as an individually shaped and sculpted set piece. This is also the case in Damnation, where the plot is much more minimal (a recluse in love with a singer gets her husband involved in a smuggling scheme so that he can spend time with her), and the mise en scène is more systematically blocked out and structured in lengthy takes. The two films are quite different in other respects. Damnation is in black and white and steeped in gloomy atmospherics (in exterior shots rain, fog, mud, and stray dogs, and in interiors lots of murk and decay). Almanac of Fall is in color and has the dramatic economy of a tightly scripted play. But the two films have one striking thing in common: the story and the mise en scène are constructed in counterpoint to one another, like the separate melodic lines in a fugue. In Damnation, this sometimes has the effect of making the story seem an afterthought, or at least a secondary element. A very slow camera movement proceeds through a given setting for no apparent reason apart from conjuring up a mood and creating a powerful sensation of formal suspense, similar to the look and effect of such camera movements in Tarkovsky films like Solaris and Stalker; then, toward the end of the sequence, something will appear in the shot or on the sound track that will retroactively connect this scene with the preceding story. The mise en scène in Almanac of Fall, by contrast, is rarely used to suspend our perception of the plot; but it frequently has the effect of following a distinct agenda of its own. Another way of describing this process would be to say that in conventional movies, the action usually represents a precise congruence between what the characters do and what the camera does; in Damnation and Almanac of Fall, where the congruence is not precise, the “action” consists of what the characters and the camera do in relation to one another — creating a set of shifting power relationships every bit as intricate as the shifting power relationships between the characters. One of the most beautiful aspects of Tarr’s mise en scène is a recurring lighting scheme: most areas in a given shot are divided between blue gray and orange red, isolating the characters from one another in the process. There doesn’t appear to be anything systematic or programmatic about the color coding of various characters and spaces; it differs from scene to scene (Bela Tarr is much more of an artist than Peter Greenaway), and its use is much too varied and expressive to register as a simple manneristic device. (Although the lighting is usually plotted in relation to the actors, the division of colors isn’t absolute; a character bathed in blue light might be outlined in orange, for instance.) Some of the unorthodox camera angles, like those of Raul Ruiz, provide disturbingly uncanny and nonhuman vantage points on the action: in some scenes in the bathroom, the camera peers down at the characters from a point somewhere near the ceiling, and in one startling and violent scene in the kitchen, the wide-angle camera peers up at them through a transparent floor. (Because the camera is some distance below the floor, the characters seem to be floating eerily in midair, like astronauts frozen in free-fall.) More often, the camera frames the actors at eye level from a certain distance while moving slowly past or around them — glimpsing them from outside the apartment through a succession of windows, or gliding between them so that their relationships to each other and to the frame are in continual flux. Reflections in mirrors and in other kinds of glass are often ingeniously incorporated; a dialogue between Janos and Miklos is framed in such a way that, thanks to double reflections, they appear to be simultaneously facing and looking away from each other, so that we get the equivalent of both an angle and its reverse angle within the same shot. Some of the elaborate staging helps alert us to the characters’ hidden agendas and duplicitous motives, almost as if the camera were whispering to us about the scene, adding to the overall paranoid and conspiratorial atmosphere. But at other times this mise en scène seems to express a certain detachment toward the characters that borders on contempt or indifference — it pursues a distracted path of its own that has little to do with them. This is especially true in the final sequence, when the camera, moving around a festive banquet to the strains of a Hungarian version of “Que sera, sera,” is only intermittently attentive to what the characters are doing. Here, as in Damnation, Tarr’s approach ultimately becomes a set of strategies for creating or locating various kinds of movement within stasis, and freedom within confinement. Should his approach be read in political and allegorical terms, as a direct or indirect statement about the rigidity of life under Hungarian communism? Certainly it can be read that way — a veritable cottage industry has grown up out of interpreting the elaborate camera movements in Jancso’s films in an analogous fashion. But applying this interpretation to Damnation and Almanac of Fall as a literal skeleton key to their meanings seems both facile and needlessly simplistic. It’s part of these films’ beauty and fascination that they don’t have to be read this way in order for them to breathe, function, and speak to us. (All American films are about America — and a strict ideological reading might say that they’re all about capitalism, too — but it’s surely reductive to limit the range of their meanings to this notion.) With or without the Hungarian context, Almanac of Fall is a riveting experience.

What about Down by Law?

What about Stand by Me?

More quotes from 1985 The Quiet Earth [Aiming a shotgun at a crucifix] Zac Hobson: If you don't come out I'll shoot the kid! Back to the Future Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads Clue They all did it. But if you wanna know who killed Mr. Boddy, I did. In the hall. With the revolver. Okay, Chief, take 'em away. I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife. Wadsworth: You *were* jealous that your husband was **** Yvette. That's why you killed him, too! Mrs. White: Yes. Yes, I did it. I killed Yvette. I hated her, so much... [stammers] Mrs. White: it-it- the f - it -flam - flames. Flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breathl- heaving breaths. Heaving breaths... Heathing... Wadsworth: The game's up, Scarlet. There are no more bullets left in that gun. Miss Scarlet: Oh, come on, you don't think I'm gonna fall for that old trick? Wadsworth: It's not a trick. There was one shot at Mr. Boddy in the Study; two for the chandelier; two at the Lounge door and one for the singing telegram. Miss Scarlet: That's not six. Wadsworth: One plus two plus two plus one. Miss Scarlet: Uh-uh, there was only one shot that got the chandelier. That's one plus two plus *one* plus one. Wadsworth: Even if you were right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus *two* plus one plus one. Miss Scarlet: Okay, fine. One plus two plus one... Shut up! The point is, there is one bullet left in this gun and guess who's gonna get it! Shoah If you licked my heart, it would poison you. Brazil Sam Lowry: You don't exist anymore. I've killed you. [(Shows picture of Jill Layton's file with the words "DELETE" on it] Jill Layton is dead. Jill Layton: [smiles] Care for a little necro-----? Hmmm?

IMDB gives it a February 1986 premiere in both America and Britain.

I saw six movies this week. The first four fall into the category of better than expected. The New Land is, of course, a sequel to The Emigrants, and I wondered when it started do we really need to spend three and a half hours on Von Sydow and Ullmann slogging it in Minnesota? Certainly some of it doesn't go well, such as the endless subplot involving the brother who goes out West. But if not as insightful as The Tree of Wooden Clogs, it does have a certain power as it proceeds. A Pocketful of Miracles was Frank Capra's last movie. I'm not the biggest Capra fan, and the story is arguably a trifle. But it does work on its own terms. It's nice to see Edward Everett Horton again, and also Thomas Mitchell (if only for the last time). Bette Davis doesn't have the big role she could have, but Glenn Ford and Hope Lange don't make a bad couple. Hidden Figures is better than its audience pleasing plot might suggest. Henson is very good, and we get to see a The Life of Louis Pasteur/Dr. Erlich's Magic Bullet plot only involving women, angular geometry, and segregation. Is it as good as The Right Stuff? No, not remotely. But it's better than Apollo 13. The Sea Wolf is a good yarn with Edward G. Robinson lording it over his ship. Elle starts out well. Isabelle Huppert gives a remarkable performance, arguably the best actress of 2016 I've seen so far. (Playing a woman more than a decade younger than her is the least of her abilities.) But it could be trimmed for ten to twenty minutes. Moreover, once we realize why Huppert is acting the way she is, the explanation appears a bit facile. Finally, Manchester by the Sea is the best movie of the week, and the best of the seven best picture nominees I've seen. It's intelligent, thoughtful, funny, nuanced and at times genuinely touching. Casey Affleck is very good indeed, and one wishes there was more of Michelle Williams that her second billing would suggest. It's more morally complex than Moonlight and more profound than La La Land.

Actor Jonathan Pryce, Brazil Tatsuya Nakadi, Ran Tim Curry, Clue James Woods, Joshua Then and Now Aleksey Kravchenko*, Come and See Runner-ups: Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future), Chevy Chase (Fletch), Tsutomu Yamazaki (Tampopo), Harrison Ford (Witness), Robert Redford (Out of Africa), Jack Nicholson (Prizzi's Honor), Bruno Lawrence (The Quiet Earth), Ruben de Freitas (Manoel's Destinies), Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taipei Story), Yu An-Shun (The Time to Live and the Time to Die), William Peterson (To Live and Die in L.A.), John Pankow (To Live and Die in L.A.) *Juvenile performance of the year Actress Norma Aleandro, The Official Story Nobuko Miyomoto, Tampopo Sandrine Bonnaire, Vagabond Hedi Temessy, Almanac of Fall Myrem Roussel, Hail Mary Runner-ups: Meryl Streep (Out of Africa), Kathleen Turner (Prizzi's Honor), Alison Routledge (The Quiet Earth), Lori Laughlin (Secret Admirer), Gabrielle Lazure (Joshua Then and Now), Mia Farrow (The Purple Rose of Cairo), Tsai Chin (Taipei Story), Supporting Actor Michael Palin, Brazil Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future Hisashi Igawa, Ran Jinpachi Nezu, Ran Joe Don Baker, Fletch Runner-ups: Michael McKean (Clue), Martin Moll (Clue), Christopher Lloyd (Clue), Robert De Niro (Brazil), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future), Bob Hoskins (Brazil), Tim Matheson (Fletch), Peter Smith (The Quiet Earth), Alan Arkin (Joshua Then and Now), Ian Holm (Brazil), Peter Vaughan (Brazil), Willem Defoe (To Live and Die in L.A.), Roddy McDowall (Fright Night), William Hickey (Prizzi's Honor), Danny Aiello (The Purple Rose of Cairo), Anthony Higgins (Young Sherlock Holmes), Supporting Actress Mieko Harada, Ran Madeleine Kahn, Clue Angelica Huston, Prizzi's Honor Aurelie Chazelle, Manoel's Destinies Macha Meril, Vagabond Runner-ups: Lesley Ann Warren (Clue), Eileen Brennan (Clue), Lea Thompson (Back to the Future), Katherine Helmond (Brazil), Erika Bodnar (Almanac of Fall), Aurore Clement (Hail Mary), Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club), Kim Greist (Brazil), Olga Mironova (Come and See), Rebecca Hampton (Hail Mary), Analia Castro (The Official Story), Not seen: Murphy's Romance, Agnes of God, Sweet Dreams, Jagged Edge, Twice in a Lifetime -------After no foreign language nominees last year, now we have 12. -------There are three years which have two movies on my all time top ten. 1985 is the third and least impressive of these three years. -------Clement and Hampton's presence is odd, since they don't actually star in the movie: they star in a short movie called "The Book of Mary" that is always shown with the movie.

That Spielberg wasn't nominated for best director may have been a kiss of death. (Though one does wonder why Driving Miss Daisy did much better). In a sense this may have been unfair (Weir isn't a better director, and Kiss of the Spider Woman isn't really a good movie.)

It's already been pointed out that The Shawshank Redemption wasn't the alternative in 1994. Unforgiven and Schindler's List won the majority of the critics groups. I don't think The Crying Game was the 1992 alternative: either Howard's End or The Player was. And I think The Pianist was the alternative in 2002. Gandhi was clearly less successful financially and more successfully critically than E.T. One would think Out of Africa would be less successful than The Color Purple. I don't think Chariots of Fire, Shakespeare in Love, Crash, Argo and Spotlight, to name the five most surprising choices since 1980, was either the critical or financial success.

Here's one blog post that prefers Stewart to Grant (not my opinion, but still worth considering): http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.ca/2008/05/savoring-stewart_21.html

Quotes from 1984 Paris, Texas ----I wanted to see him so bad that I didn't even dare imagine him anymore. Splash Allen: Hi. Is everything okay? Madison: Yeah. Allen: Why wouldn't you let me in [the bathroom: he thinks she's taking a bath, she's bathing as part of being a mermaid]? Madison: I was... shy. Allen: You were shy? After the cab, the elevator, and on top of the refrigerator, you were shy? Madison: I was shy. Allen: [to himself] She was shy.

I saw five movies this week. The Hasty Heart is one of three Ronald Reagan movies that were nominated for a major Oscar. It's based on a British play, which is why it uses a common British trope--the stage Scotsman--which plays oddly in America, where Scottish people have been part of the ruling class since the beginning of the country. Reagan, who I didn't immediately recognize because his voice was distinctly different from his politician years, is nothing special, and the drama is basically a war weepie, which includes a silly bit about soldiers wondering what's under a kilt. Love Me or Leave Me basically consists of James Cagney and Doris Day being miserable for two hours. That's close to the real life people the movie is based on, and Days sings well and is very attractive. On the other hand whoever thought it was a good idea to have her sing "Shaking the Blues Away" after Ann Miller did the same number so memorably in Easter Parade was not doing her any favors. And the unhappy relationship does contribute to Day's aura of sexlessness, which has always made her a tough sell for me as a romantic actress. Madame Curie is the fourth biopic I've seen of a major scientist over a ten year period. Garson does a better job being beautiful and dignified than being a great scientist. But that doesn't mean she doesn't try. Likewise Walter Pidgeon is nobody's idea of a great romantic lead, but the absent minded professor role does suit his abilities, such as they are, fairly well. There are probably more profound things one could say about the Curies (Garson's last award winning speech is just empty Hollywood rhetoric), but this isn't a bad job. The Salesman is the best movie from 2016 I've seen so far. It takes some time for the plot about an artistic couple (they're performing a version of 'Death of a Salesman') whose lives are cursed by an intruder. But it does move its way to a powerful climax. There are other performances I should check out, but so far Shahab Hosseini is my choice for Best Actor of the year. Hail Mary comes from Godard's second run of narrative movies (the first run ended with Weekend, and the second began with Every Man for Himself). It's certainly not a conventional narrative as the movie adapts the Birth narrative with Mary and Joseph. There is plentiful use of Bach and Dvorak, a host of literary allusions, plus a lot of nudity, which seeming to support Christian orthodoxy right up to the very end, where Mary puts on red lipstick. I found it quite enjoyable, the most so far of his post Weekend work.

Actor Tom Hanks, Splash Harry Dean Stanton, Paris, Texas Steve Martin, All of Me Robert De Niro, Once Upon a Time in America Bill Murray, Ghostbusters Runner-ups: F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus), John Cassavetes (Love Streams), Haing S, Ngor (The Killing Fields), Sam Waterson (The Killing Fields), Matthew Modine (Birdy), Nicolas Cage (Birdy), Prince (Purple Rain), Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose), Keith Carradine (Choose Me), Tom Hulce (Amadeus), John Lurie (Stranger than Paradise), Albert Finney (Under the Volcano), Anthony Hopkins (The Bounty), Dietrich Mattausch (The Wannsee Conference), Kurt Russell (Swing Shift), Steve Martin (The Lonely Guy), Actress Daryl Hannah, Splash Natassja Kinski, Paris, Texas Lily Tomlin, All of Me Gena Rowlands, Love Streams Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose Runner-ups: Genevieve Bujold (Choose Me), Lesley Ann Warren (Choose Me), Goldie Hawn (Swing Shift), Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters), Apollonia Kotero (Purple Rain), Marita Breur (Heimat), Rita Letourneau (The Crime of Ovide Plouffe), Pascale Ogier (Full Moon in Paris), Diane Lane (The Cotton Club), Phoebe Cates (Gremlins) Supporting Actor James Woods, Once Upon a Time in America Dean Stockwell, Paris, Texas Rupert Hines, The Cotton Club M. Emmet Walsh, Blood Simple Ralph Richardson, Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Runner-ups: John Candy (Splash), Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters), Hunter Carson (Paris, Texas)*, Bob Hoskins (The Cotton Club), Dan Hedaya (Blood Simple), Eugene Levy (Splash), Morris Day (Purple Rain), Peter Fitz (The Wannsee Conference), Fred Gwynne (The Cotton Club), Richard Edson (Stranger than Paradise), Roy Chiao (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), Jose Ferrer (Dune), Jorge Hube (Heimat), Jeffrey Jones (Amadeus), Patrick Bachau (Choose Me), Dean Stockwell (Dune), Donald Pilon (The Crime of Ovide Plouffe), Richard Libertini (All of Me), Kevin McMillan (Dune), Maurice Hines (The Cotton Club), Laurence Fishburne (The Cotton Club) *Juvenile Performance of the Year Supporting Actress Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India Aurore Clement, Paris, Texas Eszter Balint, Stranger than Paradise Elizabeth McGovern, Once Upon a Time in America Angela Lansbury, The Company of Wolves Runner-ups: Chistine Lathi (Swing Shift), Victoria Tennant (All of Me), Jennifer Connelly (Once upon a time in America), Jacqueline Bisset (Under the Volcano), Elizabeth Berridge (Amadeus), Lonette McKee (The Cotton Club), Tuesday Weld (Once Upon a Time in America) Not seen: Country, The Bostonians, The River, The Karate Kid, The Pope of Greenwich Village --------For the first time since 1946, all 20 acting nominees are in English-language movies, notwithstanding the presence of films by Leone and Wenders among them.

I rewatched the film last night. Hines certainly gives the better performance. But Lane as Gere's girlfriend is more important than Hines' and Gere is more involved in the movie with the Dutch Schultz subplot and his brother as aspiring mobster. So I'm going with Hines as supporting.

What about The Cotton Club? Is Gere the only lead?

I think you're missing a movie. Sugar Cane Alley isn't a Modine/Wright movie.

Here are some romantic photos from television series. TV series are almost invariably less professional than great movies, but they do have the advantage of length and thereby providing nuance and depth to a romance (along with a lot a predictable chaff). Wings Friends http://images2.fanpop.com/images/soapbox/friends_5514_top.jpg?cache=1223694099 Baby Daddy

Moving into the sixties and seventies Two for the Road A Woman Under the Influence

Quotes from 1983 Fanny and Alexander You will never be free from me. L'Argent If I were God, I'd forgive everyone. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life O Lord! Ooh, you are so big! So absolutely huge. Gosh, we're all really impressed down here, I can tell you. God knows all...He would see through such a cheap trick.