skimpole

The three movies I saw this week were actually reasonable impressive. High-Rise could have been a disaster. British dystopian movies can be flawed. In contrast to the overly repressed nature of much British film, it can disintegrate into gaudy nonsense (one thinks of Ken Russell) or into facile rhetoric (one thinks of Britannia Hospital). But the source material, based on a J. Ballard novel is stronger than this, and the director seems to show real talent in his version of a collapsing seventies in a collapsing upper class high-rise. Objective, Burma! is also impressive in its own way. Raoul Walsh and Errol Flynn had a good rapport here, just as they died in They Died with Their Boots on and Gentleman Jim. It's encouraging that after what appears to be a too easy success, the mission becomes increasingly difficult. One should point out, however, the racist incitement at one point. Phoenix deals with life under the Showa Dictatorship's crueler ally, and it is clearly the movie of the week. It is a surprisingly intense film that owes everything to the performances of a Jewish/Gentile couple who meet after the war. The Jewish survivor has had to have plastic surgery. Her gentile husband thinks she died and when she meets him he gets the idea of passing her off as his dead wife to get her inheritance. She agrees with this plan while wondering whether he had betrayed her to the Nazis in the first place. Nina Hoss as the protagonist is quite stunning in this subtle, ultimate heartbreaking play on Vertigo

Looking at the post 2000 missing 1 out of 5, it's hard to think of a movie that deserved all five. The movies I like are genuinely missing the required the oscar position (The Pianist, There Will Be Blood, The Wolf of Wall Street) or are clearly not very good. I suppose Lost in Translation could be an exception. Some of the best supporting actresses could be updated to actress, but the movies where they could aren't really Best Picture caliber in my view.

It would be a good idea to show The Royal Tenenbaums.

I think that Memorial Day would be a good time to eventually show Malick's The Thin Red Line. There are, after all, a limited number of post-1970 war movies and TCM should show it eventually.

Actor James Stewart, It's A Wonderful Life Humphrey Bogart, The Big Sleep Cary Grant, Notorious (1944 Performance nominated for 1946 Laurence Olivier, Henry V) David Niven, Stairway to Heaven/A Matter of Life and Death Extra to fill Oliver's spot: Henry Fonda, My Darling Clementine Actress Ingrid Bergman, Notorious Lauren Bacall, The Big Sleep (1945 Performance nominated for 1946 Celia Johnson, Brief Encounter) Kim Hunter, Stairway to Heaven/A Matter of Life and Death Rita Hayworth, Gilda Extra to fill Johnson's spot Joan Fontaine, From this Day Forward Best Supporting Actor Claude Rains, Notorious Roger Livesay, Stairway to Heaven/A Matter of Life and Death Lionel Barrymore, It's a Wonderful Life (1945 Performance nominated for 1946 Cyril Raymond, Brief Encounter) Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives Extra to fill Raymond's spot Brian Donlevy, Canyon Passage Best Supporting Actress Myrna Loy, The Best Years of Our Lives Linda Darnell, My Darling Clementine Virginia Mayo, The Best Years of Our Lives Rosemary DeCamp, From this Day Forward Jane Marken, A Day in the Country Not seen: The Razor's Edge, The Jolson Story, Sister Kenny, The Green Years, The Spiral Staircase, Saratoga Trunk

I saw seven movies this week. 45 Years has good performances by Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. But there's something hollow about its basic premise. For much of the movie you think Courtenay has done something much worse to the old girlfriend whose body has recently been rediscovered in the Alps. But it turns out that the problem is relatively minor and one would think Rampling would get over it. The movie doesn't really catch what would make such a long marriage work. The director himself isn't 45 years old, and doesn't really have the ability to imagine such a relationship. The movie is very British in a way that British movies would help themselves immeasurably by stop being. A Song to Remember is apparently nonsense historically. There is little to distinguish Cornel Wilde's performance, notwithstanding his receiving an oscar nomination with it, while Paul Muni's performance as his teacher becomes more irritating as the movie progresses. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is certainly the best of the Tashlin movies I've seen. Certainly Tony Randall is more tolerable than Jerry Lewis in Artists and Models. A Matter of Time was butchered by the producers when it was made, so neither the father director nor the actress daughter nor Ingrid Bergman were satisfied with the result. One can see signs of a much better movie here and there, especially in Bergman's performance, as well as in Charles Boyer's last dignified cameo. The Naked Island is a beautifully shot parable about a poor Japanese family whose island farm gets so little water that the parents must row to the mainland to get fresh water. The Boy and the Beast is a Japanese animated film which involves a young orphaned boy running away from his guardians and finding an entrance on the Tokyo streets to a world peopled by sentient animals. He runs into a vainglorious Samurai who has decided to challenge the apparently much more qualified front-runner in fight to become the Lord. So it appears this will appear to be a movie where the young pupil learns maturity and the teacher gains or regains his strength. Only one of the characters is a talking wolf. But this predicted storyline about the quarreling duo takes an unexpected twist, and shows considerable invention in reaching its conclusion. Finally The Milky Way has suffered by being in the shadow of the more surreal and stranger The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty But this anticlerical satire shows considerable skill, grace and subtlety, not to mention considerable learning. One can't help but think atheist polemic has showed a distinct decline in quality since it was made..

Looking at the movies that were only nominated for four of the big five, and wondering which ones should have got the fifth nomination, let's start with the relatively few that missed out on screenplay, director or picture. Missing and In the Bedroom seem like the most egregious missing ones. Some of the others I haven't seen, and others I thought we're overrated in the first place.

I'd choose Hiller over Davis.

I think this thread needs a better title. The first third deals with Brokeback Mountain not winning enough awards. As for great performances that did not win awards, I think that almost goes without saying. In my view, and granted that I haven't seen all of the winners, only seven of the Best Actor awards and six of the Best Actress awards were really deserved. I'm not sure how many of the winners I would even nominate. Seriously, does anyone think the four performances Katherine Hepburn won were even among the ten best she ever gave? And consider one extremely respected actor James Stewart. It would be hard to give him the award for The Philadelphia Story. It would be hard to argue that it was the best performance of the year, the best James Stewart performance of the year, or the best male performance in The Philadelphia Story. And this is one of the better, or best movies to win an acting oscar.

I find alternative supporting actresses the hardest to choose. Directors are overwhelmingly male, they tend to prefer stories where there is one or fewer great female roles. But if I did feel the need to choose Ava Gardner for Best Supporting Actress of 1964, I'd choose it for Seven Days in May. After A Streetcar Named Desire, I strongly believe you should avoid movies based on Tennessee Williams plays.

Actor Jean-Louis Barrault, Children of Paradise Roger Livesay, I Know Where I'm Going Boris Karloff, The Body Snatcher Edward G. Robinson, Scarlett Street Gene Kelly, Anchors Aweigh Actress Arletty, Children of Paradise Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce Wendy Hiller, I Know Where I'm Going Ingrid Bergman, The Bells of St. Mary's Judy Garland, The Clock Supporting Actor Pierre Brasseur, Children of Paradise Dan Duryea, Scarlett Street Aldo Fabrizi, Rome: Open City Boris Karloff, Isle of the Dead George Sanders, The Portrait of Dorian Gray Supporting Actress Anna Magnani, Rome: Open City Ann Blyth, Mildred Pierce May Whitty, My Name is Julia Ross Eve Arden, Mildred Pierce Elina Labourdette, Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne Movies not seen: National Velvet (thanks TCM Canada), The Keys of the Kingdom, The Valley of Decision, Love Letters, The Corn is Green, A Medal for Benny For the fifth actor spot I was very tempted to include Robert Walker (The Clock) or Fred Astaire (Yolanda and the Thief), but I choose Kelly on the grounds that while Anchors Aweigh is clearly the poorer film, the Academy should be encouraged to nominate Kelly whenever possible.

The three movies I saw last week were all disappointing. The only reason I saw The Mountain Men is that I remembered seeing an ad for it as a summer movie in 1980 and then wondered why it had so completely fallen out of the popular memory. That indeed was a horrifying summer for studio executives, since it seemed that every summer release except The Empire Strikes Back and Airplane! was a bomb, both financially and critically. (In point of fact The Shining did make money and its critical reputation slowly but steadily grew). At any rate what does The Mountain Men add that mediocre (North) Westerns a quarter century ago didn't have? Well, basically foul language and nothing else. I also remember seeing Captain Nemo and the Underwater City being advertised as a Saturday matinee back in the day when my small town still had a movie theatre. That was the main reason I watched it. As it stands, the flaws in the movie do become more noticeable as the movie goes on. (1) You'd think that Nemo's men would do a better job of guarding key installations like a second submarine and whatever thing the claustrophobe takes over in a futile attempt to escape. (2) In the original Verne novels Captain Nemo keeps his nationality hidden. Only later is it revealed that he is an Indian prince. Now it's obvious that James Mason is obviously better at suggesting Nemo's fundamentally enigmatic nature than Robert Ryan. There may be other actors who are more unequivocally American, but I can't imagine any of them. (3) On a more technical level, the Senator says he grew up playing in a Kansas waterhole. Except the film takes no later than 1864, the Senator must be at least 30, and white settlement was minimal before the 1850s. Just sloppy, like much of the movie. (It also turns out that the screenplay was partially written by Pip and Jane Baker, best known for nearly killing Doctor Who in the eighties.) Have you ever watched The Housemaid and wondered "Do you know what would be great? If all the weird elements could be taken out, the movie made duller and more obvious and given a happier ending!" Well then The Second Mother is clearly for you. But it's not for me. With a visual style clearly influenced by Ozu, though not with the same consistency, the movie is schematic and contrived. An early scene where the maid clears the table while the parents and the teenage son are texting and not looking at each other, is all too representative. You may wonder why the father makes a pass at the maid's daughter when she is not particularly interesting or attractive, and you then you really wonder why the movie takes this very moment for the mother to get involved in a car accident.

The novel I was reading today had a brief incident where the characters play pool. That led me to think of movies where the game is played. There's the scene in Sherlock Jr., and there's also The Hustler and its sequel The Colour of Money. What else?

Well it's nice that they have Time Bandits and it's even on my birthday! Shame that it falls on a Saturday this year. Can't say I'm pleased that Brigitte Bardot is the token foreign movie star, though because she has a cameo in Masculin Feminin, we get to see that. Shame they couldn't, or didn't try to, get Stavisky for Charles Boyer.

Well so far the August 2016 schedule hasn't been posted. When it is, could people use this thread to post things about it?

Actor Nikolai Chersakov, Ivan the Terrible Part I Humphrey Bogart, To Have and Have Not Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity Clive Brook, On Approval Eddie Bracken, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero Actress Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity Judy Garland, Meet me in St. Louis Betty Hutton, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Madeleine Renaud, Le Ciel est a Vous Supporting Actor Clifton Webb, Laura Edward G. Robinson, Double Indemnity Dan Seymour, To Have and Have Not Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way Walter Brennan, To Have and Have Not Supporting Actress Margaret O'Brien, Meet me in St. Louis Serafima Birman, Ivan the Terrible, Part I Mary Astor, Meet Me in St. Louis Ann Carter, The Curse of the Cat People Angela Lansbury, Gaslight Not seen from this year Since you Went Away (thanks a lot TCM Canada), None but the Lonely Heart, Mrs. Parkington, The Seventh Cross, Dragon Seed

I saw four movies over the last two weeks. Three of them are arguably generic movies that show some distinction. A Bucket of Blood is not in itself a particularly interesting thriller about a serial killer. And arguably A Bucket of Plaster of Paris would be a more accurate title. What shows Roger Corman's special talent is that the murderer as pathetic talentless artist is more compelling than the actual murders. Iron Man 3 was arguably more impressive than its predecessor, of which I remember very little, It makes the intelligent move of separating Tony Stark from his armor for the middle third of the movie, which limits the need for special effects and concentrating on Robert Downey's charisma. Deep Red certainly shows more style and interest than the other two Dario Argento movies I saw. But the movie of the last two weeks is clearly Jafar Panahi's Taxi which contributes to his burgeoning cinema of house arrest. One notices a reference to goldfish, which reminds one of The White Balloon, the movie 20 years ago that made his reputation, as well as a somewhat irritating child who lectures the driver of a taxi, as in Abbas Kiarostami's 10.

Well my intuition that Actress is the weak link in having more top five oscar winners is certainly born out by the evidence. Of the 171 movies nominated for four of the five, two are missing out on screenplay, three on picture, eleven on director, 45 on actor and 110 on actress.

I like Tom Wilkinson and Anthony Hopkins as actors, but I doubt that many people think that either of them pull off LBJ or Nixon respectively.

Exit: Jonathan Pryce in Brazil Ian MacKellan in Richard III

Yes Cookie Monster and Totoro are extremely charming.

Dwight Macdonald loudly wondered why the Romans in Ben-Hur had English accents, while the Jews had American ones.

And here's the rest Erin Brockovich (Actor) Gladiator (Actress) A Beautiful Mind (Actress) In the Bedroom (Director) Chicago (Actor) Gangs of New York (Actress) The Hours (Actor) The Pianist (Actress) Lost in Translation (Actress) Mystic River (Actress) The Aviator (Actress) Brokeback Mountain (Actress) Capote (Actress) Good Night, and Good Luck (Actress) The Queen (Actor) Juno (Actor) Michael Clayton (Actress) There will be Blood (Actress) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Actress) Frost/Nixon (Actress) Milk (Actress) The Reader (Actor) The Hurt Locker (Actress) Precious (Actor) Up in the Air (Actress) The King's Speech (Actress) The Social Network (Actress) True Grit [2010] (Actress) The Artist (Actress) The Descendants (Actress) Amour (Actor) Beasts of the Southern Wild (Actor) Lincoln (Actress) Nebraska (Actress) 12 Years a Slave (Actress) The Wolf of Wall Street (Actress) Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Actress) Foxcatcher (Actress) The Imitation Game (Actress) The Theory of Everything (Director) Room (Actor)

Still more of the movies nominated for four of the top five oscars, with the not nominated category in parentheses. Now with the nineties: Dances with Wolves (Actress) Thelma and Louise (Actor) The Crying Game (Actress) Howard's End (Actor) Unforgiven (Actress) In the Name of the Father (Actress) The Piano (Actor) Schindler's List (Actress) Forrest Gump (Actress) Pulp Fiction (Actress) Il Postino: The Postman (Actress) Fargo (Actor) Secrets and Lies (Actor) Shine (Actress) As Good as it Gets (Director) Good Will Hunting (Actress) Life is Beautiful (Actress) Saving Private Ryan (Actress) Shakespeare in Love (Actor) The Insider (Actress)

No, 1943 may be one of the least promising years since the creation of sound films, especially since the one great film from that year is deemed to have come from the year before. If we're not including Casablanca then the winner is the next one down the list, since it should be clear that the nominees are listed in order of preference. Actor Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca Roger Livesay, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Joseph Cotton, Shadow of a Doubt Don Ameche, Heaven can Wait Charles Laughton, This Land is Mine Extra if we don't count Casblanca Gary Cooper, For Whom the Bell Tolls Actress Lisbeth Movin, Day of Wrath Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca Deborah Kerr, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Teresa Wright, Shadow of a Doubt Gene Tierney, Heaven Can Wait Extra Madeline Robinson, Lumiere D'Ete Supporting Actor Claude Rains, Casablanca Anton Walbrook, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Charles Coburn, Heaven can Wait Conrad Veidt, Casablanca Charles Coburn, The More the Merrier Extra Preben Lerdoff Rye, Day of Wrath Richard Dix, The Ghost Ship Laird Cregar, Heaven can Wait (why not a sixth, The More the Merrier.) Supporting Actress Lena Horne, Cabin in the Sky Edna Way Wonacott, Shadow of a Doubt Sigrid Neiiendam, Day of Wrath Joan Leslie, The Hard Way Margaret O'Brien, Jane Eyre Supporting Actress was particularly tricky this year, especially since my top ten list has only seven (arguably six) movies. Not seen this year Madame Curie, The Song of Bernadette, The Constant Nymph, So Proudly we Hail!