LornaHansonForbes

Fair enough.

Yeah, but it wasn't the first (or last time) 1962: OToole loses to Gregory Peck, who was never nominated again and whose career took a huge nosedive post-win. 1964: O'Toole loses to Rex Harrison, who was never nominated again and whose career took a nosedive post-win. 1968: Loses to Cliff Robertson who was never nominated again and whose career took a nosedive post-win 1969: Loses to John Wayne, I'm actually okay with this. 1972: O'Toole loses to Brando, who was winning his second Oscar and for a supporting role at that. 1980: Loses to DeNiro in RAGING BULL, I'm cool with this one too. 1982- Loses to Ben Kingsley, whose contribution to film isn't quite as significant as O'Toole's and 200?: PETER O'TOOLE loses to FORREST WHITAKER in what has to be one of the most astonishingly galling insults in an impressively long line of galling insults. ps- Forrest Whitaker is one of the worst actors to ever win the Academy Award. ps- I maybe spelled Forrest Whitaker's name wrong and I don't care. He is awful.

They showed CHARLY as part of the 31 DAYS OF OSCAR this year(?) Last year)(?)...whatever: recently, and I watched as much of it as I could stand (maybe an hour and 15 minutes?) Both Bloom and Robertson are fine- in fact. I woudln't have really had a problem with Robertson getting nominated: but the film (as aforementioned) is a MESS! The first part of it is pretty conventional narrative style (although it is not without its problems: namely Charly's relations with his A-hole coworkers), then Charly gets all smart and all of a sudden Ravi Shankar is raga-ing all over the soundtrack and there's split screens and trick photography and 360 degree camera work and three-second edits galore...it becomes a DEE-Lite video from 1991. I didn't have any Dramamine in the medicine cabinet, so I turned it off and probably watched GOLDEN GIRLS on youtube instead. Whoever directed CHARLY was seriously in love with his own direction, and the film (and for that matter, the viewer) is left to suffer for it.

Well, I also think Robertson's aggressive PR Blitzkrieg and non-stop campaigning had something to do with the Best Actor win also... But Bloom is good in the film (technically, so is Robertson, just not better than O'Toole in LION IN WINTER) PS- CHARLY is a MESS of a movie!

God bless you Speedy, you're doing the Lord's work here. The only correction I have to make is that Rainier Wolfcastle- the show's parody of Ah-nold Schwarzeneggar- presents the award for BEST ACTOR to George C. Scott for MAN GETTING HIT BY FOOTBALL. (at least that's how I recall it.) Scott's contribution to Moleman's script being to cry out "GAH! MY GROIN!" when he is hit. It's also worth mentioning that Mr. Burns' short film is directed by the non-union Mexican equivalent of Spielberg: one Senor Spielbergo. "I actually have a lot in common with Schindler. We're both factory owners, we both made munitions for the Nazis, BUT MINE WORKED DAMMIT!"- C. Montgomery Burns.

YES!!!! we have a winner!

I'll explain it when I get more time....

It's a SIMPSONS joke, and one that takes more time to explain than I presently have. I tried to find a video on youtube, but alas, it is not there. (anyone else want to step in and 'splain in my stead, go right ahead.)

I'm really disappointed that they're not showing George C. Scott's final triumph: the heartbreaking and moving Man Getting Hit in Groin By Football. It won him the Oscar, you know.

I'm sure Sheridan would've refused to go to any hick hospital and demanded instead to stay at the comfy home of his wealthy host and hostess (after all, it was "all thei fault" for having icy steps)...it's also possible the doctor said he shouldn't be moved and was taken quite literally. let's also not forget the ulterior motives of the lady of the house (Billie Burke) jumping at the social perks of allowing Sheridan Whiteside to recover at HER home and the Doctor having a captive audience for his novel. In-Home health care apparently used to be a much bigger thing apparently. It REALLY p****s me off to see Jimmy Stewart's photographer-with-a-broken-leg in REAR WINDOW having his insurance company PROVIDE HIM WITH AN ALL-DAY PRIVATE NURSE WHO MASSAGES HIM AND COOKS AND CLEANS. Was he a former member of Congress or something?

I had forgotten all about that. Thanks for the reminder.

Something of a non sequitor, but bringing up LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON made me think of it: for all of you aspiring screenwriters out there: if you want to see exhibit A in a great script heartbreakingly ruined by bad casting, check out LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON. If you want to see a bad script elevated by good acting (and direction) check out HUMORESQUE (1946) and, if you want to see a great idea and good script ruined by horrible direction, check out SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (1999.)

Yes. And unlike, say Monty Wooley or Marjorie Main or Cuddles Sakall, who are always playing some variety of themselves, Maurice Chevalier's persona is so annoying. ...and he was damned lucky to be getting film work again in the late 1950's as people remembered that he actually performed for the Nazis when they invaded Paris. (Now, a lot of people say it was part of a bargain he made to keep friends out of prison, but I still say something about it smells.) From things I've heard and read, he also seems like a real jackass. The one Chevalier performance that does elevate itself above the prancing, mincing man-pig persona is in FANNY, which is a film I liked quite a bit in spite of not expecting to. Nonetheless, his last few films were all such desperate attempts to win an Oscar and beg forgiveness from HOLLYWOOD and it just was not going to happen.

A gorgeous and peculiar little film with a decidedly homoerotic subtext, I wish TCM would show DESERT FURY some time soon. (Periodically it shows up on youtube, but it always gets pulled.)

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1975) has to be one of the most watchable movies ever made. I've seen it 30 times, and I'd sit right down and watch it again. In defense of Finney- I think he actually captures one of the most important aspects of Poirot- which is that he is so cerebral, so inside his own head- that he comes off as a self-involved, peculiar little weirdo. Combined with the fact that he has something like a 10-minute long speech that is ALL HIM in a crowded little room, performing in front of the best actors there were still living at the time, and he makes it work and I think it's an utter triumph of a performance. ps- the real unsung performance in ORIENT EXPRESS is given by Lauren Bacall- who is really at the heart of the story and plays something of a dual role. Bergman's good, but if they really wanted to toss an Oscar at a legend for something, they missed a real chance with Bacall in this movie.

Love in the Afternoon is a terrific script ruined by some bad, bad casting: a failure, but a fascinating failure. With nearly anyone on earth outside of Zombie Gary Cooper in the romantic leading role, and with Boyer in Chevalier's role, and with Audrey in the Audrey role: it would've been spectacular.

I know, right? I really think that was the beginning of the end for the show.

Oh God, yes...yes.... Wow. That is Adrian at his Zmediest. Do you remember DANCE FEVER?

I really hope Sprocket-Man is okay, and I genuinely mean that. I wish instead of Microsoft spell check I genuinely had him living in my computer, abruptly informing me of my various grammatical and factual errors, then chiding me for them...maybe even delivering a small electrical shock each time I make one...

The smurfs didn't frighten me until THE SMURF'S PRIME TIME SPECIAL (ca. 1988) wherein the Smurfs were claimed to be "Three apples tall" as part of some weird voice-over narration in the promos. That means they're basically a foot to a foot and a half tall. I thought they were like, five six inches tops- that's adorable. A blue thing that is a foot to a foot and a half tall is something I would run from or attempt to kill and burn....that's horrific.

I forget- is there a rights issue reason why they never show FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (1943) on TCM? Was it a Paramount film? I've never seen it, although I've seens pics of Ingrid with that Butch haircut: yikes!

I love how Bette is shaking her so hard you can just barely make out that it's Miriam Hopkins, yet Bette remains still enough that we can see her face perfectly throughout the whole thing. Bette Davis: stealing scenes via violence if necessary, Old School Hollywood.

...but even before that came JOAN OF ARC (Oscar nod or not, it was a disaster) and SARATOGA TRUNK and UNDER CAPRICORN. Her career was, I think, on shaky ground before she got with Roberto. But actually, I think a lot of her post-ANASTASIA films were triumphs- THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS is one of her best, a lot of people like GOODBYE AGAIN, and there's AUTUMN SONATA and MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.

That GIF also serves as a pretty accurate reenactment of what happened the one time Mother took the last of the Half and Half and did not replace it. (She's fine now.)