CinemaInternational

Agreed on all counts (movie, TV episode, and acting placements).

I sometimes wonder if part of Braveheart's popularity was also due to the score and the cinematography (it certainly does look impressive), but much of the rest seems flat. You're also right about the cast of American Beauty.... Annette Bening, Chris Copper, and Allison Janney are the only three who appeared in the film that still really have careers. And although we disagree on Fargo (although I'll still say that Secrets and lies was the best in that 1996 lineup), I still feel more power to you, because I know what its like to be in a boat like that when you know deep down in your bones that something isn't good regardless of everyone else says and people treat you badly when you speak the truth. (Call it the Seinfeld's- Elaine- on- The- English-Patient effect) And I admire your tenacity of sticking to your guns. That's entirely commendable and a mark of honor.

I'd rather focus on the fact that I agree with you on two of those: Braveheart, which started fine but quickly became overextended and wearysome, and American Beauty, which is pretty much a puckered dead zone. I wrote up a review once of my dislike of it.

Just followed your suggestion. Regarding modern films, its just so hit and miss. Although I catch up with brand new releases (so I don't forget about watching them in years to come), I otherwise rarely venture beyond 1996 or 1997 anymore. (83.6% of the films I've seen this year so far come from this point or before and last year it was 90.1%) I don't know, I was born in the 1990s and, if based on generational stereotypes, I'd pretty much love modern films, the films of today, because they are pretty much made with today's young in mind. But I run hot and cold, and my tastes lean older . I see modern films I love (Just from last year, Little Women, Motherless Brooklyn, The Farewell, 1917, Ford Vs Ferrari, The Good Liar, Just Mercy, Richard Jewell, Parasite, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Yesterday, Downton Abbey, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood were all films that I personally admired), but other times I see films that are merely good (not great) praised to the high heavens, and sometimes downright bad films lavished with all the attention in the world. And if you try to say that something well liked isn't so great, you kind of become an enemy of the people in some quarters. I posted my Jojo Rabbit review elsewhere and it was about one half kind comments and one part acidic comments. but even that's better than some other treatment I've seen. One issue is that I tend to prefer films that are well put together, are character and plot driven, rather than by effects, films where consequences come from the choices the characters make. It's not to say I dislike all modern blockbusters, but I prefer dramas and low-key comedies. But even the dramas, not the ones mentioned above, but others, have occasionally had something off about them at times, like a feeling of superiority or of clammy self-importance that is unsatisfying. And also, I'll freely admit, the vast majority of the actors and actresses I like watching the most are either dead, retired, or over the age that Hollywood usually seeks to cater to. There are some good young actors and actresses out there, but they are so much at the mercy of fluctuating quality that it isn't even funny. And yet I keep trying. I still have two more 2019 films rented from the local video store yet to see before Sunday, both small scale dramas: Frankie with Isabelle Huppert, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, and Brendan Gleeson, and Clemency with Alfre Woodard.

I'll leave the idea of seeing the film up to you, but just take it as a precaution. A lot of people handled it a lot better than I did. As for film writers, I generally prefer writings that are down to earth and personal, instead of high and mighty. But maybe that's because I'm a film omnivore, perfectly comfortable with praised films and often seeking out neglected and ill-treated films to see if they are better than reputation.

Maybe, but I like her all the same. Would be nice if she got another big juicy role some time.

A good example of that for me was 2005's Flightplan, essentially an action version of The Lady Vanishes on a plane with Jodie Foster. Cuckoo plot, but smoothly handled enough that it was enjoyable.

For some reason or another, the cast album of Grand hotel on CD was held up for two years after it debuted on Broadway. By the time it was ready to do the recording, one of the opening night cast members from 1989 had passed away, so a replacement filled in.

Same. I also dislike another type. The films that you see that you might like when you first see them or you think are OK, and the longer you think about them the less effective they seem and the more you dislike them.

The only reasons i saw it because people were talking about it and because of the acting nominations. i wished I hadn't seen it, and its one of those films that gets more offensive in retrospect.

They just keep coming. 2019's Best Picture nominee Jojo Rabbit curdled my blood.

I've been catching up with a few of her films today that I hadn't seen before. She is one of our living greats.

It's currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Don't think this one was brought up: Vic Morrow's daugter is Jennifer Jason Leigh, so good in films like The Big Picture, The Hudsucker Proxy, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle and Dolores Claiborne.

I also enjoyed his script for The Thrill of It All, especially the scene with Doris Day's first TV commercial, where she gets distracted by Reiner himself playing a character who uses the words : " You Pig!" and thus introduces the commercial by saying "Hello, my name is Beverly Boyer, and I'm a pig."

They were originally going to co-star in 1982's Hanky Panky, but Pryor left the production, and the role was turned into a female part which went to Gilda Radner.

Need to start on mine....

Correct.

Regarding Hopkins in Nixon, he got the part over the following people: Tom Hanks, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Gary Oldman, Tommy lee Jones, John Malkovich, Robin Williams, and Warren Beatty. It seems that Stone cast Hopkins on the basis of Remains of the Day and Shadowlands, not Silence of the Lambs. I kind of feel that the film is a modern day attempt at a Shakesperian type tragedy, because Nixon himself, I felt, was portrayed as a deeply flawed individual brought down by paranoia, but also one who recognized the dangers involved in the era he was leading the country and who did try hard.

There are the results of my scattershot viewings. Not the best, not the worst when it comes to the number seen.

It's no Wizard of Oz, but its still a rather fun time to be had. Nipsey Russell and ted Ross were great fun, it was a pleasure to see Lena Horne again, and Mabel King was darkly amusing as the Wicked Witch. Plus those sets are great.

It really depends on the film. There are some films that run about two and a half hours or maybe even three that feel like they need every minute of that time. But others with long runtimes begin to really drag about 30 minutes to an hour before the end. Films years ago generally handled the longer runtimes better. Quite a few films nowadays run for considerable runtimes but the results are hit and miss. i do tend to prefer efficency.

In My Life.

And speaking of films that offend, there was a film that rubbed me the wrong way on a moral basis that got praise a few years ago, and that was one I brought up in the worst nomination comment: Captain Fantastic from 2016. i listed Viggo Mortensen's performance among the worst in the Best actor category largely because of the offensiveness of the film. The performers did what they could with that film, but that script was bonkers. It was basically a celebration of fatherhood.... if your idea of a good father was this crazed man who drove his wife to suicide, who walked around fully nude around his young children and among strangers (and isn't there a bit something odd about having a then 56 year old lead to a full frontal nude scene), forces them to live off the grid, gives liquor to clearly underage kids, robs a corpse from a grave, forces his teen daughter into reading Lolita, encourages them to rob from stores, spit on all forms of normal society, denies them normal holidays, to kill animals by slitting their throats, and has not let the kid's grandparents see them at all. Oh, and a 7 year old kid was shown nude from behind twice. The film was a monstrosity.

i was reading an article earlier in the day about the leadup to the Oscars for the 1993 films. (the year Hanks won for Philadelphia) and one industry person was quoted saying that it was a miracle that Hanks emerged from Bonfire of the Vanities unscathed. For some reason or another, I've heard rumors that Hanks becomes puzzled when his other 1990 film Joe Versus the Volcano comes up, which is strange, because not only is that film charming, but it also performed better on every level than Bonfire.