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13 articles from 2009
Year in Review Pt 1: Baffling Comedy and Over Cooked Drama
29 December 2009 7:04 PM, PST
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Part 1 of ??? (Possibly Many) Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.
~"Rashi" according to A Serious Man.I rarely make time to rewatch movies (so many new and old films to see for the first time) which is a shame since a second look can be valuable. Some critics and civilians are loathe to admit that their minds are changeable or that their opinions aren't the be all/end all, but why? There's always new points of view to consider and life experiences that should shift your paradigms.
Huh?
Before I get to the movies I feel strongly about (i.e. worst and best), I thought I'd share the three which I'm not sure I "got": The Coen Bros A Serious Man, Lars von Trier's Antichrist (my gut reaction) and Jody Hill's Observe and Report.
All three verge on the deeply misanthropic which can be something
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- NATHANIEL R
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Jeff Bridges Didn't Intend to Play in 'Crazy Heart'
28 December 2009 1:18 AM, PST
| Aceshowbiz
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Jeff Bridges nearly turned down the movie role that is almost certain to net him an Oscar nomination in 2010, because he wanted to spend more time at home. The actor has won acclaim playing grizzled, alcoholic country star Bad Blake in "Crazy Heart", but he initially had no wish to take on the part.
He explains, "I always try my best to turn down movies, to not do them because it's very distracting. This movie was presented to me while I was in the middle of something else. It's like when you're in a great French restaurant and somebody says, 'Hey, there's a great Mexican restaurant right down the street. After this let's go over there.' "
"It takes me away from my wife or something just around the corner that I'm not aware of, so I do my best to pass on things unless they make me an offer I can't refuse.
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- AceShowbiz.com
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Bridges Turned Down Crazy Heart Role
28 December 2009 12:16 AM, PST
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Jeff Bridges nearly turned down the movie role that is almost certain to net him an Oscar nomination next year - because he wanted to spend more time at home.
The actor has won acclaim playing grizzled, alcoholic country star Bad Blake in Crazy Heart - but he initially had no wish to take on the part.
He explains, "I always try my best to turn down movies, to not do them because it's very distracting.
"This movie was presented to me while I was in the middle of something else. It's like when you're in a great French restaurant and somebody says, 'Hey, there's a great Mexican restaurant right down the street. After this let's go over there.'
"It takes me away from my wife or something just around the corner that I'm not aware of, so I do my best to pass on things unless they make me an offer I can't refuse.
"So, at first, I turned it down because there was no music in it. It was all about music, so I thought, 'What's the sense of doing it if it's got crummy songs in the movie?' Plus I had done a music movie - The Fabulous Baker Boys - that I was so pleased with... so I didn't want to do a movie that didn't meet up to that.
"A year after I initially read it T-Bone (Burnett) fell into place to write the music and I was there... There was six months of jamming every night with these guys. I'm so glad I didn't pass up the experience."
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The Jeff Bridges Interview: The 'Crazy Heart' star talks music, marriage and mortality
11 December 2009 12:11 AM, PST
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Mention Jeff Bridges to almost anyone and they immediately can reference their favorite Bridges’ character, whether it’s the innocent alien in “Starman,” the burnt-out DJ in “The Fisher King,” the mediocre jazz musician in “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” the valiant president in “The Contender” or the now iconic Dude from “The Big Lebowski.” With “Crazy Heart,” Bridges has added another unforgettable character to his remarkable 40-year career. In the film, out Dec. 16, he plays Bad Blake, a once-successful country singer who’s traveled thousands of miles down dark, bad roads. At the bottom of a downward slide, he drives from
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DVD Playhouse--November 2009
14 November 2009 6:25 PM, PST
| The Hollywood Interview
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DVD Playhouse—November 2009
By
Allen Gardner
Watchmen—The Ultimate Cut (Warner Bros.) Director Zack Snyder’s film of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel is as worthy an adaptation of a great book that has ever been filmed. In an alternative version of the year 1985, Richard Nixon is serving his third term as President and super heroes have been outlawed by a congressional act, in spite of the fact that two of the most high-profile “masks,” Dr. Manhattan (Billy Cruddup) and The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War. When The Comedian is found murdered, many former heroes become concerned that a conspiracy is afoot to assassinate retired costumed crime fighters. Former masks Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and still-operating Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley, in an Oscar-worthy turn) launch an investigation of their own, all while the Pentagon’s “Doomsday
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- The Hollywood Interview.com
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Before There Were Websites... (Pt 2)
10 September 2009 7:10 PM, PDT
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...there were scrapbooks (prev. pt 1)
Let's continue that silly reveal of my "Movies of the Eighties" scrapbook. I'm still hoping to locate the "Movie Stars of the Eighties" companion volume in which I ranked all the actors and actresses of the decade. Wouldn't that be a Rotfl experience? If I can find it I will share, despite the loss of dignity it will surely occasion.
Behold! To your left is the tv guide cover that started it all. I guess it wasn't an actual TV Guide as my personal mythology has always relayed but whatever television magazine thingie was inserted into the Detroit Free Press back in the day. That cover right there started my whole Oscar obsession -- look how worn, damaged and fingered it is. I thumbed through it so many times. What is this naked gold man they call Oscar??? This cover unlocked my latent awards mania.
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- NATHANIEL R
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Come Join the Party!
17 August 2009 5:47 AM, PDT
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Hello, Jose here to remind you all that it's Madonna's birthday!
The Queen of pop/ businesswoman/ kabbalist/ mother/ 90's tabloid fodder/ safe sex advocate/ sex advocate/ entrepeneur/ icon is celebrating her 51st birthday today (and with those arms!). But along with everything she's done, many people forget (on purpose mostly...) that she's also an actress/director. The notorious perfectionist has never been able to master the cinematic arts, even if she tries and tries and tries. But since it's her birthday we should acknowledge that not all she's done for the silver screen is bad and since we can't take a holiday to get into the groove with her, here's...
51 Reasons to Celebrate Madonna... in the Movies!
51. Daring to take on a role created by Katharine Hepburn...sort of in Who's That Girl.
50. Her endorsement of Michael Moore.
49. Setting a whole new clothing trend with Desperately Seeking Susan.
48. Her deep love for classic films.
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- Jose
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Crazy Heart and Chemical Reactions
23 July 2009 7:00 AM, PDT
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Yesterday In Contention began poking at the Best Actor buzz on Jeff Bridges who plays an alcoholic singer in Crazy Heart. Let's all poke away together. Currently Fox Searchlight is looking at Spring 2010 instead of an Oscar run. One assumes they'll change their minds soon.
Bridges is enormously overdue for Oscar love. He's considered by many to be one of the great American actors but it's easy to understand why he hasn't ever come close to winning the big one. He's effortless onscreen or appears to be which amounts to the same thing. Other actors huff and puff away to achieve greatness but Bridges just seems to stroll right up to it, casually running his fingers through his hair. While this doesn't make his work any less than wonderful it does make it more invisible when it comes time for the industry back-patting. We saw this recently with The Door
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- NATHANIEL R
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Do The Right Thing, 20th Anniversary
30 June 2009 9:15 AM, PDT
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Today is the 20th Anniversary of Spike Lee's classic joint Do The Right Thing. There are a few retrospective interviews about the landmark film over at The Root. I'd include them here for you but their embed code leaves much to be desired.
I had no idea that Barack & Michelle Obama saw this on their first date together. But they apparently don't talk about that much. The movie was a hot potato back then and apparently still gives some people hot flashes today. But it's quite good. Have you seen it? I wonder if it would have made Oscar's shortlist if they had had 10 Best Picture nominees that year.
Maybe not. They didn't even nominate Malcolm X in 1992 and that's right in the Academy zone (epic biopic spanning the life of very famous individual who dies tragically). The nominees deemed better than Do The Right Thing for 1989 were:
Born
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- NATHANIEL R
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Harry Potter And The Half-blood Prince Movie: Here’s What We Know
28 June 2009 8:39 PM, PDT
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What do we know about the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie that opens July 15th? Quite a bit:
It's directed by David Yates, who also directed Order of the Phoenix (and will direct the two-part Deathly Hallows).
Steve Kloves, who wrote the first four Harry Potter installments (and who also wrote and directed The Fabulous Baker Boys), wrote the screenplay.
Because of a salary dispute, Professor McGonagall will be played not by Maggie Smith, but by Dakota Fanning, determined to take on the ultimate acting challenge, in prosthesis (just kidding).
A prelude opens the film: the collapsing of Millennium Bridge in London.
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Top Ten: After Kate Winslet, Who?
4 March 2009 10:48 AM, PST
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Kate Winslet finally won her Oscar, delighting the bulk of fans who have been rooting for her since she dreamt of Hollywood in '94 -- 'they're desperately keen to sign me up!' -- or nearly drowned in '97. She never let go. So, who is next?
Or rather... who is most overdue?
Contrary to popular belief, it ain't easy to win an Oscar. It certainly wasn't easy for Kate the Great. You need more than an accent, a disability, a good or popular movie, old age makeup or mimicry skills. You also need star charisma, a role that compliments or complicates that charisma and media support. Above all else you need luck combined with surgically precise good timing. History is full of performers who never won the movie's top prize despite plentiful contributions to the art of acting.
For the following list I'm ignoring outstanding performers who have never
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- NATHANIEL R
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Bridges Matriarch Dies
19 February 2009 11:10 PM, PST
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Dorothy Bridges, the matriarch of Hollywood's famous Bridges family, has died. She was 93.
The actress/poet, wife of late veteran actor Lloyd Bridges and mother to The Fabulous Baker Boys co-stars Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges, passed away at her Los Angeles home on 16 February.
Lloyd Bridges, famous for his role in TV show Sea Hunt and comedic turns in Hots Shots and Airplane, met Dorothy at university and they married soon after in 1938. They were together for 60 years until his death in 1998.
The pair studied acting together at the Actors Lab in New York, but moved back to L.A. when Bridges won a contract with Columbia Pictures.
Dorothy was a respected poet, performing for Bob Hope at the Hollywood Bowl and publishing the story of her romance with Bridges in the book You Caught Me Kissing.
She starred in several TV shows and films, appearing opposite her husband in Sea Hunt and with her four times Oscar-nominated son Jeff in See You In The Morning. She was also directed by three-time Emmy winner Beau in The Thanksgiving Promise.
She is survived by her two actor sons, her daughter Lucinda and 11 grandchildren.
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Sally, Meryl, Michelle, Emma, Holly, Helen... and Sally!?
22 January 2009 2:23 PM, PST
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What follows is a note I received from a reader (thx Scott!) about the rather shocking Sally Hawkins omission this morning from Oscar's Best Actress list. As you may or may not know, Ms. Hawkins, who is a hundred kinds of terrific in the latest Mike Leigh picture Happy-Go-Lucky, has received the most Best Actress prizes this year (she went into the double digits of precursor prizes). I think the enormity of her snub should be understood. Here's the note and statistics: This whole Sally Hawkins debacle is totally unprecedented. In the last 34 years, since the National Society of Film Critics, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The New York Film Critics Circle and the Golden Globes have co-existed (kind of the big 4 non-Oscar events for me and for everyone else I'm sure), only 7 women have won all 4:
Sally Field (Norma Rae, 1979), Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice, 1982), Michelle Pfeiffer (The Fabulous Baker Boys,
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- NATHANIEL R
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13 articles from 2009
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