Let’s Talk Movies! #31: Pandas, Zombies, Male Models, Superheroes, Greeks and…Caesar!

[PeterG]

I can't remember which movie it was, but it had a trailer for "Les Emotifs Anonymes" (Romantics Annonymous)...and it's the best movie I have seen since since The Girl In The Park, which I saw about three or four years ago. Les Emotifs Anonymes is the kind of movie I imagine being able to make if I were a filmmaker. Not just perfectly made on the parts of all aspects of the filmmaking process, but a movie with such heart that you rarely get to witness. It has a sweetness that fills you up and makes you all gooey in the best possible way. I adore the two lead performers, I feel like I'm going to miss them...maybe I'll just have to watch the movie again! Both Benoît Poelvoorde and Isabelle Carré have been nominated multiple times for the César Awards, France's version of the Academy Awards. Carré was actually up for best actress for her role in this movie and it's completely deserved. Shame that Poelvoorde didn't also get a nomination for this. It's a short movie, only 80 minutes long, and that's great because all the times when a romantic drama like this is made, they stretch out parts of the story to build drama, but this time, things just keep moving quickly, so you never feel like the movie-makers are dragging things out. This is such a fantastic movie, I hope you will all consider seeking it out.

 

[Xela M]

I've never seen Godfather either. I don't really plan on to be honest, it just never interested me.

I love The Sting! It's one of my favourite movies. The score is just phenomenal and there is so much happening in the movie but it never gets lost or muddled, it's great.

You're really missing out. The Godfather is considered by many to be the best film of all time for a reason and it's not an "artsy" film that only a unique group of special connoisseurs can appreciate - it's just an extremely well-made film where everything came together in absolute perfection. The casting, the script, the director etc - it's all spot on. If you liked The Sting, I'm convinced you'd love The Godfather.

The opening sequence of Godfather Part I (the wedding) is like a masterclass in film-making. Many films tried and failed miserably to emulate it; for instance, the wedding in The Deer Hunter where it just felt like the editor took a long nap.

Just watch the first 15mins and see if you like it.

 

[dramatheater]

So great decision to push back watching 'The big short' as it turned out
I decided to check out Straight outta Compton out of my eternal inexplicable love for Ice Cube

Wow should have checked it out earlier! Really unexplainable why I came to love it so much! maybe b/c I didnt follow anything about rap (aside from B.I.G. vs 2Pac story) & I usually don't listen to this kind of music like at all!
I entered some other world. When the film ended I wanted more. I'd love to know the following Dre's producing story. More about Cube's following movie career, what happened w/ Suge etc etc
& now sitting at work listeing to the score (good thing I dont think about lyrics to much b/c I usually hate the cursing @ all the occasions)
Liked that there was introduction notes at the begining when main characters first appeared It was pretty useful for me as an 'unenitiated'!
It would have been even better if the translators actually added subs to songs especially in the dissing song battle scene when they had a rift b/c of the manager (Giamatti is great as usual in the a*hole role))))

On a shallow note I totally adored O'Shea Jackson He did my lovely Cube justice!
Now I guess I need to rewatch 'Friday'

 

[Artemis@BC]

I was at the movies yesterday and saw the trailer for 'Miracles from Heaven' with Jennifer Garner. - I think it told the whole story! I hate that.

I don't know when the trend started, but so many trailers do that these days! I hate it!

Ugh, me too. Happened today for me with the trailer for Eye in the Sky. Though obviously there's going to be a lot more to that film and it looks well worth watching. Plus I'd see it anyway, not just because of the interesting subject matter, but because it's Alan Rickman's last onscreen film appearance.

 

[smurfy]

So great decision to push back watching 'The big short' as it turned out
I decided to check out Straight outta Compton out of my eternal inexplicable love for Ice Cube

On a shallow note I totally adored O'Shea Jackson He did my lovely Cube justice!
Now I guess I need to rewatch 'Friday'

He is Cube's son. I was distracted by how much he looked like him.
I think this is one of those movies -that in 10 years - several of the actors will have good careers going.

 

[PeterG]

There were a few posts about Gone With The Wind recently. I just saw in an old issue of Entertainment Weekly an article which had a mention of a book called “Letters of Note” which included a list in reference to the movie…

In the end, the film version of Gone With The Wind stayed true to the book, with Rhett Butler famously uttering, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” But the movie’s producers, who had skirmished with censors over the mild profanity, drew up a list of alternative last lines.

Here were the possible updates to that original line of dialogue:


Frankly, my dear, nothing could interest me less…

I don’t care…

It leaves me cold…

It has become of no concern to me…

I don’t give a Continental…

I don’t give a hoot…

I don’t give a whoop…

I am completely indifferent…

You can go to the devil for all of me…

You can go to the devil for all I care…

I’m not even indifferent – I just don’t care…

I’ve come to the end…

I just don’t care…

My indifference is boundless…

I don’t give a straw…

It’s all the same to me…

It is of no consequence…

The Devil may care – I don’t…

I’ve withdrawn from the battle…

The whole thing is a stench in my nostrils…

It makes my gorge rise…

What do you think? Was there a classic line of dialogue in this list that has been lost for all eternity?

 

[Xela M]

In the novel (if I remember correctly, although I could be completely wrong) there was no "Frankly" - he just said "My dear, I don't give a damn"

 

[Vash01]

In the novel (if I remember correctly, although I could be completely wrong) there was no "Frankly" - he just said "My dear, I don't give a damn"

You are correct. I just looked up my copy of GWTW. He says - "My dear, I don't give a damn".

 

[dramatheater]

He is Cube's son. I was distracted by how much he looked like him.
I think this is one of those movies -that in 10 years - several of the actors will have good careers going.

haha I felt so dumb b/c I only realised it once I got home & googled him They look sooo alike! Well hotness runs in the family it seems!
Hopefully he will be acting more now he has charisma.

btw speaking of actor's children
I still cant wrap my head around Jamie Foxx daughter. Once I saw her last awards season. She's so mature & beautiful I thought she was his wife or sister. Or maybe Jamie looks that young to me )))
She was the absolute star at this year's GG ceremony.

 

[Xela M]

Re 'Gone With the Wind'... I obviously think the film is amazing (bar the casting of Ashley Wilkes) but the one thing that I always found surprising and apparently the one thing that bugged the author at the premiere, was the written text they start the movie off with and later insert in certain parts of the film - it's not from the novel!!! Why would they completely rewrite what's already written and then put it on screen as if they were quoting from the novel?! I've seen this "move" with other classic novels (in one of the War and Peace films the narrator sits reading from a large book, but the text is not Tolstoy!) and I just don't get the idea behind it.

I also wish the film had several parts because even though it did phenomenally well adapting such a huge novel to the screen, it could only concentrate on the main characters' storyline, whereas the novel had its charm in all the side stories of the O'Hara's friends and relations. Just as an example, in the novel the Tarleton family was my favourite and they play a much larger role in the story, whereas in the film only the Tarleton twins even got a mention and they only appeared in two tiny scenes. And I'm sure people know this, but I was surprised to find out when reading the novel that Scarlett had two other children aside from Bonnie.

 

[Vash01]

Re 'Gone With the Wind'... I obviously think the film is amazing (bar the casting of Ashley Wilkes) but the one thing that I always found surprising and apparently the one thing that bugged the author at the premiere, was the written text they start the movie off with and later insert in certain parts of the film - it's not from the novel!!! Why would they completely rewrite what's already written and then put it on screen as if they were quoting from the novel?! I've seen this "move" with other classic novels (in one of the War and Peace films the narrator sits reading from a large book, but the text is not Tolstoy!) and I just don't get the idea behind it.

I also wish the film had several parts because even though it did phenomenally well adapting such a huge novel to the screen, it could only concentrate on the main characters' storyline, whereas the novel had its charm in all the side stories of the O'Hara's friends and relations. Just as an example, in the novel the Tarleton family was my favourite and they play a much larger role in the story, whereas in the film only the Tarleton twins even got a mention and they only appeared in two tiny scenes. And I'm sure people know this, but I was surprised to find out when reading the novel that Scarlett had two other children aside from Bonnie.

I love GWTW- both the book and the movie. The book is interesting to read because there is so much more in it, and it never gets boring. IMO the movie did a fantastic job of paring down the material to fit the silver screen. Scarlett's other children- from her two former husbands- really didn't contribute to the story, as far as the movie was concerned. I liked reading about her two sisters and her parents in detail in the book. About the text you mentioned- I will have to watch the movie again. It's been years since I saw it, and I do have the DVD. So after the Oscars season is over, it will be a good thing to watch. I don't really have a problem with the text in the movie being different from what's in the book, as long as it captures the essence. It's like changing some of the dialogs a little for greater effect on the screen (adding "Frankly" may be? )

 

[Vash01]

haha I felt so dumb b/c I only realised it once I got home & googled him They look sooo alike! Well hotness runs in the family it seems!
Hopefully he will be acting more now he has charisma.

btw speaking of actor's children
I still cant wrap my head around Jamie Foxx daughter. Once I saw her last awards season. She's so mature & beautiful I thought she was his wife or sister. Or maybe Jamie looks that young to me )))
She was the absolute star at this year's GG ceremony.

How did I miss her? I have already erased the GG recording from my DVR, so I can't watch. May be I will see her picture in People magazine or something.

 

[skatesindreams]

Here she is:
http://www.people.com/article/corinne-foxx-named-2016-miss-golden-globe

 

[Artemis@BC]

Yay! I had hoped Room would return to the mainstream theatres here after it got so many nominations, and it has. Including one very near me. So I know what I'm doing next Tuesday.

 

[Xela M]

Yay! I had hoped Room would return to the mainstream theatres here after it got so many nominations, and it has. Including one very near me. So I know what I'm doing next Tuesday.

Take tissues! I wasn't warned and had none when I bawled my eyes out throughout the whole film. I was embarrassed to come out into the light with mascara all over the place

(But I do cry at films so maybe you're tougher than me)

 

[Artemis@BC]

^ Oh no, I know I'll cry. I cried reading the book (and books make me cry a lot less often than movies do), so it's a near certainty that this will be a 3-hankie job at minimum.

And I'll be going sans mascara.

 

[Vash01]

^ Oddly I didn't cry in that movie (Room). There was plenty of opportunity to do so.

Instead, I cried a lot at the end of The Danish Girl. Went back to my car and cried some more and I wondered why nobody had warned me to take tissue along? Luckily there was plenty in my purse.

 

[Xela M]

I forgot to mention, for any Christopher Walken fans - in the The Dogs of War he gives an incredible performance (and it's the best he has ever looked - even better than in The Deer Hunter). Some stills from the film...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/97/d2/61/97d261149bdab86249aaa6b96d398d86.jpg

http://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/4056520/968full-christopher-walken.jpg

http://www.cageyfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/dogs-of-war_01.jpg

I think I have now officially overdosed on Christopher Walken.

Apologies for quoting myself, but omg he looked heavenly in 'The Dogs of War'. The pictures don't do him justice. This short clip does... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2_BpBLmwvJk Considering how beautiful he looked, he aged very badly.

 

[PeterG]

New movies coming out this weekend listed below. The 5th Wave is at the bottom because I listed it last week before I knew it's release was pushed back a week. Oh, and if this week's choices look less than stellar, I didn't both to list half the available titles because the deleted movies were even worse!


Jan. 22nd - Dirty Grandpa - Comedy with Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Julianne Hough, Aubrey Plaza and Dermot Mulroney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOAn83vOZLk

Jan. 22nd - The Boy - Horror thriller with Lauren Cohan [The Walking Dead] and Rupert Evans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPxybc_aJWU

Jan. 22nd - Prescription Thugs – Documentary. From imdb.com: “In this follow-up to his film BIGGER FASTER STRONGER, director Chris Bell turns his camera on the abuse of prescription drugs and, ultimately, himself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKXWI26d2qk

Jan. 22nd - Mojave (Limited)- Thriller with Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund, Walton Goggins and Mark Wahlberg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pwwVQ8YCl4

Jan. 22nd - Exposed (Limited) – Drama with Keanu Reeves, Mira Sorvino, Big Daddy Kane and Christopher MacDonald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsfBjOkTVxI

Jan. 22nd – JeruZalem – Horror, new cast. From imdb.com: “When a couple of American young adults fly to Israel to visit the city of Jerusalem, a biblical nightmare falls upon the city.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTIwfN-4hZ4

Jan. 22nd - Synchronicity (Limited) – Sci-Fi Mystery with a new cast & Michael Ironside. From imdb.com: “A physicist who invents a time machine must travel back to the past to uncover the truth about his creation and the woman who is trying to steal it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1el06Ic5Ts

Jan. 15th - The 5th Wave - Sci-fi with Chloë Grace Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello and Ron Livingston
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmxLybfGNC4

 

[watchthis!!]

With people talking recently about the best films of all time, I went looking for a list for us to talk about. There was one list which polled actors and other movie industry people, but it was one of those websites where you had to keep finding an arrow to click on to move to a new page to see the next movie. Too time-consuming. So I found this one on Wikipedia, which is the updated American Film Institute list. This is from 2007, the original list was from 1998. Below is their 100 greatest film list, preceded by a link to the Wikipedia page. Which are your favourites? And which made it to the list that you find…questionable?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Movies_

1. Citizen Kane, 1941
2. The Godfather, 1972
3. Casablanca, 1942
4. Raging Bull, 1980
5. Singin' in the Rain, 1952
6. Gone with the Wind, 1939
7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
8. Schindler’s List, 1993
9. Vertigo, 1958
10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
11. City Lights, 1931
12. The Searchers, 1956
13. Star Wars, 1977
14. Psycho, 1960
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
16. Sunset Boulevard, 1950
17. The Graduate, 1967
18. The General, 1926 NEW
19. On the Waterfront, 1954
20. It's a Wonderful Life, 1946
21. Chinatown, 1974
22. Like It Hot, 1959
23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982
25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939
27. High Noon, 1952
28. All About Eve, 1950
29. Double Indemnity, 1944
30. Apocalypse Now, 1979
31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941
32. The Godfather Part II, 1974
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937
35. Annie Hall, 1977
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957
37. Best Years of Our Lives, 1946
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948
39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964
40. The Sound of Music, 1965
41. King Kong, 1933
42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967
43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969
44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940
45. Shane, 1953
46. It Happened One Night, 1934
47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951
48. Rear Window, 1954
49. Intolerance, 1916 NEW
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001 NEW
51. West Side Story, 1961
52. Taxi Driver, 1976
53. The Deer Hunter, 1978
54. MASH, 1970
55. North by Northwest, 1959
56. Jaws, 1975
57. Rocky, 1976
58. The Gold Rush, 1925
59. Nashville, 1975 NEW
60. Duck Soup, 1933
61. Sullivan's Travels, 1941 NEW
62. American Graffiti, 1973
63. Cabaret, 1972 NEW
64. Network, 1976
65. The African Queen, 1951
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , 1966 NEW
68. Unforgiven, 1992
69. Tootsie, 1982
70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971
71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998 NEW
72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 NEW
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969
74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991
75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967 NEW
76. Forest Gump, 1994
77. All the President's Men, 1976 NEW
78. Modern Times, 1936
79. The Wild Bunch, 1969
80. The Apartment, 1960
81. Spartacus, 1960 NEW
82. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927 NEW
83. Titanic, 1997 NEW
84. Easy Rider, 1969
85. A Night at the Opera, 1935 NEW
86. Platoon, 1986
87. 12 Angry Men, 1957 NEW
88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938
89. The Sixth Sense, 1999 NEW
90. Swing Time, 1936 NEW
91. Sophie's Choice, 1982 NEW
92. Goodfellas, 1990
93. The French Connection, 1971
94. Pulp Fiction, 1994
95. The Last Picture Show, 1971 NEW
96. Do the Right Thing, 1989 NEW
97. Blade Runner, 1982 NEW
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942
99. Toy Story, 1995 NEW
100. Ben-Hur, 1959

 

[watchthis!!]

And the movies from the 1998 list that got bumped when they added new choices to the 2007 list:

39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
44. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
52. From Here to Eternity (1953)
53. Amadeus (1984)
54. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
57. The Third Man (1949)
58. Fantasia (1940)
59. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
63. Stagecoach (1939)
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
68. An American in Paris (1951)
73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
75. Dances with Wolves (1990)
82. Giant (1956)
84. Fargo (1996)
86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
87. Frankenstein (1931)
89. Patton (1970)
90. The Jazz Singer (1927)
91. My Fair Lady (1964)
92. A Place in the Sun (1951)
99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

 

[gk_891]

I wasn't the biggest fan of Schindler's List although I do think it's Spielberg's best effort. My issue was the ending and how sentimental it became. I'm surprised Sophie's Choice is there on the list. Sure, Meryl Streep gave a landmark performance but I personally didn't see anything all that exceptional about the movie itself besides Streep and the cinematography. I actually thought the story deserved better treatment. And I'm well aware that my opinion on the movie puts me in the minority!

When it comes to Alfred Hitchcock, I like Rear Window and Psycho better than Vertigo. I think my problem is that I'm not that big of a fan of Kim Novak and the ending was a little abrupt for my taste.

I personally hated 2001 A Space Odyssey. I kept checking my watch every 5 minutes. But that was years ago so maybe a re-watch is in order.

I love Bringing Up Baby. One of my favourite comedies. I also love Blade Runner and am glad to see it on the list but I actually hated the original cut. The later versions with the voice over narration taken out and the bleaker ending captured my attention better.

I'm sad The Third Man got bumped. I thought that was an incredible movie.

I personally would've switched the ranking numbers of City Light with Modern Times when it comes to Chaplin. But that's just me.

I'm kind of surprised Do the Right Thing is on the list. When it comes to Spike Lee, I personally thought his best effort was Malcolm X.

 

[Jay42]

This was in the Star Wars thread but I thought it should be posted in here in case someone interested hasn't gone in there.

They have pushed back Episode 8 to December 15, 2017 because they have to do some rewrites. Here is the article about it. I saw an article on io9 as well that said the reason for the rewrites was to refocus the story on Rey, Finn and Poe. They had been planning on bringing more characters in the sequels but they want to refocus the story on those three because of how popular they have proven to be.

 

[gk_891]

Speaking of greatest movies, what about greatest performances? Who would you mention in such a list and for which performance? Off the top of my head, I might mention Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire and/or On The Waterfront), Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times), Max von Sydow (Pelle the Conqueror), Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), and Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) for actors. For actresses, I'd probably mention Maria Falconetti (The Passion of Joan or Arc), Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice), Marilia Pera (Pixote A Lei Do Mais Fraco), Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata), and Norma Aleandro (La Historia Oficial).

But that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are amazing performances that I'm forgetting at this moment.

 

[Xela M]

Speaking of greatest movies, what about greatest performances? Who would you mention in such a list and for which performance? Off the top of my head, I might mention Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire and/or On The Waterfront), Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times), Max von Sydow (Pelle the Conqueror), Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), and Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) for actors. For actresses, I'd probably mention Maria Falconetti (The Passion of Joan or Arc), Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice), Marilia Pera (Pixote A Lei Do Mais Fraco), Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata), and Norma Aleandro (La Historia Oficial).

But that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are amazing performances that I'm forgetting at this moment.

Marlon Brando - Streetcar Named Desire

Vivien Leigh - Gone With the Wind

Those are my top two best performances of all time. There have been superb performances over the years and Meryl Streep as well as Jack Nicholson could be mentioned for almost every role they appeared in, but Brando and Leigh are still in my opinion the two pinnacles of lead male and female performances.

 

[gk_891]

Oh yes, Vivien Leigh was amazing in Gone With the Wind. A landmark performance.

As for Streep, I'm kind of mixed on her. Some of her performances in the 70s, 80s, and 90s were incredible. But over the last decade or so, her performances have been less impressive to me as I get the impression I'm watching Meryl Streep rather than the actual character. But whether that's because of her performance or the way I'm viewing her through my eyes is something I can't say.

Other great performances that wowed me were Emma Thompson (Wit), Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs), Soumitra Chatterjee (The World of Apu), Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry), Klaus Kinski (Nosferatu the Vampyre), Gong Li (The Story of Qiu Ju), Denzel Washington (Malcolm X), and Choi Min-Sik (Oldboy).

 

[Vash01]

Marlon Brando - Streetcar Named Desire

Vivien Leigh - Gone With the Wind

Those are my top two best performances of all time. There have been superb performances over the years and Meryl Streep as well as Jack Nicholson could be mentioned for almost every role they appeared in, but Brando and Leigh are still in my opinion the two pinnacles of lead male and female performances.

Agree with both choices.

I would add:

Jack Nicholson- Who flew over Cuckoo's nest

Meryl Streep - Sophie's choice, Out of Africa

Adrian Brody - The Pianist

Daniel Day Lewis- Lincoln

 

[gk_891]

One film I wish was better known is Korczak which is a true story about Janusz Korczak. Like Schindler's List, it's also set during WW2 but I personally liked Korczak better. But of course I am biased as I like Andrzej Wajda's (the director) work much more than I do Spielberg's.

It's posted on youtube but with Portuguese subtitles as opposed to English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A9j0Rynhj0

 

[PeterG]

Spike Lee & Jada Pinkett Smith Refuse To Attend 2016 Oscars Over Lack Of Diversity Among Nominees
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/we-cannot-support-it-spike-lee-refuses-to-attend-2016-oscars-over-all-white-acting-nominees-20160118?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed

Excerpt of the statement from Spike Lee (who has never received a best director nomination):

As I See It, The Academy Awards Is Not Where The 'Real' Battle Is. It's In The Executive Office Of The Hollywood Studios And TV And Cable Networks. This Is Where The Gate Keepers Decide What Gets Made And What Gets Jettisoned To 'Turnaround' Or Scrap Heap. This Is What's Important.

On Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview cover, there is a picture of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, but his face is totally covered) and then a list at the bottom right which reads, "Get the scoop on 75 films starring Jennifer Lawrence, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie Pitt, Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett". Pretty white list. And Entertainment Weekly does better than others with diversity represented on their covers. But this list to me shows the problem, that Hollywood is a business that historically has put white movie stars in white movies produced and directed by white people paid for by more white people. Occassionally a person with darker skin has sneaked in there. But if Hollywood is the film industry that represents Americans, they have FAILED at representing the people of America.

So the issue is systemic racism and people's unwillingness to accept and or deal with the fact that this exists. One way to do something about this is for people to speak out (and these people are then criticized...when they are not lying!). Another way is to make some sort of bold move which forces people to up their awareness. One example of a bold move is to boycott a highly visible worldwide television event...and then make public statements as to what you are doing. This is what brings about change. Unfortunately, when people like Jada Pinkett Smith makes a statement about this, she is attacked when her argument does not cover every single facet of the problem that exists. Like she is responsible not for speaking her own truth, but is responsible for every single thing which needs to be addressed. This is an example of racism.

I agree that there are a lack of roles worthy of Oscar nominations by non-Caucasian actors and actresses. That's what the issue is here. Why did Viola Davis leave the world of movies for television when her white contemporaries remain making movies? Why has Morgan Freeman received five Oscar nods and one win while Jack Nicholson has received twelve nominations and three wins? Both were born the same year (1937) and I think it's arguable that Freeman is a better actor with a wider range of what he can do than Nicholson can. Why has Julia Roberts received four Oscar nominations and Halle Barry only one? It's the reason why great actors like Angela Bassett, Danny Glover, Cicely Tyson, Laurence Fishburne, Alfre Woodard, Jeffrey Wright, Octavia Spencer, Louis Gossett Jr. and Regina King have not had WAY more great roles under their belts considering their overwhelming talent.

If boycotting the Oscars in the face of obvious racism gets things moving in the right direction at a faster pace, hats off to those who use this ceremony to put the spotlight on the issue. It will be interesting to see if any Caucasian of note follows suit. Remember Marlon Brandon in 1973, white people?

 

[gk_891]

Agree with both choices.

I would add:

Jack Nicholson- Who flew over Cuckoo's nest

Meryl Streep - Sophie's choice, Out of Africa

Adrian Brody - The Pianist

Daniel Day Lewis- Lincoln

Oh yes, Brody was amazing in The Pianist. I haven't seen Lincoln yet but I did see DDL in both My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood and I thought he was incredible in both.

Another excellent performance IMO was Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence. Such masterful use of subtle facial expressions.