You Must Remember This.

Jose here to commemorate Ingrid Bergman who would've turned 94 today. The Swedish acting goddess starred in dozens of films, won three Academy Awards, two Emmys and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a career that spawned over four decades.

She is best known for her iconic role in Casablanca though she wasn't Oscar nominated for it. Her history with the Academy is rather bizarre. She was nominated seven times and even if she only lost on four of those occasions, it's still fair to say she was a bit underrated by them. Hollywood neglected some of her best work. Even the actress herself thought she was overrated at one point.

When she created chaos after engaging in an extra-marital affair with Italian neorrealist master Roberto Rossellini she also delivered some of her greatest work. Obviously the film industry ignored this and only accused her of immorality. But is it right to judge her on personal matters when she was starring in films like Europa 51 and Voyage to Italy? In these films she showed great vulnerability combined with strength and that certain quality only film stars have.

Out of all the actresses of her time it was Ingrid who could dive into parts without screaming "look at me" or establishing trademarks. She could go from Hollywood fare to Italian neorrealism to theatre and even that other Swedish film god Ingmar Bergman effortlessly.

The Academy of course chose to recognize her for work she could do in her sleep -- when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1974 she graciously accused herself of award robbery -- but despite the fact that such injustices were committed, her work will live forever. Thinking of all the characters she gave us before the time of her death, any cinema lover would think it's a shame that she didn't live forever as well.

The Men Who Stare at Links

Streep Tease An evening of famous Meryl Streep monologues performed by men this Saturday, September 5th! You Los Angelenos better be going to this. I want to hear everything. Someone buy me a ticket. And a plane ticket!
The Big Picture Matt Damon getting a lifetime achievement prize? He's 38! Does that make 40 the new 70 instead of the new 30?
The Auteurs Daily asks the question I've been asking myself silently: How is Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon German enough to be Germany's official Oscar submission this year?
Awards Daily shares the BFCA's best rated films as a preview for the Oscar race. They fail to mention that the BFCA's "scores" throughout the year don't usually end up directly correlating with their "Best Picture" field. They'll ditch high rated films if they don't think they can score big Oscar nods, just watch.

Kenneth in the (212) continues his one man crusade to remind people that Ryan O'Neal was the "Brad Pitt of the 70s"
My New Plaid Pants finally forgives David Fincher for Benjamin Button
Movie|Line on True Blood's breakout blonde, Alexander Skarsgård. Do you think the producers of Thor are regretting their casting decision these days? (I personally lost all interest in that Norse God superhero movie when they passed him by.)

And finally, our long (mostly) lost Ewan McGregor back in the lead (yay!) for a movie that probably won't suck (The Men Who Stare at Goats) with an exceptional cast (on paper). Feel free to rejoice but only parenthetically since... who knows, really?



Be excited now or sensibly wait until November 6th to do so. Your choice.

I feel it's worth noting that the movie was directed by George Clooney's extremely less famous frequent partner-in-crime and two time Oscar nominee Grant Henslov (pictured left) who writes, acts, directs and produces... and supposedly even forked over the money for Clooney's first professional headshots 27 years ago. Let's hear it for Grant and for all the talented multi-hyphenates out there that make their movie star friends look even more fantastic than they already naturally do.

Anthony Mackie is Bewitched On Stage, Bothered On Screen

If you happen to be in NY this weekend, this is your last chance to see the latest free Shakespeare in the Park production, Euripides' The Bacchae. (Common wisdom says these free shows are always sold out but I had no trouble getting in so try it, especially if it's wet outside) The greek tragedy plays like a slightly gender-fucked avant garde musical in this particular production. I had seen it once before 13 years ago and the only thing I remembered about it was the absolutely sick gory finale. It's still disgustingly bloody.

Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening) goes for a smeared lipstick rock god style Dionysys. His nonbeliever victim is none other than familiar screen actor Anthony Mackie.

One could argue that both actors are having a great summer. See also: Taking Woodstock (Groff) and The Hurt Locker (Mackie).

I know I haven't given The Hurt Locker enough play this summer at the blog. I guess I figured it would still be around and still in the discussion mix come Oscar season. At the very least, if one is feeling cynical, it'll keep popping up as a shoulda coulda woulda type film. Who knows how the larger voting bodies will respond. Time will tell but surely easier, softer and more nakedly awards-hungry pictures will challenge it for dominance within a month or two.

tick tock tick tock tick tock

The clock hands seems to be weirdly stuck when it comes to Mackie's career. The lack of media attention is bewildering. He turns 3o next month and while he can't complain about the amount of work he gets, shouldn't he be a bigger name by now? The Hurt Locker, in which he plays an increasingly bothered soldier who's worried that his commanding officer is too fond of risk-taking, is his meatiest role since the little seen gay artist film Brother to Brother (2003) but will it open the floodgates to better and/or bigger roles?

Mackie (clockwise from top left) as gay author in Brother to Brother,
bullying boxer in Million Dollar Baby, drug dealer in Half Nelson,
exhausted soldier in The Hurt Locker and angry royal in The Bacchae.

Reading the program notes to The Bacchae reminded me how limited the roles can be for a black actor in Hollywood. Mackie's film roles seem to break down to the physical: military men (Eagle Eye, The Hurt Locker), tough athletes (We Are Marshall, Million Dollar Baby) lowlife criminals (Half Nelson, The Man) and sexual objects (Freedomland, Brother to Brother, She Hate Me) ... but he's actually a Julliard trained actor. Come to think of it Mackie has even played against this dichotomy as "Papa Doc" in 8 Mile, wherein he was only posing as a thug. Eminem defeats him in battle merely by rapping about Doc's education and upper class privilege.

We're familiar with his face but how many moviegoers know his name?

The Hurt Locker can only help his career. He already won an Independent Spirit Nomination for it last year. But with co-star Jeremy Renner and director Kathryn Bigelow sucking up all the oxygen in Locker's Oscar-buzz room, is his breakout role still to come?
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"I still prefer the exuberance of Boogie Nights..."

...over the formalism of There Will Be Blood." says Quentin Tarantino when raving about Paul Thomas Anderson's auteurial genius.



On this we can agree though we love both films passionately.
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The ReBirth (?) of Nicole Kidman

I'm trying not to place 2010's Rabbit Hole, the stage to screen story of a grieving family, on a pedestal of unrealistic expectations. Acclaimed plays can make brilliant movies but there are no assurances. They can be tricky beasts to cage in two dimensions. So I'm trying to lower my expectations but Nicole Kidman is not making it easy for me.

Aaron Eckhart co-stars in Rabbit Hole"The reason why I’m in the movie is
Nicole. If she wants to work with somebody, then that’s what happens"

First she offers the directorial job to the brilliant John Cameron Mitchell who I've loved since I saw him tear it up on stage as Hedwig when I first moved to New York. Now in the NY Times she brings up Birth, one of her very best, as comparison to Rabbit Hole.

When I first responded to [Rabbit Hole], it was because I read it, and it was about grief, which fascinates me,” she said. “Loss and love seem to be themes that run through my work.” This film is about “a marriage and the way that people fuse through pain, that you can either be pulled apart or you can come together. In the same way that ‘Birth,’ a film that I did, was about loss of the loved one who’s your partner in life, this is the most profound loss, and it’s the worst place to tread. And so my nature tends to be to explore something that I’m terrified of."

I love the modesty of "a film that I did"... not "a film that I killed in. I'm sometimes a genius" which is a more accurate statement, if you ask me.

Daryl Hannah Wants You To Read...

...The Film Experience. or else.

I kid, but I always like to picture Daryl Hannah barking juvenile orders like an amazon bully post Kill Bill. (God she was great in that. Five years later and it's increasingly annoying that no real filmmakers dared pounce to provide her a worthy follow up).

So now the eternally underappreciated sexbot turned mermaid turned celebrity girlfriend turned born-again hairdresser turned environmental heroine turned whistling assassin is designing board games. This one is called "Liebrary". You make up first sentences to real books once you read their title and synopsis.

(Pictured) 'Elle Driver' promoting her board game this past Monday in NYC.

So, points for originality, Daryl! Most actresses of a certain age just start writing children's books.

Ho Hum

With a relatively empty movie weekend ahead, are you catching up on something you missed or taking a break from moviegoing [gasp]? Share your plans in the comments. I'm going to my first Jewish wedding. Will it be anything like Yentl?

Genetic Lottery Winner

Do you know who this 19 year-old (pictured left) is?

Well, he's the grandson of two Hollywood giants. I'm not sure which two exactly though the maternal line in the equation is clear. She's the one pimping posting the picture, the one they called "The Look"...

You know how to whistle play Twister, don't you Steve...?

Read my new Towleroad article to identify him. I also briefly bitch about Humpday's newly photoshopped DVD cover and Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock. (Well, not so much bitching about the latter. It has its moments)

First and Last #51

First and Last: the first image after the opening credits and the last shot before the final credit scroll.

Can you guess the movie? It's from the 80s, can't you tell?

Highlight for the answer: Dreamscape (1984) starring Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw. All about men invading other people's dreams. Isn't Inception going to revolve around that, too? for all first and last puzzles, click the label below.

Sophie's Link

Meryl Streep brings endless funny. Have you read "name one masterpiece of cinema that I've starred in"? Hat tip to reader Cal for alerting me. Since this article appears in The Onion, it's Meryl Streep or "Meryl Streep" but both are equally awesome. One can certainly imagine the real Streep taking these shots at her self. She's always been fond of the self-deprecating zingers that somehow pretzel themselves until they're self-aggrandazing.

Of course, next Sophie's Choice comes up. Sure. Absolutely. That makes complete sense. But have you actually watched Sophie's Choice lately? Boy, talk about a movie that has not aged well. My performance is very good. No question. Oscar-worthy even...

So now is when you have to start really digging into my filmography because you're starting to think, "Can it be true that one of this generation's greatest actresses, maybe even the greatest—a national treasure, you might say—has never been in a film as good as Network, which isn't even Faye Dunaway's best movie?"

Ha. That's so true. Faye had quite the run. But... is it true? Does Meryl really not have her very own classic? P.S. The line about The Devil Wears Prada is killer.


More Linkage
Cinema Blend Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen as bloodsuckers. I still weep that something as boring as The Twilight Saga will be "entertaining" us for years to come, but at least they're recruiting decent actors now that they won the lottery
Stareast Asia Zhang Ziyi engulfed in shoulder pads. Have you accepted that Ziyi is now more of a model than an actress. Maybe that's always how you've thought of her? You're smart
Topless Robot is Green Lantern doomed? I love Topless Robot. They're so self aware. This line from the highly speculative post is a beaut. It's a line which would never be typed on other genre loving fanboy sites but which belongs on all of them

But if I don't make wild, unfounded accusations about things I know nothing about, I feel like I'm not doing my job.

babblebook contemplates the catharsis of Inglourious Basterds. Great post
Cinephilia imagines Pitt & Jolie receiving the Inglourious call. The punchline to the scene is pretty great
Socialite's Life George Clooney breaks his hand. Damn, that man is fragile
PopCrunch Liz Taylor loves RuPaul?

Oh, Anne...
My nearly beloved Anne Heche (if only she'd get the good roles...) is back in, uh, form. Did you see her on Letterman? Now I think it's a terrible terrible terrible thing for a celebrity to diss a civilian on national television --manners, Celestia, manners!-- But that said, I like my Anne crazy, so I loved this.



Against my better judgment.

Finally
It's been ages since I've been to the popular flash site Homestar Runner for a Strong Bad e-mail but I clicked over this morning to watch a short comic bit on "indie film" vs. independent film. Back in the day --when? don't remember-- I wrote Strong Bad an e-mail asking something or other about movies but quickly realized it was a mistake and my e-mail would never be used to animate an episode because the world of Homestar Runner tends not to really deal with reality as we know it in. There's very little in the way of dated pop culture references / jokes. But, I guess Strong Bad is closer to planet Earth now that he's dissing art films and Hollywood poseurs and getting little visual digs in at Juno among other things.

I Think About Movies Too Much.

I do. There's something wrong with me.

<--- I saw this headline on MSNBC today and my mind literally launched into an instant (and instantly inappropriate) interior monologue

Why would people want to watch The Abyss when they're broke? James Cameron's movies always look so expensive. But I'm glad people are rediscovering it. It's so blue and tense and claustr

A second later I realized that I was thinking about Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (what happened to her?), mice who learn to breathe in water, Michael Biehn's moustache, serpentine watery intruders and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation instead of worrying about my fellow citizens and how they're going to pay their bills.


I think about movies all the time.

If you're reading I'm just assuming you have this problem, too. We're in it together and since nothing can be done we drink them up and learn to breath them in. There is no escape from this escapism.
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