the great big academy awards project: BEST LEAD ACTRESS in the AUGHTS
The Winner: Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich)
Report Card
ensembly challenged: WHEN BIG CASTS GO WRONG
One of the most hit-or-miss sub-genres you’re likely to find this side of the year 2000 seems to be the “huge ensemble cast” variety of films. Now before I begin, I should clear some things up – by “huge ensemble cast” movies, I’m not referring to those flicks that feature a core cast of four or five that spend the bulk of their screen-time together (think Closer or Junebug) or even the large casts that seem to be a force of nature (as in My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Ocean’s Eleven). No, I’m talking about the movies so hell-bent on big names that the marquee can’t support the weight of said name-dropping. The movies that are so scattered while searching for an ascertainable plot, that they forget to develop any of their characters. The best example of this plague in the past decade is 2006’s Bobby, a movie so interested in showing you recognizable faces that it forgets how stunted it is. From Demi Moore’s uncannily hammy diva to director Emilio Estevez’s downtrodden sidekick with a flat-as-a-pancake personality, the movie brings a hefty cast (nine people are featured above the title alone, for god’s sake!) but none of them deliver a meaningful performance. So I ask you, what then is the point?
Now, these big-cast flicks aren’t always horrible. There are the mediocre ones as well. Sure, The Women remake was mostly harmless fun, but it lacked a lot of chemistry, which is unforgivable considering the cast they were working with. Take Fast Food Nation as another example – it boasted a gigantic cast (a la Bobby) but none of them were able to live up to the compelling story they were trying to tell. The meat-packing plant scenes were painful to watch for all the wrong reasons – Wilmer Valderrama and Catalina Sandino Moreno were nap-inducing and lifeless. And though He’s Just Not That Into You had its moments (most of them thanks to bubbly Ginnifer Goodwin), it was bogged down by overdoing it with the storylines. How are we to care about any of their predicaments when we barely get a chance to get to know any of the characters?
And then there’s the hotly debated representative of all things intertwining and highly quantitative – 2005’s Crash. The Best Picture winner had critics polarized, including this one. Sure, it had a few reasonably acceptable performances (I was particularly taken with Sandra Bullock in fact), but the self-awareness of its own melodrama resulted in one of the most painful performances I’ve seen in recent years from Thandie Newton. The definition of over-the-top. Sure, backlash contributes to people’s seeming hatred of the movie (was it the biggest case of award-robbing in the past 20 years?), but it was always mediocre at best. Too much of the character work was meaningless and brought us nowhere by the film’s end.
But never fear, my friends, for there is hope. Sometimes twisty-turny ensemble pieces can be intelligent, cohesive, and, at times, fun. Leading the charge is Christopher Guest, whose ensemble pieces (particularly Best in Show and A Mighty Wind) seem to manage character development in mere moments. A great skill that Emilio Estevez just couldn’t reproduce. And let’s not forget the master of this sub-genre, Robert Altman, whose contribution of 2006’s A Prairie Home Companion just solidified his reputation as the ensemble master. So in the future, let’s have faith that we’ll see a lot more of Inglourious Basterds and Happy Endings and a lot less Demi Moore in 10-foot-tall hair.
best films: #34: HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
I’m going against the grain with this one, and I’m proud of it. Though Annie Hall held a place earlier in the countdown, it is, alas, not my favorite Woody Allen piece of filmdom. When it comes down to it, my favorite Allen work is 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters. Aside from its obvious ensemble appeal (Dianne Wiest! Michael Caine! Mia Farrow! Oh my!), it’s a genuinely comically touching film, which is not always the case with Woody’s movies. From the doting wife and mother Hannah (played with dowdy brilliance by Farrow) to the artsy beauty Lee (played by the now-missing Barbara Hershey) to the occasionally coke-snorting struggling actress Holly (played with utter comic genius by the wonderful Wiest), the sisterhood at the core of the movie isn’t hardly as played up as their separate lives, particularly with their paramours. That’s where Michael Caine, as the bumbling, professorly husband to Hannah, Elliot, comes in – well-earning his first Oscar here. But where would this fantastic cast be without the words of Woody? Say what you will about how he writes his characters and the major age differences in the screen romances, but in the ’70s and ’80s (and with a little resurgence in this past decade), Woody certainly had a knack for crafting a unique story about men and women simply living (albeit hilariously). Hannah is the selfless centerpiece whom we all admire yet would never want to become, Lee is the free and aimless spirit whom we know all too well in ourselves and others, and Holly is the sister truly taking a journey – she goes from being a self-absorbed drama queen to finding her passion and running with it. There’s something for everyone in Hannah and Her Sisters.
starting next week…
10 movie-related bio bits…
As per stipulated by Andrew at Encore Entertainment, I’ve been added to the long list of film bloggers who’ve been asked to ‘fess up with 10 random movie-related facts about themselves. So, as long as I’m understanding the rules correctly, here are 10 random (and mostly embarrassing) movie facts about yours truly…
1. The first movie, I’m told, I saw in theaters was Beauty and the Beast in 1991. As far as other movie-attending milestones, the first PG-13 movie I saw in theaters was Batman Forever in 1994 – but the first PG-13 movie I saw unchaperoned? That stellar entry in the James Bond franchise, The World is Not Enough.
2. Time to admit the shameful stances I hold: I fell asleep during Citizen Kane when I first watched it – and I have yet to give it another view six years later; I’ve never seen Lawrence of Arabia or Raging Bull, and I don’t see it happening anytime in the near future; the first time I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey I absolutely hated it (granted, I was about 12), and I’m still not so sure I even like it; and finally, possibly the worst confession, there was a time in my life (chalk it up to pre-teen madness) when Batman & Robin was deemed my “favorite” movie.
3. The films I’ve watched more times than any others are The First Wives Club, Clue, and I am Sam – and, if it counts, A&E’s Pride & Prejudice miniseries.
4. The first time I ever remember crying at a movie was in 1995 at Apollo 13. I recall being very confused as to what was happening, but I’ve certainly done the same at many movies since. Ol’ softie, I am.
5. Despite the backlash and constant revulsion from many movie fans, John Williams will always be my favorite score composer. And Gabriel Yared, Bernard Hermann, and James Horner follow close behind.
6. The only times I ever recall standing outside a theater in line to get into a movie were for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and While You Were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock is kind of a staple back in my small-town Minnesotan homeland).
7. Most of the worst movies I’ve ever seen – including Dumb and Dumber, the Adam Sandler filmography, and The Hot Chick – can be attributed to repeat forced viewings on marching band bus trips. Damn you Happy Gilmore.
8. I own about 500 DVDs (Obsessive? Maybe.) – the first one I bought was The Sixth Sense, though I went halvsies on it with my brother. The first one I bought on my own was Cast Away. The last DVD I bought was Election.
9. The first time I took in a double feature at a movie theater was in 1998 with The Parent Trap and The Mask of Zorro. The last time I did it, it was Nine and Up in the Air.
10. The Michael Jackson “Thriller” video scarred me more in terms of horror than any other horror movie did in my childhood. The closest in terms of sheer volume of related nightmares was probably the heart-wrenching scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
link rundown: APRIL 19, 2010
**Simon at Four of Them did a fantastic write-up on the state of female roles in cinema pre-1970 – Adam’s Rib, Bonnie and Clyde, Citizen Kane… oh my!