Cinema Wellman: January Screenings
January Screenings: Bottom 5
5) The Bodyguard (1992)
The director of this film discouraged Whitney Houston from taking acting lessons. It appears someone also gave that advice to Kevin Costner at some point.
The music is decent. Its two Oscar nominations were both for Original Song, but neither of those songs is titled, "I Will Always Love You," which is easily the best/most memorable song in the film.
Costner's wooden acting is such a distraction. I just can't watch him. I will go to my grave believing he did his best work in The Big Chill. You remember who he played in The Big Chill, don't you?
4) Melinda (1972)
I am a fan of the Blaxploitation genre. Big fan, actually, which is why I wanted to see this. The genre boasts some very strong female characters including Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) both played by the underappreciated Pam Grier, along with Tamara Dobson's Cleopatra Jones (1973). The women in Melinda are fine, but it's the male lead that just destroys this movie. Calvin Lockhart's performance is unintentionally comical. His facial expressions were torture to watch. He appeared constipated during the entire film. He's actually worse than Costner.
3) Something's Gotta Give (2003)
I usually loathe romantic comedies, and this was no exception. Jack Nicholson plays the old geezer womanizer (yuck) with a penchant for younger women (yuck again). He almost has sex with Diane Keaton's character's daughter, played by Amanda Peet, and then he ends up with Keaton. Right. That happens. Every woman wants to end up with a dude that tried to smash their daughter.
There's also a relationship between Keanu Reeves and Keaton that is almost as creepy as Nicholson's with Peet. Nicholson was 66 when this was made and Amanda Peet was 31. Now I really don't care what fictional people do in their fictional lives, but it was all gross to look at.
2) Hawaii (1966)
This was three hours and nine minutes of overblown horseshit. Movies about missionaries trying to "convert" natives just piss me off. I'm going to mention this a TON during this project, but I only watched this because it was...say it with me, "ON. A. LIST." When I decided I was going to attempt to see EVERY movie ever nominated for ANY Academy Award, I knew I'd be in for rubbish like this. Seven Oscar nominations!!! SEVEN!!! This is the kind of crap that the academy has salivated over for decades.
1) The Other Side of Midnight (1978)
This is based on a novel by Sidney Sheldon, so you know it's going to be shit right off the bat. If not for the Best Costume Design nomination, I wouldn't have gone near this. The leading man, John Beck, was absolutely terrible. I was shouting at my television begging for this to end. My wish finally came true after 2 hours and 45 minutes.
January Screenings: Top 10
10) Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000)
I want this to be a fun project, so I don't want to get political and turn this into something else. That being said, this is an excellent documentary that details what happened in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. If I was still teaching, I'd want to show this to my history classes. I'm sure they wouldn't let me since they didn't have the balls to let me screen 13th (2016) which may be the best documentary I've ever seen about the systemic racism inherent in our country. Powerful stuff. Not at all easy to watch, but that's part of the point. Movies/documentaries about racism, genocide, etc. shouldn't be easy to watch.
9) Luca (2021)
I watched this as part of Brynn's Birthday Celebration. It was a great choice! A nice story about friendship and fitting in and individuality. As I mentioned on Brynn's birthday post, I was relieved that it wasn't about my 8th grade math teacher, Mr. Luca. He hated me. I wouldn't watch a movie about him.
8) Big Fish (2003)
I wasn't that interested in watching this, but was pleasantly surprised by it. Ewen McGregor plays a young man whose father, played by Albert Finney, is a loudmouthed storyteller. The stories are so absurd that McGregor attempts to figure out fact from fiction when he finds out his father is dying. Parts of this story are very sweet, and Finney is wonderful.
7) Little Women (1994)
What the hell is this doing here?!? Haven't they made a dozen versions of this? Well, this one was quite enjoyable. Winona Ryder is marvelous as Jo March in the Louisa May Alcott classic that I never read.
6) The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996)
A second documentary in this Top 10. Al Hirschfeld's simple yet intricate drawings of celebrities are so fun to look at. They're also SO "Hollywood." I really enjoyed the stories about the celebrities that HATED his drawings of them! I'm paraphrasing, but one celeb claimed that Hirschfeld made him look like a pig. Hirschfeld's response, "You look like a pig." You go, Al!
5) Encanto (2021)
A second film recommended by Brynn for her birthday celebration, so Brynzie went 2-2 with her task! This was great fun. The characters had some depth, the music was excellent, and the story had a positive message to it. I tend to hate Disney (a lot), but I always give credit where credit is due.
4) Being the Ricardos (2021)
When I first heard of this project, Cate Blanchett was supposed to play Lucy. I was very excited because I absolutely LOVE Cate Blanchett! When I heard she was replaced by Nicole Kidman (who I don't necessarily like at all), I was disappointed. I must say that she does an excellent job.
Three Oscar nominations went to this, all for acting. Kidman (Lucy), Javier Bardem (Desi), and J.K. Simmons (William Frawley) were all excellent. No surprise since all three are past Oscar winners. Frawley was a real asshole from what I've read, and Simmons nails that. Interesting that the only one of the quartet left out of the nominations was Nina Arianda who plays Vivian Vance. Ethel Mertz is once again neglected.
After I watched this movie, I watched the original episode that they show being made in the film. That was great fun!
3) The Harder They Fall (2021)
IMDb describes this Jeymes Samuel western as follows; "When an outlaw discovers his enemy is being released from prison, he reunites his gang to seek revenge." Yes, yes, and yes!!
The cast in this is phenomenal; Idris Elba (man crush of mine), Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, Regina King (regular crush of mine), and Jonathan Majors are the major players.
It's wicked violent and will remind some of a Quentin Tarantino film. I think this is what a western directed by Tarantino would look like if he still had any talent. QT is a big time hack in my book. He's a half notch above the awful/overrated M. Night Shyamalan.
2) The French Dispatch (2021)
Say what you want about Wes Anderson, and most people do, but the guy makes some unbelievably odd and strangely interesting movies. He's hit (Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) or miss (The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) with me, but I still really like his stuff overall.
I was in the PERFECT mood for this because I thought it was wonderful. As usual, Anderson's cast is like an All-Star team studded with extremely talented people. This was a treat.
1) CODA (2021)
I was so happy to see that this film won "Outstanding Performance in a Cast in a Motion Picture" AND "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role" at the recent S.A.G. Awards!
Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the only hearing member of her family. Ruby is torn between pursuing her dream of going to the Berklee School of Music or staying home to help out her family of commercial fishermen. The rest of her family are played by deaf actors. Oscar winner Marlee Matlin plays her mom, new S.A.G. Award winner Troy Kotsur plays her dad, and her brother is played by Daniel Durant. I thought having Ruby's family made up of deaf actors added an authenticity to the film that made it much more compelling and enjoyable. The emotions conveyed by these actors without the benefit of words was truly astonishing.
I cried and cried, which is really no surprise. This is a fantastic film about communication, family, dreams, overcoming obstacles, and making difficult choices. Matlin and Kotsur are often times hysterically funny in this, and very naughty as well. The fact that we now have a CODA in our family made this even more meaningful to me. I would love to see this win some Oscars.
Tomorrow is Dakota's birthday, so look for her "celebration" tomorrow. I'll follow that up with Cinema Wellman: February Screenings on Friday.
A little Wes Anderson fun, courtesy of SNL.
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