Greatest Film Ensembles of All Time Part V: Adam and Orrin count down Their Top 10

This is the final installment of a series in which Adam Spector of Adam's Rib and I count down out top 50 film ensembles of all time. Part I is here and Part II is here and here you will find Parts III and IV. Thanks for reading everyone, it was a labor of love (Note: This post will be updated and edited as we go)

ORRIN'S TOP TEN:

Murder on the Orient Express

Finally, we arrive at  . . . THE TOP TEN.  First your list Orrin.  You have some staples here, half of which are on my list, while others made me rethink old assumptions.  Unfortunately, I can’t make a strong case against any of them.     

10. Chicago (2002) – Much of the media attention with Chicago focused on how it was bringing back the musical. But it didn’t take too long for the actors to garner the recognition they deserved.  Catherine Zeta-Jones won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, while Renee Zellweger, Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly all garnered nominations. Zeta-Jones’s extensive background in musical theater shines through in her numbers.  Zellweger does not have the same chops as Zeta-Jones, but holds attention by subverting her good girl persona.  Latifah, although she appears sparingly, makes the most of her brassy singing voice.  Reilly, as he often does, plays the everyman to perfection.  You will see him in my top ten.  Richard Gere was a disappointment, especially because the sleazy lawyer part was originally offered to John Travolta.  Not only would Travolta have fit the part to a tee, but few actors in the last 40 years could dance onscreen as thrillingly as he did.  Gere nailed the shifty charm of the lawyer, but you could see the director, Rob Marshall having to work around his limited dancing ability.       

Orrin’s response: An interesting alternative take with Travolta substituting for Gere, but the part wasn’t about natural ability but rather razzle-dazzling your way around it. To some degree, my favorite ensembles are coinciding with my favorite films of all time, and Chicago certainly wouldn’t rank that high (though it is a great film), but I do believe lightning really struck with this ensemble all the way down to all the cell block tango girls (more Lucy Liu please!) and Taye Diggs as the announcer. I also think it was no accident that this film was credited with bringing the ensemble back because Zellweger really conjures that kind of classic era leading lady spunk (albeit a little darker) as do Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah.

9. A Prairie Home Companion -- #39 on my list.  As we have noted earlier, Robert Altman defined his work with wide and deep ensembles.  You will see another film of his on my top

 How fitting that Altman’s swan song, which hit theaters only a few months before his death, had such a strong cast even by his high standards:  Meryl Streep, Kevin Kilne, Tommy Lee Jones, (Altman regular) Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly (back-to-back on your list), and Virginia Madsen.  And of course Garrison Keillor playing himself.  The ensemble succeeds not through its star power but in the effortless way they all gel, as if they had been a stock company working together for years.  The radio series succeeded through wit and warmth, but also through familiarity.  Lake Wobegon was a place we all felt we knew.  Keillor’s screenplay, Altman’s steady hand, and the immense group of actors carried over that familiarity on screen.

Orrin’s Response: Honestly, Meryl Streep here was my favorite performances of the entire year in any category, and it wasn’t even among her 20+ nominations. The Streep-Tomlin-Lohan clan felt very authentically Minnesotan which went a long way towards mixing in with the Garrison Keillor vibe.  When we discussed our first Robert Altman entry on the list (The Player), we discussed how he had a stock company of players that served him well, but looking at how Prairie Home Companion and Nashville only have one actor in common and how he’s made ensemble films work with entirely different cast lists, it says a lot about how Altman can manage great ensembles regardless of who’s in them.  I wrote about Robert Altman and the film as his last on ScreenPrism

8. From Here to Eternity – Not on my list but it certainly could have been.  A very eclectic mix including actors with classical training such as Deborah Kerr, largely self-taught actors such as Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra, and Method-trained Montgomery Clift.  Ernest Borgnine steals every scene he’s in as the brutal Sgt. “Fatso.” Donna Reed played against her wholesome image by portraying a “hostess” (a prostitute in the book).  One of a small number of films to get a nomination in all four acting categories, with Sinatra and Reed winning for Supporting Actor and Actress.

Orrin’s response: Like Grand Hotel, it certainly helps that From Here to Eternity is among my dozen favorite films of all-time or so.  Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift are among the most magnetic stars of their generation, so this is a great introduction on these two. Similarly, there’s a younger generation who probably only knows Frank Sinatra as a singer or Deborah Kerr as the stuffy lady from The King and I. They would do well to see this film as well.

7.  Star Wars – When I saw this on your list, I had to pause for a second.  Star Wars is part of my DNA, having been my favorite film since I was four years old.  I have written about it extensively:  (http://www.dcfilmsociety.org/adamstarwars.htm,  http://www.dcfilmsociety.org/adam0705.htm,http://www.dcfilmsociety.org/adam1212.htm,  http://www.dcfilmsociety.org/adam1601.htm,http://www.dcfilmsociety.org/adam1701.htm).  Yet I never considered it an ensemble piece, perhaps in part because I focused on the story and the special effects.  Perhaps it’s also because the cast discussions would range from disdaining the film (Alec Guinness) to playfully joking about the film (everyone else).  When I did think about the actors, it was often on one performance, such as Carrie Fisher.   You including Star Wars made me take a different look at a film I know so well.  Guinness gave Obi Wan Kenobi the gravitas needed to make you believe in the Force and the Jedi.  The interplay among Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill propel the film’s second act.   James Earl Jones’s deep, threatening voice fills the screen as Darth Vader, complementing Peter Cushing as the more traditional villain.  You never see Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewie) or Kenny Baker, but their physical performances should not be overlooked.   So, yes, this most certainly belongs on the list.

Orrin’s Response:

I’ve had many debates with friends over whether Kenny Baker is an actor or more of an earlier version of a motion capture stand-in, and I’m not well-acquainted on Anthony Daniels’ involvement to know if it was just a human with robot paint or a man in a costume, but those two do make a cute pair. But I was really thinking about the actual live actors in the film here. I would count Billy Dee Williams in this entry as well, but the main five or six actors- Fisher, Guinness, Hamill, Ford, Cushing, and James Earl Jones-really combine a great mix of old and new enthusiasm. The formula for the Star Wars prequels and the JJ Abrams-led sequels copied the same formula-- combining unknown and known, procuring talent on both sides of the pond—with varying degrees of success.

   

6. Grand Hotel -- #34 on my list.  We noted this film earlier, which is arguably the signature ensemble film of the classic studio era.  Maybe someday we’ll get a prequel to “Feud” about how Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford clashed on set.   

Part of the idea of a great ensemble is the idea of balancing out the parts with a deft touch. I think Grand Hotel is the epitome of such an effort. The storylines are all beautifully told in their own way (whether tragic, tragicomic, or dramatic in a life-affirming sense). It is a bit disorienting watching Joan Crawford in Feud as a diva while watching her here as the counter-diva to Greta Garbo.

5. Singin’ in the Rain – Another film that I had to reconsider, as I immediately think of Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor.  But then I realized I was falling into an easy trap: just thinking of the film as a musical, when it’s also a brilliant comedy.  Many of the laughs come from Jean Hagen as the tin-voiced diva Lina Lamont. Not only was she very funny, but she actually dubbed her singing voice for Reynolds who was playing the actress dubbing Lamont.  Add in Cyd Charisse and Rita Moreno (nine years before West Side Story), and you have a strong ensemble.  Maybe higher than I would rank it in this category, but good choice.

Orrin’s Response: A good sign of your higher level of devotion to Star Wars than me is your online post mourning Carrie Fisher’s passing whereas I felt the loss of Debbie Reynolds significantly more. Going through her filmography or watching her in interviews or just looking at backstage photos, Reynolds struck me as someone who was specifically made for the MGM musical era.  She struck me as a compulsive performer and I couldn’t think of anything more fitting for her outsize personality than seeing Singin' in the Rain become appreciated as the greatest American film musical in history. It’s not just Reynolds but it’s a tribute to O’Connor, Kelly, and Hagan as the archetypical sidekick, leading man, and villainess respectively. Of course Cyd Charisse is just an added bonus.

4. Doubt (2008) – We debated earlier about how many actors it takes to qualify as an ensemble.  If a film garners four acting nominations, it qualifies.  The best part is that many of the scenes are simple two character dialogue. When Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn square off, you can feel Meryl Streep and the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman playing off each other, making each other better.  The same goes for the brilliant, understated scene between Streep and Viola Davis.  The latter got one of the Oscar noms despite only ten minutes of screen time, because she made those minutes count.  There’s not much you know on paper about Davis’s character.  Davis fills in the backstory of a woman who has had to make sacrifices and tough choices living in a segregated world. 

3. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) -- #18 on my list.  This film had to have a brilliant ensemble, or it would have failed miserably.    David Mamet’s script is like red meat for actors, and boy do they chew on it.   As with Doubt, the actors’ performances build off each other.  Al Pacino had the showier role, doing monologues in a way only he could.  Alec Baldwin’s cool contempt embodying capitalism at its cruelest, made the “Always be closing” scene into an iconic film moment.  However, its Jack Lemmon’s haunting work, as the has-been who doesn’t realize his time is up, that has the most staying power.  James Foley’s claustrophobic direction echoes Lumet’s work in 12 Angry Men, a film from earlier in your list, and squeezes the most out of one of the most talented cats ever assembled.  

Orrin’s Response: With Jack Lemmon and Alan Arkin on one side and Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and Al Pacino on the other, this film feels like the best of two generations meeting in the middle. Also worth noting, a poll on best ensembles I did reveals 12 Angry Men as the second best ensemble film of all time.

2.   Murder on the Orient Express (1974) -- #36 on my list.  Very timely choice with the remake on the way.  As we have discussed earlier, this is one of the times where the “all-star” cast succeeded.  The stars fit their parts, not the other way around.  Sidney Lumet offered Ingrid Bergman the bigger part of Princess Dragomiroff, but Bergman wisely insisted that she play the nanny, even though she has little screen time.   History proved Bergman right as she won Best Supporting Actress.  Bergman’s decision exemplifies the focus on character among the whole cast.  Kenneth Branagh’s team has some massive shoes to fill.    

Orrin’s Response: I honestly have no idea why Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar over Wendy Hiller, Rachel Roberts or Lauren Bacall, but that’s part of what makes this film a great ensemble. It’s full of scene stealers. On top of the very solid reasoning you provide about how the cast fits their parts to a T, it’s a great film to introduce anyone wanting to be introduced to the classics as so many great actors of note come here.  The other thing I want to note here is that the ensemble isn’t just about fitting a lot of actors under a single marquee and having them live up to their performances. It’s also about a capable lead. We can talk about Hiller, Roberts, Bacall, Sean Connery, Michael York, Vanessa Redgrave and all the other stars BUT this film wouldn’t be considered a classic if Albert Finney didn’t make the lead such an engaging character to follow. When Kenneth Branagh chewed the scenery on the extremely recent release in some parts, you had more appreciation of the way Finney did this literary character such justice.

1. Network -- #5 on my list.  Sidney Lumet again.  Maybe he never received enough credit as an actor’s director. William Holden, who we have discussed earlier, keeps the film grounded no matter how fantastical it gets by the end.   He and Faye Dunaway have very different styles, but this works perfectly, as their characters come from opposite vantage points.  Their scenes together manage to be romantic, funny, and in the end sad.    We all remember Peter Finch as the “mad prophet of the airwaves” Howard Beale, but Beale’s post breakdown mania works because Finch was also convincing as the pre-breakdown Beale, a beaten-down shell of a once principled newsman.    Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight only have one scene apiece, but their riveting work completely commands the screen.  Straight won an Oscar despite appearing for just five minutes.  Like any great ensemble, the lesser known actors also distinguish themselves, particularly Marlene Whitfield as the underground revolutionary Lauren Hobbs, and Arthur Burghardt as the terrorist leader “the Great” Ahmad Kahn.  My #1 also happens to be a 70s film starring Robert Duvall.

Beatrice Straight, Network

Orrin's Response: No disagreements here. You perfectly summarized everything I love about this film and it's cast. As I previously said, William Holden was arguably the most exciting actor of his era and this is his swan song. 

ADAM'S TOP TEN:

1. The Godfather (1972)-I was kind of hoping for a bold, original, and surprising choice from you but I always had a feeling you might pick a classic and it’s hard to debate this film. Marlon Brando’s role here has been caricatured quite a bit (several characters from Analyze This, Dom Pigeon from Animaniacs’ Goodfeathers sketch and the DomBot from Futurama all come to mind) so it’s hard to even remember the original from the copycats. I don’t know which of the three sons struck you the most, but watching James Caan in that film, you wished he had a better career. Sure, he was great in Misery but it seems Kathy Bates got all the credit. I’ll write a bit more in your sequel entry.

2. Pulp Fiction (1994)-Pulp Fiction is quite possibly the definitive film of the 1990s and I’ve never seen a poll of that decade in film that has Pulp Fiction lower than three. 

However, I did a poll on best film ensembles that did rank Reservoir Dogs ahead of Pulp Fiction (as you recall, my only Tarantino film in the top 50 is Django Unchained for the way the characters and actors fit so perfectly)  and that makes a lot more sense to me. Pulp Fiction has pairings and concurrent stories whereas Reservoir Dogs really casts the scrappiest of character actors while also having a tighter more theatrical series of interactions between the same group of people throughout.

In a recent Hollywood Roundtable interview, Quentin Tarantino talked about directing a theatrical version of The Hateful Eight when he retires from directing, and that makes a lot of sense, because Tarantino’s stories are highly theatrical and moving his narratives away from an arena that are defined by special effects, would really do service to his dialogue. I feel like films like Diner (ironically, Tarantino got early comparisons to Levinson when he was starting out) or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff with group scenes can really thrive in an ensemble sense and that’s what Reservoir Dogs is.

I suppose it also makes a difference for me that I’ve never particularly been attached to any of the actors in the film.  Uma Thurman seems cold and off-putting across several genres (although to be fair, I hear she takes the badass babe trope to a new level in Kill Bill).

John Travolta seems a little weird and has significantly watered down his brand by being in nearly every bad action film I saw in the late 90s and early 00s. This is significant because by I first watched Pulp Fiction in a film class in 2002 after enduring some bad Travolta films so “Travolta in an action film again” was not a great tagline.

Samuel L. Jackson is widely respected as a great character and I like him but I don’t love him the way I would, say Philip Seymour Hoffman or Paul Giamatti or Lawrence Fishburne.

Lastly, I have tons of appreciation for Bruce Willis for his taste in directors. When it was easy for him to just act in action films, he took risks to work under Terry Gilliam and M. Night Shyamalan. However, I think it’s only with Wes Anderson and Moonrise Kingdom did I feel like he was really doing something different and that was nearly two decades after Pulp Fiction

As I debated with you in Big Lebowski/Fargo and Citizen Kane/Magnificent Ambersons, I wonder if you’re conflating the better film with the better ensemble.


3. Airplane (1980)- You’re number one choice was disappointingly unoriginal but I have to give you credit for surprising me quite a bit with your fondness for comedy and Richard Linklater films in particular (I never hear you discussing that director)

This is ironic since I had extremely high placement for Airport which this film as a parody of. When watching the recent John Lithgow television comedy Trial and Error, there was a woman with a minor role (a psychic jury member) who I instantly recognized because she had such a distinctive flalr: Apparently her name was Julie Hagerty and I remember her well because she made a strong impression with Airplane. She was appealing enough to make the love story work, but she also sold the absurdity like a straight man (or woman in this case).

Honestly, I can’t remember anyone else in the film (except Leslie Nielsen and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) but I invite you to educate me on all the other stand outs.

4, Nashville (1975)-Considering no other director is as synonymous with the ensemble film, I think it’s fitting to include an Altman film in the top 5, and this film is as rich as Murder on the Orient Express (the film I consider the gold standard)  with great character  actors which. I could see a good argument for people calling it the greatest ensemble film ever. Is there a single unheralded actor from that decade who isn’t in the film in a meaningful way? A few people on my poll said this was the greatest ensemble film of all time and I’m not surprised.

5, Network (1976)-I had it as my #1 and you articulated the film’s brilliance so well I didn’t even feel a need to elaborate on it.

6, The Usual Suspects (1995)-This is my favorite surprise of yours in the top 10. While this film currently ranks #27 all-time on IMDB, I still feel like it’s often forgotten in the shuffle.

Like a great ensemble film, it has a lot of group scenes and group interplay between a number of actors who are all on relatively equal footing.

I was too young to watch Kevin Spacey’s films in 1995 but Damien Bona’s essential book Inside Oscar 2 talked about Spacey being rewarded for the Oscar this year because he was breaking out with four pretty high-profile roles in a single year. He was either the lead or the one with the showiest role in Usual Suspects, The Ref, Seven, and Swimming with the Sharks (similar to how Patricia Clarkson got the National Board of Review award in 2003 not just for Pieces of April, but Dogville and the Station Agent as well). Having watched all these films in retrospect, I can only imagine the cumulative effect.  Even a relatively unambitious film like The Ref-in which Dennis Leary kidnaps a family and gets caught up in their melodrama-seems like high theater in Kevin Spacey’s hands.

Still, I think Spacey isn’t just part of  part of a whole in what gives “Usual Suspects” it’s status as a great ensemble film and not. The late great Pete Postlethwaite does some great work here but I think it’s the criminals- Kevin Pollack, Gabriel Bryne, Benicio Del Toro, one of the other Baldwin brothers, and Spacey in flashbacks -- who does the heavy lifting.

7. The Godfather, Part II (1974) Godfather Part II stands defiantly on many Best of Lists as the only sequel. It was the only sequel to be included on AFI’s top 100 list despite the fact that Empire Strikes Back is often considered one of the 4 or 5 best films of the 1980’s and the one that really took the franchise to a deeper level. Perhaps, inclusion of The Godfather II is a way of sending a message that sequels aren’t always derivative. I’ve only seen the first and about half of the third, so I’m not in a position to comment (and bring on the “You’ve Never Seen _____! How Dare you” comments) but perhaps the best way to compare the two is to talk about the differences in cast lists.

The original has Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the main characters with John Cazale and James Caan as the two other sons with Talia Shire, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton in big roles. Other sizable parts go to Gianni Russo, Al Lettieri, Tony Giorgio, and Abe Vigoda.

The sequel’s biggest subtraction is Marlon Brando and greatest addition is Robert De Niro as the biggest editions. Michael V Gazzo (no idea who he is) and Lee Strasberg (perhaps the best acting instructor of all time) also garnered academy award nominations. Going down further on the list, we see the great Danny Aiello (who had an extensive theater career and had scene-stealing performances in The Professional and Do The Right Thing) and Bruno Kirby who is best known for comedic rules in the 80s including a lighter take on the mob drama in The Freshman, which was ironically one of Marlon Brando’s last roles.

8. Boogie Nights (1997)-Never saw this one. But I’m about as familiar with it as one can be for not having seen the film because the characters and lines have been referenced so often. The scene in which Philip Seymour Hoffman tries to seduce Mark Wahlberg’s character (and I even know his name: Dirk Diggler) because it was played on a VH1 special and parodied by the CollegeHumor YouTube series. So as someone who’s familiar with the film in one sense and not the more important sense (having actually watched it), I can completely see the reasoning behind it. Besides, all you have to do is look at the list of cast names. The two greatest character actors of the 2000s, John C Reilly (whose comedic talents were not really known to the public until 2006 with Talladega Nights) and Philip Seymour Hoffman along with Don Cheadle and William H. Macy (who would probably land in most people’s top ten). Julianne Moore is among the singularly most talented actresses of her generation and Mark Wahlberg seems like what must have been quite a risk at the time and it worked.

I have little familiarity with Burt Reynolds movies from the 80s like Smokey and the Bandit but I’m aware he had a sizeable niche in moviedom during that time period and it must also have been a nice moment for his fans to see him get nominated for Oscar and BAFTA that year and win a Golden Globe.

9. Casablanca (1942)-Since word space is at a premium, let’s skip this one since we know it’s a classic.

10. Almost Famous (2000)-My favorite thing about this film’s ensemble is all of the hidden gems you might not have realized on first viewing. Zooey Deschannel is underpromoted here as the protagonist’s sister and, considering her reputation as the reigning queen of quirkiness, it’s kind of odd seeing a film where the Manic Pixie Dream Girl role goes to someone other than her in Kate Hudson. While Hudson does very well with the part, I often wonder if Deschannel could have run with it even more if she had the career clout to command a bigger role when this film was cast. But if I was ever convinced that a director went back into a time machine and snagged a bunch of actors who he wanted to work with before their asking prices were too high, check out all the smaller parts: We have Noah Taylor, Rain Wilson, and Jay Baruchel, Michael Angarano (The Knick), Jimmy Fallon, Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), and even podcaster Marc Maron.My favorite performance, however, is Frances McDormand and I would even argue that, more than anyone else, she makes this film great in a way that Cameron Crowe’s later works (I wrote an essay for this at ScreenPrism here) were bogged down from accomplishing because he tends to write the same kinds of characters over and over and that includes overly flighty female characters (see Susan Sarandon’s bizarre yet forgettable performance in Elizabethtown for evidence of how he writes mother  characters). As the film is semi-autobiographical, Crowe modelled the role after her mother and when Crowe’s mother visited the set, Cameron  tried to keep McDormand and Mrs. Crowe from interacting so his actress wouldn’t be tainted by the real-life subject. He was unsuccessful in preventing the two from lunching together, but I have a feeling it didn’t matter, because McDormand had a pretty firm viewpoint of how she wanted to play the character in a way that seems more McDormandesque than Cameron Crowe

Lastly, it’s worth noting that good ensembles often (but not always) are anchored by a solid center. Patrick Fugit felt like much more than a child actor here and while he didn’t follow any trajectoty from child actor to star, he’s still a working actor. We could make a pun here and say he’s alrost famous, but I believe that Fugit is doing what he wants to do.

ADAM'S BIG RESPONSE:

_{The Godfather at #1 might not be the most original choice, but I stand by it.  Like Network, your #1 pick and my #5, The Godfather is a classic that’s remained in the public discourse since its release.  The Godfather remains a master class of casting in both the larger and the smaller roles.  Brando’s performance has been parodied, even by himself in The Freshman, but never equaled.  Look past the mannerisms and see how, as Don Corleone, Brando listens to the other actors.  The Don is constantly evaluating and sizing up who is talking to him.} 

_{The other leads became stars from this movie, almost as a group.  Coppola believed in rehearsal and had the actors get to know each other and eat dinners together before and during shooting.  The cast has an ease and naturalness with each other, particularly James Caan, John Cazale, Al Pacino and Talia Shire as the Corleone sons and daughter.   Pacino gives Michael Corleone a consistent steeliness, while also evolving his character from the outsider to the ruthless heir apparent.  His performance in the restaurant before Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey is a textbook example of conveying everything while saying nothing.} 

_{What sets this film apart, is that every single actor who isn’t an extra makes an impression.  In the opening scene Salvatore Corsitto as Bonasera grabs the audience just through him telling a story to the Don.  The hurt, anger and frustration illustrate why people came to the Don in the first place.  And Corsitto is only in one more scene.  But he’s not alone.  Whether it’s Al Lettieri as the scheming Sollozzo, John Marley as the crass Jack Woltz, or Alex Rocco as the doomed Moe Greene, they all stand out.  I could name ten other examples easily.   Maybe it’s not the most original choice, but it’s the only choice for me.}

_{I could say many of the same things about The Godfather, Part II.  Michael V. Gazzo, G.D. Spradlin, and Lee Strasberg all create vivid characters that add to the tapestry.  Robert De Niro, as the younger Don Corleone, somehow manages to echo Brando while also making the character his own.  John Cazale builds off what he started in the first film.  Cazale, who died young and only made five films, was so well respected by his fellow actors largely because he was unafraid to play weak men.   Poor Fredo is not any stronger here, but Cazale explodes with impotent rage.  His “cards on the table scene” and attempted reconciliation Michael becomes so heartbreaking mostly because Cazale finds the humanity and even the sweetness in this pathetic character.}

_{Your initial criticism of Pulp Fiction was that it did not have the same dynamic as Reservoir Dogs, or The Hateful Eight for that matter, where you have a large group in a small space.  I have nothing against Reservoir Dogs, which could have easily been on my list.  Yes, having the same group of people interact with each other most of the movie can certainly demonstrate an effective ensemble, but it’s far from the only way.  Pulp Fiction has many different pairings, and while the whole cast may not be in the room at the same time, you can say that about may other films on both our lists.  Travolta may not have had a great career for the past 15 years, but so what?   He has brilliant chemistry with both Samuel L.  Jackson and Uma Thurman, and the fact that he can dance plays dividends in the iconic Jack Rabbit Slims scene.  Christopher Walken has one scene, which is just him telling a story into the camera, but you can’t take your eyes off him.  Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer are so much fun as Pumpkin and Honey Bunny that you almost wish they had their own movie.  Harvey Keitel is the epitome of cool as the wolf, and you already addressed Willis.} 

_{Still, when my friends and I saw the film for the first time, we could not stop talking about Jackson.  He commands every scene he is in, with an unrivaled power and intensity.  As Jules, Jackson can be funny in a conversational way.  But when he has to “get in character” you can see how Jules can dominate and intimidate through sheer personality.}  

_{If you do want to look at Pulp Fiction through an ensemble lens, rewatch the Mexican standoff in the diner.  The characters played by Jackson, Travolta, Roth and Plummer are all in different places.  Yet the four actors gel perfectly, playing off each other and effortlessly guiding the scene to where it needs to go while revealing something about each person.} 

Source: DeathandTaxesMag.com

_{We are on more common ground with  Airplane!, and thankfully so.   The film remains one of the most relevant examples for how fine ensemble work is not relegated to “serious” movies.   You noted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Leslie Nielsen.  The latter completely reinvented his career, paving the way for The Naked Gun.  Many others also played off their personas to great laughs.  Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges played their roles completely straight, with Bridges laying the groundwork for his work in the Hot Shots! movies.  But the capper is Barbara Billingsley, the mom from “Leave it to Beaver,” the picture of white bread wholesomeness, announcing “I speak jive” and then doing just that.}

_{For the sake of time and sanity, I’m not going to cover the films where we essentially agree, although it’s interesting you focus on Deschanel in Almost Famous.  Reportedly she auditioned for the Penny Lane role.  It’s hard to argue with Crowe’s decision, given the fine work that Kate Hudson turned in.  And we could be thankful that Crowe still saw something in Deschanel, who turned what could have been a stock big sister character into a vibrant force.  I just saw Frances McDormand in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.  The maternal ferocity she brought to her character there was as if she had taken what she had done in Almost Famous and cranked it up to 11.} 

_{Orrin, please see Boogie Nights.  Right now.   Paul Thomas Anderson is a great admirer of Altman, which is evident in the casting and performances here.    You touched on Reilly and Hoffman.  I’ll add four other of our best character actors, Don Cheadle, Luis Guzman, Melora Walters and Alfred Molina.  Anderson got Reynolds to go to depths he hasn’t been to either before or since.    I had hoped it would be the start of a second act for Reynolds.  While that wasn’t to be, it does not take away from his work in this film.  Wahlberg was a risk as you noted, still known more for his underwear ads and “Marky Mark” than his acting, but he had a strange innocence that lent itself to Dirk Diggler.  You’re right about Moore, who makes average films better and good films phenomenal.   You can’t be an authority on ensembles and not see this film.} 

ADAM LEARNED SOMETHING. WHAT WAS IT? FIND OUT HERE!

_{You asked me what I learned Orrin.  Compiling my list, reviewing yours, and our discussion helped me better understand that there’s no one formula for a great film ensemble.  Movies with a big sprawling cast certainly lend themselves to being viewed through an ensemble lens.  That’s even truer with directors such as Robert Altman or Wes Anderson, for whom ensembles are a calling card.  Some of your picks in particular illustrated that even a smaller group, if talented enough and in the right hands, can be just as memorable.  Together we also showed how ensembles in genre pictures, including comedy sci-fi and fantasy should not be overlooked.  For example, you helped me reexamine two of my favorites, Star Wars and Back to the Future, and realize that, in addition to the storytelling and special effects, both featured a fine cast of actors.} 

_{As we have covered, an all-star cast does not always lead to fine ensemble work. The determining factor is not how famous the actors are, but how they serve the story and the characters and how they work with each other. So many directors have said that casting is the toughest part about making movies, that if you have the right actors for the right parts, the other work becomes so much easier.  Working on this project with you has given me a small glimpse of how fragile the casting process is, how one wrong selection can derail a movie.  But when done with care and bravery casting can reap untold dividends.  Thank you Orrin.  Until the next time.} 

How many Oscar winners are on TV in 2014?

TV is truly in a Golden Age right now. Can you imagine TV would be this great 10 years ago. It was in the 2004-2005 school year that I declared a minor in film studies with aspirations to gobble up everything I could about film. TV wasn't even in my radar and rightfully so. It was a wasteland at the time.

The only shows I watched at the time were "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" because I thought David Spade and James Garner were both pretty interesting additions, "Arrested Development" which was constantly on the verge of being cancelled and "Conan O'Brian" because, hey, I was in college. Occasionally I caught "CSI: Miami" and "Monk" and that was about it.

2004 was a year in which "Friends" and "Frasier" went off the air with "Everybody Loves Raymond" on the way and the attempts to replace it were pretty lackluster with the exception of programs on HBO. Nowadays, when a great show ends there's hardly reason to worry as there are dozens of great shows right around the corner. The last time I mourned a show's departure was "The Office" but "Sillicon Valley," "Go On," "Review" "Broad City" and "Archer" quickly filled that void.

When "Frasier" and "Friends" went off the air, NBC filled the void with "Joey" and the animated "Father of the Pride" both of which were terrible. Nowadays, Matt LeBlanc's comeback vehicle is "Episodes" (nurtured on a network like Showtime which allowed for the proper creative freedoms) and comedies thrive on networks such as Adult Swim, FX, and Fox's animation block where they are encouraged to be offbeat and quirky.

 2004 was a year in which reality TV was threatening to take over programming. "The Apprentice," "Survivor" was as strong as ever, "Fear Factor" had been added to the mix, and there were dating shows galore. Behind the scenes, the WGA was pushing for more inclusive credits for writers on reality TV shows as if those writers were never gonna get their names on scripted shows and it was the best they can do.

These days, reality TV is an afterthought except for a few established brands. There's little fear of good TV being programmed out.

Pretty soon, things would change as a couple of the 2004-2005 hits started to grow "Entourage" "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" and this was followed by great shows. "Desperate Housewives" the ratings darling of 2004-2005 might not be that memorable in retrospect but it did have a star-studded cast and was jumped time shifts.

Also of note, the talent is going to television now. In 2014 alone there were 17 Oscar-winning actors and actresses who had won the highest honor filmdom can bestow and were acting on TV in either a recurring guest role, a miniseries, or a full-fledged credit. They are: 

Kevin Spacey (House of Cards), Marcia Gay Harden (The Newsroom), Jane Fonda (The Newsroom), Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge), Halle Berry (Extant), Jessica Lange (AHS: Freak Show), Kathy Bates (AHS: Freak Show), F. Murray Abraham (Homeland), Adrian Brody (Houdini), Robin Williams (Crazy Ones), Matthew McConaughey (True Detective), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Marlee Matlin (Switched at Birth), Chloris Leachman (Raising Hope), Geena Davis (Gray’s Anatomy), Linda Hunt (NCIS: LA) and Octavia Spencer (Red Band Society).

17 Actors most overdue for an Oscar nomination

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Here is a list without even looking at who is in high-profile films this year, i would say:
Lead Actor:
1. Matt Damon-Snubbed for Talented Mr. Ripley, Good German, Syrianna. Only one nomination 12 years ago despite being one of the most bankable actors today with one of the most creative tastes in projects he choses
2. Ralph Feinnes-Only two noms, snubbed for Constant Gardener and vote splitting cost him a nom for one of three fine performances this past year
3. Russell Crowe-No nominations since 2001. Nominated 3 times and deserved to win 2 of them. Despite being one of the two or three most brilliant actors in their prime today. Snubbed for Master and Commander, Cinderella Man, and American Gangster.
4. Jim Carrey-Snubs have dated back to 1998 with Truman Show, 1999 with Man on the Moon and 2004 with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Has wisely stayed out of sequels like Dumb and Dumber 2 and Evan Almighty, so he's not as commercialized as people give him credit for.
5. Liam Niesson-Snubbed for Kinsey and has only one nomination with

Either one:
1. Albert Finney-Being nominated for Erin Brockovitch was a good consolation for one of the best British imports of his generation to go empty-handed at the Oscars
2. Tom Hanks-Been 9 years since last nomination. Terrific in supporting roles like Catch Me If You Can or lead roles such as Ladykillers or Terminal
3. Daniel Craig-Clearly a better actor than the James Bond moniker allows him to be and he was snubbed for Munich and Infamous. I fear that in the mold of Sean Connery, the Academy will wait until he's done being Bond before the Academy gives him any consideration, because he's more an action star than a guy to be taken seriously.
4. Jude Law-Was in 6 movies alone in 2004. Highly prolific actor with only 2 noms to his name and 6 years since last nom. Still no win.
5. Ewan MaGregor-More than Obi-Wan Kenobi, he's a star in his own right and has been bankable and interesting to watch in everything he's been in.
6. Gabrael Garcia Bernal-If Benicio del Toro and Javier Bardem can get oscars, he should at least get a nomination. He hasn't exactly been snubbed but he has shined in Babel, Bad Education, Y tu Mama Tambien.
7. Michael Douglas-He's only had one nom in his whole career and has a lot more memorable roles in that and has been one of the premeiere actors of his time in the 80s. Traffic and Wonderboys showed he could still be a great actor

Supporting Actor:
1. Paul Bettany-I just think the guy is great in supporting roles like Master and Commander, Beautiful Mind (he got snubbed there, IMO), and that film with Harrison Ford
2. Alec Baldwin-He's brilliant on 30 Rock and his career spanning from Beetlejuice to Glengarry Glenn Ross has produced way more than just one memorable role. Plus he's on TCM, so bonus points with the old people. He needs to not have those list
3. Lawrence Fishburne-Contemporaries such as Morgan Freeman and Samuel L Jackson have been nominated multiple times, why not him?
4. Kevin Spacey-Only 2 nominations but then again there are only 2 wins. With his schedule as theatrical manager of the Old Vic Theater in London, he's said that he wants to only do supporting but he killed in films
5. Greg Kinnear-Whether the lead in Little Miss Sunshine or Auto Focus or supporting, he's an excellent actor and just one nomination doesn't serve adequate credit to him

Self-Analysis: Why I watch the movies that I watch....

I think the best strategy to maximizing your chances at the box office, is to do extensive surveying by people over what films they chose to watch over a period of time and why. I don't think there's enough emphasis on this in box-office analysis. The two measures that box office analysts look at are actual opening weekend numbers and cinemascore (the grade the moviegoer gives the film upon walking out of the theater). As far as I know there's not much surveying being done as to what drew the moviegoer into the theater in the first place.

Nevertheless, here's what drew me to the films I wanted to see this year. This has no relation to whether I was satisfied by the films or whether I actually made it to the movie theater. I admit the second factor is important, but sometimes circumstances determine whether you see the film in a theater or not (for example, was I busy that weekend, did I have anyone to go with). Coincidentally, if someone drags me to a movie, that doesn't mean it's a movie I wanted to see, so I didn't include those films. As you read this, think about what draws you to a film:
Disclaimer: I'm going to be doing some rambling here



Be Kind Rewind: Movie enthusiasts naturally want to see films that are self-reflexive and are about the movies and while the movie's main draw was that it would present 2-minute parodies of classic films, that you might also be able to see on youtube, the whole theme seemed very intriguing. In this day and age, anything that's a compilation of sketches and skits does not bode well in movie or tv form, considering you can watch great 3-minute pieces of entertainment all day. Movies are about wanting to be entertained by a 90-minute arc and that can't be found on youtube. Anyway, I'm going on a tangent here.....Be Kind Rewind also had Jack Black who I absolutely love and Danny Glover, and the setting of a video store resonated with me since I worked at Blockbuster the summer before

21: Bringing Down the House: An interest in seeing a new side of Kevin Spacey combined with the fact that I've heard much about this interesting story. Of course, as the film got closer to the premiere date, I heard on chasingthefrog.com that it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual story, so I lost considerable interest.

Iron Man: If I knew that Jon Favreau directed it beforehand, I might have had second thoughts (yes, I knew he directed Elf), but it's a standard superhero film and when it hit #1 and broke records, there definitely was a bandwagon aspect. You want to be on board the next big thing. A lot of people talk about the unconventional casting of Robert Downey Jr but I don't think that's so unconventional: Nothing about Tobey MaGuire, Ed Norton or Ben Affleck ever screamed out "action star." It's been the standard for the last decade to have an A-list actor with box office draw as opposed to an action-hero type: Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, or Vin Diesel. Besides, Robert Downey Jr. was by no means a down-and-out actor. Rather, the inclusions of Gwenyth Paltrow and Terrence Howard were points of interest to me. The overall visual look of the film and the idea of self-made superhero as opposed to superhero through scienctific freak accident.

The Happening: M. Night Shamylan's films are always original and inventive, whether they're hit or miss, so even if it ultimately doesn't hold up, I tend to appreciate the effort. Mark Wahlberg is also a fascinating actor and this felt like an out-of-his-element kind of role

Indiana Jones: How could you not see it, considering Indiana Jones is my favorite movie series

Get Smart: Fan of the TV show and the supporting cast struck me as an insanely interesting combination: You have the standard SNL guys in Koechner and Kevin Nealon, the action hero trying to expand himself into comedy in Dwayne Johnson, the nerd from Heroes in Masi Oka, and the established comic vet in Arkin, who alone is enough reason to want to go see the film. Oh yeah, and the guy from Borat. There's also the allure of the James Bond-like gadgets.

Wall-E: I like sci-fi dystopian movies, and the idea of making a children's cartoon out of that is highly intriguing. Not to mention the good reviews and the fact that I missed out on Ratatouille last year.

The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger as the Joker sounded like an interesting choice, and the Joker vs Batman is a great matchup. Besides, I usually see sequels of films I like. Simple as that.

Hancock: Will Smith always makes it a point to infuse blockbusters with humor and fun. I also love genre deconstructions, particularly superhero spoofs. Jason Bateman has become gold in the last year and a half and never lets you down. Also Charlize Theron is a wonderful actress. So Bateman, Smith, Theron struck me as a trio with potential.

Pineapple Express: To be honest, I don't think I've ever really seen a film that's so exclusively about pot, so I thought that would be interesting enough in itself. I wasn't a humongous Superbad fan, but I think that Seth Rogen is a capable actor (not a great writer, IMO) and the idea of a cross-hybrid between stoner and action was an interesting blend. Plus, I was in the mood for something really dumb, really lightweight, really funny, and perhaps a little action-oriented.

Step Brothers: Anchorman is one of my favorite comedies of all time, and Talladega Nights is one of the best of its year, so it's safe to say I'm a big fan of the improvizational style of the McKay-Ferrell writing team. It seemed like a lackluster concept, but on the upside, Mary Steenburgen cusses a lot in this film!

Bottleshock: I'm not particularly interested in wine, but I would like to see wine culture scrutinized and possibly parodied. I also liked the period aspect of it, even if it was 30 years ago, and it seemed like a good ensemble piece.

Encounters at the End of the World: I don't usually see a lot of documentaries at the theater, but when it comes to a documentary, the key is picking a subject that is a) interesting and b) something which we don't know a lot about, and Warner Herzog found the perfect subject here. Explorers in the Arctic: neat stuff

Burn After Reading: I didn't really want to see another Coen Brothers film and I have zero interest in seeing more of George Clooney on screen but two things that drew me to this were: 1) Brad Pitt was acting really wacky in the preview and 2) It takes place in Washington D.C. where I'm from, and the Coen Brothers usually incorporate a strong sense of place into their films

Ghost Town: Seemed like a lighthearted comedy with a good concept. Also Ricky Gervaise is relatively funny and he picks his projects carefully. I knew he wasn't doing this for a paycheck. I also like Greg Kinnear

Blindness: Fernando Meirelles is someone I have only seen one and a half films of and I absolutely think he's genius, so that was a good reason. Julianne Moore is selective about her roles, so that had a certain stamp of crediblity. I also felt the whole humanity fighting against a large force of nature concept carries interesting appeal to it: I liked Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, for example.

Religulous: I have to see this. I love Bill Maher, and I'd be curious for a good examination on the state of religion. I also like that he's going to be equal opportunity about offending the three main Western religions.

W: We see so much parody of the president, but I see very little portrayal of the man's past. Even if Stone might be biased (or maybe he isn't), it would be a highly eye-opening look into the man.

Film Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a courtroom drama/murder mystery that works well as a portrait of a very unique Southern town.

The film also deals with issues of sexual orientation and new vs old money (as in earned vs inherited wealth) and the prejudices that lie wherein but it seems to lack direction. The film seems unsure of whether it wants to be a sophisticated courtroom drama or whether it wants its courtroom drama to not even be the main story at all. The voodoo scenes in particular seemed sloppily tacked on and the script oscillated in a disorienting way between making this a story through the eyes of and centered around John Cusack or Kevin Spacey’s story.

Despite not knowing where it’s going, however, the film is thoroughly watchable and engaging until the end (when you're left with that aftertaste of "where was this going?"). Kevin Spacey’s effusive charisma makes an interesting character that much more complex and the film is populated by interesting characters: a drag queen who wants to use testifying in court as an opportunity to promote herself, or a guy who walks an imaginary dog. There’s an interesting woman who walks into John Cusack’s room at the beginning of the story but by film’s end she just turns into a boring old love interest. A love of place is very apparent and visible in Eastwood’s portrait of Savannah as a town that somehow finds room to fit the most antiquated of Southern traditions in their modern day-to-day lives and in some cases, very very modern lives.