Notes on my Latest Directors' Progress Report

Sidenote: I've been writing for High on Film lately:

In the manner of Dear Data, I keep track of how many films I’ve seen by each director of whom I’ve seen at least four of their films.

Here’s my first update since 2018 with new additions in Bold and my two favorites in italics.

Some notes:

1. Among the big names, that haven’t made my list: Francis Ford Coppola, David Fincher, Otto Preminger, Danny Boyle, Brian de Palma, Alfonso Cuaron, and Guillermo del Toro (though if I ever watch the second half of Hellboy, I’ll have that nailed down). It’s ok: I don’t mind my blind spots at all. Don’t try to shame me for not watching the first two Godfathers or On the Waterfront! I can do that to myself just fine, thank you. Besides in a case like Elia Kazan, even if I haven’t seen his two most famous films, I have watched quite a bit of the periphery of his filmography and I enjoy doing that.

2. This is not a measure of how much I enjoy a certain film director. Woody Allen is #3 but I’ve only seen one films of his in the past decade (even though I believe his #metoo case is demonstrably false) and I wouldn’t equate him with brilliance. His films are just easy to digest and there’s a comfort to knowing what to expect.

3. Additionally, there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse with someone like Stephen Soderbergh. I admire his fan base because it’s compromised of more well-rounded cinephiles than the casual fan bases (usually, a calling card of masculinity) that emanate around, say, Tarantino or Scorsese. But he’s hit or miss. Full Frontal is overly indulgent in terms of the narrative; Laundromaut is visually indulgent enough that he puts Wes Anderson to shame; Ocean’s 12 was shameful in its attempts at meta; Erin Brockovich isn’t that far removed from the average star vehicle designed to win someone an Oscar; Side Effects is basically a genre film.

4. I would have seen everything Sam Mendes has ever made if I didn’t quit the James Bond franchise here. With the extraordinary 1917 and the delightful Empire of Light, Sam Mendes does a deep dive into a variety of genres.

5. We can divide this list into people I do and don’t consciously watch. I have never consciously watched anything by Chris Columbus (not the guy who discovered America), Peter Segal, Dennis Dungan, Frank Oz, or Sam Weisman. In the same manner in that I am attracted to a Sam Mendes film, I would run the opposite direction of one of these films if I knew in advance who was directing every film I had ever watched.

6. I was not raised as a film buff. I was raised in a few specific genres and one of those was Hitchcock. I don’t believe I’ve watched a Hitchcock film since graduating college so I had a humongous head start.

7. I would guess that my peers (same age, similar broad interest) probably have seen far more of the following: Francis Ford Coppola (five of his films in the 70s are simply essential, and he has a bunch of disposable films like Rainmaker and Jack that everyone at least watched once because it replays on TV a lot), Brian de Palma (a prolific guy dating back five decades with a few essentials), Tim Burton (he has a pretty large catalogue and is up for awards buzz every few years), and Ridley Scott (even though it seems like eight films is a lot, I haven’t watched Alien, Thelma and Louise and he’s released a lot of star-laden films in the middle like Body of Lies)

8. Lasse Holstrom is a curious case in that he’s a good litmus test for whether people choose their films based on what’s Oscar bait (films marketed, though not necessarily made, to win Oscars). Two of his films have been nominated for Oscar — Chocolat and Cider House Rules — that were helped greatly by Oscar magnate Harvey Weinstein in aggressive campaigning. Of course, we’d later learn that Weinstein was aggressive about less appropriate things, but that’s neither here nor there. Either way, Holstrom’s films that border on overly sentimental to a degree that can come off as calculated. In spite of this, Holstrom can often be pretty good at managing to tell an old-fashioned story that tugs at the heart strings without ever being revolutionary. Since his films have gotten the traditional Oscar hype, my theory is that a lot of Oscar buffs will have flocked to his films regardless of Rotten Tomatoes scores.

9. Peter Farrelly and Adam McKay are also interesting case studies in that their films have gone from frivolous to prestige throughout their careers. Farrelly’s comedies were an essential part of the 1990s whereas Adam McKay dominated the 2000s. Both would eventually win improbably Oscars elevating their subsequent material to must-see on the Oscar calendar. McKay’s last three films were all nominated for Oscar and whatever he makes is something a lot of people will want to see.

10. Similarly, Tim Burton has a surprisingly large output that formed most of my generation’s childhood milestones: Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, the first two Batmans, and Ed Wood have likely been covered by every one my age. Throw in some combination of Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which grossed $200+ million), Sweeney Todd, Big Eyes, Big Fish, Dumbo, Sleepy Hollow or any of the other films that he has made at the pace of roughly once every other year. It’s likely that most people my age have watched at least ten Tim Burton films even if they don’t consciously seek the guy.

18 Alfred Hitchcock-Family Plot, Torn Curtain, Rebecca, 39 Steps, North by Northwest, Saboteur, The Wrong Man, Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt, Topaz, The Birds, Psycho, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much (both versions), Rear Window

17 Stephen Spielberg-Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, Temple of Doom, Color Purple, Last Crusade, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Bridge of Spies, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Terminal, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ready Player One, West Side Story, Fabelmans

15 Woody Allen-Hollywood Ending, Curse of the Jaded Scorpion, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Small Time Crooks, Sweet and Lowdown, Mighty Aphrodite, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Melinda and Melinda, Midnight in Paris, Sleeper,Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Bullets Over Broadway, Wonder Wheel

11 Joel and Ethan Coen- Joel and Ethan Coen-Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Ladykillers, Man Who Knew Too Much, Intolerable Cruelty, Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, Serious Man, True Grit, Ballad of Buster Scruggs

11 Steve Soderbergh-Erin Brockovitch, Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12, Full Frontal, Good German, Ocean’s 13, Informant, Side Effects, Logan Lucky, Laundromaut, Hustle

10 Billy Wilder-Spirit of St. Louis, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Irma la Douce, Double Indemnity, Sabrina, Ace in the Hole, Major and the Minor, 1,2,3, The Front Page
10 Clint Eastwood-Mystic River, Unforgiven, Bronco Billy, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Invictus, Gran Torino, White Heart Lonely Hunter, Play Misty for Me, Bridges of Madison County, Richard Jewel
10 Rob Zemeckis-Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future I-III, Contact, Romancing the Stone, Flight, The Walk, Welcome to Marwen
10 Tim Burton-Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factor, Alice in Wonderland, Corpse Bride, Big Eyes, Dumbo

10 Martin Scorsese-Color of Money, Age of Innocence, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Aviator, The Departed, Gangs of New York, Shutter Island, Hugo, Wolf of Wall Street

9 Mike Nicholls-Primary Colors, The Birdcage, The Graduate, Working Girl, Charlie Wilson’s War, What Planet Are You From?, Postcards from the Edge, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff, Regarding Henry
9 Jay Roach-Austin Powers I-III, Meet the Parents, Mystery Alaska, Dinner for Schmucks, The Campaign, Game Change, Trumbo
9 Bryan Singer-Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, X-Men, X-Men 2, Superman Returns, Valkyrie, X-Men Days of Future Past, X-Men Apocalypse, Bohemian Rhapsody

8 Ron Howard-Apollo 13, Beautiful Mind, Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, Angels and Demons, The Paper, Cocoon, Solo, Hillbilly Elegy

8 Christopher Nolan-Batman Begins, Prestige, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet
8 Howard Hawks-Sgt. York, Bringing Up Baby, Big Sleep, Ball of Fire, Rio Bravo, His Girl Friday, Gentlemen Perfer Blondes, Monkey Business
8 Sidney Lumet- 12 Angry Men, Murder on the Orient Express, Network, Prince of the City, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, Pawnbroker

8 Ridley Scott-Blade Runner, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Prometheus, Martian, All the Money in the World, Last Duel, House of Gucci
8 Adam McKay: Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Anchorman 2, The Big Short, Vice, Don’t Look Up

7 Wes Anderson-Rushmore, Royal Tannenbaums, The Life Aquatic, Darjeerling Limited, Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, French Dispatch

7 Lasse Holstrom-What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Shipping News, The Hoax, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, Nutcracker and the Four Realms
7 Vincente Minelli-Meet me in St Louis, American in Paris, The Pirate, Brigadoon, The Band Wagon, Kismet, The Sandpiper
7 Rob Altman-Mash, McCabe and Mrs Miller, California Split, Buffalo Bill and the Indian, The Player, Dr. T and the Women, Prairie Home Companion
7 Ivan Reitman- Ghostbusters, 6 Days 7 Nights, Old School, Space Jam, Fathers Day, Beethoven, Beethoven’s 2nd, Ghostbusters II
7 Chris Columbus-Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Stepmom, I Love You Beth Cooper, Rent, Pixels
7 Terry Gilliam-Time Bandits, Brazil, Fisher King, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Brothers Grimm, Baron Munchhausen, 12 Monkeys

7 Rob Reiner-Stand and Deliver, Princess Bride, Rumor Has It, American President, Ghosts of Mississippi, Misery, Shock and Awe

7 Peter Farrelly-Kingpin, Dumb and Dumber, Fever Pitch, Shallow Hal, Osmosis Jones, Green Book, Greatest Beer Run Ever

6 Sam Mendes-American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Away We Go, 1917, Empire of Light
6 Johnothan Demme-Silence of the Lambs, Melvin and Howard, Manchurian Candidate, Married to the Mob, Rachel Getting Married, Rikki and the Flash,
6 Frank Capra-It Happened One Night, Arsenic and Old Lace, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, It’s a Wonderful Life
6 Stanley Donen-Take Me Out to the Ballgame (most sources insist that he really was the director, not Bugsy Berkley), On the Town, Singing in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Charade, Bedazzled
6 Stanley Kramer-Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Wold, Ship of Fools, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
6 Barry Levinson-Tin Men, Rain Man, Sleepers, Good Morning Vietnam, Man of the Year, Wag the Dog
6 Mel Brooks-Spaceballs, High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, History of the World Part I
6 Roland Emmerich-ID4, Stargate, The Patriot, Day After Tomorrow, 2012, White House Down
6 Gore Verbinski-Pirates of the Caribbean 1–3, Weatherman, The Mexican, Rango
6 Brett Ratner-After the Sunset, Rush Hour 2, Family Man, X-Men 3, Red Dragon, Tower Heist
6 Frank Oz-Bowfinger, In and Out, Stepford Wives, The Score, What About Bob, Housesitter
6 Peter Segal-Naked Gun 33 1/3, Tommy Boy, My Fellow Americans, Anger Management, 50 First Dates, Get Smart
6 Stanley Kubrick-The Shining, Spartacus, Lolita, Eyes Wide Shut, Paths to Glory, Dr. Strangelove
6 David O Russell-Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Joy, Amsterdam

6 Elia Kazan-A Face in the Crowd, Gentleman’s Agreement, Pinky, Lust for Life, Viva Zapata, East of Eden

6 John Ford-Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Hurricane, How Green was my Valley, The Whole Town’s Talking, My Darling Clementine

6 Shaun Levy-Cheaper by the Dozen, Big Fat Liar, Pink Panther, Night at the Museum 2, The Internship, Free Guy

5 Orson Welles-Citizen Kane, Lady of Shanghai, Othello, Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil
5 Tony Scott- Enemy of the State, Déjà Vu, Crimson Tide, Top Gun, Taking of Pelham 1,2,3
5 George Lucas-Star Wars I-IV, American Graffiti
5 Peter Weir-Witness, Dead Poet’s Society, The Truman Show, Master and Commander,Year of Living Dangerously
5 Blake Edwards-A Shot in the Dark, Pink Panther, Return of the Pink Panther, Great Race, What Did You Do in the War Daddy
5 Sydney Pollack-Sabrina, Out of Africa, Tootsie, The Interpreter, Slender Thread
5 Robert Rodriguez-El Mariachi Trilogy (Once Upon a Time in Mexico), Spy Kids and Lava Girl, Sin City
5 Curtis Hanson- LA Confidential, Wonderboys, In Her Shoes, Lucky You, 8 Mile
5 Barry Sonnenfeld-Men in Black I, MiB II, Wild Wild West, Big Trouble, MiB III
5 Cameron Crowe-Almost Famous, Jerry MaGuire, Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown, We Bought a Zoo
5 Joel Schumacher-Time to Kill, 8 MM, Batman and Robin, Batman Forever, The Client
5 John Glenn-5 Bond films
5 Tom Shadyac-Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, Patch Adams, Evan Almighty, Ace Ventura
5 John Lynn-Whole Nine Yards, Trial and Error, Sgt Bilko, Whole Ten Yards, My Cousin Vinny
5 Bobby Farrelly-Kingpin, Dumb and Dumber, Fever Pitch, Shallow Hal, Osmosis Jones
5 Jon Favreau-Elf, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Cowboys and Aliens, Chef
5 Christopher Guest-For Your Consideration, Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, Mascots
5 Ernst Lubitsch-Shop Around the Corner, Ninotchka, Merry Widow, Trouble in Paradise, To Be or Not to Be
5 Jake Kadsan-Orange County, Walk Hard, Bad Teacher, Jumaji, Jumanji 2
5 Spike Lee-Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, 25th Hour, School Daze, Blackkklansman
5 Alexander Payne-Election, Sideways, Descendants, Nebraska, Downsizing

5 Sam Raimi-Spiderman 1–3, Oz: The Great and Powerful, Dr Strange and the Multiverse

5 Richard Linklater-School of Rock, Bernie, Fast Food Nation, Me and Orson Welles, Where’d You Go Bernadette

If I Was To Create a Soundtrack for Each Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winner (Part I)

Recently, I made a pair of videos tracing every Best Supporting Actress from 1936 onwards. 

Through the process of making my own YouTube videos, I've discovered that choosing your own music to provide background is one of the more creatively fulfilling parts of the project. I always thought it was obnoxious of documentarians to overly indulge in their own music as part of their narrative.

I'm pretty old school with my music collection. I don't use Spotify or Itunes plus. I just have my own cloud-backed collection of songs that numbers around 275 right now. With an exception or two, I thought it would be fun to just stick to what I had in my library. Here's how I settled on my choices for this video.

1936: Gale Sondegaard, Anthony Adverse

Testing 1, 2, 3, Barenaked Ladies

 

1.       I make a pun about how Anthony Adverse can be mistaken for school-house rock, and Barenaked Ladies has always struck me as a kindergarten-friendly band.

2.       Testing, 1, 2, 3 sounds like a good way to kick off the series

3.       I wanted to set the template right away as a series in which I would be anachronistic in my selections

4.       The line in the song “Can anybody hear me?” is the way I feel about the series, and it’s sung in a more shruggish way, which I hope to adopt.

1937: Alice Brady, In Old Chicago

How High the Moon, Hoagy Carmichael, performed by Todd Lines

 

1.       Simply an old-timey song for a movie set in the 1880s

2.       A need for balance from the Baranaked Ladies

 

1938: Faye Bainter, Jezebel

Ex’s and Oh's, Ellie King

1.       Jezebel is a film about a woman who’s shamed for being sexually loose.  The narrator of Ex’s and Oh’s  is clearly promiscuous and unapologetic

2.       The line in the chorus “the Ex’s and Ohs they haunt me” is symbolic of the shunning that happens in Jezebel

 

 

1939: Hattie McDaniel, Gone with the Wind

Set Fire to the Rain, Adele

1.       To honor the first Black Oscar winner, it seems fitting to have something that feels gospel-like and Adele’s voice feels like comparable to a Black diva like Whitney Houston or Aretha Franklin.

2.        Hattie McDaniel’s win also marks social change, and setting things on fire seems sweeping.

3.       The city of Atlanta literally burns down.

1940: Jane Darwell, Grapes of Wrath

Hoedown, Aaron Copeland

 

1.       Pretty simple here. It’s a film set alongside Westward expansion. Copeland was pure Americana and Hoedown (the “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner” commercial soundtrack) is synonymous audially with the West

1941: Mary Astor, The Great Lie

Hollywood, Marina and Her Diamonds

1.       In this installment, I discussed Astor’s past of scandal and how it almost ruined her.

2.       This song is sung by a European popstar who is obsessed with Hollywood. I suspect the narrator is speaking more of the tabloid culture of Hollywood

2.       The glamour of Hollywood might be better represented in the Maltese Falcon—the movie with the tagline “The Stuff Dreams are made of”—that came out in the same year

 

1942: Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver

Extraordinary, Liz Phair

1. Extraordinary is a descriptor of Wright’s talent. She was such a remarkable catch on Broadway that multiple studios bid over her

2. Teresa Wright was also determined to be taken seriously for her acting and not as a sex symbol. She went so far as to create a contract by which it would be virtually impossible to portray her in a sexy manner  

3.       3. I'm not that familiar with Liz Phair outside of some songs she heavily plugged on the talk show circuit in the 2003-2004 era when I was more glued into Live with Regis and Kelly and the late night talk shows. But this is very much a girl power ballad

1943: Katina Paxinou; For Whom the Bell Tolls;

Another Life, Soundtrack to Bridges of Madison County (performed by Whitney Bashor)

1.       I’m digging the idea of linking one soundtrack to cover.

2.       This is one of the films I didn’t’ see, but it’s about a romance during a war. Written by Hemmingway, it can’t be anything but nostalgic which is what the song is drenched with

3.        

 

1944:  Ethel Barrymore, None but the Lonely Heart

I’ve Got Rhythm, George Gerswhin, covered by jazz pianist Hiromi

 

1.       I love Japanese jazz pianist sensation Hironi. Like someone a little more obscure like Marina and her Diamonds, it’s fun to promote them

2.       The Barrrymore family clearly is a talented one

1945: Anne Revere, National Velvet

Sports Song, Weird Al Yankovic

This song is a parody of spectator sports, and what can I say, National Velvet is kind of a bland movie. Not every song in my library is one that I like. Sometimes you download something based on the artist's previous reputation and the title of the song. At least I have a use for it now.

1946: Anne Baxter, Razor’s Edge

Everything’s Just Wonderful, Lilly Allen

Baxter plays an alcoholic on the verge of losing it. Allen’s song -- with a whirling chord structure that intentionally deceives the listener about where the tonic is (Coldplay's "Clocks" is another example) -- has a sense of spinning out of control with the music while the lyrics falsely belie a sense of coming together.
 
1947: Celeste Holm, Gentlemen’s Agreement
Caution, The Killers

1.       This was not an easy one to pick because there weren’t that many songs in my library about infiltrating the Jewish community to fight anti-semitism. I thought the movie wasn’t particularly credible so I don’t think the hippie-ish songs in my library really captured how I felt about the film

2.       Again, I liked something anachronistic here.

3.       There is an unbridled optimism of the song which reflects both Celeste Holm’s character, Anne Dettrey, in the film along with the closing speech of the film by (a somewhat jarring) speech by  Gregory Peck’s mom that she  thinks the future is going to be a better place.

4.     Gregory Peck’s character is certainly a muckraker, which matches this sort of gleeful lyric:
“If I don’t get out of this town. I just might be the one who burns it down”

5.     Anne is a character who’s kind of glamorous and the film explores class in a lot of ways, which matches the lyrics:

“Never had a diamond on the sole of her shoes

Just black top, white trash

Straight out of the news”

1948: Claire Trevor, Key Largo
Kokomo, Beach Boys

This is the obvious choice because these are the two first words of the song and it does take place in a tropic climate. If I were to be really nitpicky, I would point out that this is more of a noir than a beach film like the Tom Cruise flick Cocktail. But I had to work with the confines of my library.

1949: Mercedes McCambridge, All the King’s Men
Saints Hallelujah (Traditional/G.F. Handel mash-up),arranged and performed by Canadian Brass

 

1.       All the King’s Men is about the governor’s race in Louisiana, so I knew I had to go with the wonderful array of New Orleans jazz

2.       This song mashes a traditional New Orleans tune with a classical element. Louisiana is a big melting pot anyway.

3.       This song also has a call and response element with jazz riffs (typical to New Orleans jazz) that echoes the energy between a politician and his supporters at a rally. Even the word Hallelujah can be used as an “amen” in response to a political point

 

1950: Josephine Hull, Harvey
Human, The Killers

The song is about a narrator re-examining his humanity. This is what Josephine Hull’s character is badly in need of in this film about a man whose positive contributions to the world are through an imaginary rabbit.

1951: Kim Hunter, Streetcar Named Desire

Summertime, George Gerswhin, covered by Scary Pockets featuring Olivia Kuper Harris

 

1.     The film is set in a poor multi-cultural neighborhood in New Orleans. It’s a Southern setting (again, New Orleans), so I wanted something jazzy again.

2.       Gerswhin was a precursor to big band jazz and the funk group  Scary Pockets gives this jazz tune a fine remix. I didn’t want something that was squarely in the jazz era

3.       You have to admit this gives the jazz tune a nice twist

4.       There’s a sense of the sweltering heat in this tune

1952: Gloria Graeme, Bad and the Beautiful
Entry March of the Boyars, Johan Halvorsen, performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

I haven’t seen Bad and the Beautiful, so I mostly riffed off the circus film “Greatest Show on Earth” which came out in the same year. I always associate circuses with Eastern European gypsy culture. This is a Russian march.

1953: Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity
Don’t Worry Baby, Beach Boys

This is the quintessential Hawaii film so the Beach Boys fits. Additionally, it’s a very fitting theme of quelling the calm before the storm.

1954: Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront

Diamonds are Forever, Shirley Bassey

This has more to do about the fact that Eva Marie Saint’s role in North by Northwest was a predecessor to the classic Bond girl than anything with the movie.

1955: Jo Van Fleet, East of Eden

Hazy Shade of Winter, Bangles

1. The song begins: “Time, time, time, see what’s become of me, as I look around to my possibilities” (matched by a very odd uncanny valley between major and minor resolution). This film is an allegory for the Garden of Eden where time didn’t really exist and then it did when they were banished

2. Additionally, a lot of the shots of Jo Van Fleet as brothel owner Kate look old and withered

3. The song is also very place-specific. There’s a verse of the salvation army band (religious allegory, again?)

4. James Dean, the star of the film, is also frozen in time

1956: Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind

Havana, Camilla Cabello

Although it’s set in Texas, I tried to make the point that Douglas Sirk was the predecessor of R-rated envelope-pushing drama.  So I needed something very sensual and modern to push the envelope.

1957: Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara

Chinatown, My Chinatown; Glenn Mills, arranged by Luther Henderson, performed by Canadian Brass

This jazz number--more tin pan alley than dixieland—is a lively tune that couldn’t sound more oriental when It first crosses your ears. This is to honor the first East Asian actress to win an Oscar. I’d almost be concerned it was just a flat racial stereotype, but Umeki also appeared in Flower Drum Song.

1958: Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
Marriage of Figaro, Mozart

This is a stuffy British film (albeit a good one), so I needed something classical.

1959: Shelley Winters, Diary of Anne Frank

Inside My Mind This Time, Welcome to Florida

I figured there wasn’t anything I could use to capture the tragedy of the Holocaust. My only other option was Schindler’s List but I figured that would be too derivative. In place, I felt that this punk rock song about doing things by your own tune was the best.

1960: Shirley Jones, Elmer Gantry

Henney Buggy Band, Sufjan Stevens

This film is about a Midwestern preacher and huckster. It’s an inversion of Midwestern Americana. Shirley Jones most famous roles are in the most Middle American of musicals in The Music Man and Carousel. This is very much a Middle American song: A peppy folk number.

100 Greatest Actors Not Nominted for Oscar (Part I A-G)

I wrote this last December. At the time, Brendan Gleeson and Andrea Riseborough were not yet nominated for an Oscar. I'm considering extending it to a series. 
Here’s a list of my favorite working actors. My cut-off point is that none of these people have ever been nominated for an Oscar and I tried to veer away from stars. A couple of them like Christina Ricci are well-known and a few star on the occasional show but I don't believe any of them would be considered A-listers or have their name on the marquis for a film.

Another criterion is I have to have seen them in three things. In some cases, I've seen them in quite a few more and I'm highlighting my three favorite roles.

Allison Brie (Community, Glow, Horse Girl)-Community was originally meant to be a Joel McHale vehicle with Danny Pudi as the Urkel-like scene stealer. My attention was often focused on the perky Pollyanna, Annie Adderall. Glow and some of her later roles have shown different sides of her but she often brings a great deal of bundled-up energy.

Allison Pill (Newsroom, Hello Tomorrow, Star Trek: Picard)-What sticks out about the Allison Pill persona is that she’s not the coolest person in the room. On her turn as Dr. Agnes Jurati on Star Trek, she was the most socially insecure Star Trek character I’ve ever seen. Every other Star Trek character I’ve ever seen has carried a monotome-like supreme confidence but Jurati reacts like a regular person would that “Damn, space is scary.”

Amy Landecker (Serious Man, LA to Vegas, Ramy)- I first discovered her on Serious Man as the shiksa temptress living next door to our hero.  Since then she’s carved a niche as an older character actress with sex appeal.

Annaleigh Ashford (Masters of Sex, Bad Education, B Positive)- Considering the casting process is tougher on young attractive women than their male counterparts, I tend to imagine it produces a lot of pluck in these actresses. That's a good descriptor for Ashford's persona.   

Andrea Riseborough (Death of Stalin, Birdman,  Battle of the Sexes) - Riseborough could easily be a leading lady in the mold of Cate Blanchett or Vera Farminga, but is generally in second-billed roles where she often elevates the movie.

Andrea Savage (Dog Bites Man, Step Brothers, The House)-I’ve never seen Savage do stand-up comedy, but I have no doubt she’d kill at it. Her stage presence just gives off that indication, even when she’s playing a straight man.

Ben Foster (Leave no Trace, 3:10 to Yuma, The Hustle)-Acting since a teenager, Foster has carved a niche for himself as a 2nd-billed actor on several quality movies. If I picked the Oscars, I’d have given a nod to Foster in 3:10 to Yuma. His role recalled Jack Palanace in Shane: A henchman in the old West whose stoic demeanor provokes a palpable fear to the audience. He was evidently Oscar-worthy in the Messenger but I didnt’ see it.

Ben Whishaw (Brideshead Revisited, The Lobster, Women Talking)-Whishaw will probably get an Oscar (or at the very least a nomination) for a reserved role this year. Whishaw came out as gay in the middle of his career. He has done some excellent work in subtly queer movies like Brideshead Revisited or the movie of queer abuse, A Very British Scandal, while also playing straight characters as well.

Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire, I Tonya, Motherless Brooklyn)-Cannavale has won Emmy twice in Will and Grace and Boardwalk Empire. If I’m not mistaken, he got his start on NBC’s Third Watch which was a procedural involving cops, paramedics, and fireman because NBC decided to triple their chances that their latest procedural would attract an audience. His persona is that of a heavy or cop, but he has a lot of range and has been championed by the likes of Sidney Lumet and Al Pacino in the theater.

Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Calvary, Mr. Mercedes)-I was surprised by how well this Irish actor with a thick brogue hosted Saturday Night Live. He’s generally not known for the and has been a number of very, very dark films. Even his procedural, Mr. Mercedes, is dark. He has a great directorial resume: Martin McDonaugh, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Rob Zemeckis and more. Gleeson isn’t Jackie-Gleeson-fat but he is a bit heavy which matches the emotional state of some of his world-weary characters.

Brit Lower (Man Seeking Woman, Future Man, Severance)-The older sister of free-wheeling romantic Jay Baruchel on Man Seeking Woman, Lower provided a lot of contrast as the level-headed sister on that show. She works well portraying disillusion like in Severance.

Bruce Greenwood (Double Jeopardy, Capote, Star Trek)-My peers have long championed guys like Stanley Tucci or JK Simmons for Oscars. For my money, Bruce Greenwood has got to be one of the most consistent actors out there. His roles are often not showy enough for Oscar but he’s had a long career in supporting roles and deservedly so.

Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim, Dark Knight Rises, Man in High Castle)-The stoic British actor an make a terrifying heavy as in Dark Knight Rises or Man in High Castle. Something like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia can show off his lighter side but it’s rare.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat, Heroes, Man in High Castle)-The meditative Japanese actor hasn’t had a great many opportunities to show off his stuff, but he’s been able to work well with the cards he has been dealt.

Christine Rose (Heroes, Trial and Error, )-Rose has a certain aristocratic aura to her, but more importantly she has a swagger that I often attach to certain 60-80 year-old socialites who sit on a lot of local boards and HOAs and likely have a great reserve of evil they can use if need be.  I’m getting oddly specific here but moving on…

Christina Ricci (Black Snake Moan, Pan Am, Yellowjackets)-if the definition of “working actor” is actors whose face people recognize but not their name, Ricci wouldn’t qualify. She’s been pretty prevalent in the public consciousness since the early 90s with the live remake of the Addams Family. The film called for actors with dark features and Ricci’s asymmetrical face made her fit in perfectly with the gothic look the film aimed for. It was almost as if she was molded from Tim Burton’s Claymation studio. Since then, Ricci has shown a tremendous amount of range and escaped a break-out role that could have very easily pigeon-holed her.

Corey Stoll (House of Cards, Ant Man, West Side Story)-I can’t imagine House of Cards being half as interesting in its first season without Corey Stoll. He played a congressman navigating his personal integrity in a prostitute scandal. The twisted irony of his situation was that his relatively ordinary moral missteps were manufactured by a mad man whose scandal was the stuff of legend.  As the lead on The Strain, he has played the protagonist with as much moral complexity and elevated what could have been a lesser drama.

Daniel Bruehl (Ladies in Lavender, Inglorious Basterds, Woman in Gold)-What’s the market for Germanic actors. I’m pretty sure every open casting call for a German or Austrian character goes out only after Christophe Waltz, Michael Stuhlbarg, and this guy have turned down the road. He got Oscar buzz for Rush but the delicate and sweet side that we got to see in Ladies in Lavender is my favorite part of his filmography.

Debra Monk (Bridges of Madison County, In and Out, Mozart in the Jungle)-I don’t really have a good sense of Monk yet, but I’m highly curious to see what she could do.

Dianne Kruger (Inglorious Basterds, The Bridge, Welcome to Marwen)-Kruger is not well-known to the general public, but she’s definitely a name among cinephiles at this point. Her break-out rule was as Helen of Troy in Troy, but she hasn’t really veered towards commercial by any means. National Treasure and its sequel might be the exception but they are definitely more intellectual than any other franchise I know of and her character isn’t exactly thankless arm candy. The Bridge and In the Fade are award-worthy performances. Even something like Welcome to Marwen is an ambitious failure.

Diego Luna (The Terminal, Milk, If Beale Street Could Talk)-Luna has always had an intensity that he brings to all sorts of roles. His break-out role was Y Tu Mama Tambien and there’s been an indie feel

Domhnall Gleeson (American Made, Frank, An Extremely Stupid and Futile Gesture)-Among the up-and-coming class of actors in the past few years, this fair-looking red head is one of my favorites.  He’s probably really good at auditioning based on how prolific his resume has been in the past few years and his roles in films like Star Wars has probably been great for his profile.

Ed Begley Jr (Star Trek: Voyager, Arrested Development, A Mighty Wind)-One of the members of Christopher Guest’s troupe, Begley has a knack for creating great characters from the ground up. Even in something as pedestrian as the 2016 Ghostbusters remake, he stole his scene. He’s probably best known as alopecia-stricken real estate mogul, Stan Sitwell in Arrested Development. Fun fact: He is the son of an Oscar winner.

Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit, 30 Rock, Love and Mercy)-I don’t believe Banks has established herself with the American public. In the occasional film like Pitch Perfect (which she executive produced), 40 Year Old Virgin or Hunger Games, people remember her contribution I’m not convinced that the public still knows her name. In the occasional art-house film, she’s proven herself capable of an Oscar-worthy performance (at least, in my opinion).

Elizabeth Debicki (Man from Uncle, Widows, Tenet)-I first saw her as a femme fatale in Man from Uncle. She has a certain aura of sophistication that has served her well in films like The Great Gatsby, Tenet and the AMC miniseries The Night Manager. Like Julie Garner (who played both ends of the class spectrum with Ozark and Inventing Anna), I’d love to see her play a less sophisticated character at some point.

Elizabeth Marvel (Burn After Reading, News of the World, Hyde Park on Hudson)-One of many talented Elizabeth’s out there, Marve

Emily Mortimer (Lars and the Real Girl, Hugo, Doll and Em)-At worst, Mortimer is the unassuming girl next door that the sitcom hero falls in love with (Friends, 30 Rock). In certain roles she’s been granted like Lars and the Real Girl, she’s been more than a thankless love interest and she’s been terrific at it.

Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Murder Mystery, Gemma Bovery)-A Bond girl from Quantum of Solace, Arterton has been sexualized quite a bit in her filmography but she’s also been more than an attractive body in most of the roles I’ve seen her in.

Geraldine Viswanathan (Miracle Workers, Bad Education, Blockers)-The whipsmart South Asian actor has shown great skills as the comic straight man in Miracle Workers.

Are You There God, It's Me Margaret Review

 

Perhaps the greatest thing about Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is that it’s a film about a 6th grader, that ends in 6th grade.

Who knows what Margaret will grow up to believe or become. Who knows if she’ll have that date (or it’s 7th grade equivalent) with Moose? Instead, the film captures a snapshot of childhood in the way a handful of great novels have done throughout history.

There’s no doubt that this book reached a large swath of a certain generation of pre-pubescent girls facing the terror of puberty, and I imagine (as someone who hasn’t read the book), that that is due to its universality. However, the Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles (and I’m paraphrasing here) once said that if you really focus on the specificity of your setting, it becomes universal.

That’s where this movie meets its strength. Margaret isn’t just a stand-in for every girl going through puberty. She’s doing it in the disconnected suburbs of New York in milieu of 1970 when a mother like Barbara (Rachel McAdams) was catching distant whiffs of feminist liberation and a young couple was breaking free of their past generations’ view on religion.

More than that, it’s a story about the fleeting and wondrous nature of youth. In one scene, Margaret professes she’s miserable. In another letter, she tells her teacher that she’s lost her belief in God and it goes unresolved. The only resolution we see is her taking the time to compliment him on being a great teacher on the last day of school. She has a massive realization that her friend is evil and decides to switch her friend circle. But still hangs out with their mutual friends and it’s hard to tell if there’s ever a big “The Reason You Suck” speech.

But that’s how life goes when you’re a sixth grader. Without a doubt, the most eventful years of your life are when you’re young. At that age, you have 800 times more good and bad things simultaneously happening to you all at once. It’s all a vast contradiction that even if you’re processing so many negative things, you are still experiencing and growing at a rate most of us adults can only dream of. It’s the reason that most of our dreams (at least mine) or my favorite memories are from our youth.

I’d probably classify my freshman and senior years of high school and my sophomore and senior years of college as the best years of my life. But there was plenty of stress and misery in those times too. During when unplanned gap semester in college, I voiced how miserable I was to my uncle and he bemusedly smiled and said “it sounds like you’re really growing and doing well.” I didn’t understand it, and I doubt that some adolescents will understand it either.

It’s the reason I told my niece, who was similarly hating 9th grade, not to be in such a hurry to grow up.

Reviews of Super Mario Brothers, Beau is Afraid, Tetris, Air

Super Mario Brothers-Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Seth Rogen, Jack Black

This animated movie isn’t just a filmic homage to the Super Mario Brothers game you grew up with as a kid; it’s hodgepodge of every video game with the Super Mario label. Kind of like Ready Player One except there’s thematic consistency. And that nostalgia factor lights a bulb in your brain. And talk about that score! It’s almost worth the price of admission to see the most memorable tunes of the early 90s outside of the Billboard top 40, to be put to orchestration. As for the story, it’s pretty typical but not lazy enough (from an adult perspective) to have made a negative viewing experience for me.

Air-Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina, dir. Ben Affleck

In the mold of films like Syriana, Moneyball, and Ben Affleck’s own Argo, this latest edition of Ben Affleck is simply about a man (or group of men) and his goals. It’s in the tradition of 70s anti-hero films like French Connection, Marathon Man, China Syndrome, and especially All the President’s Men where character development is secondary to action. And Air is definitely worthy of all its predecessors: It’s paced very well and the stakes are high. Sonny Vaccaro is a fascinating rogue of a character who plays a hell of a game of speed chess against bigger companies to land the greatest player of all time. Ironically, for a film that lionizes athleticism vis-a-vis Michael Jordan -- Vaccaro’s big speech is about how no one really matters in that room but Michael Jordan, how much of that entitlement has produced college athletes who skip classes and add to rape culture?—Jordan himself wasn’t evolved. I couldn’t help but feel the film was too afraid to touch a societal golden cow.

Beau is Afraid-Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPonte, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zoe Lister, Parker Posey-Jones, dir. Ari Aster

Not a fan but it wasn’t that far away from working. The film’s marketing describes the movie as about a lonely man’s odyssey home, and the director described it as a “nightmare comedy” on press tours. I would classify it as the kind of ride that amusement park’s convert into a haunt-fest for Halloween. Only it lasts three hours, and it was seemingly co-written by Carl Jung and Franz Kafka for maximum symbolism. Joaquin Phoenix plays a lonely man who’s ill-at-ease with the world. It’s kind of justified, however, because, he seems to live among the worst possible humans alive and Murphy’s Law appears to be in hyper-drive around him.  It isn’t all miserable; he’s saved from near-death on a couple occasions and finds the occasional moment of love from a stranger.   The best I can say about It, is that at three hours, it doesn’t feel that long. I was genuinely on the edge of my seat trying to work out where things would go. But at the end of a day, I’m usually not satisfied with the genre of reality-bending films. Perhaps, it was one twist too many.

Tetris-Taron Egerton, Anthony Boyle, Neketa Efremov, Oleg Stefan, Sofya Lebedeva, Tobey Jones –

Without overthinking it, I’d say this is the best film of the year so far. It’s hard to understate how impressive it is to take a subject that bores me to tears and make it a gripping thriller. Of course, it helps that the real-life story is equally mind-boggling: In order to acquire the rights for Tetris, Henk Williams mortgaged his house, risked trouble with the KGB, and was initially dependent on a company that was actively trying to screw him. When he finally broke free and secured the rights with the Nintendo company, he realized he didn’t have the rights because he was lied to. Although it’s easy to root for him in retrospect, movies like these often overlook that these bold risk takers simply can’t be classified as responsible adults. I’d love to see a deleted scene between Henk and his financial advisor. Throughout the film, Hank is in a bidding war with two other parties and the film makes great use of dramatic irony: The narration is omniscient enough to let us know what’s happening with all three parties, but the POV is tilted towards the hero and away from the villain (Anthony Boyle) as he generally knows the least of the three.  My only problem was why that I spent much of the film wondering why cast Taron Egerton when Shia LaBeouf is still alive? Egerton’s makeover here feels like he’s entering a Shia LaBeouf look-alike contest, and who needs him when this is the kind of part LaBeouf would kill?