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| Thursday, January 25, 2007 |
| Oscar comes a-knockin' |
 Hello all, Tim here. It’s Oscar season and the Athens Film Club is adding to the festivities with an Academy-themed selection of flicks. This all started when I suggested to KT that we watch a Peter O’Toole movie, since I wanted an excuse to watch one. She countered my offer by suggesting that I pick the club movies for February. Of course, I was elated to do so and I promptly celebrated this great honor by doing one-armed pushups in the middle of the office.
Which takes us to this month’s movies. Rather than going the old hat route of choosing films that were past Oscar winners, I decided to do something different and highlight cinema talents who are nominated for this year’s awards. Specifically, I wanted to look at two actors in the twilight of their careers (Peter O’Toole and Alan Arkin) and a pair of directors who are just beginning to hit their stride (Alejandro González Iñárritu and Paul Greengrass).
And the nominees are…
The Lion in Winter (1968)
 Long before this year’s Venus, Peter O’Toole was ripping it up opposite Kate Hepburn in The Lion in Winter. In the movie he plays King Henry II of England, a role he was nominated for twice in two separate films (this one and Becket). The story centers around Henry as he struggles to decide which of his three sons will inherit the throne after he is gone. To make matters worse, the Queen has her own ideas on who it should be. This is family dysfunction at its best, Jerry Springer set in medieval England. O'Toole and Hepburn show why they are considered the best of their generation, and if nothing else, it's a delight to see them going at it on-screen. The movie also features Timothy Dalton in his first film role and an unbelievably young Anthony Hopkins sporting one hell of an Oedipal complex. And here's a little piece of cinema trivia for you: Hepburn and Barbara Streisand tied to share the Best Actress Oscar in 1969. Streisand won for Funny Girl, which co-starred Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole's best friend and Lawrence of Arabia co-star.
Peter O'Toole: "The only exercise I take is walking behind the coffins of friends who took exercise." The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)  I LOVE Alan Arkin. I was so happy to see him get nominated this year for Little Miss Sunshine. I haven't seen the movie yet (damn you Netflix for long waits!) but he is supposedly great in it, and I love that he invented his own backstory for Grandpa "as a second-rate saxophone player who deserted his family by performing in strip joints where he picked up a drug habit and a fondness for the ladies -- until the life caught up with him." I love his wry humor and it is no surprise that he is one of the founding members of Second City. I had originally planned to go with Catch-22 for this selection since Arkin gives a great turn as Yossarian, but I figured we could try The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming instead since it is his first film and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. And I just love the tagline. The movie co-stars Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint and is about a Russian submarine that accidentally runs aground off the coast of New England. Hilarity ensues.
Alan Arkin: "It's not enough for me to just be a personality and go up there and say lines nicely. I want to tell a story with a character." Amores Perros (2000)  I know three things about Alejandro González Iñárritu: he's Mexican, he makes movies with interconnecting storylines a la Traffic, and that I have no fucking clue how to pronounce his name. I have yet to see any of his films so I'm very eager to start off by watching his first feature, Amores Perros. It involves dogfighting, a homeless man, and a tragic accident -- something which seems to form the central theme in each of his films, including this year's Babel. This movie also comes highly recommended to me by KT, so if you don't like it speak to her. Alejandro González Iñárritu: "Directing non-actors is difficult. Directing actors in a foreign language is even more difficult. Directing non-actors in a language that you yourself don't understand is the craziest thing you can possibly think of. But I would do it again in a minute." Bloody Sunday (2002)  Though he probably won't win the Oscar for Best Director, I can't imagine that many filmmakers had a tougher challenge than Paul Greengrass. How does one make a film about 9/11 merely five years after the date that is meaningful, thoughtful, and lacks any of the jingoistic stereotypes or "ra-ra feel-good" patriotism that one would expect out of such a film? United 93 was painful to watch, but I felt that it succeeded in its goal and was damn remarkable filmmaking. Much better than the commercial, sentimental schlock Oliver Stone put out. From what I have read, Bloody Sunday is very similar to United 93 in that it dramatizes tragic events but depicts them in an objective, unbiased manner that makes the viewer feel as if he were watching a documentary rather than a feature. The movie is of course about Bloody Sunday, when protesters in Northern Ireland were fired upon by British soldiers in the year 1972. Paul Greengrass: “There is a great debate going on on where we are going in the post-9/11 world. This is part of the process of filmmakers saying, 'We would like to join that conversation'.” |
posted by The Dunce Cap Marvel @ 1/25/2007 07:58:00 PM  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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Bee-YOU-Tee-ful :) I love you.
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sweet! i haven't seen three of these, and i'm always down with a little XXX arkin/o'toole action.
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hey, i didn't know you guys had this blog up here. I'll try to come, these sound like uh...pleasant movies.
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/29/film.peter.otoole.ap/index.html
They do not make them like him anymore...one of my all-time favorites of any acting generation. God I love Forrest Whittaker, but I hope O'Toole takes this one finally.
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Founded in Athens, GA in late 2006, we are a group of movie lovers who participate in a weekly, online discussion regarding the merits, qualities, themes, histories, implications, connotations, denotations, and general appeal (or lack thereof) of a variety of selected films.
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Bee-YOU-Tee-ful :) I love you.