There's a bunch of stuff today on the Main Page, highlighted by the Oscar Circuit detailing the Best Director category. Check it out here and keep your eyes open for the last few pieces in the coming days.
We also have part 2 of the great performances that Oscar missed. That can be found here, so take a gander and leave some feedback!
-Thoughts on the updates?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I'm a little puzzled by John Foote's bias towards relatively recent performances. The idea that AMPAS didn't betray ANYONE in the 40s, 50s, and 60s worse than Julia Roberts in 2004 is sort of dubious to me.
ReplyDeleteBefore I rattle off some snubs that I think he overlooked, I'll just throw in real quick that "She [Diane Keaton] won the Oscar for Annie Hall in 1977, but could have been nominated for this [Looking for Mr. Goodbar] as well," is not true, literally speaking. An actor can only be nominated for one leading and one supporting performance per year, and since Keaton's performance in Annie Hall was the more iconic of the two she gave that year, I don't see it as a "snub" at all.
So as far as actress snubs go, one that really grates me is, oddly enough, one of the first ones to be called a "snub;" Lillian Gish in The Wind. Weird how Foote ranks a performance from her that I've never even heard of instead of her unforgettable work in that silent era classic. No, Oscar decided to go populist and vote for the audience favorite that wasn't anywhere near the (eligibility) year's best. Gee, that sounds sort of familiar...
Other snubs that I find far more unforgivable than many of his selections are Ruth Chatterton in Dodsworth, Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday, Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger, Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, Gene Tierney in Laura, Julianne Moore in [SAFE], Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria, Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive, Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, Bibi Andersson in Persona, Bette Davis in In Human Bondage, and, most recently, Tilda Swinton in Julia.
But as always, with criticism comes praise, and while I find 4, 9, 14 and 15 head-scratchers, 1, 3, 7, 8 and 13 are excellent choices.
I wouldn't call it a bias, but perhaps maybe working Oscar races he's more educated on? I know in my case I tend to not delve into the older years just because I haven't seen the performances with the same volume that I have the ones in the last 20 years. But that's just me and my strange desire for fairness.
ReplyDeleteI think you misread what John meant with Keaton, as it's not a literal translation. It's a snub in the same sense people feel Kate Winslet was snubbed for Revolutionary Road, even though she won for The Reader.
Some good ones there, but not many that I agree with being the 15 biggest.
ReplyDeleteJulia Roberts? Really? She was completely overshadowed by her costars in Closer; hers was the least memorable performance, for me.