YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

Angels in America to get its first New York revival.

Why not?

My top 25 films, at the moment, of this budding millennium.

25. Lantana
24. Spider-Man 2
23. In the Bedroom
22. Mystic River
21. A History of Violence
20. You Can Count on Me
19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
18. The Constant Gardener
17. Adaptation.
16. Dogville
15. Requiem for a Dream
14. Bad Education
13. Minority Report
12. In the Mood for Love
11. Children of Men

10. Talk to Her
9. Marie-Antoinette
8. The Departed
7. Chicago
6. Moulin Rouge!
5. Kill Bill
4. 25th Hour
3. Lost in Translation
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
1. Angels in America

Meryl Streep

is God. This is one of my favorite pictures too.

1978 - Best Supporting Actress: The Deer Hunter
1979 - Best Supporting Actress: Kramer vs. Kramer *
1981 - Best Actress: The French Lieutenant's Woman *
1982 - Best Actress: Sophie's Choice *
1983 - Best Actress: Silkwood *
1985 - Best Actress: Out of Africa
1985 - Best Actress: Plenty
1987 - Best Actress: Ironweed
1988 - Best Actress: A Cry in the Dark
1990 - Best Actress: Postcards from the Edge
1995 - Best Actress: The Bridges of Madison County
2002 - Best Supporting Actress: Adaptation.
2003 - Best Supporting Actress: Angels in America *
2006 - Best Actress: The Devil Wears Prada *

happy birthday to people, and other notes

First: Cate Blanchett. As if you couldn't tell from this blog... Cate and I have kind of a tumultuous relationship. Sometimes, I think she's crap. Sometimes, I think she's a genius. I do think that her Oscar nominations tend to come from the films in which she is the least impressive (The Aviator, Notes on a Scandal), and that she's in too many goddamn movies, but it's hard to deny a body of work that includes Elizabeth, Oscar and Lucinda, Coffee and Cigarettes, The Good German, Heaven, and Veronica Guerin. Happy birthday, Cate!

But, more importantly, happy birthday to Sofia Coppola. The woman certainly can't act worth a damn, but it's okay because she makes up for it in her directorial skills. She's directed two total masterpieces, one of which is only my favorite film of all time.

...oh, and George Lucas. Yeah. The original three Star Wars sure are great, aren't they? I shan't talk about the most recent three.

Mystic River is on TV. I haven't seen this movie in over a year, so I forgot: daaaamn, it's good. It's an extremely smart and respectable drama, and Eastwood uses ambiguity really well. 2003 really was nowhere near horrendous like everyone seems to think; I'd love to give this film Best Picture in that year, but it's got to compete with two titles even more superior to it: Lost in Translation (my aforementioned favorite film) and Kill Bill, Vol. 1's gonzo insanity. If you're including TV movies, it has to deal with the second-greatest film of the entire 1990-2006 period, Angels in America.

I enjoy awards.

So today, instead of doing my work, I wrote down my winners for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress from 1990-2006, and ranked them. Keep in mind, these are all subject to change and often, ranking these were extremely difficult - I mean, look at the Best Actor list. Jeremy Irons in last place??

Best Picture
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. American Beauty (1999)
3. Angels in America (2003)
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
5. Schindler's List (1993)
6. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
7. Chicago (2002)
8. Goodfellas (1990)
9. The Departed (2006)
10. The Player (1992)
11. The Usual Suspects (1995)
12. Boogie Nights (1997)
13. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
14. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
15. The English Patient (1996)
16. A History of Violence (2005)
17. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Best Actor
1. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999)
2. Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters (1998)
3. Clive Owen in Closer (2004)
4. River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho (1991)
5. Denzel Washington in Malcolm X (1992)
6. Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt (2002)
7. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003)
8. Ian Holm in The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
9. Robert Downey Jr. in "I Want Love" (2001)
10. Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
11. Christian Bale in American Psycho (2000)
12. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
13. Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
14. Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson (2006)
15. Jeffrey Wright in Basquiat (1996)
16. Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool (1994)
17. Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune (1990)

Best Actress
1. Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
2. Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr. (2001)
3. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
4. Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs (1991)
5. Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves (1996)
6. Holly Hunter in The Piano (1993)
7. Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
8. Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
9. Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry (1999)
10. Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation and Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)
11. Angelina Jolie in Gia (1998)
12. Samantha Morton in Morvern Callar (2002)
13. Jodie Foster in Contact (1997)
14. Emma Thompson in Howards End (1992)
15. Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener (2005)
16. Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction (1994)
17. Helen Mirren in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1990)

Best Supporting Actor
1. Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Jeffrey Wright in Angels in America (2003)
3. Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
4. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
5. Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List (1993)
6. Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995)
7. Tom Cruise in Magnolia (1999)
8. Mark Ruffalo in You Can Count on Me (2000)
9. Edward Norton in Primal Fear (1996)
10. Chris Cooper in Adaptation. (2002)
11. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast (2001)
12. Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential (1997)
13. Bill Murray in Rushmore (1998)
14. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990)
15. Clive Owen in Inside Man (2006)
16. Jude Law in I Heart Huckabees (2004)
17. Michael Pena in Crash (2005)

Best Supporting Actress
1. Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
2. Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago (2002)
3. Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996)
4. Sarah Polley in The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
5. Meryl Streep in Angels in America (2003)
6. Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction (1994)
7. Kate Winslet in Iris (2001)
8. Gong Li in Farewell, My Concubine (1993)
9. Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility (1995)
10. Mia Kirshner in The Black Dahlia (2006)
11. Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
12. Laura Linney in The Truman Show (1998)
13. Maria Bello in A History of Violence (2005)
14. Virginia Madsen in Sideways (2004)
15. Lorraine Brocco in Goodfellas (1990)
16. Miranda Richardson in Damage (1992)
17. Diane Ladd in Rambling Rose (1991)

and that's that

happy birthday emma thompson!!

"the stiffening of your penis is of NO CONSEQUENCE!!!"

why the hell is she listed after emma watson on IMDb's daily birthdays? crazy motherfuckers.

Top 10 Performances in Mike Nichols Films.

Mike Nichols is, in my opinion, the best "actor's director." Especially lately, he has been directing actors, some of whom are established as the best actors in the world and some of whom are complete unknowns, to miraculous performances. However, his talent in directing actors has been present since his debut as director, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton give two of the best performances ever. He is also responsible for a good deal of Meryl Streep's best work, which says a lot. I cannot wait for Charlie Wilson's War except for the fact that I'll have to stare at overrated Emily Blunt and Amy Adams' faces. Ew. Anyway.

10. Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge (1990)
9. Meryl Streep in Silkwood (1983)
8. Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967)
7. Emma Thompson in Wit (2001)
6. Al Pacino in Angels in America (2003)
5. Meryl Streep in Angels in America (2003)
4. Richard Burton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
3. Jeffrey Wright in Angels in America (2003)
2. Clive Owen in Closer (2004) (OK not as good as Burton. But let me be biased)
1. Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Best Supporting Actor.

ignore the suit.
focus on the brilliance.

Okay, so um, where are the great Supporting Actor peformances of the new millennium? Though I love my choice for the best Supporting Actor of the new millennium (Tim Robbins in Mystic River - suck itttt), I doubt he'd even make #10 on my list of the Best Supporting Actors of the 1990s. It's true, this has hindsight helping me, but think about all the incredible supporting male performances we'd had by the beginning of 1997: all the Glengarry Glen Ross boys, Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction, Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List, Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (and Se7en - which I haven't seen, and quite frankly, which I refuse to see), Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, Edward Norton in Primal Fear and The People vs. Larry Flynt, Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Jack Lemmon in Short Cuts, Martin Landau in Ed Wood, Sean Penn in Carlito's Way, Don Cheadle in Devil in a Blue Dress...

though, if you're willing to deem the movie eligible, Jeffrey Wright and Al Pacino in Angels in America could easily go toe-to-toe with any of those performances...

2003

figure i might as well get the "bad" years out of the way...but i don't actually think 2003 was that bad (only the third-worst of the new millennium, after 2000 and 2005). also note, i am including the hbo miniseries angels in america, the single best film in the time frame 99-06. also, 2003 had the godly lost in translation as well as mystic river, which still blows me away (shut it), and the first half of quentin tarantino's kill bill masterpiece.

Best Picture
1. Angels in America
2. Lost in Translation
3. Mystic River
4. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
5. City of God
6. Love Actually (shut it)
7. Cold Mountain (shut it...again)
8. Girl with a Pearl Earring
9. thirteen
10. Finding Nemo

Best Director
1. Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation
2. Mike Nichols for Angels in America
3. Peter Jackson for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (this is more of a cumulative award, to be honest, because I felt bad snubbing him)
4. Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill, Vol. 1
5. Gus Von Sant for Elephant (and to a much lesser extent the awful Gerry)
6. Clint Eastwood for Mystic River
7. Fernando Meirelles for City of God
8. Robert Altman for The Company
9. Andrew Jarecki for Capturing the Friedmans
10. Danny Boyle for 28 Days Later...

Best Actor
1. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation
2. Justin Kirk in Angels in America
3. Sean Penn in Mystic River
4. Jude Law in Cold Mountain
5. Ben Kingsley in House of Sand and Fog
6. Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass
7. Sean Penn in 21 Grams
8. Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dirty Pretty Things
9. Russell Crowe in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
10. Robert Downey Jr. in The Singing Detective

Best Actress
1. Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Vol. 1
2. Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation
3. Charlize Theron in Monster
4. Evan Rachel Wood in thirteen
5. Scarlett Johansson in Girl with a Pearl Earring
6. Zooey Deschanel in All the Real Girls
7. Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give
8. Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia
9. Jennifer Connelly in House of Sand and Fog
10. Meg Ryan in In the Cut

Best Supporting Actor
1. Jeffrey Wright in Angels in America
2. Al Pacino in Angels in America
3. Tim Robbins in Mystic River
4. Peter Sarsgaard in Shattered Glass
5. Bill Nighy in Love Actually
6. Kevin Bacon in Mystic River
7. Alec Baldwin in The Cooler
8. Patrick Wilson in Angels in America
9. Hugh Grant in Love Actually
10. Ben Shenkman in Angels in America

Best Supporting Actress
1. Meryl Streep in Angels in America
2. Mary-Louise Parker in Angels in America
3. Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain (totally deserving of her Oscar)
4. Patricia Clarkson in The Station Agent
5. Holly Hunter in thirteen
6. Marcia Gay Harden in Mystic River
7. Lucy Liu in Kill Bill, Vol. 1
8. Miranda Richardson in Spider
9. Emma Thompson in Love Actually
10. Emma Thompson in Angels in America

Best Screenplay
1. Lost in Translation
2. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
3. Angels in America
4. Mystic River
5. Love Actually
6. City of God
7. Cold Mountain
8. The Barbarian Invasions
9. The Station Agent
10. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

mmm-hmm.