The Furious on Film Movie News Report 02.27.08

Posted by Arnold Furious on 02.27.2008

A blow by blow account of how I failed to win the Oscar Roundtable, some ugly people get made beautiful via the medium of film, Garfield without Garfield, Tilda Swinton gets a surprise and Ben Affleck gets cheered up via the medium of song. Click here for the news!

Furious on Film 02.27.08: Issue 128

A blow by blow account of how I failed to win the Oscar Roundtable, some ugly people get made beautiful via the medium of film, Garfield without Garfield, Tilda Swinton gets a surprise and Ben Affleck gets cheered up via the medium of song. Click here for the news

Hello and welcome to Furious on Film's first venture into news reporting. Well, not exactly the first as I've covered George Sirois and former Wednesday man Ben Moser in the past. For those familiar with my existing column have no fear as many of the elements of the old Furious on Film column will remain as part of this news column. But we have some added new stuff too. Hopefully you'll get a kick out of it. If not drop me a comment and let me know what you'd like to see.

OSCAR '08 – IN THE BOOKS

If you didn't catch my column last week or the Oscar Roundtable you'd have missed out on my picks but I did in fact stick my neck on the line in all 24 categories. How'd that pan out for me? Well let's take a look at each Oscar and how my pick fared.

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Pick: Le Vie en Rose.

Winner: Sweeney Todd.

Reaction: Abject horror. If you look at the costume design I think it's gone to the wrong film. Hell, Sweeney Todd would have been down the list on possible winners and that female thing with the triple facelift that picked up the award? Ghastly.

0/1

Best Animated Film

Pick: Ratatouille

Winner: Ratatouille

Reaction: There were some who claimed Persepolis had a shot at winning here but the majority of the Academy aren't big on animation so vote for the film they recognise. Sad but true. It helped that Ratatouille got really positive reviews. I thought this was an easy pick but there was a lot of folks rallying behind the inventive Persepolis. What do they know? Brad Bird shits Oscars.

1/2 .500 batting average.

Best Achievement in Makeup

Pick: Le Vie en Rose.

Winner: Le Vie en Rose.

Reaction: Clenched fist punching towards the sky. Most people went for Pirates here but I'm a firm believer in the theory that if a good film is nominated for a lesser category then logically they'll fare well. Seeing as it seemed to be a straight out footrace between Pirates and Le Vie en Rose then it seemed like a smart move. And it was.

2/3.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Winner: The Golden Compass.

Reaction: The Golden Compass? Fuck you AMPAS. Basically all the films nominated were poor but when you look at the actual visual effects Golden Compass was probably the worst. I figure most members considered it the least worst film on the list. But that really is ignoring the point of honouring someone who did their job right on a bad film.

2/4. Totally robbed on that one.

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Pick: Atonement.

Winner: Sweeney Todd.

Reaction: I figured it was either Atonement or There Will Be Blood. Yanno, films nominated in serious categories? I thought it was a shoot between those two. So the Academy swerved me again thus fucking my pool up righteously.

2/5. The bright start going somewhat downhill.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Pick: Javier Bardem

Winner: Javier Bardem.

Reaction: Obviously. The one gimme on the ballot. Everyone wins here.

3/6. Back to .500.

Best Short Film: Live Action

Pick: Mozart of Pickpockets.

Winner: Mozart of Pickpockets.

Reaction: I have a theory when it comes to selecting the short films. I figure no one has seen them. Harsh but likely to be true. Despite them being readily available. Therefore when faced with a ballot I'm guessing the Academy members go for the film with the best name. No, really. There is an exception to this rule and it's coming up but that's how I selected Mozart of Pickpockets and it won and more often than not I get these right.

4/7.

Best Short Film: Animated

Pick: Peter & the Wolf

Winner: Peter & the Wolf.

Reaction: This would be your exception to the name rule. See, if one of the elder members of the Academy sees something he or she recognises from classical literature it's an instant winner. As soon as Peter & the Wolf was nominated it was pretty much a sure thing. At least in my book. And you'll see my book has the answers to these questions. At least this year!

5/8.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Pick: Ruby Dee.

Winner: Tilda Swinton.

Reaction: This was my upset category in the acting awards. I just sensed it. What I should have done was applied Academy logic and not voted for the best performance but rather the performance in the best film. Michael Clayton was the best film to have someone nominated so it won because of that. Tilda was a long shot and I did call that this would go to a long shot. So I think I partially win. More thoughts on Michael Clayton later because it's getting a review. The one I didn't have time to do last week in the normal column.

5/9

Best Writing: Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced

Pick: There Will Be Blood.

Winner: No Country for Old Men.

Reaction: See, I was being nice to Paul Thomas Anderson. I figured Blood wasn't taking any of the major awards other than Daniel Day-Lewis and I'd vote against the Coen's because they'd already got an Oscar and were on course for two more on the night. But the Academy gleefully ignored PTA thus leaving him once again a bridesmaid. At least let him win for screenplay guys, come on!

5/10. That's what you get for being nice.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing/Sound Mixing

Pick: The Bourne Ultimatum.

Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum.

Reaction: Thrilled about this really. When it comes to the technical awards there's a little bit more freedom but even so I considered predicting both would go to No Country anyway. But Bourne Ultimatum is a good movie and everyone saw it. The Academy likes to reward success. Bourne made a lot of money and it got strong reviews. Double whammy for Bourne and if you look back at the preview I'm the only guy who called it. So I'm looking at a double whammy of ‘out on a limb' awesomeness. Of course my general stubbornness and self guidelines fucked me for the rest of the night but this was the point where I was totally feeling the win. Oh and Kevin O'Connell 0-20. Unlucky sir, shouldn't have made a movie with Michael Bay. The Academy hate him.

7/12.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Pick: Julie Christie

Winner: Marion Cotillard.

Reaction: I'm guessing most Academy members haven't seen Marion in as many non-event performances as I have. The one thing she's got going for her was that she was all ‘happy to be here' and everything's wonderful. The Academy loves that. Look at Roberto Benigni. They gave him best director for crying out loud. I still rate Julie Christie higher but my guess would be the Academy weren't thrilled with her attitude pre-ceremony and ultimately she didn't give a shit if she won anyway. I'm really hoping we don't get her as an automatic casting as "European girl" in every Western movie for the next 5 years like certain other actresses from that part of the world. Also note that the Academy gave the award to a beautiful woman dressing up as an Ugger. They love that shit. Check out Charlize Theron.

7/13. Balls.

Best Achievement in Editing

Pick: No Country for Old Men.

Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Reaction: I didn't go far enough in my support of Bourne it seems. I figured the editing would go to one of the big guns. No Country or Blood realistically. But if I'd followed through my Bourne ‘money' logic I'd be in a tie for the win with this one. Fucking typical.

7/14

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Pick: Beaufort

Winner: The Counterfeiters

Reaction: Well, at least 12 didn't win. I don't get why it kept winning online surveys and whatnot. I personally thought it'd be a straight shoot because Counterfeiters and Beaufort. And I went with the wrong one. Note that Chad Webb & Robert Sullivan who tied on the Oscar Roundtable with 14 wins both picked the Counterfeiters. If the Academy went with my movie then I'd have won outright on my own. Just sayin'.

7/15. The bleak streak continues.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures: Original Song

Pick: "Falling Slowly" from Once.

Winner: "Falling Slowly" from Once.

Reaction: I was just happy that Enchanted didn't win seeing as all the songs were terrible. Best song won but the actual best song wasn't even nominated. Why couldn't I get Eddie Vedder at the Oscars? Here's the track "Hard Sun" for those interested. Nice to see the humility of the winners btw. I really enjoyed their speeches. "Hope connects us all". True words.



8/16

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Pick: No Country for Old Men

Winner: There Will Be Blood.

Reaction: Whaaaaaaat? I knew they were throwing some love to Blood at some point during the ceremony but it's an odd one. I figured the best picture would win a lot of the smaller awards as well leaving Blood with slim pickings. With the screenplay and this award I got them the wrong way around. Did I miss a meeting? Where was my memo?

8/17. Going badly now.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures: Original Score

Pick: Michael Clayton

Winner: Atonement

Reaction: Fucked up again here. I thought it'd go to either Atonement or Michael Clayton but figured that Clayton had no shot at winning anything else and gave it the sympathy vote. Little did I know the Academy had their little Tilda Swinton conspiracy. If I'd know a major award was heading their way I'd have not voted for it here. Let's face it the music in Michael Clayton isn't that good. Atonement was much better. Although it probably wasn't the best of the nominees. Hey, where have we heard that before?

8/18. I believe this was the point where I figured I wasn't winning the Roundtable.

Best Documentary: Short Subjects

Pick: La Corona

Winner: Freeheld

Reaction: I didn't even know what Freeheld was about and as the two girls stood up I chucked and said "lesbians" and whatta ya know. I guess this is what happens when you don't do your short film research. I was using the ‘best title' logic. After all La Corona kind of sounds like a beer.

8/19. And that's me done!

Best Documentary: Features

Pick: Taxi to the Dark Side

Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side.

Reaction: I knew no one else picked it. So I instantly figured I was back in with a shot. I didn't expect to win with this one but thought it had a chance because it was touchy material and it had a great title. This was my one moment, outside of the double on Bourne, where I felt like I really knew what I was talking about in the preview. Self High Five!

9/20

Best Writing: Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Pick: Diablo Cody for Juno

Winner: Juno

Reaction: Two quotes for you from the Roundtable. 1. Mr Leonard Hayhurst said this "I don't see the Academy going for someone named Diablo Cody". And secondly Mr Owain J. Brimfield said this "is an ex-stripper really going to win an Oscar for writing?" Well the Academy went with her and yes, an ex-stripper won an Oscar for writing. She wrote about stripping too and she likes Firefly. Also she's posted pictures of her tits online. Quite how any of this relates to the Oscars I don't know but I really liked the script and at the end of the day so did everyone else. It's refreshing that the book isn't judged by the cover these days. Of course writing pays squat but she might get paid slightly more than squat and might get to work with some great directors. Not that Jason Reitman isn't. Just more of them.

10/21. Happy to be in double figures. That was my hope for the night.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Pick: Daniel Day-Lewis

Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis

Reaction: I thought this was pretty straightforward and so did the audience. It kind of made it a little underwhelming. Although the theatrics with Daniel and "The Queen" Helen Mirren before he accepted the award was cute. I couldn't see anyone else winning unless everyone got together in secret and said "hey, that Viggo Mortensen is really something in Eastern Promises". But then a lot of Academy members would just reply with "so fuckin' what? It wasn't nominated for anything else and Cronenbourg never wins". Hence Day-Lewis. And I like the fact that the real Daniel Day-Lewis is nothing like his characters. He's a real actor. A real good one.

11/22. Back to .500. Who saw that coming?

Best Achievement in Directing

Pick: Joel & Ethan Coen

Winners: Joel & Ethan Coen.

Reaction: I thought they'd win this even if No Country didn't get best picture or anything else. The Academy would have looked at the Coen's cumulative work and figured they were due. And what a fine body of work it is too. Them winning isn't like Martin Scorsese winning last year. That was the culmination of many years and many disappointments. The Coen's have never been close before. They won a writing award for Fargo but that was never in the running for best director or picture. I'm not sure they appreciate it like Marty did last year. I was disappointed to see Joel kinda cold shoulder Scorsese as they were leaving the stage too. Try and be a little excited. I did enjoy the speech about the Henry Kissinger film though. Top stuff.

12/23. Guaranteed .500. Sweet.

Best Picture

Pick: No Country for Old Men.

Winner: No Country for Old Men.

Reaction: And by this point I was taking a leak and getting ready for bed. It was about 5.15am and I was fucking tired. Still another correct pick left me…

13/24. Giving me equal runner up alongside Ben Piper. Congratulations to Chad Webb & Robert Sullivan who tied on 14/24 for the win. Like I said that was really close and shows was fine minds we have working here at 411.

ON DVD

Michael Clayton (2007)



EXPECTATIONS – Like when I reviewed Atonement last week it was a DVD I specifically rented ahead of the Oscars to get myself more involved in the process. I feel more attached to an awards ceremony the higher the percentage of the movies I've seen. So this came in just behind Atonement last week and I didn't have time to review it. I'm a big fan of George Clooney though. I think he picks good scripts and makes challenging movies. For every paycheck movie he's made, like Batman & Robin, there's another great film shortly afterwards, Thin Red Line in that case. Recently his own indulgences have been the Ocean's series and even that started with a good film. I'm prepared to cut the man some slack. After all in recent years he's made Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton, Syriana and he's about to be in White Jazz. Here's to you George!

TRAILER –



PLOT – Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a long serving law firm fixer. When a situation starts going south Clayton is the man sent to sort it out. But his latest case is Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). A man at the heart of a massive lawsuit where he's defending U-North a producer of a deadly weed killer. He's a hard worker but has a history of mental breakdowns and strips naked at a deposition. Clayton goes to find out the cause and discovers Edens has uncovered some pretty shady dealings over at U-North mainly thanks to middle-management go-getter Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton).

OPINION – I was expecting a more courtroom based film. This isn't the case. Michael Clayton is a smart and tense thriller. The acting is top notch although Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton is probably the least of the three main roles. Clooney is remarkably calm and controlled as you'd assume a fixer would be. He seems to have an answer for everything. A solution for every problem. Until he collides with the rampaging insanity of Arthur Edens. There's some great dialogue between Clooney and Wilkinson. "I am Shiva the God of Death" is a great line. "I am not your enemy". "Then who are you?" is a great back and forth. The scenes where Wilkinson appears really up the film into the high gears. He's an enigmatic co-star for Clooney throwing ham around the room and letting Clooney be his calm and reassuring self without letting out too much emotion. Although Clooney's performance may be the best of all the performances in Michael Clayton as he's truly mastered nuanced performances where every glance means something. Like with James McAvoy in Atonement. He gave expressions that told the story rather than rely on dialogue. Clooney has a fine mix in Michael Clayton. Any time he has dialogue it delivers but he keeps a certain sadness in his eyes. He's probably seen too much bullshit over the years and he's skating on thin ice mentally himself but the job keeps him together. He has weaknesses, gambling, and those show through just fine. But the performance is so much more than that. His eyes tell a whole other story. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Well, in Michael Clayton the soul of George Clooney is hanging out to dry. You can see what he's thinking. Tony Gilroy does a hell of a job with his first picture as a director. He's written movies before but this marks his first trek through production and into finality. And it's a joy to behold. It'll probably be a little slow for some people but it has none of the depression that you get with Atonement. Which is the better film? Really hard to say. I think they're both good for their nominations and they both had a lot of thought go into them. Again though; Tilda Swinton's Oscar is a strange one. I mean she plays a lawyer basically. And she's not a nice person. But that's about it. She has a naturally steely eyed demeanour and that'll help her because she looks cold in ways that other actresses with their happy little centres (Katherine Heigl perhaps?) can only dream of. But was she worthy of an Oscar? I really don't think she was. But that'd be the Academy tipping its hat to this fine and ambitious film.

BEST BIT – Michael Clayton gets out of his car in the middle of a clearing at dawn. He strolls across the hillside into the open space and walks up to three horses that are barely awake from a long night's slumber. He gets within inches of them almost mirroring the scene with Helen Mirren and the stag in the Queen last year. As he faces the horses in this timeless stand off his car explodes.

RATING - ****1/4. If anything I'd complain that Michael Clayton didn't get complicated enough. It ended up as a fairly straightforward A to B film. I heard a complaint that it was hard to follow but I found it quite easy. You want to try some Jodorovsky mate! There was some nice layered storytelling but I felt it lacked a certain indefinable something. It's still a belting thriller if that's your sort of thing.

UGGERS

So I'm watching the Academy Awards and noticed how much makeup Marion Cotillard had to wear to look like real life Ugger Edith Piaf. I figured I'd show you some Hollywood solutions to these little problems over the years…

UGGER – Edith Piaf



SOLUTION – Marion Cotillard



UGGER – Aileen Wuornos (lesbian serial killer)



SOLUTION – Charlize Theron



UGGER – Donnie Brasco



SOLUTION – Johnny Depp



UGGER – June Carter



SOLUTION – Reese Witherspoon



Winner!

SHILL

I love getting bizarre websites recommended to me. My favourite this week;

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?
Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let's laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

The second one down made me absolutely piss. It's the phet addiction that really makes that one funny.

HERE IS THE GNUS



Here it is, all the news fit to print! The new addition to the column by virtue of it now being a news column. And you only had to sit through three and a half thousand words of drivel to get here! I'm using IMDB.com as my initial source here…

Whoopi snubbed!

Whoopi Goldberg held back tears as she spoke of her disappointment at not being part of a past Oscars glory tribute on her daily talk show The View on Monday. The actress, who won a Best Supporting Actress honour for Ghost in 1990 and has hosted the Oscars, was left out of a montage of great moments from past shows, which ran throughout Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony. Trying to see the funny side of the omission, Goldberg joked, "Undoubtedly, I pissed somebody off once again."

Amazing really. How on Earth did Whoopi Goldberg win an Oscar for Ghost anyway? Was it an apology for her not winning for the Color Purple? If so you might as well have given her an Oscar for Jumpin' Jack Flash. Did Patrick Swayze go after the Academy or something? "Nobody puts Whoopi in the corner!" Calm down Pat, she's getting taken care of. You'd think the Academy would have shown a shot of her winning her Oscar although I'm pretty sure they did. Maybe my memory isn't great on that but I think she was in there. After all she has hosted before. It's not like she's disliked. Well, depends who you talk to really. My Mom really likes her. Good news Whoopi!



And the cigarette just makes it just that bit sexier. Rrrrr.

Tilda shocked by her own win (so were we)

Actress Tilda Swinton was so convinced she would not win an Academy Award on Sunday, she didn't hear her name when it was announced. The 47-year-old Brit, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Michael Clayton, has dubbed the seconds following her win a "reverse Zoolander moment," in a reference to Ben Stiller's 2001 comedy in which a dim-witted male model tries to accept an award given to his rival. After her big win, she told reporters, "I really just had a reverse Zoolander moment when I think I heard someone else's name and suddenly slowly heard my own. I'm still recovering from that moment, and I have absolutely no idea what happened after that. So, you know, you can tell me my dress fell off and I'd believe you, so don't be cruel."

The great thing about Tilda winning is that she had no idea it was going to happen so she had nothing prepared. It's one of the longest long shots in the acting stakes for a long time. So she was so unprepared we got this superb garbled message about her agent looking like the Oscar statue and George Clooney wearing the Batman suit while he was shooting Michael Clayton. She probably didn't win over any people in America with the speech but she was truthful so I liked it.



Those eyes just creep me out, man. It's like she's staring through the screen.

Speaking of the Oscars…I wonder how Diablo Cody is holding up after that big Oscar win?



Mornin' Cody! The extra strength Oscar Polish © is in the mail. Looks like the wee man has a few new stains.

And now to the Hollywood Reporter.com.

Scorsese's next cast shapes up

Max von Sydow, Emily Mortimer and Jackie Earle Haley have joined the cast of Martin Scorsese's mystery drama "Shutter Island" for Paramount. The three join Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Patricia Clarkson in the film, which was adapted by Laeta Kalogridis from Dennis Lehane's 2004 novel. The story revolves around two U.S. marshals (DiCaprio and Ruffalo) who travel to a Massachusetts island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane. Chaos ensues for the two as they encounter a web of deceit, a hurricane and a deadly inmate riot that leaves them trapped on the island.

As with anything from Scorsese I'm really looking forward to this. It isn't even out until 2009. Seems like a long time to wait for a follow up to 2006's best picture winner the Departed. The cast is interesting. DiCaprio, like him or not, has become Scorsese's new DeNiro. And he's gotten a lot better as an actor because of that. He's more believable and seems mentally tougher. The supporting cast includes Mark Ruffalo who seems to have been on the brink of a breakthrough for a long, long time now. He's moved around a lot of smaller roles in less than stellar films before appearing in Zodiac. Despite being somewhat outshone by Robert Downey Jr, in a great performance, and star Jake Gyllenhaal he still did great things in that flick. I'm sure Marty was watching. He always is. With heavy hitters Max von Sydow and Ben Kingsley onboard we could be in for a real treat. Plus there's the criminally under rated Patricia Clarkson. I have a great Patricia Clarkson story, even if the facts are wrong, that I will happily tell to anyone if I meet them in person. It doesn't work without the accents. Great fucking story though.

Sony to Terminate

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has bought the international distribution rights to "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," the fourth installment in the multibillion-dollar movie franchise. McG will helm the film, the first in a new "Terminator" trilogy that stars Christian Bale as John Connor. The project also reunites John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who partnered to pen "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," as well as Moritz Borman, a producer on the 2003 film.

The name McG still bothers me. Is that even a name? It's three letters. And before anyone gets on my case about my own name it's pronounced "Furry-wah". It's Belgian. But this fucker. His name is Joe McGinty. What's wrong with just using that? Does anyone seriously think McG sounds hip or cool? He sounds like a total douchebag. I really hated the Charlie's Angels films. I figure once you get past the good looking chicks there's really nothing there. And as much as I like good looking chicks I like porno too and that has some good looking chicks doing more interesting things than acting. I've not seen We Are Marshall because the title confuses me. Is it about schizophrenia? I hear it's actually quite good but the name of McG is already somewhat tarnished. Seeing as T:3 got Jonathan Mostow I guess we should be grateful it was someone experienced who got the helm. That said Mostow did direct Kurt Russell in Breakdown and that U-571 flick. You know the one. Where Jon Bon Jovi wins the war for the USA! God, I hate that film. It's not even a bad film but I still hate it. I'd rather watch that Kelsey Grammer submarine movie. And that's saying something!



Wat do you mean I'm nat in da latest Tarminator moofy? I already did my special Tarminator face effects. Hasta La Vista Baby.

That was the Gnus. I'm looking forward to dragging that picture of a wildebeest out every week until someone realises where I've stolen it from. And finally this week, although Mike Gorman touched on it yesterday, because I am taking over the slot that was previously occupied by Ben Moser…here's a special moving pictures version of

CHEER UP BEN AFFLECK



You're fucking Jimmy Kimmel. Congrats. And Gary Busey is hitting on your wife.



Yes, this guy! You can't even tell which one is his crazy eye. He's the first man born with two crazy eyes. And he was hitting on your wife…



This fine, fine piece of ass. I mean, talented actress.

Before I head out here's another couple of quickfire reviews…

Volver (2006)

Pedro Almodovar's latest is one of his best films to date. Perhaps only bettered by his masterpiece About My Mother. There is no one, anywhere in world cinema who can write women as well as this guy. He's cornered the market. The plot is one of his most unusual to date as well. Two sisters have very divergent problems. One Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) has a dead husband and the keys to a local restaurant she hopes to revive while the owner is on holiday. That and she really has to hide the body before the police find out. Another dead body is causing grief for her sister Soledad (Lola Duenas). She's been visited by the spirit of her mother who's been dead for 4 years. Only the spirit doesn't walk through walls. She hides under the bed. And sometimes in the boot of the car. And she's taken to pretending to be Russian to get by as a hairdressers assistant. Funny things corpses. Usually reliable they become tricky in the world of the cinema. The performances are incredible here from Penelope Cruz's cleavage up. Cruz, although not her cleavage, was nominated for an Oscar. The first Spaniard to be nominated for best actress. Of course Javier Bardem has now scored a win in supporting actor so the Spanish are really taking over. Aside from About My Mother there's no doubt in my mind this is Almodovar's best film. And for those who only know Cruz from her American work and think she's not much of an actress there's a lot more going on here. ****.

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

I realised when I was putting together some new films for my rental list that I'd not seen many early Jack Nicholson flicks. This is his next major film after Easy Rider when he'd managed to establish himself as a serious actor. Sadly his appearance led to him being typecast quite a bit in the early years as a jerk. It just seemed natural. A lot of his early roles have large amounts of jerky behaviour in. Five Easy Pieces being no exception. His character in Five Easy Pieces is that of a former pianist dropping out into the lowlife world of bar hopping and oil field work. There are some great scenes of Jack being Jack. The absolute best being him heading to work after being out all night drinking with his buddy Elton (Billy Green Bush). They get stuck in traffic on the freeway and Jack spots a piano on the back of a flatbed truck. He hops onto it and starts playing away in the middle of the rush hour. As the truck turns off with Elton yelling about him going the wrong way Jack is still tinkling the ivories to his heart's content. But Jack's character is tremendously well rounded for someone who's basically designed as a jerk. He has all manner of character traits. The piano, the lecherous attitude, the way he treats Karen Black like crap, the subtlety in his goodbyes, the way he sticks up for his friends even though he really has none. No attachments. Nothing he can't walk away from. And then the coup de grace being his farewell to his sick father. Crying on film often leaves you open to ridicule. You could tell Jack was going places because he's so convincing. And the ending is fucking great. ****.



You stay classy…the World.