We spent last evening watching the American Film Institutes latest list of 100 films: AFI's 10 Top 10. Naturally, as we went through it, we had a few "ughs!" some "wha?" some "where is?" and a few "wrong place." But we agreed with many of the choices.
I've now had a chance to look over the nominated films--50 in each category--and discovered most our "where is" queries are within the nomination list. I also discovered that some of the films I thought were in the wrong category also had nominations in what I thought were the correct category. For example, I think Bull Durham is one of the great romantic comedies of all time. It was nominated as a romantic comedy but made the top 10 as a sports film. Field of Dreams (what is it about Kevin Costner on the list?) was nominated as a sports film but made the top 10 as a fantasy film.
Only one of the Lord of the Rings cycle was nominated, and The Fellowship of the Ring came in number 2 on the fantasy list. If The Godfather Parts One and Two can both make the top 10 of gangster films, and Toy Story 1 and 2 are both nominated, there's no excuse for not even nominating the Oscar(TM)-winning The Return of the King. And, frankly, I thought they should both have been nominated in the epic category. After all, that fantasy The Ten Commandments was on the epic list.
I think that one less Marion Morrison film would not have hurt the western list in order to make room for The Magnificent Seven, a movie that even I have to stop and watch if I'm flipping through the TV channels and it is on. I cannot believe it wasn't in the top 10.
I've seen all 10 of the animation and science fiction winners, and eight of the gangster and epic films. My worst category (much to my surprise): courtroom drama, where I'm only certain I've seen four films. I've seen parts of many more.
While it did not surprise me to find that 2001: A Space Odyssey was the number one on the science fiction list, I'm still disappointed. While it is visually impressive (for the time it was made), it is boring beyond belief. A snore. I think that my friends who were on drugs the day we did a class trip to the Zigfield Theatre in New York to see it in 1970 were probably the ones who enjoyed it the most. I know I'm never getting those three hours back and I need them right now. I say this as someone who loved Sir Arthur's writing and I really like the short story "The Sentinel," which spawned the movie. But the movie is ponderous. I once heard someone say there's maybe 20 minutes of dialogue in it and last night Len said most of that is between Dave and Hal.
I was so pleased that The Day the Earth Stood Still was on the top 10 list. I remember when I first saw it on Saturday Night at the Movies and it still rates at the top of my science fiction list. For those who think science fiction is about ray guns--wrong! It is a way of exploring problems in this life when you can't address it with "reality." As a film, The Day the Earth Stood Still is closely related to The Crucible. It is about the communist witch hunts. I also recommend reading the short story "Farewell to the Master," upon which the film is based.
The other films I think should have made the top 10 lists are Inherit the Wind and Reversal of Fortune for courtroom drama, Lost Horizon for fantasy, A League of Their Own for sports, Iron Giant for animation (Lion King is so overrated) and Some Like It Hot, The American President and The Shop Around the Corner (which has spawned so very many variations) for romantic comedy. All were nominated (Some Like It Hot in the gangster category, not romantic comedy.) The Sure Thing was not even nominated for romantic comedy, but I suppose it is something of an update of It Happened One Night, which made the top 10.
I'm going to have Len and Michael go over the list and see if there are any films which none of us have seen to watch on a family film evening. I failed to mark 28 altogether, although there are many among those I've seen at least part of and some of which I've seen in remakes. A few of the films I've seen parts of, such as Al Pacino's Scarface, I'm not going to try and watch all the way through. Of the films I have seen, there are some I'm not interested in ever watching again. A Clockwork Orange is definitely at the top of that list. It, like Scarface, is just too violent. There's no point in spending all that time hiding my eyes.
I think that AFI should do a list of the top 100 books or stories adapted into movies. Maybe it would get people to read a little more.
Showing posts with label Kevin Costner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kevin Costner. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
A Touch of Capra
Capraesque. A movie that generally makes you feel better about the world when it's done, even if more sophisticated viewers call it sentimental. It often involves an improbable situation where one man makes a difference. It is guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye but there is always a good helping of laughter as well.
The best of the films from which this term arose are Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Meet John Doe, and It's a Wonderful Life. Two of them starred Jimmy Stewart and one had Gary Cooper, both of them quintessential American men you never wanted to see in a costume drama except for a Western. Frank Capra directed them all (from scripts by different writers), hence Capraesque.*
Kevin Costner has starred in a number of Capraesque pictures, the most recent of which we saw last night in a sneak screening conducted for audience input. Personally, except for a little trimming for time, I think the film was pretty near perfect and should be left alone.
The film is called Swing Vote and is currently slated for an August 1 release, indicating they don't expect it to make a lot of money or have a long shelf-life. I'm thinking that it should be released right after Labor Day to tie in with the elections and give everyone a civics lesson in why it is important to go out and vote, which is what the film is about.
Costner plays Bud Johnson, a single parent with a drinking problem who works at an egg-packing plant in a very small town in New Mexico. His daughter Molly is a very grown up fifth grader who is torn between life goals of being a veterinarian or Chair of the Federal Reserve when she gets older. She's got the brains to do either or more. The film opens on election day, pitting sitting Republican President Kelsey Grammer against Democratic challenger and community college president Dennis Hopper. Molly's trying to make sure Bud votes in the election because it is his civic duty and because she's got a school project to do and her efforts (not at all slapstick) lead to the improbable result of Bud having to recast a ballot to keep the election from going to the House of Representatives for a resolution. Hilarity ensues, as does a requisite growth in Bud's character.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. But then, I also loved The Postman (which got panned by the critics.) Costner plays everyman Americans as well as Stewart and Cooper did and probably better than anyone else of his generation. He's great in Bull Durham (possibly the best romantic comedy ever made other than those starring Katherine Hepburn in the 1930s and 1940s), Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game, and Tin Cup. He does great sports films and has a wonderful sense of timing for comedy. He's pretty good at Westerns as well (Open Range, Dances with Wolves, and even Silverado) and he's also a decent director (although the beset-with-problems Waterworld is a miss, Open Range and Dances with Wolves were quite good, the latter good enough to garner a directing Oscar(R).)
What Costner should never do again is a costume piece set somewhere other than here. Robin Hood was painful (as I think I've written before), although he did look great in those costumes and all men's looks are improved by long hair or extensions. Errol Flynn gets me to believe every time, but Costner was definitely out of place in medieval England. I don't want Kenneth Brannaugh to get the idea of casting him in something Shakespeare, either. Wouldn't work. A Yank in Great Britain he could do, but not a Brit anywhere.
Sometimes, when we see a screening this far in advance of release, changes are made which don't improve the film. What Dreams May Come is my personal best example. Loved the screening and couldn't figure out why the studio made the changes to the release leaving the film less comprehensible and affecting. Other films which were clearly subject to some studio idiot's whim and which now have the benefit of being restored include Frank Capra's Lost Horizon and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. The restorations are far superior. (Let's not come to the conclusion that restorations are always better. After all, we all know that Han shoots first!)
In August (or when it does come out) make a point to see Swing Vote, written by Jason Richman and Joshua Michael Stern, directed by Joshua Michael Stern, starring Kevin Costner, newcomer Madeline Carroll, Kelsey Grammar, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, and Stanley Tucci. Willie Nelson, Richard Petty, Arianna Huffington, and Lawrence O'Donnell all have cameos.
And be sure to vote in your upcoming primary.
*Capra's autobiography, The Name above the Title, is definitely worth reading but it did take the blood, sweat, and tears of the writers to create 120 pages of script upon which Frank could put "the Capra touch."
The best of the films from which this term arose are Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Meet John Doe, and It's a Wonderful Life. Two of them starred Jimmy Stewart and one had Gary Cooper, both of them quintessential American men you never wanted to see in a costume drama except for a Western. Frank Capra directed them all (from scripts by different writers), hence Capraesque.*
Kevin Costner has starred in a number of Capraesque pictures, the most recent of which we saw last night in a sneak screening conducted for audience input. Personally, except for a little trimming for time, I think the film was pretty near perfect and should be left alone.
The film is called Swing Vote and is currently slated for an August 1 release, indicating they don't expect it to make a lot of money or have a long shelf-life. I'm thinking that it should be released right after Labor Day to tie in with the elections and give everyone a civics lesson in why it is important to go out and vote, which is what the film is about.
Costner plays Bud Johnson, a single parent with a drinking problem who works at an egg-packing plant in a very small town in New Mexico. His daughter Molly is a very grown up fifth grader who is torn between life goals of being a veterinarian or Chair of the Federal Reserve when she gets older. She's got the brains to do either or more. The film opens on election day, pitting sitting Republican President Kelsey Grammer against Democratic challenger and community college president Dennis Hopper. Molly's trying to make sure Bud votes in the election because it is his civic duty and because she's got a school project to do and her efforts (not at all slapstick) lead to the improbable result of Bud having to recast a ballot to keep the election from going to the House of Representatives for a resolution. Hilarity ensues, as does a requisite growth in Bud's character.
Loved it, loved it, loved it. But then, I also loved The Postman (which got panned by the critics.) Costner plays everyman Americans as well as Stewart and Cooper did and probably better than anyone else of his generation. He's great in Bull Durham (possibly the best romantic comedy ever made other than those starring Katherine Hepburn in the 1930s and 1940s), Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game, and Tin Cup. He does great sports films and has a wonderful sense of timing for comedy. He's pretty good at Westerns as well (Open Range, Dances with Wolves, and even Silverado) and he's also a decent director (although the beset-with-problems Waterworld is a miss, Open Range and Dances with Wolves were quite good, the latter good enough to garner a directing Oscar(R).)
What Costner should never do again is a costume piece set somewhere other than here. Robin Hood was painful (as I think I've written before), although he did look great in those costumes and all men's looks are improved by long hair or extensions. Errol Flynn gets me to believe every time, but Costner was definitely out of place in medieval England. I don't want Kenneth Brannaugh to get the idea of casting him in something Shakespeare, either. Wouldn't work. A Yank in Great Britain he could do, but not a Brit anywhere.
Sometimes, when we see a screening this far in advance of release, changes are made which don't improve the film. What Dreams May Come is my personal best example. Loved the screening and couldn't figure out why the studio made the changes to the release leaving the film less comprehensible and affecting. Other films which were clearly subject to some studio idiot's whim and which now have the benefit of being restored include Frank Capra's Lost Horizon and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. The restorations are far superior. (Let's not come to the conclusion that restorations are always better. After all, we all know that Han shoots first!)
In August (or when it does come out) make a point to see Swing Vote, written by Jason Richman and Joshua Michael Stern, directed by Joshua Michael Stern, starring Kevin Costner, newcomer Madeline Carroll, Kelsey Grammar, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, and Stanley Tucci. Willie Nelson, Richard Petty, Arianna Huffington, and Lawrence O'Donnell all have cameos.
And be sure to vote in your upcoming primary.
*Capra's autobiography, The Name above the Title, is definitely worth reading but it did take the blood, sweat, and tears of the writers to create 120 pages of script upon which Frank could put "the Capra touch."
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