dirac

I attended Woody Allen’s pictures faithfully until about the time of The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, and then he finally lost me. Although I’m pleased that Match Point seems to represent something of a comeback, the plot sounds like a retread of other people’s material as well as Allen’s. I’d be happy to be wrong. If he did something fresh with it, then good for him. I’m not going to go out of my way to see it – I’ve been burned once too often – but I’ll check it out if an opportunity arises. Anthony_NYC writes: Depending on background, education, and circumstances, an Irishman might not sound “Irish” at all.

Those online reviews were pretty funny. Tyler Durden, BTW, was the name of the character played by Brad Pitt for Fight Club. I do not recall that ballet history was a primary interest of his.

Helene, that was actually Anthony_NYC's quote about The Producers. My apologies, I was sloppy and didn't notice I hadn't put quotes or given him credit.

Mmmm, especially that bit where Phrygia wraps herself around his neck.

It never showed up in my area. The reviews that I read were, with a few exceptions, very bad indeed, and perhaps that’s why. I have to say that the trailer, which I did see, looked distinctly unpromising. Regarding Match Point, the descriptions I read did indeed make it sound very much like Crimes and Misdemeanors, which I thought was all right but nowhere near Allen’s best. (In particular, I had a problem with the treatment of the Farrow character and her preference for Alda over Allen – as if not wanting to go to bed with Woody was a kind of moral failing.) It is indeed hard to watch a comedy in an underpopulated theatre, especially if you’re the only one who thinks there’s something humorous going on......

This topic, or some variation thereof, is one of our hardy Ballet Talk perennials, oberon. I don't mind, there's plenty I'd like to dance. Chaconne with Peter Martins. What an awesome part. I second Mme. Hermine’s mention of Soloviev, only in The Sleeping Beauty, with his Bluebird, just to be onstage with him while he did it. Nureyev, in Giselle. True, I might get him on the wrong night, but I could say I’d danced with him. Juliet in MacMillan’s version, with Christopher Gable.

GWTW writes: I’d prefer to keep this thread to discussion of cinematic quality or the lack thereof as opposed to an awards horse race thread, please. In defiance of my own wishes, however, I note that if BM continues to do as well as it has at the box office, any such backlash will be of doubtful importance. I would love to report that aesthetic quality is all that counts when awards time rolls around, but if BM had failed to make an impact outside of the cities, it might have received nominations but would be an unlikely big winner. If the picture keeps on pulling ‘em in, its march to Oscar will be well-nigh unstoppable. I haven’t seen it yet, either, BTW. It comes to my little neighborhood multiplex this weekend. I hear it’s pretty good.

You can say that again. What a loss for SFB.....

Yup -- Hal Borne.

I add my voice to the chorus requesting reports!

Thank you for the heads up, Pamela. I hope anyone who sees it will report back!

She will indeed be missed. She wasn't the world's greatest actress, but she deserves respect for her hard climb out of the bimbo category, as Harmetz recounts (thanks for the link, carbro). I also felt that her frequent overacting was probably due at least as much to bad direction as anything else. I thought that George Stevens went out of his way to make the poor girl as unappealing as possible in “A Place in the Sun” in order to ensure audience sympathy for Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. (Winters is so whiny and irritating you want to slap her, and you have every sympathy for Clift’s efforts to free himself.) Her Charlotte Haze in “Lolita” was also misjudged, but again it’s a matter of casting and direction. Charlotte in the novel is the most genteel of women, and she’s a figure of fun to Humbert because of her cultural pretensions. Winters was way too broad in every sense. But she’s funny, anyway.

carbro writes: Yup, only this year the dearth of good parts for women is more acute than usual. I fear it’s characteristic of the season that the big chick flick love story of the year shunts the chicks aside while the hunky guys moon at each other. Witherspoon would be competitive in any year, however. And Laura Linney is excellent, as usual, in The Squid and the Whale. canbelto writes: I’m afraid I found the picture a little dull. It gets off to a good start, with Hoffman swanning about the prairie in his camel’s hair coat, bigfooting his way into the story and bamboozling the locals, but there are long stretches where there just isn’t much going on. We don’t really feel the special connection between Capote and Smith that the story hinges on, and there are too many easy contrasts between the killers languishing in prison while Truman parties the night way in New York. (I thought the picture was too hard on him, BTW.) There are other good actors in the movie, like Catherine Keener and Chris Cooper, but they don’t have much opportunity to register and so Hoffman is the whole show. The movie was obviously made with thought and care and I feel bad about not liking it that much, but I thought the issues it raised were more interesting than what was actually taking place onscreen. Also, I had no idea the late William Shawn was so bloodthirsty. canbelto, I must respectfully disagree with you about Terms of Endearment and Million Dollar Baby. They're weepies, yes, but not cheap ones. Re: the Golden Globes. I am quite unable to take them seriously, but I enjoy watching them. I think the stars enjoy them, too. Harrison Ford had quite the buzz on.

Norway observes the centennial of Henrik Ibsen's death.

I am fond of that particular position too, Hans -- it's such a beautiful effect. I wish I were inarticulate like you, Paul.

As a rule I do not link to New York magazine on principle since they did away with the position of regular dance critic (or, indeed, any dance critic), but there are some interesting things in this profile of James Levine, particularly regarding the new regime at the Met.

Yes, it’s amazing how good actors can put over almost anything.....

Judging from what one reads, his widow may not miss him much. Very sad news -- he had a wonderful voice.

Thank you for pointing that out, canbelto. Also her lack of vibrato.....

The final encounter between Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton was what pushed me over the line, actually. In an ensemble drama like this where a lot of threads have to be tied together I’m willing to write off a certain amount of contrivance, but I thought it all became just too much, especially in a picture that is presumably telling us hard truths about The Way We Live Now. It was indeed nice to see actors like Dillon and Newton get a chance to show their stuff -- especially those two, who haven’t had the best of luck recently.

oberon is correct – the “Little Renata” was in no sense intended as derogatory to Scotto. Scotto was wonderful in bel canto, although she did not have quite enough voice for Norma, IMO. But let’s stay close to our topic.

It’s a curio. I imagine Shearer feels that way because TofH presents fairly long sequences of actual dancing, whereas in The Red Shoes you see mostly bits and pieces, albeit well selected ones. The Red Shoes ballet lasts twenty minutes, but in it Shearer mostly strikes poses (lovely arabesque) and there is no pretense that what we’re seeing could happen on a stage. TofH also shows her neat footwork. Shearer also does a brief dance in Powell's later film "Peeping Tom," looking hardly a day older than she did in Red Shoes. Also check out "Story of Three Loves" where she dances to the same music Ashton used for Rhapsody.

I regret to say I thought “Crash” made Haggis’ last screenplay, “Million Dollar Baby,” look like a model of emotional subtlety. It’s a picture chock full of good intentions, but we all know what can happen with those, alas. And I’m afraid that line about crashing in order to feel something made me giggle. Calling James Spader and Holly Hunter.......

Agreed. Holland wasn't exactly damning with faint praise, but he could have been warmer (and lengthier, considering her stellar career).

Not me, although I would love to. Canary writes: I once acquired an old tom who was obviously a veteran of many battles – he was missing parts of both ears, a chunk of tail, and was heavily scarred and almost toothless to boot. Apart from cat versus cat bellicosity, however, he was a sweetie pie. I deprived him of his manhood, although it pained me to do so, because I didn’t see how he could take much more and his appetite for combat was quite unaffected by age and arthritis. He loved to watch dancing on TV, doubtless because of the movement, and he wouldn’t get bored after a few minutes; he’d sit in front of it for long periods, watching raptly.