1990--The Year in Review

1990 was an unremarkable year for film, though its primary note, Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, was easily the movie of the year, and the entire decade, judging by its clear influence three decades hence. Two other gangster related films, The Coen Brothers' regal Miller's Crossing and Stephen Frears' The Grifters, were similarly terrific. Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet was the most humanistic work of the year, while Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves took all the awards. But it's Scorsese's film that remains the most memorable and widely loved. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold.

PICTURE: GOODFELLAS (US, Martin Scorsese)
(2nd: Europa Europa (Germany/France/Poland, Agnieszka Holland)
followed by: Life is Sweet (UK, Mike Leigh)
Miller’s Crossing (US, Joel Coen)
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (US/UK, James Ivory)
The Grifters (US, Stephen Frears)
American Dream (US, Barbara Kopple)
The Reflecting Skin (Canada, Philip Ridley)
Mindwalk (US, Bernt Capra)
Men Don’t Leave (US, Paul Brickman)
Quick Change (US, Howard Franklin and Bill Murray)
Strangers in Good Company (Canada, Cynthia Scott)
An Angel at My Table (New Zealand, Jane Campion)
C’est la Vie (France, Diane Kurys)
White Hunter, Black Heart (US, Clint Eastwood)
Wild at Heart (US, David Lynch)
Mountains of the Moon (US, Bob Rafelson)
Dances With Wolves (US, Kevin Costner)
The Godfather Part III (US, Francis Ford Coppola)
Begotten (US, E. Elias Merhige)
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
Miami Blues (US, George Armitage)
Edward Scissorhands (US, Tim Burton)
La Femme Nikita (France, Luc Besson)
Close-Up (Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)
Truly, Madly, Deeply (UK, Anthony Mingella)
The Freshman (US, Andrew Bergman)
To Sleep With Anger (US, Charles Burnett)
Henry and June (US, Philip Kaufman)
The Krays (UK, Peter Medak)
After Dark, My Sweet (US, James Foley)
Ju Dou (China, Zhang Yimou)
Tatie Danielle (France, Etienne Chatiliez)
Alice (US, Woody Allen)
Christo in Paris (US, Deborah Dickson, Susan Fromke, David Maysles and Albert Maysles)
Awakenings (US, Penny Marshall)
King of New York (US, Abel Ferrara)
Jacob’s Ladder (US, Adrian Lyne)
Paris is Burning (US, Jennie Livingston)
Riff Raff (UK, Ken Loach)
Dick Tracy (US, Warren Beatty)
Tremors (US, Ron Underwood)
The Sheltering Sky (US, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Days of Being Wild (Hong Kong, Wong Kar-Wai)
Reversal of Fortune (US, Barbet Schroeder)
Vincent and Theo (US, Robert Altman)
A Shock to the System (US, Jan Egleson)
Berkeley in the Sixties (US, Mark Kitchell)
Cyrano de Bergerac (France, Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
Metropolitan (US, Whit Stillman)
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (US, Chuck Workman)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (US, John McNaughton)
Mo' Better Blues (US, Spike Lee)
White Palace (US, Luis Mandoki)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (UK/US, Tom Stoppard)
The Witches (UK/US, Nicolas Roeg)
The Field (Ireland, Jim Sheridan)
Boiling Point (Japan, Takeshi Kitano)
Avalon (US, Barry Levinson)
Pump Up The Volume (US, Allan Moyle)
Joe Versus The Volcano (US, John Patrick Shanley)
Back to the Future: Part III (US, Robert Zemeckis)
Stanley and Iris (US, Martin Ritt)
State of Grace (US, Phil Joanou)
Bad Influence (US, Curtis Hanson)
Nouvelle Vague (France, Jean-Luc Godard)
Postcards from the Edge (US, Mike Nichols)
Trust (US, Hal Hartley)
Lord of the Flies (US, Harry Hook)
The Hot Spot (US, Dennis Hopper)
Internal Affairs (US, Mike Figgis)
Presumed Innocent (US, Alan J. Pakula)
Green Card (US, Peter Weir)
Texasville (US, Peter Bogdanovich)
Pretty Woman (US, Garry Marshall)
Darkman (US, Sam Raimi)
Total Recall (US, Paul Verhoeven)
Hardware (US, Richard Stanley)
Misery (US, Rob Reiner)
The Two Jakes (US, Jack Nicholson)
Ghost (US, Jerry Zucker)
Graffiti Bridge (US, Prince)
Home Alone (US, Chris Columbus)
Troll 2 (US, Claudio Fragasso (as Drake Floyd)
The Bonfire of the Vanities (US, Brian De Palma)
Die Hard 2 (US, Renny Harlin))

ACTOR: Johnny Depp, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (2nd: Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune, followed by: Gerard Depardieu, Cyrano De Bergerac; Alec Baldwin, Miami Blues; Ray Liotta, GoodFellas; Paul Newman, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Robin Williams, Awakenings; Bill Murray, Quick Change)

ACTRESS: Alison Steadman, LIFE IS SWEET (2nd: Anjelica Huston, The Grifters, followed by: Joanne Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Jessica Lange, Men Don’t Leave; Laura Dern, Wild at Heart; Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miami Blues; Juliet Stevenson, Truly, Madly, Deeply)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: Joe Pesci, GOODFELLAS (2nd: Robert De Niro, Goodfellas, followed by: Albert Finney, Miller’s Crossing; John Turturro, Miller’s Crossing; Timothy Spall, Life is Sweet; Chris O’Donnell, Men Don’t Leave; Philip Bosco, Quick Change)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:  Annette Bening, THE GRIFTERS (2nd: Jane Horrocks, Life is Sweet, followed by: Diane Ladd, Wild at Heart; Lorraine Bracco, GoodFellas; Claire Skinner, Life is Sweet; Joan Cusack, Men Don’t Leave; Mary McCormack, Dances with Wolves)

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese, GOODFELLAS (2nd: Agnieszka Holland, Europa Europa, followed by: Mike Leigh, Life is Sweet; Joel Coen, Miller’s Crossing; Stephen Frears, The Grifters; James Ivory, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Phillip Ridley, The Reflecting Skin)



NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: EUROPA EUROPA (Germany/France/Poland, Agnieszka Holland) (2nd: C’est la Vie (France, Diane Kurys), followed by: Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams (Japan, Akira Kurosawa); La Femme Nikita (France, Luc Besson); Close-Up (Iran, Abbas Kiarostami); Ju Dou (China, Zhang Yimou); Tatie Danielle (France, Etienne Chatiliez); Days of Being Wild (Hong Kong, Wong Kar-Wai); Cyrano de Bergerac (France, Jean-Paul Rappeneau); Boiling Point (Japan, Takeshi Kitano); Nouvelle Vague (France, Jean-Luc Godard))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: AMERICAN DREAM (US, Barbara Kopple) (2nd: Christo in Paris (US, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Deborah Dickson and Susan Fromke), followed by: Paris is Burning (US, Jennie Livingston); Berkeley in the Sixties (US, Mark Kitchell); Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (US, Chuck Workman))



ANIMATED SHORT: THE COW (USSR, Aleksandr Petrov) (2nd: Darkness Light Darkness (Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer), followed by: Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse (US, Stan Brakhage))



LIVE ACTION SHORT: NIGHT CRIES: A RURAL TRAGEDY (Australia, Tracey Moffatt) (2nd:  12:01 PM (US, Jonathan Heap), followed by: Bronx Cheers (US, Raymond De Felitta)



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Mike Leigh, LIFE IS SWEET (2nd: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Miller’s Crossing, followed by: Sally Bochner, Gloria Demers, Cynthia Scott and David Wilson, Strangers in Good Company; Bernt Capra, Fritjof Capra and Floyd Byers, Mindwalk; Andrew Bergman, The Freshman)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese, GOODFELLAS (2nd: Agnieszka Holland and Paul Hengge, Europa Europa, followed by: Donald E. Westlake, The Grifters; Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Peter Viertel, James Bridges and Burt Kennedy, White Hunter, Black Heart)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Vittorio Storaro, THE SHELTERING SKY (2nd: Vittorio Storaro, Dick Tracy, followed by: Barry Sonnenfeld, Miller’s Crossing; Michael Ballhaus, GoodFellas; Phillippe Rousselot, Henry and June)

ART DIRECTION: DICK TRACY, Edward Scissorhands, Miller‘s Crossing, GoodFellas, The Godfather Part III

COSTUME DESIGN: CYRANO DE BERGERAC, Dick Tracy, GoodFellas, Miller’s Crossing, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge



FILM EDITING: GOODFELLAS, The Grifters, Miller’s Crossing, La Femme Nikita, Dances with Wolves

 

SOUND: DANCES WITH WOLVES, GoodFellas, Miller’s Crossing, Total Recall, The Hunt for Red October

SOUND EFFECTS: TOTAL RECALL, The Hunt For Red October

 

ORIGINAL SCORE: John Barry, DANCES WITH WOLVES (2nd: Thomas Newman, Men Don’t Leave, followed by: Elmer Bernstein, The Grifters; Richard Robbins, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge; Carter Burwell, Miller‘s Crossing)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" from DICK TRACY (Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) (2nd: “The Hello Song” from Crazy People (Music and lyrics by Cal Devoll), followed by “Blaze of Glory” from Young Guns II (Music and lyrics by Jon Bon Jovi); "I'm Checkin' Out" from Postcards on the Edge (Music and lyrics by Shel Silverstein))

VISUAL EFFECTS: TOTAL RECALL, Dick Tracy 

MAKEUP: DICK TRACY, Edward Scissorhands, Cyrano De Bergerac

Yet Even MORE Answers for the Good Professor...

It's time for a change of seasons, and in that spirit, Dennis Cozullio over at the essential Sergio Leone and The Infield Fly Rule has provided us movie lovers with Professor Larry Gopnik's set of 30 challenging questions meant to test the limits of our passion and knowledge (past questionnaires I've filled out can be seen here, here, and here). It's been a long time since I participated in one of these, and I must say, I always find it a hoot! Have fun, and visit Mr. Cozzulio's site so you can provide your own answers! 
 

1) Favorite unsung holiday film?
Eric Weston's 1983 film Marvin and Tige, with John Cassavetes as a borderline alcoholic who takes in an orphaned kid (Gibran Brown). Not necessarily a Christmas movie per se, but with many key holiday scenes, and with a generous spirit of love and compassion throughout. It'll make ya cry, as my mom would say. Unfortunately unavailable on digital despite it being one of Cassavetes' last (and greatest) roles, performing alongside a talented newcomer who never did another feature, in an indie of the sort that Cassavetes pioneered. An extraordinarily graceful, gritty picture that deserves to be seen by all. 

2) Name a movie you were surprised to have liked/loved.
I attended the wonderful Massachusetts Independent Film Festival this year, as Jury President, and one of the films they featured as a midnight offering was Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem. I'd never gotten through The Devil’s Rejects or his Halloween remake, because that kind of screen cruelty is just not my bag. But I was shocked to find that The Lords of Salem is easily the most visually arresting horror film of recent memory. Inventively cast, brilliantly designed and photographed, and scored with Zombie's usual collection of smartly-chosen source music (I’ll never hear The Velvet Underground’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties” the same way again), Zombie's film had me sitting forward, gripping the back of the empty seat in front of me with terror and astonishment (though it's also not a film without a sense of humor). Make wisecracks--I was totally surprised myself--but The Lords of Salem is definitely scary, and immaculately made.

3) Ned Sparks or Edward Everett Horton?
Horton, if only for the Rocky and Bullwinkle stuff.  But with Here Comes Mr. Jordan, I Married an Angel, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Front Page, Holiday, Design for Living, Trouble in Paradise, Lost Horizon and Thank Your Lucky Stars, I'm pretty sure he's in the Character Actors Hall of Fame. Still so many more of his movies I need to see. Ned Sparks barely registers for me (he doesn't even have a photo on IMDB, though he was in some landmark movies like Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley's 42nd Street, John Stahls 1934 version of Imitation of Life, and Capra's Lady for a Day). By the way, Horton has come up as a subject on more than one of these questionnaires. I voted for Horton in the past, too. But what's with the E.E. Horton obsession?

4) Sam Peckinpah's Convoy-- yes or no?
Yes, with a case of beer and a few friends around. Otherwise, no. As a film, it's a time-waster (unless you're a Peckinpah nut). The C.W. McCall song--a Billboard #1 hit--is quite enough. If it's trucks and fighting you wanna see, try out Jonathan Kaplan's White Line Fever. A much better movie. 

5) What contemporary actor would best fit into a popular, established genre of the past?
I'd love to see a traditional WWII picture--like something Robert Aldrich or William Wellman might've crafted--with Jon Hamm as an American officer struggling on the battlefield, and Michael Fassbender as a canny Nazi honcho trying to outsmart him. It'd be extra amazing if the Nazi wins. 

6) Favorite non-disaster movie in which bad weather is a memorable element of the film’s atmosphere 
Sam Raimi's snowy A Simple Plan.

7) Second favorite Luchino Visconti movie?
Rocco and His Brothers. 

8) What was the last movie you saw theatrically? On DVD/Blu-ray?
I just spent a day watching Out of the Furnace, Frozen, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (it was a fire-and-ice themed day, I later realized; I was underwhelmed by the first two, and entertained well enough by the finale). On VHS, On disc, barring the last season of The Wire, it was Andrew Dominik's always remarkable The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. On Blu-Ray, it'd be Polanski's exquisite Rosemary's Baby. 

9) Why do you react the way you do when someone eloquently or not-so-eloquently attacks one of your favorite movies? (Question courtesy of Patrick Robbins)
I sometimes react like a mother tiger defending her cubs. I feel a special bond to some movies, as if they were MINE, as if I MADE them, and I'll scrap for them to the death. It's just something instinctual. That said, I do find myself more able these days to step away from a movie debate, especially online, where I find I'm overwhelmed with ant-like dunderheads with whom I have no desire to debate. 

10) Joan Blondell or Glenda Farrell?
Joan Blondell, for sure. She was always hilarious to me! (Glenda Farrell is an actress I need to become more familiar with; I'd like to see some Torchy Blaine movies now).

11) Movie star of any era you’d most like to take camping.
My current favorite actor, Greta Gerwig (here's my Movie Geeks United talk with her) would probably be able to catch a fish or start a fire, and she'd just be all-around game for the experience. She'd be extremely pretty and goofy and smart, and wonderful to be around.

12) Second favorite George Cukor movie?
Dinner at Eight

13) Your top 10 of 2013 (feel free to elaborate!)
I'll save any elaborations for my year-end article. As it stands right now (and it's bound to change, since I haven't seen many of the Christmas releases):
1) Steve McQueen's 12 YEARS A SLAVE
2) Abdellatif Ketchiche's BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
3) Andrew Bujalski's COMPUTER CHESS
4) Yasim Ustaoglu's ARAF / SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN (brilliant Turkish film I saw at 2012 NYFF but only released here on digital this year)
5) Kleber Mendonca Filho's NEIGHBORING SOUNDS (from Brazil, released in the US in 2013)
6) Alfonso Cuaron's GRAVITY
7) Noah Baumbach's FRANCES HA
8) Pablo Larrain's NO (from Chile, released in the US in 2013)
9) Sebastian Lilio's GLORIA (also from Chile, with Pablo Larrain as producer)
10) Hannah Fidell's A TEACHER

14) Name a movie you loved (or hated) upon first viewing, to which you eventually returned and had more or less the opposite reaction.
This happened to me first 30 years ago exactly, when De Palma's Scarface arrived. I was there opening day, and was absolutely thrilled by it. Next week, I returned for a second helping, and realized it was the stinkiest of stink bombs. I was forced to reconcile these two reactions, and finally surmised that, first time around, I'd been caught up with the spectacle of Al Pacino (who cannot be denied). Just now, I'm recalling a similar about-face on Burton's Batman. As for the movies I did not like, and then came around to loving...there are too many to mention.  

15) Movie most in need of a deluxe Blu-ray makeover.
Abel Gance's Napoleon. It's an abject crime this isn't available for all to see. Also, I'd posit that Joan Micklin Silver's Chilly Scenes of Winter is the most recent movie (1981) I'd request as a Criterion release (replete with the alternate scenes from its first version, 1979's Head Over Heels, and a comprehensive dissection of its complex structure and history). 

16) Alain Delon or Marcello Mastroianni?
Mastroianni, in a walk. I never got the appeal of Delon, I confess. 

17) Your favorite opening sequence (provide link to clip if possible).
I can't decide between the majestic opening to Terrence Malick's The New World (set to Wagner's "Vorspiel," or the audition at the beginning of Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (set to George Benson's "On Broadway"), so it's a tie.18 other worthy possibilities: Persona, Touch of Evil, Manhattan, Stop Making Sense, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Music Man, O Lucky Man!, Once Upon a Time in the West, Apocalypse Now, Seven Beauties, West Side Story, Blue Velvet, The Exorcist, The Wild Bunch, 8 1/2, Electra Glide in Blue, Fail Safe, and The Social Network.  





18) Director with the strongest run of great movies
Kubrick is the too-obvious answer. I'd instead go with Mike Leigh, who bests Kubrick by not having made even a middling feature (or short, or TV production) in a 40+ year career. It's apparently impossible for Mike Leigh to contribute anything but superlative, invaluable work. 

19) Is elitism a good/bad/necessary/inevitable aspect of being a cineaste?
The more movies you see, and the more you switch up the TYPES of movies you see (varying the genres, budgets, countries of origin and time periods)...well, it's follows that your tastes are going to become sharper, more particular, more nuanced. It's inevitable--if you're a thinker (that's the elitist in me coming out). The reason critics often have what's viewed by the public as "snobby" tastes is simply that they see more films than the average dude. Rather than the 1000th superhero or combat movie, you give critics something completely unique like Playtime, Salesman, The Tree of Life, or Persona, they feel connected again with the energy that made them love seeing, and commenting about, movies in the first place. Depending on the critic, the branching off from popular taste is an occupational hazard. 

20) Second favorite Tony Scott film
I guess it'd be The Hunger. Not a director I care for, though I know he has his defenders.

21) Favorite movie made before you were born that you only discovered this year. Where and how did you discover it?
Definitely Vincente Minnelli's 1958 movie Some Came Running. After years of procrastination, I finally caught it streaming online, and was enraptured by its rich Cinemascope look, fiery emotions and iconic performances (Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine and especially Dean Martin have rarely been better than they are here, and man, I'd love to see this one on the big screen). Other pre-1966 movies I discovered I adore this year: Jubal (Delmer Daves, 56); Warlock (Edward Dymytryk, 59); I Saw What You Did! (William Castle, 65); The Big Country (William Wyler, 58); Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 56); The Yangtze Incident (Michael Anderson, 57); Man Hunt (Fritz Lang, 41); You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang, 37); Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, 62); Mr. Sardonicus (William Castle, 61); Pickup (Hugo Haas, 51); and Fourteen Hours (Henry Hathaway, 51) (Buzz Kulik's 1967 film Warning Shot should be included here, too, since I was only 4 months old when it was released). Also I reconnected with a few movies I hadn't seen in a REALLY long time: It Happens Every Spring (Lloyd Bacon, 49); Rhubarb (Arthur Lubin, 51--two Ray Milland baseball comedies!); Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi, 62); Midnight Lace (David Miller, 60--the single best Hitchcock imitation ever); and The Incredible Shrinking Man (Jack Arnold, 57--deeper, more melancholy and technically adept than I remembered it being).

22) Actor/actress you would most want to see in a Santa suit, traditional or skimpy?
Like, 60s-era Andy Devine, for a traditional Santa (just hearing him say "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas" in that voice of his would crack me up). For the skimpy Santa suit, Scarlett Johansson. Sorry but...youch!

23) Video store or streaming?
Nothing matches the challenge and excitement of going to the video store and finding things you were thrilled about seeing, or never knew existed. The streaming is nice and convenient, but the social experience of attending a top indie video outlet, and talking to fellow customers along with the hopefully knowledgeable staff, is (was) unlike anything in the film-watching pursuit. I greatly miss visiting, and working at, video stores; the best of them provided a sense that the possibilities in film watching are literally endless. 

24) Best/favorite final film by a noted director or screenwriter
John Huston's The Dead. Utterly exquisite and THE perfect final film. (Great for Christmas...or maybe not...). I would also vote for Robert Altman's 2006 film A Prairie Home Companion as a near-flawless swansong. 

25) Monica Vitti or Anna Karina?
Anna Karina is more fun to watch. Vitti's just too chilly for my taste. 

26) Name a worthy movie indulgence you’ve had to most strenuously talk friends into experiencing with you. What was the result?
I always like to treat my friends to my favorite unsung movie, George Roy Hill's A Little Romance. It often takes some doing, since they see it as a kid's film, and an old one at that (plus Hill isn't held in the highest regard by film buffs, I suppose). But I usually wear them down, and by the end sequence, they're inevitably wiping away tears while I'm over in the corner, swabbing my face and blubbering like a child. Really, it never fails...

27) The movie made by your favorite filmmaker (writer, director, et al) that you either have yet to see or are least familiar with among all the rest
Kubrick's Fear and Desire. Only seen it once, and have been meaning to go back and rewatch it. All the others I've seen so many times, I have them committed to memory (though I suppose I could use another brush-up on Killer's Kiss, which is the only Kubrick movie I do not care for). As for a favorite filmmaker whose works I haven't seen in full, I hafta admit there are still a gaggle of 50s/60s/70s Sidney Lumet movies I'd like to catch, but which're unavailable (at least to me): Stage Struck, The Group, Bye Bye Braverman, Child's Play, Lovin' Molly, The Sea Gull, The Appointment, The Deadly Affair, The Last of the Mobile Hot Shots. I'm fully expecting to be let down by some of these titles (Lumet certainly wasn't infallible), but there just HAS to be a gem or two amongst 'em. 

28) Favorite horror movie that is either Christmas-oriented or has some element relating to the winter holiday season in it.
Bob Clark's Black Christmas. Has to be! It's the king Christmas horror movie of all time!

29) Name a prop or other piece of movie memorabilia you’d most like to find with your name on it under the Christmas tree.
That painting Catherine Scorsese shows off to De Niro, Liotta and Pesci in GoodFellas ("One dog goes one way and the other goes the other, and this guy's saying 'Whaddaya want from me?'"). This, or an authentic, talking, sentient HAL 9000 (this is impossible...or IS it?). I also wouldn't sneeze at that red neon sign outside of Ben's place in Blue Velvet: THIS IS IT. I've contemplated having some artisan replicate that sign for me. I also love that mirror hanging in Joe Gideon's apartment in Fosse's All That Jazz--the one that says OH WOW. Dang, that would be amazing to have. Oh, I could go on and on... 

30) Best holiday gift the movies could give to you to carry into 2014? 
A Scorsese/DiCaprio team-up that doesn't leave me cold (though I like The Departed and The Aviator well enough, I guess). Here's hoping it happens!! But I ain't bettin' the farm on it. 

Tribute: Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

There's no way I can let the passing of Roger Ebert go by without a word of regret and astonishment. Along with his Sneak Previews/At The Movies cohort Gene Siskel (who passed away in 1999), Mr. Ebert was honestly my main inspiration in becoming a commentator on films.  I began watching their weekly show sometime in 1978 or so, three years after it had migrated from their hometown of Chicago to PBS (and eventually syndicated) outlets all across the United States.  Then a 12-year-old kid with a voracious appetite for movies, I don't think I had ever considered writing and talking about them as some sort of career path.  With their wry rivalry, obvious passion, and singular charisma, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel changed all that for me; as a sometimes lonely teenage movie buff, each episode made me feel as if they were kindred fanatics talking to me exclusively, teaching me how to take in and discuss a particular film's merits.  Looking back at television history, it seems clear they really changed that medium's landscape.  Siskel and Ebert were the natural outgrowth of "Point/Counterpoint," the contentious 70s-era 60 Minutes debate segment with Shana Alexander and James Kirkpatrick, and were thus also the precursors of such argumentative shows as Crossfire and Politically Incorrect.  But, here, these talking heads--the bald one and the fat one--were not talking politics (not directly, anyway) but instead were debating my favorite subject, and doing so not lightly, but with such intelligence and deep concern over what profound effects movies have on our lives.

When Siskel passed--way too young--Ebert did not let that crumble his world.  Instead, he reveled in the snarky friendship he had with his newspaper rival (Gene wrote for the Chicago Tribune, Roger for the Chicago Sun-Times, where he won the first ever Pulitzer Prize for film reviewing).  Ebert mourned the loss of his friend openly, with great affection and, as always, impeccable honesty.  It was one of the first signs of utter grace from this journalist who, in the years hence, would impress us first with his prolific writing (in the last year of his life, Ebert clocked in a record 306 film reviews on his website rogerebert.com), his embrace of the internet as a communication tool, his loving relationship with his steadfast wife Chaz, and finally with his open battle with cancer that cost him his speech and his lower jaw, but not his ability to reach out to his readers in such a way that, even beyond his film reviews, you really got the sense that you knew everything about the man, and from the man's own hand.

Ebert's approach to writing was always well-reasoned and breezy.   He was able to make even the normally boring parts of a review (the recounting of a film's story) into essential reading, in that he blended such necessities so seamlessly (and often hilariously, in the case of his glib negative reviews) with the recounting of his dynamic opinions.  Though his observations could occasionally be puzzling or infuriating, he was never too academic in style--he had an everyman kind of voice.  Even so, he was always able to engender thought about the greater meaning of a movie, about its effect on the culture, or on how we view movies in general.  In his later years, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and launched Ebertfest--a passion-driven annual celebration of both new and classic movies held yearly in Champaign, Illinois--while continuing to dominate bookshelves with scores of tomes examining both the great and the not-so-great films (plus he penned an autobiography, Life Itself, and even a cookbook--after he'd lost the ability to eat solid foods--called The Pot and How to Use It).  He was some sort of unlikely Superman.

And so now, after writing one classic film (Russ Meyer's 1970 cult epic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), and after revolutionizing film criticism, television, movie marketing ("Two Thumbs Up" changed film adverts forever), the internet, and even the concept of bravery itself, Mr. Ebert is gone and it just feels as if the projector lights in movie theaters should go dark as tribute.  But, of course, he would not have wanted that.  He was much too devoted to having people see all the great stuff, and to having them avoid those titles that deaden the soul.  He reminded us there is often something to like in even the most mundane of films, that sometimes there is reason to question even the most acclaimed ones, and that there are always both old and new masterpieces in the ether to be endlessly adored--movies that could literally change who you are and how you thought about the world.  In that way, he might be my most treasured influence.  I started my own blog, Filmicability, in 2007 with the high-minded intent of leading readers to only the best movies.  The proudest days in this blog's history was one during which I noticed my hit count had shot up in the neighborhood of 7000 hits.  After some investigation, I realized Roger--as he had surely done with countless other film bloggers--had generously tweeted about one article I had written.  Having worked in relative anonymity, I was astonished the man had taken the time to appreciate my efforts.  I never got to meet him, sadly, but that event really felt like he had reached out from his Chicago home and, through the computer screen, patted me encouragingly on the back.  I'll never forget Roger, or Gene.  I miss them both terribly, and the world will always be indebted to them for showing us film lovers--the professionals and the hobbyists--exactly how to celebrate the movies.

Here is a link to MOVIE GEEKS UNITED's fine appreciation of Mr. Ebert...

And here are only a very few of my favorite Siskel and Ebert TV moments:

Their review of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas:


A wonderfully negative review of Rob Reiner's North:


Their look at David Lynch's Blue Velvet, which Ebert was offended by:


A very memorable look at Louis Malle's My Dinner With Andre, which really helped that movie's critical standing:


Siskel and Ebert go at it over Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket:


A rave of the Coen Brother's Fargo:


Another Rob Reiner film, This is Spinal Tap, is gushed over here:


Their slam of Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls:


An entertaining compilation of negative reviews with Ebert, Siskel, and Siskel's TV replacement, Richard Roeper:


Finally, nothing says more about the Siskel/Ebert relationship than this collection of outtakes from some promo pieces they were doing for their show.  They could hurl nasty insults at each other, and then could be laughing and shaking hands soon after.  What a hardy and unique pair they were: 

My Desert Island Choices

You and I know the game:

TV SEASON: DRAMA: THE SOPRANOS (Season 6, parts 1 & 2): Yes, I'm breaking rules here, I think, but I need as much of this series as I can manage. David Chase's final season of The Sopranos wraps things up fittingly and yet surprisingly. By the way, the beats that manage TV and movies are resoundingly different. For me, watching TV is supremely quick-paced, and it leads me to break rules even more deeply by subsecting things down to comedy, drama AND variety. TV comedy, TV variety, and TV drama are very different things, and in saying this, I think evaluating TV versus film is a very difficult thing, so I must smash rules in order to include them all.

SO:

TV SEASON: COMEDY: ALL IN THE FAMILY (Season 8): There's never been a more moving series of 24 comedy episodes. Norman Lear's truly final and radically dark look at familial change is something I could not live without on a desert island. All these episodes---they make me feel everything...and with Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner, I still cannot believe they are any other than Archie, Edith, Gloria and Mike...They always will be so.

TV SEASON: VARIETY: SCTV (Second City Television) (Season 1 and 2): I'd need me some laffs on this desert isle, so I'd have to resort to the first and second seasons of NBC's run of SCTV, starring Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, John Candy, Eugene Levy, and the estimable Joe Flaherty. I'd take Martin Short, Rick Moranis, and Harold Ramis where I could get them, but the core cast (and writers) would be essential. Nothing is finer, or funnier, than this crew.

MOVIES: I chose all of these because they can be viewed many different ways, many different times:

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Stanley Kubrick, 1968): for wonder.

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (Kenneth Lonergan, 2000): for familial love.

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (Fred Zinnemann, 1966): for words, religion and logic.

A LITTLE ROMANCE (George Roy Hill, 1979): for ultra-pure romance.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Andrew Dominick, 2007): for fame and intrigue.

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (Orson Welles, 1942): for memory and genius.

LIFE IS SWEET (Mike Leigh, 1990): for laughter and understanding.

ALL THAT JAZZ (Bob Fosse, 1979): for music and eroticism.

GOODFELLAS (Martin Scorsese, 1990): for sheer entertainment.

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (John Huston, 1948): for wisdom and more excitement.

On any given day, I might have chosen different works. But, on this one, I must choose these, because I'm positive I could watch them over and over again. Seriously, I think I could tune in to some weird cable channel that showed each of these pieces 24 hours a day and, stranded on this mythic desert island, I think I'd be fine. Insanity would, of course, eventually ensue. But I think this mix would stave that off for a good while.

PS: Top 10 Also-Rans:

Hud (Martin Ritt, 1963)
Chilly Scenes of Winter (Joan Micklin Silver, 1979)
It's A Gift (Norman Z. McLeod, 1934)
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)
The Music Man (Morton De Costa, 1962)
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966)
Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996)