holiday movies

[jfb]

So of course the Times's center of gravity for me this week is the Holiday Movies section.

A. O. Scott presents "A Unified Theory of Nicole Kidman", in which he talks a bit about how we as moviegoers are always thinking about Nicole Kidman's real life when we watch her play a role. I guess I don't do this. I'd agree, though, about her "astonishing appetite for misery". (I just watched The Portrait of a Lady on DVD.)

Sarah Lyall on the ongoing collaboration of Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant.

"He is the most disrespectful actor in the world about his acting. I remember on `Four Weddings' [Curtis] said, `I can only do three things: normal; sexy, which is down an octave; and serious, which is up an octave.' "

"That's pushing it," Mr. Grant said.

Slate's David Edelstein makes the new Looney Tunes movie sound surprisingly promising, by focusing on director Joe Dante and his understanding of the old cartoons.

Revisit the Alamo. Interesting not because of the Alamo but because of the author's description of her maturing view of history.

A new spate of Amnesia Movies. They're remaking The Manchurian Candidate! Why! Also, it turns out that cinematic treatments of amnesia are not always scientifically accurate.

New York Times critics pick their favorite holiday movies. I have to go with Stephen Holden and pick The Ref.

Short pieces on five actors to watch this season. Charlize Theron, who fascinated me for a while because she was so visibly improving in each new movie, is now doing the dressed-down take-me-seriously role that actors who are fun to watch all end up doing. Maybe it'll be really good.

Comments

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Hysterical funny or hysterical overwrought?

I never liked Kidman until 2001, when she starred in two of my favorite films of the year. And, yeah, in The Others, she certainly seemed to suffer an Edwardian nervous affliction, and in Moulin Rouge!, literally from consumption.

Now I've been going through her back catalog, and seeing her new work, and so far nothing pleases me nearly as much as those two films, but they'll be enough to keep her in my high regard for some time.

[copperqueen.livejournal.com]

Overwrought.

I thought Practical Magic was one of the worst movies I'd ever seen. The Peacemaker was beyond forgettable. But I liked Portrait of a Lady. Not so much while I was watching it, but later, in thinking of it. I liked the mood, I suppose. And it featured not one, but three of my favorite actors (in small roles): Viggo Mortensen, Martin Donovan and Christian Bale. But I did not like John Malkovich. God, he is so affected.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my most frequent thought while watching it was a fervent desire for people to stop casting Malkovich. I rented it half because of Kidman and half because of Donovan, but all he did was cough, so I guess I was disappointed.