Sorry I haven't been around these parts or the blogosphere much lately. I should return to full blogging and commenting very soon. Thankfully, I only have two weeks left of CinSpecs, apart from updating my old posts with images. Note: You can click on the images to enlarge them.
I still need to see films like Heaven's Gate, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Altered States, Inferno, On the Nickel, The Great Santini, Inside Moves, Used Cars, The Blue Lagoon, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, American Gigolo, Out of the Blue, Somewhere in Time, The Fog, Urban Cowboy, Flash Gordon, Cruising, Tribute, Xanadu, and Honeysuckle Rose.
OMG! Nicholson wins!!!!! That's such an awesome choice. I go with Hurt, and personally The Elephant Man is a sort of semi-sweep for me this year (I love that movie SO MUCH) but can't balk at these wins at all.
ReplyDeleteBut where is Hoskins? I would have given him the Fisti had I placed the film this year and not in 81. Such a slow burn, but a tremendous performance.
I still have to catch up on this year. Once I wrap up the 90's I'll probably start here and work forward to finish up the 80's. Until then, I've been avoiding it because I have SO MUCH to see it's kind of daunting.
YAY! I should've mentioned it in the post, but Best Actor this year is such a Sophie's Choice for me. I could easily give it to De Niro, Hurt, Marvin, or Nicholson. It was down to Hoskins and Hutton for the fifth slot. I hated to snub Hutton for his best work, since I nominate Hoskins for his best work in Mona Lisa. (And I REALLY wanted to give Hoskins a win here!)
DeleteI LOVE that Hurt is your winner! He's outstanding in The Elephant Man, which I also love.
Yeah, I'm still a little behind on this year too. Have you seen The Big Red One? If not, I'd go with the longer Reconstruction version. (Though, I haven't seen the original cut.)
No, I haven't seen that so I'll make sure to watch the longer cut. I usually tend to go for those anyways. Longer, for the most part, is always better ;-)
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DeleteBest Picture: 5 films in very different styles, but for me there's no discussion, Raging Bull is the standout.
ReplyDeleteBest Director: Hard to choose between Kubrick, Scorsese and Lynch, but Raging Bull was the top of Scorsese.
Best Actor: I don't love Nicholson in TS, so it's easy for me to choose De Niro.
Best Actress: Sissy gave one of the best performances ever...
Best S. Actor and Actress: Interesting line-up, but I've seen just the Raging Bull guys, cause I consider Sutherland leading and I'd replace Hirsch for Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!.
Raging Bull is hard to top. I love De Niro's performance as well. I didn't think about Nielsen in Airplane!, but that's an interesting choice.
DeleteIt's gotta be Bull. Great picks all around here. Your acting choices are very interesting. I'd go with De Niro and Moore for the leads, but I can't argue with your picks. And Rampling for Supporting Actress rocks.
ReplyDeleteThanks man. I used to give Bull practically every award, and it was very close to winning more. Pesci had it locked up until I saw Tess. Firth blew me away, giving a performance that was much better than his Oscar-nominated work in Equus. I love that you'd give Moore the win. Rampling is fantastic. It's too bad she didn't get any Oscar attention.
DeleteAgree The Shining and Empire Strikes Back deserve to be in the top 3. I love The Elephant Man so that's in my top 5 for 1980.
ReplyDeleteA couple of those Best Songs I'm unfamiliar with so will be googling them right away :)
I saw Fame this year, the spontaneous dance sequences in the cafeteria and in the street are so full of life
Glad to hear you're a fan of The Empire Strikes Back too, Chris. Oh, The Elephant Man is great as well. It's in my top 10 right now.
DeleteI love discovering original movie songs that weren't recognized by any awards body. There's a lot of buried treasure in that category over the years.
I enjoyed Fame more than I thought I would. That said, Tom Waits' "On the Nickel" from On the Nickel would probably be my Best Song winner, if I could ever track the film down.
Great picks all around! I was DEFINITELY not expecting the Nicholson win. I would've picked De Niro, but Nicholson was just as good I feel :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I could actually go with De Niro, Nicholson, Hurt or Marvin for Best Actor, but I decided on Nicholson in the end.
DeleteI love the love for Ordinary People :D
ReplyDeleteIt is the film that led to me becoming a film buff so I will always admire it. Other than that, I haven't seen much from this year though.
That movie is SO GOOD. I hate that it went 0 for 5 in the acting categories. While I prefer Raging Bull, I think Ordinary People was a fine Best Picture Oscar winner.
DeleteThanks for correctly awarding Raging Bull with Best Pic and Nicholson with Best Actor. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded giving a win to De Niro, though.
ReplyDeleteDe Niro was THIS close. Hutton was definitely my #5, but all the other Best Actor nominees could've won. It was hard to choose just one winner.
DeleteI had a tough time this year coming up with a best picture line-up. There are many films I enjoyed enormously, Airplane!, The Final Countdown, Gloria(which I know you weren't a fan of), The Idolmaker, Just Tell Me What You Want, My Bodyguard, 9 to 5, Somewhere in Time and Willie & Phil among them, but for one reason or another didn't feel as if they would be in the running for best of the year.
ReplyDeletePicture:
The Elephant Man
Ordinary People-Winner
Raging Bull
Return of the Secaucus 7
Seems Like Old Times
Old Times is a fun throwback to the knockabout farces of screwball with an expert cast and Secaucus 7 a precusor to The Big Chill, only better. Then the two immaculately realized bio-pics Elephant Man and Raging Bull both came on strong but I thought Redford's quiet meditation on the broken family of Ordinary People was the most well observed of the year.
Director:
David Lynch-The Elephant Man-Winner
Robert Redford-Ordinary People
Jay Sandrich-Seems Like Old Times
John Sayles-Return of the Secaucus 7
Martin Scorsese-Raging Bull
All five films show strong stylistic approaches but the disparity between Lynch's usual material and The Elephant Man and what an accomplished job he makes of it is the most singular achievement of the year.
Actor:
Robert De Niro-Raging Bull
Bob Hoskins-The Long Good Friday
John Hurt-The Elephant Man-Winner
Timothy Hutton-Ordinary People
Ray Sharkey-The Idolmaker
Sharkey drives Idolmaker with a charismatic intense performance as do Hoskins and De Niro. I never understood why Hutton was slotted into supporting since Sutherland wasn't nominated. He's so clearly the lead and excellent in the film but Hurt does so much with the role of John Merrick encumbered necessarily as he is with almost total camouflage, he's astonishing.
Actress:
Ellen Burstyn-Resurrection-Winner
Goldie Hawn-Seems Like Old Times
Mary Tyler Moore-Ordinary People
Sissy Spacek-Coal Miner's Daughter
Lily Tomlin-9 to 5
Two brilliant comediennes, Goldie and Lily, sink their teeth into their roles and make them more than merely funny by their subtle and savvy playing. Then the other queen of comedy MTM taking a dramatic turn is revelatory as the emotionally encased mother in Ordinary People. As incredible as she is, it's a shame that Redford's 1st choice Ann-Margret had to bow out at the last minute when her husband became ill. A marvelous actress it would have been fascinating to see what she would have made of the closed off Beth. As superb as Sissy is in Coal Miner's Daughter once I saw Ellen Burstyn in Resurrection I couldn't imagine anyone else as my winner. In a career full of great work I think this is the best she's ever been.
I love so many of these, and that Hoskins nomination is awesome. He just missed my lineup. I MUST watch Return of the Secaucus 7 and Seems Like Old Times.
DeleteSupporting Actor:
ReplyDeleteLloyd Bridges-Airplane!
Dabney Coleman-9 to 5
David Morse-Inside Moves
Christopher Plummer-Somewhere in Time
Donald Sutherland-Ordinary People-Winner
Plummer does so much with what in a lesser actor's hands would be a stock character in Somewhere in Time as Morse does with his sad sack character in the lowkey Inside Moves. Both Coleman and especially Bridges strike comedic gold in their respective films, Lloyd is my runner-up but the criminally under acknowledged Sutherland is the glue that holds People together, his quiet Calvin is the mirror the other players reflect off.
Supporting Actress:
Eileen Brennan-Private Benjamin
Eva Le Gallienne-Resurrection-Winner
Cathy Moriarty-Raging Bull
Charlotte Rampling-Stardust Memories
Diana Scarwid-Inside Moves
Scarwid doesn't have any big Oscar moments in Inside Moves but though restraint and subdued expression she creates a very real person. Moriarty is stunning in her debut, a shame her messy personal life impeded her career for so many years. I don't think much of Pvt. Benjamin, it starts well but runs out of gas in its final quarter, but Brennan is pitch perfect as the tough Cpt. Lewis. I adore Charlotte Rampling, another great performer that the academy has chosen to ignore over the years, and she's swell in Memories but theatre legend Eva Le Gallienne's performance as Grandma Pearl in Resurrection is so magical it's seems a tremendous loss that she only appeared in two theatrical features.
I haven't seen Inside Moves, but these are very interesting choices. I should embrace comedic performances more, though they often fail to leave a lasting impression on me. Still, I love those nods for Bridges and Coleman.
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