You Know Something? I like Dances with Wolves!

The biggest crime "Dances with Wolves" did was be too long and beat "Goodfellas" at the Oscars. I could think of three other movies that would've been a bigger crime and they are "Ghost", "Awakenings" and "The Godfather Part 3", those were the other films that were nominated for Best Picture. So maybe "Goodfellas" was the best movie that year, but I think "Dances with Wolves" was a close second. Perhaps it's the fact that it was directed by a first time director who just happened to be a big movie star at the time. But looking back at it, Kevin Costner had some ambition in him, he also had a truly intimate way of telling an epic film. I was not overcome by the spectacle of "Dances with Wolves" but by the human element.

"Dances with Wolves" is long argued to be a white man's burdon film, and how one man comes to understand the native Americans. I think of it more as a man trying to find his place in the universe. When we first meet Costner's John Dunbar he fears his leg will be amputated and goes on a suicide mission. After he survives with his leg in tact, he gets his choice of assignment, he chooses to see the frontier before it is vanished forever. It is here where he chooses a life of solitude away from civilization living like Thoreau with only nature to surround him. He befriends a lone wolf and only after awhile he meets and is welcomed into the Sioux Tribe.

Looking at "Dances with Wolves" now, it's almost like an art film, there are many bizarre moments such as Dunbar's suicide attempt, or the murder of his guide Timmons (Robert Pastorelli) early on, or the unexplained suicide of Major Fambrough (Maury Chaykin).

The film carries themes such as rebirth, nature, and the ongoing spirit and survival of man. It's almost like a religious experience much more satisfying than say a Mel Gibson movie.

Watching it again one cannot deny the power Kevin Costner once carried. Obviously only one of the biggest stars in the world could get away with directing a 3 or 4 hour epic (depending on which version you watch.) that is half done in the Sioux language. But for a first time director, Costner was up to the task of making an ambitious epic. The running of the buffalo scene should be mentioned as one of the great moments in modern movies, and some of his uses of vast open areas would make John Ford stand at attention.

"Dances with Wolves" should not be looked down upon as a black mark in the history of the Academy Awards, (In fact the biggest crime that year was probably not recognizing the Coen Brother's masterpiece "Miller's Crossing") it's a film that's deeper and more interesting than many of its critics give it credit for.

R.I.P. Roy Scheider

I really liked Roy Scheider, he will probably be best remembered as Sheriff Brody in Spielberg's "Jaws", but he also appeared in other 70's classics as "The French Connection" (For which he received a best supporting actor award), "All That Jazz" (His second nomination this time as lead actor playing the legendary Bob Fosse), and "Marathon Man". It was a shame he was not seen in more films in his later years, he had a very tough gruff persona that reminded me of the great film noir actors like Sterling Hayden or Robert Mitchum. I would've liked to have seen him in more but I'm grateful for the films he's given us.

Best Actress Oscar

Well the polls are in and it looks like the majority of you have picked Julie Christie as your choice for the best actress Oscar. I don't see that I blame you, when I first saw "Away From Her" I called the Oscar race officially over since I didn't think anyone could come along and beat Julie Christie, and in my own innocent way I thought Gordon Pinsett was going to pick up some steam for his performance as well. Truly if Christie does walk away with the Oscar I won't be upset one bit.

However before I get to my persoanl preference for Best Actress I just want to mention how strong this usually weak category is this year. I could very well give Oscars to both Ellen Page, Christie, and Marion Cotillard, I think all three of them deserve it. I have not seen either Cate Blanchett's performance nor Laura Linney's who are both actresses I've admired before, but this really is a three way race between Page, Christie, and Cotillard. If the evening does in fact turn into a "Juno" upset than you may very well see Page pick up the award, and I wouldn't count out Cotillard too soon since she has snagged a few acting prizes already, granted that would be most of the ones Christie hasn't one already.

When it comes down to it, I think the oscar will go to Christie and as I have said above I wouldn't be upset, however as I think more about it my heart is leaning toward Cotillard. I'm usually distracted or annoyed by actors playing real life people, particularily when the film tries to span that person's entire life, however I believed Cotillard was Edith Piaf from the very beginning as a young girl singing on the streets of Paris, to the arthritic cripple she came to be in later life. I suppose it's what some people would call a tour de force. I also think "La Vie En Rose" lives and dies with Cotillard's performance, and she turns the film into something more special than it would've been.

Polls Pick: Julie Christie

Jeremy's Pick: Marion Cotillard

Jeremy's Prediction: Julie Christie

My Favorite Best Actresses

To start off our month of oscars I thought I would talk about my top five favorite performances from leading ladies that have grabbed the top spot.

1. Katherine Hepburn for "The Lion in Winter" Hepburn is the Academy's most honored actor male or female with 4 wins to her name, even though some of her best performances ("Bringing Up Baby", "Adam's Rib") were never recognized with a nomination. But in "Lion in Winter" she is a gigantic force to be reckoned with as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine who has a battle of wills and wits with her husband King Richard II about which one of their sons should succeed him on the throne. Hepburn is always best when she is coupled with a great leading man, and in this film she is given the great Peter O'Toole in what may be his best performance. Hepburn herself has never been so cunning, manipulating, and elegant all the same time.

2. Olivia De Havilland for "The Heiress" This is one of the great unsung performances that is not really talked about. De Havilland who is best known for her role in "Gone with the Wind" is stunning in this period piece about a wallflower who is dominated by an over bearing father and is duped into marrying a gold digger. De Havilland does wonderful in showing off both naive sweetness and later bitterness.

3. Diane Keaton for "Annie Hall" I don't know anyone who doesn't love Diane Keaton. She is one my favorite actresses working today, but it was with her early Woody Allen films where she created such a unique on-screen persona. Annie is a smart, funny, neurotic mess of a girl but someone you just can't help but love.

4. Frances McDormand for "Fargo" McDormand's Marge Gundersson may be the most memorable police detective in modern movies. The great thing about all the performances in "Fargo" is how they never seem to dip into parody but are all funny and sincere, but Sheriff Gundersson is the no nonsense heroine who gives the film its conscience.

5. Claudette Colbert for "It Happened One Night" Of all the great screwball comedies, this one was the only one ever honored so highly by the Academy which is part of the reason I'm adding Colbert's performance. Along with Myrna Loy, and the great Barbara Stanwyck, Colbert was the screwball queen, but here along with her co-star Clark Gable she gives a very natural performance as a runaway heiress on the road with a tough talking reporter. Perhaps it's the chemistry between the two that make it look so effortless whatever it is it's magic.

Don't forget there is only one day left to vote for who you think should win best actress this year!!!

Tooting My Own Horn: I'm in a Play about the movies.

Last night was the first rehearsal of the new play that I'm in called "Dreamland Saturday Nights" Now normally here at "Jeremy and the Movies", I keep all entries and discussions restricted to movies. The tie-in here is this play is actually about movies.

The play is about two lonely hearts who meet in an old movie theatre and they spend their time watching the old classics like "Citizen Kane", "Casablanca", and "Double Indemnity" to name a few. Magically we get some classic actors like Humphrey Bogart, and Bette Davis appear in the mix as well. I'm very excited about being in the play not just because it's a paying gig, but it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun. You'll probably hear me dish more about the play in the coming weeks so stay tuned for that, but just thought I'd mention it now.

Blood Spilled

Your appreciation for the film "There Will be Blood" may depend on your tolerance for its main character Daniel Plainview played ferociously by Daniel Day Lewis. Plainview is an opportunist hell bent on getting his own way, he's also a man who loves no one (except perhaps his adopted son) and despises most people, and this isn't an assumption, this came right from the horses mouth. The problem with "There Will be Blood" is it offers no explanation as to why Plainview came to be this way .

The film starts off with Plainview seeking his fortune, he is alone in a mine digging for silver. This whole sequence is a tour de force in film making containing no dialogue, and we follow Plainview's hardships as he crashes down into the mine breaking his leg and then crawling on his back all the way to civilization again to collect his fortune. Soon afterwards, Daniel's vice turns to oil and we see him create his first oil well where he will gain his vast wealth. However it is here that we see an accident occur that kills Daniel's partner who had a son. Daniel adopts the son as his own and names him H.W. The child becomes a partner of sorts, but Daniel uses him more as an exploitation tool for buying up oil bearing land from the local owners.

One day Daniel is approached from a young man named Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) who tells of his family ranch which has an ocean of oil underneath it. Daniel pays Paul for the information and he and H.W. trek their way to the location. There Plainview meets the Sunday family which includes Paul's identical brother Eli (Also Dano) who is described as a religious faith healer but is as every bit as ruthless and oportuistic as Daniel is. There is quite a clever battle of wills between the two men and the grasp of power over the oil well. Eli wants a $5000 donation from Daniel that will go to his church and also that the pipeline be drilled towards it.

Many plot elements arise including an astonishing sequence when the drill finally hits oil and causes H.W. who was sitting close by to lose his hearing, and we also get a long lost brother of Daniel's arrive as well. These scenarios all play into Daniel Plainview's character some how and shape him into the man he becomes at the end of the film, but there is something lacking in it all.

I didn't find myself enjoying "There Will be Blood", I felt like I was kept at a distance from Daniel Plainview, it was as if the film was telling me I wasn't suppose to like this guy, and therefore I had no emotional stake in the story. The film seems to be too muddled in places, and once the motives of Daniel Plainview are revealed, it loses all the mystique and you know where the story and this character are headed.

Daniel Day Lewis has a wonderful uncanny way of disappearing into a character, and he does a great job in this. There is no doubt that this is definitley a performance, you can see it with the mannerisms, and the voice, but it works within the context of the film. Dano is almost Lewis's equal as the little manipulating weasel Eli Sunday.

There are many good things about "There Will be Blood" in a film making aspect, but my admiration can only go so far before I start asking for more. The themes of greed, and hypocracy of the American dream, and religion are all present, but it seemed like it was building to something larger than what it delivered. The ending, which will probably be debated for years rang false to me and just left me further alienated than before.

Paul Thomas Anderson is no doubt a very talented director and I've enjoyed his past films, but perhaps this time his ambition just got the better of him.

I realize this film has a lot of fans some of whom have campared it to "Citizen Kane" which is a bold statement to say about any film. I just didn't buy into Daniel Plainview's world, or maybe I didn't want to, but that's not to say that some day perhaps I might.

2.5 stars out of 4

February is Oscar Month!!!

Normally I would have my usual Director Spotlight announcment at the beginning of each month, however it being the month of Oscar I figured to focus the majority of my posts on the awards show that we all wait for every year. The oscars are upon us and is full of so many unique and fabulous nominees. The big question is will the actual ceremony go on as planned, or will it be some kind of half assed clip show? We'll poke through Oscar history and look at some past winners and past losers, and have a whole lot of fun doing it, well at least I will have a whole lot of fun. Plus I know you all have been waiting for it, but I am very close in revealing my top ten list of 2007, but like I mentioned before it will be a long drawn out process because that's what I'm all about, the anticipation!!! Don't worry February is the short month so it won't last long. I just hope you stay with me throughout!!! This is gonna be a great month I can feel it!!!