The Hot Button by David Poland

Weekend, 19-20 December 1998

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

10. BALD(WIN)-FACED FOOL: Whatever chance Alec Baldwin had of having a career in politics may have been washed away by his bizarre tirade on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." To make a long rant short, Baldwin suggested than any right-thinking nation would stone Henry Hyde to death and kill his family. Funny, if you want to be known as a wild man, not as a deep thinker. But frankly, I admire his willingness to express his real feelings. The Republicans have been vilified, in defense of Bill Clinton, into a group worthy of death. These are irrational times in Washington, indeed. On both sides of the aisle. Meanwhile, Baldwin stopped short of donating his wife to the President.
9. UNIVERSAL CUTTING: As it turns out, Universal is taking the same approach to recovery that they used across town at Warner Bros. Cut, slice and chop anything that's pricey or less than extremely commercial. First, the George Clooney/Steven Soderbergh football comedy Leatherheads was dumped. Now, they've pulled the plug on 13 Days, a Cuban Missile Crisis drama from Field of Dreams writer-director Phil Alden Robinson and actor Kevin Costner. Still due in 1999 from the studio, Arnold Schwarzenegger (End of Days), Denzel Washington (the ever-title-changing Hurricane Carter story) and probably John Travolta (Family Man). One question. Where's the Will Smith movie?
8. GOJIRA'S BACK AND HE'S PISSED!: Dean Devlin and Noah Emmerich would probably have been crucified if they made this summer's Godzilla a two-legged, fire-breathing, leather-skinned variation of the original Godzilla. They got crucified anyway. But don't expect such problems for Toho Studios when they revive the classic monster for a new flick next year. Godzilla Millennium starts production in April. Maybe he can go to Baghdad for us.
7. PASSINGS: I was struck by three obituaries in one day this week for industry folks under 50. It's long been an unpleasant part of reading the trades to face the obits for people who died of AIDS. For years, anyone under 60 seemed to be a victim of that horrible plague. It became a comfort when someone older than 60 was in the obits. It felt normal. The industry AIDS deathwatch has slowed somewhat, but there is still that sad twinge of losses in the community. Veronica Johnson was a camera operator and died at only 31 of cancer. Composer Larry Troxel, 44, died of a heart attack at his family's home in Newport Beach. And Paramount Story Analyst Wendy A. Walker died of lung cancer at just 48. Losses like these keep this all in all-too-sharp perspective.
6. MOSES VS. MICKEY: The battle between DreamWorks and Disney over The Prince of Egypt started not in the U.S., but in France this week. The film opened there on Wednesday, and DreamWorks claimed the $759,128 day at the box office was more than Mulan scored on its opening day in France. Disney countered that Mulan did $995,998 on November 25. The fight moved to Singapore as DreamWorks once again claimed supremacy, with a $72,065 opening day. Disney says the figure leaves POE behind Mulan, Aladdin and The Lion King, but DreamWorks says that Disney is only right if they include sneak previews. Oy! At least the two studios agree that The Prince of Egypt has the record opening in Belgium with $36,643. But, indeed, the fight has just begun.
5. T ME, BABY!: The news on T3 has been disputed in certain quarters. Let me make it simple. Fox didn't spend $20 to $30 million on the rights to make future Terminator sequels to have James Cameron pass it off to another director. Nor did they decide to move on from Cameron on the Planet of the Apes project because they had no plans to work with him real soon. T3, directed by Cameron and starring Arnold is the only answer to this puzzle that makes any sense. And allow me to correct my mistaken dates for Star Wars, parts two and three. Lucas has apparently set the dates at 2002 and 2005 now. That leaves Summer 2000 open for The X-Men, which director Bryan Singer recently said will start production in March. The year 2001 should see T3. And in 2002, Star Wars 2. In the fall slots, look for Anna and the King in 1999 and probably Planet of the Apes and the animated Planet Ice in 2000.
4. CHOWDER CHATTER: The Boston Society of Film Critics named Out of Sight and The General best as it gave out its awards this week. Out of Sight took Best Picture and John Boorman's The General took Best Director and Best Lead Actor for Brendan Gleeson (who was also cited for I Went Down). Saving Private Ryan took only Best Cinematography for Janusz Kaminski. William H. Macy shared the Supporting Actor award for Pleasantville, Psycho and A Civil Action with Billy Bob Thornton for A Simple Plan. Also to no one's surprise, Joan Allen took Best Supporting Actress for Pleasantville. Best Foreign Language film went to Taste of Cherry from Iran. And in a big surprise, Samantha Morton took Best Actress for Under the Skin.
3. LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA, I LOVE YOU: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Saving Private Ryan the movie to end all 1998 movies and gave awards to the film's director, Steven Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. Ian McKellen got Best Actor for Gods and Monsters and there was one surprise (Ally Sheedy for High Art) and one no-longer-a-surprise (Fernanda Montenegro for Central Station) sharing the Best Actress category. In the Supporting Actor category, it was a split between Bill Murray (for Rushmore and Wild Things) and (who else?) Billy Bob Thornton. (They were joined by the other "who else" nominee, Joan Allen for Pleasantville.)
2. TAKE THIS AWARD, YOU #$&($(*#: The New York Film Critics Circle. They say "Private", you say "Ryan!" Private! (Ryan) Private! (Ryan) Saving Private Ryan! The Ryan train derailed over the directing award as the Affliction crew joined forces with the fans of The Thin Red Line to give the award to Terrence Malick and not Steven Spielberg as they realized that Paul Schrader didn't have the votes to win. The Thin Red Line also got the nod for cinematographer John Toll. Affliction did take one award, for Nick Nolte's performance as the fractured son of a seriously abusive father. Bill Murray (Rushmore) and Lisa Kudrow (The Opposite of Sex) took Supporting Actor wins for surprising and happily off beat roles. (New York, the town so tough that Billy Bob and Joan couldn't get the votes.) And the shock off all shocks was the Best Actress win for Cameron Diaz, who didn't beat out Meryl Streep and Susan Sarandon, but rather Fernanda Montenegro and Renee Zellweger. There's something about critics awards.
1. FOOL'S GOLD: The Golden Globes disgust me this weekend. After finding out that less than 50 percent of voters even saw The Thin Red Line (which was shut out), one has to wonder whether the voting for this now overly important award (thanks to NBC) is unfair to many films. On the other hand, there were some really surprising and interesting nominations. The Globes offered the first recognition of Primary Colors, The Truman Show and Elizabeth (outside of a director's nod by the meaningless Nation Board of Review awards). Likewise, performances by Susan Sarandon (Stepmom), Meryl Streep (One True Thing), Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan), John Travolta (Primary Colors), Christina Ricci (The Opposite of Sex), Donald Sutherland (Without Limits) and Kathy Bates (Primary Colors) finally got some much deserved attention. The small, but delightful Brit comedy Still Crazy got the nod and I hope that it helps audiences find this film. Eye-rolling over various awards for The Mask of Zorro, a movie I really enjoyed, is understandable. And the absence of The Thin Red Line and the unclear reasons for disqualifying Life is Beautiful from consideration are also of concern. Just keep saying to yourself, "grain of salt... grain of salt... grain of salt..."
READER OF THE DAY: From EG: "I'm really surprised at your dismissal of Shakespeare in Love, especially in contrast to Elizabeth. The thing you criticized SIL for doing -- switching tone every five minutes -- was Elizabeth's downfall. It felt like one director filmed a dark costume picture before being fired and replaced by a studio hack who could throw in some romance for the ladies, but then focus groups hated it so they brought in a Tarantino type to add a few torture scenes, complete with self-important camera angles. I respect Elizabeth for really delving into the treachery and creepiness of the period but ultimately resented it for pandering to every possible potential audience.
"Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Paltrow both did superb jobs, so that's even. Fiennes and Rush were both FAR better in SIL. In fact, with the exception of Christopher Eccleston and Kathy Burke, Elizabeth's supporting cast was pretty damn by-the-numbers; Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Everett did more with five or 10 minutes than all of those brooding, nefarious French and Spanish ambassadors put together. SIL set itself an incredibly difficult task and met it with wit, style, sensuality and phenomenal technique."

E ME: That's why they have vanilla and chocolate, right? I really wanted to love Shakespeare in Love. I love Tom Stoppard and I like all the actors. And I like romantic comedy. Oh, well. Seems like my view is the unpopular one here. How about sending in your one most shocking nomination or omission from all the awards so far?