Thursday, 6 January 2000

The Academy's two-tier documentary nominating system seems to have, for the first time I can remember, offered up sanity in place of insular self-indulgence. Huzzah! The 12 semi-finalists include all of the best documentaries released in 1999 and, I am happy to say, only 5 that I have not had the opportunity to see. I look forward to seeing Amargosa, Beyond the Mat, One Day in September, Pop & Me and Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial. In the past, almost all of the nominees were obscure and unreleased. The seven nominees I did see are all quite accomplished. American Movie is obviously my favorite, as it was the only one that made my Top Ten for the year. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. is on my big list and though I hate its trailer (which I saw the other night), get over that and go see it anyway. Buena Vista Social Club is clearly the most beloved documentary of the year (and also on my Top 49) and deserves to be seen on the big screen in a real theater. Some of the nominees not on my Top 49 offer some clarity to the limitations of that list. The films that got onto that list were all films that I could legitimately see putting in my Top Ten, not all the films that I thought were worth seeing last year. So, when I see Genghis Blues and On the Ropes and Speaking in Strings on the list of 12 semi-finalists, I couldn't be more pleased. Heck, even The Source, which I considered a miss given its lengthy reach, is a pleasure to see.

I got an e-mail from someone I consider a completely reliable source that reads, in part: "I was at the Star Wars showing at the Chinese... went to the 12:00 and the one right after, the 3:30. It was at the first one that someone in the crowd really did yell, "Leo sucks!" to a pretty hefty amount of applause." So that confirms the shout. He has a friend who says that Leo was there, but he didn't see it with his own eyes. And again, a shout is not a chant. But I want to give the full picture. And by the way, I didn't think the teaser sucked and I rather like the new trailer, at least as it targets Leo's audience. But placing it before the Star Wars opening night crowd was brutal. And I can tell you that Fox did remove the trailer from the film, at least at the Chinese, within the first week of the run.

It's rather stunning to be able to write that there are now 15 movies that have grossed over $500 million worldwide. And almost as stunning to write that The Sixth Sense is about to become one of them. It should happen sometime in February, but it sure looks like a lock right now. Ahead of The Matrix, ahead of Aladdin, and ahead of Saving Private Ryan and Return of The Jedi and Jaws. Wow! Lots of you wrote in to tell me I was underestimating the quality of the film, but so you really put it in this company? (Just to note, Twister is in this group of films between $450 million and $500 million, and I like The Sixth Sense a lot better than that one.)

Irish audiences voted for the best Irish film performers recently and decided that Liam Neeson was the best Irish actor and that Brenda Fricker was the best Irish actress. Ironically enough, Fricker would appear to be the only actress in Ireland, the U.K. or Hollywood who Neeson didn't bonk before marrying the eminently bonkable Natasha Richardson. In fact, there was a list in each category for the Top Five, causing the story to lead with the fact that Pierce Brosnan wasn't in the group. But, aye, Daniel Day Lewis was left out too. Actors 2 through 5 were voted to be Brendan Gleeson, Donal McCann (The Serpent's Kiss/Illuminata), Gabriel Byrne and Liam Cunningham (Jude/RKO 251). And if you think you don't know the guys in that list too well, get a load of the female runners-up: Ger Ryan, Maureen O’Hara, Siobhán McKenna and Sinéad Cusack. O'Hara is, obviously, a living legend of the world film stage. But Ger Ryan is basically a TV star in Ireland, Siobhán McKenna hasn't made a major film since Dr. Zhivago and Sinéad Cusack is a great stage actress, wife to Jeremy Irons and daughter of Cryil Cusack, but hasn't been in a movie you'd see in the U.S. since...well, some good movies, but probably none you've seen. I did see her on Broadway in Cyrano and fell in love immediately, following Derek Jacobi to my death. Neil Jordan duked it out with Jim Sheridan for Best Director and Jordan won (thank goodness, as the difference is between high-quality and genius) with Alan Gilseanan, Paddy Breatnach and John T. Davis following. Don't ask. If you want to know, try the IMDb. And if you look at Best Picture, you see why Sheridan and Jordan were so tight. One made two of the top five and thee other, three. They were The Butcher Boy, In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot, Michael Collins and The Crying Game. I wonder if The End of the Affair will join those ranks if it gets a load of Oscar nods?

Okay gang... I'm running waaaay late on the column today, plus there is nothing much else going on out there except for hourly reports on who Jennifer Lopez is pissing off this time. So, with that in mind, I'm being a bit curt today. And leave you with the...

Neil wrote: "Okay, now is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling that whoever wrote Jawbreaker happens to hate Courtney Love?

In Jawbreaker, Rose McGowan tries to cover up the murder of one of her best friends (who was loved by all in the school) by giving Vylette, the geeky girl who catches them, a makeover so that everyone will love her.

Courtney Love’s career: married to Kurt Cobain (the poster boy for grunge music, thus making him an idol to many) who she is eventually suspected of murdering and somehow successfully covering up; her band, Hole, has a big hit with the song "Violet"; eventually gets a makeover so she will be looked upon with more respect and, all of a sudden, it seems like everyone loves her--she's a Versace model, gets write-ups in major music and fashion magazines, and gets positive nods for her role in The People vs. Larry Flynt.

I noticed this similarity within minutes of walking out of the movie theater. Please, tell me I'm not the only one who's ever thought of this." And Neil wrote: " I forgot to add another bit of "incriminating" evidence: the photo taken of a teary Rose McGowan, the prom queen at her high school. Didn't that picture look an awful lot like the cover of Hole's album, Live Through This?"


And Diamond Lil returns once again: "Didn't I have enough caffeine or was I right in understanding you were going to wax nostalgic about oldies? How about a list of old movies that should not be forgotten? Things we've heard our parents and grandparents talk about or have caught while cruising past AMC?

I have a favorite to suggest: In Which We Serve. I saw it once right before Christmas on "AMC", and it captured my heart. I always thought of that movie but could not remember the title, the actors or whether it was about World War I or II. I honestly was thinking of writing to you in the hope that by saying "British, very good, about one of the wars, black and white" you would conjure the name for me when, to my delight, on Christmas morning, there was a book on movies awaiting me. So I now know the title and will be able to track it down, hopefully, if I ever stop spending so much time reading your musings and "cybering" my responses.

Another one would be Sissi with Romy Schneider, which for two or more generations has been a staple for young girls the world over - but about which we are too American to know. It is not a great movie. OK, it is not a very good movie, but it had tremendous impact. Sissi was the epitome and the emblem of romance—a Cinderella-like romance, even though the real-life Sissi, probably one of the most beautiful women to ever walk this Earth, was to the manor born. She became empress of the Hapsburg empire and it was the assassination of her son (or maybe grandson, I am not quite sure now) which triggered the start of World War I. Empress Sissi died in Geneva at the hands of an anarchist while taking a stroll along the lake; still looking, according to legend, other-worldly beautiful in her late sixties."

E ME: Okay... so what are your favorite oldies and Irish actors, and who's out to "get" Courtney Love?