Charlie Rose--Film Year in Review

Thi Them · 12-21-2005, 09:15 PM

Tonight's guests:

A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Richard Corliss, Time
David Denby, The New Yorker

~T

Nick C. · 12-22-2005, 12:43 PM

Pretty interesting stuff, I like how Rose invites different critics each year, although Corliss is almost a regular.

Since these are critics, they aren't Oscar bloggers/award predictors, so it was funny seeing them come up, impromptu, with names of potential nominees.

It's almost a letdown too, after reading their works with such regard because of their insight, prose and articulate writing, but in person, watching these folks fight for a few words with limited time, the eloquence is all but eliminated.

I did really like how all of them would just shout out names of small films, regardless of the topic at hand. These little outburts, hopefully, really brought these lesser known titles like "Junebug" or "Darwin's Nightmare" to a national televised audience.

Tino · 12-22-2005, 12:50 PM

Would have helped if you listed the time, Thi!

Nick C. · 12-22-2005, 03:29 PM

Unfortunately PBS shows it at different hours in each region. Much like Ebert and Roeper, it's on at 12noon in some places, 2am in others.

Cameron Yee · 12-22-2005, 05:15 PM

Caught it today on PBS-U. Pretty interesting, though it is rather sad how few choices there are for best actress. Best Picture choices across the board were interesting. What was the name of the one that 3/4 agreed on? Schwarzbaum's love for A History of Violence was interesting.

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Michael Reuben · 12-23-2005, 01:26 AM

Quote:

What was the name of the one that 3/4 agreed on?

Are you thinking of The Squid and the Whale?

Quote:

though it is rather sad how few choices there are for best actress

I think the discussion was limited by the focus on likely candidates for best picture/best director, because most of those don't contain notable leading actress roles. If they'd been able to spend a little more time on the subject, they probably would have discussed films that hadn't been mentioned so far -- e.g., Transamerica, which was mentioned only briefly at the end and for which Felicity Huffman more than deserves a nomination (and, IMO, the statue).

Other performances that might have been mentioned are Clair Danes in Shopgirl, Judi Dench in Mrs. Henderson Presents, Patricia Clarkson in The Dying Gaul (not a snowball's chance in hell for a nomination, but she's still great), Radha Mitchell in Melinda and Melinda, and Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger. (Obviously, several of those would need major campaigns to remind voters about them.)

Also, I wouldn't rule out a push for Laura Linney in Squid. Someone on the panel said it was a supporting role, but I think a case could be made that Linney and Jeff Daniels carry equal weight as leads.

M.

Cameron Yee · 12-23-2005, 01:53 AM

No, it wasn't Squid and the Whale. I think it was mentioned along with a documentary but I'm not sure if it was also a doc. I had the show on while I was doing other things so I didn't catch all of it.

Nick C. · 12-23-2005, 02:11 AM

Quote:

I think it was mentioned along with a documentary but I'm not sure if it was also a doc. I had the show on while I was doing other things so I didn't catch all of it.

Perhaps it's "The Best of Youth", which was enthusiastically recommended by Scott and Schwarzbaum. Or if it was a documentary most likely it was a Herzog film, whom Denby and Corliss praised for "Grizzly Man" and "The White Diamond", respectively. Overall, basically everyone praised "Brokeback" and "Squid".

Quote:

Also, I wouldn't rule out a push for Laura Linney in Squid. Someone on the panel said it was a supporting role, but I think a case could be made that Linney and Jeff Daniels carry equal weight as leads.

Linney and Julianne Moore seem to be in the running every year for the last half decade, they just have great taste in filmmakers/scripts!

Cameron Yee · 12-23-2005, 02:19 AM

Best of Youth it was. Now I just have to figure out what it's about.

Craig S · 12-23-2005, 09:23 AM

The Best Of Youth is a 6-hour Italian film (originally made for TV, I think) that follows the lives and fortunes of 2 bothers over the last 30-some years of the 20th century. I remember Ebert talking about it on his show earlier this year. He loved it too. Here's his review:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/.../50310004/1023

I'm going to have to search this one out. I love stuff like this.