So if you feel like you're in a whirlpool, you feel like you're going home
1. Yesterday's mail brought my contributor's copy of Animal Day II, the latest annual not-Not One of Us publication. It contains my poem "кот древнее и неприкосновенное животное" along with fine work by Steve Toase, Barbara Rosen, Holly Day, and Suzanna Hersey among others; I recommend both picking up a copy and sending work for the spring issue. My poem was inspired equally by reading Bulgakov and living with two black cats who like opening doors and eating dessert.
2. Last night I finished watching The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch, who had never seen it. It remains one of my favorite movies I have never really written about. I can recognize now all the ways in which Hardy Krüger's Heinrich Dorfmann is a deliberately difficult character with his cold equations and his monofocus and his stubborn arrogance that's just as dangerous as the threatened traditionalism of James Stewart's Frank Towns, but he was my favorite character from the first time I saw the movie and remains the one I gravitate toward, maybe because he's the outsider (the one German in a mixed American, British, and French cast: "That's it, then, that's why they never won—they didn't have old Heinrich!"), maybe because he's intelligent and anoraky and his people skills are so terrible that calling them ass would be an insult to the human posterior. I love that his chilly, rational, logical plan is the craziest dream of all, if only the rest of the cast knew it. Also I just like watching people build things. I would have loved The Finest Hours (2016) if it had just been the high seas and on-the-fly engineering of real life instead of a shoehorned—and invented—love angle which sticks out just as awkwardly as the hallucinated belly dancer in The Flight of the Phoenix.
3. David Cairns writes in memory of Dorothy Malone and then overthinks that scene in The Big Sleep (1946).
4. So, yes, the Oscar nominees. I don't understand the prominence of Darkest Hour, which looked from all the reviews like a thoroughly traditional biopic with a lot of Churchill clichés (if you must have your WWII mythmaking, at least Dunkirk was weird), and I fully expected to see at least a costume design nod for Wonder Woman and its practical Amazons, but I can't remember the last time a genre film was nominated for Best Picture and I would be fine by which I mean delighted with either Get Out or The Shape of Water; if they split the vote, at least may Call Me by Your Name or Lady Bird take it instead of any of the more obvious fallbacks. I haven't seen enough of the nominees to say much about Best Leading/Supporting Actor/Actress, but Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out would be as unusual and welcome as the movie itself for Best Picture, I have heard nothing but praise for Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and I liked Richard Jenkins very much in The Shape of Water, but I'd have given that nomination to Michael Stuhlbarg. (I am pleased Octavia Spencer received hers.) Coco should take Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, no questions. I suspect Hoyte van Hoytema will win Best Cinematography for Dunkirk even if his shaky-cam annoyed me. Either Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig, or Guillermo del Toro would please me for Best Director, even if their chances are probably sketchy against Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson, and all three of them (and Vanessa Taylor) could also clean up on the Original Screenplay front as far as I'm concerned. Paul Denham Austerberry et al. would be entirely justified in taking Best Production Design for The Shape of Water. The rest of the categories, I don't have enough information for opinions, but apparently this is a year in which I have a stake in the Oscars. I think it's because it feels like the Hugos. More years should.
5. The Strange Horizons 2018 Prize Draw is now live. Check it out!
So that's most of what I wanted to post when I got the news about Le Guin; I wrote about her instead and then I wrote about a noir I'd seen on Saturday and then I held the cats a lot. (Oh, God, I named my ancient and now somewhat precarious laptop half after one of her characters. Now I feel even more protective toward him.) I forgot until now that I dreamed of watching a nonexistent and impossible movie starring Leslie Howard at twenty-eight, at which age he looked and sounded like a dorky student. There were no sound films in 1921. Leslie Howard didn't even come to Hollywood until 1930. I would ask what the hell, brain, except I think it's as simple as my brain really appreciating all those pictures of Howard where he looks like a thoroughgoing nerd.
2. Last night I finished watching The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) with
spatch, who had never seen it. It remains one of my favorite movies I have never really written about. I can recognize now all the ways in which Hardy Krüger's Heinrich Dorfmann is a deliberately difficult character with his cold equations and his monofocus and his stubborn arrogance that's just as dangerous as the threatened traditionalism of James Stewart's Frank Towns, but he was my favorite character from the first time I saw the movie and remains the one I gravitate toward, maybe because he's the outsider (the one German in a mixed American, British, and French cast: "That's it, then, that's why they never won—they didn't have old Heinrich!"), maybe because he's intelligent and anoraky and his people skills are so terrible that calling them ass would be an insult to the human posterior. I love that his chilly, rational, logical plan is the craziest dream of all, if only the rest of the cast knew it. Also I just like watching people build things. I would have loved The Finest Hours (2016) if it had just been the high seas and on-the-fly engineering of real life instead of a shoehorned—and invented—love angle which sticks out just as awkwardly as the hallucinated belly dancer in The Flight of the Phoenix.3. David Cairns writes in memory of Dorothy Malone and then overthinks that scene in The Big Sleep (1946).
4. So, yes, the Oscar nominees. I don't understand the prominence of Darkest Hour, which looked from all the reviews like a thoroughly traditional biopic with a lot of Churchill clichés (if you must have your WWII mythmaking, at least Dunkirk was weird), and I fully expected to see at least a costume design nod for Wonder Woman and its practical Amazons, but I can't remember the last time a genre film was nominated for Best Picture and I would be fine by which I mean delighted with either Get Out or The Shape of Water; if they split the vote, at least may Call Me by Your Name or Lady Bird take it instead of any of the more obvious fallbacks. I haven't seen enough of the nominees to say much about Best Leading/Supporting Actor/Actress, but Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out would be as unusual and welcome as the movie itself for Best Picture, I have heard nothing but praise for Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and I liked Richard Jenkins very much in The Shape of Water, but I'd have given that nomination to Michael Stuhlbarg. (I am pleased Octavia Spencer received hers.) Coco should take Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, no questions. I suspect Hoyte van Hoytema will win Best Cinematography for Dunkirk even if his shaky-cam annoyed me. Either Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig, or Guillermo del Toro would please me for Best Director, even if their chances are probably sketchy against Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson, and all three of them (and Vanessa Taylor) could also clean up on the Original Screenplay front as far as I'm concerned. Paul Denham Austerberry et al. would be entirely justified in taking Best Production Design for The Shape of Water. The rest of the categories, I don't have enough information for opinions, but apparently this is a year in which I have a stake in the Oscars. I think it's because it feels like the Hugos. More years should.
5. The Strange Horizons 2018 Prize Draw is now live. Check it out!
So that's most of what I wanted to post when I got the news about Le Guin; I wrote about her instead and then I wrote about a noir I'd seen on Saturday and then I held the cats a lot. (Oh, God, I named my ancient and now somewhat precarious laptop half after one of her characters. Now I feel even more protective toward him.) I forgot until now that I dreamed of watching a nonexistent and impossible movie starring Leslie Howard at twenty-eight, at which age he looked and sounded like a dorky student. There were no sound films in 1921. Leslie Howard didn't even come to Hollywood until 1930. I would ask what the hell, brain, except I think it's as simple as my brain really appreciating all those pictures of Howard where he looks like a thoroughgoing nerd.
Re: in which I have many unpleasant opinions and should probably just drop out of the whole thing
NO, he wasn't, which is so terrible. I got curious and checked some films:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1969), Oscar for Best Visual Effects, nominated for Best Director, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Screenplay.
Star Wars (1977), six Oscars: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. Sound designer Ben Burtt and John Dykstra also both got special awards. Alec Guinness was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (winner: Jason Robards in Julia). Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, which were won by Annie Hall.
(Wow, I had no memory of it being that critically acclaimed AT ALL. Bzuh.)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), one Oscar for cinematography, nominated for Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Visual Effects, Art Direction, Original Music Score, Film Editing, and also won Special Achievement Award for sound effects editing.
Superman (1978), won Special Achievement Award for f/x, nominated for Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Music Original Score.
Empire Strikes Back (1980), one Oscar for Best Sound Mixing, Special Achievement Award for Best Visual Effects, nominated for Best Original Score and Best Production Design.
E.T. (1982), nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, won Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects.
Return of the Jedi (1983), Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects. Nominations for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Music Original Score, and Best Sound.
Starman (1984), Jeff Bridges nominated for Best Actor.
Cocoon (1985), won Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Visual Effects.
Brazil (1985), nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Art Direction.
Aliens (1986), Sigourney Weaver nominated for Best Actress, also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Art Direction. Won Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects.
Terminator 2 (1991), nominated for Best Cinematography and Film Editing, won Best Make Up, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects.
Twelve Monkeys (1995), Brad Pitt nominated for Best Supporting Actor, costume design nomination.
Phantom Menace (1999), Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound Mixing (all won by the Matrix). Also nominated for seven Razzies, heh.
Fellowship of the Ring (2001), won Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score. Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ian McKellen), Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Costume Design, Best Adapted Screenplay.
Attack of the Clones (2002), nominated for Best Visual Effects, also nominated for seven Razzies.
The Two Towers (2002), won Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing.
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing and Best Sound.
The Return of the King (2003), nominated for and won eleven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-up, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. Tied with Titanic and Ben-Hur for most wins.
(I had completely forgotten all about this.)
Revenge of the Sith (2005), nominated for Best Visual Effects and one Razzie.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Kate Winslet nominated for Best Actress.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006), won Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup. Nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Foreign Language Film.
Children of Men (2006), nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing.
The Dark Knight (2009), nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Film Editing. Won Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Best Sound Editing. Tied with Dick Tracy (1990) for most nominations for film based on comics.
Avatar (2009), won Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing.
District 9 (2010), nominated for Best Picture, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay.
Inception (2011), won Best Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects. Nominated for Best Original Score, Art Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture.
Gravity (2013), tie for most nominations of the year with American Hustle, nominated for ten, won seven (highest of the night): Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Production Design. "Second only to Cabaret for winning most awards without also winning Best Picture," Wiki says. TMYK.
Her (2013), Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Production Design.
Ex Machina (2015), nominated for Best Original Screenplay, won Best Visual Effects.
The Martian (2015), won Best Director. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects. Won Best Film Editing (a woman, Margaret Sixel), Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing. Most winner of Oscars for an Australian film, highest winner of the night.
Arrival (2016), won Best Sound Editing. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing. (Other films winning one award: Fences, The Jungle Book, O.J.: Made in America, Suicide Squad, The White Helmets, and Zootopia.)
BY NO MEANS at all comprehensive, since I entirely forgot about stuff like, say, Dick Tracy. (WTF. Dick Tracy? really?) Any other suggestions for looking up....? Also I think I fucked up the release dates. Oh well, fun way to kill about half an hour. Altho Wikipedia has GOT TO STOP PUTTING INFORMATION IN MOTHERFUCKING TABLES
Re: in which I have many unpleasant opinions and should probably just drop out of the whole thing
Me neither! That's kind of neat.
(I had completely forgotten all about this.)
I had also forgotten that Return of the King won Best Picture. I guess that improves the chances of Get Out and The Shape of Water.
Most winner of Oscars for an Australian film, highest winner of the night.
I remembered Mad Max: Fury Road partly because of Margaret Sixel.
So that's more attention to genre film than I had remembered or noticed, but nowhere near as many actual awards as some of these pictures deserved. And of course all the movies that weren't nominated for anything in the first place.
Re: in which I have many unpleasant opinions and should probably just drop out of the whole thing
Me neither! That's kind of neat.
It looks like it was really well-reviewed and got a bunch of Oscars, then people hated ESB, and ROTJ was seen as a return (heh) to form. Which is weird, because now the received wisdom is ESB is the better film. (I admit, I like it better, all the Jungian swampiness, and no fucking Ewoks.)
I had also forgotten that Return of the King won Best Picture. I guess that improves the chances of Get Out and The Shape of Water.
I forgot to look up horror films -- I remember Rosemary's Baby and Exorcist doing well, and Silence of the Lambs sweeping everything ("It was only the third film, the other two being It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to win Academy Awards in all the top five categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Adapted Screenplay," Wiki says helpfully. Wiki also tells me Jaws was nominated for Best Pic. I....did not know that). Altho I dunno if I would call Silence a horror film. More a thriller? -- eh, whatever.
So that's more attention to genre film than I had remembered or noticed,
Me, too! I was kinda knocked out by the Star Wars and T2 noms. I remembered Fury Road had won a lot, but not that many.
but nowhere near as many actual awards as some of these pictures deserved.
....yeah. Sigh. Metropolis, King Kong, Bride of Frankenstein, Day the Earth Stood Still, 2001 (for the Blue Danube bit alone), Close Encounters, Alien, Aliens, ESB, Bladerunner, Matrix, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, GotG, Contact, Planet of the Apes....and those are just the ones I remember because I like them.