Venus

Peter O'Toole is one of those actors who seems invincible to the many obstacles of time and Hollywood. Health problems, many starring roles in film, his antics off the set...it could wear a person out easily. Not O'Toole though.

O'Toole holds the record for most Oscar nominations and no wins. His most recent nomination was for his work in Roger Michell's Venus. His character of Maurice Russell is as carefree as T.E. Lawrence and Alan Swann but he isn't as lively as them simply because age has slowed him down. However, he won't let age stop him.

What makes O'Toole's performance so great is that in a way, he is perhaps playing himself. Maurice is an actor in his twilight years, just like O'Toole. Though O'Toole has a controlled elegance of sorts shown in Maurice as seen in a lovely little silent exchange between him and Vanessa Redgrave.

The film itself is very well done. None of the characters feel out of place. The only complaint I have is that in some scenes, the pacing is different to that of other scenes. Sometimes it's too fast, sometimes it's too slow. But that's something that could easily be overlooked.

All in all, I really liked Venus. It contains one of O'Toole's best performances of his career. You have to admire someone who still has faith in an aging name of Hollywood's Golden Age, even if it's the same person who directed Notting Hill.

My Rating: ****1/2

Voices from Heaven

Aren't there always those actors that just have that extra something that make them more memorable? Of course I'm referring to their voices. What else would I be talking about? (You people are sick.) Taking a page out of Ruth's book, I examine a few of my personal favorites.

Richard Burton

I have a weakness for actors who have elegant voices and play not-so-elegant roles. Mr. Burton is one such actor. He had a self-loathing tone in his voice, which add a certain air to his performances. Oh, if there were more actors like him today.

Benedict Cumberbatch

When I first saw him, I didn't think much of him. You can imagine my surprise when I saw him act and, most importantly, heard him speak in Sherlock (which is pretty much the best show on the air right now). Now he's an actor I'm keeping a close eye on. (Oh, and his reading of "Ode to a Nightingale" is to die for.)

Colin Firth

I couldn't help but notice the slight irony of casting Firth in the title role in The King's Speech. I mean, here's an actor who has a wonderful voice, and he can't bring himself to speak. I can't be the only one who saw that.

Henry Fonda

His voice possessed an assertive tone that always made him the voice of reason. (12 Angry Men and The Ox-Bow Incident are prime examples.) It just worked.

Burt Lancaster

Mr. Lancaster has, without a doubt, the smoothest vocals I ever heard. Personally I'm not too surprised that most of the films I saw him in had his character delivering a speech or a monologue of some sort. What can I say? Hollywood liked the way he spoke.

Jude Law

He's a smooth talker, no doubt about that. Several of his roles emphasize that trait. Personally I like how he can be charming and a bastard in the same movie.

James Mason

Like Mr. Burton, Mr. Mason had an elegant Welsh accent yet he played parts that were anything but elegant (ie, Bigger Than Life, Lolita). Like I said, it's a weakness of mine.

Robert Mitchum

If there was one person who could personify the "I don't give a fuck" attitude, that person was Robert Mitchum. His drawl, as well as his mannerisms, best embodied this behavior, and is best seen in the many noirs he was in.

Laurence Olivier

Not gonna lie, this man made Shakespeare interesting to me. And that's saying a lot. Oh, and he's also a marvelous actor.

Peter O'Toole

Many of his roles had him as aloof and indifferent to the society he was a part of. Yet his voice suggests otherwise. Oh, contradictions, how I love thee.

Runners-Up

Humphrey Bogart

Robert Downey, Jr.

Ralph Fiennes

Cary Grant

Tom Hiddleston

William Holden

Jack Lemmon

Paul Newman

Gregory Peck

Sidney Poitier

Who are some actors you like with splendid voices?

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Back in the 1940s, the essential comedy directors of the era included Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. Anyone else who tried to top them failed in doing so.

1941 saw the releases of Sturges' The Lady Eve and Sullivan's Travels, and Hawks' Ball of Fire (written by Wilder). It also saw the release of an unusual entry to comedy film called Mr. and Mrs. Smith. What's so odd about a film about a quarreling couple? Simple: it's directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense himself.

Don't get me wrong. Hitchcock could get a lot of funny lines in his films like North by Northwest and Rear Window. It's just any film of his is better with a nice murder or a little bloodshed. (Well, technically there's a little blood spilled, but it's only from a nosebleed.) Hitchcock wasn't kidding about this little musing: "I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."

I did like the performances from Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard, both I was familiar with beforehand but more so with the latter. Both were very good at comedy, no denying that. This film is proof. Each exchange between them just radiates with their skill of comedic timing.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is amusing, though it's hard to shake the fact that Hitchcock directed it. I mean, I like Hitchcock, but this seems more like a film suited for Hawks. Just saying.

My Rating: ****

The Ten Best Actresses of All Time Relay Race

Well, another meme has rolled by. Nostra is back with a female twist on the actors relay race. (My post on that one is here.) This time around, Ruth from FlixChatter tagged me. In Nostra's words:

I’ve created a list of what I think are the best actresses of all time. At the end of the post I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. This blogger will have to remove one actress (that is an obligation) and add his/her own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. The idea is to make this a long race, so that enough bloggers get a chance to remove and add an actress. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actresses. It will also mean that those who follow this relay race will get to know new blogs as well!

The previous entries:

• My Filmviews
• The Velvet Cafe
• Martin Teller
• The Movie Review Warehouse
• Benefits of a Classical Education
• Just Another Movie Blog
• Film Actually
• Public Transportation Snob
• FlixChatter

And finally, the actresses:

Ingrid Bergman

Juliette Binoche

Cate Blanchett

Judi Dench

Katharine Hepburn

Julianne Moore

Barbara Stanwyck

Meryl Streep

Kate Winslet

Man, the elimination process is a little harder on this list than the actors relay. Let's see...Bergman, Blanchett, Hepburn, Moore, Stanwyck, Streep and Winslet are among my favorites, so I can't get rid of them. Binoche I really liked in Code Unknown, and Dench blew me away in Notes on a Scandal. The remaining name on this list is Viola Davis, who shall be removed simply because I haven't seen any of her work.

Now who shall replace Davis? I was thinking of putting another Davis in her place (Bette), but I opted not to. Instead, I went a name more people recognize more for her features rather than her skills as an actress. That's right, my entry is Audrey Hepburn.

Before you start arguing, I have my reasons for choosing her. Yes, she is a very stunning woman and remained so as she got older. But not many people seem to appreciate her acting ability. She performs in a way so subtle, it's almost impossible to see that she's acting. She makes her insanely charming and glamorous characters in films like Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Sabrina more human than anyone else possibly would have done. Though if you want to see her at her best, check out The Nun's Story and Wait Until Dark. (You'll be thanking me later.)

Whom to pass the baton onto? I'm curious as to whom Alex of And So It Begins... will choose. Should be fun.

Dinner at Eight

Nowadays a star-studded cast is all too common for any film. Back in the early years of Hollywood however, it was a little unusual. Having more than two or three recognizable stars in one film back then was a bold move considering the egos of some of those stars.

In 1933, George Cukor made Dinner at Eight. The stars include Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore and Billie Burke. (Take note that the three male stars mentioned were also in Grand Hotel the previous year.) They were some of the biggest stars back then, so this was a treat for moviegoers back then.

I love all of the actors, especially Burke trying not to burst as everything goes wrong, and Harlow and Beery swapping snappy remarks. But I must highlight John Barrymore's performance. In the matter of a few scenes, he goes from a confidant actor to a man clinging to the tattered shreds of his career. The haunting aspect is how much of the role mirrored Barrymore's own career both present and inevitable future.

As well as the acting, the dialogue is just to die for. Each line is just very witty, especially the ones coming out of Dressler's mouth. But after seeing films like The Women and The Philadelphia Story, what else can you expect from a Cukor film than a witty script, and light and enjoyable roles for great actors?

Saying Dinner at Eight is one of Cukor's best is a bit of an understatement. Okay, it's not the best but it's still great. A nice blend of comedy and drama is something everyone needs, and here it is in film form.

My Rating: *****

Three Comrades

In the opening moments of Frank Borzage's Three Comrades, soldiers Erich Lohkamp (Robert Taylor), Otto Koster (Franchot Tone) and Gottfried Lenz (Robert Young) celebrate the end of the war over drinks and musings. They wonder what their futures hold for them, hoping that their fates have a shining light rather than a fading one.

A few years pass. The war is still felt in the three men, but they go on with their lives. Enter Patricia Hollmann (Magaret Sullavan), a society girl. Erich takes a shine to her and after some time, they get married. But their happy union is a doomed one.

The film is based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque (apparently the same one that provided loose basis for The Deer Hunter as well) and its script was co-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. For some reason, the script completely ditched the political message of the novel and focused more on the love story. Maybe MGM just wanted a nice romance film.

In a similar vein to the word "Mafia" in The Godfather thirty-four years later, the word "Nazi" or the country where the film is set (Germany) is never uttered at any point in Three Comrades. This was released only a year before Germany invaded Poland, but maybe MGM did this to ensure they weren't sympathizers of Germany. Who knows?

That doesn't make Three Comrades a bad film. Not in the least bit. The actors, Taylor and Sullavan especially, are very good. And I now desire to see more of Borzage's work.

My Rating: ****1/2

The Royal Tenenbaums

Admit it. You're part of an eccentric family. (I know I am.) It's always great fodder for literature and Hollywood.

Hey, Wes Anderson definitely thought so when he made The Royal Tenenbaums back in 2001. It's practically a story J.D. Salinger never wrote. (I read The Catcher in the Rye. I know what his writing style was like.)

I've seen all of Anderson's work sans Moonrise Kingdom, and I can safely say that Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Royal Tenenbaums stand out from the rest solely because the eccentric nature of both films is very much accepted. Fantastic Mr. Fox because it's an animated film, The Royal Tenenbaums because the eccentric behavior is evenly distributed among all of the characters, not just one or two of them.

Speaking of the characters, there's a motley crew of a cast. Of the names, there is Gene Hackman, Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Owen Wilson and Bill Murray. I absolutely love Murray's dry commentary, but this show belongs to Hackman. (My favorite scene of his is the montage of his day out with his grandsons.) I now understand why so many people were offended at the lack of an Oscar nomination for him.

In short, I loved The Royal Tenenbaums. It just flows so well. Every actor plays their role excellently, Hackman especially. Definitely one of the best films of the last decade.

My Rating: *****

Notes on a Scandal

Early on in Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal, Barbara Covett (a wonderfully vicious Judi Dench) voices the antics happening in her life as she writes them in her diary. She speaks with a malicious tone yet she's a very vulnerable woman.

Enter Sheba Hart (a gripping Cate Blanchett), a new teacher at the school Barbara works at. Married to an older man and carrying an affair with a student, she seems unfulfilled with with how her life is going. Barbara is captivated by her, more so by that whirlwind personal life Sheba leads.

Both women are completely different from the other. Barbara is reserved and very much in control of her life. Sheba is full of life and finds her life unpredictable at times. This is something that Dench and Blanchett do wonderfully.

It's not just Dench and Blanchett's performances that make Notes on a Scandal what it is. There's also Chris Menges' stunning cinematography and Philip Glass' haunting score. When the actors and the technical aspects of a film blend effortlessly, that's the sign of a good film.

Indeed Notes on a Scandal is a very good film, but its pace is a trifle too fast. Dench and Blanchett deliver essentially the performances of their careers. Films with plots this juicy are always worth a look.

My Rating: ****1/2

Baadasssss!

There are a number of films about film production, a number of them based on real life productions. The ones based on real productions are usually about the very significant that Hollywood churned out, ranging from cult to controversial to classic.

In 1971, Melvin Van Peebles released Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, perhaps the most famous blaxploitation film ever made. (Well, along with Shaft.) Thirty-two years later, Melvin's son Mario made Baadasssss!, chronicling the production of the film from sketching out the idea to the troubled filming to the insane aftermath.

Van Peebles doesn't shy from his father's flaws, which includes Melvin (Mario Van Peebles) directing a 13-year-old Mario (Khleo Thomas) in a sex scene. Among Melvin's behavior, there's arguing with his crew and studio executives, struggling with money problems, and trying to break new ground with his filmmaking while at the same time trying not to get arrested.

Though Van Peebles shows a vulnerable side in his father. Melvin tries hard to be a good father and fails in doing so. (That sex scene featuring a young Mario pretty much sealed the deal.) The look of dejection on Melvin's face when he thinks his film is a failure upon its premiere shows just what Van Peebles wanted to depict: a man overwhelmed by the ways of his society.

Baadasssss! is one of the few films about a real life film production that just radiates. Van Peebles also captures the whole ambiance of 1970s counterculture, the very thing that fueled the most influential film era in history.

My Rating: ****1.2

Bottle Rocket

At some point in the last decade or so, Wes Anderson was dubbed the next Martin Scorsese. But this wasn't a musing by a critic, oh no. It was said by Scorsese himself.

Anderson's debut Bottle Rocket shows the very style that would make him recognizable among his peers. Yeah, that particular style isn't favored by many, but I personally like it. (Hey, quirky is good at times.)

Like several of Anderson's later films, Bottle Rocket has brothers Owen and Luke Wilson among its cast. It's always the cast that is key for a Wes Anderson film. (Hey, the man restarted Bill Murray's career.) Anyway, in regards to the cast of Bottle Rocket, my favorite performance was from James Caan, who basically played an older Sonny Corleone. (You know, if he actually survived.)

I like Anderson's way of filming though it gets a tad too zany at some points. Sure, it's entertaining but he gets a little too crazy at times. (This is why I prefer Fantastic Mr. Fox more because the rules of normal life don't apply to animation.)

Still, I really liked Bottle Rocket. It's pretty much what Reservoir Dogs would be if it amped up the comedy (and wasn't so violent and sweary). Those that like Anderson will be in for a treat.

My Rating: ****1/2