Oscar Worthy?
February 19, 2009
Ready for the close-up?
“A Roundup of Slate’s Oscar Coverage”
“Great Book, Bad Movie: How Hollywood ruins novels,” by Willing Davidson. Posted Feb. 17, 2009.
“Don’t Give an Oscar to The Reader: We don’t need another ‘redemptive’ Holocaust movie,” by Ron Rosenbaum. Posted Feb. 9, 2009.
“The Batman Goes Bananas: Does being a jerk prevent you from winning an Oscar?” by Dana Stevens. Posted Feb. 6, 2009.
“It Girl(s): The three sides of Anne Hathaway,” by Dana Stevens. Posted Jan. 30, 2009.
“What, Exactly, Is Slumdog Millionaire?: Is it a) a portrait of the real India, b) a Bollywood-style melodrama, c) a fairy tale, or d) a stylishly shot collection of clichés?”
by Dennis Lim. Posted Jan. 26, 2009.
“Let’s Talk Oscars: Revolutionary Road Got Shafted. The Reader Is Still Ridiculous. Ledger Will Win,” by Troy Patterson and Dana Stevens. Posted Jan. 22, 2009.
“Why Is Philip Seymour Hoffman a ‘Supporting Actor’?: Your Oscar questions, answered.” Posted Jan. 22, 2009.
“Depressed Suburban Nazi Backward-Agers: Valkyrie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Revolutionary Road reviewed,” by Dana Stevens. Posted Dec. 23, 2008.
“Must Love Nazis: Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet find doomed romance in The Reader,” by Dana Stevens. Posted Dec. 11, 2008.
“Battle of the Foreheads: Frost/Nixon reviewed,” by Dana Stevens. Posted Dec. 4, 2008.
“Fresh Milk: Gus Van Sant’s biopic of the gay activist is vibrantly alive,” by Dana Stevens. Posted Nov. 26, 2008.
“ ‘Harvey Would Have Opened It in October’: Could Milk have changed the Prop 8 vote?” by Dennis Lim. Posted Nov. 26, 2008.
“Slumdog Millionaire: Danny Boyle’s irresistible hokum,” by Dana Stevens. Posted Nov. 13, 2008.
from Slate
DB notes: Last night I walked out on “Slumdog Millionaire.’ Not into watching children get tortured. I thought the movie was about a game show. And: Why did so many people I know love it? Plus: I hated “No Country for Old Man.” And any movie where I spend the whole time with my hands covering my eyes.
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Next on Take 2: Alaska is quietly going green.
How “The Godfather” Was Won
February 5, 2009
Was Warren Beatty really considered for Michael Corleone?
“Published in 1969, The Godfather spent 67 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and was translated into so many languages that Puzo said he stopped keeping track. Paramount had bought a blockbuster cheap, but the studio bosses didn’t want to make the movie. Mob films didn’t play, they felt, as evidenced by their 1969 flop The Brotherhood, starring Kirk Douglas as a Sicilian gangster. Evans and Bart, however, thought they knew why: the Mob films of the past had been written, directed, and acted by “Hollywood Italians.” To make The Godfather a success—a film so authentic the audience would “smell the spaghetti,” in Evans’s words—they would need real Italian-Americans to produce, direct, and star.” Written by Mark Seal.
from Vanity Fair
DB notes: Want to get a handle on the nature of American quest fantasies? Watch “The Godfather” and read Joseph Campbell at the same time.
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Next on Take 2: What’s in the new administration’s farm policy plans?
