I forgive you, Mitzi Gaynor. I gave Anything Goes another view, just because. And I still didn't like it. Except ... the above sequence is just magical. I've decided it's one of my favorite all-time movie scenes hands down.
I started watching George Cukor's A Star is Born a week ago, and I was initially immensely impressed. But I continued watching it last night and initially it was still great but THEN, endless dance numbers to terrible songs. These words flashed across my squishy brain: WHEN IS THIS MOVIE GOING TO END??? It didn't help when my father entered the room and after a brief silence (and during one of the worst numbers), noted, "You know all those people are dead now." Greeeaaat. There was also some embarrasingly hammy acting from Garland; it's a pity because she was an actress capable of such depth and raw energy, but I don't think she ever in her career truly utilized those acting gifts (other than through song).
I started to get annoyed, when suddenly after two hours of praying for it to end, James Mason completely broke my heart. My God. I have rarely seen an actor so realistically and agonizingly portray such pain onscreen. It was at that moment that I realized Mason made the film, and that I realized he had been consistent and authentic throughout the entire picture, even when everything around him was glitz and cheese. A Star is Born is not a movie about the travails of fame; it is a film about the self-destructive trauma of alcoholism. See it for Judy singing The Man That Got Away, but mostly see it for James Mason's performance.
* * * * *
And....
OMG! Corrupt Politician Alert I have my surprised face on. Not really.
Dark Knight DVD as Disappointing As the Movie Was No Heath Ledger extras. And he was the best thing about the film.
NYT on Kate Winslet's The Reader
John Lennon The Rolling Stone interview "I always wrote about me when I could. I didn't really enjoy writing third person songs about people who lived in concrete flats and things like that. I like first person music."
Flor, You Can't Have Ed Norton, He and I Are in Love
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