Oscar Catch-Up #7: They Shoot Seabiscuit, Don’t They

So this weeks had nothing to do with each other thematically, only titles that were very close to each other on my Netflix queue and had a giggle-inducing juxtaposition…

Seabiscuit (2003) Directed and Written by Gary Ross
Starring Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks
Nominated for 7 Oscars including Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, and Sound Mixing

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) Directed by Sydney Pollack, Written by James Poe & Robert E. Thompson
Starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, and Red Buttons
Won 1 Oscar for Supporting Actor (Young), Nominated for 8 more including Actress (Fonda), Supporting Actress (York), Director, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Editing, and Score

Seabiscuit is just plain bad.  I mean, really bad.  I mean, okay, it’s photographed prettily.  And horses are beautiful and majestic.  But, c’mon, this hackneyed screenplay is like a book of screenwriting cliches.  The twee performance of Tobey Maguire is consistently obnoxious, and Jeff Bridges/Chris Cooper are putting in absolutely no effort.

On the other hand, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? was absolutely wonderful.  Just a brilliant, haunting masterpiece.  The psychological torture film takes us to a dance marathon during the Great Depression; the contestants are left on the feet, exhausted and lifeless, for weeks for the promise of $1,500 and free food.  Pollack has created a film environment so tense and so pulsing that you can’t bring yourself to look away from the circus of human misery for the two hour runtime.  The ‘derby’ scenes are stunning.  Much more exciting than the racing found in Jane Fonda gives a definitive performance, leading a uniformly outstanding supporting cast.  Put this to the top of your queue if you haven’t seen it, what a trip this was!

 

Oscar Catch-Up #5: Evan’s Picks

A lot of entries this week–as I finally get caught up on all the Netflix envelopes sitting around the house.  This weekend I started my first friend picks–where I will let other people choose the two Oscar nominees that I absolutely should have seen by now.  If you want to help me pick out a couple, just shout.  But this week we focus on the picks of Evan Stewart–friend, Kentucky native, med student, and cinephile.  He chose…

Moonstruck (1987) Directed by Norman Jewison, Written by John Patrick Shanley
Starring Cher, Nicholas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, Danny Aiello
Won 3 Oscars for Actress (Cher), Supporting Actress (Dukakis), Original Screenplay; nominated for 3 others including Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Gardenia)

On Golden Pond (1981) Directed by Mark Rydell, Written by Ernest Thompson
Starring Katherine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman
Won 3 Oscars for Actress (Hepburn), Actor (H. Fonda), Adapted Screenplay; nominated for 7 others including Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (J. Fonda), Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Sound

I was instantly curious when Evan gave me his choices as to why he picked these too–I didn’t see a thematic connection.  However, after seeing them they clearly have something strong in common–they are victims of their time.  Oh, the curse of the 1980s.

Moonstruck has a very strong central performance from Cher–and a wonderful supporting turn from a great character actress for the ages, Olympa Dukakis.  Yet everything around them is utterly apathetic.  The late 80s (in addition to producing me) was cranking out ‘dramedys’ by the handful.  A genre that works far better for television, as a feature it isn’t particularly funny, and isn’t particularly engaging as a drama.  It’s just kinda there.  In fact, I struggled to find anything to say about it at all.  It was 90 minutes of my life that happened, but aside from that iconic slap (“SNAP OUT OF IT!”), the other 89.5 minutes were a bit of a bore.  Sorry, Evan!

On Golden Pond is a particularly sad case of 80s ruin, as it has two film legends giving INCREDIBLE performances, while Jane Fonda is equally wonderfully and looking hotter than ever in a skimpy bathing suit on the dock of Golden Pond.  The three of them, in an elegantly simple script by Ernest Thopmson, should have been cinema catnip for me.  And then the time period kicks in.  Can we talk about that ovebearing synthesizer/piano score people?  When did composers think that was an appropriate choice for mood setting?  And on top of that, there is the all-too-frequent cutting from character to character that undermines so much potent emotion, and the slow fades from house to duck to lake to Henry Fonda.  I guess it’s a chicken-and-egg thing, I don’t know if On Golden Pond was made to look like a life insurance commercial, or if all life insurance commercials since 1981 have strived to look like Golden Pond.  In any case it takes what should be iconic and timeless to a level of schmaltz that comes close to ruining it.  Nevertheless, seeing those Fondas and Hepburn makes the film well worth a visit.  Thanks, Evan!