Comments on: The Best Picture Expansion Project: 1982

By: InfoMofo

InfoMofo — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:20:08 +0000

I just watched Gandhi again about 3 months ago, and that movie holds up. I think the Academy did right.

That being said, Blade Runner and Sophie’s choice have stood the test of time much better than Verdict or Missing.

By: Doug Strassler

Doug Strassler — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:58:06 +0000

Hear hear, Michael.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:52:44 +0000

Here’s a seconding vote on Fanny and Alexander–a delicious period-movie banquet, hip-deep in wonderful actors, a sentimental valentine to theater life, and it also has some of the uncanniest material ever filmed (somewhere between Symbolism and magic realism) as Alexander faces the murderous power of his rage at his abusive stepfather. Masterpiece indeed.

By: Doug Strassler

Doug Strassler — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:09:01 +0000

Good point, Katy — I wish I could find where I read that anecdote. And you’re definitely right about Spielberg’s ability to work with children earlier in his career.

By: katy

katy — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:20:06 +0000

Doug, I also am a enormous fan of both E.T. and Tootsie. E.T. surely must be among the very best films of all time for performances from child actors. Coaxing natural performances from kids was maybe one of 1980s-era Steven Spielberg’s most underappreciated superpowers. (And it was a gift he seemed to lose before the 1990s — for whatever reason, those kids in Jurassic Park and Hook are considerably more canned and mannered.)

But Sophie’s Choice, although a great film, wasn’t the first film to show us the inside of a concentration camp. Even if we don’t count documentaries like Resnais’s Night and Fog (1955), there’s definitely the late-1970s mini-series Holocaust, which was super popular, also starred Meryl Streep, and probably contributed to Sophie’s Choice being green lit. Also there was Kapo (1959), which was about a young Jewish prisoner in a camp; and Jacob the Liar (1975), which was later remade as that terrible Robin Williams film. And there was an infamous 1970s Jerry Lewis movie, never released, that featured Lewis as a Nazi clown that led Jewish children to the death chambers (!!!). Not that that would count, but bizarre side note anyway.

By: isaac

isaac — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:42:55 +0000

I wish all the categories in the oscars could go up to 10 nominations but were only required to go up to 2 nominations.

That would be a lot more interesting to watch.

By: Doug Strassler

Doug Strassler — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:52:12 +0000

Thank you, Stacy — I think Tootsie is genius. If I had never discovered , I don’t know that I would love movies quite as much as I do.

And thanks for the sweet compliment, Tricia — I want to go watch Blade Runner again right now!

By: Tricia

Tricia — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:13:56 +0000

First, it’s fabulous to me that I’ve actually seen some of these movies! And I think Blade Runner is a terrific movie.

Also, I just wanted to say that reading your columns always makes me think, ‘That sounds good, I should rent this…’

So you’re definitely doing something right (or a lot of things)!

By: Stacy

Stacy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:35:25 +0000

Yes! 1982 was a great year for movies and I’m thrilled someone else loves Tootsie the way I do – it’s dated yet timeless at the same time, funny and touching and dead on.
The girl power in me still thinks Dorothy Michaels is one of the great feminist trailblazers of our time. And every time Bill Murray says “I wish I had a theatre that was only open when it rained” I think of every New York actor I evey met and laugh my ass off.
Thanks for this, Doug!