Nick's Flick Picks: The Blog: Birthdays, at the Top of the Hour Nick's Flick Picks: The Blog A film blog under the influence Monday, March 20, 2006 Birthdays, at the Top of the Hour Personal idol Holly Hunter turns 48 today, while mid-80s heartthrob and recent Oscar nominee William Hurt turns 56. No one who reads this site even casually has any doubt about how best to celebrate Holly's genius, but Hurt, as oddball as his stardom and persona might seem in retrospect, was no slouch, either, in his heyday. Obviously, the perfect way to fête both actors is to savor their above-the-title collaboration in Broadcast News, one of the best romantic comedies of the 1980s and unquestionably the biggest plume in James L. Brooks' directorial hat. If you already know the plot and the terrific dialogue by heart, cast an eye toward the photography: easy to overlook in such character-driven movies, but subtly inspired work for famous d.p. Michael Ballhaus (Goodfellas, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant). Otherwise, William Hurt's best unheralded performance is in Carl Franklin's affecting One True Thing. Hunter, however well-known, is still under-recognized as one of our greatest and most surprisingly versatile actresses. She's a jewel in Home for the Holidays, in Jesus' Son, in Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, in Thirteen, in the newly released Nine Lives, and even in films that even she can't fully rescue, like the moribund and perversely misnamed Levity. All hail, sincerest thanks, happy birthday, and call me soon, Holly! Labels: Holly Hunter posted by NicksFlickPicks at 4:43 PM 14 Comments: Dr. S said... Broadcast News was *absolutely* hands down my favorite movie when I was in junior high and high school. I wanted to be Jane, the high-power career woman with the great friend and the job she loves. I didn't think I'd be Jane, the high(ish)-power career woman with the great friends and the job she loves *and* a a perpetually non-starting love life. Somehow I didn't see that coming. Funny, no? Also, interestingly enough, BN shipped out from Netflix for me today. 9:52 PM, March 20, 2006 Dr. S said... And I'll be damned if she wasn't 29/30 when that movie came out, too. 9:53 PM, March 20, 2006 NicksFlickPicks said... Don't think I didn't have you in mind when I posted this, love. 9:53 PM, March 20, 2006 NATHANIEL R said... Holly. *swoon* 7:34 AM, March 21, 2006 tim r said... Don't see The Big White, Holly fans, or you'll have your head in your hands. That's so nearly a haiku! 9:04 AM, March 21, 2006 Unknown said... Hurt is also wonderful in Second Best, a film by the great British cinematographer-turned-director Chris Menges that I feel like hardly anyone has seen--although everyone I've ever recommended it to has loved it. It's an especially graceful coming-of-age movie--it belongs to the same subgenre as stuff like High Tide and Wonder Boys, in which both the child and the adult come of age. Hurt's performance in it is actually my favorite thing he's ever done--his rapport with the kid who plays his adopted son, Chris Cleary Miles, is just beautiful. 9:31 AM, March 21, 2006 Anonymous said... I love Broadcast News. On top of that, I love Holly Hunter. It's a crime Premier Magazine didn't recognize her performance in The Piano as one of the 100 greatest in cinematic history while both Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote and Jamie Foxx in Ray were both high on the list. 7:13 PM, March 21, 2006 Calum Reed said... I love Holly, and Broadcast News is great. Did anybody know it's REESE's 30th birthday today? :) Happy Birthday Reese :P Also Nick... an F for Ask the Dust? How was Salma? 11:39 AM, March 22, 2006 NicksFlickPicks said... @Mark: Thanks for the recommendation! I'll stay on the lookout. @Cal: Way to sneak in a shout-out to Reese, since you knew I wasn't ever going to. ;) As for Ask the Dust, Salma is more interesting to watch than the other lead actors, but it's such a terminally stolid and ridiculously affected film—making the storyline and tone seem even more outmoded than I suspect they are anyway—that there's really no saving it. Pretty much D.O.A. More soon, though. 2:00 PM, March 22, 2006 Calum Reed said... Well, I can't have my Reese ignored now, can I? =) Rather a shame about Ask the Dust. Whichever way you look at it (and I really liked The New World), Mr. Farrell certainly isn't having the best of times. Hopefully Michael Mann should put paid to that. 6:53 PM, March 22, 2006 Dr. S said... Well, I bet no one noticed that today is Keri Russell's 30th birthday. 8:05 AM, March 23, 2006 Calum Reed said... You're right. I wonder why :P 12:56 PM, March 23, 2006 NATHANIEL R said... you know what's really sick? keri russell gets the IMDB first billing on birthdays above JOAN fucking CRAWFORD today. argh. yeah that Keri...what a movie star [/sarcasm] 1:31 PM, March 23, 2006 Anonymous said... No one has mentioned LIVING OUT LOUD. No one ever seems to, and I'm not sure why. It is a fascinating carve-up of a scenarist's love-child project, based (remotely) on three Chekhov stories. Hunter's fearless as always. A mess with lines I have been quoting for 8 years now. 5:17 AM, March 26, 2006 Post a Comment << Home NICK DAVIS CHICAGO, IL MY PROFILE THE LATEST THE BEST THE FAVORITES THE WOMEN THE REST VISIT NICK–DAVIS.COM... Follow @NicksFlickPicks Hot Off the Presses! The Desiring-Image: Gilles Deleuze and Contemporary Queer Cinema ($30/pbk). By Nick Davis. Oxford University Press, 2013. The book that earned me tenure at Northwestern. Offers a new theoretical model of queer film, born from Gilles Deleuze's rarely-integrated notions of cinema and desire. Chapter-length readings of Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Shortbus, The Watermelon Woman, Brother to Brother, Beau travail, and Velvet Goldmine, plus other films along the way! Written for a scholarly audience but hopefully interesting to anyone curious about recent cinema, ideas about desire, or LGBT aesthetics and politics. "Important and needed work...Deeply original." —D.N. Rodowick, "Seductive in its intellect and humbling in its prose." —Michele Aaron Reading the Bromance: Homosocial Relationships in Film and Television ($32/pbk). Ed. Michael DeAngelis. Wayne State University Press, 2014. Academic pieces that dig into recent portraits in popular media, comic and dramatic, of intimacies between straight(ish) men. Includes the essay "'I Love You, Hombre': Y tu mamá también as Border-Crossing Bromance" by Nick Davis, as well as chapters on Superbad, Humpday, Jackass, The Wire, and other texts. Written for a mixed audience of scholars, students, and non-campus readers. Forthcoming in June 2014. "Remarkably sophisticated essays." —Janet Staiger, "Essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary models of gender and sexuality." —Harry Benshoff Fifty Key American Films ($31/pbk). Ed. Sabine Haenni, John White. Routledge, 2009. Includes my essays on The Wild Party, The Incredibles, and Brokeback Mountain. Intended as both a newcomer's guide to the terrain and a series of short, exploratory essays about such influential works as The Birth of a Nation, His Girl Friday, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Taxi Driver, Blade Runner, Daughters of the Dust, and Se7en. The Cinema of Todd Haynes: All That Heaven Allows ($25/pbk). Ed. James Morrison. Wallflower Press, via Columbia University Press, 2007. Includes the essay "'The Invention of a People': Velvet Goldmine and the Unburying of Queer Desire" by Nick Davis, later expanded and revised in The Desiring-Image. More, too, on Poison, Safe, Far From Heaven, and Haynes's other films by Alexandra Juhasz, Marcia Landy, Todd McGowan, James Morrison, Anat Pick, and other scholars. "A collection as intellectually and emotionally generous as Haynes' films" —Patricia White, Swarthmore College Film Studies: The Basics ($23/pbk). By Amy Villarejo. Routledge, 2006, 2013. Award-winning film scholar and teacher Amy Villarejo finally gives us the quick, smart, reader-friendly guide to film vocabulary that every teacher, student, and movie enthusiast has been waiting for, as well as a one-stop primer in the past, present, and future of film production, exhibition, circulation, and theory. Great glossary, wide-ranging examples, and utterly unpretentious prose that remains rigorous in its analysis; the book commits itself at every turn to the artistry, politics, and accessibility of cinema. Most recent screenings in each race; multiple nominees appear wherever they scored their most prestigious nod... and yes, that means Actress trumps Actor! * Denotes a recent reappraisal Picture Noms % Seen: 97% Dead End A Friendly Persuasion C+ Gandhi C+ Director Noms % Seen: 96% The Crowd A Sabrina B– I Want to Live! C Actress Noms % Seen: 100% A Star Is Born ('54) A The Country Girl B– The Letter ('29) B Actor Noms % Seen: 91% Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde A– Champion B The Affairs of Cellini C Sup Actress Noms % Seen: 100% Broken Lance C+ The Bachelor Party B Paper Moon B+ Sup Actor Noms % Seen: 91% The Day of the Locust C Juarez C+ The Paper Chase D Cinematography Noms % Seen: 69% King Kong ('76) C– Shanghai Triad B Earthquake D+ Screenplay Noms % Seen: 76% The Strange Love of Martha Ivers D The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer* B Boomerang! C+ This Blog Sponsored by... Chicagoans! This site doesn't even accept advertising, but I'm making an unsolicited exception for the best, freshest, most affordable meal you can enjoy in the Loop, at any time of the day, whether you're on the go or eager to sit. Cuban and Latin American sandwiches, coffees, pastries, salads, shakes, and other treats. Hand-picked, natural, and slow-cooked ingredients. 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