Spencer Tracy is considered by many an acting god.Like Fredric March, Tracy could slip into nearly any role with ease. His unconventional looks and stocky build helped make this easier, but it was his natural instincts and ability to convey both toughness and tenderness that made him such as potent actor.Perhaps it was his own demons, either fueled or tempered by drink (or both), that added to his ability to understand the men he played. Regardless, he was a wonder, and during the 1930s he displayed that amazing range for which he was famous.In the 1920s, Tracy graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. But it took time for the young actor to work his way up the ranks of Broadway, often finding a! ny job possible to supplement his work. His big break came when he landed the lead in a prison drama called “The Last Mile.†Famed director John Ford was so impressed that he cast Tracy in his first full-length film “Up the River.â€Tracy worked tirelessly in films during the first half of the decade. If he didn’t have a true classic during this time, it was clear he was comfortable in front of the camera. He was best playing a tough guy, such as in “20,000 Years in Sing Sing†opposite Bette Davis as a con who believes his friends will free him from prison. Yet in the Depression-era romance “A Man’s Castle,†he talks tough but clearly has a soft spot for Loretta Young, even if he can’t bring himself to show it to her. His ability to seamlessly go from tough to vulnerable in one scene was already fully developed at this point, and his work here is beautiful to watch.Once MGM signed Tracy in 1935, his career really took off. In the superb “Fury,†Tracy! ’s embittered and angry Joe Wilson vows vengeance on the lyn! ch mob t hat tried to kill him. The intensity of his characterization is frightening because Tracy is willing to push himself to the edge, effectively showing how a man can change due to circumstances beyond his control and the decisions he makes.As a change of pace, he joined Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow and William Powell in the comedy “Libeled Lady,†playing a newspaper editor who keeps delaying his marriage to Harlow due to a story. That famous Tracy gruffness gets laughs here, showing how easily Tracy could shift between drama and comedy.Tracy displays a human touch mixed with his formidable toughness in the melodrama “San Francisco,†with Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald. Gable may be the lead, but Tracy, as Father Mullin, is most impressive. If the plot involving the two men â€" childhood chums who are now on opposite sides of the moral fence â€" is a bit creaky, the acting is anything but. Tracy earned his first Oscar nod for his performance here.
Then came the back-to-back triumphs of “Captains Courageous†in 1937 and “Boys Town†in 1938. In “Captains,†Tracy plays Manuel, a simple Portuguese fisherman who teaches important lessons to Freddie Bartholomew’s bratty Harvey (above). It’s interesting that this was meant to be a vehicle for Bartholomew but it was Tracy who reaped the praise, and it became one of MGM’s top hits of the year. Although Tracy was uncomfortable with both his looks and the accent (Joan Crawford apparently likened his curly-haired appearance to Harpo Marx, which didn’t please Tracy one bit), he nailed the role. It’s marvelous to watch him slip into that character with his entire demeanor, and he earned an Oscar for his work.Crawford apparen! tly ate her words and co-starred with Tracy in “Mannequin,â€! a rout ine soap opera that was her first box office success in a while, thanks to Tracy.In “Boys Town†(below), Tracy is Father Flanagan, the real-life priest who founded the title community. If the script slips into routine situations and characterizations (Mickey Rooney’s outsized performance is either deliciously over-the-top or wildly annoying, depending on your view), Tracy’s Flanagan provides a steady leader and strong moral center for the story. He won a second consecutive Oscar for his work and would return to the role a few years later for “Men of Boys Town.†
In between these came the popular “Test Pilot†opposite Clark Gable and wife Myrna Loy. Yet again Tracy steals the movie as pilot Gable’s! pal and mechanic, as this was one of MGM’s top hits of 1938.Tracy is a joy to watch in nearly everything he did. If there’s a recurring theme in several of my selections for my favorite actors of the 1930s, it’s the fact that some of the best actors were less interested in Hollywood glamour. Instead, their intense focus was the work. Tracy was always that way, and it’s clearly shows onscreen. That’s why he’s considered one of the best ever. 
Great classic films, best all time movies
Talented but temperamental actress Miriam Hopkins had the reputation of stealing scenes and chewing scenery throughout her prominent career. Her earliest days onscreen were no exception and as a bright and shiny new star at Paramount in the early 1930’s, she did not hide her light under a bushel. Making her film debut in 1930 in Fast and Loose with fellow Paramount pretty Carole Lombard ( Lombard had been in films for over half a decade by then), she had a hit in her second feature The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) co-starring movie novice Claudette Colbert. By her third film, she was the sure fire star of the show, even though Clive Brook and Kay Francis were billed ab! ove her. The film was called 24 Hours, and it was a prime example of pre-Code Paramount, with a great line-up of actors to boot.
Jim and Fanny Towner (Brook and Francis) are a wealthy yet bored couple who are each involved in an extramarital affair. Jim’s alcoholism doesn’t help the problem and he finds solace with his paramour Rosie Duggan (Hopkins), a brassy speak easy singer, who is married to a weak and neurotic small time hoodlum named Tony (Regis Toomey, whose 40 year screen career began the year before this film was made). Tony is on the skids after his wife has the bouncer at the club where she works, toss him out on his keyster. Later that evening, she carries the! falling down drunk Jim home with her to see that he sleeps of! f his bu zz. When Tony comes aknockin’ in the middle of the night, crazed look in his eyes, he accidentally kills the two-timing torch singer, while her sugar daddy is passed out in the other room. He beats it when he realizes what he’s done, as does Jim when he awakes the next morning and realizes he could be blamed for the chanteuse’s demise.
As much as a dramatic showcase 24 Hours is for Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis has the tougher job of giving a more subtle yet still effective performance. To an extent she succeeds, but her character is written so that she has little more to do than look forlorn about the lack of love in both her marriage as well as her affair. Her dramatic gl! ory days would come with her tenure at Warner Brothers a few years later, a working relationship that was both extremely profitable as well as turbulent for the raven haired star. British born Clive Brook worked in silent films for years and made the transition to sound successfully. He looks rather bored in the first half of this film, but I suppose that is his job, as he is bored with his life AND his wife. (Brook made a telling statement about his profession in America when he said: "Hollywood is a chain gang and we lose the will to escape. The links of the chain are not forged with cruelties but with luxuries."). Although given a small role, veteran stage actress Lucille LaVerne gives the audience a visual once-over as Tony’s slovenly and tough-as-nails landlady. I recognized immediately her voice as that of the old hag in Walt Disney’s animated masterpiece Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It was the last performance of her very lengthy caree! r, and the one for which she is most associated, as the animat! ors actu ally used the actress as a visual model for the crone.Based on the novel Twenty-Four Hours by Louis Bromfield, the film is a lost gem, a part of Paramount’s film library, owned by Universal/MCA, most of which are unreleased to the general public. Copies aren’t easy to find and when they are, the quality sometimes has much to be desired, but if you do get a chance to gander the charms of the young Mesdames Hopkins and Francis, I’d jump at it.
at the NYC premiereof All Good Things.It might sound silly to say, but seeing her in the flesh is something of a shock. Kirsten Dunst has been in the movies for many years, and she's made such indelible mark in them, whether as a child vampire, an unknowable teen dream, a disciplined cheerleader, a superhero's better half and so on; one half expects her to flicker when one meets her,as if she's being projected still. But there she was earlier this month at a New York City luncheon honoring her heartbreaking work in All Good Things. Her image did not fade or dissolve but remained steady in medium shot. She ate, she sipped, she walked around the room talking with reporters, friends and peers.There was, however, a close-up. We shook hands and exchanged a few pleasantries. Then she was whisked off, not by a sharp edit, jump cut or ! a quick pan, but by her people taking her to the next reporter. Imagine it!I remind her of the busy luncheon a few days later over the phone. She's already thousands of miles away. This time, she's a disembodied voice which is surprisingly more familiar, like a movie image. "You were so in demand," I say, reminding her of the crowd and well-wishers."You know...," she says, and I do having been there, "A lot of babies to kiss. A lot of hands to shake."
Katie (Kirsten) fixes her husband's bow tie in All Good Things.It's good to hear the smile in her voice and remember her amiable presence in the room that day. Especially considering what the sadness that lingers from her fine work in All Good Things. People have won Oscar nominations for giving much less to their films than she does here, in one of her finest performances. She star! ts out sunny and delightful, the girlish woman we sort of reco! gnize fr om numerous other films but she's soon torn apart by her husband's (Ryan Gosling) dark almost alien soul. The film is based on a true story, the unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Katie Marks (Kirsten), the bride of the heir to a wealthy New York family. I've followed her career enthusiastically for many years, once even referring to her as "the future of the movies" but naturally we start with the present and the subject at hand.It's not the first time she's played a real life character but how did she tackle someone who isn't easy to research, someone who went missing? Here Kirsten cedes most of the credit to her director, who knew the case inside and out.Kirsten: Everything that we knew about [Katie] is in the script. She's not a public figure. Yes, she's a real person but not someone that we know her mannerisms. It was really about making her feel like a whole person that was unravelling, as he was in a way, someone with her own strong motives so! it wouldn't just be The Victim of this crime.
Doomed LoveNathaniel: You have to have the full range of their romance.Kirsten: That was so important. You have to believe these people were completely in love with each other in order for her to stay and to excuse the behavior.Nathaniel: Did anything change a lot from filming to the finished movie? You're acting piecemeal and the movie takes place over a really long span. Did anything surprise you about the finished product?Kirsten: With every movie you kind of never know how exactly it's going to come together. I had an idea but obviously I wasn't there for the last half of the movie. [She pauses briefly, considering] ...I only saw Ryan in drag once on the set so I wasn't sure how all that was going to come together. While we were working we played ! things very differently; we improvised a lot. The scene where ! he asked me to marry him was very different in the script. We got to play around a lot which was exciting. But you never know what it's going to end up being.Nathaniel: I thought it was interesting that this movie opened so close to Blue Valentine, another unravelling Ryan Gosling marriage, and then I remembered that you've worked with Michelle Williams before on Dick. Hollywood is a small world.[more on All Good Things, Eternal Sunshine, and her favorite films after the jump]
Ryan's Disastrous Screen MarriagesKirsten: It is a small world. I'm friendly with Michelle. That's funny. [Pauses considering the two movies] Ryan... he loves a good love story, that one! [laughs]Nathaniel: With some movie stars chemistry is a hit-and-miss thing but I've always felt from your films that you have a dependable connecti! on to your co-stars and scene partners. What do you attribute that to?Kirsten: That's nice of you to say but it isn't always as organic as it can be. You get lucky sometimes. With Ryan, it felt very natural. The way he works as an actor is similar to me. We don't stay in a box like 'We did it this way so that's how we're going to do it for the rest of the scene.' We're both very open to change and were very perceptive of each other. With Ryan it was really easy. You do have to follow in love with them a little [your co-stars]. In this movie it was especially important because otherwise, why does this woman stay?It's not always easy to have that chemistry but you find things in the person you can connect with.Nathaniel: When it's harder with actors -- I'm not going to ask you to name names of course -- is it because the processes are different or is it just a lack of a personal connection?Kirsten: I think it's -- I do think it has to do with the th! e process. When you work with someone who you can be inspired ! by, it e levates it. When you don't have that it kind of dies in a way and then you have to put more effort into it. You're lucky if you work with actors that it feels truthful to respond to, not forced. And I've definitely felt that way in the past. But I think that certain directors are better at choosing actors that match well with each other. And I have feelings about actors and who I think I'd work well with better moreso than others. Nathaniel: So who would you love to work with?Kirsten: [Amused, like she's been caught] And then you ask me that question!!! I can think of directors more. [Curiously, she pauses and doesn't offer up any names.]I'd like to work with Leonardo DiCaprio. I've known him throughout the years and I feel like we'd be good together. Even as brother and sister. I feel like I'd work well with him.Nathaniel: I have a silly question for you. I'm going to name my three favorite single moments from your filmography. You tell me which one you! would reshoot right this second if you had to.
Kirsten: Ummmm... okay. Nathaniel: Here we go.
Kirsten: [Very animated] Oh god. That was so painfully difficult. I HATED doing that. Not the dancing around Tokyo but singing the song. It's the hardest song. It's a cockney dude who sings the song and it's very specific to his voice and the way he speaks. It's a personality song, not ! an easy cover song.I hated singing in the sound sutdio. I was ! singing to myself. I could hear myself. Oof that was not... it was not... [laughter]Nathaniel: I don't know if you know this but your wikipedia page describes you as "an actress, model and singer"Kirsten: That's hilarious.Nathaniel: Are those the three words you'd use to describe yourself?Kirsten: No. Not at all! [laughter] That's funny. I did some kid modelling when I was younger. I've only sung for parts; a singer is someone who puts out an album. That's a very generous description. [Sarcastically] It sounds like I've mastered it all!Nathaniel: You've done some directing, too.Kirsten: I did a short film. I'm playing around with a screenplay with two friends right now. Not something for me to direct but to be in. I definitely want to direct some day. I need to have -- I think when I do that I need to block out a year of just thinking, writing, reading. You can't be focused on which role you're taking next -- I personally can't -- and ! then be "I want to direct. What should I do?" You know what I mean? I've had ideas but i'd have to really focus on just that. That won't be for probably a few years. We'll see what happens.Nathaniel: So no Ben Affleck then for you; everything at once?Kirsten: That's... I couldn't do that the first time out. That would be very stressful. I'd just want to direct.Nathaniel: You started out as a child actress and you're next film is with Chloe Moretz, right? Hick. Kirsten: I'm not committed to that film, actually. That's a rumor.Nathaniel: Oh, okay. But do you ever look at these young actresses like her, Elle Fanning, and think "that was me."Kirsten: Yeah, I do. It's weird. Yes.
The first of many little girl vampires.Nathaniel: You and Chloe have both played teenage vampires.Kirsten: Even Dakota [Fanning] played a vampire in the Twilight mov! ies. Nathaniel: It's a running theme. Kirsten: It is.Nathaniel: One of things that was remarkable about meeting you -- maybe because I've seen you in movies for a long time -- I'm not sure how to phrase this. You're very womanly in persona and your screen persona is very young. When you take a part like All Good Things do you think about it as a transition role. Do you plot out your career like that?Kirsten: I don't. I'm older now is all. I don't think I grow up in that film but what you emanate is different as you grow up. That'll continue to happen. It's more prominent because you've seen me young, as a teenager, adult. This role is pretty adult even though she starts out young. But I'm not like "Now is the time to play adults." It's just more prominent because I was a child actor.
Nathaniel: Yeah, I can see! that. The scene that really impressed me the most [SPOILER] you're looking in the mirror after the abortion. You can feel Katie as a character aging. Not makeup effects. Just you as an actress conveying the weight of that. That's my favorite beat in the performance. [Recognizing Kirsten is displaying some hesitancy about this 'now you're grown up! thing...] I'm not saying that this is your coming out ball -- I mean you've been famous for a long time now -- but it felt like a transition to me.Kirsten: I'm older now and It'll be different from now on, for sure. This is the first movie -- well, it's hard for me because... [Reconsidering] In The Cat's Meow I had to play someone older but she was kind of a childlike adult. I feel like [All Good Things] is definitely a transition into a different way of people looking at me. I think you're absolutely right but it's hard for me to look outside of myself in that way.Nathaniel: I'm sure you're experience f! rom the inside is very different than ours.Kirsten: It ! is.Na thaniel: Well, All Good Things... it's a beautiful performance. My favorite performance of yours was always Crazy/Beautiful and I just love Marie-Antoinette. It's a grossly undervalued movie.Kirsten: You know, people who love Marie Antoinette really love it so I feel like it'll stick around.
5 Best Performances: Virgin Suicides, Crazy/Beautiful, Eternal Sunshine, Marie-Antoinette, All Good Things. Do you agree?Nathaniel: Those are the ones for me, personally, but how about you? Are there any you feel more connected to?Kirsten: [No hesistation] The Virgin Suicides. That was different thing for me at the time. I was allowed to not talk and not be the bubbly girl. I was allowed to show another side of myself that I was even discovering at the time. That was a really cool moment for me to look back on. [Pause]! Usually I see these things more in retrospect than when they're happening.And I loved doing Eternal Sunshine. [Delighted voice] I'm just so proud to be in that movie. It's so many people's favorite film. To be in someone's favorite film is just -- that's what you want. You want to be in great films that are memorable. It's nice when the movie is not on your shoulders, too. It's fun to do a smaller part sometimes.Nathaniel: Well, you've already racked up several great films. Good luck adding to that list.At this point, we wrapped up our interview. Kirsten mentioned Melancholia (the Lars Von Trier picture) again and amusingly we both expressed curiousity about what that final movie will be like. There is only a little bit of information about the movie out there, though Lars did famously mischievously joke that there would be "no more happy endings" (As if the rest of his filmography is rainbows and bliss!) Still, like she said, you never know what somethi! ng is going to end up being. When I called her 'the future of ! the movi es' years ago, I had no idea exactly what that future would hold, for her or Hollywood. It was a vote of confidence and faith that this gifted natural would flourish. She did. There were a few rough spots, sure, as there are in any career. But after a short break, All Good Things marks a major return to a career that's already had more dizzying heights than most 28 year-old actors could dream of.
Kirsten might not want to call All Good Things a transition, and perhaps it is the wrong word. Transition implies something unformed and her Katie Marks is a fully shaped character. It's not a comeback either since she hasn't really been away, but just stuck in that spider web. Let's call it a reminder, then. Let it serve as a reminder to Hollywood of what she's always been capable of doing. May she keep on reminding them.*
Four LionsMichael C. from Serious Film here for a few good laughs.Any future film historians examining the tail end of 2010 will likely mark this year as dark days for screen comedy. Comedy icons Woody Allen and James L Brooks rolled twin gutter balls, while mainstream audiences lined up around the block to watch the star of Taxi Driver do 98 minutes of boner jokes. As if to rub salt in the wound, the Golden Globes saw fit to nominate an inexplicable slate of comedies that were, with few exceptions, unfunny, unexceptional, or in some cases downright awful.
! Still, if you managed to look beyond the large pile of high profile duds there were plenty of laughs to be had in 2010. So here for your consideration is the year in comedy. Not the best movies overall, but purely those films and performances that most moved the needle on the laugh-o-meter.Funniest Leading Man - Most movie funny men neatly divide their comedic and dramatic work. Kevin Kline will be a goofball in A Fish Called Wanda then it's goodbye mustache and hello serious face in Grand Canyon. With his daring work in I Love You Phillip Morris, Jim Carrey managed the best of both worlds delivering one of his fullest performances to date while still scoring big laughs as the relentlessly dishonest con man Steven Russell. Bonus Points: Though his character can barely go a full minute without lying, Carrey is able to let the audience see just how sincerely smitten he is, keeping his character from becoming a one-note huckster.
Funniest Animated Performance - A three-way tie. Toy Story 3's Spanish Buzz Lightyear was a bolt of comic relief in the middle of the nerve-wracking climax. His mating dance for Jessie may be the comedic high point of 2010. The Illusionist managed to resurrect the gentle comic spirit of Jacques Tati in its protagonist, and like the live action version, his animated counterpart provides a movie's worth of warm smiles. Finally, in Tangled [previous posts] Disney gave us one of their best supporting characters in ages with Maximus, the horse worth an ent! ire squadron of royal guards.Funniest Stare - Perched s! omewhere between a barn owl and Hannibal Lecter, Jonah Hill's level gaze is enough to reduce John C Reilly to cold sweats in Cyrus. Hill's oddball performance was the best thing about a film that often felt half-baked.Funniest Parents - There are few roles more thankless than that of the parents in a teen movie. With the pressure off, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson [interview] took Easy A as an opportunity to crank up the zany charm and transform their limited screen time into a series of self-contained comic vignettes. Name another teen comedy where the audiences is hoping for more scenes where the lead goes home to talk it over with her parents.Funniest Movie (From a Certain Angle) - It would be hard to argue with anyone who came out of Noah Baumbach's Greenberg asking, "What the hell was so funny about that?" But if you can summon a little pity for Stiller's filter-less malcontent, then you can see the humor in unleashing this out of control man-child on the gr! eater Los Angeles area.Funniest Movie That Is Not A Comedy - The Social Network is a unquestionably a drama, but it also has one of the highest laugh counts of the year. One could hear the audience actually pausing for a moment to absorb the sheer cleverness of a line before bursting out laughing. Bonus points for being the most quotable movie of the year.
Most Welcome Presence - Welcome back, Michael Keaton! How we missed you. He turned up to get laughs as both The Other Guys oblivious TLC-quoting police captain and as Toy Story's totally not a girl's toy, Ken. Here's hoping Hollywood keeps right on casting this comedic MVP.Funniest Mystery Science Theater Fodder - Attention must be paid to the lovers of unintentional comedy, and those folks received a big gift with The Last A! irbender. M. Night Shyamalan's epic mess hit the sweet spot of! boundle ss silliness told with completely stone-faced solemnity. How many years until live audience-participation showings of Airbender spring up?Biggest Waste of a Great Cast - Date Night. How can you gather a cast that includes Carrell, Fey, Franco, Kunis, Liotta, Fichtner, Wahlberg, Wiig, Ruffalo, and Taraji P Henson and still manage only minimal laughs? Put them through the motions of an exhausted plot nobody cares about involving stolen flash drives, car chases, and mobsters, that's how.Somebody Get This Guy a Script - Last year Flight of the Conchord's Jemaine Clements was wasted in the universally hated Gentlemen Broncos. This year he is wasted in Dinner for Schmucks. One of my fondest 2011 wishes is that Clement gets a vehicle worthy of his priceless comic presence.
Funniest Ensemble - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. From Keiran Culkin's acid wit to Alison Pill's killer deadpan all the way down to the glorious appearance of the Vegan Police this cast is firing on all cylinders. And although everyone and their cousin have written about how Michael Cera needs to find a different role, Cera's comic timing in the title role was still spot on. [previous posts]Biggest Waste of a Great Title - Hot Tub Time Machine. Surely we can use this title again? It's too good to blow it on these limp 80's jokes.Biggest Let Down - I left all my critical faculties at the door and was ready for Robert Rodriguez's Machete to give me the guiltiest guilty pleasure ever, maybe this generation's answer to Kentucky Fried Movie. What I got was a movie that bored despite Lindsay Lohan in a nun's outfit shooting off a machine gun, all with a layer of deadly preachiness on top.The Low Lows of High Concepts - When future generatio! ns ask what killed the romantic comedy I will sadly respond, "! High con cepts." Whether it was a magic wishing fountain in When In Rome, a special marriage proposal day in Leap Year, a sperm sample switcheroo in The Switch, or whatever was going on in Killers, Hollywood is so in love with their big ideas they forgot the little details like likable characters, relatable situations, or romantic chemistry.I'll Pass - Grown Ups, Marmaduke, Little Fockers, The Bounty Hunter, Furry Vengeance...ugh... I can't go on. See you all at Wal Mart's 5.99 bin, or, more likely, the depths of the Netflix instant view selection.The Ten Funniest Movies of 201010. TANGLED One of the big surprises of the year. Despite an advertising campaign to the contrary we finally got an animated film that dropped the ironic Shrek-y pop culture references long enough to tell a sweet, straight-forward story. The result? Disney's best animated film in at least a decade and their funniest since The Emperor's New Groove.
09. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHTIt's getting more attention for Oscar-friendly tears than for laughs, but Lisa Cholodenko's heartfelt script was one of the most consistently entertaining and well observed of the year. We know the characters and their blind spots so well that we laugh and cringe in equal measure as they stumble directly into emotional land mines.08. THE SOCIAL NETWORK"Wait. Let me check your math."07. THE OTHER GUYSAdmittedly this is as hit or miss as most other McKay projects, but for my money the scale tips firmly in the favor of hits. And when the hits are as funny as Whalberg's ballet dancing, Ferrell on the subject of Tuna vs. Lions and Jackson and the Rock going out with a whimper instead of bang then you can't leave it off this list even though the odd gag lands with a thud (Ferrell's pimping past, I'm looking at you).06. I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRISAgain, no! t a perfect film but when a story barrels along with such conf! idence y ou just go along for the ride. Bouyed by Carrey's ferocious performance and strong supporting working by an endearingly dim Ewan McGregor and a sweet Leslie Mann, Phillip Morris plays like the funny, seedier cousin of Catch Me If You Can.
05. GET HIM TO THE GREEKRussell Brand and company were right to think this one-off character had legs. This one was an example of that rare species: the solidly funny mainstream comedy that manages to be raunchy without being mean-spirited. Brand stakes his claim as a Hollywood star while Hill proves he can get laughs as the comic straight man. Plus it also gave the entertainment industry a good spoofing without stretching the material past believability.04. TOY STORY 3Toy Story's tear-jerking scenes may be getting all the attention but the laughs here are just as big as ever. For starters, Mr. Torti! lla Head is an instant classic, and Ken, Big Baby, and a group of method acting toys made for hilarious new additions. The opening fantasy sequence by itself would earn this a place on the list. By my estimation the "death by monkeys" gag alone was worth a half dozen cookie cutter Hollywood comedies.03. SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLDWhile not the masterpiece it's most ardent fans are making it out to be, the films flaws are minor when compared to the film's successes. Whip smart gags, a witty visual style that pops, an ensemble with nary a weak link, and best of all, Edgar Wright's energetic direction which keeps the whole production rollicking along with a spirit of giddy invention. Any serious critical evaluation of the film should be prefaced with the acknowledgement that watching Scott Pilgrim is massive amounts of fun.
02. LOUIS CK: HI! LARIOUSIf you were lucky enough to catch this concert movie of! Louis C K's stand up act as it toured the country last fall then you know what I know, which is that this is possibly the best stand-up special of its kind since Chris Rock exploded with Bring the Pain in '96. Louis CK does that thing that the greats do - actually getting us to see the world with new eyes. His riff on how the miracles of the modern age are wasted on today's whiney consumerists deserves comparison with the classic routines of George Carlin. Oh, and it's clutch-your-side-gasping, fall-out-of-your-chair funny.01. FOUR LIONSMore than any other comedy this year, Christopher Morris' Four Lions took big risks for its laughs. A comedy about a band of inept terrorists plotting attacks like a group of overgrown children playing in a treehouse, Lions is at once shocking and hilarious. Like the racial humor in Blazing Saddles it gets double laughs, one for the joke and a second one for getting away with what it did. In broad strokes these guys aren't much different th! an Waiting for Guffman's incompetent actors, in that the laughs come from the huge gap between their grandiose view of themselves and their stubborn lack of actual ability. There was infinite ways for this material to go wrong, but the infallible test of its success is whether or not we laugh, and I did. Loudly and often.So let's hear it. What made you laugh the hardest this year, and which flicks left you sitting their stone-faced?some tears to balance this out? Check out the Crybaby Countdown: Tearjerk-iest moments of 2010 * 
Fredric March is unknown to most people beyond classic movie fans.He may have been a leading man but was a character actor at heart. He was equally comfortable on stage as he was in front of a movie camera. He had a natural style, used subtlety to his advantage and often could be the best part of a middling movie â€" let alone the best part of a terrific film.If his film roles sometimes veered toward the literate or stately, March most often chose his roles wisely, resulting in an accomplished and impressive body of work.His enduring marriage to actress Florence Eldridge proved to be a fruitful partnership. Although their film work together was infrequent, they were more likely to appear opposite each other o! n stage. In fact, instead of taking a honeymoon after their 1927 marriage, they went on tour with the Theatre Guild’s first traveling repertory company. That was their commitment to acting.It was while playing a parody of John Barrymore in a stage production of “The Royal Family†that March was spotted and signed to Paramount. His first big success was recreating his role for the film version of “The Royal Family of Broadway,†a parody of the Barrymore family. March’s wicked take John Barrymore was a delight and earned the actor his first Oscar nomination.If Universal Studios owned the horror movie genre during the early 1930s, Paramount at least offered up its own response with a superb version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,†with March perfectly embodying the tortured professor (opposite Miriam Hopkins, below). He won an Oscar for this role (famously tying with Wallace Beery), and it was clear March was a man who could slip into any role.
His work was distinguished yet varied and intelligent. He could work with the best material produced on either coast. In 1933 he made a film version of Noel Coward’s “Design for Living†(as rewritten by Ben Hecht) opposite Hopkins and Gary Cooper and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. March had the perfect flair for this kind of sophisticated wit.In “The Barretts of Wimpole,†he beautifully plays Robert Browning opposite Norma Shearer. He even plays the embodiment of Death in the intriguing and well-done “Death Takes a Holiday,†where Death takes on a human form and falls in love.What I find fascinating about March is his ability to take a mediocre or two-dimensional role and find something to do with it. The perfect example is “The Dark Angel,†a creaky melodrama with March and Merle Ob! eron set to marry until he meets tragedy during World War I. While this film was meant to showcase the beautiful Oberon, March’s superb acting at the end finds right emotional balance in the otherwise obvious script. That is tough to do, and I don’t know of many actors who can accomplish this.He could then switch from this type of melodrama to playing Count Vronsky opposite Greta Garbo in “Anna Karenina†to the title role in “Anthony Adverse.â€But my favorite March roles came in 1937. I adore “Nothing Sacred,†the comedy in which he plays a reporter hyping up a story about a supposedly dying Carole Lombard and her tour of New York City. Their interplay is dynamite. Instead of being manic or mugging it up, March nearly plays it straight and gets the laughs. I love the scene when he needs to turn a healthy Lombard into a convincing invalid. He’ll do anything to make this work â€" he’s smart, conniving and somehow loving, all the while making us laugh and be! lieving that his crazy methods are worth the trouble.And then ! there’ s Norman Maine, the drunken, fading movie star in “A Star Is Born†opposite Janet Gaynor (below). He didn’t need to overplay this. In fact, the self-loathing he feels often is conveyed through a facial expression or the manner in which he turns his head. He lets you see why Gaynor would fall for the man, not the actor, and despite his self-destruction, the audience clearly wants to see this man turn his life around. As much as I like Gaynor and James Mason, I often wonder how this film would have worked with 1937 Fredric March and 1954 Judy Garland.
There are more films from this decade that are memorable â€" the title role in “Anthony Adverse†or opposite Katharine Hepburn in John Ford’s intriguing (if not! always successful) “Mary of Scotland.†Fredric March infused every role with an understanding of character and never overplays unless the role calls for it. He’s sensational, and more people should get to know this actor. 
I read somewhere that James Cagney, as a young man, once supplemented his income as a female impersonator.Whether it’s true or not, I like that story. Everyone associates Cagney with being a tough guy. And certainly when you think of Cagney and the 1930s, “gangster†is the word that pops to mind.But that story represents the dimension of Cagney’s talent. He really could do anything. When I tell people he was a pretty darned good song and dance man, they are a little amazed. Sure, they may have heard of “Yankee Doodle Dandy,†but they don’t know what it’s really about.During this decade, he gave audiences a sampling of everything. In 1930, he was on Broadway with Joan Blondell in a successful play ! called “Penny Arcade†when both were brought to Hollywood to make the movie version, renamed “Sinner’s Holiday.â€Warners signed the young dynamo, and in 1931, “The Public Enemy†made him a star. The story chronicles the rise and fall of Tom Powers, a Chicago gangster. Co-starring Jean Harlow and Blondell, with the infamous scene of Cagney pushing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face (below), “Public Enemy†helped define the gangster genre at Warner Brothers. Powers is arrogant and cocky and hungry for power, and Cagney’s infuses the rule with a distinctive swagger and voice that creates a unique character. 
This could have stereotyped Cagney. However, while he played many tough guys in films t! o follow, it didn’t define him.Jump ahead two years to 1933â! €™s “F ootlight Parade,†a musical with Cagney as a stage director. Tough guy in a musical? You bet, with Busby Berkeley providing the eye-popping choreography. It lets you know the tough guy could be something else. He also was a workhorse, making more than 30 movies during the decade, often times with the same co-stars and directors.For example, Cagney teamed with Pat O’Brien in a series of films, including “Here Comes the Navy†and “The Irish in Us.†They usually were on opposing sides of the drama, and I only wish some of these earlier films weren’t so routine.In “G Men,†though, Cagney turns the tables on his gangster image by playing a man raised in the underworld but decides to join forces with the FBI when his buddy is killed. This is exciting stuff, with Cagney as magnetic as ever. He then received strong notices for playing Bottom in Warner’s all-star production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.â€In 1938, he took on Rocky Sullivan in ! “Angels With Dirty Faces,†one of his best films of the decade. Sullivan is a gangster while his boyhood pal (played by O’Brien) is a priest, with the latter trying to keep Sullivan from corrupting the Dead End Kids (below with Cagney). Perhaps my favorite scene comes when Sullivan manages to escape being gunned down in a small shop. You can see the wheels in Sullivan’s mind turning quickly as he hatches a plan. The desperation is there but so is the adrenaline, and Cagney plays it to perfection. 
Perhaps Cagney’s greatest strength was finding the emotion that would connect even his worst characters to the audience, creating an understanding and sometimes empathy. Throughout “Angels,†there’s a part o! f you that hopes Sullivan will come clean, and the thanks for ! this goe s to Cagney.The full appreciation of Cagney’s work comes at the end of his career, when you add in “Yankee Doodle Dandy,†his deepening shades when playing gangsters in “White Heat†and “Love Me or Leave Me,†his superb portrayal of Lon Chaney in “Man of a Thousand Faces,†and the comedic flourish of the manic “One Two Three.â€But it was during the 1930s that Cagney became an indelible star â€" distinctive in voice and manner, yet talented beyond the gangster genre that defined him. 
Patty and the NYC premiere this summerEarlier this month I met with Patricia Clarkson to discuss another fine year in one of the most pleasurable of modern character actor filmographies. Hers. I was waiting for the right opportunity to share it with you, and since Cairo Time is out on DVD, Academy voters are busy weighing the various Best Actress options, and today is Patty's 51st birthday, it was high time.Through an unfortunate scheduling snafu I was less prepared when I met her than I am accustomed to being. I apologized with a wee warning that I'd be winging it. I bring this up because, as many of will remember, I have closely clocked her career. She came in at #2 in my 2005 countdown "Actresses of the Aughts" (yes we should revisit that list now that the decade has wrapped) and because I just want to share the unedited transcript! . She was just so delightful to talk to. The punctuations and descriptions are my own of course to convey the flavor of the conversation. Happily, she's as vivacious and fun to interview as she is to watch onscreen. Our conversation started by chatting about the NYC premiere of Cairo Time this past summer.Nathaniel: Really enjoyed the movie. We didn't get a chance to talk afterwards at the banquet but you seemed very buoyant and happy that evening.Patty: Yes. It was very nice night and it had been a long journey with the film. So... just up until then my mother and sister were in town. It was just a wonderful night to share it with my friends and my family [pause] ...and strangers.[Laughter] Nathaniel: Strangers like me sitting at the corner table. But it was wonderful to see you carry a whole movie for change.Patty: It's a nice thing. It's rare. You know, I've been the female lead in a few things but it's rare to really kind of carry a film -- e! specially for me but it's even rare for women in general. We'r! e always sharing top billing with somebody, you know what I mean? Or we're often the supporting people. It's beautiful that Ruba [Ruba Nadda the writer/director] wrote a film with a woman, almost 50, in the lead. That's how she wanted it. I'm very thankful to her for that always. 
Patricia as Juliette.Nathaniel: This character ["Juliette" in Cairo Time] has a really slow burn. I mean the character arc is very gradual.Patty: Very! So gradual. It's really truly one of the most deceptively difficult parts I've ever played in my career. Not only because you're in every frame and you're shooting every day all day. But emotionally, oddly, it was... [her voice trails off thinking of the work]. It's a very, very quarter-inch by quarter-inch slow burn progression.Nathaniel: In a situation like that do you have to have a lot of trus! t that the editing, for example, would bear you out since there's not that one scene? If you compare it to something like Far From Heaven where you can play a hairpin turn in the character that's just so devastating.Patty: Right. Well that's also such a more forward character. This is... she [Ruba] wrote a very passive protagonist -- I found it very beautiful -- a very setback reluctant, for lack of a better world, woman at times. Antithetical to me and often to many characters I've played which are very forward and very gregarious and very present. This is a woman who is reserved, truly reserved. But I still think lovely and approachable in her own way. Nathaniel: One thing I loved about the movie was the costume design. Patty: Beautiful dresses, yes.Nathaniel: They went along with the gradual arc so well. And the resolution of the movie -- those final scenes are just beautifully played.Patty: Oh, thank you. It's the courage that Ruba had! to really trust that those scenes would work, that they'd sta! y with t he film and take this very, very subtle intimate --no bells and whistles! -- film and be around for the end and have the payoff. Most of the people I've seen have gotten it. They took the journey and were moved and transported. So...
Patricia & Alexander Siddig in the final scenes of Cairo TimeNathaniel: Would you reteam with Alexander Siddig when you could let 'er rip more?Patty: IN ANYTHING! There will be a sequel to Cairo Time. And it's just me and Alexander on a train. I've already written it. Ruba doesn't know about it but I've written it. And neither does Alexander.[Much laughter]Nathaniel: Speaking of actors who you don't get to get to see do leads enough...Patty: He's such a beautiful stunning man. Ruba's next two projects are with Alexander and me. He's the lead in Ruba's next movie in Jordan, a ! beautiful story of a man whose daughter goes missing. And Ruba has another film for me that we'll shoot next January, a year from now. It's very exciting.We're going to keep going with Ruba. [Laughter]
Whatever Patty Works... is magicNathaniel: Speaking of writer/directors... you've done two films with Woody Allen. Patty: Yes, yes. I have high hopes for him; lovely unknown man.Nathaniel: [laughter]Patty: You know, it's an actor's dream to work with him and he doesn't disappoint. It was wonderful and I loved those parts that I got to play. Vicky Cristina Barcelona wasn't a large part but what was there was lovely and then Whatever Works was such a delicious divine part.Nathaniel: You were the highlight.Patty: Well... (giving credit away) Marietta! It's kind of a part I dreamed of playing, y! ou know, just a big broad great southern lady.Nathaniel: With W oody, you hear all sorts of contradictory things about him on the set. Some actors say he never speaks to them.Patty: He's easy going but he's not chatty. This is why I really adore him. It's a very indulgent business; we are coddled and pampered so much. Woody just doesn't do that. It's all about the work. He doesn't care about your personal life. You show up. He wants you to be professional, know your lines, know what you're doing. Do your homework. He shows up and starts shooting at 9 AM, ready to go. He doesn't want drama. He doesn't want any of that. It's all about the work. I love that. I love that way of working.Nathaniel: When you have to do a part that's heavily exposition as some supporting parts are, like in Shutter Island.Patty: Yeah?Nathaniel: How much of a challenge is that? It seems to me, from an outside perspective as I'm not an actor, that that would be both less rewarding and more difficult.Patty: Well, Yes. At times it c! an be. But, remember, here I am. I'm working with Martin Scorsese who is divine and Leo... the two of them. They're a match made in heaven and they really make the best of an expositional circumstances. And it actually turned out to be, like, a real ride I had to take with that character and with Leo. And the cave. And my really ugly schmatte dress! And my wig![Much laughter]You know it's like 'AAAAAHHH TROLL LADY!' 
"People tell the world you're crazy and all your protests to the contrary just confirm what they're saying."It was -- it ended up being surprisingly difficult in good ways. It did challenge me. Leo is a deeply committed and passionate actor. And so is Marty. Both of them are like powerhouses coming at you. There's nothing laid back and cool and simple and easy. It's like [makes whooshing noise]... it's a conducive ! environment to do good and hopefully great work. It is about a! bout the work also. With great directors, it always is.Nathaniel: High Art.Patty: Great director.Nathaniel: Lisa Cholodenko is having such a good year.Patty: Beautiful year, yeah. I just saw her the other night at the Gothams.Nathaniel: Her first couple movies, like High Art, were heavy and this one is really light and funny.Patty: Although it's incredibly moving.Nathaniel: Did you know she had that in her?Patty: Yes, of course. She's just gifted. Great directors can just do anything. She has a marvelous sense of humor. She's very intelligent and I think she can -- because even in The Kids Are All Right there's pathos. I mean, there is. It's nuanced and hysterically funny but there is, you know, still depth of emotion that will always be in her work.Nathaniel: You yourself have a real gift for comedy. One of the things I would love to see you do, if they even made them anymore, is a rapid fire screwball comed! y.Patty: OHMYGOD. I dream of that. You know, I dream of standing in a room in a smart sexy suit or sitting on a couch with my legs crossed chatting with George Clooney... rapid fire. Yes! [laughter]Nathaniel: You get to do little hints of that but I would love a big screwball.Patty: I do but I haven't done a kind of great balls-out real romantic comedy.
Tucci & Clarkson with Liza (!) at a Cairo Time event two weeks ago.Nathaniel: You were a highlight of Easy A this year.Patty: We had so much fun, Stanley and I.Nathaniel: You have great chemistry. Patty: We do. Stanley and I have known each other for so long. We're very close in a really great way. We just have a cool friendship, we do. And we're able to modify it slightly and bring it on as, like, a married c! ouple or whatever. We can take our friendship and mold it into! what we need it to be whether that's for Blind Date or Easy A. Nathaniel: I find in a lot of movies, a lot of times, the parent/child thing... you can't always see how the child would come from those parents.Patty: Yes.Nathaniel: And in that movie. You and Stanley were just -- it's like you genetically gifted all of your humor to her.Patty: [Laughter]
Easy Mother and Grade A DaughterNathaniel: Because she had that same sort of lively...Patty: Well, she is -- Emma Stone is sublime. You know, I hate this expression but she is a star. She is in the best sense. She's so beautiful and so multi-talented. She can do drama, comedy, action -- she's doing Spider-Man now. She's just really on her way and she should be. She should be. She's one of those new fabulous girls and she deserves to be.Nathaniel:! In terms of your public persona... do you get recognized a lot?Patty: It depends on the city. If I'm in New York, oh god yes. If I'm in New Orleans oh god yes. In LA , yes. If I'm in Omaha, no. [Laughter]Nathaniel: You've played such a wide range of roles. What do you think the perception of you is, generally?Patty: I think it's shifted somewhat. [Reconsidering...] You know, I don't know.Nathaniel: You don't think they come to you with any preconceived notions?Patty: No. I think... Like in New York. It's like "oh, we love you. You're a New York actor." It's lovely. They claim me. 'Claim away, honey! As long as I keep working.'I think people just think of me as, you know, just an actor. They're very flattering and complimentary most of the time. I'm trying to think -- I don't think anybody has ever come up to me and said "I don't like you" but there's always tomorrow.[Laughter]Nathaniel: One of my favorite parts of yours in E! legy.Patty: Ohhhh, Isabel Coixet. Look at the extraordi! nary dir ectors I've worked with! She's a stunning woman. She speaks five languages. She's a genius. She's one of the smartest people I've ever met and I have really smart friends. Like Rich Greenberg who is a genius. But she's one of a kind. I love that film. It's kind of taken on a different life, a new -- well, it doesn't have a cult following exactly but I have had a lot more people talking to me about it now than when it came out.Nathaniel: It's one of your fullest characters I think. You were just giving us a lot of information about the character's life in a handful of scenes. Are there any other roles you wish would be rediscovered?Patty: You know, I wish more people would see Blind Date. I know it's not for everybody but I love that film. I don't know if you've seen it?Nathaniel: ... that one I haven't so I'm a little embarrassed that that's the one you name-check.[Laughter]Patty: Noooo. You'll see it at some point. You can rent it. I hope p! eople rediscover that. That's the one I hope for.Nathaniel: I think the first time I saw you in a lead was [forgetting...] oh god...Patty: The Dying Gaul.Nathaniel: The Dying Gaul!
Patty's first top billingPatty: Beautiful film. [Craig Lucas] is a sublime man. Deeply gifted, beautiful writer, and beautiful eye. He should be writing and directing. It's a wonderful film and that's been discovered in some ways. More people have seen it and say 'I love that movie... it's got that strange title...'Nathaniel: Yeah, you had to prompt me too. Patty: Yeah. But oh that white bikini. oh my god. [embarrassed high voice] WHOOOOO!!! [laughter break]Nathaniel: What's next for you Patty?Patty: Not a white bikini !!![more laughter]Nathaniel: Oh come on, you look pretty great in that dress i! n Cairo Time.Patty: Beautiful dresses. What's next for ! me? I ju st did another movie with the Easy A director. This is a movie starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake [Friends With Benefits]. And a small part in Lone Scherfig's new movie called One Day starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. I play Jim's dying mother. It's me doing British which is very intimidating in front of entire British cast and crew. I thought 'oh my god I am going to be dying by the end of this character.' But it's good to be frightened at 50 and it's good that people keep upsetting the apple cart.Nathaniel: It was a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for bearing with me.Patty: You didn't seem to be winging it.Nathaniel: Well I've been watching since High Art.
Patty at the New Yorker Festival in October.**** And with that we said our goodbyes.Did you see Patty's triple this yea! r? It's actually a quadruple as she had a role in Legendary but that one, alas, slipped by me. Which was your favorite of her recent roles? If you haven't seen Cairo Time, queue it up. But just make sure to turn off your phones. It's one of those movies that requires your full attention, all the better to appreciate Patty's careful modulation of that slow burn arc.But then, you should always pay close attention to Patty's work. She rewards audiences again and again.* Leonardo DiCaprio Stanley Tucci 