Email here for additions & corrections.

Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

March 5

Alice in Wonderland

Brooklyn's Finest

The Secret of Kells

March 12

The Exploding Girl

She's Out of My League

Stolen

SuicideGirls Must Die!

Tapes from the Script

March 17

Mid-August Lunch

Strangely Believe It...Not

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Two fascinating articles have emerged about how Stephen Daldry's The Reader might (i.e., seriously could) win the Best Picture Oscar with a faint corresponding idea that Slumdog Millionaire has peaked. I don't believe it for a second.

The most affecting is a thoughtful, wonderfully written piece by Roger Ebert. It is so full of primal truth and righteous reflection, I feel, that reading is more stirring and intriguing than watching The Reader itself.

The other is a total stretcharoonie by Entertainment Weekly's Nicole Sperling and Christine Spines. It basically suggests/implies that (a) Harvey Weinstein is on a roll, (b) his luck is back, (c) voting for The Reader is a chance to offer a goodbye hug for the the late, much beloved Reader producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, and (d) the Academy's old Jews are voting en masse for it.

"In truth, The Reader remains a long shot in the Best Picture race," Sperling and Spiones admit, "but if there's one thing Hollywood has learned over the past two decades, it's never to underestimate Harvey Weinstein. Love him or hate him (or both), he made the Oscar races exciting. Now Weinstein has another chance to relive his glory days, to slap the backs, to point the fingers, to be the P.T. Barnum of the Academy circus one more time. '

''It's the sportsman in me,' he says. 'I like the fight.' We've noticed."

DreamWorks/Disney<< previous | next >>Oxford Square

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 6, 2009 at 1:37 PM

comment #1

Chicago48 says ...

Very possible it could happen.

Posted by Chicago48 at February 6, 2009 2:22 PM

comment #2

The Winchester says ...

i gotta be the guy to say it: Reader won't win. It wasn't nominated for Best Editing.

Posted by The Winchester at February 6, 2009 2:29 PM

comment #3

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if a mediocre, dull film like THE READER beats out Slumdog and other Oscar favourites.

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at February 6, 2009 2:33 PM

comment #4

/3rtfu11 says ...

i gotta be the guy to say it: Reader won't win. It wasn't nominated for Best Editing.

That's good news for Milk and Curious Case because they are - of course along with trash pet superstar.

Posted by /3rtfu11 at February 6, 2009 2:40 PM

comment #5

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Nice, heartfelt piece of writing by Ebert...but I still feel the movie is utterly contrived bullshit.

BEGIN SPOILERS

The movie doesn't deal with "why" Winslet's character would be more racked with guilt over her illiteracy than being responsible for multiple human deaths. I'm normally not one for pop psychology in movies, but this is so far off base from a normal human reaction, the film really needed to deal with her character's decision in more depth, or at least let us glimpse into her previous "scarring" encounters with illiteracy. Something.

Because as it stands, being more ashamed of not reading than watching people die? Well...I think her prison sentence is entirely warranted. And unlike Ebert, I don't believe the boy is obligated to say anything during her trial.

Furthermore, I don't really see how it was abundantly clear to him that she couldn't read. Sure, a lot of signs pointed that way, but how would he know for sure? How would anybody know for sure that her failed attempts to read and/or write on the stand during trial wasn't just a cunning ruse by her to reduce her sentence?

END SPOILERS

Overall, some nice pieces of acting, but far too many inconsistencies in the script (esp. the middle part) sinks this one. I don't even think it's a good movie, let alone a great one. The fact that this got a BP nomination over the likes of Che, The Wrestler, Wall*E, and a film that may or may not rhyme with The Shark Height is pretty ridiculous. But nothing new for the Academy.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 6, 2009 2:46 PM

comment #6

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

CitizenKaned, CHE didn't get a BP nomination because it came out too late to be eligible for the Oscars, unless I'm mistaken.

I have NOT met anybody who liked The Reader. It's an easily forgettable movie and qill quickly fade away into obscurity before you know it.

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at February 6, 2009 2:50 PM

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

THE SHARK HEIGHT is the best movie title I've ever heard. CitizenKaned whip up a treatment and start pitching that baby.

Posted by BurmaShave at February 6, 2009 2:50 PM

comment #8

LuckyWilbury says ...

Ebert is actually hoping for Milk to pull off a surprise BP win, according to his pull quote in the Focus ad right here on HE: "My heart says 'yes!'"

Maybe he's hedging his bets by drumming up support for The Reader.

Posted by LuckyWilbury at February 6, 2009 2:57 PM

comment #9

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

I think the general treatment will center around the fact that Bruce's fin was always a bit on the short side, so he had to go around messing with Brody, Quint, Hooper, et al.

Deaf - Pretty sure Che was eligible. It had a qualifying run in December before it hit any pay-per-view or on-demand channels, so I don't see why not?

Of course, the fact that nobody saw it outside of NY and LA didn't help matters, and even its penetration in those two cities was pretty shallow.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 6, 2009 3:00 PM

comment #10

Colin says ...

I think ultimately Milk will pull off the "upset". I don't like saying upset because I'm frankly annoyed the Slum Millionaire co. thinks it deserves an Oscar.

Penn & Van Sant will be too much for the Academy to vote for something else.

Posted by Colin at February 6, 2009 3:01 PM

comment #11

Aladdin Sane says ...

Speaking of The Reader, man, they're really paying the bills for you this month eh Jeff?

Posted by Aladdin Sane at February 6, 2009 3:29 PM

comment #12

The Winchester says ...

"I'm frankly annoyed the Slum Millionaire co. thinks it deserves an Oscar."

See, that's the thing I liked BEST about Slumdog, was that it never felt, at any moment, that it was Oscar baiting or deserved Oscars. I viewed it simply as solid storytelling, and on that level, it far exceeds Benjamin Button, Reader, and Frost/Nixon. (Haven't seen Milk yet, but I feel that movie balances on the fence of Oscarbation, I could be- and hope to be- wrong on this point).

Posted by The Winchester at February 6, 2009 3:49 PM

comment #13

Colin says ...

I'm not referring to the story as "oscarbaiting" just the way the Producers and critics have acted about the film.

Posted by Colin at February 6, 2009 4:06 PM

comment #14

GiveMeTheMapScott says ...

first off, i loved the piece by Ebert...the man has always been a huge influence on me in the realms of movie-going and just writing in general. And I agree that it is not a "Holocaust" movie

but i have to say that Reader has no shot....in my experienced Oscar prognostication. This thing is Slumdog's to lose and I disagree that it has peaked. Obviously no one can say for sure because none of us know for sure. Even if you know hundreds of academy members, how will you know they are telling the truth about what they voted for???? I think that the reasons given in the "stretcharoonie" article are why it got NOMINATED, not why it might win.

Like winchester, the only nom I have yet to see is Milk and honestly none of them have lit me on fire. In my world, Best Picture would go t The Wrestler with a special Runner-Up prize for WALL-E because it did something different, made old things new again and was ALMOST as aggressively brilliant as Aronofsky's film.

Posted by GiveMeTheMapScott at February 6, 2009 6:52 PM

comment #15

bryce_david says ...

Shoot me but I like The Reader. As a mood piece it's beautiful. The Ralph Fiennes scenes are not as powerful as the beginning and some of the "surprises" could have been, dramatically speaking, handled better but it's a gorgeous film to look at and I agree with Ebert's assessment. And it was produced by two beloved men, S. Pollack and A. Minghella so I wouldn't be surprised if it wins.

Posted by bryce_david at February 6, 2009 7:14 PM

comment #16

MathewM says ...

Roger Ebert gave Spawn 3 and 1/2 stars. Based on his review I paid money to see this POS. Walked out after about a half an hour. This is the only movie I paid to see and walked out on (though Jimmy Hollywood was close). I haven't taken Roger Ebert seriously sense this event. He's articulate and thoughtful but all over the map as far as film quality is concerned.

Posted by MathewM at February 7, 2009 11:22 AM