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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

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Glimmer of Baldwin Thing

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Somebody said something the other day about Alec Baldwin being exceptional in Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated (Universal, 12.25). The vested parties are saying this, of course, with the post-marital comedy expected to start screening for critics sometime after Thanksgiving. A non-vested writer-director guy told me this afternoon that he can "absolutely confirm" that Baldwin is the shit in Meyers' film and a prime candidate for Best Supporting Actor. A vested party who nonetheless tends to be blunt said Baldwin is "a lay-down hand for a nom, Jeff. And he could win. Total breakout performance. Bet on it."

Whatever the truth, it hit me suddenly that it's taken Baldwin 15 years to recover from the downish career dents he suffered in the '90s -- sacrificing a movie-star career and the Jack Ryan franchise for a chance to play Stanley Kowalski in a Broadway Streetcar, the messy divorce from Kim Basinger and the daughter tape, getting thicker and thicker, developing the angry guy rep, being called "the Bloviator" by the N.Y. Post, etc. -- and to find his kwan and ease into a nice smooth groove over the last two or three years with 30 Rock and whatnot, and that some kind of favorable karma thing is kicking in now with his acting in It's Complicated and co-hosting the Oscars with Steve Martin and so on. I'm just feeling a little vibe telling me it's Baldwin's time right now and that the winds are favoring.

The non-vested director-writer said that "besides Baldwin, It's Complicated is also a very strong showing for Steve Martin. A nice rebound after the last Panther movie and something more in tune with his talents. Part of the fun of having Baldwin and Martin host the Oscars is the possibility of one or both of them being nominated. It's a strong film and Universal will have a much-needed crowd pleaser. Meryl could be a lock as well for Best Actress, with the Julia Child performance being pushed for supporting."

The only thing that gives me concern is my bedrock certainty that however satisfying and entertaining her films may be on a certain level, Nancy Meyers doesn't want to be anything more than Nancy Meyers. She doesn't seem to want to push herself up to the next level and be the James L. Brooks of the '80s and early '90s (i.e., before he lost it). I've said this before, but she can't stop making movies about people with money who have shiny copper pots hanging in the kitchen.

When She's 23 or 24...<< previous | next >>Hurt + Commentary

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 20, 2009 at 1:52 PM

comment #1

George Prager says ...

Only by making films that are completely divorced from reality can she lay claim to being the next James L. Brooks.

Posted by George Prager at November 20, 2009 2:36 PM

comment #2

George Prager says ...

I might have to actually go see this movie, copper pots and all.

Posted by George Prager at November 20, 2009 2:38 PM

comment #3

dangovich says ...

I've said this before, but she can't stop making movies about people with money who have shiny copper pots hanging in the kitchen..

...And who bathe in claw foot tubs.

Posted by dangovich at November 20, 2009 2:38 PM

comment #4

dangovich says ...

George, don't go, you'll only encourage her.

Posted by dangovich at November 20, 2009 2:39 PM

comment #5

zyg says ...

imdb lists 84 acting credits for baldwin.

glad to hear he's finally gotten a 'total breakout' role. or, would it be more precise to say he's finally delivered a 'total breakout performance'?

either way, i'm betting on it/him

Posted by zyg at November 20, 2009 3:16 PM

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

I thought it was an only half-decent film that Maria Bello's sexiness absolutely stole, but Baldwin did get an Oscar nod for THE COOLER only six years ago. Could we consider that to be the beginning of his kwan?

Posted by BurmaShave at November 20, 2009 3:45 PM

comment #7

jesse says ...

I haven't seen the movie, obviously, so maybe it's worthy of Baldwin, Martin, and Streep, but think about the prospect of someone else writing and directing a movie with these stars and even this same premise, and how much better it would probably seem. It doesn't even have to be a heavy-hitter; maybe the guy who did The Family Stone (what's he up to now, anyway? That movie did pretty well, though I feel like I know a lot of people who strongly dislike it for some reason). Someone less smug and self-congratulatory and more capable of self-editing than Meyers.

I want to think that anything with these three actors front and center -- maybe even especially now that they're all well into middle age -- would be worth seeing. But then, I would've thought anything with Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, and Cameron Diaz would've been worth seeing, too, and The Holiday is one of the worst movies I've seen in the past ten years. It didn't even make that much money (about as much as Family Stone, with more star power), so I'm not sure why these talented people want to go work with Meyers, who has now written two movies in a row where characters in the movie essentially, in some form or another, tell each other that the movie itself is really well-written!

Posted by jesse at November 20, 2009 4:26 PM

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

jesse, WHAT WOMEN WANT made about 180 million domestic, the biggest non directing hit of Gibson's career. SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE made about 120 mil, and bagged Diane Keaton a comeback Oscar nod. That's all just this decade. Nancy Meyers isn't ever going to be in director jail, no matter how odious she may be at times.

Posted by BurmaShave at November 20, 2009 5:19 PM

comment #9

jesse says ...

Well, I wasn't asking why anyone was bankrolling her movies; rather, why anyone with a lot of talent would want to be IN them. But, yeah, I guess she's made a bunch of hits, so point taken, actors like hits.

Posted by jesse at November 20, 2009 6:16 PM

comment #10

the400blows says ...

It seems to me Woody Allen has made a career of making films about rich people with shiny copper pots and pans. So if he can do it, why shouldn't Myers?! I suppose it's fitting that Diane Keaton has been in both an Allen and Myers film. I liked The Family Stone.

Posted by the400blows at November 20, 2009 6:16 PM

comment #11

The Winchester says ...

It's opening wide on Christmas, it's competition is Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, and Avatar. This movie will make a mint.

I second the motion of hoping it will be more akin to Something's Gotta Give than The Holiday.

Posted by The Winchester at November 20, 2009 9:43 PM

comment #12

lawnorder says ...

THE COOLER is probably one of the most underrated films of the decade - and that was definitely the beginning of his "kwan" or return to form. And he should have won that year - he was far better than the overhyped Tim Robbins in MYSTIC RIVER. Remember, Baldwin had actually been reduced to doing HOLLYWOOD SQUARES before he came riding back on the heat of THE COOLER - and soon after that he, he was doing classy supporting turns in THE AVIATOR and THE DEPARTED, etc.

Posted by lawnorder at November 20, 2009 9:44 PM

comment #13

arturobandini2 says ...

Don't forget the nadir of Baldwin's career dent -- Dessarae Bradford's I Fucked Alec Baldwin In His Ass (In A Hot, Sweaty, Nasty Sex Romp)." If only I'd ordered the bumper sticker:

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/06/22/i-fed-alec-baldwin-i.html

Posted by arturobandini2 at November 20, 2009 10:56 PM

comment #14

Sistergirltales.blogspot.com says ...

I read the script and thought it was hilarious. One of the best reads this year.

The movie is more Something's Gotta Give than the Holiday.

I don't know what happened with the Holiday. I couldn't bare it. Five minutes into Diaz's "performance" I almost walked out.

I do love SGG though. Jack and Diane were excellent and I appreciate the house porn.

Posted by Sistergirltales.blogspot.com at November 20, 2009 11:00 PM

comment #15

Phreaker says ...

Holiday was better than Something's Gotta Give, way better. It was annoying in that same way all of her movies are annoying but at least it wasn't about propping up an older woman's ego by spending the whole movie proving why she's so much better than everyone else. I'm hoping this movie ain't that - maybe Meryl can save it and make it make sense the way she did with Devil Wears Prada.

Posted by Phreaker at November 21, 2009 7:45 AM

comment #16