042. After Midnight

042. (29 Jan) After Midnight (1989, Jim Wheat & Ken Wheat) 33



Anthology horror doesn't get much more boring than this. Each segment is competently made, but drawn out way longer than necessary. "The Old Dark House" is like watching paint dry. "A Night on the Town" is barely more exciting, even with a violent homeless man and a pack of killer dogs. A sassy Marg Helgenberger makes "All Night Messenger" the high point, but it fizzles out. The wraparound sucks, doomed to repeat its lameness for all time.

031. Staying Together

031. (25 Jan) Staying Together (1989, Lee Granted) 55



This testosterone-fueled family drama runs high with emotion and sentimentality. It's occasionally about as tense and melodramatic as coming of age films get, though its focus on three brothers keeps it from feeling as personal as it should. It's nevertheless a melancholy look at middle-class life with parents who can't communicate and kids who can't control their emotions. Dermot Mulroney shows genuine star power here while Melinda Dillon is absolutely outstanding in a supporting role.

020. Wild Orchid

020. (21 Jan) Wild Orchid (1989, Zalman King) 45



Cinematic smut doesn't get much more shameless or gratifying. Though the film irresponsibly asserts that only the decadence of Rio de Janeiro can sexually liberate this poor Midwestern girl, it undeniably makes an impact with its beautiful photography of the colorful locales and its erotic imagery. There's more than a little misogyny in the film's insistence that women are absolutely begging for it, but in turn Mickey Rourke personifies the male beast. This loses some steam after Carré Otis goes to bed with Bruce Greenwood, completing her sexual journey roughly an hour into the film. Fortunately, its prurience remains as Rourke has his own issues to work out. The oddest bit here is how exploitative the film is of everyone's body but Rourke's, barely showing his torso in the film's famous final sex scene.

326. Elves

326. (24 Dec) Elves (1989, Jeffrey Mandel) 16



My hope that this was just a Gremlins rip-off and not a hackneyed creature feature with Nazi experiments and incest got dashed quickly. Much of the first half of the film is just watching teenage girls angst and giggle about boys. Then whenever the elves show up, they look too embarrassingly cheap to show for more than a few seconds. Zany as the plot may be, nothing about this actually works and it's only horrifyingly boring.

The Living Daylights (1987) vs. Licence to Kill (1989)

Both 007 films are directed by John Glen and star Timothy Dalton as the famous British spy James Bond. (SPOILERS)

The Living Daylights

The rap sheet. 

The Living Daylights has a 74% rating on RottenTomatoes.com. It received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Fantasy Film, and it won a BMI Film Music Award and a Motion Picture Sound Editors (USA) one. Licence to Kill has a 73% rating on RottenTomatoes.com. It received a Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture. 

Winner: The Living Daylights 

The setup. 

In Licence to Kill, James Bond goes rogue to avenge the attack of his friend by a Latin American drug dealer (Robert Davi). In The Living Daylights, Bond must stop an arms dealer (Joe Don Baker) with the help of a cellist (Maryam d'Abo). 

Winner: Licence to Kill 

Licence to Kill

The execution. 

Both films have the standard Bond treatment - guns, gadgets, explosions, and chase sequences. The Living Daylights has a more exciting opening sequence, a key double-cross, and a better romance. Licence to Kill has revenge, tropical locations, and death by shark attack. 

Winner: The Living Daylights 

The ending. 

In Licence to Kill, Bond blows up the dealer's lab facility, and he kills the villain with his recovering friend's cigarette lighter. In The Living Daylights, Bond kills the arms dealer, and celebrates the cellist's world tour in a way accustomed to him. Of course, he gets the girl at the end of both films.
Winner: The Living Daylights 

The wild card. 

The Living Daylights has Jonathan Rhys-Davies as a foreign ally to Bond. Licence to Kill has Benicio del Toro as the villain's main henchman. 

Winner: Licence to Kill 

The Living Daylights

Winner: The Living Daylights beats Licence to Kill 3-2

Ratings: The Living Daylights - ***1/2, Licence to Kill - ***

177. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

177. (28 Aug) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989, William Shatner) 37



Worst Picture of 1989 seems a tad harsh, but this strained, cheap-looking Star Trek is a massive disappointment following The Voyage Home. The Final Frontier's most obvious failing is an outrageously slow set-up. An elaborate, but completely underwhelming hostage situation takes up much of the film's first hour. By the time it's revealed the film is in fact about searching for the meaning of existence, it's no surprise this ill-conceived sequel is obliviously rehashing Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Numerous stunts and silly gags serve to distract from poor plotting, but even at its best the film is never less than tedious.

175. Heart of Dixie

175. (27 Aug) Heart of Dixie (1989, Martin Davidson) 30



I can't imagine a more shallow premise for a movie that's seemingly about racism and civil rights, as a handful of sorority sisters occasionally experience the slightest bit of social consciousness between boy problems. Many late '80s and early '90s films tried to capitalize on '50s nostalgia, but few do it as incompetently as Heart of Dixie. Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen, Phoebe Cates and Treat Williams are perhaps too iconic as '80s screen stars to fit into 1957 Alabama. But Martin Davidson never establishes a particularly hostile atmosphere where racism is creating a divide, making this a character drama without any interesting characters.

159. The Forgotten One

159. (19 Aug) The Forgotten One (1989, Phillip Badger) 47



This haunted house story has some nice touches, but it fizzles out rather quickly. Initially, it's easy to sympathize with Terry O'Quinn as he struggles to understand the spirit residing in his home. Then he becomes romantic with the ghost, which shifts the film's tone from spooky to awkward. Kristy McNichol, playing a neighbor with her own feelings for O'Quinn, is the film's most likable presence.

143. The Abyss

143. (29 Jul) /The Abyss/ (1989, James Cameron) 79



As anxiety-producing as ever, The Abyss has such fantastic set-up and payoffs, it's hard not to appreciate it just for its scripting. But it's the visceral intensity that makes this such a singular experience. How Mikael Salomon didn't win an Oscar for his cinematography continues to astound me.

My Left Foot (1989) ***1/2

Many years ago I came to the conclusion that Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor of his generation.  His ability to fully immerse himself in whatever role he is playing is legendary.  When watching one of his films I don’t see Day-Lewis, I see his character.  The sheer intensity of his portrayals is gripping and spellbinding—and without a doubt unmatched by any other actor today. I suspect Leonardo DiCaprio learned many things when he worked with Day-Lewis on The Gangs of New York (2002), but I think the most important was the idea that you should only do quality work.  DiCaprio took a page out of Day-Lewis’ book and stopped making one inane film after another and concentrated on picking films for which he could be proud.  Day-Lewis has made less than twenty-five feature films in his career (most highly regarded), which only goes to prove that quality is always more important than quantity.

I have a difficult time deciding which of his two Academy Award wins for Best Actor (he has been nominated four times) is the best.  His menacing portrayal of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) is powerfully mesmerizing, and his turn as Irish artist and writer Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) is inspiring.  Of the two, Christy Brown is the embodiment of a controlled performance. Not just any actor could have played a character born with cerebral palsy and who was unable to speak clearly throughout most of the film, but Day-Lewis does it beautifully.  While Day-Lewis could never master using his left foot as Christy Brown did to write and paint (Day-Lewis used his right foot instead and the scenes were shot through a mirror), he nailed the body rigidness and facial expressions. Although the performance is completely controlled, it also appears natural and believable. 

Of course, Day-Lewis (and the film) greatly benefitted from working with two accomplished actresses. Brenda Fricker won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Christy’s devoted mother, Bridget Brown.  The real Mrs. Brown gave birth twenty-one times (ah, to be an Irish Catholic!), so she was an often harried woman but she did as much for Christy as possible.  Fricker does a nice job of showcasing Mrs. Brown’s resilient nature and her unabashed love for her special son. She and Day-Lewis really do a sensational job of exposing just how deep and abiding their two characters love and respect one another.

Oddly enough, Fiona Shaw is often overlooked in My Left Foot, which is a shame because this is one of her better film roles (she is primarily known for her stage work).  She doesn’t have as much screen time as one might like, but she makes her character, Dr. Eileen Cole, memorable in her few scenes.  Dr. Cole plays a much more significant role in the book than the film, but I think that screenwriter and director Jim Sheridan wanted to focus more on the mother-son relationship than that of the patient-doctor one. Still, Shaw does get to shine in her brief appearances; one of which is in the memorable restaurant tantrum scene.   

Besides the overall fine acting, the film itself is inspirational.  To watch a young boy (played beautifully by Hugh O’Connor) struggle with an almost paralyzing disease struggle to matter in the world is life-affirming.  Here we have a boy who everyone thinks is mentally handicapped but who is really a brilliant individual—his determination to persevere and be recognized by both his family and society is beyond admirable.  When he first writes “Mother” on the family floor and his entire family realizes he’s not “retarded” you get a little catch in your throat.  When you watch him descend into despair (and alcoholism) as a young man when he realizes that romantic love is beyond his reach (at least until the end of the film), you feel truly sorry for him.  And, seeing him learn how to control his impaired speech by reciting Hamlet’s soliloquy “To Be Or not To Be” is a testament to the human spirit. I think most people enjoy films about overcoming obstacles and the fact that this is a true story only makes it even more compelling.

Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy, 1989
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Nominated for 9 Oscars, Won 4

Synopsis: Miss Daisy, a Jewish woman, can no longer drive. She is getting older, and her son Boolie, insists on hiring her a driver, a man named Hoke. It's the 1950's, and this means her driver is black. At first Miss Daisy is quite resistant, but when Hoke points out he's being paid to do nothing, she starts letting him drive. And slowly, the two form a life-long bond.

Here I am again, reviewing for the second day in a row. And right after this, you'll be reading a review for War Horse! Christmas break is certainly the time to watch movies!

This film is certainly a touching one. Having watched 'The Help' only 2 days ago, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two. While both have quite comedic moments, and some very serious stuff to make you cry, they are very different movies. While The Help focuses on the relationship between all the black maids, and the children they care for, as well as other women they don't tend to, this is strictly a movie about a Jewish white woman, and her black driver, and how unlikely their friendship is too.

I must say I absolutely adored this movie. I have nothing but praise for Morgan Freeman, who played Hoke, the driver. Hoke is an enthusiastic, talkative and charming man, which is very different from the roles I've seen Freeman play (such as God in Bruce Almighty, Lucius Fox in the Batman series, and Eddie in Million Dollar Baby). He played the role extremely convincingly and I thought he did a fantastic job. I'm quite surprised he didn't win an Oscar for the role, but he had tough competition that year, being up against Daniel Day-Lewis, Kenneth Branuagh, Robin Williams and Tom Cruise.

On the other hand, I was also vastly impressed with Jessica Tandy, who played Miss Daisy (and subsequently won an Oscar for it). She was brilliant as a stubborn woman, and aged perfectly over the 25 years the movies is set in.

Additionally, this is one of the few times I really noticed make-up in a film (other than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- another brilliant film). It was phenomenally done, and the aging was done perfectly. Nothing looked too cheesy, or too forced. It was shocking how well they really aged, and it deservingly won the award.

Overall, I thought the film was fantastic. It was well-told, extremely well acted, and looked fantastic. I laughed, I teared up, and I smiled. So far, one of my favourite winners.

8.75/10

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1989

About the year: I really-really enjoyed doing this year and to tell the truth this was the one in which I had the most pleasure, so it was the best (though 1974 has 0.5 more Meryls). I have ended a long fight in myself and I finally joined one of the camps. #1 was quite easy for me (I soooo wanted to resist her, but I just couldn't as she was so utterly great), and placing the others was very-very easy too. I'm quite happy with the ranking. I love #2 and #3 too and in weaker years they would get my vote (especially #2, who was just brilliant), but the others were not that bad either. So the ranking:

5. Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel

After all, I can say that I saw a very confusing and uneven, but strangely effective, which might have weaknesses, but there are such electrifying, brilliant and unforgettable scenes, that you forget your complaints while watching them. It is not a perfect job, but there is some greatness in it. Good work.

4. Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy

It's very subtle and nice work, which may not go that deep, but is able to entertain, please and move the viewer and she makes it very sure that you never forget her. She's like a good book that you love to read even for the twentieth time. Nice, charming work.

3. Jessica Lange in Music Box

This is a very good performance, which is extremely subtle, but there is some silent strength in it. It could have been more emotional as this way it's a bit underplayed, but I cannot argue that Lange was able to show the emotions and the guilt of this confused character, who wants nothing, but the truth.

2. Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine

This is a delightful and funny work by an actress who should be much more famous and well-known. Collins' Shirley Valentine is a loveable, life-like, beautiful character and Collins gives probably the most enjoyable performance I've reviewed so far. Its strenght might be a bit uneven, but it can be easily forgiven.

1. Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys

I can understand what people see in this performance: it's brilliant, strong, powerful, sexy, charming, vibrant, sad and loveable. She shows so many emotions and faces of this exciting character and created something very memorable, which continues to impress the viewers. She could have done it more easily, but it was brilliant the way it was.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys

How will you thank me, Michelle? :)

Omissions:

• Sally Field in Steel Magnolias

So my next year: it's a very rarely talked about year, since most people seem to agree on the winner, whose performance has become iconic or at least extremely popular. I don't waste time but say the one clue, from which you will INSTANTLY find out.

• Who is whose #1 fan?

So what do you think? Do you have any questions requests or any thoughts on your mind?

Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel

Isabelle received her second Oscar nomination to date for playing a tortured sculptor, Camille Claudel in the very weird movie, Camille Claudel. I'm quite sure that Adjani's nomination itself was a surprise (it's always surprising unfortunately when a foreign language role is nominated) and she was the fifth in the final voting. I think her character was unlikeable and the movie itself was quite artsy for the Academy members to embrace it as they should.

Camille Claudel is a great movie. I expected it to be boring, slow and forced, but it was surprisingly impressed. I may even say that it was the best movie of the Best Actress nominees that year. I know it's very weird and over-the-top, but there are such strong and unforgettable scenes in it. You can easily see that it was directed by a cinematographist. There are beautiful pictures in it. I think even if I turned the volumed off and watched only the images, I would have been equally impressed. Gerard Depardieu gives an excellent and strong performance as Rodin.

Isabelle Adjani is however so damn difficult to rate. Sometimes she is out of place, but occasionally she is so unbelievably storng that if she kept that strength up, she so would have beaten all the other nominees that year. But since her work here is very uneven, it did not happen and yet I just cannot say anything bad about her.

In the beginning, her character is not particularly, but there is something about her unique and strange presence after a while because of which I was NOT able to take my eyes off her. I have to admit though that it is not the best part of it. There was something missing which was there later, but there the lack of this thing was a bit distracting and therefore Adjani was not really strong.

Isabelle Adjani injected so much passion into this performance and she made such an effort, that it is unbelievable. However, it was not forced (OK, maybe sometimes I felt it). Camille is a stubborn, headstrong woman who lives for only one thing, her art. And Adjani perfectly shows how much this means for Camille. Camille has this one thing at the centre of her life, and everything is just additional, including her love affair with Rodin, which is first pure, passionate love and eventually burning hatred.

Adjani also shows the intimate relationship and tender love (not incest!) between Camille and her brother, Paul, who is probably the only true supporter of Camille until the very end. When he leaves for America and Isabelle runs after him, Adjani shows so many emotions, that she almost broke my heart. That is one of those brutally great moments, which made her performance so much better.

Adjani sometimes exaggerated the insanity of Claudel, her big screaming in front of the house of Rodin is a bit too much, and yet in an odd way it works somehow. We do not know Claudel’s personality, but this over-the-topness of Adjani matches it. Adjani has the secret, which makes this very uneven performance a great one.

Another strong scene comes when she is lying in the water, drunk, and broken down. We feel her suffering so much, it just becomes obvious. It was probably my favorite sequence of the movie and it is ingrained in my memory.

In the end, when she is sent to an asylum and there is so much pain right there. Her voiceover is just heartbreaking: she uses her voice so well to express how much the world is falling apart for this tragic character. I really said WOW.

After all, I can say that I saw a very confusing and uneven, but strangely effective, which might have weaknesses, but there are such electrifying, brilliant and unforgettable scenes, that you forget your complaints while watching them. It is not a perfect job, but there is some greatness in it. Good work.

It is very difficult to say anything about this performance properly.

So what do you think? I can give NO official predictions now, but I am interested in your thoughts. The Final Conclusion comes in two hours.

Jessica Lange in Music Box

Jessica Lange received her fifth Oscar nomination for playing Ann Talbot, a woman defending her father accused of war crimes in the movie of Costa-Gavras, Music Box. I can imagine that Lange was most likely forth (or maybe third) in the voting proccess. I don't know if it was that way, but it's so great to speculate. Anyway, Lange was really on the top of her game in the eighties and was indeed very acclaimed.

Music Box is not the best movie ever. Being Hungarian, I might be a bit more sensitive about it. It's a bit too black-and-white and even offensive sometimes as Hungarians there are either nazis or communists. Thanks. The acting is quite good actually, but nothing brilliant really. Armin Mueller-Stahl is quite good as the father though I think he sometimes goes too over-the-top. I might be biased but I loved Hungary's probably greatest living actress, Mari Törőcsik the most in her very small role as Magda Zoldan. I could listen to her voice forever and let me tell you that had she got a better role, (with all respect to Jessica Lange), she would have blew Jessica Lange away in a minute as she's 100 times more talented.

Jessica Lange plays Ann, a woman desperately trying to defend her father's reputation and also his citizenship. Lange does a great job at developing the character of Ann. First she's in total denial, and she so stubbornly believes her father, that the truth hit her really hard and causes a minor breakdown for her. She carefully follows Ann on her journey and shows the faces of this woman.

Lange's acting here is surprisingly subtle: she shows the emotions of Ann with little nervous ticks, which are impressive for a while, but after all you get used to it and then it becomes nothing special. The subtelty also applies for her speeches in the courtroom scenes, where she's firm and cold, free of emotions. We don't get obvious courtroom Oscar clips and huge monologues and that's probably what I like the most. It's quite realistic and natural.

Her reactions to the accusations seem quite natural, but sometimes her acting seems to be too undercooked and it lacks a very strong and effective screen presence. I love subtle performances, but they should also be substantial in my opinion, and Lange did not satisfy me that much.

Ann's anger is excellently shown by Lange, however. She really caught the Hungarian stubbornness and character. I never had a doubt for a moment that she wasn't of Hungarian heritage. I know that this sounds a bit awkward, but actually that's the way things are. Ann is a very strong female character, which is very much appreciated and I think that this is the aspect of her performance, which most people admire. Ann sticks to her beliefs and she only believes something when there's a proof.

Probably the best parts of her performance take place in Budapest, when she takes a walk on the river bank and watches the Danube. I really loved the quiet emotional weight of that short sequence. You could really feel the guilt inside her, (BTW, those who saw the movie, how did you like the pictures of Budapest?) and this slow walk becomes some kind of an atonement for the sins in WWII. There's a whole scene where she should speak Hungarian and Lange was able to speak this very complicated language very well (it requires very much effort to learn it as well as she did).

There comes another memorable moment when she opens the music box and the truth becomes clear to her. Her scream and tears are so real, and you can see how shocking it was to Ann to find out that the person she loved all her life was lying to her all the time. After that, the confrontation scene between her and Armin Mueller-Stahl is also excellent and Lange's acting is very strong there.

So to sum up, this is a great performance, which is extremely subtle, but there is some silent strength in it. It could have been more emotional as this way it's a bit underplayed, but I cannot argue that Lange was able to show the emotions and the guilt of this confused character, who wants nothing, but the truth. Good job.

So what do you think? It's time for your last predictions! :)

Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine

Pauline Collins received her only Oscar nomination to date for playing Shirley, a lonely housewife in Lewis Gilbert's movie, Shirley Valentine. Pauline Collins recreated her Tony-winning role as Shirley to big success. I think that she may even have been third in the race which was stirctly between Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Tandy. Nevertheless, she never turned out to be a huge star despite this nomination, which I felt was certainly well-deserved.

Shirley Valentine is a very entertaining and lovely movie despite the fact that it has no real story, but it is sure much fun and I enjoyed every single minute of it. There are such witty lines, situations and scenes in it that you're just feel good about the whole thing. It's not high art, but it is certainly well-worth watching it at least once. I mean, you see ordinary people with ordinary problems and the whole thing is so incredibly relaxing.

Just like the movie, Pauline Collins' performance consists of two very different parts: the old Shirley in the unhappy, rainy England and the new, happy Shirley in the sunny, beautiful and romantic Greece. If you're worried that this is just like a Julia Roberts-like romantic Eat, Pray, Love thing about an depressed woman resting at the sea. No, it's a very ordinary story and Pauline Collins gives a terrific and very natural performance, which charmes you instantly.

Although Shirley is an unhappy character with whom you can quite easily sympathize, Collins never lets you pity her. She shows that Shirley is actually a very nice and strong person, who just wants to enjoy her life little bit. That's all she needs, but sometimes she just lacks courage to do so. It's so amazing to see her backing when she has to do something for a change. Collins never uses very heavy drama with Shirley, actually, she's extremely hilarious somtimes, like in her brilliant Oscar clip with "sex for breakfast, sex for dinner, sex for tea and sex for supper". As I said she's just so damn natural with those lines that it's amazing.

What impresses me most in her performance is the fascinating character development. Pauline had already played Shirley on the stage and I think it was an important factor as I always felt that she knew this character so thrillingly well. Every move, every expression is simply perfect and is excellently solved by Pauline.

The scenes in England sometimes go a bit over-the-top and I felt that Pauline's performance here is much less effective than the second half. There Pauline might have been a bit weaker, but she was excellently showing the emptiness of Shirley. She's so damn real in the scene where her husband throws the dinner away and she decides to tell him that she goes to Greece for a vacation.

However, you can easily spots the changes in Shirley's personality even in the English scenes, where she refuses to be the servant of her daughter and ulitmately decides to travel. We can see: this woman's fed up with the stupid, meaningless days and wants some excitement.

Shirley finds this excitment in Greece (naturally) with a charming local man. The scenes on this man's boat, when Shirley jumps into the sea and then the two have sex, is just adorable. And the funny remarks of Shirley to the audience during the intercourse is so damn out-of-place and yet simply adorable.

As I said this is no heavy drama, but there's one scene which really broke my heart. It's right before this exciting day for her, when she sits on the beach, drinking wine and thinking about her emptiness and her unfulfilled life: we see that she has so much potential and desire to live a great life, but there's always something getting in her way. However, she reaches the state of happiness finally and as she says she falls in love with herself and manages to accept herself.

This is a delightful and funny work by an actress who should be much more famous and well-known. Collins' Shirley Valentine is a loveable, life-like, beautiful character and Collins gives probably the most enjoyable performance I've reviewed so far. Its strenght might be a bit uneven, but it can be easily forgiven. Excellent work.

A very-very deserving 4.5, an almost 5.

So what do you think? Do you agree or do you want to scratch my eyes out? Tell me! :-) And also if you have any requests for the next years, please, don't be shy!

Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy

Jessica Tandy received her first Oscar nomination and only Oscar for playing Daisy Werthan, a grumpy, old Jewish woman in Bruce Beresford's Best Picture-winning movie, Driving Miss Daisy and by this she became the oldest performer to win an Academy Award for acting. It really meant a lot to her career as she went on to receive a second nomination for Fried Green Tomatoes (for which she should have won). Eventually, she beat out Michelle Pfeiffer, the critics' darling (to the dismay of many) and received one of the longest standing ovations.

How much I love Driving Miss Daisy! Oh my goodness, I cannot even count how many times I've seen it, but I guess it's somewhere around ten now, and it still moves me so much that I cannot stop weeping. It's a really beautiful flick, which is unfortunately not very popular nowadays. I guess that it's due to the fact that this is a slow movie with not much story or action. Morgan Freeman received an extremely well-deserved Actor nom, which he deserved to win (but picking DDL was probably the right choice). Dan Aykroyd is also much better than I remembered.

But something came to my mind: I think this was the very first time that I saw this movie in English actually. Please don't blame me as the Hungarian dubbing for this movie is just legendary and brilliant. But now I just had to watch in the original language, but it did not disappoint that much either.

The movie is this great mainly because of one very-very important factor: the brilliant chemistry between the two leads. Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman got such lovely roles that it would have been quite a miracle if they hadn't been able to please the audience (which includes me). They are all so charming together with Tandy representing the fire and Freeman representing the water in this complicated friendship between two elderly people. They really shine in this movie. I think giving them an award together at the Berlin Film Festival was quite probably one of the best decisions about a prize. Their performances strictly work together and they are so entertaining, funny, lifelike and despite some small argument about silly things, there's such calmness there.

But about Tandy alone: I have always been championing her work in this one and I'm not saying that I was not pleased by her this time, because I watched her with enthusiasm and she was just pure delight. Miss Daisy is a very grumpy and stubborn lady, but her sarcastic remarks are simply hilarious and Tandy really nailed the comedy parts. Even when there's some human drama in the previous scenes, she can make it lighter with a funny scene in the kitchen where she turns down the gas only after carefully making it sure, that she's alone.

There's not much action with her character and she doesn't really change in the story, but I don't think that it's much of a trouble: she doesn't give a very deep performance, but the role doesn't need it. There are some subtly emotional scenes, but there are no showy scenes or huge monologues when she can show complicated emotions. Except for one, which really rocks. When she talks about her childhood experience when she was travelling with her family for the first time, I really had to struggle to keep my tears. There's so much beauty in that scene: you can see an elderly person reminiscing about her youth. Tandy was really able to show the background story of Miss Daisy. You can see her as an excited little girl. It's definitely one of the most moving scenes I've ever seen.

However, while watching the "You're my best friend" scene, I ulitimately gave up the struggling with my teardrops. It's a very silent and subtle moment, but there is so much beauty in its simplicity: Tandy had an effect on me with very simple acting, which is a great achievement as the scene really had the danger of becoming too sentimental. Tandy held herself back brilliantly though and was just brilliant.

And these few minutes give a great summary of Tandy's whole performance here: it's very subtle and nice work, which may not go that deep, but is able to entertain, please and move the viewer and she makes it very sure that you never forget her. She's like a good book that you love to read even for the twentieth time. Nice, charming work.

So what do you think?

Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys

Michelle Pfeiffer received her second Oscar nomination for playing Susie Diamond, a former call-girl and a singer with the Baker brothers in the movie The Fabulous Baker Boys. It's almost 100% sure that the race in 1989 was between Tandy and Pfeiffer, they were pretty much neck and neck. Tandy had the sentimentality on her side and Pfeiffer was a huge star back then. I think she did not get much less votes than Tandy after all, but a lot of people are quite devastated because of this loss.

The Fabulous Baker Boys is quite an average, but quite entertaining movie. I think that it's pretty overrated, though I still liked it. I am very fond of Jeff Bridges in general, so he was an important draw for me. Although he was quite good here, I often felt that his acting was a bit forced and yet undercooked. His brother Beau was equally good, but he did not blow my socks off, either. That's it. One of my (actually two) favorite things about this movie is the brilliant music. First of all, the great songs, second the actual score by Dave Grusin. I could listen it on and on.

And the other thing is Michelle Pfeiffer, who's quite simply irresistable here, giving probably her best and most famous performance. It's no wonder that people think that she should have won: her performance is a true standout of her pretty average movie. The whole screenplay is a bit flawed and not very accurate, but the part of Susie is brilliantly written. I felt that the film was just a reason to show Pfeiffer and let her shine, which is quite great.

Her first scene itself makes quite an impression and really sets the tone of her whole performance: Susie is yelling and swearing because of her heels. Susie is quite weary, sarcastic, extremely impolite and a bit full of herself. But when she begins singing, my goodness, I don't think that there's anyone who's not charmed by her instantly. The funny thing is that she doesn't do that much, she simply relies on her presence and singing voice (both brilliant and extremely strong).

Michelle mixes the comedy and the drama quite well. Actually, I don't think that I could call it comedy, as her remarks are rather sarcastic and you can feel how weary and bitter this woman really is. Her experiences as an "escort" really made her tough and therefore wants to keep the distance. Her cold irony toward Beau Bridges' character is quite hilarious and I love the way she delivers those lines ("It's got more hair than you" and things like that). Susie is extremely outspoken, she doesn't like beating around the bush and this just makes the audience love her more. She just says what everyone feels, but do not dare to say. She's really the "what can I lose?" type.

As I have already said, her singing is just magical. I've heard that Madonna was supposed to play Susie, but I don't think that she could've made her as vibrant and brilliant as Michelle did. I mean it's so natural and very lifelike when she lies down on the piano in a flaming red dress, which you really want to rip off her. There's so much sexuality and attractiveness coming from her that it almost makes you speechless. She never shows anything, but lets you visualize everything perfectly. In short: who could resist her in the scene when she's on the stage with Jeff Bridges (and there's brilliant chemistry between the two)?

The highlight of Michelle's whole performance was a long monologue after the New Year's Eve party at the hotel. She's a bit drunk and opens up to Jack about her previous "escorting" experiences at other hotels. It was one of the most heartbreaking moments I have ever seen on-screen. I loved that Michelle did not work for the effect of it and rather held herself back and by this she created an incredibly realistic scene. She shows an unbelievable amount of emotions: bitterness, sadness, hope, passion, disappointment and after that the atmosphere is so damn sexual that it almost sets the screen on fire. And their kissing is so dazzling that you can feel that you're a part of their "act".

But Michelle also showed how cheeky Susie becomes after success and wants to have much more part in picking places. She leaves the band eventually and leaves Jack. People love to praise her big monologue about emptiness and there's a reason: she could have made it really theatrical and over-the-top to win the sympathy of the viewers, but she made a wisest decision to make it much more believable. She was really upsetting and devastating.

Her strength in this movie becomes really obvious when she's not there toward the end: I just missed her presence so much. Thankfully, she returns in the end and that short scene is just excellent: she acts embarrased and she so brilliantly breaks the tension when starts to sing that funny little jingle. It's so funny and sad at the same time.

So after all I can say that I can understand what people see in this performance: it's brilliant, strong, powerful, sexy, charming, vibrant, sad and loveable. She shows so many emotions and faces of this exciting character and created something very memorable, which continues to impress the viewers. She could have done it more easily, but it was brilliant the way it was. Easy rating.

So what do you think? Any predictions now?

The Next Year

After a little bit of tedious drama with the movies, I can finally start this very exciting and interesting year, to which I am really looking forward to. There will be one decisive Michelle vs. Jessica battle? Which one of them will emerge victorious? Or will it be another person? Let's see!

1989

So the nominees were:

• Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel
• Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine
• Jessica Lange in Music Box
• Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys
• Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy*

So what's your prediction for my ranking? I really cannot wait, I hope you feel the same. The predicting contest is on. So let's have fun! :)