One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975
Directed by Milos Forman
Nominated for 9 Oscars, Won 5
Up Against: Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville

When R.P McMurphy arrives at this mental institution, things start changing around there. While many believe McMurphy is faking his mental inability so he doesn't have to work, he starts to wreak havoc in the ward, gathering the patients together and slowly earning their trust, and getting them to rebel against the head nurse, Nurse Ratched, who's a little more than oppressive to the patients. 

This film was just all Jack Nicholson for me. I found the story to be a little bland, but found Nicholson very captivating. He was totally inside the character of McMurphy and you could really tell. He was crazy, yet you pitied him, and wondered why he was there at all, and then sometimes you knew exactly why. He's a complicated character and you wondered how it was all going to end. Would they release him? What would happen if they didn't? But the ending we get is truly disturbing, and it really made the movie for me. 

Along with Nicholson, we had some fun cameos from Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd. They played some of the ward's patients and they did a fantastic job, as did all the other extras. They were crazy, they were strange, and they either followed McMurphy blindly or didn't bother with him. 

And then there's Louise Fletcher who plays Nurse Ratched, and won Best Actress. She was so convincing as the dictator of the ward, and oppressor of the patients. She was mean, and cold, and heartless. And Louise Fletcher just nailed her. 

The mix of these characters made for an interesting story of uprising, and of the ward's ways of dealing with patients who don't obey the rules. 

While I wouldn't go so far to say as I loved this film, I would say it was definitely a performance film rather than a story film. While I felt the story was a bit bland, all the performances in the film made up for that. It was extremely well acted, giving Jack Nicholson his very first Oscar (who would go on to be the most nominated actor, and to win 2 other Oscars). This film was good, and definitely deserved the Best Picture win from the acting alone. But would I watch it again? Probably not. 

Acting- 9/10
Directing- 8/10
Screenplay- 8/10
Music - 7/10
"The look"- 8/10
Entertaining- 8/10
Emotional Connection- 7/10
Rewatchability- 4/10
Did I like It?- 7.5/10
"Total Package"**- 8/10  

Total: 75/100

157. The Shining

157. (18 Aug) /The Shining/ (1980, Stanley Kubrick) 80



I rarely get overly impressed by complicated mise-en-scène, but most of the compositions in The Shining are swoon-worthy. Kubrick's use of lines and patterns serve to disorient and distress the viewer. Still, this is a film I'd rather not appreciate on such an academic level. As a visceral experience, it gets me every time.

Best Supporting Actor 1983: Results

5. John Lithgow in Terms of Endearment- Lithgow although hindered by the fact he has few scenes and the film doesn't really care about him gives a good performance showing the simple love expressed by his character well.

4. Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment- This is probably a bit of a surprise, but I did actually prefer the two above. Nicholson is inconsistent and some ineffective in his performance at first relying far too much on his trade marks that never meld with his character. He though becomes much better later on capturing the joyous energy of his boisterous character well, as well as creating an interesting relationship with Shirley MacLaine.

3. Charles Durning in To Be or Not Be- Durning only needs to do one thing here and that is for him to be funny. He is funny in all of his scenes and his scenes with co-star Christopher Lloyd are the highlights of the film for me.

2. Rip Torn in Cross Creek- Rip Torn's succeeds in every way Gregory Peck failed to in the role of the real person who inspired Peck's character in the Yearling. Torn creates a unique vivid portrait of his backwoods character and he especially brings great degree of emotional weight to his final scenes.

1. Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff- Shepard win this year giving a great performance in The Right Stuff. Shepard absolutely becomes test pilot Chuck Yeager flawlessly bringing to life the uninhibited confidence and strength of the man. He speaks few words but he holds every moment he appears on the screen.

Deserving Performances:
Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story
Ed Harris in The Right Stuff

Best Supporting Actor 1983: Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment

Jack Nicholson won his second Oscar from his seventh nomination for portraying Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment.

Jack Nicholson is an actor who I think highly of, as he had one of the greatest strings of performances of any actor during the 70's. Nicholson though is an actor whose qualities did downturn a bit from the 80's on though. This mostly seemed to result from Nicholson almost being too aware that he is a great actor that he wasn't nearly as great. Don't get me wrong Nicholson still gave great performances such as with the three performances in which I give him the win Ironweed, Reds, and About Schmidt. The thing is all three of those performances have something in common all three of them are very non Nicholson style performances.

Now it is true that I loved all of Nicholson's nominated work in the seventies all four of those performances are oustanding. It is also true that some of those performances particularly One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Chinatown are completely filled with Nicholson's unique style. The only thing was in the seventies Nicholson used his unique styles always within in characterizations creating remarkable portraits of the men he portrayed. Later on Nicholson started doing his mannerism as a separation thing that he just has to do, and he stopped using them as effectively because of this reason. In fact this is a problem I have with many of his later performance, particularly his work in The Departed because that was just one long over the top Nicholson mannerism fest.

Finally to get to the point is that his use of his mannerisms always seem to be Nicholson performing them rather than actually being part of the character in this performance. This is especially true early in his performance as he almost wants to make an impact in his short scenes by doing his trademark shtick. It just never seems completely true to his character, in fact it is actually a bit distracting. Luckily though Nicholson after his somewhat shaky early scenes does settle down, and actually delves into becoming his character. I don't want to be mistaken though Nicholson is not bad in these scenes, just more of a little too self indulgent and obvious for his own good.

Later on in the film when his character of the womanizing, thrill seeking former astronaut starts a relationship with Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) Nicholson certainly comes into the role quickly. He certainly is appropriately boisterous and energetic in his role. His character just wants to enjoy life to its fullest, as almost compensate for the fact that he will never have his biggest thrill again which was to go into outer space. Nicholson has a great joy of performance here that works perfectly for his character who only wants to enjoy himself. Nicholson's smile is constantly on display here, and it certainly fits for his sometimes devious character.

Although Nicholson somewhat became typecast as the love interest for a reserved as well as strong willed woman as seen in As Good As It Gets, and Something's Gotta Give his dynamic with Shirley MacLaine certainly does work here, and it shows why Nicholson probably found him self cast in films with rather similar situations. Nicholson always shows the womanizing Garrett early on trying every trick he knows to try to get his way with Aurora, but is rather flabbergasted by the response he gets. Nicholson plays this well finding a great deal of humor in the Garrett's attempts, as well as his reactions to Aurora's sometimes quite stern responses.

Even though their relationship at first is mostly a series of comedic exchanges caused by their personalities a love relationship eventually does develop. This is not a long precise one, but the actors portray it convincingly. Nicholson carefully but effectively shows the deepening of the relationship almost by Garrett letting loose just a bit, and showing Garrett turns off the part of him that wants just instant gratification. It is a subtle transition but very well handled by Nicholson.

Later on in the film though Garrett becomes hesitant to pursue the relationship due the commitment he is feeling toward something the  freewheeling astronaut wants to avoid. Nicholson is good in these later scenes showing Garrett a very much confused man who wants to be there for Aurora to some extent yet at the same time does not want to become too involved either. It is certainly a strange combination of emotion, but Nicholson brings to life wonderfully. He shows him as a man who is always contemplating his situation at almost all times, although Nicholson even in the most serious scenes keeps just the right glint of Garrett's more mischievous side.

All things considered this is a good performance from Nicholson. Creating an entertaining presence for the film and an effective foil for MacLaine's Aurora. I will say that I do not put it as a great performance, or as one of Nicholson's very best. It never achieves the greatness of his earlier work, and part of the reason I would say is his overuse of his trademark mannerisms early in the film, when he could have shown as more of Garrett at that point. Instead too many of his early scenes feel like Nicholson just doing his thing rather than a full fledged character. Nevertheless he does find his character as the film progresses that I would still say this is an enjoyable somewhat standard performance by a great actor.

Best Supporting Actor 1983

And the Nominees Were:

Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff

John Lithgow in Terms of Endearment

Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment

Charles Durning in To Be or Not To Be

Rip Torn in Cross Creek

CHINATOWN

CHINATOWN
Written by Robert Towne
Directed by Roman Polanski
Starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston

Man with knife: You know what happens to nosy fellows? Huh? No? You wanna guess? Huh? No? OK. They lose their noses.
(Man with knife cuts Gittes' nose.)
Man with knife: Next time you lose the whole thing. Cut it off and feed it to my goldfish.

The last line in Roman Polanski’s CHINATOWN is perhaps one of its greatest ironies. “Forget about it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” These words are said to Jack Nicholson’s private investigator, J.J. Gittes, just moment after his entire world comes crashing down upon him and just moments before the camera pulls up to reveal one of the most infamous closing shots in film history. The irony, of course, is CHINATOWN is completely unforgettable.

The 1974 classic, which takes place in 1937, holds up incredibly well. Polanski places the viewer at the center of the investigation, which results in an addictive need to know where every bewildering turn is going to lead. And with Nicholson’s Gittes in every single scene in the film, we as an audience are given the opportunity to watch the case he is working on unfold in real time and piece together the evidence ourselves as well. And what a case it is! Robert Towne’s Oscar winning original screenplay (the only Oscar the film won out of it’s 11 nominations) is dense, engaging and constantly shocking. While Gittes is trying desperately to stay on top of a murder case that may or may not directly involve the woman who hired him in the first place (Faye Dunaway in her prime), the city of Los Angeles is in the process of figuratively raping its farmers in pursuit of redefining its borders. It is all somehow connected and its your job to figure it all out. It might take two viewings.

The brand new blu-ray release contains some recycled extras that shed more light on the controversial Los Angeles backdrop, as well as provide some pretty candid insight into the production itself, with archived interviews from Polanski, Nicholson and Towne. New to the set is a commentary between Towne and huge fan, David Fincher. CHINATOWN is simply a must for every film fan’s collection.

Best Supporting Actor 1969: Results

5. Anthony Quayle in Anne of the Thousand Days- Quayle gives a functional performance that turns Cardinal Wolsey into a basically a yes man.

4. Rupert Crosse in The Reivers- Crosse gives a charmingly wacky performance as well as combined with a more serious performance well by never overdoing either aspect of his character.

3. Elliot Gould in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice- Gould gives an enjoyable and effective performance as he realizes the many facets of his character's confusion.

2. Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider- Nicholson as usual for this period gives a very strong performance that has that unique magnetic quality that is distinctly Nicholson. It never quite reaches the heights of his later work in the seventies but it is an excellent precursor to them.

1. Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?- Gig Young easily gives the strongest performance this year. Gig Young's performance is terrific flawless work that realizes the master manipulator aspects of his character as well as the energetic emcee. He effective brings all the facets of his character into one brilliant characterization that never has a simple moment, and creates a fascinating memorable man in the role of Rocky. 

Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment, 1983
Directed by James L. Brooks
Nominated for 11 Oscars, Won 5
Up Against: The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies

Terms of Endearment is a mother-daughter story. Aurora lost her husband when her only daughter Emma was a young girl. It's been the two of them for most of Emma's life. When Aurora tells Emma, the night before her wedding, that marrying her fiancee, Flap, will be a catastrophic mistake, things get tense for the two. Emma marries Flap while her mother doesn't attend the wedding, and the two move away because Flap gets a job teaching English at a university.

During their time living apart, we follow their 2 different stories. Aurora is on her own, living with only herself and a maid or two. She strikes up an extremely unlikely relationship with her drunken, womanizing, ex-astronaut neighbour, despite the fact that she is prim, proper and strict, hardly able to tolerate his (Garrett's) ways. Meanwhile, Emma and Flap are having troubles of their own. They now have several kids, and are short on money. Emma starts to expect Flap is cheating, while she goes out into a little affair herself.

The movie doesn't have a plot, exactly. This is a movie about life, and the struggles and joys within them. Both Debra Winger (Emma) and Shirley MacLaine (Aurora) give fantastic performances. Debra Winger as the awkward and headstrong daughter, and Shirley MacLaine as the prim, proper and harsh mother. Also, both Jack Nicholson and Jeff Daniels give great supporting performances.

I commend the movie for giving such real performances and portrayals of life. Life doesn't have 'plots', it is just moving along, and there are good things and bad things, but we must have relationships, especially healthy ones.

What I wasn't crazy about in this movie was we didn't really get to know the characters. We saw flashes of their lives at different points in time, over several years, but never did we really get to know their characters. We never got to see why Aurora fell in love with Garrett, and what changed about what she felt about him. We didn't the gradual breakdown of Emma and Flap's marriage, we only saw them happy one moment and then angry and yelling the next. I felt this movie would've been a lot stronger had the character been portrayed more 2D. But that's just me.

While I don't usually spoil reviews, this one I can't really help. The last half hour, when Emma is in a bad position with Flap and her children (her eldest son seems to really hate her), but having a decent relationship with her mother, she discovers she has cancer- and is dying. This would've been a much more moving bit if I'd known the characters and cared for them more than I did. But I didn't. And that's just why the movie almost worked for me, but not quite.

6.5/10

Best Supporting Actor 1969: Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider

Jack Nicholson received first Oscar nomination for portraying George Hanson in Easy Rider.

Easy Rider portrays a cross country journey of two hippie bikers Billy (Dennis Hopper) and Captain America (Peter Fonda).

Jack Nicholson had a continually outstanding record in the seventies when it came to giving his Oscar nominated performance. Every time he was nominated he gave a great performance uniquely Nicholson. Nicholson though was first nominated for his supporting role in this film. I must say watching Easy Rider for the first time I was quite surprised to see just how supporting Nicholson really was in the role, since he is only in a few scenes, and his role is only one of the people the two bikers meet along their route.

Although he is not the dominating character in the film, Nicholson does easily make an impression since he is in top form. Nicholson like his later work though instantly is absolutely magnetic from his first scene when the bikers meet him in a lock up. George Hanson is a lawyer who has alcohol problem that caused him to be in the lockup, but he is a man who understands the two bikers. Nicholson's performance creates an effective portrait of this man. Nicholson shows just the right degree of being a proper person of society, but showing just the below the surface is a wild man.

All that he really needs to break out of his small little shell is a little bit of alcohol or just joining up with two bikers on their journey himself. Nicholson of course brings a great energy to the role with classic Nicholson moments to the sheer joy he shows when riding the motorcycle, to just his classic Nicholson reaction to drinking his alcohol letting on to the wilder side of his character. Nicholson gives an entertaining and effectively exciting portrayal of this man who clearly makes into a man truly breaking all the way out for the first time in his life.

Nicholson's two monologues about society in two very different ways one about aliens as well as one about the fears some in society have over people like the bikers. Nicholson makes both fascinating in their own ways through his performance even though his first one is complete nonsense. Nicholson presence simply brings a life to these moments, and a real emotional power particularly to the second speech that really brings to life the ideas within the film.

Nicholson is of course great but I would be lying if I did not think his performance is most certainly cut short, I frankly just wanted to see more of his character, and in the end I did wish he was the actual lead of the film even though his dynamic with Fonda and Hopper is quite good. This is strong work from Nicholson no doubt about that and I certainly think it shows of his great presence and style early on. In many ways though it never quite achieves the greatness of his later work particularly his nominated work the very next year, and it mostly serves as a terrific precursor to his later work, but not quite on that level although close.

Best Supporting Actor 1969

And the Nominees Were:

Anthony Quayle in Anne of the Thousand Days

Elliott Gould in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider

Rupert Crosse in The Reivers

The Departed

The Departed, 2006
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Nominated for 5 Oscars, Won 4
Won BP over Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen

Synopsis: Billy Costigan wants to be a cop. But with his family history of crime, no one will hire him. Until they need a man to go undercover, to be the mole in Frank Costello's crime ring. Costello's been avoiding the law, and being arrested for a long, long time, and Billy is the perfect spy. His family was friends with Frank Costello and his partners, and Billy gains Costello's trust very easily. Meanwhile, Colin Sullivan is an up-and-coming cop, rising in the Special Investigations Unit. He's brilliant, and has a pitch perfect past. And that makes him the perfect mole in the SIU. Being a friend and worker for Frank Costello since childhood, Sullivan is the perfect mole in the Boston Police force. But when both sides suspect a mole, Billy and Colin race to uncover the other, to save their own skins.

Before I write this review, I must say, Cop/Mafia/Gangster/Lots of swearing films aren't really my thing. This is going to gain the most positive review from me simply because I don't generally enjoy these types of films, and I can't appreciate films where the character have extremely limited and dirty vocabulary.

That being said, we move on. This film had an interesting premise, even if it sounded a tad bit cliche. The seemingly rough guy is the good guy, while the guy with the spotless past and the up-and-comer being the bad guy. But we know that right away. But the two sides don't, and the moles themselves don't know who the other one is.

The performances in this film were great. I thought Leonardo DiCaprio rocked the whole show and was surprised to see he wasn't nominated for the role (only to see he was nominated for Blood Diamond instead...I'm assuming he was fantastic in that role, I still haven't seen it.) Additionally, Matt Damon is pretty much always great, in my opinion. He played the good guy/bad guy really well (even if a lot of the movie he had a dopey-gaping look on his face). I was surprised to see Mark Walhberg nominated for his Supporting Role, having had very little screen time. I'd have liked him to have been in it more. (Though is it only me that thinks Matt Damon and Mark Walhberg could be twins? During the opening I was having trouble figuring out if Colin was Damon or Walhberg, until we saw Walhberg had thick dark hair. Good thing he did, or they'd have been indistinguishable)

The film was well told, if not a little long for my taste. We see both sides trying to weed out who the mole is. Colin Sullivan is near the top and is quickly able to conceal himself, while Billy Costigan is a little more exposed. Personally, I couldn't understand why Costello didn't figure it out. It was blatantly obvious to me, and I don't know why he didn't pick up on it.

Anyway, the film had lots of twists and turns, and was well told. We feel for both characters, both living double lives, trying to make their way through.

Overall, I thought it was just an okay film. I found nothing about it that was incredible, or amazing. While Leonardo DiCaprio was really good in it, it was otherwise just an average film. At least, those are my thoughts.

(short review, but I honestly don't have much to say about it. It was kind of whatever. Not bad, but not brilliant.)

7/10

HOW DO YOU KNOW

Written and Directed by James L. Brooks

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson

Psychiatrist: Figure out what you want and how to ask for it.

Lisa: Those are both really hard.

Silly me. I assumed that HOW DO YOU KNOW, the new film by Academy Award winning director, James L. Brooks, was asking an age old question about how you know when you’re actually in love. I did not realize that what it could also be asking is how do you know when you’re watching a bad movie. For me, I knew when I was about half way through this muddled mess of a romantic comedy and still had no idea what the story actually was. Everything looked so pretty that I hadn't noticed that Brooks had yet to make any effort to answer the question himself.

Reese Witherspoon returns to the big screen for the first time in two years in what certainly must have looked like a good project on paper. Everyone wants to know how you know you’re in love, including her character, Lisa, an Olympic softball player whose career has just stalled and whose interest in finding love seems to have stalled long before that. She is going through the motions with her casual boyfriend, Matty (Owen Wilson) but the clueless twosome actually think they are breaking new relationship ground every time he makes some space for her in his sock drawer. Meanwhile, Paul Rudd’s George is going through a crisis of his own but he knows without a doubt that Lisa is the girl for him. Naturally, we know as well too so we just have to sit around and wait for Lisa to get on the same page as everyone else.

If George can figure the whole love thing out, it stands to reason that anyone can, but Lisa and Matty exist on this plain where apparently love is a convoluted concept, that is as hard to understand as Jack Nicholson’s decision to appear in this farce. Love needn’t be so complicated but at least one thing is clear in this film – Brooks doesn’t know how you know anymore than anyone else does.

Multiple Acting Oscars®

These actors and families have won more than one Oscar®

Four
Katherine Hepburn (Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, On Golden Pond) - I would argue that they missed her best early peformance in Adam's Rib, while only Golden Pond was a standout among her wins.

Three Each
Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight, Anastasia, supporting for Murder on the Orient Express) - I think they