Back in 1984, Ke Huy Quan made a name for himself as a child actor playing “Short Round” in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” following that the next year playing “Data” in “The Goonies.” He also played “Kim” in “Encino Man” back in 1997.
This is my favorite Oscars recap - a true love note - and I've been reading tons about last night. I'm tearing up. And "Throw Momma from the Matrix" - a perfect title from the clips and trailers I've seen. I'm laughing. And I will definitely watch it twice.
I admit I was unaware of all the background - but saw interviews of Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh & from what they said - understood it was past time for both to be recognized. Her description of how the actors & all who worked on that movie got along throughout sounded unusual! Jamie Lee Curtis? Loved her in almost anything she did (did NOT watch scream movies!) & Brendan Fraser - I'm not a big fan of the award shows but I'm glad all four of them were acknowledged for how good they are. I hope they are all able to do well going forward - in whatever way works for them.
The group picture even gave the impression that Asian actors are finally being recognized as they should have been long ago.
Fell in love with "Everything Everywhere All At Once" way back when, when I first read a description of it. I'm a sucker for time twisting. I hadn't made the connection that Michelle Yeoh was in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" until I read this just now. As I recall, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was entirely in Chinese with English subtitles, and Ms. Yeoh was so good, I stopped reading the subtitles long before the movie ended because I could understand what was happening due to her performance alone. So glad her talent has been recognized.
Yeah, team! 'Oscar' could not have been better.. Hollywood presented the mixed lot that we are -- the talent -- the feeling -- the humanity. Real tears, great dancing, sensational singing, oh, and the acceptance speeches... 'Play it again, Sam.'
I've never watched the Oscars but your synopsis of this year's honorees is quite gratifying to read. I have enjoyed everything I've seen with Michelle Yeoh, including her role in Star Trek Discovery, and Jamie Lee Curtis, who is a wonderful human (and was perfect in True Lies, and A Fish called Wanda, but I never saw any of her horror films).
Good thing#1: In Sydney the Oscars were on Monday at 11 AM. Good thing #2: Your recap. So happy for « your team ». So, so happy for JLC and MY-both of whose films I watch over and over again whenever I can. Thanks for all your insider insights. 💕💕💕🎥📽️📝
you need to correct "The Quiet Man" into "The Quiet American."
I still like the first adaptation of "The Quiet American" because I'm a huge Michael Redgrave fan. but it was badly hobbled by the studio's cowardice about confronting Greene's very potent anti-American sentiments. the second one is much more faithful to the novel and is therefore vastly superior.
I can sort of understand why Hollywood decided to make Audie Murphy a "star," but all Hollywood did for Murphy was exacerbate a bad case of PTSD/Alcoholism. I've very much enjoyed watching Brendan Fraser's "comeback" because he's always been a really good actor.
I was very happy that "Everything Everywhere's" people did so well. I wasn't crazy about the movie but plan on giving it another go or two.
my feeling about "All Quiet" is that compared to Lewis Milestone's 1930 version, it suffers. badly. but the Milestone movie is a masterpiece, so maybe the comparison is unfair.
I also feel like the right team won.
I still think that the best American movie I saw in 2022 was "Armageddon Time," but recognize that my affection for the movie might have something to do with my growing up in an adjacent neighborhood twenty years before James Gray (who's never made a bad movie and has made a bunch of excellent ones).
but what a boring show it is! and I really resent that some of those craft categories have been consigned to a different time and place. one of the best things about the Oscar Ceremony is that it was the one time that the super-competent people who do stuff like, say, Sound Editing were actually ACKNOWLEDGED. they did the same shit with the Tony Awards a few years back. so my pal Danny, who's been nominated for Tony Awards three or four times, won't be seen by anybody if he one day wins.
All the Oscars were given out on the show, none of the "untelevised presentations."
The most accurate-to-the-book adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front is the 1979 TV movie starring Richard Thomas and a lot of Brits. It even has an actor who plays Kaiser Wilhelm with a withered arm. And the ending is from the book. You can see it nowadays without commercials.
now that you mention it, I do remember that there was what looked like a good version back then, but never saw it. now I will. I've always thought Richard Thomas was an excellent actor and I once saw him do a really terrific Richard II at (I think) either Long Wharf or McCarter, sometime in the very early '80s (possibly earlier)
I think what makes the Milestone version so powerful is the fact that it was a VERY early talkie and he utilized the primitivism of the only available techniques as STRENGTHS. those first battle sequences with the screen dark and lit by explosions while all those different voices screamed in pain and terror and both hit me very hard.
and I can't recall any important movies PRIOR to the Milestone which dealt directly with the insanity of trench warfare. "What Price Glory" is, in the final analysis, not so much about the war as it is about those two guys cursing up a storm for the lip readers.
as you know a lot better than I do, the great silent and early talkie WWI movies dealt with the air war. as usual, I welcome correction.
The first "realistic" war movie is King Vidor's 1925 "The Big Parade", in which the Battle of Belleau Wood is restaged in Griffith Park. It's silent; the cannon fire was bass drums. The screenplay was by Laurence Stalling, a veteran of the battle. Vidor and he were arguing at the outset about the battle. They made an overnight train trip, in which they shared a sleeping compartment. Stalling had the upper bunk. When Vidor saw his wooden leg drop in front of him to the floor when he took it off before turning in, he later wrote "I stopped arguing with him." It's a really amazing movie, done with hand-cranked silent cameras. It still has some of the most realistic battle footage, though if you are familiar with Griffith Park at all, it can be difficult to maintain "the willing suspension of disbelief."
Also the German movie "Westfront 1918" made in 1930 and directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst was considered far superior to Milestone's movie for portraying the war's effect on Germany and Germans. The Nazis hated it so much they burned the film even before they burned Remarque's novel. It was adapted from Ernst Johanssen's novel "Vier von der Infanterie".
Storyline (from IMDb): A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.
I still haven’t seen Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, but read it unashamedly a few months ago. Loved it. I think I cried at the end. Jenny Beavan lost, but an Oscar winner for a Mad M++ being nominated here, in a completely different genre? She’s genius. Cruella? I wanted to hate it…
A GREAEAEAEAT review! I've been to the Oscars twice, but watching this one on tv was by far the most entertaining, moving, uplifting, and joyous. And my feet didn't hurt! 👠
This is my favorite Oscars recap - a true love note - and I've been reading tons about last night. I'm tearing up. And "Throw Momma from the Matrix" - a perfect title from the clips and trailers I've seen. I'm laughing. And I will definitely watch it twice.
This should be reprinted in The Hollywood Reporter.
I admit I was unaware of all the background - but saw interviews of Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh & from what they said - understood it was past time for both to be recognized. Her description of how the actors & all who worked on that movie got along throughout sounded unusual! Jamie Lee Curtis? Loved her in almost anything she did (did NOT watch scream movies!) & Brendan Fraser - I'm not a big fan of the award shows but I'm glad all four of them were acknowledged for how good they are. I hope they are all able to do well going forward - in whatever way works for them.
The group picture even gave the impression that Asian actors are finally being recognized as they should have been long ago.
Fell in love with "Everything Everywhere All At Once" way back when, when I first read a description of it. I'm a sucker for time twisting. I hadn't made the connection that Michelle Yeoh was in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" until I read this just now. As I recall, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was entirely in Chinese with English subtitles, and Ms. Yeoh was so good, I stopped reading the subtitles long before the movie ended because I could understand what was happening due to her performance alone. So glad her talent has been recognized.
Yeah, team! 'Oscar' could not have been better.. Hollywood presented the mixed lot that we are -- the talent -- the feeling -- the humanity. Real tears, great dancing, sensational singing, oh, and the acceptance speeches... 'Play it again, Sam.'
Sometimes karma takes a while to roll around, but when it does, it certainly makes a statement! Thanks for the background and the POV. LOVE IT!!
Almost makes me wish I watched award shows. Michelle Yeoh is living proof that both acting ability and looks can improve with age.
Love your POV of Hollyweird, Tom. We are rooting for the same team…..and we won one!
This is GREAT! Thank you!
Many of us are on your team, Tom! Thank you for this great review!
I've never watched the Oscars but your synopsis of this year's honorees is quite gratifying to read. I have enjoyed everything I've seen with Michelle Yeoh, including her role in Star Trek Discovery, and Jamie Lee Curtis, who is a wonderful human (and was perfect in True Lies, and A Fish called Wanda, but I never saw any of her horror films).
Good thing#1: In Sydney the Oscars were on Monday at 11 AM. Good thing #2: Your recap. So happy for « your team ». So, so happy for JLC and MY-both of whose films I watch over and over again whenever I can. Thanks for all your insider insights. 💕💕💕🎥📽️📝
you need to correct "The Quiet Man" into "The Quiet American."
I still like the first adaptation of "The Quiet American" because I'm a huge Michael Redgrave fan. but it was badly hobbled by the studio's cowardice about confronting Greene's very potent anti-American sentiments. the second one is much more faithful to the novel and is therefore vastly superior.
I can sort of understand why Hollywood decided to make Audie Murphy a "star," but all Hollywood did for Murphy was exacerbate a bad case of PTSD/Alcoholism. I've very much enjoyed watching Brendan Fraser's "comeback" because he's always been a really good actor.
I was very happy that "Everything Everywhere's" people did so well. I wasn't crazy about the movie but plan on giving it another go or two.
my feeling about "All Quiet" is that compared to Lewis Milestone's 1930 version, it suffers. badly. but the Milestone movie is a masterpiece, so maybe the comparison is unfair.
I also feel like the right team won.
I still think that the best American movie I saw in 2022 was "Armageddon Time," but recognize that my affection for the movie might have something to do with my growing up in an adjacent neighborhood twenty years before James Gray (who's never made a bad movie and has made a bunch of excellent ones).
but what a boring show it is! and I really resent that some of those craft categories have been consigned to a different time and place. one of the best things about the Oscar Ceremony is that it was the one time that the super-competent people who do stuff like, say, Sound Editing were actually ACKNOWLEDGED. they did the same shit with the Tony Awards a few years back. so my pal Danny, who's been nominated for Tony Awards three or four times, won't be seen by anybody if he one day wins.
All the Oscars were given out on the show, none of the "untelevised presentations."
The most accurate-to-the-book adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front is the 1979 TV movie starring Richard Thomas and a lot of Brits. It even has an actor who plays Kaiser Wilhelm with a withered arm. And the ending is from the book. You can see it nowadays without commercials.
I guess I wasn't paying attention.
now that you mention it, I do remember that there was what looked like a good version back then, but never saw it. now I will. I've always thought Richard Thomas was an excellent actor and I once saw him do a really terrific Richard II at (I think) either Long Wharf or McCarter, sometime in the very early '80s (possibly earlier)
I think what makes the Milestone version so powerful is the fact that it was a VERY early talkie and he utilized the primitivism of the only available techniques as STRENGTHS. those first battle sequences with the screen dark and lit by explosions while all those different voices screamed in pain and terror and both hit me very hard.
and I can't recall any important movies PRIOR to the Milestone which dealt directly with the insanity of trench warfare. "What Price Glory" is, in the final analysis, not so much about the war as it is about those two guys cursing up a storm for the lip readers.
as you know a lot better than I do, the great silent and early talkie WWI movies dealt with the air war. as usual, I welcome correction.
The first "realistic" war movie is King Vidor's 1925 "The Big Parade", in which the Battle of Belleau Wood is restaged in Griffith Park. It's silent; the cannon fire was bass drums. The screenplay was by Laurence Stalling, a veteran of the battle. Vidor and he were arguing at the outset about the battle. They made an overnight train trip, in which they shared a sleeping compartment. Stalling had the upper bunk. When Vidor saw his wooden leg drop in front of him to the floor when he took it off before turning in, he later wrote "I stopped arguing with him." It's a really amazing movie, done with hand-cranked silent cameras. It still has some of the most realistic battle footage, though if you are familiar with Griffith Park at all, it can be difficult to maintain "the willing suspension of disbelief."
Also the German movie "Westfront 1918" made in 1930 and directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst was considered far superior to Milestone's movie for portraying the war's effect on Germany and Germans. The Nazis hated it so much they burned the film even before they burned Remarque's novel. It was adapted from Ernst Johanssen's novel "Vier von der Infanterie".
Storyline (from IMDb): A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.
Thank you David and TCfor the reflections on war films. I learned a lot---as usual around here.
I still haven’t seen Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, but read it unashamedly a few months ago. Loved it. I think I cried at the end. Jenny Beavan lost, but an Oscar winner for a Mad M++ being nominated here, in a completely different genre? She’s genius. Cruella? I wanted to hate it…
A GREAEAEAEAT review! I've been to the Oscars twice, but watching this one on tv was by far the most entertaining, moving, uplifting, and joyous. And my feet didn't hurt! 👠
Wow, TC schools with lessons I can’t wait to learn…