comment #1

Ian Sinclair says ...

Yeah, Mirren again. I don't know what's more annoying to us - your not celebrating the best performance of the year like everyone else on the planet or your whining like a petulant three year-old that someone over 60 is going to win the Oscar, or whatever the hell your problem is with Mirren. Whatever it is, get with the program. Cruz is dust. Miller is mire. Sometimes the quality of a performance and the sheer respect for its performer wins the Oscar. That is a reason to celebrate not castigate. In the era of the IPod nothing disenfranchises a commentator quite like a cracked record.

comment #2

Matthew Lucas says ...

That's a good list. I still think "L'Enfant" is terribly overrated. It's not a bad film...but I never actually bought that that character would actually try to sell his baby. The decision just comes out of nowhere.

As for Mirren, well...it may seem monotonous. But don't you think she deserves it? I don't think groups should award someone else just for a change. She truly gave the best performance, male or female, of the year. And this year it just so happens that everyone agrees.

comment #3

EDouglas says ...

I didn't get a chance to see Army of Shadows, but considering what I thought of L'Enfant (agree, overrated), 3 Times (boring, pointless) and other movies these snobby critics seem to like, I'm sure it's as pretentious as their other choices. Seems like a lot of critics are just raving about it because it's from the '60s and finally got a very very limited theatrical release. But I guess it will help the DVD sales/rentals (i'll def. rent it)

comment #4

T. S. Idiot says ...

Army of Shadows is good (currently no. 5 on my top 10 list), but it's not as good as Le Samourai, Le Cercle rouge, Bob le flambeur, and Les enfants terribles. You have to have seen other Melvilles to appreciate it.

comment #5

Joe Leydon says ...

Bob le Flambeur truly is one of the greats, no doubt about it. But I would argue that Neil Jordan's remake was, in its own way, every bit as entertaining:
http://www.movingpictureshow.com/archives/mpsGoodThief.htm

And Le Samourai is sensational. A few years ago, I was at the Berlin Film Festival when they were honoring Alain Delon with a career retrospective. They screened Le Samourai in its original French, with German subtitles -- and yet, because Melville is such a terrific (but under-rated) visual storyteller, I had no trouble following the plot. (Of course, it helped that I had previously seen the movie many years earlier -- in an English-dubbed version released in the United States as, no kidding, The Godson.

comment #6

renorambler says ...

I say congrats to Mirren! She has deserved some love for a long time.

comment #7

Hallick says ...

Congrats to Mirren, but she's been getting love since "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" and the first "Prime Suspect" series. She's as far from lovelorn as anyone can get.