TMW #32: The Oscars, Gene Hackman's best roles, and the new DCU
Celebrations, reflections, Lanterns...
Hello award-worthy film fans,
And welcome to another full-to-bursting edition of The Movie Wingman. First up we’re offering our thoughts on the big talking points of the 97th Oscars, from Mick Jagger to Miley Cyrus to musical sandworms. We’re also paying tribute to the late, legendary Gene Hackman, singling out our favourite performances from his storied career (not an easy task, given the star’s staggering consistency).
And below the paywall we’re weighing up the state of the new DCU; is it on course to be the franchise of tomorrow? Rounding things off, we’re testing your knowledge of legal eagles, ahead of this week’s release of Daredevil: Born Again.
We’ll be reviewing that Disney+ show - plus a flock of new releases, including Mickey 17 - on Friday. In the meantime, we welcome your likes, shares, restacks and (if you’re a paying subscriber) comments. Each ounce of support makes us as happy as Larry, or the Anora team on Sunday night. Enjoy the edition…
Matthew (Matt and Jordan)
Five takeaways from the Oscars
The Movie Wingman reflects on the biggest night in movies…
ANORA WON BIG
The pleasing surprise was just how well Anora did, bagging five awards in total - the most for any film this year - including Best Picture. Writer/director/editor/producer Sean Baker became the first person to win four statuettes for one film. There was no doubt it was Anora’s night. It’s hard to imagine a film like this - vibrant, challenging, attuned to an underrepresented subculture - winning if it weren’t for the expansion of the voting membership in recent years. Mikey Madison also took home gold for Best Actress, after a close-run season with Demi Moore (and a late surge from Fernanda Torres). Baker had been on an astonishing run of form for his career to date, and after this unambiguous industry validation, it’s hard to imagine him changing tack any time soon. (MM)
CONAN O’BRIEN WAS THE HOST WITH THE MOST
Towards the end of the near-four-hour(!) show, Conan O’Brien introduced legendary presenter Billy Crystal to the stage as “the best Oscar host ever”. First-timer Conan didn’t quite reach those heights, but he did a damn good job as master of ceremonies. Never taking the occasion – or himself – too seriously, he nailed a tricky opening monologue encompassing everything from the LA fires to Karla Sofía Gascón’s social-media history. A back-and-forth with voice-of-god Oscar announcer Nick Offerman was a delight and a daft joke about Miles Teller and Miley Cyrus being known as ‘Kilometres’ Teller and ‘Kilometry’ Cyrus in Europe had me in stitches (possibly due to sleep deprivation). It wasn’t all gold; the ‘time-waster’ musical number lived up to its ironic purpose and some sketches dragged. But above all, he was funny, something you can rarely rely on with Oscar hosts. The Academy would be wise to invite him back next year. (JF)
INDEPENDENT CINEMA TRIUMPHED
The Anora sweep is the headline here (see above), but there was another notable giant killer last night – Flow. The Latvian animated indie made by a core team of around 20 people, on the completely free visual effects software Blender, triumphed in the Best Animated Feature category over the mega-money likes of DreamWorks (The Wild Robot), Pixar (Inside Out 2) and Aardman (Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl). Flow is an exceptional film – look out for our review in a couple of weeks – but the idea that anyone with a couple dozen talented friends and a mid-range computer can take on the big boys of the animated world feels like a sea-change moment. (JF)
THE NOMINEE ‘CHAMPION’ INTROS SHOULD BE EXPANDED TO OTHER CATEGORIES
There was rejoicing in the digital streets of Film Twitter last week when it was revealed that clips – clips! – would make a return to the show. That they did, in the Best Actor and Actress categories (clearly a late-breaking Plan B to save Emma Stone, as presenter for Best Actress, from having to praise Karla Sofía Gascón live on stage). But in the Supporting categories, and more effectively in the Best Costumes and Best Cinematography categories, the presenters personally championed each of the nominees, leading to sincere tributes from the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Willem Dafoe and (a very funny) Bowen Yang. As a way to add some personality and warmth to the less sexy craft categories, it worked a treat. (JF)
THE MUSICAL INTERLUDES HIT ALL KINDS OF NOTES
Defying decades-old tradition, the Academy opted out of live renditions of this year’s Best Original Song nominees - but we did get a handful of musical interludes, ranging from the sublime to… well, a Dune: Part Two sandworm playing ‘Chopsticks’. If the thought behind cutting the performances was to keep the show’s running time in check, then Song nominees may have chafed at space given to a jokey number about not wasting time (which at least wasn’t any near as cringe as Seth MacFarlane’s 2013 ‘We Saw Your Boobs’ fiasco). Similarly, it might have seemed unfair for an ineligible song - ‘Defying Gravity’ - to have a slot (as part of a longer Wizard of Oz medley), but some form of musical salute to Wicked was surely always on the cards. (This Shiz stan’s definitely not complaining.) Cynthia Erivo’s take on ‘Home’ wasn’t the only song from 1978’s The Wiz; Queen Latifah later delivered a rousing ‘Ease on Down the Road’ as part of a tribute to Quincy Jones - which felt a lot more straightforward and necessary than the Bond tribute. Mounted in honour of outgoing custodians Broccoli and Wilson’s honorary Oscar, it had its moments - Raye capping the segment with Skyfall - but was overall a bit of a hotchpotch; it wouldn’t have surprised to see the sandworm waddle on in a tux. (ML)
RANDOM OSCAR SUPERLATIVES
Best Zinger: “Well our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes… and I’m talking about the producers of Joker 2.” LAFD captain Eric Scott
Smiliest Presenter: Mick Jagger, presenter of Best Original Song, seemed delighted to be there, grinning from ear to ear for the duration of his time on stage. And he nailed a great gag about being Bob Dylan’s ‘younger’ replacement.
Strangest Oscar Speech, runner-up: You can blame the language barrier for their less than coherent speeches, but even Jacques Audiard looked confused when Emilia Pérez Original Song winners Camille and Clément Ducol started warbling their film’s title tune while being played off.
Strangest Oscar Speech, winner: Kieran Culkin completing his season of flippant winner speeches with a live gotcha moment involving his wife and a year-old, off-hand promise to sire a fourth child should he win an Oscar was a strange mix of sweet and creepy.
Worst Oscar Predictors: The Movie Wingman. Never let it be said that we know what we’re talking about when it comes to award prognosticating. We all had our small wins (Matthew crystal-balled International Feature, Matt got both acting categories correct and Jordan was on the money with Best Director) but we all missed the mark with Best Picture. Conclave and The Brutalist for Best Picture – what were we thinking!
The Gene Genie
Gene Hackman died last week at the age of 95. One of the true greats of American cinema, Hackman brought world-weary gravitas and authority to many of the best films of the 20th century. Here we salute some of our personal favourites.
HARRY CAUL, THE CONVERSATION
My favourite Hackman performance is an obvious but undeniable one. In Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 surveillance noir (released between Godfathers), his Harry Caul is a wiretapping expert who’s hired to record an interaction between a young couple, but a slightly distorted end result creates an infuriating note of ambiguity that’s picked at for the rest of the film. This introspective, guilt-wracked performance shows Hackman - so effective at full-bore intensity - at his most powerfully restrained. Much as he tries to bury it, Caul is haunted by a previous experience in which three people ended up dead as a result of his work. And for all that he intrudes on others lives, he won’t let anyone beneath his own armour. Credit to Hackman for making a character who gives so little away so compelling, and for being so vitally engaging when it comes to a potentially dry and insular area of expertise (and for learning the sax specifically for the role). Roger Ebert called Caul “one of the most affecting and tragic characters in the movies”. Sounds about right. And for a change of pace, check out Enemy of the State, the Tony Scott thriller in which Hackman riffs again on themes of surveillance and paranoia. (MM)
LEX LUTHOR
A narcissistic megalomaniac with curious hair, who’s fixated on real estate and likes to shout “You’re fired!”... hmm. But anyway, Lex Luthor: Hackman’s biggest commercial role. It’s a part that positively invites scenery-chewing, but Hackman takes more of a judicious nibble; other screen Lexs have been far less restrained. Flexing “mind over muscle” in 1978’s Superman (where he was second-billed), he doesn’t steal the movie from Christopher Reeve, but does borrow it a few times; take the casually cruel moment when he hangs a Kryptonite necklace on the big Boy Scout. A more suave, charming Lex returns in 1980’s Superman II (top billing!), where he puts on a hilarious sideshow, teasing and toying with the Kryptonian villains and puts his feet up in the Oval Office (ahem). After sitting out 1983’s Superman III (making way for Robert Vaughn’s Lex-alike), he was back for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). No question the beleaguered, budget-slashed movie is one of the worst Hackman ever made. And yet… he still shows up, investing vigour and dastardly conviction in Lex’s wacky plans, bringing flashes of joy (singing ‘Hello, Dolly’ to his old nemesis) to a joyless enterprise. He even does double duty as the growling voice of Nuclear Man. Seeing the early Supermans as an under-10, I just couldn’t understand why my parents thought Hackman’s wiggy Lex was a bigger draw than a flying dude with laser vision. Watching Quest for Peace at the wiser age of 12, I was the first to say it: “Thank God for Gene Hackman…” (ML)
LITTLE BILL DAGGETT, UNFORGIVEN
In Clint Eastwood’s classic revisionist Western, Hackman plays the sheriff of Big Whiskey, "Little" Bill Daggett. A brutal lawman, Little Bill propels the plot forward with his zero-tolerance policy towards assassins and outlaws and is the character who most plainly dispels the romantic myths of the Old West. The exemplary ‘Duck of Death’ scene, in which Little Bill reveals the prosaic truth behind the legend of English Bob (Richard Harris), is one of the standout speeches of Hackman’s career, delivered with almost vindictive zeal. When the showdown between Little Bill and Eastwood’s avenging angel, Will Munny, finally arrives I’ve never wanted to see a character take a shotgun slug to the chest more. That “misfire” felt like a bullet itself. Hackman was duly recognised for his performance, winning his second and final Oscar for the role, and would go on to star in several further westerns (Geronimo: An American Legend, Wyatt Earp and The Quick and the Dead all followed in quick succession), but Unforgiven’s Little Bill can’t be beat. (JF)
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