John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#25 — Roberta Guaspari, a real-life violinist and instructor who brought music education to the classrooms of Harlem.
Matthew: One of the pitfalls that tends to come with occupying such a prominent position in the highly public realm of moviemaking is a gradual inability to disappear into the most straightforward of roles. I’m not talking about the magical acts of self-vanishing that allow Daniel Day-Lewis to seemingly become figures as disparate as Bill the Butcher and Abraham Lincoln nor the larger-than-life personas achieved through virtuosic, full-scale deglamorizations by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Charlize Theron, but rather the everyday characters who may achieve great things but whose lives are decisively rooted in reality, their appearances neither remarkable nor particularly conspicuous. No matter how hard a performer tries to shed her star persona and immerse herself in distinctly un-Hollywood settings,...
#25 — Roberta Guaspari, a real-life violinist and instructor who brought music education to the classrooms of Harlem.
Matthew: One of the pitfalls that tends to come with occupying such a prominent position in the highly public realm of moviemaking is a gradual inability to disappear into the most straightforward of roles. I’m not talking about the magical acts of self-vanishing that allow Daniel Day-Lewis to seemingly become figures as disparate as Bill the Butcher and Abraham Lincoln nor the larger-than-life personas achieved through virtuosic, full-scale deglamorizations by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Charlize Theron, but rather the everyday characters who may achieve great things but whose lives are decisively rooted in reality, their appearances neither remarkable nor particularly conspicuous. No matter how hard a performer tries to shed her star persona and immerse herself in distinctly un-Hollywood settings,...
- 7/5/2018
- by John Guerin
- FilmExperience
Is Meryl Streep the greatest film actor of all time? That might just be the case judging from her record 21 Oscar nominations. Then again, with three wins she trails Katharine Hepburn, who still holds the record with four acting victories, so Streep still has a big brass ring to reach for if she wants to be the undisputed queen of screen actors. She earned her latest bid this year for her leading role as Washington Post publisher Kay Graham in Steven Spielberg‘s “The Post.” Where does her latest entry rank in her filmography? Even though it seems like she’s nominated for just about every performance she gives it’s not just those Oscar-anointed roles that count among her strongest achievements. Tour through our photo gallery above of Streep’s 25 greatest performances ranked from worst to best.
See Meryl Streep joins ‘Big Little Lies’ season 2 – will she win her fourth Emmy?...
See Meryl Streep joins ‘Big Little Lies’ season 2 – will she win her fourth Emmy?...
- 2/24/2018
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
This article marks Part 12 of the 21-part Gold Derby series analyzing Meryl Streep at the Oscars. Join us as we look back at Meryl Streep’s nominations, the performances that competed with her at the Academy Awards, the results of each race and the overall rankings of the contenders.
In 1977, while Meryl Streep was making her big screen debut with a small role in Fred Zinnemann‘s Oscar-winning “Julia,” young filmmaker Wes Craven was scaring the pants off moviegoers with his X-rated horror flick “The Hills Have Eyes.”
Seven years later, in 1984, Streep already had two Oscars under her belt, yet was putting fans to sleep with the tedious Robert De Niro romance “Falling in Love.” Meanwhile, Craven was at last breaking down the door into mainstream cinema, with his “A Nightmare on Elm Street” proving a sleeper hit and making burnt serial killer Freddy Krueger a household name.
Craven...
In 1977, while Meryl Streep was making her big screen debut with a small role in Fred Zinnemann‘s Oscar-winning “Julia,” young filmmaker Wes Craven was scaring the pants off moviegoers with his X-rated horror flick “The Hills Have Eyes.”
Seven years later, in 1984, Streep already had two Oscars under her belt, yet was putting fans to sleep with the tedious Robert De Niro romance “Falling in Love.” Meanwhile, Craven was at last breaking down the door into mainstream cinema, with his “A Nightmare on Elm Street” proving a sleeper hit and making burnt serial killer Freddy Krueger a household name.
Craven...
- 2/13/2018
- by Andrew Carden
- Gold Derby
Everyone knows that Meryl Streep, a current Best Actress nominee for “The Post,” is the Secretariat of the Oscar nominations race. Her 21 combined lead and supporting actress bids put her nine lengths ahead of runners-up Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson and 11 ahead of legends Bette Davis and Sir Laurence Olivier.
But in a race within a race that has gotten less attention, Streep has an even greater lead: in nominations for roles based on real people. The number is either 10 or 11 depending on whether you agree with the fashion world and me that she plays a thinly-veiled version of Vogue’s Queen of Mean editor Anna Wintour in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Streep, in fact, has more nominations for playing historical figures than any other major actor has even attempted. Hepburn, the most heralded and honored actress before Streep came along, played only a half-dozen real life characters in her long career,...
But in a race within a race that has gotten less attention, Streep has an even greater lead: in nominations for roles based on real people. The number is either 10 or 11 depending on whether you agree with the fashion world and me that she plays a thinly-veiled version of Vogue’s Queen of Mean editor Anna Wintour in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Streep, in fact, has more nominations for playing historical figures than any other major actor has even attempted. Hepburn, the most heralded and honored actress before Streep came along, played only a half-dozen real life characters in her long career,...
- 2/9/2018
- by Jack Mathews
- Gold Derby
Last year, Meryl Streep received her 20th Academy Award nomination for her performance in Florence Foster Jenkins. Streep’s nod makes her the most nominated performer in Oscars history.
In honor of Streep’s incredible feat (which she celebrated with an epic gif of her dancing; see below), we’re looking back at the roles that got her the accolades.
via Giphy
(We’re just as excited as you, Meryl!)
1979: The Deer Hunter
Though she didn’t win for her turn as the girlfriend of a fallen soldier in Vietnam, the role helped establish Streep as one to watch in the awards show game,...
In honor of Streep’s incredible feat (which she celebrated with an epic gif of her dancing; see below), we’re looking back at the roles that got her the accolades.
via Giphy
(We’re just as excited as you, Meryl!)
1979: The Deer Hunter
Though she didn’t win for her turn as the girlfriend of a fallen soldier in Vietnam, the role helped establish Streep as one to watch in the awards show game,...
- 6/22/2017
- by Maria Yagoda and Diana Pearl
- PEOPLE.com
Everyone talks about Meryl Streep’s record-setting number of Academy Award nominations, but perhaps even more impressive is the number of Golden Globe Award nominations she’s received: 30, as of this year, with her latest nod for Florence Foster Jenkins.
In fact, the Hollywood Foreign Press seems to be so enamored with Streep that they’ll give her a nomination for pretty much anything (even Mamma Mia!). And now, they’re finally giving her the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
In honor of Streep’s incredible feat — only Jack Lemmon has even come close, with...
In fact, the Hollywood Foreign Press seems to be so enamored with Streep that they’ll give her a nomination for pretty much anything (even Mamma Mia!). And now, they’re finally giving her the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.
In honor of Streep’s incredible feat — only Jack Lemmon has even come close, with...
- 1/7/2017
- by dianapearltimeinc
- PEOPLE.com
By Patrick Shanley
Managing Editor
This year’s best documentary feature nominees continues a long trend of music docs being recognized by the Academy, as two music-related films have earned nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Amy, which tells the story of late songstress Amy Winehouse in her own words through never-before-seen archival footage and unreleased tracks and is nominated for best doc this year, earned nominations for the Queer Palm and Golden Eye awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for director Asif Kapadia.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus earned the second nomination of her career with the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? The film focuses on the life of iconic R&B singer Nina Simone and her life as a singer, mother, and civil rights activist. Garbus earned her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for her documentary The Farm: Angola, USA.
Music-related docs have been a hot topic for the Academy in years past,...
Managing Editor
This year’s best documentary feature nominees continues a long trend of music docs being recognized by the Academy, as two music-related films have earned nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Amy, which tells the story of late songstress Amy Winehouse in her own words through never-before-seen archival footage and unreleased tracks and is nominated for best doc this year, earned nominations for the Queer Palm and Golden Eye awards at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for director Asif Kapadia.
Filmmaker Liz Garbus earned the second nomination of her career with the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? The film focuses on the life of iconic R&B singer Nina Simone and her life as a singer, mother, and civil rights activist. Garbus earned her first Oscar nomination in 1998 for her documentary The Farm: Angola, USA.
Music-related docs have been a hot topic for the Academy in years past,...
- 1/22/2016
- by Patrick Shanley
- Scott Feinberg
'Music of the Heart' cast: Meryl Streep, Gloria Estefan, Aidan Quinn and Angela Bassett. 'Music of the Heart': Unusually bloodless Wes Craven movie works as Meryl Streep showcase Wes Craven, the director of the Scream franchise and of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, is hardly the kind of filmmaker from whom one would expect a syrupy motion picture about a determined violin teacher who wins the hearts and minds of her inner-city school students. Yet Craven is the man responsible for Music of the Heart, a film utterly devoid of slashed faces, lethal stabbings, and deadly fingernails. Instead, this distaff version of Mr. Holland's Opus – with touches of To Sir with Love – offers loads of sentiment, some classical music (violinists Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Mark O'Connor appear as themselves), plenty of bad pop tunes, and a superb performance by Meryl Streep as a...
- 9/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It is with a heavy heart that we at Shadowlocked give a fond farewell to one of the true masters of modern horror. Wes Craven has passed away at the age of 76 after a long battle with brain cancer.
Born on August 2, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. He received an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. He then started out a teacher at Westminster College and then Clarkson College of Technology before getting his first job in the film industry, working as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York City. Craven claimed that he then worked on "numerous" hardcore X-rated films, mostly in editing and writing.
In 1972, Craven got his shot at his first directorial effort with Last House on the Left, a tale of a family who takes revenge on the...
Born on August 2, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. He received an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. He then started out a teacher at Westminster College and then Clarkson College of Technology before getting his first job in the film industry, working as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York City. Craven claimed that he then worked on "numerous" hardcore X-rated films, mostly in editing and writing.
In 1972, Craven got his shot at his first directorial effort with Last House on the Left, a tale of a family who takes revenge on the...
- 8/31/2015
- Shadowlocked
Our Oscar coverage continues. Here we overview the best acting and best directing award nominees.
The Best Actor Nominees
Steve Carell - as John du Pont in Foxcatcher
Age: 52
Previously Best Known For:
The Office
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
None
Interesting Fact: Owns and operates the Marshfield Hills General Store in Marshfield, Massachusetts where he has a summer home.
Bradley Cooper - as Chris Kyle in American Sniper
Age: 40
Previously Best Known For:
The Hangover
Silver Linings Playbook
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
Nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 2013- as Richie Dimaso in American Hustle
Nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 2012 - as Pat in Silver Linings Playbook
Interesting Fact: Had to miss his graduation commencement at Georgetown University because he was filming Wet Hot American Summer.
Benedict Cumberbatch - as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game...
The Best Actor Nominees
Steve Carell - as John du Pont in Foxcatcher
Age: 52
Previously Best Known For:
The Office
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
None
Interesting Fact: Owns and operates the Marshfield Hills General Store in Marshfield, Massachusetts where he has a summer home.
Bradley Cooper - as Chris Kyle in American Sniper
Age: 40
Previously Best Known For:
The Hangover
Silver Linings Playbook
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
Nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 2013- as Richie Dimaso in American Hustle
Nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 2012 - as Pat in Silver Linings Playbook
Interesting Fact: Had to miss his graduation commencement at Georgetown University because he was filming Wet Hot American Summer.
Benedict Cumberbatch - as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game...
- 2/18/2015
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (G.S. Perno)
- Cinelinx
By Anjelica Oswald
Managing Editor
Keep on Keepin’ On, director Alan Hicks’ debut film, follows four years of the friendship and mentorship between jazz legend and trumpeter Clark Terry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and taught a young Quincy Jones how to play, and Justin Kauflin, a talented 23-year-old blind pianist. The two musicians support each other as Terry begins to lose his eyesight due to health issues and as Kauflin deals with stage fright as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. The film is one of 15 films on the Oscar documentary shortlist, five of which will be nominated on Jan. 15.
The Academy is particularly fond of music-related documentaries, nominating 17 since 1942, with eight winning. Keep on Keepin’ On could join the following Oscar-nominated films:
Festival (1967)
Director Murray Lerner’s black-and-white documentary offers a glimpse into three years (1963-1966) of the Newport Folk Festival, which...
Managing Editor
Keep on Keepin’ On, director Alan Hicks’ debut film, follows four years of the friendship and mentorship between jazz legend and trumpeter Clark Terry, who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington and taught a young Quincy Jones how to play, and Justin Kauflin, a talented 23-year-old blind pianist. The two musicians support each other as Terry begins to lose his eyesight due to health issues and as Kauflin deals with stage fright as a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. The film is one of 15 films on the Oscar documentary shortlist, five of which will be nominated on Jan. 15.
The Academy is particularly fond of music-related documentaries, nominating 17 since 1942, with eight winning. Keep on Keepin’ On could join the following Oscar-nominated films:
Festival (1967)
Director Murray Lerner’s black-and-white documentary offers a glimpse into three years (1963-1966) of the Newport Folk Festival, which...
- 1/8/2015
- by Anjelica Oswald
- Scott Feinberg
Our Oscar coverage continues. Here we overview the best acting and best directing award nominees.
Best Actor Nominees
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Age: 40
Previously Best Known For:
Bruce Wayne/Batman – Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy
Patrick Bateman – American Psycho
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
Win - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 2011 – as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter
Interesting Fact: If he plays an American character, he will use an American accent in all the interviews related to the film. He says he does this so the audience isn't confused
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Age: 77
Previously Best Known For:
Freeman Lowell – Silent Running
Asa Watts – The Cowboys
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
Nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1979 – as Captain Bob Hyde in Coming Home
Interesting Fact: One of the few actors to play a character to have killed John Wayne on screen (The Cowboys...
Best Actor Nominees
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Age: 40
Previously Best Known For:
Bruce Wayne/Batman – Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy
Patrick Bateman – American Psycho
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
Win - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 2011 – as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter
Interesting Fact: If he plays an American character, he will use an American accent in all the interviews related to the film. He says he does this so the audience isn't confused
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Age: 77
Previously Best Known For:
Freeman Lowell – Silent Running
Asa Watts – The Cowboys
Previous Oscar Nominations/Wins:
Nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1979 – as Captain Bob Hyde in Coming Home
Interesting Fact: One of the few actors to play a character to have killed John Wayne on screen (The Cowboys...
- 2/22/2014
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (G.S. Perno)
- Cinelinx
Meryl Streep, husband Don Gummer: Oscar 2012 Meryl Streep and husband Don Gummer at the Governors Ball after 84th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood on Sunday, February 26, 2012. Streep won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady. (Photo: © A.M.P.A.S.) While picking up her Oscar — her third — Streep said the following onstage (courtesy of AMPAS): "Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. When they called my name I’d had this feeling I could hear half of America going 'oh no…oh c’mon…why…her…again?' But whatever. "First I’m going to thank Don because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives you’ve given me.
- 3/5/2012
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Meryl Streep Meryl Streep ended up beating Viola Davis at the 2012 Academy Awards this past Sunday. In the above photo, Streep is seen on her way to picking up her third Oscar statuette. In the background, Sandra Bullock can be seen applauding enthusiastically, while George Clooney admires Streep's dress and Owen Wilson holds his trousers up. (Photo: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Two days after her Oscar victory, it was announced that Streep had donated $10,000 on behalf of Viola Davis to a charter school in the Rhode Island town of Central Falls, Davis' hometown. The school is reportedly attempting to raise money to buy the building where it's located or move to another site. Some have taken to the Internet to complain that Streep's donation represents a minuscule percentage of her earnings. Never mind the fact that Streep has donated (much more?) money to other causes as well — but that those go unreported.
- 3/1/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Meryl Streep Meryl Streep defeated Viola Davis at the 2012 Academy Awards this past Sunday. In the above photo, Streep is seen on her way to picking up her third Oscar statuette. In the background, Sandra Bullock can be seen applauding enthusiastically, while George Clooney admires Streep's dress and Owen Wilson holds his trousers up. (Photo: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Two days after her Oscar victory, it was announced that Streep had donated $10,000 on behalf of Davis to a charter school in the Rhode Island town of Central Falls, Davis' hometown. The school is reportedly attempting to raise money to buy the building where it's located or move to another site. Some have taken to the Internet to complain that Streep's donation represents a minuscule percentage of her earnings. Never mind the possibility that Streep has donated (much more?) money to other causes as well — but that those go unreported.
- 3/1/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Octavia Spencer, Meryl Streep Octavia Spencer — quite literally — joins Meryl Streep at 2012 post-Oscar ceremony Governors Ball held at Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26. Spencer was the Best Supporting Actress winner for her performance in Tate Taylor's socially conscious comedy-drama The Help. Streep was the Best Actress winner for her performance as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady. (Photo: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.) Octavia Spencer was a first-time nominee. Her Best Supporting Actress competition consisted of fellow first-time nominees Jessica Chastain for The Help, Bérénice Bejo for Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist, and Melissa McCarthy for Paul Feig's Bridesmaids, in addition to two-time nominee Janet McTeer for Rodrigo García's Albert Nobbs. McTeer had been previously shortlisted in the Best Actress category for Gavin O'Connor's Tumbleweeds (1999). Meryl Streep's competitors in the Best Actress...
- 2/29/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Tom Cruise poses with Meryl Streep during the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony at Hollywood and Highland Center on Sunday, February 26. Cruise, looking very much like his old Top Gun and Cocktail self, was the evening's Best Picture presenter. Streep was the Best Actress Oscar winner for playing Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady. Also worth noting, Cruise and Streep co-starred in Robert Redford's political drama Lions for Lambs in 2006. (Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.) Tom Cruise presented the Best Picture Oscar to Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white near-silent comedy-drama The Artist. Cruise's movie Mission: Impossible IV – Ghost Protocol was a major late-year box-office hit and received quite enthusiastic reviews, but failed to be shortlisted in any Oscar category. Cruise's next film is Adam Shankman's Rock of Ages, featuring an extensive cast that includes Malin Akerman, Bryan Cranston, Best Supporting Actress...
- 2/28/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Tom Cruise congratulates Best Actress Oscar winner Meryl Streep — for Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady — backstage during the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony held at the Hollywood and Highland Center on Sunday, February 26. Cruise and Streep co-starred in Robert Redford's political/Iraq War drama Lions for Lambs in 2006; the film was a box-office flop in the United States, but did solid business overseas. (Photo: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S.) Tom Cruise wasn't nominated for anything this year; he was the presenter of the Best Picture Academy Award, which went to Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist. Cruise's movie Mission: Impossible IV – Ghost Protocol was a major late-year box-office hit and received quite enthusiastic reviews. Cruise's next vehicle is Adam Shankman's Rock of Ages, featuring an eclectic cast that includes Malin Akerman, Bryan Cranston, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Julianne Hough, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Hugh Forte,...
- 2/28/2012
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
While Meryl Streep holds the record for most Oscar nominations with 16 bids (13 lead, 3 supporting), just two wins -- "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and "Sophie's Choice" (1982) -- means she also holds the record for most losses among performers. With 14 defeats, she is far ahead of Katharine Hepburn (4 wins; 8 losses) and Jack Nicholson (3 wins; 9 losses). Streep earned a record 13th Best Actress nomination last year for portraying celebrated chef Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" only to lose to Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side"). Four of Streep's previous best actress bids were also for playing real women: whistle blower Karen Silkwood in "Silkwood" (1983); authoress Karen Blixen in "Out of Africa" (1985); suspected killer Lindy Chamberlain in A Cry in the Dark" (1988), and noted teacher Roberta Guaspari in "Music From the Heart" (1999). And one of her three supporting actress nominations was also...
- 2/9/2011
- Gold Derby
Meryl Streep as the Anna Wintourish Miranda Priestly and Anne Hathaway in David Frankel‘s The Devil Wears Prada Meryl Streep (not Emma Thompson, sigh) "is in talks" to play Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd‘s Thatcher, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lloyd has previously worked with Streep in the blockbuster musical Mamma Mia!. As per the Reporter, Jim Broadbent is also in talks to play Thatcher’s husband, Denis. Brian Fillis is penning the screenplay, based on a story by Fillis and producer Damien Jones. Among Streep’s previous impersonations of real-life characters are her Karen Silkwood (Mike Nichols‘ Silkwood, 1983), Karen Blixen (Sydney Pollack‘s Out of Africa, 1985), Lindy Chamberlain (Fred Schepisi‘s A Cry in the Dark, 1988), Roberta Guaspari (Wes Craven‘s Music of the Heart, 1999), and, most recently, Julia Child (Norah Ephron‘s Julie & Julia, 2009). Streep received Best Actress Academy Award nominations for all of the above.
- 7/1/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Angela Bassett would like to welcome you back to Streep at 60: Live From Carnegie Hall. Today's topic: Wes Craven's Music of the Heart (1999).
"I want to thank each of you for your generous support and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the blog post."If you need someone to introduce something, you choose Angela Bassett. It's the only way to go. She will always e•nun•ci•ate for you. I lead off with Angela's intro to the concert which concludes Music of the Heart because this is the sort of film that is entirely about its heartwarming climax. In fact, when it comes to movie narratives, the Inspirational True Story is the subgenre that most begs a swift telling. Inspirational Stories are about inevitable triumphs. The audience knows it's coming so too much dilly-dallying is deadly.
Music of the Heart tells the story of Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep...
"I want to thank each of you for your generous support and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the blog post."If you need someone to introduce something, you choose Angela Bassett. It's the only way to go. She will always e•nun•ci•ate for you. I lead off with Angela's intro to the concert which concludes Music of the Heart because this is the sort of film that is entirely about its heartwarming climax. In fact, when it comes to movie narratives, the Inspirational True Story is the subgenre that most begs a swift telling. Inspirational Stories are about inevitable triumphs. The audience knows it's coming so too much dilly-dallying is deadly.
Music of the Heart tells the story of Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep...
- 6/26/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Hello, Jose here to remind you all that it's Madonna's birthday!
The Queen of pop/ businesswoman/ kabbalist/ mother/ 90's tabloid fodder/ safe sex advocate/ sex advocate/ entrepeneur/ icon is celebrating her 51st birthday today (and with those arms!). But along with everything she's done, many people forget (on purpose mostly...) that she's also an actress/director. The notorious perfectionist has never been able to master the cinematic arts, even if she tries and tries and tries. But since it's her birthday we should acknowledge that not all she's done for the silver screen is bad and since we can't take a holiday to get into the groove with her, here's...
51 Reasons to Celebrate Madonna... in the Movies!
51. Daring to take on a role created by Katharine Hepburn...sort of in Who's That Girl.
50. Her endorsement of Michael Moore.
49. Setting a whole new clothing trend with Desperately Seeking Susan.
48. Her deep love for classic films.
The Queen of pop/ businesswoman/ kabbalist/ mother/ 90's tabloid fodder/ safe sex advocate/ sex advocate/ entrepeneur/ icon is celebrating her 51st birthday today (and with those arms!). But along with everything she's done, many people forget (on purpose mostly...) that she's also an actress/director. The notorious perfectionist has never been able to master the cinematic arts, even if she tries and tries and tries. But since it's her birthday we should acknowledge that not all she's done for the silver screen is bad and since we can't take a holiday to get into the groove with her, here's...
51 Reasons to Celebrate Madonna... in the Movies!
51. Daring to take on a role created by Katharine Hepburn...sort of in Who's That Girl.
50. Her endorsement of Michael Moore.
49. Setting a whole new clothing trend with Desperately Seeking Susan.
48. Her deep love for classic films.
- 8/17/2009
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
The true events dramatized in Wes Craven's "Music of the Heart", beautifully told in the 1996 documentary "Small Wonders", are beguiling and inspirational, exploring music and art as a bridge toward self-expression and personal fulfillment for young children living under almost impossible conditions. But the movies exert their own logic and requirements -- principally a psychology and drama -- and the grafting of narrative demands over the original material creates an imbalance and inconsistency of tone Craven never fully overcomes.
The "Scream" movies have given Craven his greatest popular successes. The fact is, ever since his chilling, audacious debut film, "The Last House on the Left", Craven has been a terrific, underrated director. His movies, entertaining and deeply primal on one level, are memorable for the political and social analysis buried within the subtext. So it is particularly disappointing to encounter a work of Craven's -- his first movie outside the horror or supernatural genre -- that is so sentimental, stiff and predictable. "Music of the Heart" is as uninspired as its title (originally called "50 Violins"), a work that feels and plays closer to a television movie. Distributor Miramax will probably have the same experience with this film that it had with last year's "The Mighty", releasing a crowd-pleaser that doesn't have a crowd.
Pamela Gray, who wrote Tony Goldwyn's impressive debut film "A Walk on the Moon", has created a succession of types rather than characters. Even forgetting for a moment the genesis of this project, the movie seems played out and exhausted from the start. There isn't a surprising or unpredictable moment in the entire film.
Meryl Streep plays Roberta Guaspari, whose passion and belief in the violin as a profoundly important artistic and emotional catalyst in a child's development was the foundation of the East Harlem Violin Project. In its first decade, the program trained some 1,500 students from three socially and economically marginalized schools in the discipline and fundamentals of the difficult instrument. When the program was nearly destroyed by bottom-line bureaucrats, Guaspari organized a memorable Carnegie Hall fund-raiser with some of the world's leading musicians to save the program.
Unfortunately, Guaspari's story (or the one the filmmakers have invented) dominates the essential shape of the movie. A skilled musician who gave up a promising career for her marriage to a career Navy officer and the raising of their two sons, Guaspari is devastated at the start of the film by her husband's abandonment of her and their children. Forced to fend for herself, Guaspari talks a reluctant, battle-weary principal (Angela Bassett) into appointing her as a temporary teacher to implement her program. A perfectionist but daring teacher, Guaspari is a natural whose program achieves instant success, despite her being ostracized by other teachers and misunderstood by some of the parents. The film saves its cheapest shots for the ostensible "villain," a career incompetent and tenured music teacher (Josh Pais) who is Roberta's opposite.
Like "The Mighty", "Music of the Heart" is an emotionally manipulative film that sermonizes rather than dramatizing its points. The conflict feels manufactured rather than woven into a believable, dramatically gripping narrative. The look of the film is patchy and uninvolving. Craven even resorts to the worst kind of moments -- slow motion, portentous music -- to overstate the emotional content of a scene.
The final product also suggests the kind of editorial intrusion for which Miramax is notorious: the jittery storytelling and apparently major plot points that are introduced and then summarily discarded (most prominently the violent reaction of one of Roberta's sons to the breakup of his parents' marriage). Even the incomparable Streep, the greatest actor of her generation, seems to be working beneath her skills here, all fury and motion. Aidan Quinn is similarly wasted as Streep's callow, irresponsible lover.
Sometimes great stories don't make great or even good films. Told perfectly as a documentary, the story of Roberta Guaspari deserves attention, but "Music of the Heart" doesn't improve on its source.
MUSIC OF THE HEART
Miramax Films
Craven/Maddalena Films
Producers: Marianne Maddalena, Susan Kaplan, Allan Miller, Walter Scheuer
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Pamela Gray
Co-producer: Stuart Besser
Director of photography: Peter Deming
Production designer: Bruce Alan Miller
Editor: Patrick Lussier
Costume designer: Susan Lyall
Composer: Mason Daring
Color/stereo
Cast:
Roberta Guaspari: Meryl Streep
Brian Turner: Aidan Quinn
Janet Williams: Angela Bassett
Isabel Vasquez: Gloria Estefan
Assunta Guaspari: Cloris Leachman
Dorothea von Haeften: Jane Leeves
Running time -- 126 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The "Scream" movies have given Craven his greatest popular successes. The fact is, ever since his chilling, audacious debut film, "The Last House on the Left", Craven has been a terrific, underrated director. His movies, entertaining and deeply primal on one level, are memorable for the political and social analysis buried within the subtext. So it is particularly disappointing to encounter a work of Craven's -- his first movie outside the horror or supernatural genre -- that is so sentimental, stiff and predictable. "Music of the Heart" is as uninspired as its title (originally called "50 Violins"), a work that feels and plays closer to a television movie. Distributor Miramax will probably have the same experience with this film that it had with last year's "The Mighty", releasing a crowd-pleaser that doesn't have a crowd.
Pamela Gray, who wrote Tony Goldwyn's impressive debut film "A Walk on the Moon", has created a succession of types rather than characters. Even forgetting for a moment the genesis of this project, the movie seems played out and exhausted from the start. There isn't a surprising or unpredictable moment in the entire film.
Meryl Streep plays Roberta Guaspari, whose passion and belief in the violin as a profoundly important artistic and emotional catalyst in a child's development was the foundation of the East Harlem Violin Project. In its first decade, the program trained some 1,500 students from three socially and economically marginalized schools in the discipline and fundamentals of the difficult instrument. When the program was nearly destroyed by bottom-line bureaucrats, Guaspari organized a memorable Carnegie Hall fund-raiser with some of the world's leading musicians to save the program.
Unfortunately, Guaspari's story (or the one the filmmakers have invented) dominates the essential shape of the movie. A skilled musician who gave up a promising career for her marriage to a career Navy officer and the raising of their two sons, Guaspari is devastated at the start of the film by her husband's abandonment of her and their children. Forced to fend for herself, Guaspari talks a reluctant, battle-weary principal (Angela Bassett) into appointing her as a temporary teacher to implement her program. A perfectionist but daring teacher, Guaspari is a natural whose program achieves instant success, despite her being ostracized by other teachers and misunderstood by some of the parents. The film saves its cheapest shots for the ostensible "villain," a career incompetent and tenured music teacher (Josh Pais) who is Roberta's opposite.
Like "The Mighty", "Music of the Heart" is an emotionally manipulative film that sermonizes rather than dramatizing its points. The conflict feels manufactured rather than woven into a believable, dramatically gripping narrative. The look of the film is patchy and uninvolving. Craven even resorts to the worst kind of moments -- slow motion, portentous music -- to overstate the emotional content of a scene.
The final product also suggests the kind of editorial intrusion for which Miramax is notorious: the jittery storytelling and apparently major plot points that are introduced and then summarily discarded (most prominently the violent reaction of one of Roberta's sons to the breakup of his parents' marriage). Even the incomparable Streep, the greatest actor of her generation, seems to be working beneath her skills here, all fury and motion. Aidan Quinn is similarly wasted as Streep's callow, irresponsible lover.
Sometimes great stories don't make great or even good films. Told perfectly as a documentary, the story of Roberta Guaspari deserves attention, but "Music of the Heart" doesn't improve on its source.
MUSIC OF THE HEART
Miramax Films
Craven/Maddalena Films
Producers: Marianne Maddalena, Susan Kaplan, Allan Miller, Walter Scheuer
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Pamela Gray
Co-producer: Stuart Besser
Director of photography: Peter Deming
Production designer: Bruce Alan Miller
Editor: Patrick Lussier
Costume designer: Susan Lyall
Composer: Mason Daring
Color/stereo
Cast:
Roberta Guaspari: Meryl Streep
Brian Turner: Aidan Quinn
Janet Williams: Angela Bassett
Isabel Vasquez: Gloria Estefan
Assunta Guaspari: Cloris Leachman
Dorothea von Haeften: Jane Leeves
Running time -- 126 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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