| Subject: Re: George looked GREAT at the Oscars-- DISCUSS! |
Author:
Lorraine
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Date Posted: 23:01:38 02/26/07 Mon
In reply to:
Angel
's message, "Re: George looked GREAT at the Oscars-- DISCUSS!" on 18:30:01 02/26/07 Mon
Hi Angel and all,
Sorry you missed so much of the Oscar frenzy fun, Angel, but don't despair--"Ocean's 13" is more or less around the corner, and so is another movie George will be doing with Renee Zellwegger ("Leatherheads" is the name of it, I think), so there'll be more George to come this year. Hopefully, O13 and his other stuff will get a warmer reception than "The Good German" has.
I sort of kind of think I know what happened with "The Good German", or at least I have my theories...
My best guess is that the initial reception to the film was generally positive because there was still so much residual goodwill for George after his "Syriana" and "Good Night and Good Luck" successes last year; lots of people were pleased to see him really finally coming into his own as an actor-filmmaker and were thus poised to like whatever he (and his favorite creative partner Steven Soderbergh) offered next.
But "German" was made in black and white using film technology from the 1940s--the story is set in that time period--and the style of acting was also consciously of that time as well. If like me you watch a lot of black and white movies from the so-called Golden Age of American moviemaking (roughly the 1930s through the late 1950's and very early '60's) you know that the on-screen acting in those years tended to be bigger, more emotional, and leaning toward the melodramatic.
I absolutely adore the Turner Classic Movie cable channel--can you tell? ;-)
Some reviewers who liked "The Good German" admitted that they appreciated it more as an interesting film experiment than a genuine movie-movie; some who didn't have dismissed it as an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to remake classic films like "Casablanca" and "The Third Man." A lot of folks just didn't seem to know quite what to make of it and at this point probably wanted something different from George Clooney, something more contemporary and leading man movie-star-ish, less serious minded and "art-y."
I also think "German" had the extreme disadvantage of being released at the end of last year, around the same time that a lot of other movies looking for Awards consideration came out, and so got lost in the shuffle and the competition for screen time.
On that point I have to say I'm becoming increasingly annoyed with the year-end last-minute cramming of back to back to back movie releases. Does anyone else feel this way? I usually don't get to see nearly as many movies as I might like toward the end of the year, partly because like everyone else I'm too distracted by work and family holiday stuff to spend much time going to the movies.
Anyway, those are my thoughts about why the film tanked (in the U.S. anyway; I'm not sure what kind of reception it's gotten overseas); anybody else want to weigh in about "The Good German"??
Oh, and I need to make a correction--in my zeal to rush to tell you all about the "after-Oscar" stuff I managed to get a detail or two wrong (sorry)-- the "local ABC reporter" I'd alluded to was actually Oprah's good friend, Gayle King, who may (or may not) have been a reporter at an earlier time-- I've never really been interested enough in her to pay closer attention to precisely what she does. Sorry about that, folks.
I was right though about how much Ms. King liked chatting up George, and how much Oprah Winfrey admires him also.
Yikes! It's late. (Yeah, again; typical of me)
More later--and Angel, trust me, I know exactly how you feel when you say you "missed everything" about the recent Oscar goings-on and George. I was in the same boat last year when he won Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana". As pleased as I was for him, I didn't really follow up with all the post-Awards partying and guesting he did in the aftermath of his win. I was distracted by other things... Later of course, I kicked myself for my inattention. But what are you going to do? That's life, I guess.
Toodles!
Lorraine
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