The Film Skinny

Finally.

I came up with this new design (extra nerd points if you can identify the movie that the above image came from), like, weeks ago. And the T-S tech guys said, "We'll put it right up on the blog page." I'm older and wiser than I was then, and I've learned that tech guys are very ... technical. Jeff, one of trusty the guys, just explained thusly: "I said it would be up by Saturday; I just didn't say WHICH Saturday."

Mmm hmm. Anyway, here it is at long last. The Film Skinny blog: A depository for all my obsessive, irrelevant and ill-informed rantings on all things movie, or "film," as I put it in my more snobby moods. Hop aboard one of these Web-based ATVs and join me for some brodies in the cinematic dirt.

Posted by da playa at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last time I was at CostCo, I picked up a couple of DVDs that I've been meaning to add to my collection for years: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus." At $8.99 apiece for two-disc special editions, I couldn't resist. It wasn't until I got home and started unwrapping them like a fat kid opening a package of Ho-Hos that I made the connection: Both of these Best Picture winners also earned Best Director honors for Milos Forman (aka "The Chubby Czech-er"). It got me to thinkin'. There aren't many directors who have earned two Best Director awards. Or so I thought.

I used a feature on my computer called "the Internet" and found out that 15 directors have nabbed two golden bald dudes for their directorial skills. Some of 'em — Lewis Milestone, Leo McCarey — are not often mentioned in lists of the best directors of all time. Others — Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder, David Lean — most definitely are. And then there are brilliant directors like Orson Welles, Terrence Malick, Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock (!) who never won.

I forget what point I set out to make with this entry. Here are two: First, though m'man Milos directed two of my favorite films, I wouldn't go so far as to call him a great director, or an "auteur" if you will. (Burp.) Second, the Academy Awards aren't nearly as smart as they think they are.

Discuss.

Posted by da playa at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)