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| marantzo |
 Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:10 am |
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Ditto on all the inla, greetings.  |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:32 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: I could never convince Nancy that Meryl Streep was a great actress. I think it's because Nancy saw Streep as a dramatic actress. I think she's much better in comedies and satires. I love her in Defending Your Life, Adaptation, Plenty, and The Devil Wears Prada. (I even like her in Out of Africa, which I don't think Nancy would have liked. Streep is excruciating as the naive Isak Denisen, but when she gets to tell her stories, she's trandescent.)She looks perfectly cast in Julie and Julia.
Syd--Streep's best performance of them all IMO is in Postcards from the Edge, a dramatic comedy with some singing. Also check out Death Becomes Her. That and Defending Your Life are both dead-people parts. Interesting. And both delightful. Totally agree that Streep shines brighter in comedy than in drama. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:42 am |
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Location: Houston
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| I think Nancy was right. Streep is not a great actress. She's a very good actress with no charisma that extends from the screen and a complete inability to convince you she is who she's playing no matter how hard she plies the accents. I agree with Billy about Postcards, but from me it's a not a strong endorsement. The movie is fun, she doesn't ruin it, and I almost believe she's an addict. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:57 am |
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I would tend to agree that Streep is more "excellent" than "great," but try telling that to the producers and star of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, who treated La Meryl's appearance the other night as if it were almost literally the Second Coming of Christ. Meanwhile, MS managed to bash the late Sydney Pollack twice in one interview. True.
I kept switching back and forth between Conan/Meryl and Letterman's chat with Eric Bana, who was hilarious promoting both Funny People and The Time Traveler's Wife, using his natural-born Aussie accent and quickly becoming one of the few celebs I'd love to party with. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:01 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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Lady W, marantzo, whiskeypriest, backatcha. It's nice to be back.
Needless to say, my thoughts on Mary Louise Streep Gummer could not be further opposite, and I pooh-pooh, feh-feh and fiddle-dee-dee the assertion that she isn't a great actress, which, from one's first exposure to her in Central Park a zillion years ago and the on-screen whammy of Joanna Kramer, has been my experience, somewhere to the right of Mirren, to the left of Dench. Any actress capable of the beyond-the-call-of-duty investment she offered in Sophie's Choice and the sort of larky self-deprecation that drove She-Devil is an actress to be reckoned with, and there are times when I think Ironweed her secret best performance, (though my personal favorite turns are Kramer, Postcards, One True Thing, Angels in America, Prada , and the one given by her hand at the end of Out of Africa, a film that she and the continent carried as though on a gurney). What can I say? It's a platonic crush. She's certainly not a perfect actress, and there are undoubtedly mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, but I can't think of many thespians in the history of the world who didn't have mannerisms. Mainly, am sorry she opted to stick with films so she could raise her kids, because she's a force of nature on stage, as Hope Leaves the Theatre at UCLA with she, Ms. Davis and Peter Dinklage re-demonstrated. Eagerly wait for Julie and Julia, not least because Meryl and Amy Adams were so effectively counter-poised in Doubt, and then, there's the food.
Editing, my one solace in a Kindle-centric, Twitter-pated, monosyllabic Facebooked world. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:21 pm; edited 4 times in total
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Will do a You Tube search for Bana's appearance.
Of course Streep is treated as the Second Coming. The advertizing from day one has labled her the Great American Actress and people tend to accept the hype. I find myself having to make sure not to overreact in the opposite direction, and remember she is pretty good and far from unwatchable.
Oh, just remembered what I consider her best performance: Defending Your Life. She was absolutely charming. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:06 pm |
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Location: New York City
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| I too cannot wait for Julie and Julia. It looks really promising, my only trepidation being the fact that it's helmed by my personal choice as worst director in the movies, Nora Ephron--a terrific writer who should stay at the typewriter and far, far away from the director's chair. Michael, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle...the list of bummers goes on and on. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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| Forgot to cite Doubt as one of my favorite Streep outings. She was wonderful, my only caveat being that I preferred Cherry Jones on stage in the role. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:11 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: Syd wrote: I could never convince Nancy that Meryl Streep was a great actress. I think it's because Nancy saw Streep as a dramatic actress. I think she's much better in comedies and satires. I love her in Defending Your Life, Adaptation, Plenty, and The Devil Wears Prada. (I even like her in Out of Africa, which I don't think Nancy would have liked. Streep is excruciating as the naive Isak Denisen, but when she gets to tell her stories, she's trandescent.)She looks perfectly cast in Julie and Julia.
Syd--Streep's best performance of them all IMO is in Postcards from the Edge, a dramatic comedy with some singing. Also check out Death Becomes Her. That and Defending Your Life are both dead-people parts. Interesting. And both delightful. Totally agree that Streep shines brighter in comedy than in drama.
I really dislike Death Becomes Her though it's not Streep's fault. Still haven't seen Postcards from the Edge but it looks good. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:14 pm |
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| I liked You've Got Mail. I never saw Sleepless in Seattle, but Shirley Anne did and she hated it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:18 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: I liked You've Got Mail.
Try Lucky Numbers and Mixed Nuts on for size, then. Ephron is as lousy as directors get. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:21 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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billyweeds wrote: Forgot to cite Doubt as one of my favorite Streep outings. She was wonderful, my only caveat being that I preferred Cherry Jones on stage in the role.
How quickly I forget. Yes, am quite taken by her in that as well. And she's pretty affecting in Bridges of Madison County, considering that East Clintwood cast his own shriveled self instead of Harrison Ford or Kevin Costner.
Wishful Thinking Dept.:
Now that Huge Ackman is approaching La Belle Anne to be Julie Jordan, he should just go ahead and approach Amanda Seyfried for Carrie, Patrick Wilson for Mr. Snow, and Mrs. Gummer as Cousin Nettie.
Am also nervous about Ms. Ephron, though I quite enjoyed Sleepless in Seattle (whereas I found You've Got Mail mainly almost execrable, especially, but not exclusively, when seen in the light ofThe Shop Around the Corner and In The Good Old Summertime) but maybe she's finally caught up with her ambitions. Also, the source material might just make up for it. The trailer really does seem promising, not just the usual best-moments-mélange.
I edit, therefore I is. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:21 pm; edited 2 times in total
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:26 pm |
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inlareviewer wrote:
Now that Huge Ackman is approaching La Belle Anne to be Julie Jordan, he should just go ahead and approach Amanda Seyfried for Carrie, Patrick Wilson for Mr. Snow, and Mrs. Gummer as Cousin Nettie.
Amazing casting ideas. And why not John C. Reilly as Jigger Craigin? |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:29 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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billyweeds wrote: inlareviewer wrote:
Now that Huge Ackman is approaching La Belle Anne to be Julie Jordan, he should just go ahead and approach Amanda Seyfried for Carrie, Patrick Wilson for Mr. Snow, and Mrs. Gummer as Cousin Nettie.
Amazing casting ideas. And why not John C. Reilly as Jigger Craigin? |
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:37 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| Anybody see 500 DAYS OF SUMMER? |
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