There must have been some ferocious re-writing going on behind the scenes of “The Iron Lady.”

The upcoming biopic of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher seemed like yet another liberal Hollywood hatchet job, according to an early script review done here earlier this year.

Now, the film is being shown to select film critics, and right-of-center scribe Kyle Smith is weighing in with a glowing assessment of the movie.

Meryl Streep is terrific and should win an Oscar for a deeply engaged, highly sympathetic portrayal of Margaret Thatcher as a strong-willed leader and an icon of womanhood who cracked the ultimate Old Boy Network, got the British economy booming again, made a series of tough decisions in the Falkland Islands war that resulted in total victory together with a restoration of British patriotic pride and enjoyed a long and loving marriage with Denis (an impish Jim Broadbent) that unfortunately ended with his death by cancer. There is not much politics in the film (and still less economics) and issues such as the miners’ strike and the IRA hunger strike are barely alluded to. But this is an admiring look at an indomitable figure and forceful politico (who is shown not only acting with great courage and decisiveness in the Falklands War but also personally hand-writing agonized letters to the families of fallen British troops).

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Will Reiser beat the odds to triumph over a rare but potentially fatal form of cancer.

Now, can the movie inspired by his brush with death pull off an Oscar upset?

“50/50,” the serio-comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the role inspired by Reiser, didn’t obliterate the box office competition following its Sept. 2011 debut. To date, it’s rake in a modest $34 million, not too shabby for a film revolving around cancer but hardly blockbuster material. And the film’s 93 percent “fresh” rating at RottenTomatoes.com also bodes well for its awards season chances.

But the movie doesn’t have that Oscar feel, and while that’s no critique on the film itself it could matter when it comes time to tally up votes.

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So, because you all enjoyed that list so much, and because I apparently have a death wish, it’s time for another: The Top 10 Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time.

Unlike last time, I will claim that these are objective facts, not subjective opinions, so that all my critics may have full liberty to attack me (To those same critics who claimed last time that I phrased my opinions in an “objective” manner, this is called being facetious. That means I’m kidding. Also, seriously? That was your criticism?).

Here are my criteria: are they considered great actors/actresses? If not, they can’t make the list (sorry, Rob Schneider). Are they actually great actors? If so, they can’t make the list (sorry, Laurence Olivier). Only those who are considered great actors but are not, in fact, great actors can make this list. Even then, I’m not claiming that these are bad actors unless I explicitly say that I am.

So, here we go. In the words of Han Solo, I’ve got a bad feeling about this …

10. George Clooney: Not a great actor. Not a good actor. Not really an actor. If you’ve ever seen a movie with Clooney where you didn’t say to yourself, “Hey, I’m watching George Clooney” every thirty seconds or so, you haven’t seen a George Clooney movie. You’re mixing him up with Kate Winslet. He’s a D actor. Dull in “Michael Clayton.” Dreary in “Up In The Air.” Dreadful in “Syriana.” Dismal in “Batman and Robin.” He’s not a low-rent Cary Grant. He’s an affordable-housing Robert Wagner.

9. Dustin Hoffman: He turned in some tremendous performances in his early days (most notably “Papillon,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” and “Tootsie”), then became a caricature of himself. He has not done anything worthwhile since “Tootsie,” in fact. Even in his better performances, he is a bit too mannered for my taste, perhaps an effect of his method acting. Laurence Olivier thought the same thing. When they were working on “Marathon Man” together, Hoffman showed up on set after having not slept for several days in order to get “in character.” Olivier took one look at him and said, “Dear boy, it’s called acting.” (more…)

NEW LINE CINEMA AND ICE CUBE WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER ‘FRIDAY’ FILM

If this comes together we will have four “Friday” films and while I’m not advocating for a return to the well after almost a decade, I am a huge fan of the original trilogy: “Friday” (1995), “Next Friday” (2000), and “Friday After Next” (2002). What all three accomplish beautifully is aiming for a target and hitting it.

One of the things I most appreciate about producer/star Ice Cube’s brainchild is how he wisely sets each chapter in a new location, which went a long way to help the concept from getting tired. The first is in Compton, the second in the suburbs, and the third mostly takes place at a Los Angeles strip mall during the Christmas season. Another decision that saved the franchise was replacing the hilarious Chris Tucker — who chose not to do the sequels — with Mike Epps, who stepped up beautifully. And John Witherspoon slays me every time he opens his mouth.

There’s an easygoing vibe to these films, a surprisingly old-fashioned theme and moral, and like too many comedies today, they’re not over-the-top with all that raunchy, disgusting non-humor. Don’t get me wrong, they’re R-rated and not for kids, but there are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than with a “Friday” marathon.

FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON, A LOOK BACK AT THE JOE PISCOPO/TREAT WILLIAMS ZOMBIE FLICK ‘DEAD HEAT‘

I was really hoping to forget this movie ever existed; this and ‘Beastmaster 2.’

FIVE ONCE-PROMISING ACTORS AND THE FRANCHISES THAT RUINED THEM

Intelligent list.

BRETT BUTLER WAS HOMELESS AFTER ‘GRACE UNDER FIRE’

I remember liking that show:

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How can an actress from England who doesn’t appeal to me at all in interviews as her very British self — how can she so mesmerize me as a Canadian shiksa goddess of marital perfection in the film “Barney’s Version”?

Only an exceptional actress could ever pull that off.

Unadulterated goodness is, I feel, the hardest and most challenging thing for any actor or actress to play. No one really believes you can be that sainted, least of all yourself.

Having worked with a few of the female greats, Katherine Hepburn and Meryl Streep, and met a few others such as Bette Davis, I found the unadulterated health and blistering sanity of Rosamund Pike’s Miriam in “Barney’s Version” most astounding.

Everyone in the audience just has to fall in love with her during our first glimpse of this vision of her Miriam’s low key, Canadian nobility.

We actually drop off a cliff in the same way alcoholic, eternally Boychick Barney does. She is, of course, strikingly beautiful but eloquently frank and irresistibly unselfconscious. How does Barney win her and keep her for as long as he does? That is the major flaw in the script.
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Conservatives have been mighty suspicious of the upcoming Margaret Thatcher biopic ‘The Iron Lady.’

The film stars liberal actress Meryl Streep as the iconic British Prime Minister, and it’s coming from an industry which regularly wears its disdain for the right on its cinematic sleeve. Big Hollywood’s peek at the film’s script did nothing to quell fears the film would diminish Thatcher’s accomplishments. And associates of the now-ailing ex-leader who have seen the film have called it “insulting.”

Now, ‘The Iron Lady’ screenwriter Abi Morgan is speaking out about the film to IndieWire – sight unseen.

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Below is the recently released teaser-trailer for the Margaret Thatcher biopic, “The Iron Lady.”  The Weinstein Co’s film comes out in January 2012 and has Oscar-bait written all over it.

We don’t see Meryl Streep (as Thatcher) for over half of this minute-long clip, but when we do, we learn that Streep’s Thatcher will be funny and good-natured but capable of having the upper hand in a confrontation with men who are trying to coach (manipulate?) her.  Based on this teaser, we can assume Streep will be portraying the former U.K. Prime Minister as an amiable leader, but potentially an intellectual light-weight.

Streep does a bit of her signature over-acting here, even employing the canine head tilt that reminds me of Michael Myers in “Halloween,” but she certainly looks the part.

Nonetheless, the trailer is intriguing.  Now if only the fact that the script smells like a hit job didn’t ruin it.

The write-up from YouTube got me thinkin’…

The Iron Lady: Tells the story of a woman who smashed through the barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male-dominated world. The story concerns power and the price that is paid for power, and is a surprising and insightful portrait of an extraordinary and complex woman.

Can you think of an American politician who might one day fit this description...? Can you…? (more…)

Here’s the photo, which means we can expect yet another horribly self-conscious accent from the single most over-rated actress in the history of film. Below the photo is a link to Big Hollywood’s review of the bio-pic’s screenplay, which was leaked to us late last year.

—–

Streep’s quote that came with the release of the photo:

“I am trying to approach the role with as much zeal, fervour and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses – I can only hope my stamina will begin to approach her own.”

That old “admiration” spin, at least acording to the script we have, is just that — nothing more than Streep setting Thatcher admirers up for a Leftist sucker punch. From Pam Meister’s review of “The Iron Lady” screenplay:

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As I’ve written before, 2010 was actually a good year for movies.  The King’s Speech, The Fighter, Inception, Toy Story 3, Tangled, and How to Train Your Dragon were all great entertainment.  We’ve seen terrific starring roles from actors ranging from the heretofore unwatchable James Franco to the ever impressive Christian Bale, from the magnificent Colin Firth to the chameleonic Geoffrey Rush.  We’ve seen some actresses in supporting roles who have outshone their second-tier parts: Melissa Leo and Amy Adams in The Fighter, Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech.

But when we look at the leading actresses of 2010, the dearth of great performances and great parts is stunning.  The Golden Globe nominees for best actress this year were Halle Berry in the anonymous flick Frankie and Alice, playing a crazy person in her usual over-the-top style; Nicole Kidman in the anonymous flick Rabbit Hole, playing a grieving mother in her usual cold and remote style; Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone, playing a teenage girl looking for her meth-making dad; Natalie Portman in Black Swan, playing a crazy person with a constipated look plastered on her mug; and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, playing a spoiled girl who gets knocked up, married, and presumably divorced.  Has anyone seen any of these women in any of these films?  And if the disastrous Natalie Portman – Queen Amidala masturbating, anyone? – is the frontrunner for Best Actress at the Oscars, how far have female figures fallen?

Far.  Quick, think of the ten greatest living film actors.  It’s not that tough – we have iconic male film stars all the time.  Now think of the ten greatest living film actresses.  Now take away all women over 50.  Still thinking, aren’t you? (more…)

You think I contaminated myself, you think I did that? 

Why it’s a left-wing film

For my money, nothing exposes the left for the anti-capitalist, anti-progress socialists they really are more than their opposition to nuclear power. Here’s an energy source that overcomes all their objections regarding safe, clean, and renewable and still they vehemently oppose it with the worst kind of hysterical scare tactics. In this respect you can’t even label them “European Socialists” because there are nearly 200 nuclear power plants currently powering Europe, over 50 in France alone, and yet here in America — thanks mainly to environmental fear-mongering — we only have a little over a hundred.

The same leftists opposed to this provably safe answer to many of our energy problems somehow have no problem social-engineering all of us into the rolling coffin of a Smart Car, and if given the personal choice between living next to an enviro-wacko approved hydroelectric dam or an evil nuclear power plant, give me Three Mile Island any day. The failure of dams and levees feels like an annual event, whereas Chernobyl (which was really a failure of socialism) happened over 25 years ago.

Director Mike Nichols’ “Silkwood” is obviously a Hollywood broadside in favor of the anti-nuke movement, making a folk hero out of a personally troubled labor union activist who supposedly was just about to dramatically deliver the final blow to her employer, real-life energy company Kerr-McGee, before being involved in a fatal but “mysterious” car accident. No documents were found on her at the scene, but the legend of Karen Silkwood tells us that just before she died on the evening of November 13, 1974, this brave whistle-blower was just miles away from delivering documents to the New York Times that proved all kinds of corporate misdeeds involving missing weapons-grade plutonium, faulty nuclear reactor fuel rods, and a number of employee safety issues. (more…)

Editor’s note: Script reviews of upcoming projects have been around for as long as there’s been an Internet. Therefore it’s no secret that a film can evolve into something quite different from its screenplay. Please keep in mind that this article represents a look at a particular script and not the final product. 

Author’s note: There are a couple of spoilers in this review. If you are dying to watch this movie when it is released in 2011 don’t read any further. 

When BH editor extraordinaire John Nolte asked me if I wanted to do a Sucker Punch review of the script for The Iron Lady, the upcoming film featuring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, my response was (and I quote), “Yes!!!” After reading the script, however, I almost wish I had declined the offer.

Why? Well, when I think of Margaret Thatcher, I think of an extraordinary woman who defied the odds to become the UK’s first woman prime minister and who did her best to bring her nation, kicking and screaming, into a period of prosperity - a nation that was on the brink of financial collapse when she first came to office in 1979. Being human like the rest of us, she had triumphs, and also some failures. For a comprehensive look at both her successes and what she might have done differently, see this article at The Heritage Foundation.

Unfortunately, Thatcher (formally known as Baroness Thatcher, having had the lifetime peerage bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992), after a lifetime of strength, courage and fortitude, is now known to be suffering from dementia, a terrible disease in which one begins to forget little things and slowly forgets more and more. I cannot imagine how frightening it must be to begin to forget one’s loved ones and, perhaps, oneself.

But it’s great fodder for a movie, especially if the subject is a strong conservative woman whose policies have always been loathed by the left. Who cares if she’s still alive but unable to defend herself against the film’s implications? (more…)

We’ve all watched well-known, highly regarded actors for the umpteenth time on screen — perhaps even raucously enjoying both their performance and the movie — and thought about how painfully derivative and self-referential they’ve become. Somewhere along the way, over a period of many years, these talented thespians stopped surprising us. They ceased bringing to life fleshed out individuals and  began using and reusing tired sets of predictable quirks and tics.

Mind you, they’re still charismatic and entertaining to watch, but in an almost clownish way. We now go to see them not to be wowed by their acting, but to be entertained by their chewing the scenery and hamming it up. Whereas in the past they lost themselves in a part, now their well-known, theatrically overblown personalities overwhelm everything else on screen.

Who are the worst offenders? My own Top 5 list was compiled with two ground rules: each candidate had to be alive (so James Dean and Marlon Brando each get a reprieve), and they have to have won at least one Academy Award for acting (which spares modern, less-laurelled hams such as Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp, Woody Allen, Jeff Goldblum and Mel Gibson.) Again, the following actors are not necessarily unpleasant to watch — raw charisma goes a long way — but they have become predictably one-note parodies of themselves. (more…)

In the Age of the Hollywood Sucker Punch, betting your time and dollars on movies and TV is more perilous than ever.

As often as not, you can expect to fork over $20-$40 at the theater expecting to laugh, cry, and be entertained. . .

. . . only to find yourself trapped in a widescreen, 3D, surround sound, stadium-seated liberal indoctrination chamber.

With TV, you can dedicate months and years to becoming a dedicated fan of a series. . .

. . . only to suddenly start getting lectured on what creeps you and your family are by dint of your politics/religion/gender/race/fill-in-the-blank.

Closing in on two years patrolling the mean streets, Big Hollywood already has dozens of posts that document these lies, cheap shots, and propaganda in grim detail. Amidst the cultural carnage conservatives step ever more gingerly, sifting through the rubble for scraps worth investing in.

One way most of us navigate this minefield is by discerning which actors — big, well-known, picture-opening actors — are worth trusting on name alone. No one has a perfect record, but the best gain our confidence by routinely choosing projects that hew to some modicum of quality, decency, and fair play. You may not agree with the underlying message or political slant of their movies, but that’s not the point — it’s completely possible for conservatives to love great liberal movies and vice versa. Rather, these actors convince us over the course of their careers that they aren’t likely to sucker punch their fans, or to embarrass their country, profession, or family by allowing politics and prejudices to tarnish their public reputations and filmed entertainments. (more…)

Miles Goslett of the Mail Online has read the script of the upcoming smear job of Lady Thatcher. Here’s the unsurprisingly ugly report:

Besmirching of a giant: How Meryl Streep’s ‘Maggie’ plumbs new depths by portraying her as destroyed by dementia and guilt about her record

The cameras have not even started rolling on a new film being made about Margaret Thatcher’s life in which she is expected to be played by Meryl Streep, but already the project has been tainted by controversy over the negative way it intends to portray the former Prime Minister.

On first hearing about the production last month, a member of Lady Thatcher’s family, who wishes to remain anonymous, said they were ‘appalled’ to learn that she will be depicted as a dementia sufferer looking back on her career with regret. (more…)

You can’t get much more mainstream than “Julie & Julia,” a feel good summer of 2009 release starring Meryl Streep, directed by Nora Ephron and aimed at the kind of broad female audience a $40 million production and August release date is always aimed at. “Julie & Julia” ain’t no edgy indie, ain’t no Oscar bait, and yet throughout the last two-thirds, the screenplay (written by Ephron) salts the proceedings with one gratuitous and divisive shot at Republicans after another. And for no reason that serves the overall story. The insults are so jarring and out-of-place that it’s not far-fetched to assume that Ephron’s conscious goal was to spoil the good time of those unsuspecting moviegoers who made the dual mistake of paying the price of admission and not voting for Obama.

I missed “Julie & Julia” when it was first released … kind of on purpose. Meryl Steep’s acting of late — well, the last 15 years,  has become increasingly unbearable to sit though — which is why God invented Redbox. For a buck, I’ll try most anything — except sushi.

Surprisingly, both me and the misses (whose birthday is today — Happy Birthday, Pretty Wife!) were immediately drawn into what started out as a well-structured and charming based-on-a-true-story about two women in two different eras learning to love the art of cooking and coming of age as writers. 

Set in post-war France, Streep plays Julia Child. She’s married to an American diplomat (the always superb Stanley Tucci) and finds herself increasingly restless with all the time she has on her hands. In love with the local cuisine, she decides to fill the hours with a French cooking class and the rest as they say is history. (more…)

Why do we fear this will be a hit job? Because it’s a movie about a conservative icon and when it comes to conservative icons they’re either ignored by filmmakers or trashed by filmmakers. 

Do I sound cynical? Yes. But so does the film’s synopsis (click on the names of those involved for more information).

Hollywood Reporter:

Meryl Streep is in talks to reteam with her “Mamma Mia!” director for “Thatcher,” a biopic of the former British prime minister.’

Jim Broadbent would play Margaret Thatcher’s husband, Denis, for the British production.

The film, to be directed by Phyllida Lloyd, is set in 1982 and tracks Thatcher as she tries to save her career in the 17 days preceding the 1982 Falklands War. The 2 1/2-month war was a turning point for the prime minister, who, after the victory, saw her approval ratings double and went on to win a second term.

Producer Damien Jones (“Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll”) came up with the story with screenwriter Brian Fillis.

Hrm. Thatcher tries to save her re-election chances in the days just prior to a … war. (more…)

When in 1918 D. W. Griffith asked Lillian Gish to star in a tragic story of love, opium, dreams and death, all set against a Dickensian backdrop of poverty and despair, she was intrigued. But when he told the twenty-six-year-old actress that she would be playing a twelve-year-old girl, she was incredulous. Gish was a grown adult now, and fairly tall –  what possible trick of camera or posture could create the pixyish physique and innocent features that such a part would demand?

After much arguing, Griffith grudgingly agreed to raise the character’s age from twelve to fifteen, while still insisting that she play the part as a child. Lillian wasn’t convinced she could pull it off: “Virgins are the hardest roles to play. Those dear little girls — to make them interesting takes great vitality.” But seven years together had given the director full confidence in her abilities: “I gave her an outline of what I hoped to accomplish, and let her work it out in her own way. When she got it, she had something of her own.”

Sometimes events that look like setbacks prove to be fortuitous. On the way home from being fitted for her costumes, Gish collapsed with Spanish Influenza, a deadly pandemic then spreading throughout the United States which ultimately killed over thirty million worldwide. By the time she rallied and recovered, her already svelte frame had degenerated so dramatically that her costumes had to be refitted. But in hindsight, this pathetic and emaciated look proved perfect for the role. (more…)

Yesterday, Howard Kurtz wrote a sad-sack column about the death of the legitimate entertainment critic.  “It can be revealing to find out what people like you, uncredentialed as they may be, think about the new Meryl Streep movie, Philip Roth novel or noodle joint down the street.  But why does that supplant the need for full-time reviewers?”  

Kurtz’s column follows hot on the heels of a smiley-weepy piece by A.O. Scott in the New York Times, entitled “A Critic’s Place, Thumbs And All.”  His conclusion is that arts criticism will always be around, since “The future of criticism is the same as it ever was.  Miserable, and full of possibility.  The world is always falling down.  The news is always very sad.  The time is always late.  But the fruit is always ripe.” 

It is linguistic Hegelian dialectics like that A.O. Scott paragraph that tell us why “mainstream” criticism is dying: who the hell wants to read that crap?  Kurtz’s piece is whinier, but at least it has the merit of clarity.  He hates the common man, and he thinks that even though the common man may give you better advice on whether or not to see a movie, that common man is still common. There’s a refreshingly honest elitism in Kurtz’s commentary.   (more…)

[Editor's Note: Script reviews of upcoming projects have been around for as long as there's been an Internet. Therefore it's no secret that a film can evolve into something quite different from its screenplay. Please keep in mind that this article represents a look at a particular script and not the final product.]

The truth is, it was State Department official Richard Armitage – a Bush critic, not an evil neocon – who leaked Plame’s name. Yet Armitage’s name never appears in the script. And how could it? That would defuse the filmmakers’ intent to demonize Rove and Bush and to condemn the war as shameful, unjust American aggression.

Coming soon to a theater near you: a movie starring Sean Penn as a great American patriot taking a courageous stand against a tyrannical power. No, it’s not a biopic about Penn’s South American idol, Hugo Chavez, facing down the imperialistic Goliath of the United States. It’s a dramatization of “Plamegate,” the affair of the CIA operative whose identity was outed in the run-up to the Iraq War, ostensibly by a vindictive Bush administration. Fair Game, based on Valerie Plame Wilson’s autobiographical book of the same name, stars Naomi Watts as the aggrieved Plame and Penn as her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, in a role apparently already gaining Oscar buzz.

(By the way, what Oscar voters in recent years refer to as “buzz” is actually the sound of audiences all across this country snoring – such is the disconnect between Oscar winners and what Americans usually like to see). (more…)

L. Arnold Weissberger!

I am very proud to say that he had been the first and unquestionably finest “representative” within my entire career.

I hesitate to use the title of his profession … lawyer … since, indeed, its implications are, and just by mentioning the word, not what I’m here to convey.

Since I’m in retirement from the theatrical, film and television careers I did have, I can speak quite categorically and with my own, aging and well-earned crankiness.

I am known as “Grumpy Grampy” to my grandchildren.

There aren’t really many things in my professional life that were ever quite as clear as Arnold Weissberger’s nobility.

At his memorial service, with shining new lights of talent and legendary mountains of genius such as Meryl Streep and Orson Welles in attendance, I had the opportunity to quietly “stick it” to some of the superstars there by saying that I had met many great artists in my life but very few great men and women. (more…)