Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

“`It is time to continue my personal countdown of favorite films of the last two decades. If you just joined in, here is a recap of the past choices. You can also scroll down my blog to read my reviews of each selection:

#50 Gosford Park – #49 The Reader – #48 I Tonya – #47 Molly’s Game – #46 The Post

#45 Woman In Gold – #44 Midnight In Paris – #43 The Grand Budapest Hotel

#42 Jojo Rabbit – #41 The Green Book – #40 Hidden Figures – #39 Truth

#38 Dark Water – #37 Chicago – #36 Darkest Hour – #35 Cold War

#34 The Producers – #33 Brooklyn

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~ #32 – THE KING’S SPEECH (2010)

“`King George VI learns to cope with his stammer with the help of Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist.  After his brother Edward VIII abdicates the throne, the next monarch relies on Logue to help him make his initial wartime radio message upon Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1939. The film crams a ten-year relationship into what seems to be scarcely a year. That said, The King’s Speech joins Chicago and The Green Book as the third (of six) Best Pictures to make my list. And the film makes a great companion piece to Darkest Hour as a visual narrative of Great Britain’s political machinations just before World War II.

“`Helena Bonham Carter has made a career of portraying royals of the period. Currently, she plays Princess Margaret on The Crown.  In this production, she was cast as  Elizabeth – The Queen Mother.  Colin Firth earned his Oscar for his portrayal of the stuttering royal. Geoffrey Rush and Guy Pearce round out this stellar cast. With twelve Academy Award nominations, it also received statuettes for Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Best Original Screenplay.

“`One cannot underestimate the importance of managing disabilities in the 1930s.  President Franklin D Roosevelt and King George VI had an essential duty to administer a stable calm to their nations while focusing on strategies to combat growing global fascist threats. Afflictions were naively regarded as weakness by society. Leaders obliged by hiding their maladies from the public.

“`The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists  championed this movie and launched their Giving Voice campaign around the time of its commercial release. Queen Elizabeth II, the daughter and successor of King George VI, was sent copies of the film before Christmas 2010. The Sun newspaper reported she had watched the film in a private screening at Sandringham House. A palace source described her reaction as being moved by the sincere portrayal of her father; high praise, indeed!

~ #31 – NIGHTCRAWLER (2014)

“`A tidy neo-noir thriller, Nightcrawler was a sensation when released. Curiously, the potent piece of celluloid remains absent on streaming services. Expecting to see a horror production, I was spellbound to watch this story about an independent stringer who videotapes late night frantic events in Los Angeles to sell the footage to local television news outlets. Critics lauded the work as a naked indictment of both modern-day media practice and consumer culture.

“`Jake Gyllenhaal anchors the production as the creepy visual news reporter. He is supported by Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed and the late Bill Paxton. It received an Oscar nod for Best Original Screenplay. Gyllenhall was favorably compared to Robert De Niro in his role in  Taxi Driver. Elisha Cook Jr could have played the lead if the movie had been made seven decades earlier.

“`As much as the flick indicts modern journalism, Nightcrawler’s director Dan Gilroy noted that his goal was for audiences to realize that by watching sensationalized news stories, they encourage unethical journalism. The script characterizes Los Angeles as a seedy town, much like Double Indemnity accomplished in the 1940s and Chinatown captured in the 1970s. Nightcrawler remains a cinematic guilty pleasure.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2021 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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