PosMeter: Geeks, Nannies and “Dumbledore” cinema

1. McLovin: Superbad’s side story involving supergeek Fogell (played by newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse) got me reminiscing about how this particular character—the geek who is so fully self-assured in his geekiness that he’s actually (to some degree) cooler than the marginally geeky leads—shows up regularly in film. From Jerry Lewis in anything to Charles Martin Smith in American Graffiti to Napoleon Dynamite, geeks (or nerds) are part of movie history.

Read the full post here.

PosMeter: Can this actor be saved, “Bestest," and Nothingness…

1. Oscar Drop: When it comes to the post-Oscar decline, it’s hard to come up with a past winner who has had a more dramatic plunge than the likable Cuba Gooding Jr. It’s one thing to be in sub-par films, but Daddy Day Camp looks “direct-to-video” bad. To be fair, I haven’t seen the film, but a Rotten Tomatoes score of 2 percent doesn’t make me want to run out to the theater. It’s depressing when one considers the potential Gooding once had in films like Boyz N the Hood. The bright spot on the horizon is American Gangster, in which he plays heroin pimp Nicky Barnes (who has his own doc coming out, as per Rollerboy’s earlier post) opposite leads Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

It sounds like a huge improvement over the roles Gooding has been getting since he peaked in 1996 with Jerry Maguire. Despite the dismal depths he’s sunk to, I think he’s always had talent and presence. Here’s hoping this is a real return to form and not just a caricature.

Read the full post here.

PosMeter: Vampires, Hobbits and Action Distraction

1. Depp Shadows: Now that Johnny Depp is involved in the development of a feature based on spooky soap Dark Shadows (as reported the end of July in Variety), I’ve finally gotten around to viewing the 60’s cult phenomenon. Depp, who has said he was obsessed by the series and its infamous vampire Barnabas Collins as a child, will likely take on the role of his toothy antihero. After watching a number of episodes on DVD, I think the show’s mix of camp and pathos makes it ripe with cinematic possibilities. Depp, whose stylistic tics range from brilliant to annoying, is the perfect actor to resurrect the iconic Barnabas. I just wonder if he’ll intentionally flub some of his lines as a homage to Jonathan Frid (pictured), who originated the role and often seemed to stumble on the clunky dialogue.

Read the full post here.

No Oscar Love

This week Nathaniel at The Film Experience Blog focuses his regular feature "Tuesday Top Ten" on those actors and actresses who, despite a good mix of fame and ability, have never been nominated for an Academy Award.

He writes:

One of the most common delusions of fans is "one day [my favorite actor] will be nominated for an Oscar!" The reality is that statistics are against it. Even actors with massive careers (Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Richard Gere, Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey) might go without...even when they manage to get close by either

a) snagging Oscar bait roles or
b) finding regular precursor attention @ the Golden Globes.

Indeed, Oscar can be very fickle, as his list aptly demonstrates. I mean, Donald Sutherland has never been nominated?

In addition to Sutherland, who was last snubbed for his fine turn in 2005's Pride and Prejudice, Nat points out some other serious non-nominated offenders. These include Dennis Quaid, Marilyn Monroe and Steve Martin. He doesn't even bother listing foreign language non-nominees, noting:

...it's always believable that they'll be snubbed -- sorry Isabelle Huppert. Everyone knows you rule but Oscar is a slow reader and you have cooties (i.e. subtitles)

Others he doesn't mention include John Cusack, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Bacon, all of whom I think have been at least deserving of a nomination--if not the win--throughout their careers.

(Read the full post at The Film Experience Blog.)

To follow the discussion at AwardsDaily.com, where I first linked this, click here.