Sunday 2 March 2014

200 Movies Anniversary





200 Movies Anniversary
Another milestone: First 200 movies under the belt. Of course it depends on how you calculate it, but in my book I have now seen and commented on the first 200 movies on the List.


Whether that is an achievement worthy of celebration, I do not know. I am not in a race and have no deadline, but there is a sense of accomplishment in turning this corner.


I must say that going through the List has never been as fun as it is right now. I am cruising through one great movie after another and discover new ground as I go. Even the less good films of this era has something going for them and those few films where I felt I was wasting my time actually belonged to different eras. There is great stuff ahead of me too and I feel I have to put a leash on me not fly through these films.


So, it is custom for me to look back at the highlights and make some sort of top 10, but that is starting to get a bit old on me. Then I though, it is Oscar night tonight! Why not make my own award ceremony? Only, I found out that I am just not skilled enough to discern the excellent performances from the good performances. Making such a list would just expose my own ineptitude.


Instead I have invented my own, personal categories for this little award ceremony:


THE TSORENSEN 1001 MOVIE AWARDS


Ta-da!!!


Over the next weeks I will present a number of homemade categories and nominate entirely according to my own feeble opinion.


Covering the first 200 movies on the List the nominees for the award as the


AWESOME GREAT ACTOR


Are:


  1. Cary Grant
    Countless appearances, always good, the man every guy want to be and every girl want to marry. Standout achievements: The Awful Truth, Only Angels have Wings, Bringing up Baby.
  2. Humphrey Bogart
    The epitome of the hardboiled hero with a soft heart and an icon all on his own. Standout achievements: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep
  3. Jean Gabin
    The Leonardo DiCaprio of French cinema in the thirties. The man who by sheer presence could lift even mediocre films and scripts to excellence. Standout achievements: La Grande Illusion, Le Jour se Leve.
  4. Charles Chaplin
    The comedian and filmmaker who survived the talkie but not McCarthy and made the little tramp an icon to rival all sorts of deities. Standout achievements: The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times.   
  5. Henry Fonda
    Whether he be a cowboy or a farmer Fonda is integrity embodied. His name alone would make me want to see a film. Standout achievements: The Grapes of Wrath, The Oxbow Incident.


Worthy mentions: Emil Jannings, Edward D. Robinson, Orson Welles, Spencer Tracy, Buster Keaton, Dana Andrews, James Cagney.


And the winner is:


Cary Grant


In a very strong field he is actor I am looking out for. With him in it I know it is good.


The scandal here is that he never won an Oscar as best or supporting actor. Only in 1970, I guess out of sheer embarrassment, the Academy finally gave him a Lifetime Award.

8 comments:

  1. Congratulations on reaching this milestone. I say celebrate it all you want. And as a Project Manager I can tell you that it is important, psychologically, for people to have intermediate goals during any project that takes more than 6 months. I used to note when I passed the mark of seeing another hundred and it gave me a sense of accomplishment.

    And Grant is a great pick. I think he was AFI's pick for number one screen actor of all time - combining not just skill, but also presence, impact, and likability.

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    1. Yeah, it is a corner and it feels good to reach it, especially since I have caught up with myself know and don't have to make the distintion between seen and commented.
      To me there was never any real doubt about Grant. He was simply the first one to come to mind. Although Bogie made a sprint here at the end with The Big Sleep. The was after all a closer race than I expected.

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  2. Congratulations! Poor Cary, but he is in very good company. Can you believe Hitchcock never won an Oscar?

    Lucky you (and me), we have more than a decade of great films noir to look forward to.

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    1. Odd, is it not?
      So much great noir! I will feel truly sorry when I am through with this period.

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  3. Congratulations on reaching your milestone! This is definitely worth celebrating.

    Cary Grant is in the same boat as many other actors, like Leonardo Dicaprio, Harrison Ford, Robert Downey Jr, Will Smith, and Johnny Depp. I think the Academy has something against giving handsome talented actors awards!

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  4. Thank you very much.
    It is as if they are thinking that if you are an established actor/actress who make popular film then you are not Oscar material. The truth I think is as simple as luck. You need that one standout performance in a year of otherwise weak performances. I thought DiCaprio deserved an award for Blood Diamonds.

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  5. It's also interesting that Grant was nominated for two films that aren't really recognized as two of his best (or at least most famous), Penny Serenade and None But the Brave. What about North by Northwest? Notorious? Gunga Din? Only Angels Have Wings?

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    1. Any of those with the possible exception of Gunga Din should have given Grant an Oscar.

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