May. 13, 2002 - 7:58 pm
i finally was able to watch another Best Picture winner. the UT library only has 3 more available that I haven't seen (not including this one). so i'll have to get on those soon before they realize that i'm no longer a student. i just graduated on Saturday. so i still need to watch their copies of Out of Africa (1985), Hamlet (1948), and The Life of Emile Zola (1937).
this was a decent film. i started out thinking it might get an 8, but after it was all over i'm giving it a 7/10. it has an all-star cast. Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Danny DeVito (very small part), Jack Nicholson, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow. Shirley MacLaine is always great which is why she got the Oscar. And Debra Winger really wowed me with her performace. but the greatest performance comes from Jack Nicholson as a once-famous astronaut taken to romancing younger ladies with tales of his space days. i think this is the most likeable character i've ever seen him play, with possibly the only exception being Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets (1997) - which was also directed by James L. Brooks.
this film is all character development and it's basically a family melodrama. but the first half of the film is great. it's filled with wonderfully crafted characters and is so zany that it really puts a great spin on the traditional family melodrama. it keeps things fresher from the maternal perspective than films like Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) or Ordinary People (1980) which both won Best Picture. Aurora Greenway (the mother played by MacLaine) is screwed up and is somewhat harsh towards her daughter, but we find out that her daughter and just about everyone else can actually take the punishment...and maybe she's more defensive really than offensive. it's a very well done film, but the second half got extremely "sobby" if that's a word. i didn't feel it was called for and was too inconsistent for me. it wasn't bad, it just wasn't perfect.