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My Old Addiction

Movie Reviews By Bil Antoniou

Vivien Merchant

Born: July 22, 1929, Manchester, England.

1966: Alfie (Oscar Nomination: Best Supporting Actress)

1967: Accident

1969: Alfred The Great

1972: Under Milk Wood, Frenzy

1973: The Offence, The Homecoming

1975: The Maids

Died: October 3, 1982, London, England.

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BEST ACTRESS 1968: We've all had to deal with Babs' insecurities in some form or another over the years, and how much you can deal with it (IS IT THE LEFT SIDE OR THE RIGHT SIDE WE CAN'T PHOTOGRAPH I CAN'T REMEMBER?!?!?) depends on how much you love her (and what the fuck is wrong with you that you don't love her, you fascist), but even at your least tolerant of her often adorably inhumane whimsy, you must know that it's not great for the self-esteem of the girl whose stepfather told her she was too ugly to have ice cream that the Academy only felt they could give BARBRA STREISAND an Oscar if they also gave one to the more venerated and established KATHARINE HEPBURN at the same time. Ingrid Bergman made the room gasp when she announced one of the few Oscar ties in Academy history and the only one in this category, going to Hepburn for a second year in a row, this time as Eleanor of Aquitaine in THE LION IN WINTER, and for the film debut of singer Streisand, reprising the role that she played on stage about a zillion times as Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL. Hepburn is at least much more interesting than she was in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, but the film is more Peter O'Toole's show than hers, and as wonderful as she is (and as gracious as Babs was in her acceptance speech saying it was an honour to be in her company), it's ridiculous that Barbra's charisma, timing and surprising ease in front of a movie camera didn't merit a solo Oscar simply because the movie wasn't called Tragic Girl. Is there anyone who can be so funny just by holding up her greasepaint cans and saying that the "makeup helps?" Who else is that endearing while being so self-effacing ("We'd be happy to wait while you change," "I'd have to change too much, nobody could wait that long"), then delivers a host of songs in that unmistakable a-touch-too-nasal-to-make-her-human belt? Audiences made it clear that they were ready to leave Julie Andrews' old world nice white girl charm behind and embrace this undeniably ethnic superstar, why was the Academy hedging their bets?

Today's review on MyOldAddiction.com, The Pursuit of Happyness by #GabrieleMuccino starring #WillSmith, "plays its most devastating moments without too much sentimental flourish"

"When I'm spotted somewhere, it means that my characterizations haven't covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around." - Eleanor Parker, born June 26, 1922. #EleanorParker

"Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out." - Paul Thomas Anderson, born June 26, 1970. #PaulThomasAnderson

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"When I'm spotted somewhere, it means that my characterizations haven't covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I pre… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 18 hours ago
"Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out." - Paul Thomas And… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 18 hours ago
"All that anyone needs to imitate me is two soft-boiled eggs and a bedroom voice." - Peter Lorre, born June 26, 190… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 18 hours ago
"I know I'm basically a good person whose two crimes appear to be that I'm gay and I've got a big mouth to go with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
"In Hollywood, actors learn to act from watching television. In New York people learn to act by walking down the st… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
"The hard thing about audiences not liking what a character does is that they sometimes take it out on the actor pe… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
Adrienne Shelly, June 24, 1966-November 1, 2006. #AdrienneShelly https://t.co/jkZdVsNqN0 2 days ago
"I am a Communist, certainly, but that doesn't mean I have to make films about the wheat harvest." - Claude Chabrol… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 days ago
"Most people want to ask about my size and how brave I am. I'm like, 'I'm not brave, I'm just not really skinny.'"… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 days ago

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