![]() Up until this point, we've been exploring some of Jack Nicholson's most noteworthy roles. Yes, I skipped of his portrayal of the Joker, but I figured 'Batman' belonged on another list somewhere. One thing for certain is that he tends to lean towards tough, often playing characters who one wouldn't dare mess with. But what happens when we take that tough guy routine and try to strip it away from him? 'As Good as It Gets' may be the best result of this, showing us that even the tough guy can have a sweet side - even if he does have to learn it. Melvin Udall (Nicholson) is an obsessive compulsive writer of romantic novels. Despite his fans seeing his writing as great material, in actuality, Melvin is a rude bigot who seems pretty set in his ways, even if it does mean alienating people along the way. However, when his gay neighbor, Simon (Greg Kinnear) is brutally beaton, he soon finds himself looking after Simon's dog, and developing a soft spot. This is only eventually magnified when he starts falling for the only waitress who will tolerate his crap, Carol (Helen Hunt) whose whole world is her ever-ill son, Spencer (Jesse James). As the film unfolds, for as much as we probably hate the character of Melvin (introduced as a homophobic touch-me-not man who puts irritating puppies in garbage chutes) he starts to grow on us over time. The more he comes to terms with certain things, the more we appreciate his willingness to learn - even if every time he learns something, he fudges it up with a whole new lesson he needs in life. And that's kinda what the movie is about; one intolerable man slowly learning what it takes to be tolerable, if only for a date. This one hasn't exactly been swept under the rug, but it seems to only ever be mentioned in passing anymore. It's not something that seems to stand out to people as one of Jack's best performances, even if it was one of three of his wins (the others being 'Terms of Endearment' and 'Cuckoo's Nest') out of twelve total nominations. Hunt also won for her role in this, and deservedly so. The chemistry between these two is actually pretty interesting, providing us with somewhat of a Devil meets Angel scenario. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Kinnear), Original Screenplay, Editing and Original Score. The problem that year was that it went up against 'Titanic', and history indicates what an Academy legend that one is (11 wins out of 14 nominations). But if you were looking for a much more down to earth romantic story for the time, this beat out 'Titanic' by quite a lot in my humble opinion. Sorry to the fans, but 'Titanic' was good for so many other reasons - the romantic story was very standard. This is, however, one of those movies that I wonder would fly with so many people today. It's not quite on par with something like 'American Beauty' (a great film for the time which has aged horribly), but there are bits and pieces of dialogue that kinda make you wonder, and a large part of that is homophobic. With that, however, one needs to see it through to fully judge, as so much of it is about Melvin becoming a better person. So I'm gonna go ahead and still recommend it, based on that. And hey, if nothing else works, bear in mind this comes to us from director James L. Brooks - the guy who gave us 'The Simpsons' along with Matt Groening and Sam Simon.
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![]() As Jacked Up June continues, I thought I'd bring up a title that doesn't seem to get talked about much anymore. Although Jack is a bit more of a side character, with nominations for Best "Supporting" Actor here, it's one of his scarier portrayals of a character since playing Jack Torrence in 'The Shining'. He actually kinda steals the show when he is on screen, and that's saying a lot considering the other performances in the film. When a Private is attacked by two other marines and eventually declared dead while in hospital, an investigation is conducted by Lt. Commander Jo Galloway (Demi Moore). She believes the attack ensued on account of the Private potentially going over the head of Base Commander, Col. Jessup (Jack Nicholson), threatening to reveal something terrible, and requesting a transfer She believes it to be a possible "Code Red"; a type of illegal hazing brought at the request of Jessup. Galloway's superiors deny her the case, but soon recruit Naval lawyer Lt. Dan Kaffee (Tom Cruise), who would sooner plea his cases out than defend the two Marines involved. This leads Galloway to warn him that if he plea bargains, it will ultimately lead to Jessup getting away with murder. He decide against his usual approach, but he's missing one crucial piece of evidence - undeniable proof that Jessup gave the order. This is one of those intense court room dramas, with great performances all around. It may be one of few movies where Jack can almost be matched by the comedic, but serious Tom Cruise, or the by-the-book character of Galloway, portrayed by Demi Moore. I'm not usually one for court room dramas, often finding them a little complex for my taste, but this one has great balance to it, allowing you to breath between takes of Jack, who excels here at making the audience uncomfortable - in a good way. 'Batman' fans know he makes a great villain, but this is when his portrayal of a villain is serious, and it even gets a bit scary at points. Nominated for four Oscars that year, it unfortunately lost all; three of them to 'Unforgiven'. It suffered a similar all-out loss at the Golden Globes, with five nominations. With that, I would definitely consider this a somewhat underrated classic. It doesn't even make IMDb's Top 250. Of course, it's not without a few bumps. While I maintain that there are great performances all around, there are bits and pieces that could be considered scenes of overacting. But to me, that's about where it ends, and even that's a very minor detail. My final opinion is simple. I think it's a solid and suspenseful story all the way though, and it really doesn't take much to get into it, especially when you see some of the somewhat surprising roles these players take on. If you haven't seen it yet, just know that it's a prime example of a classic, early 90's title, back when not everything needed effects to reel in an audience, and the art lied much more in the acting. ![]() One of the best-known roles for Jack in existence has to be Jack Torrence of 1980's 'The Shining'. This is a movie the author of the original source material strongly dislikes due to it being so far off from the book, but we all love it so much because Jack is so awesome in it. Surprisingly, it's even seemingly been put ahead of the book in popularity. I actually tend to use this as a "shining" example of a film no one really complains about due to its differences from the book its based on. It proves the point that sometimes we just have to separate the book and film as different things altogether in order to appreciate the film for what it is. Though, with that said, 99% of the time the books are better. Our story here has two main focuses. First, we have Jack, a writer and recovering alcoholic who takes his wife, Wendy (Shelly Duvall) and son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) to the Overlook Hotel, as Jack takes a job as winter caretaker. This will mean being shut in for the season with very little outside contact due to a lack of costly winter road maintenance. Seeing it as an opportunity to work on his novel, Jack welcomes the experience with open arms. However, this hotel has a nasty past, and quite literally speaks to Jack in all the wrong ways, playing on his alcoholic cravings and writers block. Soon enough, we find him losing his grip, chopping down doors and announcing his arrival in the style Johnny Carson. The second side to the story is Danny, who harbors a special psychic gift. He learns that he's not alone on this when he meets the facility's chef, Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) who shares his gift. With the hotel already having a shady past in which the former winter caretaker lost his mind and murdered his family, Dick tells Danny to use his special gift to call on him if there's ever any trouble with his Dad. Of course, whether you've seen this before, or have only seen the 'Simpsons' Halloween segment, 'The Shinning', you know how it all goes. Kubrick does a fantastic job here for the time with his visuals and overall mood setting. There's something genuinely uncomfortable about this movie, and so much of it comes from the choice of cinematography. It's a fine example of a film that shows how even the subtle set-up of a certain angle is enough to be creepier than it would be from another angle. There are a lot of wide shots used here to subtly show the presence of the hotel, which really ends up being another character in the film. They bring it back for 'Doctor Sleep', but it's not quite as effective as it is here. Danny, cycling his trike through the hallways before running into those twins is still iconic, and one of my favorite creepy shots. It's even to the point where when I'm staying at a hotel, late at night, I get a bit weary walking the halls. What really nails this movie to the horror history books, though, is Jack's performance. He has always been a great actor, but there was so much here that had him cranking his performance to eleven. Even shots of him being quiet and seemingly calm have him either delivering sarcastic tones or just plain looking crazy. Few people can give that look to the camera that says "yes, I'm crazy, what are you gonna do about it?" but the front runners are Anthony Hopkins in 'Silence of the Lambs' and Jack in 'The Shining'. Had the Oscars been looking in horror's direction back then, he probably would have at least gotten nominated. You'll be one of two minds on this movie. You'll see it for the psychological work of horrific art that it is, or you'll side with Stephen King and lean more towards the book-like telling. If I'm honest, I actually DO like the miniseries more than most. For being something that came straight to TV, it's just fine. But I also don't particularly meet these in the middle. If I wanna throw on a good, creepy horror movie to have a great ride with, I have to lean towards Stanley Kubrick's vision. The miniseries is more to throw on if you want something new or different to check out, but other than Steven Weber's performance as... John Torrance?... it's pretty blasé. And even then, who can hold a candle to Jack's performance as a crazy person?... That is, other than maybe Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix, anyway. |
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