12 February 2016

Skandies: #9


Picture: Clouds of Sils Maria (84/10)
Director: Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight (96/10)
Actress: Greta Gerwig, Mistress America (132/11)
Actor: Joshua Burge, Buzzard (116/12)
S. Actor: Kurt Russell, The Hateful Eight (86/8)
S. Actress: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs (98/9)
Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa (112/10)
Scene: Pasternak, Wild Tales (56/6)



Apologies for the poor quality—it's the only full version I could find with English subtitles.


HISTORY:

Tarantino is a two-time Skandie winner for Director, in 2003 (Kill Bill Vol. 1) and 2009 (Inglourious Basterds). He also placed 5th for Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004), 4th for Grindhouse (2007), and 10th for Django Unchained (2012). He did not make the top 20 at all for Jackie Brown, which was not especially beloved at the time of its release.

The last time Winslet made the Skandies list, in 2008, she was in 2nd place for all-time appearances, behind Philip Seymour Hoffman (who still holds the record). Over the past seven years—during which she made Carnage, Contagion, Labor Day, and Divergent—she gradually fell out of the top five, but this 10th nod puts her back in 4th overall, behind Hoffman, Tilda Swinton (13), and Isabelle Huppert (12). The roster:

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
8. Titanic (1997)
9. Jude (1996)
9s. Steve Jobs (2015)
10s. Quills (2000)
10. Revolutionary Road (2008)
12. Little Children (2006)
13. Holy Smoke (1999)
16s. Hamlet (1996)
17. Hideous Kinky (1999)

Gerwig previously placed 7th in 2010 for Greenberg, 7th again in 2012 for Damsels in Distress, and 2nd two years ago for Frances Ha. For Russell's history, see #20, as he also placed this year for Bone Tomahawk. Burge is new.

Kaufman is a three-time Skandie winner, for Being John Malkovich (1999) Adaptation. (2002, co-written with his brother Donald Kaufman), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He's also placed 17th for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (also in 2002) and 2nd for Synecdoche, New York (2008). 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gerwig and Burge - *yes*. As far as I'm concerned, this is why we have Skandies. (Also, I never saw much mention of him, but I've been high on Joe Anderson's performance as the guy who owns the check cashing place in BUZZARD ever since I saw it. Winner of this year's Gary Poulter Award for Most Overlooked Performance by a Complete Unknown.)

Robert Fuller said...

I thought Burge was just awful. But I also thought Joel Potrykus, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Noonan, and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez were awful, so clearly I have a different concept of acting than some of the Skandies voters.

Jeff said...

Hmm. Maybe there won't be any Star Wars love after all.

Private Joker said...

I'm with you Robert -- I liked Burge but not enough to give him any points, I guess. But I agree that Ruffalo and Rodriguez were awful. Noonan bothered me, but I feel like he was supposed to. Seems like the voting body, we're scattered a lot when it comes to acting.

Speaking of which, it's odd that Russell placed so much higher for H8 than BT. I'm guessing it's just that H8 was more widely seen (and they're different categories, I suppose). It's hard to believe that you could see both movies and think he gave a better performance in the Tarantino (though I like the film better overall). He has one line reading in BT that wrecked me as much as anything in JAMES WHITE.

md'a said...

I thought Burge was just awful. But I also thought Joel Potrykus, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Noonan, and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez were awful, so clearly I have a different concept of acting than some of the Skandies voters.

Given the nature of Noonan's "role," I'm bewildered that anyone could find his performance actively bad. What do you think he should have done that he didn't? It's like saying "that dude playing the corpse who just laid there without moving was fucking terrible." HE'S A CORPSE. (That's Ed, neither do I understand voting for Noonan as one of the year's best performances. He is vocal wallpaper.)

Your other examples mostly suggest that you dislike over-the-top acting, though every one of those roles save Ruffalo's calls for exactly that.

Robert Fuller said...

Not actively bad, I just stuck his name in the list without clarification for brevity's sake. It's more that, like you, I don't understand voting for him.

I don't dislike over-the-top acting, I dislike amateurish acting, which is what I felt Potrykus, Burge, and Rodriguez delivered.

Matthew B. said...

I'm surprised by all the Ruffalo hate. The only moment I found annoying was his little "This is bullshit!" speech, but that seems more the fault of the script.

Victor Morton said...

Being vocal wallpaper is much more of an achievement than it sounds. #YSWIDT?