Best Actor in Short Cuts

Junk counts, if junk's your thing.

The movie's better than the actors.

Voted for Lily Tomlin over Tom Waits though

Fred Ward vs. Christopher Penn (the wrong Penn died!)

totally don't remember RDJ in this

tempted to go for Jennifer Jason Leigh or Lily Tomlin tho

Jack Lemmon, on the other hand, is embarrassing.

Generally or in this movie.

Is the question best actor who was in Short Cuts or the best performance in Short Cuts? Cuz I actually can't remember half of these folks being in the film.

In this movie. I know he's playing an old fraud, but he's done this act soooooo many times, and wardrobe has him decked out like a pedo.

terrible film. Julianne Moore is the best actor here. Fred Ward is the hottest fucker on the list.

Junk counts, if junk's your thing.

TS: Julianne Moore's junk vs. Huey Lewis's junk

I was having a really hard time remembering who Fred Ward played in Short Cuts until I realized that I was thinking of Fred Willard. I would've liked to have seen that Short Cuts.

Pretty low in my Altman esteem, overall, sadly. Lyle Lovett left the biggest (non-nudity related) impression on me.

Julianne Moore's real muff beats Huey Lewis' fake wang

^ scene thankfully left on cutting room floor

o_0 at Short Cuts ain't so great revisionism.

Pretty much the best movie in his entire career outside of the '70s imo.

his career outside of the 70s not all that great tho

Not the best, but I gotta give Andie McDowell props for actually delivering her first half-decent performance.

Voted Julianne Moore.

pret a porter>>>>>>>>>>>>health>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>short cuts

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/3159115524_b12931f06c_m.jpg

no revisionism from me - i hated it the fist time i saw it, although it's been so long i'm not really sure i could tell you why.

pret a porter>>>>>>>>>>>>health>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>short cuts

lol you crazy

this is definitely one of his best post-70s (did everybody forget the Player and Gosford Park too?)

Pret a Porter is straight garbage, almost nonsensical

Not a huge fan of Gosford, and should probably re-watch Player. Still, anyone who thinks this is ungood is straight garbage, almost nonsensical.

I haven't seen this since it came out, but in my mind it hasn't aged well. I should probably rewatch though.

post 70s I gotta say I also have a total soft spot for Popeye (or at least the first 2/3rds of it)

i wish i had seen this before meeting annie ross. i thought she was a washed up old jazz singer in a bad way, not in a good way. :/

pret a porter is funny and mad and incoherent and VERY misanthropic, a film that eats itself before yr v. eyes, whereas short cuts is total literary heritage masterclass bs w/ bad acting and music - its predictable, writes itself

so you're saying both suck?

Still, anyone who thinks this is ungood is straight garbage, almost nonsensical.

Dude, I wouldn't say it's ungood, but I'm a huuuuuge Altman stan and it just isn't one of my favorites of his. I would rate his last two way above Short Cuts. It feels sprawling and unwieldy in a non-Altman way, as if Altman was trying to remember how he used to make big ensemble pictures work (which he probably was), and I think Carver's stuff is just too cynical and bleak for my tastes. It isn't bad, but I just don't rate it very highly.

bs w/ bad acting and music - its predictable, writes itself

this is pret-a-porter too wtf. its definitely not funny

I would rate his last two way above Short Cuts

PHC was allright but ... the Company? really?

wd add Vincent & Theo to later-goods

Carver isn't cynical; it's Altman's concept that makes them cynical. By linking their bleak moments together the movie feels tiresome.

Good to great late-period:

Vincent and Theo
The Player
The Gingerbread Man
Gosford Park

guys this movie is not all unremitting bleakness I think yr forgetting some stuff

Never wrote that!

PHC was allright but ... the Company? really?

Yes, really. The Company might fall right outside of my top ten Altmans.

Also, did not say that Short Cuts was unremitting bleakness (reading comprehension, peoples). It was just bleak enough to lose my favor a bit. I mean, like, Lily Tomlin and Tom Waits are the only remotely happy people in the whole film, from what I recall. Not that everything has to be puppies and rainbows, but it's just a little much for me.

I think if anything makes this film tiresome its its length/breadth and not necessarily the material/recurring themes

wasn't trying to put any words in anyone's mouth, sorry

Directors can impose bleakness (for many of them it's indistinguishable from depth) as often as Hollywood hacks impose happy endings.

I'm not a big Altman fan, but I love this movie, probably more because I love Raymond Carver and there are lots of entertaining performances. Tim Robbins gets my vote because he is well casted playing a total dick.

so when does Obama get to say "shut the fuck up"?

^^^^unrealized altman film project

I thought he seemed familiar...

FRED MOTHERFUCKING WARD

Hell, The Company is pretty snugly within my top 10 Altmans. It's just no Short Cuts, et al.

It's a 24-way tie for first. Andie MacDowell places 25th.

could someone explain to me what they like about the Company, cuz that one almost put me to sleep. guess it would've helped if I had even the tiniest interest in ballet, but that shouldn't be a prerequisite for enjoying a movie.

Well it might be for enjoying a movie about ballet.

eh I've enjoyed plenty of other movies that center on topics I don't otherwise give a shit about (boxing, the Doors, baseball, Christmas, etc.)

Yeah but ballet is generally more boring than all those things. Except the Doors.

Nope, liking ballet is sort of a given with that movie. Or liking a movie creating an inhabitable environment (i.e. summer squall during outdoor Chicago concert).

y no Alex Trebek in this poll

could someone explain to me what they like about the Company, cuz that one almost put me to sleep. guess it would've helped if I had even the tiniest interest in ballet, but that shouldn't be a prerequisite for enjoying a movie.

I don't really have much interest in ballet myself. I don't have anything against it, but it's not something that I actively engage with at all, generally. I just found The Company really beautiful. I mean, pretty much any interest I have in ballet was sparked by this movie (and from watching the dancers at the Joffrey practice from the windows of the Borders across the street). And I also have a thing for movies that focus on behind-the-scenes aspects of the creative process, so I enjoyed it a lot on that level, as well.

Anyway, Hoop Dreams is one of my favorite films and I could frankly give a shit about basketball, so...y'know.

How remarkable, that you could like a film about a topic you have some degree of interest in!

How remarkable, the lack of reading comprehension on display in this thread!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Maybe next will be Best Actor in A Prairie Home Companion.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i liked kansas city

Ironing for the win

Julianne Moore 6
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http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/10/21/1256147129805/Huey-Lewis-Fred-Ward-and--001.jpg

pretty sure frances mcdormand got robbed ITT, she even showed boobs.

i guess pubes>>>boobs?

Rescreened first half of this. Lily Tomlin is FANTASTIC in every scene. Julianne Moore is adequate but I think the votes are from the ILX horndog crew afaict.

is it ok if I give everyone who uses 'rescreened' shit?

i'm paying tribute to YOU!

;)

I was about to ask if this was the one where Julianne Moore has the flip-out meltdown and then realized how many different films that could be referring to.

Buck Henry on shooting Short Cuts

https://www.filmcomment.com/article/two-views-of-robert-altman-short-cuts-the-player-buck-henry/

Man, I had to wrack my brain for a sec trying to remember Buck Henry even being in this thing. I guess it's hard to stand out in scenes that feature a dead body and Lil Huey.

He has that great bit near the end where the photo hut mixes up his and RDJ's photos.

Ohhhh yeah.

Far from my favorite of the lot but I've been mulling over another run through the Altmanography so perhaps it's time to give it another shot.

It's second tier Altman but I can imagine sitting down to watch it if I saw it on the teevee machine

Yeah, post-Player, my enthusiasm wanes until the home stretch (peaking, naturally, with a little Dr. T action).

Gosford Park is good

big chunks of his filmography are virtually unwatchable, but the high points (and there are a bunch of those too) are fantastic

The last three, imo, were a nice return to form. (Tanner on Tanner has its moments but it pales in comparison to its predecessor.)

The Company is terrible, but then I agree w Orson Welles that ballet is the worst artform

i am shedding second tiers over Alfred's opinion

Jack Lemmon's always getting tier-y eyed.

a lot of the bits don't signify on their own, but I coulda watched three hours of Tom Waits and Lily Tomlin.

xposts Or, otoh, The Company is pretty close to Altman's post-'70s best. Is what I think you meant to say.

a dead body and Lil Huey.

rubber Huey

Baby Huey

Surprised I didn't vote in this, but maybe I couldn't settle on one person, there are so many really good performances.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/millions-of-fruit-flies-will-be-dumped-on-los-angeles/

xps Bruce Davison gave my favorite performance in this, and Lily Tomlin with Tom Waits was great. (Also Lili Taylor as her daughter was a great bit of casting.) I love Julianne Moore, but I have a mixed feelings about this role. It did help her career though - early on it felt like she was being pulled in two different directions, doing thankless roles for empty commercial work like Jurassic Park 2, Assassins and that Ivan Reitman alien movie (though she was great in the Hand that Rocks the Cradle and she was a good sport about the Fugitive) but after Short Cuts she went on to appear in Todd Haynes's Safe (for my money, the greatest work either did), Vanya on 42nd Street (the best performance in an excellent cast) and Boogie Nights.

Jurassic Park 2, Assassins and that Ivan Reitman alien movie

She made those after SC, or am I misreading you?

Ted Sarandos: he likes the film.

I used to own thousands (of DVDs). I have about 300 in a cabinet now. The one movie I can’t ever find on streaming, which I keep in my DVD tray, is Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts.” I’ll watch 20 minutes of it every once in a while.