So I saw Dark Knight yesterday, having browbeaten a critic friend into taking me along as his "plus one". The film had slight structural problems, notably a somewhat anticlimactic ending that after an explosive middle, which made it feel a tad long. But overall, it was pretty damn great.
And what about Heath Ledger? I went in prepared to be cynical, since he's probably going to get an Oscar nomination for his role even if he was awful. And . . . he was good. Really good. Not what I would think of as an Oscar quality performance, if for no other reason than that they don't really award Oscars to summer action movies. But I wouldn't be indignant if he walked away with it.
The only movie I've ever seen him in was "10 Things I Hate About You" (yes, yes, I've never seen Brokeback Mountain). I mostly knew him for being extremely pretty. So I was surprised to see him be so good in an adult movie. And if he gets the Oscar, it would be a kind of justice, because his performance suggested that, but for an unlucky combination of pills and alcohol, he might have won one down the road.
>> The only movie I've ever seen him in was "10 Things I Hate About You" (yes, yes, I've never seen Brokeback Mountain).
Do yourself a favour and watch Candy (2006), he was very good there too. Yes - it is about heroin addicts, not chocolate factories ;)
He was also excellent in The Order.
If he "walked away with it" I'd be shocked.
...So I was surprised to see him be so good in an adult movie.
I think this sentence needs an edit.
Knight's tale is one of the most underrated movies of this decade. similar to but not as good as princess bride, but still pretty good.
It boggles the mind why you are paid to write.
I'm glad to hear it. When he died a lot of the eulogizing mentioned his great performance in Brokeback, but for anyone who's actually heard a regional accent in the U.S., his laughable attempt almost undermined the whole tone of the movie. But he was not a bad actor, and it's good to know his last movie is a high note.
Knight's tale is one of the most underrated movies of this decade. similar to but not as good as princess bride, but still pretty good.
I agree, and here I thought I was the only one who really enjoyed that movie.
People don't "get unlucky" with pills and alcohol.
I also thought he was surprisingly good in that fun recent Casanove film!
rubemode - he was on prescription meds for anxiety and depression. did they ever say that alcohol was involved at all? I don't believe so. he had been having insomnia and must have overdone some combination of prescribed meds that night.
It happens. Happened to Nick Drake too. Terrible tragedy in both cases, and neither were suicides or necessarily intentiionally self-destructive. Just because someone is depressive doesn't mean their accidental death from self-medicating was a suicide.
You really are a terrible writer, what a bad review.
The entire post appears to be an attempt to excuse this 2x4 moment:
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/heath_ledger_is_dead.php
You shouldn't have bothered. Hell doesn't really exist.
I can understand someone who drops in, doesn't like what he sees, and then posts an insult in the comments section. What sort of psychological condition, however, exists that would cause a person to be a near-daily reader, who then is frequently compelled to post insulting remarks about writing he doesn't like? Masochism? Does such a person also pay people to utilize tools, in order to perform unpleasant tasks upon the person's body? Or is it some sort of strange techincal problem which causes the person's computer to be stuck on this site? The world wonders!
ok you got me with the pills and alcohol crap.
ledger was a well known non-drinker you fool!
Its also a shame/slightly disconcerting that you never saw him in an adult movie. You clearly havnt seen many movies!!! He probably had the best resume for any guy his age (28) in hollywood.
As for Oscar talk...well that has followed him for a few years now and huge raps were on him for his role as joker a long time before he died. As for linking oscar talk with sympathy for his death...well now THAT is cynical.
But I wouldn't be indignant if he walked away with it.
Yeah, um, maybe not the best choice of wording, there? :)
Will, I think it is driven by jealousy. There are a lot, A LOT, of people who want to be professional writers/journalists (look at all the amateur political bloggers).
McArdle has worked for The Economist, now has a high-profile position with The Atlantic, basically dream jobs for many failed writers/journalists.
She has the position and visibility that they so desperately want (and feel that they deserve), and it eats them up. So they go on the attack, but can't keep themselves from coming back. Think Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, "worst blog post ever!".
I just wanted to disagree with this quick. I grew up fairly close to Wyoming in Nebraska and his accent didn't seem odd to me at all. I know plenty of slow mumblers and some of the older folks that were adults back then actually do have accents that sound like a comically bad hick impersonation. For instance, my aunt Bonnie "warshes deeshes" and makes "punkin pah".
I'd also recommend A Knight's Tale. High School sports movie in the middle ages. It's pretty good without being full of itself. Definitely under-rated.
I was thinking the same thing. I couldn't help this image popping in my head of a zombie or mummy version of Ledger stiffly walking off stage with an Oscar statue.
I wonder if you could market a troll bot. You know, something you could program to go to sites you don't like and spew random insults on every post.
I say market cause this site has convinced me that troll bots exist.
He was very good in Brokeback Mountain, but the performance to see is Candy.
There were not too many actors his age or younger that had put together such a quality run of roles.
What?!? You didn't see him in Monster's Ball? Alright, I didn't watch that movie to see him either.......Halle.....hey, that was almost an adult movie...
"Its also a shame/slightly disconcerting that you never saw him in an adult movie. You clearly havnt seen many movies!!! He probably had the best resume for any guy his age (28) in hollywood."
I don't know about that. A glance at IMDB certainly doesn't show him as particularly prolific, and many of his movies were either crap (The Patriot), smaller (Lords of Dogtown) or both (The Order). It really wasn't until Brokeback that he really took off.
"As for Oscar talk...well that has followed him for a few years now and huge raps were on him for his role as joker a long time before he died. As for linking oscar talk with sympathy for his death...well now THAT is cynical."
I've seen a lot of discussion on-line around whether the Oscar buzz surrounding the Joker role was really warranted or whether it was being driven in large part because of his death. It may be cynical, but it's also pretty widespread.
BlackOrchid
I really don't know much about Heath Ledger or Nick Drake, other than I am a huge fan of Ledger's work. Nobody has mentioned his role in The Patriot, I think that movie was a win for him as well. To my earlier point, Megan made the assumption that alcohol was involved (or does she have inside info?) and my comment wasn't specifically targeted to Ledger's or Drake's cases. Just that when individuals mix pills with alcohol, they are playing Russian Roulette. If that process results in death, that outcome is not a function of "luck."
My two cents:
I think Heath Ledger would have been nominated for the role no matter what. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (it's so fun to type all of that out) has a habit of throwing a bone to one or two blockbuster acting performances that probably don't deserve them (Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd", Ian McKellen in "LotR: FotR", Alec Guiness in "Star Wars", Melinda Dillon in "Close Encounters", etc.). But I think Ledger actually stands a good chance of *winning* this because of his death. Which is a stupid reason to give an award. "Hey, we're going to pat ourselves on the back for being so charitable as to give an award to someone who won't reap the benefits! Aren't we great?"
Secondly, whoever thinks Heath Ledger's accent in "Brokeback Mountain" was laughable knows nothing. I actually spoke with someone the other day who I literally thought sounded *exactly* like Ledger in that movie. It's not so much of a regional way of speaking (I'm from Kansas, the film took place in Wyoming... I think Wyoming), it's a class distinction. And it's largely the result of men who work in agriculture also being tobacco chewers. Ledger was 100% believable in the role, and it's the best work I've ever seen him do.
That being said, Ledger's very excellent performance in "Brokeback Mountain" was the ONLY good thing about the movie. It SUCKED. And I don't use that word ("sucked") in some sort of homophobic way... it was just an awful, awful movie. Lots of cliched cowboy-esque moments, knowing glances, and a constant sense of preachiness. If the movie had been exactly the same, but portrayed the homosexual angle a little more ambiguously and not so glowingly, people would have said, "What? This movie is crap!" But instead it got all this positive feedback because it fit people's agendas. It's the "Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe" of the agnostic left. Both are terrible movies that pander to a cultural/political base that people who aren't part of the base are afraid to criticise because they don't want to be seen as antagonistic.
This piece was lazy and terrible!
Who are you writing this for anyway?
This piece was lazy and terrible!
Who are you writing this for anyway?
This piece was lazy and terrible!
Who are you writing this for anyway?
This piece was lazy and terrible!
Who are you writing this for anyway?
Megan McArdle, do yourself a favor and see Monster's Ball and Brokeback. Heath Ledger was an exceptional actor in many not-so-exceptional films, but his performances in those two movies are as "adult" as any you are likely to see in the rest of your clearly mundane filmic life.
To add to the comments regarding his accent, it was spot-on. Take a little road trip thru the middle of the country, starting around Worland, Wyoming and you'll hear it at gas stations, roadside diners, grocery stores. As for Brokeback having an agenda--I'd say that stems mostly from the viewer's own prejudices and world view, rather than any intent on the part of the actors or of the filmmakers.
Additionally, cliche' is defined as anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse. Show me other films that have had masculine ranch hands who fall in love with each other. It's hardly a cliche"wannabe" cowboys (a rather romantic notion of what it means to be a man in rural parts of America), young working-class men trying to figure out their places in a world where they didn't really belong.