Another Time Declaration

Seven years ago Time magazine tried to instruct everyone about the greatness of Steven Spielberg‘s Munich by calling it “Spielberg’s Secret Masterpiece.” It resulted in the film being “pounded out of the gate,” in the view of the NY Times “Carpetbagger.” The current effort seeks to instruct everyone about the value and immense talent of Daniel Day Lewis. The difference this time is that the headline is arguably true.

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49 thoughts on “Another Time Declaration”

  3. I hate ranking actors. I’m not denying DDL is a vibrant force work is always interesting. He’s undoubtedly in a pool with a fluctuating number of others as of the great male screen titans of our time, but he’s not without flaws and misjudgement. With Jack and Rose and then Daniel Plainview, he’s veering into Johnny Depp territory for me in that all magnetism aside, the fussiness of his acting choices are something of a turn off.

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  4. He’s great, but not has good as Robert DeNiro, Pacino, Nicholson, or Dustin Hoffman were in their hayday. I would also say that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is just as good.

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  6. ha .. yes he is the greatest actor of USA. But World ?? Seriously I doubt that. Or You can call him world greatest known actor.

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  7. I have been asked to hold my review until opening day, but I can tell you this: He doesn’t kill a single vampire throughout the entire movie. No zombies, either.

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  11. Noiresque: Johnny Depp is mannered, kabuki bullshit. It’s certainly not method or coming from some deep, felt place.

    Say what you want about DDL’s fussiness but he fully inhabits these roles; lives and breathes them. He reaches a depth that Depp couldn’t approach in a million years.

    Depp is also a whore.

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  12. It says here in my “Earth VIsitors Handbook” that “The Greatest Actor in the World will never be on the cover of Time magazine.”

    It also says “Anyone carrying or displaying this magazine should be looked upon with suspicion and will probably perform an instant vapor trans-dimensional escape when asked for earth human credentials.”

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  13. ” He doesn’t kill a single vampire throughout the entire movie. No zombies, either.”

    there was a moment there (as i started to doze) that i wished he would…

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  16. The fifty people in America’s dental waiting rooms who grab Time instead of People will surely take this bold conclusion under advisement.

    * Munich IS arguably a masterpiece. There, I argued it. Jeff is wrong again?!?

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  18. Robert Duvall always resonated more with me than Pacino or DeNiro. He’s probably my personal “All Time” greatest.

    More recently, Gary Oldman, Ben Kingsley, Brendan Gleeson and Steve Buscemi have been favorites.

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  20. Time was definitely right about Munich being a masterpiece.

    I don’t know about it being a “secret masterpiece”, what with Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.

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  22. Mark’s right. “Secret” probably isn’t the right adjective for any film Spielberg makes — masterpiece or not — but the movie was getting dumped on when that article was published.

    And obviously the Oscar nominations (as if they mean anything!) hadn’t yet been announced at that point, either.

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  23. Great Cloud Atlas review from Ebert today: http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121024/REVIEWS/121029991

    “I despair. I think you will want to see this daring and visionary film, directed by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski. Anywhere you go where movie people gather, it will be discussed. Deep theories will be proposed. Someone will say, “I don’t know what in the hell I saw.” The names of Freud and Jung will come up. And now you expect me to unwrap the mystery from the enigma and present you with a nice shiny riddle?
    [...]
    But, oh, what a film this is! And what a demonstration of the magical, dreamlike qualities of the cinema. And what an opportunity for the actors. And what a leap by the directors, who free themselves from the chains of narrative continuity.”

    Looks like you may have missed the boat on this one, Wells — not in the sense that you didn’t LIKE it, just in the sense that you didn’t even SIT through it (?!). Leaving for a screening now, I hope to see a thread devoted to it when I return.

    Looks like a film that — despite your specific thoughts on it — is definitely worth discussing.

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  24. Why is anybody still upset about Wells’ Cloud Atlas snub? It’s not like we didn’t see it coming; despite his (many) proclamations declaring his refinement and high class, Wells is a first-degree dilettante. He’s far more comfortable with middle-of-the-road pap (Morning Glory, Robin Hood, and anything directed by Mike Binder or Rod Lurie) than he is with challenging fare, and 75% of time, he defers to the mentality of the herd when he comes up against something he doesn’t understand. Case in point: the blogosphere loved Holy Motors and The Master, so he loved Holy Motors and The Master. Conversely, the general consensus is split on Cloud Atlas, so it somehow becomes a feature less deserving of his wisdom and insight. Had the critical wind turned in the opposite direction, I guarantee he’d be singing a different tune. But that’s what makes him so frustrating sometimes; for a guy who is so damn opinionated, he seems most comfortable when he can parrot someone else’s opinion.

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  26. Do we dare tell Gautam DDL isn’t an American?

    Munich wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was one of Spielberg’s better films in the past twenty-five years. So much better than pabulum he had been spitting up just before.

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  27. Jeffrey’s never likes something just because others did. He will, however, not like something after time if that becomes the cool thing to do. Once Crash, e.g., become the Jay Leno of Oscar contenders, HE could not have been meaner to it, despite Jeffrey actually liking the film a lot when he saw it.

    It’s not fair to question his love of The Master and Holy Motors; I actually think that his “I am a Bear!” tweet led a certain wave of love from younger blogospherians for the film.

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  28. Just watched Munich again the other night, it really holds up. There are only two missteps in the whole film, the two rival teams sharing the apartment for the night and the sex scene near the ‘cimax’, so to speak.

    What won the Best Picture Oscar that year? Oh yeah, Crash…

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  30. Day-Lewis has it all: the technical virtuosity/imitative skills of classical-style acting, the emotive nakedness of Method. Hoffman may be the only American actor comes to mind I’d put within reach of him on the first part of that. But this ranking bullshit does a disservice to all concerned.

    Didn’t TIME anoint Franzen the “Greatest American Writer” a couple years ago? Like Roth and a half-dozen others didn’t exist?

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