Gotye; Insomnia Insights, and the Greatest Paul Newman Movies Ever Made
I'm giving myself a massive challenge by trying to pick the top five films from one of the best actors of all time. Good luck to me.
Hey there. I’m back, with the usual mix of sports, entertainment, and random tidbits to hopefully enliven your day. Once again, we`re skipping the small talk in this paragraph, and getting right down to business.
– Movie of the Day: “Nobody’s Fool”: This is a new section here, and we’ll start it out with this underrated 1996 film featuring the icon Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Melanie Griffith, and the wonderful Jessica Tandy, in her final film role. Newman perfectly encapsulated the cranky construction worker facing down his twilight by drinking and avoiding all adult responsibilities, even at age 60. Director Robert Benton makes Upstate New York look as gorgeous as it has ever looked, and he’s got the luxury of working with a fantastic script, based on the book by Richard Russo. For some strange reason, this endearing film isn’t referenced enough when examining it as part of Newman’s work. But you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check it out.
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– This brings me to a new list I feel like doing: the best five films of Paul Newman’s career. But before I do, let me say this: There’s going to be a lot - like, a LOT – of honorable mentions in the list. How is it possible to pick just five movies from one of the greatest actors of all time? It’s not really possible. You can make a good case for all these movies to be top-five in his career. You should see ALL of Newman’s films. He was that good.
Honorable Mentions: “Hud”, “The Towering Inferno”, “Cool Hand Luke”, “The Color of Money”, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, “Absence of Malice”, “Fort Apache: The Bronx”
Top Five:
5. “Slap Shot”. Director George Roy Hill had already worked with Newman on the smash hits “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Sting” (more on this movie later) by the time they made “Slap Shot” in 1977. Calling it beloved by hockey fans is a massive understatement. Newman was a famous humanitarian who was often the epitome of class and grace, but in this movie, he showed he also loved to get down dirty and play a rascal just trying to get by. The star of one of the greatest sports movies ever made – that’s just one of many honors in Newman’s career.
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4. “The Sting”. This movie was made in 1976, but was set more than 40 years earlier, iin Depression-era America. Newman and co-star Robert Redford were charming grifters carrying out a con job on the majestically intimidating Robert Shaw, and they all produced a timelessly classic film. No spoilers, but you can be assured of a rollickingly great watch.
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3. “Nobody’s Fool” . Amazing stars. Amazing supporting cast. Newman shone like a diamond here. A quiet, little, perfect film. Seek it out, and you’ll be rewarded.
2. “The Hustler”.Here we have one of the earlier gigantic successes of Newman’s career – a 1961 drama directed by Robert Rosser and centered around pool sharking, and the inner torments of a cunning man who doesn’t know how to be happy. Newman followed up the role in this movie – a role that won him the Best Actor Award at the 1987 Oscar Awards – with 1987’s “The Color of Money”, another terrific look at pool, and a sequel directed by legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. But you don’t have to see it to appreciate the original Hustler film.
“The Hustler” has Newman at his sharpest, with a supporting cast that included fellow film legends George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason. If you weren’t a fan of pool before seeing this, you will be after you do. More or less a flawless film, from start to finish.
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1. “The Verdict”. It would nearly impossible to have more star power in this 1982 film: Newman headlined as the main star, but he was directed by icon Sidney Lumet, with a script written by master dramatist David Mamet. And, again, Newman had a phenomenal supporting cast, including Charlotte Rampling, James Mason and Jack Warden.
But there’s no question this is Newman’s film, and he digs deep to portray an alcoholic lawyer trying to live up to his morals. Newman received a Best Actor nomination for performance, and the film garnered four more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. It didn’t win them, but that doesn’t mean it’s no classic. It is, and Newman was never better.
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– Song of the Day: Gotye, “I Feel Better”. This is an uptempo, Motown-esque song from the Australian multi-instrumentalist, and it still raises listeners’ pulse in the best way. Gotye hasn’t released any new music under his stage name, but he has continued his music career under different names, including “The Ondioline Orchestra”, and “The Basics”. Regardless of what he’s being called, Gotye created a classic album with “Making Mirrors” one that is truly worth revisiting time and again. And though “I Feel Better” didn’t get as much love as the blockbuster hit “Somebody That I Used To Know”, it’s sneakily the most joyful song on the album.
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– This is an interesting piece from The Atlantic, on insomnia, and the history of struggling to sleep well https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/medieval-sleeping-habits-insomnia-segmented-biphasic/621372/ . After I turned 40, I began to sleep for only two or three hours at a time, and I was frequently jolted awake for one reason or another. It can be maddening, and there’s no easy solution for it. If you’ve found a method that works for you, feel free to post it in the comments section, and I’ll be happy to try it out.
– Here’s my latest, for The Hockey News. The Calgary Flames are an intriguing team to keep an eye on. Half the time these days, they’re getting blown out of games; the other half, they’re the team blowing out opponents. https://thehockeynews.com/news/what-to-make-of-the-calgary-flames . Which team are they really?
– And here’s my latest Toronto Maple Leafs piece, for Full Press. The Leafs likely won’t have enough salary cap space to bring back winger Ilya Mikheyev next season, so it’s crucial they deal him before this year’s trade deadline, and acquire some defensive help in return. https://nypost.com/2022/01/29/nhl-must-retire-willie-orees-no-22-jersey-league-wide/ Seattle Kraken defensean and Toronto native Mark Giordano is a great, attainable talent they should be pursuing, and dealing a younger talent like Mikheyev may very well give Leafs GM Kyle Dubas the edge in trade talks with Kraken counterpart Ron Francis.
– That’s it for today. I hope you’re well. If you’d like to, you can subscribe here: