I’ve not yet seen this movie but I have seen Judy Davis’s outstanding performance in Me and My Shadows and highly recommend it. I think Judy Davis totally inhabited the part. The scene with Judy Garland calling JFK in front of a meeting with TV executives who want to sack her is particularly astonishing. It might be available as a clip on RU-vid but the whole movie was fantastic. It will be interesting to see how Renee measures up.
Judy Davis' performance is so indelible that as i was watching Zellweger as Judy i kept seeing Judy Davis - it was weird. I enjoyed most of this movie, but Renee is too mannered and it took me out of the notion that it was Judy Garland I was watching.
Totally agree with Mark in that I never lost sight of Renee Zellweger. She was very good, but her performance was a bit focused on mannerisms rather than her actually becoming Judy. Marvellous renditions of the songs when Judy was not at her best but imbued them with a lifetime of emotion.
Nailed it, I never saw Judy Garland, I saw a great performance by Renée Zellweger playing a role. A tough watch mind, as it's quite heavy and depressing, but enjoyable despite this. Deserves a second viewing IMO.
The movie is about the downfall of a person, their losing control of their life and not being able to right the boat. That is how a lot of people's lives end. (And that is what "Joker" is about too, sort of. Think about it.)
You are one in a thousand who didn’t feel that Renee was transformed Into the iconic Judy. Renee was not a characture . She was Judy and you can mortgage your home your car your kids, etc that she will win the Best actress Oscar. I loved the film because it focused on the the last year of her life with the sadness ( sometimes laughter) and triumphs with the flashbacks giving me a bit of a chance to wipe away the tears that flooded almost very emotionally impactful scene after scene. and there were funny one-line moments that triggered hearty laughter. You see, the average moviegoer ( thank god they were not critics) who I asked to rate the movi and Renee’s performance gave it the HIGHEST ratings. It’s only critics who think with their mind who gave it less than a 10. Once you silence the mind snd open the floodgates of your heart and soul you will give it the highest rating. Especially the young who never even heard much about Judy and never watched the trailer but watched it with an open mind an heart gave it the highest rating. Anyone who gave this film less than an 8 like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz are in dire need of a heart or heart transplant. I’m a professional singer and when I hear an emotionally impactful song I become “ speechless”. The reason is because for those 3 or 4 minutes the mind vanishes and my heart opens up. Just my take. All love, Al
Not sure if I will go and see the film. I’ve spent hours watching all the footage of Judy Garland on YT, from tv shows, interviews, films etc. She was such a magnificent performer and her life seems so heartbreakingly tragic, I’m sure Renee’s performance is fantastic but I’d rather watch the original and best.
@@tazdaniels4869 Hmm, not sure. I can't think offhand. I'd probably watch the Elton John film, and Freddie Mercury. It's probably that I have watched a lot of vids and tv appearances on YT about Judy Garland quite recently.
Renee really did a good job of acting and looking like Judy. But that voice came nowhere near Garland's....so I totally agree with Mark about 'distance.'
I agree - Judy had a distinctive talking voice as well as singing voice. It was the same when Reese Witherspoon played June Carter, she didn’t attempt to get the accent right, which I guess most people think all southerners sound alike, but that is not true... whereas Sissy Spacek sounded exactly like Loretta!
@@traceywilkes7870 Absolutely! And I find getting the voice right is more important to engaging with the story than getting every detail of physical appearance exact
I thought the film was very well done and Renee Zelllweger deserves her place in the Oscars. I lived in London at the time and remember the press coverage and how sad it was.
Nicola Williams Renee: the best transformation into a famous iconic character ever. Mortgage your home your house your kids .. she will win the Oscar. Absolute cinch.
I agree more with the review of Richard Brody of the New Yorker who thinks the opposite. That Renee "enters a transformative realm in which impersonation becomes incarnation." His exact words.
Really enjoyed it. I got lost in RZ’s performance. Otherwise I agree with this review. Kept thinking of Stan & Ollie. It could’ve been called A Star is Born 2.
As a Judy Garland fan of many many years, I agree with The Rolling Stone review, that seeing Zellweger's performance was like two hours of open-heart surgery.
I agree, the movie didn't capture her immense wit and sense of humor to the fullest. As well as her full magic. And I also agree with the comment of 'looking at them looking at her' which was very scarce and seldom in the film for the exception of that moment. Her having the following that she has had and still does until this day.... Should have been portrayed in a stronger way in this film. The role was inhibited without embodying, also agree... But boy they tried.... Maybe they shouldיt have.
I so agree with you Mark on Andy Nyman's performance and also how that storyline is created and executed. It was the highlight of the movie for me. I found Renee too twitchy and blinky - her mannerisms were not reigned in by the director. But she did a lot of great work in the film, but yes i don't think she deserves an Oscar for it. Judy Davis is unbeatable portraying Judy Garland
Disagree about the Judy Davis "Me and My Shadow" telecast of almost 20 years ago. While it covered more of Judy's life, and I think Judy Davis is a superb actress, I think the lip synching to Judy's voice and that she appeared too old, to put it politely, in some of the series sequences, (ie the trolley musical number from Meet me in St Louis) threw it off for me. The brilliance in Renee's performance is that she is not imitating Judy but rather interpreting her. Plus her own musical numbers were a total knock out. Renee is a very talented character actress.
@@patricemoran7469 I give her props for the singing but all the twitching and blinking detracted from what was otherwise a brilliant submersion. Plus her speaking voice is too high and girlish - Judy Davis captured the lived in, smokey and booze fuelled weariness better than Renee did.
It's difficult to think of a film where so much of the lead actor's performance is based around her facial expressions. For me, this was the greater part Renee Zelwegger's performance. It carried the scars from the journey Garland had undergone since childhood stardom far more than the dialogue. Shwaltzy at times? Certainly. But there's enough darkness and poignancy centred around the travails of a celebrity unequipped to live in the real world whilst unfit to provide the gloss and glamour of the showbiz world for the film to connect Hollywood with Hell on earth. The gifted and the grifter reside in the same universe, dependent on each another to raise them above the mediocre and ordinary. Whatever you think of the film, and I for one struggled at times to fully engage, the final scene will reduce you to a blubbering sentimentalist whether you want to or not. I think I realised more towards the end of the film that I was watching something special. Even if it was a fading star struggling to overcome her demons and fall apart in the process. The songs were her means of escape and without them the trauma that first accompanied them came for her in the end. 🌈✨️
How can you rely on a shirt clip from a spin-off scene to make a judgement? Bit light saying i read two paragraphs of Great Expectations and didn’t like the novel. Ridiculous
@@williamgardiner2010 I imagine there is a scholar or two who would care to disagree that who ever wrote this screenplay is on par with Charles Dickens
Joker review is on the podcast (skip to 1:37:45), but not here, why not?. Rambo Last Blood was also on last week's podcast, but not on here. Come on guys.
Not sure what you mean? Mark’s review of Joker is on the channel. His review of Rambo was within the box office top 10 as it was a week after release, so we didn’t post it separately here.
Spaceman2921 it's released today and he does review movies on the same day they're released because they often read out emails from listeners who've already seen it in the morning before the show. They don't upload all the reviews from the show but they usually upload review of the big releases, so strange Joker isn't here.
I am conflicted about whether to see this or not. Growing up with Judy garland, so I just don’t think I could enjoy it. I agree, from clips that she may have done a good job, but I think I feel I am watching someone play her not become her.. I like being transported into a film ..
Wanted to like this. Good Judy Garland impression but too many Rene Zellwegerisms to fully immerse. The squinting. Ha and DEPRESSING. I'm all for showing the bad but not just the bad. She had humor and toughness. I've seen late interviews. Not just a victim. Reminded me of Meryl Streep in the Margaret Thatcher movie, The Iron Lady, where the actress is better than the overall cliche film.
itll be all your LBGT brigade...marketing people are very clever and forward thinking and always strike while the fires hot....soundtrack on its way no doubt
Angela Young my brigade?!🙄 I don’t have or belong to a ‘brigade” nor is the LGBTQI community a brigade. They’re just people who love each other like your heterosexual brigade 🏳️🌈🇮🇪
We never really know why we are watching an official multi-million $ Hollywood film about a middle age woman, falling down during a small lounge act, with a mediocre voice, who is essentially a junkie... great stuff!... wow!... but that's another Lifetime flick starring Jaclyn Smith... So where's the Judy Garland film? Atrociously remiss... thank God for RU-vid
