cinephilic enumeration

cameo appearance by [L.A.] Michael Timmons
31 January 2000

I am guilty. I am a cinephile. I love movies and I obsess over them way too much. I, like everyone else in the city of angels (a deceiving name if there ever was one), am trying to break in to "the biz". I'm in the process of acting. I could write volumes on this alone, but I'll try not to digress. If you are wondering if you have seen me in anything, you may have, but these are not significant acting bits for me to brag about. I am, however, a member of the Screen Actor's Guild and this is where my little article really begins.

I'm sure that you have become aware of the increasing amount of awards shows that are televised each year, i.e. The Emmy's, The MTV Video Music Awards, The Grammy's, The NAACP Image Awards, People's Choice, The Golden Globes, The ESPN Awards, The Country Music Awards, The Tony's, The Academy Awards, The Nickelodeon Awards, The Screen Actor's Guild Awards, and the Best Awards Show Awards. Ok, the last one is made up, but there are many more I could have added to that list. Let me talk in particular about the Screen Actor's Guild Awards, which recognizes actors in film and television. Each year SAG creates a committee of about 2,000 members by randomly selecting from the names of its 98,000 active members. The odds of getting struck by lightning are probably better than the odds of getting onto the SAG Nominating Committee (SAG Nom Comm).

Well lightning struck in my favor this year, as I was one of the lucky ones to get chosen for the Film division. Last September, I received a special SAG Nom Comm Card which basically entitled me and a guest to attend special screenings of movies at the various studios and at regular theatres. On top of that, studios began mailing me special screening tapes of movies that were currently in theatres or that hadn't even been released yet. This cinephile/struggling actor was like a kid in a candy store.

I began to see films like the world was going to end. I also couldn't wait to get home to see what Santa/the postman had left in my stocking/mailbox. I was the envy of other actors. I was a hero to my friends and neighbors to whom I lent the screening tapes. My attitude at the beginning was, "Cool, it's free... I don't care if it sucks." I was taking my "job" very seriously. Too seriously. I studied each film making sure to evaluate each actor, so that I could be fair in my voting.

And then it happened.

I had seen one too many films. I overloaded. I became greedy. I began to wait for the films to arrive in the mail instead of going to see them in a theatre. I waited... I expected. I waited to see Boy's Don't Cry because I thought, "Surely I'm going to get it in the mail." I was wrong. By the time I had to submit my nominations, I had received over 40 films on tape from every studio except Fox, Warner Brothers, and Disney. I was like a spoiled brat. Like Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, "I want a copy of Fight Club and I want it NOWWWWWW!" I began thinking evil thoughts like, "Well if Disney doesn't care enough to send us lowly actors a screening tape of The Sixth Sense, then I don't care enough to vote for Haley Joel Osment in the Supporting Actor category!" It was bad.

I also began to understand the minds of film critics. I used to think that they were, at times, snotty and pretentious. But suddenly, it all clicked. Film critics see too many damn films. They become jaded. They want something new, exciting, invigorating. Studios recycle the same stories, stars, locations, and camera angles. I got to the point where I wanted something more.

1999 was a unique year for film. Nothing really had a major impact like, The English Patient or The Godfather or Schindler's List. There were a lot of good movies. This seemed to be the year of films with unlikable characters or characters that had very little or no redeeming qualities. What do I mean? See American Beauty, Fight Club, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, or The End of the Affair. Most of the characters in these films were either repressed, obsessed, or depressed. But that doesn't mean that these were bad movies; on the contrary, they were some of the best. And there was a lot of great acting.

All of the joking above aside, I was really grateful to be a voice in this years SAG awards. Initially, I was nervous about choosing. In the beginning, I thought I was only able to choose one actor per category. Later I was relieved to discover that I was able to choose 5 actors per category. And even though I was as diligent as possible, I was still unable to see a bunch of movies. I felt guilty for turning in my ballot without seeing, Boy's Don't Cry, The Cradle Will Rock, Anna and the King, The Limey, and a few others.

Ok, enough rambling! I know that some of my nominees wouldn't make it to the final ballot (they'll actually be announced February 1st at 8:00 AM). But here's how I voted.

actor

actress

supporting actor

supporting actress

cast

my predictions

The actor category was really hard for me. I was juggling with Jim Carrey, Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Russell Crowe among a few others.

my top 10 films of 1999

Well, now that my "job" is done, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

whirlygirl comment...

Don't agree? Want to debate his choices? Do you, like me, want to administer a beating because he voted without seeing Boy's Don't Cry? Drop L.A. Michael a line... he's got nothing better to do now that he's seen every film under the sun...