Still going through War & Peace, though I keep getting sidetracked by other things. I re-read The Night Manager in anticipation of the miniseries that starts tonight on AMC, and also read a book about Shakespeare adaptations on film.

Mansfield Park is my least favorite Austen as well (that or Northanger Abbey), but Fanny is still interesting enough that it held me. Emma is probably my favorite of hers; it's her longest work, but it never felt long at all.

After I finally finish War & Peace, I think I'm going to tackle Dune.

George Miller previously served on the jury in 1988, the year Pelle the Conqueror won, and I believe he voted for it to be the winner, if I'm reading William Goldman's Hype and Glory correctly.

It's an impressive achievement in many ways - and in addition to the witnesses and the performances listed above, there's also sharp work by Gene Hackman (in a cameo) and Paul Sorvino, among others - but the problem I had with the movie is it also asks us to care about Reed and Bryant as a couple as well, in the sense…

I was going to say that, but then I remembered; while the video itself is explicit, the lyrics are pretty ambiguous. I mean, yes, there's "It's hard to believe that it's my last time/The man on the wireless cries again/It's over, it's over", but that still is open to different interpretations.

No mention of Keith Richards slagging off Mick Jagger with "You Don't Move Me"?

It's actually "Was it a millionaire…"

So, I was going to tackle War & Peace, but then I got sidetracked into reading the books related to, or adapted into, the Oscar-nominated movies. As of now, I've read:
The Big Short by Michael Lewis (which I loved, and made me as angry as the movie did, which I also loved).
Strangers on a Bridge by James Donovan (which,…

I love The Night Manager, and I'm excited/apprehensive about the miniseries as well.

Also ends with a really bad pun. But then, that's another story.

Agreed. Robertson was better in supporting roles (like the CIA agent in Three Days of the Condor, or as Hugh Hefner in Star 80), but doesn't work as the center here. I'd also argue there's something about De Palma and Schrader's sensibilities that clash here as well.

Most of the heavy hitters in competition aside from The Leopard were mentioned above, but here are a few of the other films that played in Cannes that year:

Only things I wish you had brought up were her films with John Sayles (Sunshine State, Casa de los Babys - which she's especially good in, playing a character you rarely see on film - and Honeydripper), simply because he's a director who seems to be ignored these days, and Miss Firecracker, where she plays someone…

I guess it's a good thing then you never brought up In the Electric Mist, which is one of those films that got changed dramatically in the editing room.

Only be sure always to call it please…research!

God, she's so good in that episode. When she finds out how she was taken in, it's like she let all of her emotional defenses down, and you feel more sorry for her than the guy who did the scam, even though she killed someone.

Also from Morocco, near the end:

"Captain, how soon can you land this plane?"
"I can't tell."
"Well, you can tell me. I'm a doctor."
"No, I mean, I just don't know."
"Well, can you take a guess?"
"Well, not for another couple of hours."
"You can't take a guess for another couple of hours?"

I'm not a fan of Chariots of Fire, but Lost Angels, which is from the same director, is the overwrought and turgid film I was referring to.