Melanie reviews:
 "I haven't sent out any mass movie reviews lately, but I'm doing
so now because I want to alert my fellow film fans to a pair of
the summer's biggest surprises.  Yes, the year is more than
halfway over and so far there has been precious little to recommend,
especially throughout this summer when there has just been so much
junk, although I did very much enjoy Paramount's The Italian Job (a
good old fashioned heist movie with lots of color and/or atmosphere)
and the New Zealand import, Whale Rider, as well as the very
entertaining box office blockbuster, Finding Nemo..and, okay, Bruce
Almighty.  I also confess that I have yet to see Seabiscuit, or even
28 Days Later.  

     Still, I do feel compelled to let everyone know that, even in the
dog days of summer, there are currently two performances generating
Oscar buzz (or Oscar worthy buzz), and they're both as close as your
neighborhood multiplex, courtesy of mainstream studio, Disney Pictures.
I'm referring to Johnny Depp in the unlikely blockbuster, Pirates of the
Caribbean (based on a theme park ride), and Jamie Lee Curtis in Disney's
third version of Freaky Friday.  Depp first. Of course, this guy is one of
our most adventurous actors, and, lord knows, he's given some pretty
spectacular, award calibre performances.  I'm thinking specifically of
Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood, neither of which generated any favor
with Academy voters (though both were nominated for the Golden Globe
award, as was Depp's persuasive work in the gentle, sleeper romance,
Benny & Joon).  Anyway, Pirates is the first unqualified box office smash
with which Depp has ever been associated (runner-up: Sleepy Hollow), and
a lot of the credit belongs to him especially, for a performance that is as
shrewd as it is theatrical and over the top; no one else could've given this
same performance and made it such an utter delight.  Depp has been pretty
open about how he modeled his performance as whacked-out Captain Jack
Sparrow on no less than Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.   This one
has to be seen to be believed.  Is it truly Oscar worthy?   Hard to say, but
the buzz is there, and building, and the performance is certainly both inventive
and very watchable--and if Depp finally gets a nod, in a year of thus far
rampant mediocrity, then good for him.

     Next, Jamie Lee Curtis.  I'll be frank, ever since I first saw Curtis in
Halloween (the original and the only one in the long running series in which I've
actually invested my time), I've thought she  radiates a natural intelligence
that few producers/writers/directors have been fully able to work to her
advantage.  Why is it that she so often seems lost amid the swill?  Well, part
of that has to do with being able to sniff out better scripts (but it's hard to
sniff them out if they never come your way in the first place).  To be fair,
Curtis hasn't done so bad, witness her British Academy Award for Trading
Places, as well as her Golden Globe for True Lies. She also has 1988's zany
A Fish Called Wanda on her resume. (I  confess to being a big fan of her
late 80's/early 90's sitcom, Anything But Love...and, yes, I even liked her in
1985's notorious flop, the unfortunately titled Perfect.)  Anyway, in Freaky Friday Curtis has her best--and splashiest--movie role in years and years as a straitlaced
psychologist (psychiatrist???) who magically swaps bodies with her misfit (i.e.,
surly) 15 year old daughter, who also just happens to be an aspiring rock-n-roller,
for a single day--the day in question being the eve of Curtis's character's second
wedding.  Curtis' performance is gloriously dead-on funny, and free of vanity as well;
she is ably supported by Lindsay Lohan in the role of the daughter.  Again, there's
Oscar buzz already, in this case, according to USA Today, by no less than the New
York Times, whose reviewer, A.O. Scott, wrote: "It is unlikely that any other actress
this year will match the loose, energetic wit she brings to this delightful movie." (USA
Today reporter Susan Wloszczyna makes mention of Scott speculating about Curtis'
Oscar potential without actually including the specific "O-word" quote, in an article
dated Monday, August 11.) I'll be frank, when I saw Curtis in the movie, a day before
I read the USA Today piece, I myself had visions of an Oscar nomination dancing in my
head, so the subsequent article was a pleasant surprise, an affirmation, if you will.  
(I feel compelled to add that last summer [2002] I watched in awe as Diane Lane emoted
--in the best possible sense of the word--her way through the borderline sleazy
Unfaithful...I knew then I was watching something special, and I was hoping
that Academy members were paying attention; Lane's Oscar nomination earlier this
year was a joyous turn of events...it didn't matter that she didn't win, at least she
was recognized by her peers.)

     Of course, Depp and Curtis have a few strikes against them, mainly being in
comedies, especially mainstream, Disney family-fare.  Further, all this goodwill could
fade the instant the fall's big prestige items begin to hit the screens (Cold Mountain,
The Last Samari, Big Fish, etc.).  Still, right off the top of my head, I know for sure
that Julie Andrews, who reinvented herself, in more ways than one, in Victor/Victoria,
and Tom Hanks, who enjoyed a comeback (after  a series of uneven films in the years
following his initial success in Splash), with Big, were both nominated for Oscars--and for movies that were not only variations of "switcheroo" comedy, but were
also early starters.  Victor/Victoria was released late winter/early spring of 1982,
while Big was released in the summer of '88, so maybe there's hope.  (Okay, neither
Andrews or Hanks won for those particular films, but please, please, always remember:
just because comic performances are longshots, doesn?t make them any less worthy...
we just have to keep crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.)  Depp and Curtis
also have the strategic advantage of having been around for a few years, paying their
dues as it were.

     Will I be rooting for these two stars in three or four months, when the awards
season begins in earnest?  I honestly can't say, but for now I'm quite happy to sing
their praises and encourage others to see what all the fuss is about for themselves,
especially when the films in question are so readily accessible.

Thank you,
Mp"