News from the Boston Becks

Cameron Crowe

• Born: 1958
• Rank: 36
• Score: 615.25
• Awards: Oscar (for Screenplay) / BSFC
• Nominations: 2 DGA
• Feature Films: 6
• Best: Almost Famous
• Least: Elizabethtown

Feature Films (in rank order):

1. Almost Famous – 2000
2. Say Anything… – 1989
3. Vanilla Sky – 2001
4. Singles – 1992
5. Jerry Maguire -1996
6. Elizabethtown – 2005

Top 10 Director Finish (Nighthawk Awards):

• 2000 – 3rd – Almost Famous

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Kenneth Branagh

Michael Maloney as Joe (and Hamlet) in In the Bleak Midwinter (1995)

• Born:  1960
• Rank:  37
• Score:  610.15
• Awards:  BAFTA / NBR
• Nominations:  Oscar / BAFTA
• Feature Films:  10
• Best:  Henry V
• Worst:  Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Top 5 Films:

1. Henry V – 1989
2. Hamlet – 1996
3. Much Ado About Nothing – 1993
4. In the Bleak Midwinter – 1995
5. Dead Again – 1991

Top 10 Best Director Finishes (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1989 – 2nd – Henry V
• 1993 – 4th – Much Ado About Nothing
• 1996 – 5th – Hamlet
• 1996 – 9th – In the Bleak Midwinter

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Frank Capra

Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

• Born:  1897
• Died:  1991
• Rank:  38
• Score:  610.00
• Awards:  3 Oscars / Golden Globe
• Nominations:  6 Oscars / 2 DGA / Golden Globe
• Feature Films:  37
• Best:  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Worst:  Here Comes the Groom

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – 1939
2. It’s a Wonderful Life – 1946
3. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – 1936
4. You Can’t Take It With You – 1938
5. It Happened One Night – 1934

Top 10 Best Director Finishes  (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1933 – 1oth – Lady for a Day
• 1934 – 2nd – It Happened One Night
• 1936 – 3rd – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• 1937 – 7th – Lost Horizon
• 1938 – 4th – You Can’t Take It With You
• 1939 – 2nd – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• 1944 – 4th – Arsenic and Old Lace
• 1946 – 4th – It’s a Wonderful Life

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Steven Soderbergh

Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney in Out of Sight (1998)

• Born:  1963
• Rank:  39
• Score:  609.90
• Awards:  Oscar / NYFC / LAFC / 2 NSFC / NBR / CFC / BFCA
• Nominations:  2 Oscars / 2 DGA / 2 Golden Globes / 2 BAFTA’s / BFCA
• Feature Films:  19
• Best:  Traffic
• Worst:  Kafka

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. Traffic – 2000
2. Out of Sight – 1998
3. Solaris – 2002
4. sex, lies and videotape – 1989
5. The Good German – 2006

Top 10 Best Director Finishes (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1998 – 2nd – Out of Sight
• 2000 – 2nd – Traffic
• 2002 – 10th – Solaris

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Federico Fellini

The final shot of Nights of Cabiria (1957)

• Born: 1920
• Died: 1993
• Rank: 40
• Score: 600.15
• Awards: 4 Oscars (for Foreign Film) / NYFC
• Nominations: 16 Oscars (4 for Director, 8 for Screenplay, 4 for Foreign Film) / DGA
• Feature Films: 18
• Best: Nights of Cabiria
• Worst: Fellini Satyricon

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. Nights of Cabiria – 1957
2. La Dolce Vita – 1960
3. Amarcord – 1974
4. La Strada – 1956
5. 8 1/2 – 1963

Top 10 Best Director Finishes (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1956 – 6th – La Strada
• 1957 – 6th – Nights of Cabiria
• 1961 – 4th – La Dolce Vita
• 1963 – 7th – 8 1/2
• 1972 – 8th – Fellini’s Roma
• 1974 – 7th – Amarcord

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F.W. Murnau

Max Schreck as Count Orlock, the Nosferatu (1922)

• Born:  1888
• Died:  1931
• Rank:  41
• Score:  597.00
• Feature Films:  18
• Best:  Sunrise
• Worst:  Tabu

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. Sunrise – 1927
2. Nosferatu – 1922
3. Faust – 1926
4. The Last Laugh – 1924
5. Phantom – 1922

Top 10 Best Director Finishes (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1914-1926 – 9th – Faust
• 1927-1928 – 2nd – Sunrise
• 1927-1928 – 2nd – Tartuffe
• 1928-1929 – 1st – Nosferatu
• 1929-1930 – 3rd – City Girl
• 1930-1931 – 8th – Tabu

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Hayao Miyazaki

Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi): Miyazaki's 2001 masterpiece

• Born: 1941
• Rank: 42
• Score: 596.00
• Awards: Oscar / 2 Annies / LAFC (all for Animated Film)
• Nominations: 2 Oscars / BAFTA (all for Animated Film)
• Feature Films: 10
• Best: Spirited Away
• Worst: The Castle of Cagliostro

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. Spirited Away – 2001
2. My Neighbor Totoro – 1988
3. Princess Mononoke – 1997
4. Castle in the Sky – 1986
5. Howl’s Moving Castle – 2004

Top 10 Best Animated Film Finishes:

• 1985 – 1st – Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• 1988 – 2nd – Castle in the Sky
• 1989 – 2nd – My Neighbor Totoro
• 1992 – 2nd – Porco Rosso
• 1998 – 1st – Kiki’s Delivery Service
• 1999 – 1st – Princess Mononoke
• 2002 – 1st – Spirited Away
• 2005 – 3rd – Howl’s Moving Castle

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Stephen Frears

Two magnificent performances - Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006)

• Born:  1941
• Rank:  43
• Score:  595.20
• Nominations:  2 Oscars / DGA / 2 BAFTA’s / Golden Globe / BFCA
• Feature Films:  18
• Best:  The Queen
• Worst:  Hero

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. The Queen – 2006
2. Dangerous Liaisons – 1988
3. High Fidelity – 2000
4. The Grifters – 1990
5. Dirty Pretty Things – 2002

Top 10 Best Director Finishes (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1984 – 10th – The Hit
• 1988 – 2nd – Dangerous Liaisons
• 1990 – 4th – The Grifters
• 2002 – 8th – Dirty Pretty Things
• 2006 – 5th – The Queen

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John Boorman

Helen Mirren as Morgana and Nicol Williamson as Merlin in Excalibur (1981)

• Born: 1933
• Rank:  44
• Score:  584.60
• Awards:  LAFC / BSFC / NSFC
• Nominations:  2 Oscars / DGA / BAFTA / 2 Golden Globes
• Feature Films:  16
• Best:  Hope and Glory
• Worst:  Exorcist II: The Heretic

Top 5 Feature Films:

1. Hope and Glory – 1987
2. Deliverance – 1972
3. Excalibur – 1981
4. Point Blank – 1967
5. The General – 1998

Top 10 Best Director Finishes (Nighthawk Awards):

• 1967  – 6th – Point Blank
• 1972 – 3rd – Deliverance
• 1981 – 4th – Excalibur
• 1987 – 4th – Hope and Glory

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It’s been a relatively busy week. Last Sunday Thomas has birthday party to attend, and on Monday he started his summer session of school. He has the same teachers from the past school year and several of the same kids. I was initially a little sad that none of the little boys that are also going to kindergarten are in his summer class, but then I remembered that most of them are six years old, so it’s understandable that they’d be in a higher functioning class. They’ve had an extra year of development in comparison to Thomas. And Thomas has a little more flexibility when it comes to kindergarten-if he needs another year before first grade he could take it whereas these other kids pretty much have to progress on schedule from now on or they’ll be two years behind.

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