Saltzman Sees...The American President (1995)

The American President won my Best Actress (Annette Bening) and was nominated for my Best Supporting Actor (Michael J. Fox) and Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin) in 1995.

Saltzman Sees...Misery (1990)

Misery won by Best Screenplay (Stephen King and William Goldman) and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Rob Reiner), Best Actor (James Caan), Best Actress (Kathy Bates), Best Supporting Actor (Richard Farnsworth) and Best Supporting Actress (Frances Sternhagen) in 1990.

Saltzman Sees...A Mighty Wind (2003)

Christopher Guest Presents...A Mighty Wind

Saltzman Sees...Waiting for Guffman (1996)

Christopher Guest Presents...Waiting For Guffman

Saltzman Sees...Best in Show (2000)

Christopher Guest Presents...Best in Show

Saltzman Sees...For Your Consideration (2006)

Christopher Guest Presents...For Your Consideration

Saltzman Sees...When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

When Harry Met Sally won my Best Actress (Meg Ryan) and Best Director ( Rob Reiner) and was nominated for my Best Supporting Actress (Carrie Fisher) and Best Screenplay (Nora Ephron) in 1989.

 

Saltzman Sees...Flipped (2010)

Flipped is a unique and beautiful look at young love and the misinterpretations of life.  Ron Reiner, one of the greatest directors of his generation, creates a beautiful story telling love story through the eyes of both young actors.  The story is narrated back and forth from each character's perspective.  Signals are consistently crossed throughout the story and ultimately it shows how magical and confusing falling in love can be.  John Mahoney, Aidan Quinn, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay and Penelope Anne Miller all perform well in supporting roles for the young stars.  Actors Madeline Carroll and Callan McAuliffe portray our main characters wonderfully, who are thrown into this roller coaster of emotion throughout the film. Not easy for young actors to pull off, yet the film is brilliantly told to the audience.

This movie grossed $1.7 million in the U.S. and I only heard about it second hand from a friend of my parents.  When I did finally see it, it became one of my 10 favorite movies in an amazing year for film in 2010.  It is certainly worthy of mention as one of the Most Underrated Movies of 2010.

Saltzman Sees...The Majestic (2001)

The Majestic is a film that captures the sincere beauty of the movies and why we go in the first place. Jim Carrey stars as Peter Appleton, a screenplay writer in love with Hollywood. Carrey loses his memory during the film and while he tries to make sense of his new reality and tries to remember his past, he falls in love.  The most beautiful love story of the film, however is the one between Harry Trimble, played by Martin Landeau, and the movies.  The Majestic is an old run down movie house that Landau's character used to run before the war.  It is then brought back to life with the help of the entire town's blood sweat and tears.  Landau and Carrey brilliant and capture the true love affair with movies that we all have.  The entire cast is captivating as they show the audience what truly matters in this life is that you open your heart and let people in.

Martin Landau won my Best Supporting Actor of 2001.

"It was the only way to fall in love." ~ Martin Landau

Landau was interviewed in 2001 by Nancy Pfefferman, talking about what made movie houses such as The Majestic, so wonderful:  "You'd walk in off those hot streets into a nice, air-cooled theater and you'd spend all day watching Cagney or Jimmy Stewart. It cost all of 17 cents. Woody (Allen) and I both fell in love with the movies at those old theaters. It was the only way to fall in love." Pfefferman felt there was a Frank Capra like quality to the film.

Landau, when asked about the movie from Rebecca Murray and Fred Topel, agreed about the Frank Capra connection: "I read the script and I was very moved by it. It was like Frank Capra had put this on his shelf in 1951 and forgot about it."

The Majestic is a "Capra (esque)" masterpiece about why movies find a warm place in our hearts and stay with us for generations.  Landau felt it decades ago growing up in Brooklyn, and it is still felt today.  If only these movie houses still existed so we could go see today's movies the way they were meant to be shown.