TV and Movie Talk....
~Okay, I’ve joined the masses and have begun watching “Game of Thrones”. I love it. What sucks is that I had a mini-marathon to get caught up and now the wait for new episodes is hard. Everyone is fantastic. Sean Bean brings the exact brand of strong support and loyalty as he did as Boromir in “Lord of the Rings”. Lena Headey’s Cersei is as calculating, unmoveable and fierce as Polly Walker’s Atia in HBO’s “Rome” (and if you’ve never watched “Rome”, you’re missing some good stuff. Unlike “Game of Thrones”, they’re not afraid to give male frontal nudity.) And Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion is so wry and entertaining that maybe now my friends can understand why I harbor a little (no pun intended) crush on Dinklage.
I just want to know
Why Nicholaj Coster Waldu look like Prince Charming from “Shrek”?
What pulled me to the show was that I happened upon the scene in this past weekend’s episode where Jamie (Nicholaj’s character) is getting dressed down by his father. It was great scene. It’s the alchemy of the written word mixed with top-notch acting into something divine. I’m going to be good and not read what happens in the books, but I just know that I want Littlefinger played by Aiden Gillen (Stuart, “Queer as Folk” UK) to die a most heinous death. He’s repugnant! And Aiden plays him so damn well. My dream is that Littlefinger kills Ned’s oldest daughter and the prince, those whiny little bints.
I’m intrigued how it all comes together when (I’m guessing) the Dothraki enter the mix with the other kingdoms. I’m legitimately interested on what happens, not just because I want to see more of Jason Momoa, mahalo nui loa (Hawaiian for Thank you very much).
Jason and wifey, Lisa Bonet at a recent event
Jason (with a bit of Lisa) in L’Uomo Vogue
What a loveable scamp.
*Jason, Lisa and even Jason’s stepdaughter Zoe aren’t the only actors in the family. It was announced a few days ago that Zoe’s dad singer/DILF Lenny Kravitz
has booked a role in the now filming “Hunger Games”, a film derived from a young adult series of books.
This isn’t Lenny’s first time acting, he played a nurse in last year’s “Precious”. And acting is in his blood, his mom, the late Roxie Rocker played Helen Willis in “The Jeffersons”.
~When “Game of Thrones” is over it’ll be time for “True Blood”, another show I had no intention of watching and here I am awaiting its return.
I’m Team Jessica and Holt, frankly
*In between shooting Alexander Skarsgaard was able to complete the “Battleship” and a remake of Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” starring James Marsden and Kate Bosworth (who Skarsgaard began dating after filming). The trailer for “Straw Dogs” recently came out and what surprised me is that I always assumed “Straw Dogs” was a Western and it’s not. That’s all I have to say about the trailer. Okay, I’ll say this: James Marsden is still very handsome.
Here’s the Swede in Interview magazine
*Awards season is coming up yet again! Voting for Emmys are nearly underway and studios have been putting out their ‘For Your Consideration’ ads. In Wednesday’s Hollywood Reporter there was an NBC insert with their shows including “Community”, “Friday Night Lights”, “Law and Order: SVU”
and “Saturday Night Live”
There was a time when I knew all the “Not Ready for Primetime Players”. Now I only know half of them. Less than half, maybe.
And USA ran ads for all of their shows (yes, even “Covert Affairs” with Piper Perabo which no one watches) with the exception of “Psych”. “White Collar” had two ads. Tuesday’s Variety ran one with only Matthew Bomer and Hollywood Reporter ran this one:
”Burn Notice” but no “Psych”.
Hollywood Reporter listed some of their hopeful contenders for Emmys.
Best Actress
Kathy Bates (Harry’s Law)
Mireille Enos (The Killing)
Lena Headey (Game of Thrones)
Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empire)
Emmy Rossum (Shameless)
Supporting Drama Male
Scott Bakula (Men of a Certain Age)
Max Burkholder (Parenthoold)
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
Walton Goggins (Justified)
How about Timothy Olyphant for Best Male Actor?
Joel Kinnaman (The Killing)
Supporting Comedy, Male
Chris Colfer (Glee)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C)
Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory)
Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation)
The issue also addresses the question of what categories actors should campaign in. Rob Lowe submitted himself for Lead Male in Comedy for his supporting role in “Parks and Recreation), tweeting that “Having three guys for the same show submit in supporting doesn’t seem like a good idea”, which led people to think he was referring to Ed O’Neill of “Modern Family” who was the only adult of the cast to not be nominated for an Emmy last year probably due to the overcrowding of the category. Of five slots, three were occupied by “Modern Family” men: Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
~Zoe Kravitz’s “X-Men: First Class” is finally being released this weekend. I’m saying finally not because I’ve been anticipating it but because this damn movie has been talked about forever and I’ve seen a kajillion adverts for it. I’m ready for it to come out, do okay-ish business and then disappear.
Back at you, Zoe
Promotional art for this movie that can’t go away soon enough.
Zoe at the New York premiere of “X-Men: First Class” with costars Rose Byrne and January Jones.
*January Jones who is only interesting to people now because of her secret baby daddy. Even her pregnancy boobs are no match for Christina Hendricks’ every day spectacular ones.
Word is Zoe is dating costar Michael Fassbender
*Spoof movie one-sheets courtesy of…some site which name I can’t recall.
If Move Posters Told the Truth
*Having wrapped some post-production dubbing for the last Harry Potter, Alan Rickman wrote an open letter to J.K Rowling about his time as Severus Snape.
"I have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone as Severus Snape for absolutely the last time. On the screen were some flashback shots of Daniel, Emma and Rupert from ten years ago. They were 12. I have also recently returned from New York, and while I was there, I saw Daniel singing and dancing (brilliantly) on Broadway. A lifetime seems to have passed in minutes.
"Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume, and that even though only three of the books were out at that time, she held the entire massive but delicate narrative in the surest of hands.
"It is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo."
I just saw the trailer for “Cowboys and Aliens” and it looks pretty cool
Another film whose trailer I saw and it looks pretty good--which is not hard to do considering the source material-is the remake of “Fright Night”.
The original which starred William Ragsdale (Gary, “Justified”; Herman, “Herman’s Head) as a young man who is convinced a vampire has moved in next door (Chris Sarandon) calls upon a washed up supernatural TV host to help him kill it (Roddy McDowell). Taking over Ragsdale’s role is Anton Yelchin of “Star Trek”, Colin Ferrell replaces Sarandon’s role
and David Tennant gets to completely changes it up in McDowell’s role.
Annoying McLovin of “Superbad”, Christopher Mintz-Plasse takes over the role of the best friend Evil Ed originally played by Stephen Geoffreys (who went on to do gay porn. Which was was so weird because 1) he did quite a few films in the 80s so it’s like if Jonah Hill started doing porn. Now rinse the vomit out your mouth after pondering that image. 2) He’s so small and wirey, but he’s ripped so it just looked like someone photoshopped his face unto his body).
~A film I’m really looking forward to is “Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy” starring lush lipped Tom Hardy, Colin Firth and Gary Oldman.
I can overlook the 70s wardrobe because I know what’s underneath that David Soul costume
Based on a novel and a 70s mini-series, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy” is about days of the Cold War and espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelon.
The film also stars Ciarin Hinds (“Rome”), Mark Strong (“Green Lantern”, “Sherlock Holmes”) and Benedict Cumberbatch who starred in “Stuart: A Life Backwards” with Hardy.
It’s also been announced that Cumberbatch is joining “The Hobbit” with his “Sherlock” costar Martin Freeman.
”Sherlock” won a BAFTA on the 22nd and Freeman won for Best Supporting Actor
*Let’s not forget Tom will also be seen in the upcoming “Warrior”…
“The Wettest County in the World”
and next year’s “The Dark Knight Rises”. “The Dark Knight Rises” has added more actors to the cast including Matthew Modine (who in the latest viral puzzle for the film, has people wondering if he’s another emerging villain), Tom Conti and Brett Cullen (“Lost”, “The Young Riders”).
Speaking of Brett (don’t you love how these things work out?) I saw the twice delayed “Red Dawn”, the remake of the 1984 film starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Gray.
The remake was due to come out in September of last year, then it was pushed back to November due to MGM’s , the studio that produced the film, having to go into bankruptcy protection. Another reason for the delay is rumored to be because originally this retelling would have the Wolverines trying to stem an invasion by the Chinese army. In order to get financial support from companies in China, the villains have been changed to North Korea.
For a film that was originally slated to come out last year they still have not completed the end title credits. Everything else seems finished.
I frown upon remakes but I was excited to see this and have been waiting for it. The original was so scary to me. I don’t know if it was because I subliminally bought into the Red Scare of the 80s about Russia or just because the idea of teens fighting and dying was too overwhelming for me, but it left a big impact on me. Now that I’m an adult I can look at it as the action film it is and enjoy it as entertainment even though it is still intense and fraught with danger.
Cowritten by Carl Ellsworth (who has a writing credit for “Disturbia”, and staffwriter of “Cleopatra 2520”) and Jeremy Passmore who has previously written shorts and directed by stunt veteran turned directed Dan Bradley, “Red Dawn” keeps the film a mix of tense action, but real emotional drama. These are kids who are fighting off the villains, but the film never lets the audience forget that they are kids/young adults and it helps make the emotional investment work.
The film takes place in a small town in Spokane, Washington where overnight the town becomes invaded by North Korean soldiers. Tom Eckert (Brett Cullen) tasks his oldest son, Jed, fresh from Afghanistan to take his brother Matt (Josh Peck) to the family’s cabin in the woods. Along the way, Jed and Matt rescues best friends Darryl and Robert (cutie Connor Cruise and boxhead Josh Hutcherson), Toni, a classmate of Jed who had feelings for him (Adrianne Palicki), Danny (Edwin Hodges, older brother of Aldis of “Leverage”), his friend Pete (Steve Lentz) and two strangers he picked up Julie (Alyssa Diaz) and Greg (Julian Alcaraz).
Jed trains the others in survival as they plot a way to get a resistance movement going to save their town.
This movie was filmed before “Thor” and if I had seen this before Hemsworth was cast as “Thor” I would’ve never doubted he could carry that role. As Jed, he’s not only the strength of the resistance but the heart because not only does he carry the burden of taking care of those with him, but he has to tamp down his fear to be an effective leader and it’s the love of his brother and the cause that drives him.
On the superficial: Hemsworth and Palicki are well matched. There’s a scene with the two of them and I was thinking how cute they looked together when a woman two seats from me whispered (loudly) to her friend the exact same thing. As much as I hate the rah-rah-rah of nationalism, there’s a scene where the Wolverines are pushing back and the audience got amped and you see the American flag and even though I don’t Pledge Allegiance to that flag, I was buying into it the “America, fuck yeah!” feeling.
It’s a great mix of cast all with different strengths. Hutcherson as Robert is the lightly comedic element. Cruise, who in running scenes look just like his dad Tom that it’s uncanny,
Adopted my aunt fanny
did very well in his film debut; all quiet voice and big eyes as a kid thrust into a war scenario would be. The weaker link though to me was Josh Peck, whose laconic, stoned delivery made me want to set a grenade off next to him. When the scenes call for high emotion he brings it, but in every other scene he just comes off as a sullen, mopish teen.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is only in it for a few scenes, but he’s Sir so it’s welcomed any time he’s on screen.
*Another film I saw was “Beginners” starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Goran Visnijc.
Written and directed by Mike Mills-who is not the Mike Mills from R.E.M as I originally thought-“Beginners” is this oddly engaging mix of sorrow, wistfulness, joy and pain that seems to be the staple of Indie films. It doesn’t work all the time, a lot of time feels seem like navel gazing exercises in trying to appear deep when it’s just folly, but “Beginners” succeeds for the most part.
Based on his life, Mills presents the story of Oliver (Ewan McGregor) whose seventy plus year old father Hal (Plummer) comes out to him after the death of his wife of 44 years, Oliver’s mom. A few short years after coming out, Hal is diagnosed with cancer. The film jumps back and forth between Oliver’s emotions after Hal’s death and his meeting of a free spirit actress Anna, Oliver’s youth with his playful, quirky mother (played wonderfully by Mary Page Keller), Hal’s life post coming out and his relationship with a younger man (Visnijc), all intermingled with timestamps of the times Oliver’s parents lived and how it shaped their lives.
The script and the acting captures grief perfectly. Not the immediate type of grief, but the lingering pain that one feels after a death or after a cancer diagnosis of a loved one that makes you feel hollow inside, that makes it hard to breath. It also captures a certain type of adult child relationship where you can’t quite muster looking at yourself as an equal to your parent. Oliver has questions about his parents relationship and his father’s sexuality that he could never ask or address and Ewan portrays that perfectly where in so many scenes you can sense the question on his lips to his dad, but he just can’t utter them.
McGregor and Laurent are lovely together and they, along with Plummer keeps the film with not delving into truly maudlin and depressing territory.
It may not be something one runs out to see and you may want to follow it up with a comedy, but it’s a lovely, touching film.
~On Friday I got off work early and went to see “Fast Five” (my first “Fast and the Furious” film) and as I was leaving the theater Eric Kripke and a female companion were heading to the theater. He was talking in that animated, Quentin Tarantino style he has as if what he’s saying/thinking is oh, so interesting. He was talking about some guy made all his money in some type of business. I should’ve yelled out my thanks for the finale because the way he drove the SPN fans crazy with that episode continues to amuse me. You don’t need a fandom troll with Kripke writing. He is his show’s troll. A few minutes after passing Kripke I passed by Magic Johnson at Sugar, the restaurant at the mall. In all the years I’ve gone to the Westfield Mall in Century City I have seen no one notable. I guess my learned lesson is to go to Westfield Mall early in the day with the rest of the slacker celebrities and pseduo-celebs ::eyes Kripke:: And I saw Bruce Willis in Westwood on Tuesday night with his wife. The two were just walking across the street as if he wasn’t John McClane from “Die Hard”.
Speaking of batshit insane, Misha Collins’ making an ass out of himself
in Brazil
I gotta give it to him, he knows how to take pictures
*What is Misha doing in his down time between Cons and going to Haiti to help rebuild? Why he’s doing a webseries.
Divine
Meanwhile Jared is here looking somewhat non-Neanderthal-ish
Photos of Jared, young!Dean Brock Kelly and Mark Sheppard from a recent Con
~I leave you with
Tom and Harvey?
**The people this man knows. Jerry Weintraub, Gabriel Audry and now this pic of Tom at Harvey Fierstein’s bowling birthday party in 2005.
I just want to know
Why Nicholaj Coster Waldu look like Prince Charming from “Shrek”?
What pulled me to the show was that I happened upon the scene in this past weekend’s episode where Jamie (Nicholaj’s character) is getting dressed down by his father. It was great scene. It’s the alchemy of the written word mixed with top-notch acting into something divine. I’m going to be good and not read what happens in the books, but I just know that I want Littlefinger played by Aiden Gillen (Stuart, “Queer as Folk” UK) to die a most heinous death. He’s repugnant! And Aiden plays him so damn well. My dream is that Littlefinger kills Ned’s oldest daughter and the prince, those whiny little bints.
I’m intrigued how it all comes together when (I’m guessing) the Dothraki enter the mix with the other kingdoms. I’m legitimately interested on what happens, not just because I want to see more of Jason Momoa, mahalo nui loa (Hawaiian for Thank you very much).
Jason and wifey, Lisa Bonet at a recent event
Jason (with a bit of Lisa) in L’Uomo Vogue
What a loveable scamp.
*Jason, Lisa and even Jason’s stepdaughter Zoe aren’t the only actors in the family. It was announced a few days ago that Zoe’s dad singer/DILF Lenny Kravitz
has booked a role in the now filming “Hunger Games”, a film derived from a young adult series of books.
This isn’t Lenny’s first time acting, he played a nurse in last year’s “Precious”. And acting is in his blood, his mom, the late Roxie Rocker played Helen Willis in “The Jeffersons”.
~When “Game of Thrones” is over it’ll be time for “True Blood”, another show I had no intention of watching and here I am awaiting its return.
I’m Team Jessica and Holt, frankly
*In between shooting Alexander Skarsgaard was able to complete the “Battleship” and a remake of Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” starring James Marsden and Kate Bosworth (who Skarsgaard began dating after filming). The trailer for “Straw Dogs” recently came out and what surprised me is that I always assumed “Straw Dogs” was a Western and it’s not. That’s all I have to say about the trailer. Okay, I’ll say this: James Marsden is still very handsome.
Here’s the Swede in Interview magazine
*Awards season is coming up yet again! Voting for Emmys are nearly underway and studios have been putting out their ‘For Your Consideration’ ads. In Wednesday’s Hollywood Reporter there was an NBC insert with their shows including “Community”, “Friday Night Lights”, “Law and Order: SVU”
and “Saturday Night Live”
There was a time when I knew all the “Not Ready for Primetime Players”. Now I only know half of them. Less than half, maybe.
And USA ran ads for all of their shows (yes, even “Covert Affairs” with Piper Perabo which no one watches) with the exception of “Psych”. “White Collar” had two ads. Tuesday’s Variety ran one with only Matthew Bomer and Hollywood Reporter ran this one:
”Burn Notice” but no “Psych”.
Hollywood Reporter listed some of their hopeful contenders for Emmys.
Best Actress
Kathy Bates (Harry’s Law)
Mireille Enos (The Killing)
Lena Headey (Game of Thrones)
Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empire)
Emmy Rossum (Shameless)
Supporting Drama Male
Scott Bakula (Men of a Certain Age)
Max Burkholder (Parenthoold)
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
Walton Goggins (Justified)
How about Timothy Olyphant for Best Male Actor?
Joel Kinnaman (The Killing)
Supporting Comedy, Male
Chris Colfer (Glee)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C)
Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory)
Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation)
The issue also addresses the question of what categories actors should campaign in. Rob Lowe submitted himself for Lead Male in Comedy for his supporting role in “Parks and Recreation), tweeting that “Having three guys for the same show submit in supporting doesn’t seem like a good idea”, which led people to think he was referring to Ed O’Neill of “Modern Family” who was the only adult of the cast to not be nominated for an Emmy last year probably due to the overcrowding of the category. Of five slots, three were occupied by “Modern Family” men: Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
~Zoe Kravitz’s “X-Men: First Class” is finally being released this weekend. I’m saying finally not because I’ve been anticipating it but because this damn movie has been talked about forever and I’ve seen a kajillion adverts for it. I’m ready for it to come out, do okay-ish business and then disappear.
Back at you, Zoe
Promotional art for this movie that can’t go away soon enough.
Zoe at the New York premiere of “X-Men: First Class” with costars Rose Byrne and January Jones.
*January Jones who is only interesting to people now because of her secret baby daddy. Even her pregnancy boobs are no match for Christina Hendricks’ every day spectacular ones.
Word is Zoe is dating costar Michael Fassbender
*Spoof movie one-sheets courtesy of…some site which name I can’t recall.
If Move Posters Told the Truth
*Having wrapped some post-production dubbing for the last Harry Potter, Alan Rickman wrote an open letter to J.K Rowling about his time as Severus Snape.
"I have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone as Severus Snape for absolutely the last time. On the screen were some flashback shots of Daniel, Emma and Rupert from ten years ago. They were 12. I have also recently returned from New York, and while I was there, I saw Daniel singing and dancing (brilliantly) on Broadway. A lifetime seems to have passed in minutes.
"Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume, and that even though only three of the books were out at that time, she held the entire massive but delicate narrative in the surest of hands.
"It is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo."
I just saw the trailer for “Cowboys and Aliens” and it looks pretty cool
Another film whose trailer I saw and it looks pretty good--which is not hard to do considering the source material-is the remake of “Fright Night”.
The original which starred William Ragsdale (Gary, “Justified”; Herman, “Herman’s Head) as a young man who is convinced a vampire has moved in next door (Chris Sarandon) calls upon a washed up supernatural TV host to help him kill it (Roddy McDowell). Taking over Ragsdale’s role is Anton Yelchin of “Star Trek”, Colin Ferrell replaces Sarandon’s role
and David Tennant gets to completely changes it up in McDowell’s role.
Annoying McLovin of “Superbad”, Christopher Mintz-Plasse takes over the role of the best friend Evil Ed originally played by Stephen Geoffreys (who went on to do gay porn. Which was was so weird because 1) he did quite a few films in the 80s so it’s like if Jonah Hill started doing porn. Now rinse the vomit out your mouth after pondering that image. 2) He’s so small and wirey, but he’s ripped so it just looked like someone photoshopped his face unto his body).
~A film I’m really looking forward to is “Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy” starring lush lipped Tom Hardy, Colin Firth and Gary Oldman.
I can overlook the 70s wardrobe because I know what’s underneath that David Soul costume
Based on a novel and a 70s mini-series, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy” is about days of the Cold War and espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelon.
The film also stars Ciarin Hinds (“Rome”), Mark Strong (“Green Lantern”, “Sherlock Holmes”) and Benedict Cumberbatch who starred in “Stuart: A Life Backwards” with Hardy.
It’s also been announced that Cumberbatch is joining “The Hobbit” with his “Sherlock” costar Martin Freeman.
”Sherlock” won a BAFTA on the 22nd and Freeman won for Best Supporting Actor
*Let’s not forget Tom will also be seen in the upcoming “Warrior”…
“The Wettest County in the World”
and next year’s “The Dark Knight Rises”. “The Dark Knight Rises” has added more actors to the cast including Matthew Modine (who in the latest viral puzzle for the film, has people wondering if he’s another emerging villain), Tom Conti and Brett Cullen (“Lost”, “The Young Riders”).
Speaking of Brett (don’t you love how these things work out?) I saw the twice delayed “Red Dawn”, the remake of the 1984 film starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Gray.
The remake was due to come out in September of last year, then it was pushed back to November due to MGM’s , the studio that produced the film, having to go into bankruptcy protection. Another reason for the delay is rumored to be because originally this retelling would have the Wolverines trying to stem an invasion by the Chinese army. In order to get financial support from companies in China, the villains have been changed to North Korea.
For a film that was originally slated to come out last year they still have not completed the end title credits. Everything else seems finished.
I frown upon remakes but I was excited to see this and have been waiting for it. The original was so scary to me. I don’t know if it was because I subliminally bought into the Red Scare of the 80s about Russia or just because the idea of teens fighting and dying was too overwhelming for me, but it left a big impact on me. Now that I’m an adult I can look at it as the action film it is and enjoy it as entertainment even though it is still intense and fraught with danger.
Cowritten by Carl Ellsworth (who has a writing credit for “Disturbia”, and staffwriter of “Cleopatra 2520”) and Jeremy Passmore who has previously written shorts and directed by stunt veteran turned directed Dan Bradley, “Red Dawn” keeps the film a mix of tense action, but real emotional drama. These are kids who are fighting off the villains, but the film never lets the audience forget that they are kids/young adults and it helps make the emotional investment work.
The film takes place in a small town in Spokane, Washington where overnight the town becomes invaded by North Korean soldiers. Tom Eckert (Brett Cullen) tasks his oldest son, Jed, fresh from Afghanistan to take his brother Matt (Josh Peck) to the family’s cabin in the woods. Along the way, Jed and Matt rescues best friends Darryl and Robert (cutie Connor Cruise and boxhead Josh Hutcherson), Toni, a classmate of Jed who had feelings for him (Adrianne Palicki), Danny (Edwin Hodges, older brother of Aldis of “Leverage”), his friend Pete (Steve Lentz) and two strangers he picked up Julie (Alyssa Diaz) and Greg (Julian Alcaraz).
Jed trains the others in survival as they plot a way to get a resistance movement going to save their town.
This movie was filmed before “Thor” and if I had seen this before Hemsworth was cast as “Thor” I would’ve never doubted he could carry that role. As Jed, he’s not only the strength of the resistance but the heart because not only does he carry the burden of taking care of those with him, but he has to tamp down his fear to be an effective leader and it’s the love of his brother and the cause that drives him.
On the superficial: Hemsworth and Palicki are well matched. There’s a scene with the two of them and I was thinking how cute they looked together when a woman two seats from me whispered (loudly) to her friend the exact same thing. As much as I hate the rah-rah-rah of nationalism, there’s a scene where the Wolverines are pushing back and the audience got amped and you see the American flag and even though I don’t Pledge Allegiance to that flag, I was buying into it the “America, fuck yeah!” feeling.
It’s a great mix of cast all with different strengths. Hutcherson as Robert is the lightly comedic element. Cruise, who in running scenes look just like his dad Tom that it’s uncanny,
Adopted my aunt fanny
did very well in his film debut; all quiet voice and big eyes as a kid thrust into a war scenario would be. The weaker link though to me was Josh Peck, whose laconic, stoned delivery made me want to set a grenade off next to him. When the scenes call for high emotion he brings it, but in every other scene he just comes off as a sullen, mopish teen.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is only in it for a few scenes, but he’s Sir so it’s welcomed any time he’s on screen.
*Another film I saw was “Beginners” starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Goran Visnijc.
Written and directed by Mike Mills-who is not the Mike Mills from R.E.M as I originally thought-“Beginners” is this oddly engaging mix of sorrow, wistfulness, joy and pain that seems to be the staple of Indie films. It doesn’t work all the time, a lot of time feels seem like navel gazing exercises in trying to appear deep when it’s just folly, but “Beginners” succeeds for the most part.
Based on his life, Mills presents the story of Oliver (Ewan McGregor) whose seventy plus year old father Hal (Plummer) comes out to him after the death of his wife of 44 years, Oliver’s mom. A few short years after coming out, Hal is diagnosed with cancer. The film jumps back and forth between Oliver’s emotions after Hal’s death and his meeting of a free spirit actress Anna, Oliver’s youth with his playful, quirky mother (played wonderfully by Mary Page Keller), Hal’s life post coming out and his relationship with a younger man (Visnijc), all intermingled with timestamps of the times Oliver’s parents lived and how it shaped their lives.
The script and the acting captures grief perfectly. Not the immediate type of grief, but the lingering pain that one feels after a death or after a cancer diagnosis of a loved one that makes you feel hollow inside, that makes it hard to breath. It also captures a certain type of adult child relationship where you can’t quite muster looking at yourself as an equal to your parent. Oliver has questions about his parents relationship and his father’s sexuality that he could never ask or address and Ewan portrays that perfectly where in so many scenes you can sense the question on his lips to his dad, but he just can’t utter them.
McGregor and Laurent are lovely together and they, along with Plummer keeps the film with not delving into truly maudlin and depressing territory.
It may not be something one runs out to see and you may want to follow it up with a comedy, but it’s a lovely, touching film.
~On Friday I got off work early and went to see “Fast Five” (my first “Fast and the Furious” film) and as I was leaving the theater Eric Kripke and a female companion were heading to the theater. He was talking in that animated, Quentin Tarantino style he has as if what he’s saying/thinking is oh, so interesting. He was talking about some guy made all his money in some type of business. I should’ve yelled out my thanks for the finale because the way he drove the SPN fans crazy with that episode continues to amuse me. You don’t need a fandom troll with Kripke writing. He is his show’s troll. A few minutes after passing Kripke I passed by Magic Johnson at Sugar, the restaurant at the mall. In all the years I’ve gone to the Westfield Mall in Century City I have seen no one notable. I guess my learned lesson is to go to Westfield Mall early in the day with the rest of the slacker celebrities and pseduo-celebs ::eyes Kripke:: And I saw Bruce Willis in Westwood on Tuesday night with his wife. The two were just walking across the street as if he wasn’t John McClane from “Die Hard”.
Speaking of batshit insane, Misha Collins’ making an ass out of himself
in Brazil
I gotta give it to him, he knows how to take pictures
*What is Misha doing in his down time between Cons and going to Haiti to help rebuild? Why he’s doing a webseries.
Divine
Click to viewMeanwhile Jared is here looking somewhat non-Neanderthal-ish
Photos of Jared, young!Dean Brock Kelly and Mark Sheppard from a recent Con
~I leave you with
Tom and Harvey?
**The people this man knows. Jerry Weintraub, Gabriel Audry and now this pic of Tom at Harvey Fierstein’s bowling birthday party in 2005.
