Sunday, January 31, 2010

Highlight: Audrey Tautou




Audrey Tautou is easily my favorite actress right now. Since she does primarily French langauge films some people can be intimidated by this genius performer. I think that avoiding Miss Tautou for this reason is a grave mistake.

Some actresses have an indescribable ability to convey complex emotion with a simple look. Her quiet understated acting imparts a reality onto her characters that sucks you right into their world. I must confess I am not educated in the art of acting and I don't always understand what it is that works so well in her style. She has a bit of undeniable magic though, that I love to witness. The other thing that she seems to do is pick her roles well. She tends to be in smart and artistic films that also have a simple relatibility to them.

Any number of Audrey's films are worth taking in. My short list of recomendations would look something like this:
Amelie (2001)
Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
He Loves Me Not (2002)





- Posted from my iPhone

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Actor Highlights

My recent post, concerning Mel Gibson and his new movie, gave me an idea. I am going to highlight certain actors ( or actresses) who have always stood out for me.

There are a couple of things that I would like
to point out before I start the "Highlight" series. First, I am under no illusions that these are people from Hollywood, and that their personal lives probably wouldn't look good under scrutiny. Second, I don't intend to focus on shameful or stupid things that these actors may have done on screen. The whole purpose of the series is to point out, and praise, exceptional individual performances that I have seen on screen.

For a long time now, one of my cheif deciding factors on whether or not to choose to see a movie has been who plays in that movie. As a result, I usually pay pretty close attention to actors names. I hope this series of blogs will help lead you to new and enjoyable movies to watch in the future.


- Posted from my iPhone

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Surprise!

This week POTUS gave his State of the Union speech. Obama the great aurator. I have to admit I didn't bother to listen. There are ripples out there though. Reverberating effects that have caught me off guard. Out of all the commentary and criticism, I was surprise to hear people cracking on the way the President gives a speech.

This was his strong point! This was where he always won his battles. Even his staunch critics conceded this point. I even heard a fifth grader at a school, during the campaign, say "He is really good at speaking, but I don't like his ideas". That kid was regurgitating something he had heard his parents say, no doubt, but they said it often enough that even he picked up on it.

Now? Now he has slipped even on this ground. When Obama lent a hand in the effort to defeat Scott Brown recently someone remarked "We used to think he could sound eloquent reading the phonenook, now it seems he always is". Even his admirerers in the mainstream media seem to have become critical.






- Posted from my iPhone

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson is back. Around the time that Mr. Gibson released Apocalypto (2006) he had made an announcement that we wouldn't be seeing him on the silver screen again. (Or, maybe it was when The Passion of the Christ came out). Well, Mel lied. This Friday Edge of Darkness comes out, and he is most certainly in it.

Can you feel the excitement in these words? I was saddened when I heard the afore mentioned announcement. Saddened that we would not be seeing another Braveheart performance. Dejected that we would not be able laugh at another Maverick or Lethal Weapon. Frustrated that we would not see the new Mad Max movie that we were promised some years ago. Now, however, the world is our oyster! The man who is possibly our greastest actor is back at it.


The film itself appears to be another revenge movie. Edge of Darkness has Mel looking like a impassioned father on a war path. We have seen parts of this character before. I saw that crazy dad once in Ransom. He was also raging around in The Patriot. The trailers for the movie also seem to suggest some sort of secret plot (Conspiracy Theory), but all this simply increases my excitement. It is promising to be everything we love to watch Mel do.

I am going to attempt to go see Edge of Darkness on Friday. You should to. In a Hollywood that creates crap like Avatar, we need to support movies with real story lines and a little grit.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, January 25, 2010

Now Mobile!


Hello again,
Sorry that my last post was so dark and dreary.
I hope to be able to start posting from my phone now which should give me greater access. Woohoo!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The End

Sometimes in life things must end. It was not your plan. No secret
conspiracy hatched a diabolical plot against you. There isn't a hero
to swoop in and fix everything. It's just over.

When you run a small business, and that business fails, it feels as
though you fail. I do not mean that you failed at something, but the
person, that is you, has failed. It's hard to explain if you have
never felt this phenomenon.

The End
#END