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Post by stephen on Aug 18, 2019 19:41:51 GMT
Yeah, Charlize feels very much the heir apparent to the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton, and I am absolutely on board with that. I loved her Furiosa (my win that year), I dug the shit out of Atomic Blonde, and she's a lot of fun in the The Fate of the Furious. Yes....you have to wonder how soon it'll take her to be snapped up by Marvel for an action based role (either as villain or hero). A lot of people were fan-casting her as Captain Marvel, but they obviously went younger in Brie Larson (though Carol Danvers skews older in the comics, so Theron was probably a better fit). . Yet Marvel have found space to cast a couple of big stars in Theron's age range ( Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek) in their upcoming Eternals film, so they don't have any issue casting middle aged actresses. Still, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four still to be introduced into the MCU, I think there might be quite a few roles upcoming that would be suited to Theron's talents. Charlize Theron as Silver Surfer. Calling it now.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 18, 2019 19:45:58 GMT
Yes....you have to wonder how soon it'll take her to be snapped up by Marvel for an action based role (either as villain or hero). A lot of people were fan-casting her as Captain Marvel, but they obviously went younger in Brie Larson (though Carol Danvers skews older in the comics, so Theron was probably a better fit). . Yet Marvel have found space to cast a couple of big stars in Theron's age range ( Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek) in their upcoming Eternals film, so they don't have any issue casting middle aged actresses. Still, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four still to be introduced into the MCU, I think there might be quite a few roles upcoming that would be suited to Theron's talents. Charlize Theron as Silver Surfer. Calling it now. I'm afraid that role belongs to Keanu!If they are going for a more "mature" version of the Fantastic Four, I could see her as a more experienced, badass version of the Invisible Woman.But there is so much fan-casting of John Krasinki ( Mr Fantastic) and Emily Blunt in the role because they are a real couple, that I feel it might actually happen. Most fan-castings don't happen, but these two feel like Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Christian Bale as Batman, which inevitably did.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 19, 2019 0:14:14 GMT
Yeah, Charlize feels very much the heir apparent to the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton, and I am absolutely on board with that. I loved her Furiosa (my win that year), I dug the shit out of Atomic Blonde, and she's a lot of fun in the The Fate of the Furious. Yes....you have to wonder how soon it'll take her to be snapped up by Marvel for an action based role (either as villain or hero). A lot of people were fan-casting her as Captain Marvel, but they obviously went younger in Brie Larson (though Carol Danvers skews older in the comics, so Theron was probably a better fit). . Yet Marvel have found space to cast a couple of big stars in Theron's age range ( Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek) in their upcoming Eternals film, so they don't have any issue casting middle aged actresses. Still, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four still to be introduced into the MCU, I think there might be quite a few roles upcoming that would be suited to Theron's talents. You mentioned Marvel, and X-Men, I was actually thinking about it. I think she'd more likely to be cast as a villain then a hero, given her repertoire. In particular I could actually see her as an older icier Emma Frost.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 19, 2019 1:43:42 GMT
Yes....you have to wonder how soon it'll take her to be snapped up by Marvel for an action based role (either as villain or hero). A lot of people were fan-casting her as Captain Marvel, but they obviously went younger in Brie Larson (though Carol Danvers skews older in the comics, so Theron was probably a better fit). . Yet Marvel have found space to cast a couple of big stars in Theron's age range ( Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek) in their upcoming Eternals film, so they don't have any issue casting middle aged actresses. Still, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four still to be introduced into the MCU, I think there might be quite a few roles upcoming that would be suited to Theron's talents. You mentioned Marvel, and X-Men, I was actually thinking about it. I think she'd more likely to be cast as a villain then a hero, given her repertoire. In particular I could actually see her as an older icier Emma Frost. I had the exact same thought as well. She'd be a big improvement on January Jones in the role.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 19, 2019 1:57:42 GMT
You mentioned Marvel, and X-Men, I was actually thinking about it. I think she'd more likely to be cast as a villain then a hero, given her repertoire. In particular I could actually see her as an older icier Emma Frost. I had the exact same thought as well. She'd be a big improvement on January Jones in the role. Well that wouldn't say much given that Jones was very miscast in that role in First Class, and seemed to only exist in the film to look "pretty". Hopefully if the next X-Men films do say cover The Hellfire Club, and expand upon Frost's character, it would be great for they got Theron for the part. I think she'd kill it in that role.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 19, 2019 20:19:13 GMT
Ethan Hawke
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Did you know that Ethan Hawke was really, really close to playing Doctor Strange?Joaquin Phoenix was considered for the role before it eventually went to Benedict Cumberbatch (whom to be fair has been perfect in the role. So good in fact, that in hindsight casting Phoenix, excellent an actor as he may be, feels like a huge mistake averted). But yes, Hawke was right there in the mix and wanted to do it. Phoenix feels like a big miscast now, but if I could see someone else doing the role justice like Cumberbatch, it'd probably be Hawke, a very talented and nuanced actor.
I mention this because Hawke is not really the first name people tend to think of when it comes to Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre projects. He cultivated a reputation as an indie darling in Richard Linklater dramas and things like First Reformed. He had a brush with mainstream stardom with the crime thriller Training Day, but has gotten most of his acclaim from his more independent minded dramas.
So it's interesting to note that Hawke has a low-key, but very interesting sideline hustle as a genre leading man. His first big sci-fi project was Gattaca, an extremely smart utopian/dystopIan look into a world where genetic manipulation decided people's fates before birth. Hawke stayed away from the genre for a good decade afterwards, but really came back to it and sort of stuck around with Daybreakers, a really cool Sci/Fi horror fantasy about a plague turning the world's population into Vampires.
Since then Hawke has become one of our most reliable genre stalwarts, mixing it up with horror fantasies like Sinister to more straight sci-fi like Predestination and even appearing in out there fantasy projects like Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Below, Hawke as a Vampire in Daybreakers:
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Post by stephen on Aug 19, 2019 20:28:28 GMT
^ As brilliant as Keanu was in A Scanner Darkly (and yes, I use the word "brilliant"), I wonder why Linklater didn't go with Ethan Hawke in the role.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 19, 2019 23:28:21 GMT
Ethan HawkeGenre: Science Fiction/FantasyDid you know that Ethan Hawke was really, really close to playing Doctor Strange?Joaquin Phoenix was considered for the role before it eventually went to Benedict Cumberbatch (whom to be fair has been perfect in the role. So good in fact, that in hindsight casting Phoenix, excellent an actor as he may be, feels like a huge mistake averted). But yes, Hawke was right there in the mix and wanted to do it. Phoenix feels like a big miscast now, but if I could see someone else doing the role justice like Cumberbatch, it'd probably be Hawke, a very talented and nuanced actor. I mention this because Hawke is not really the first name people tend to think of when it comes to Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre projects. He cultivated a reputation as an indie darling in Richard Linklater dramas and things like First Reformed. He had a brush with mainstream stardom with the crime thriller Training Day, but has gotten most of his acclaim from his more independent minded dramas. So it's interesting to note that Hawke has a low-key, but very interesting sideline hustle as a genre leading man. His first big sci-fi project was Gattaca, an extremely smart utopian/dystopIan look into a world where genetic manipulation decided people's fates before birth. Hawke stayed away from the genre for a good decade afterwards, but really came back to it and sort of stuck around with Daybreakers, a really cool Sci/Fi horror fantasy about a plague turning the world's population into Vampires. Since then Hawke has become one of our most reliable genre stalwarts, mixing it up with horror fantasies like Sinister to more straight sci-fi like Predestination and even appearing in out there fantasy projects like Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Below, Hawke as a Vampire in Daybreakers:
I'm glad you mentioned Predestination, that's a good little indie sci-fi film that's really ignored with a terrific ending twist, that I didn't see coming. That and Daybreakers (both from the Spierig brothers), proved to me that Ethan Hawke was an actor who wants to take chances with his sci-fi films. You mentioned Doctor Strange, and I'm pretty sure that Joaquin Phoenix turned it down because he didn't want to be part of a big franchise. He's only doing The Joker with the assumption of it being a one-off, although if it's a huge hit, you can bet that WB will try to push for sequels to happen. Ethan Hawke's genre trappings are even more interesting to me, because so much of is of the indie-vibe-art. Movies that nobody will see, but he'll star in anyway. I think that speaks to his ambitions as an actor, going all the way back to Gattaca, which is a really great movie, that tries to say a lot, and somehow does manage to successfully convoy it all. I can respect that about him.
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Post by countjohn on Aug 20, 2019 2:57:51 GMT
I've been thinking of doing one of these and was too chicken to do Eastwood and Westerns because that's such a big job but I thought of one to do last night.
Deborah Kerr Genre: Repressed Romantic Drama
I can't think of an actor where the public image differed more from the reality of the roles they played than Deborah Kerr. For a stretch in the mid 50's in seemingly every one of her roles she had an extramarital affair or was driven towards some kind of illicit (at least in the context of the movie) romantic relationship. But audiences still saw her as a pure English rose for the duration of her career. Even in contemporaneous reviews for Tea and Sympathy (which I know I talk about enough on here) her character was referred to as "saintly" despite the fact that she plays a faculty wife who initiates a sexual relationship with an underage boy. It speaks to the strength of those performances that audiences were so entranced by the veneer the characters put off that they didn't see the reality. A key component to acting is playing on the audiences feeling, which she did in spades.
Of course the movie most people think about here and the one that started the stretch of movies I talked about earlier was From Here to Eternity. She dyed her famous red hair blonde and had her iconic love scene with Burt Lancaster in the role of an unfaithful wife. Prior to that many of her Hollywood roles were virginal damsels in distress in adventure movies so it was noted as a big change. The movie that came immediately after that breakout was The End of the Affair, playing another married woman in an extramarital relationship. That was then followed up in 1956 by the aforementioned Tea and Sympathy and The King and I, where her genteel English widow had major sexual tension with a non monogamous Asian king. In 1957 she played a nun resisting the advances of a burly marine stranded on an island with her in Heaven Knows Mr. Alison, and even in the comparatively wholesome An Affair to Remember her character was engaged and spends the whole movie trying to fight her feelings for Cary Grant.
She had other roles in that vein even before and after this stint. In the early adventure film Prisoner of Zenda she plays an engaged princess who would prefer to consummate her union with the prince's impostor. In The Journey in 1959 a Soviet officer offers her safe passage in exchange for sex. She is tempted for more than just pragmatic reasons, her husband is seriously injured and weakened (code for the audience as likely impotent) and the Soviet officer is played by Yul Brynner.
The common thread in all these roles is sexual repression. Even in the roles where she gave in she fights it and has to hide it. The characters put off a front of being icy and refined, but from context and their actions they are likely sex starved. In some cases the basic premise of the character (a widow, a nun, a woman with an immobilized husband) telegraphs to the audience that she likely isn't getting laid. In Tea and Sympathy she spends much of the movie's runtime begging her husband (possibly a closet case) to touch her. In The End of the Affair she describes her husband as "just a good friend".
The Graduate (another movie I certainly bring up often enough on here) in a certain respect is the perfect part for her. Mrs. Robinson was like the characters she played in the 50's only more bitter and grizzled and having to endure the final indignity of her younger lover leaving her for her daughter. Yes, Bancroft was perfect and the movie couldn't possibly be better than it is, but it would have been the perfect swan song for her career.
These kinds of movies wouldn't fly today. A lot of people these days can't handle the reality that people have contradictory sides to them and in the 50's and early 60's old sexual mores were still in place but were becoming increasingly frustrating for many people. Kerr's career really defines this milieu more than anyone else. I personally love that kind of movie because I find that what people try to hide is often the most interesting part of them.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 20, 2019 4:52:51 GMT
Ethan HawkeGenre: Science Fiction/FantasyDid you know that Ethan Hawke was really, really close to playing Doctor Strange?Joaquin Phoenix was considered for the role before it eventually went to Benedict Cumberbatch (whom to be fair has been perfect in the role. So good in fact, that in hindsight casting Phoenix, excellent an actor as he may be, feels like a huge mistake averted). But yes, Hawke was right there in the mix and wanted to do it. Phoenix feels like a big miscast now, but if I could see someone else doing the role justice like Cumberbatch, it'd probably be Hawke, a very talented and nuanced actor. I mention this because Hawke is not really the first name people tend to think of when it comes to Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre projects. He cultivated a reputation as an indie darling in Richard Linklater dramas and things like First Reformed. He had a brush with mainstream stardom with the crime thriller Training Day, but has gotten most of his acclaim from his more independent minded dramas. So it's interesting to note that Hawke has a low-key, but very interesting sideline hustle as a genre leading man. His first big sci-fi project was Gattaca, an extremely smart utopian/dystopIan look into a world where genetic manipulation decided people's fates before birth. Hawke stayed away from the genre for a good decade afterwards, but really came back to it and sort of stuck around with Daybreakers, a really cool Sci/Fi horror fantasy about a plague turning the world's population into Vampires. Since then Hawke has become one of our most reliable genre stalwarts, mixing it up with horror fantasies like Sinister to more straight sci-fi like Predestination and even appearing in out there fantasy projects like Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Below, Hawke as a Vampire in Daybreakers:
I'm glad you mentioned Predestination, that's a good little indie sci-fi film that's really ignored with a terrific ending twist, that I didn't see coming. That and Daybreakers (both from the Spierig brothers), proved to me that Ethan Hawke was an actor who wants to take chances with his sci-fi films. You mentioned Doctor Strange, and I'm pretty sure that Joaquin Phoenix turned it down because he didn't want to be part of a big franchise. He's only doing The Joker with the assumption of it being a one-off, although if it's a huge hit, you can bet that WB will try to push for sequels to happen. Ethan Hawke's genre trappings are even more interesting to me, because so much of is of the indie-vibe-art. Movies that nobody will see, but he'll star in anyway. I think that speaks to his ambitions as an actor, going all the way back to Gattaca, which is a really great movie, that tries to say a lot, and somehow does manage to successfully convoy it all. I can respect that about him. Yeah, I love that Hawke seems quite picky about the type of Sci-fi work he does. You can tell he really thinks hard about the themes and what these films have to say about where society could eventually take us. Things like Gattaca, Daybreakers and Predestination are really small, but clever gems and are the types of films you can rewatch and find something new. Hawke makes smart choices, which is probably why his career has lasted so long....even though it took critics a long time to warn towards him.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 20, 2019 5:08:03 GMT
I've been thinking of doing one of these and was too chicken to do Eastwood and Westerns because that's such a big job but I thought of one to do last night. Deborah KerrGenre: Repressed Romantic DramaI can't think of an actor where the public image differed more from the reality of the roles they played than Deborah Kerr. For a stretch in the mid 50's in seemingly every one of her roles she had an extramarital affair or was driven towards some kind of illicit (at least in the context of the movie) romantic relationship. But audiences still saw her as a pure English rose for the duration of her career. Even in contemporaneous reviews for Tea and Sympathy (which I know I talk about enough on here) her character was referred to as "saintly" despite the fact that she plays a faculty wife who initiates a sexual relationship with an underage boy. It speaks to the strength of those performances that audiences were so entranced by the veneer the characters put off that they didn't see the reality. A key component to acting is playing on the audiences feeling, which she did in spades. Of course the movie most people think about here and the one that started the stretch of movies I talked about earlier was From Here to Eternity. She dyed her famous red hair blonde and had her iconic love scene with Burt Lancaster in the role of an unfaithful wife. Prior to that many of her Hollywood roles were virginal damsels in distress in adventure movies so it was noted as a big change. The movie that came immediately after that breakout was The End of the Affair, playing another married woman in an extramarital relationship. That was then followed up in 1956 by the aforementioned Tea and Sympathy and The King and I, where her genteel English widow had major sexual tension with a non monogamous Asian king. In 1957 she played a nun resisting the advances of a burly marine stranded on an island with her in Heaven Knows Mr. Alison, and even in the comparatively wholesome An Affair to Remember her character was engaged and spends the whole movie trying to fight her feelings for Cary Grant. She had other roles in that vein even before and after this stint. In the early adventure film Prisoner of Zenda she plays an engaged princess who would prefer to consummate her union with the prince's impostor. In The Journey in 1959 a Soviet officer offers her safe passage in exchange for sex. She is tempted for more than just pragmatic reasons, her husband is seriously injured and weakened (code for the audience as likely impotent) and the Soviet officer is played by Yul Brynner. The common thread in all these roles is sexual repression. Even in the roles where she gave in she fights it and has to hide it. The characters put off a front of being icy and refined, but from context and their actions they are likely sex starved. In some cases the basic premise of the character (a widow, a nun, a woman with an immobilized husband) telegraphs to the audience that she likely isn't getting laid. In Tea and Sympathy she spends much of the movie's runtime begging her husband (possibly a closet case) to touch her. In The End of the Affair she describes her husband as "just a good friend". The Graduate (another movie I certainly bring up often enough on here) in a certain respect is the perfect part for her. Mrs. Robinson was like the characters she played in the 50's only more bitter and grizzled and having to endure the final indignity of her younger lover leaving her for her daughter. Yes, Bancroft was perfect and the movie couldn't possibly be better than it is, but it would have been the perfect swan song for her career. These kinds of movies wouldn't fly today. A lot of people these days can't handle the reality that people have contradictory sides to them and in the 50's and early 60's old sexual mores were still in place but were becoming increasingly frustrating for many people. Kerr's career really defines this milieu more than anyone else. I personally love that kind of movie because I find that what people try to hide is often the most interesting part of them. Good stuff. I wouldn't have thought to place Kerr under that genre umbrella term, but seeing you do it, it kind of makes perfect sense and encapsulates the bulk of her career in her prime. Even Black Narcissus could almost fit into this, considering it's themes of sexual repression and lust. I think Kerr's public image and ladylike demeanour was presicesly why she was such good casting for all these women constantly having extra-martial affairs. She wasn't judged as harshly as other actresses might have been in the same roles. It's the power of audience identification. Normal, ladylike women could see their own natural feelings and repressions in her characters and identify and sympathise without judging her characters too harshly. Wheras if you had Jane Russell or Ava Gardner playing these constantly cheating women, their images would have seen them deemed sex mad tramps. Kerr could get away with a lot, and in many ways was quite subversive as an actress. Helped that she played more than a couple of Nuns and school marms. I do think those type of Kerr movies do still show up today in a slightly updated form, but usually as prestige period Oscarbait starring someone like Kate Winslet or Kirsten Scott Thomas. If Kerr were around in the last few decades, I can see her in things like Titanic, Oscar And Lucinda and The English Patient. The dated social and sexual mores of these films are almost the point now, as it transports award season voters into a different time and place. By the looks of things with Brooklyn and Little Women, Sairose Ronan is now carving a niche in the repressed period romantic drama.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 20, 2019 5:15:43 GMT
I'm glad you mentioned Predestination, that's a good little indie sci-fi film that's really ignored with a terrific ending twist, that I didn't see coming. That and Daybreakers (both from the Spierig brothers), proved to me that Ethan Hawke was an actor who wants to take chances with his sci-fi films. You mentioned Doctor Strange, and I'm pretty sure that Joaquin Phoenix turned it down because he didn't want to be part of a big franchise. He's only doing The Joker with the assumption of it being a one-off, although if it's a huge hit, you can bet that WB will try to push for sequels to happen. Ethan Hawke's genre trappings are even more interesting to me, because so much of is of the indie-vibe-art. Movies that nobody will see, but he'll star in anyway. I think that speaks to his ambitions as an actor, going all the way back to Gattaca, which is a really great movie, that tries to say a lot, and somehow does manage to successfully convoy it all. I can respect that about him. Yeah, I love that Hawke seems quite picky about the type of Sci-fi work he does. You can tell he really thinks hard about the themes and what these films have to say about where society could eventually take us. Things like Gattaca, Daybreakers and Predestination are really small, but clever gems and are the types of films you can rematch and find something new. Hawke makes smart choices, which is probably why his career has lasted so long....even though it took critics a long time to warn towards him. Hawke has made some bad choices like any actor, but I feel he's best in his element when he's playing character who are forced to make big risks, and or decisions that effect their lives forever, which is where these "sci-fi" films fit in. He's very much a pretentious actor by nature, but he's one of those who really honed his skills, and improved his acting a lot as he got older. Watching his career from Dead Poets Society to First Reformed, and you can see the evolution of a seasoned veteran. I think that's pretty evident in Predestination. He really gives a "delicate performance", the kind that I rarely see in those types of sci-fi films very often.
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Post by countjohn on Aug 20, 2019 6:00:30 GMT
I've been thinking of doing one of these and was too chicken to do Eastwood and Westerns because that's such a big job but I thought of one to do last night. Deborah KerrGenre: Repressed Romantic DramaI can't think of an actor where the public image differed more from the reality of the roles they played than Deborah Kerr. For a stretch in the mid 50's in seemingly every one of her roles she had an extramarital affair or was driven towards some kind of illicit (at least in the context of the movie) romantic relationship. But audiences still saw her as a pure English rose for the duration of her career. Even in contemporaneous reviews for Tea and Sympathy (which I know I talk about enough on here) her character was referred to as "saintly" despite the fact that she plays a faculty wife who initiates a sexual relationship with an underage boy. It speaks to the strength of those performances that audiences were so entranced by the veneer the characters put off that they didn't see the reality. A key component to acting is playing on the audiences feeling, which she did in spades. Of course the movie most people think about here and the one that started the stretch of movies I talked about earlier was From Here to Eternity. She dyed her famous red hair blonde and had her iconic love scene with Burt Lancaster in the role of an unfaithful wife. Prior to that many of her Hollywood roles were virginal damsels in distress in adventure movies so it was noted as a big change. The movie that came immediately after that breakout was The End of the Affair, playing another married woman in an extramarital relationship. That was then followed up in 1956 by the aforementioned Tea and Sympathy and The King and I, where her genteel English widow had major sexual tension with a non monogamous Asian king. In 1957 she played a nun resisting the advances of a burly marine stranded on an island with her in Heaven Knows Mr. Alison, and even in the comparatively wholesome An Affair to Remember her character was engaged and spends the whole movie trying to fight her feelings for Cary Grant. She had other roles in that vein even before and after this stint. In the early adventure film Prisoner of Zenda she plays an engaged princess who would prefer to consummate her union with the prince's impostor. In The Journey in 1959 a Soviet officer offers her safe passage in exchange for sex. She is tempted for more than just pragmatic reasons, her husband is seriously injured and weakened (code for the audience as likely impotent) and the Soviet officer is played by Yul Brynner. The common thread in all these roles is sexual repression. Even in the roles where she gave in she fights it and has to hide it. The characters put off a front of being icy and refined, but from context and their actions they are likely sex starved. In some cases the basic premise of the character (a widow, a nun, a woman with an immobilized husband) telegraphs to the audience that she likely isn't getting laid. In Tea and Sympathy she spends much of the movie's runtime begging her husband (possibly a closet case) to touch her. In The End of the Affair she describes her husband as "just a good friend". The Graduate (another movie I certainly bring up often enough on here) in a certain respect is the perfect part for her. Mrs. Robinson was like the characters she played in the 50's only more bitter and grizzled and having to endure the final indignity of her younger lover leaving her for her daughter. Yes, Bancroft was perfect and the movie couldn't possibly be better than it is, but it would have been the perfect swan song for her career. These kinds of movies wouldn't fly today. A lot of people these days can't handle the reality that people have contradictory sides to them and in the 50's and early 60's old sexual mores were still in place but were becoming increasingly frustrating for many people. Kerr's career really defines this milieu more than anyone else. I personally love that kind of movie because I find that what people try to hide is often the most interesting part of them. Good stuff. I wouldn't have thought to place Kerr under that genre umbrella term, but seeing you do it, it kind of makes perfect sense and encapsulates the bulk of her career in her prime. Even Black Narcissus could almost fit into this, considering it's themes of sexual repression and lust. I think Kerr's public image and ladylike demeanour was presicesly why she was such good casting for all these women constantly having extra-martial affairs. She wasn't judged as harshly as other actresses might have been in the same roles. It's the power of audience identification. Normal, ladylike women could see their own natural feelings and repressions in her characters and identify and sympathise without judging her characters too harshly. Wheras if you had Jane Russell or Ava Gardner playing these constantly cheating women, their images would have seen them deemed sex mad tramps. Kerr could get away with a lot, and in many ways was quite subversive as an actress. Helped that she played more than a couple of Nuns and school marms. I do think those type of Kerr movies do still show up today in a slightly updated form, but usually as prestige period Oscarbait starring someone like Kate Winslet or Kirsten Scott Thomas. If Kerr were around in the last few decades, I can see her in things like Titanic, Oscar And Lucinda and The English Patient. The dated social and sexual mores of these films are almost the point now, as it transports award season voters into a different time and place. By the looks of things with Brooklyn and Little Women, Sairose Ronan is now carving a niche in the repressed period romantic drama. It depends on what you think of first with her. I unfortunately haven't much of her 40's UK stuff, where it doesn't sound like she played this archetype very often. But at her peak in the 50's this really defines the bulk of her work. She didn't end up as iconic as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and some of the other actresses from that period but she was a massive star at the time. The top grossing actress in the world for a few years in the mid 50's. Hmmm, Brooklyn certainly is an old fashioned romantic drama that could have been made in the 50's but I don't think it's exactly what I'm talking about here. She and Tony decide to get it on pretty quickly. The English Patient does apply, though, and I could have seen her in either of the main female leads.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 20, 2019 8:11:13 GMT
Yeah, I love that Hawke seems quite picky about the type of Sci-fi work he does. You can tell he really thinks hard about the themes and what these films have to say about where society could eventually take us. Things like Gattaca, Daybreakers and Predestination are really small, but clever gems and are the types of films you can rematch and find something new. Hawke makes smart choices, which is probably why his career has lasted so long....even though it took critics a long time to warn towards him. Hawke has made some bad choices like any actor, but I feel he's best in his element when he's playing character who are forced to make big risks, and or decisions that effect their lives forever, which is where these "sci-fi" films fit in. He's very much a pretentious actor by nature, but he's one of those who really honed his skills, and improved his acting a lot as he got older. Watching his career from Dead Poets Society to First Reformed, and you can see the evolution of a seasoned veteran. I think that's pretty evident in Predestination. He really gives a "delicate performance", the kind that I rarely see in those types of sci-fi films very often. I feel like Hawke got slapped with the "pretentious" label pretty early and found it tough to shake off. To an extent, maybe it's true. But when British Actors like Ralph Fiennes show a natural level of pretentiousness, it's almost seen as praiseworthy. When a young American Actor like Hawke whom critics wanted to pigeonhole as a fortunate pretty boy of limited ability (which was never true), the pretension thing got used as a stick to beat him with. But fair play to the guy...he stuck to his guns and carved out a unique career that is still going strong. I have to say that I really enjoy Hawke's interviews about acting, film, stage and the industry in general. I don't always agree with everything he says, but he's so articulate and thoughtful in his assertions that he's someone I always take seriousit when they talk about acting or the industry in general.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 20, 2019 15:27:35 GMT
Hawke has made some bad choices like any actor, but I feel he's best in his element when he's playing character who are forced to make big risks, and or decisions that effect their lives forever, which is where these "sci-fi" films fit in. He's very much a pretentious actor by nature, but he's one of those who really honed his skills, and improved his acting a lot as he got older. Watching his career from Dead Poets Society to First Reformed, and you can see the evolution of a seasoned veteran. I think that's pretty evident in Predestination. He really gives a "delicate performance", the kind that I rarely see in those types of sci-fi films very often. I feel like Hawke got slapped with the "pretentious" label pretty early and found it tough to shake off. To an extent, maybe it's true. But when British Actors like Ralph Fiennes show a natural level of pretentiousness, it's almost seen as praiseworthy. When a young American Actor like Hawke whom critics wanted to pigeonhole as a fortunate pretty boy of limited ability (which was never true), the pretension thing got used as a stick to beat him with. But fair play to the guy...he stuck to his guns and carved out a unique career that is still going strong. I have to say that I really enjoy Hawke's interviews about acting, film, stage and the industry in general. I don't always agree with everything he says, but he's so articulate and thoughtful in his assertions that he's someone I always take seriousit when they talk about acting or the industry in general. I feel like that's been his MO the whole time or something. Critics looked at him for the longest time as a young "bland" actor, who just happened to be involved with some great directors. It's only over the years that he's finally been able to win over them, especially working with Linklater on the Before films, and the likes. I've always been a fan myself. It's clear that Hawke loves acting, and the arts, he made a documentary about one of his idols called Seymour: An Introduction that I recommend, and he's almost always shown that in his films. In interviews that I've read of him, he can be a bit full of himself, but it's obvious he has great taste, so I can't fault him for wanting to look "big".
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 21, 2019 16:49:08 GMT
Kurt Russell
Genre: Action/Adventure
Who doesn't love Kurt Russell? A guy who has been a movie star for most of his life, starting out as a child actor in the 1960's, then as Disney star (apparently the biggest Disney star of the 1970's in a series of comedies and family films).
In the 1980's as he began to branch out into more adult roles, the Action/Adventure genre became a natural way for him to escape his child star and Disney roots. Enter John Carpenter, who saw in Russell's natural movie star charisma something that could work in action adventure roles. Thanks to this director/star partnership we got Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little ChIna, Escape From LA among others. Russell became a staple in the Action/Adventure...sometimes in the form of Sci-fi (Stargate, Soldier), sometimes in the form of westerns (Tombstone, Bone Tomahawk), but always exciting. His service to the genre has earned him a spot in the most recent instalments of The Fast And Furious movies. Below, Russell as the iconic anti-hero Snake Pliskinn in Escape From New York:
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Post by stephen on Aug 21, 2019 17:30:22 GMT
I like to imagine there's an alternative timeline where Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell swapped careers and both still achieved stardom.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 21, 2019 17:37:08 GMT
Kurt Russell has always been a favorite of mine. From cult favorites ( Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China), to genuine awesome hits ( Tombstone, Stargate) etc... He's always been my favorite example of the masculine "man's man" actor, he only ever seems to get soft when he's playing secondary to a big female lead Meryl Streep in Silkwood, or his beau Goldie Hawn. His career arc is interesting too. You mentioned John Carpenter, but Russell didn't start getting the big paychecks, until he had a string of hits in the 90s. Executive Decision is a really underrated Die-Hard type action film, with Steven Seagal in a role where he gets offed halfway through, largely of his own due behind the scenes , while Breakdown is a great study of a man caught in a bad situation, with J.T. Walsh in strong support, as what else, a crazy baddie. Fun fact, the rumor for the longest time was that Walt Disney's last written words were " Kurt Russell". Doubt it's true, but it's fun to imagine what he could have been saying when he wrote that.
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Post by stephen on Aug 21, 2019 18:42:31 GMT
Fun fact, the rumor for the longest time was that Walt Disney's last written words were " Kurt Russell". Doubt it's true, but it's fun to imagine what he could have been saying when he wrote that. I've thought about writing a screenplay where a guy tries to figure out why Disney wrote Kurt Russell's name down, and the end result would be that it turns out Kurt had poisoned Walt and Walt realized it at the moment of his death, and when the protagonist figured it out, he hears a gun's hammer click behind him as Kurt Russell intones, "You just had to keep askin' questions." Cut to black.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 21, 2019 19:11:04 GMT
Kurt Russell has always been a favorite of mine. From cult favorites ( Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China), to genuine awesome hits ( Tombstone, Stargate) etc... He's always been my favorite example of the masculine "man's man" actor, he only ever seems to get soft when he's playing secondary to a big female lead Meryl Streep in Silkwood, or his beau Goldie Hawn. His career arc is interesting too. You mentioned John Carpenter, but Russell didn't start getting the big paychecks, until he had a string of hits in the 90s. Executive Decision is a really underrated Die-Hard type action film, with Steven Seagal in a role where he gets offed halfway through, largely of his own due behind the scenes , while Breakdown is a great study of a man caught in a bad situation, with J.T. Walsh in strong support, as what else, a crazy baddie. Fun fact, the rumor for the longest time was that Walt Disney's last written words were " Kurt Russell". Doubt it's true, but it's fun to imagine what he could have been saying when he wrote that. The Disney deathbed story sounds like some sort of parody of Citizen Kane and Rosebud .Yeah, Russell is great. Always good value. Shame he never got more awards notice in his career though. He's as good or better than several actors who have gotten more awards attention for their work. One would hope he can get himself into a position to get one of those career Oscars they often hand out in the supporting categories.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 21, 2019 19:26:01 GMT
Kurt Russell has always been a favorite of mine. From cult favorites ( Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China), to genuine awesome hits ( Tombstone, Stargate) etc... He's always been my favorite example of the masculine "man's man" actor, he only ever seems to get soft when he's playing secondary to a big female lead Meryl Streep in Silkwood, or his beau Goldie Hawn. His career arc is interesting too. You mentioned John Carpenter, but Russell didn't start getting the big paychecks, until he had a string of hits in the 90s. Executive Decision is a really underrated Die-Hard type action film, with Steven Seagal in a role where he gets offed halfway through, largely of his own due behind the scenes , while Breakdown is a great study of a man caught in a bad situation, with J.T. Walsh in strong support, as what else, a crazy baddie. Fun fact, the rumor for the longest time was that Walt Disney's last written words were " Kurt Russell". Doubt it's true, but it's fun to imagine what he could have been saying when he wrote that. The Disney deathbed story sounds like some sort of parody of Citizen Kane and Rosebud .Yeah, Russell is great. Always good value. Shame he never got more awards notice in his career though. He's as good or better than several actors who have gotten more awards attention for their work. One would hope he can get himself into a position to get one of those career Oscars they often hand out in the supporting categories.Yeah, Stephen story idea around it sounds like it could make for a great meta-commentary "murder mystery", of sorts. Russell has a reputation as a tough guy, and tough guy don't usually get much awards love, unless they go and get dramatic (Russell's only major nomination was a golden globe for Silkwood, go figure). That being said given the fact that he's arguably going through his most "experimental and different" phase and working with directors like Tarantino, and Zahler, I could definitely see him getting an Oscar nomination down the line, for a meaty supporting role in a super critical acclaim flick. It seems like filmmakers are respecting him more and more these days, especially since he's returned to acting full-time since his brief sabbatical after Death Proof.
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Post by pupdurcs on Aug 23, 2019 9:03:18 GMT
Robert Redford
Genre: Political/Conspiracy Thriller
As an actor, filmmaker and philanthropist, Robert Redford has contributed a huge amount to the film industry over the decades, including the founding of the Sundance Film Festival, which championed the advent of independent filmmaking.
But as an actor, his most impressive achievement may have been his involvement in a series of movies (mostly, but not all made in the 1970's) that asked very difficult questions about our governmental and political systems and whether they should actually be trusted. Starting with The Candidate, a fascinating political satire in which Redford plays a man convinced to run for political office on a platform few believe he can win on.
The cynicism of the era took a darker turn in Three Days Of The Condor directed by Sydney Pollack, where Redford plays a CIA researcher who finds his colleagues dead and basically realises he can't trust anyone. He followed this up with All The Presidents Men, based on the real life events that brought down the Presidency of Richard Nixon. Redford's minimalist acting style seemed to suit these conspiracy thrillers and added to the type of realism they presented. These films in the 70's made him the emblematic actor in this genre, to the point that when filmmakers tried to do similar things with the genre decades later, Redford would often be approached to add some credibility to their efforts. Such is the case with Tony Scott's action/consipracy movie Spy Game.
When Marvel decided to rebrand their 2nd Captain America movie The Winter Soldier as a throwback to the great 70's consipracy thrillers, there was only one man they would ask to add credibility to the project, this time as a villain. And that was Robert Redford as double agent, Alexander Pierce. Below, Redford in Three Days Of The Condor;
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sirchuck23
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Bad news dawg...you don't mind if I have some of your 300 dollar a glass shit there would ya?
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Post by sirchuck23 on Aug 23, 2019 16:05:25 GMT
Samuel L. JacksonGenre: Quentin TarantinoI had wanted to do a profile of my man Mr. Samuel L. Jackson for awhile but I couldn't find an angle to talk about him within a particular traditional genre, because let's face it, with over 187 credits to his name on IMDB, the muthafuc/a has done every damn thing to various degrees of quality. But if you want to talk about the greatness of this icon and his impact, then you have to talk about his partnership with his greatest collaborator, Quentin Tarantino. Thus, I'm creating a new genre called Quentin Tarantino, because you can say he has a genre all to himself. I'm sure pupdurcs will allow me this solid. Where else would we start but with Pulp Fiction, Quentin's greatest film and Sam's greatest and most iconic performance as the bible-quoting hitman, Jules Winfield. Jackson had done some great work before Pulp Fiction, primarily his role as Gator Purify in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, where he won a uniquely created Best Supporting Actor award at Cannes just to acknowledge his performance. But Pulp Fiction was his announcement that he had FINALLY arrived as a major Hollywood actor, with his smooth line delivery, effortlessly cursing capabilities, underrated comic timing and ability, and of course his famous dramatic monologue at the end of Pulp Fiction, which is arguably the greatest acting scene in Tarantino's entire filmography. Jackson's performance was not only revelatory but influential as well. IMO its the greatest performance in a Tarantino movie, and it made Samuel L. Jackson a movie star who would have a long and great career afterwards. This brought Jackson his first and unbelievably his only Oscar nomination to date, where he lost to the late Martin Landau for his work in Ed Wood. With all due respect to Landau and the champions of his performance, I think Jackson should've gotten his first Oscar that year. Here's the ending to Pulp Fiction featuring that great monologue.. His next team-up with Tarantino was for one of the director's greatest and most underrated film in his filmography, Jackie Brown. an homage to 70's Blaxploitation films, and an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch. As Ordell Robbie, a Los Angeles black market gun runner, Jackson turns in a chilling performance of a soul-less man who's willing to kill anyone of his partners who would be a hinderance for cashing in on his $550,000 and retiring to Mexico. Unlike Jules who did end up having redemption at the end of Pulp Fiction, Ordell has no inkling of redemption or care for his partners in crime. Just look at the way he coldly says to Louis (Robert De Niro) "well if you had to do it, you had to do it" when he learns Louis killed Melanie because she was annoying him, and was just concerned about his money. Then when he lost trust in Louis he ends up killing his long-time partner in crime with no remorse. One of Jackson's great villain roles and one of the more interesting characters in the Tarantino universe, Jackson was phenomenal in this role and easily worthy of his 2nd Oscar nomination for his work here. Here's one of my favorite scenes from the film, where Ordell tricks one of his employees Beaumont (a hilarious Chris Tucker cameo) to get in the trunk of his car which ultimately leads to his death... After Jackie Brown, Jackson did a cameo in Kill Bill Vol 2. as Rufus the pianist and the narrator for Inglorious Basterds, but he came back to a meaty Tarantino role as Stephen, Calvin Candie's loyal house slave and right hand man, in Django Unchained. Jackson often gets hit with the "he only plays himself" criticism, but he totally transforms into an old, gray-haired, limping, man who talked like a stereotypical 1800s American south slave in front of Schultz and Django but behind closed doors was actually a mastermind and brilliant manipulator. He plays a character archetype that is so despised in African-American culture (uncle tom) that you literally cheer when he gets his comeuppance at the end of the film. A terrific supporting performance that totally deserved an Oscar nomination that year, Jackson showed when he has a great role that requires transformation, he can do it seamlessly. Here's one of my favorite clips of his performance.. Finally, Jackson re-teamed with Tarantino for his second leading role with the director, as Major Marquis Warren in The Hateful Eight. Again as Warren, Jackson believably played a character from the 1800s, this time an African-American Civil War office for the Union Army. With this role, Jackson again showed his underrated comedic abilities and timing, especially in his famous flashback monologue to Bruce Dern's General Sanford Smithers character which began a turning point for the film. Jackson was great, as he always is in Tarantino films, and was fully deserving a Best Actor oscar nom for his performance. Jackson, I feel, doesn't get enough credit for his ability and range to play characters in period pieces as well as contemporary roles. Samuel L. Jackson and Quentin Tarantino are one of the great actor-director parings of the past 30 years, and imho even though Tarantino has worked with actors like DiCaprio, Pitt, and Kurt Russell on multiple occasions, Tarantino does his best work with Samuel L. Jackson. No other actor fits the Tarantino-verse better than Jackson, and it goes to show not just Sam Jackson's considerable abilities as an actor, but his impact on Tarantino and his legacy and also his iconic Hollywood standing for an unconventional Hollywood leading man. Here's to the muthafu/ka!
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Post by TerryMontana on Aug 23, 2019 16:48:19 GMT
Samuel L. JacksonGenre: Quentin TarantinoI had wanted to do a profile of my man Mr. Samuel L. Jackson for awhile but I couldn't find an angle to talk about him within a particular traditional genre So you made one up
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sirchuck23
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Bad news dawg...you don't mind if I have some of your 300 dollar a glass shit there would ya?
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Post by sirchuck23 on Aug 23, 2019 17:17:07 GMT
Samuel L. JacksonGenre: Quentin TarantinoI had wanted to do a profile of my man Mr. Samuel L. Jackson for awhile but I couldn't find an angle to talk about him within a particular traditional genre So you made one up Indeed!
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