Posts filed under 'actors'
August 12th, 2009
… In the New York Times. And she has some interesting things to say.
Among them, there’s this…
Most everyone knows that John retreated from Hollywood and became a sort of J.D. Salinger for Generation X. But really, sometime before then, he had retreated from us and from the kinds of movies that he had made with us. I still believe that the Hughes films of which both Michael and I were a part (specifically SIXTEEN CANDLES and THE BREAKFAST CLUB) were the most deeply personal expressions of John’s. In retrospect, I feel that we were sort of avatars for him, acting out the different parts of his life — improving upon it, perhaps. In those movies, he always got the last word. He always got the girl.
She’s right. John Hughes made other fine films — PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, for example, and the underrated SHE’S HAVING A BABY. But even his other famous high school film, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, doesn’t have the same emotional kick that SIXTEEN CANDLES and THE BREAKFAST CLUB do. They just seem more serious and thoughtful, somehow, even though they both have some moments of (very) broad comedy.
In fact, looking at those movies objectively, I’d say PLANES and FERRIS are better movies — sharper, smarter and directed with more style and snap. They’re a lot more focused and seem more aware of what they want to be. But SIXTEEN CANDLES and BREAKFAST CLUB, like Ringwald says, are more personal. They’re sloppier, less focused and, as often as not, they fall on their faces. But that’s why they still work, and still connect with high schoolers and people who haven’t been in high school a long, long time (I graduated in 1985, the same year THE BREAKFAST CLUB hit theaters). On some level, they feel like they were made not only for high schoolers, but by a high schooler.
And judging by what Ringwald says in her perceptive piece, maybe they were.
Read the rest here.
July 28th, 2009
Ten years ago, Jake Lloyd played a young Darth Vader in the first of the STAR WARS prequels, THE PHANTOM MENACE. Ever wonder what happened to him?
Well, here he is to catch you up on what he’s been doing. Take it away, Jake….
July 21st, 2009
The first sentence of this Associated Press story about an effort to create a Bruce Lee museum is certainly attention-getting, even if you’re not a fan of Bruce Lee…
HONG KONG – The former home of Bruce Lee is now a love motel, renting rooms by the hour. But officials on Monday launched a design competition to turn it into a Hong Kong museum for the kung fu icon.
The story goes on to discuss a design competition aimed at establishing a permanent museum to honor the groundbreaking action star who, besides starring in ENTER THE DRAGON and other classics, revolutionized the martial arts movie and thereby shaped the way action movies are today. (No ENTER THE DRAGON? No MATRIX.)
There is an impressive statue of Bruce Lee on Hong Kong’s Avenue of Stars, located on Victoria Harbor. Here’s a picture of the wife and me during a 2006 trip to HK. We were actually in China to adopt our daughter, but being a devoted Hong Kong film fan, I couldn’t pass up a chance to see the Avenue of Stars.
July 1st, 2009
Actor Karl Malden – born born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago on March 22, 1912 — has died at the age of 97. He died of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, Calif. Here’s a link to the LA Times obit, and here’s a great Malden quote from that article…
“I was so incredibly lucky. I knew I wasn’t a leading man. Take a look at this face.”
Though he was probably best known (especially in the past couple of decades) for his American Express commercials and the phrase “don’t leave home without it,” Malden had a long, distinguished career in theater, movies and television. He won an Oscar for playing Mitch (a role he originated on Broadway) in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE with Marlon Brando and director Elia Kazan. He worked with both of those men again in ON THE WATERFRONT. Here’s a great Malden moment from that movie…
June 15th, 2009
Christopher Lee, star of (among hundreds of other movies), THE HORROR OF DRACULA, DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, THE MUMMY, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, 1941, POLICE ACADEMY: MISSION TO MOSCOW, the STAR WARS prequels and THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours (as they spell it across the pond).
Read the whole story here.
June 5th, 2009
In all the talk about David Carradine’s death, I forgot to mention my favorite movie on his resume. Here’s the trailer…Â
May 29th, 2009
Back in 1975, the movie JAWS kicked off this whole crazy thing we call the summer movie season. Here’s the best scene in that movie — and it’s just an old guy talking!
May 28th, 2009
Glenn Kenny, over at his Some Came Running blog, has a nice appreciation of actress Jane Randolph, who died May 4 in Switzerland but whose death was only announced here in the states today.
Randolph, who was born in 1915 in Youngstown, Ohio (coincidentally, pretty close to where I was born) only acted for about a decade, but her filmography has some very intriguing entries, including an uncredited ice skating model for Disney’s BAMBI, the horror comedy classic ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, the great film noir T-MEN and two of my all-time favorite films, CAT PEOPLE and CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE.
Here’s one of Randolph’s most famous scenes, where she’s stalked by — well, something — in CAT PEOPLE.
May 27th, 2009
Tonight, be sure to tune in to Turner Classic Movies (that’s channel 608 if you’ve got Comcast) to catch an evening of films programmed by none other than character actor Tommy “Tiny” Lister. If you watch movies, you’ve seen Lister at work — he made his debut in RUNAWAY TRAIN, played Deebo in FRIDAY, played the president (!) in THE FIFTH ELEMENT and was recently seen as the prisoner with a surprising moral backbone in last year’s THE DARK KNIGHT. (Check out his extensive — and I mean extensive — filmography here.)
He also has some intriguing movie tastes. According to the TCM site, his lineup includes ANGEL AND THE BADMAN, SHANE, THE PROFESSIONALS and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Three Westerns and a classic screwball comedy — not a bad mix. It all starts at 7 p.m.
May 14th, 2009
If you were wondering why, in the new STAR TREK movie, young Kirk has the Beastie Boys’ song “Sabotage” blasting out of his car stereo, according to geek lore on the Internet, it’s a reference to original Kirk (aka the great Bill Shatner) pronouncing the word “sabotage” in his own, distinct way…
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