I've always loved The Movies and all sort of old cinema. My attention span becomes short during depressive phases (just getting out of one) and I tend to go into jags of movie watching. That includes actual trips to a theater, sometimes alone. I'm lucky to have two independent theaters within a half-hour's drive from my town. Mostly, though, I rent a lot of CD's and we plug the computer into the TV (I think that's what one does) and ta-da (!) a movie, among a choice of many,] and nary a commercial interruption. Thank you, Netflix. Sorry, but I don't miss the video store.
Early this morning, at 1:00 a.m., waiting for Mr. (Almost-Someday) Pagan Sphinx to arrive home from the airport, I fell asleep watching the Indieplex channel, I think it was. I watched most of a film starring Gary Oldman as Beethoven - Immortal Beloved, from 1994 (I love the 90's). A day or so before that, I caught the tail-end of a film I'd seen before - Talk to Her - directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.
I really liked both these films... or perhaps I am easier to please when I am viewing alone. ;-) I thought they both deserved more than the three stars I recall them both being assigned by the network. When I turned off the set, despite the late hour, I still had trouble falling asleep so to hasten the process I started thinking about favorite roles by favorite actors and came up with a list of approximately twenty such. I still didn't get to sleep until probably after 2:00 a.m. but the process of making up that mental list seems to be compelling me to commit it to a blog post. Bear with me if you can and if not, I understand. Chime in with your favorites. It will be fun. I promise.
Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson in Fargo (for which she won the Oscar for best actress in '96)
Holly Hunter as Ada and Harvey Keitel as Baines in The Piano, director Jane Campion
What are your favorite movie roles? If you make your own list, please link me up but also feel free to leave your lists, however long, in comments!
Part II coming up when I am next inspired.
Love and Peace,
Pagan Sphinx
Early this morning, at 1:00 a.m., waiting for Mr. (Almost-Someday) Pagan Sphinx to arrive home from the airport, I fell asleep watching the Indieplex channel, I think it was. I watched most of a film starring Gary Oldman as Beethoven - Immortal Beloved, from 1994 (I love the 90's). A day or so before that, I caught the tail-end of a film I'd seen before - Talk to Her - directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.
I really liked both these films... or perhaps I am easier to please when I am viewing alone. ;-) I thought they both deserved more than the three stars I recall them both being assigned by the network. When I turned off the set, despite the late hour, I still had trouble falling asleep so to hasten the process I started thinking about favorite roles by favorite actors and came up with a list of approximately twenty such. I still didn't get to sleep until probably after 2:00 a.m. but the process of making up that mental list seems to be compelling me to commit it to a blog post. Bear with me if you can and if not, I understand. Chime in with your favorites. It will be fun. I promise.
Twenty Favorite Roles in Films I Like
(in spite of what the critics may have had to say. I don't generally seek out movie reviews, though occasionally I will listen to one on the car radio)
Kevin Spacey in both American Beauty and The Shipping News
(Having read the novel by Annie Proulx first, I thought Julianne Moore was totally miscast in her role as Wavey Prowse)
but perfectly cast as the porn actress in Boogie Nights, director Paul Thomas Anderson
Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver
Sean Penn as Harvey Milk
but perfectly cast as the porn actress in Boogie Nights, director Paul Thomas Anderson
Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver
Sean Penn in I am Sam (nice soundtrack), Mystic River and Milk
Edward Furlong in John Waters' Pecker (that doesn't sound good ;-)
Christina Ricci as Shelley in Pecker and as Selby in Monster , director Patty Jenkins
Ricci and Furlong in Pecker
Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry, director Kimberley Peirce
Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson in Fargo (for which she won the Oscar for best actress in '96)
Holly Hunter as Ada and Harvey Keitel as Baines in The Piano, director Jane Campion
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| Harvey Keitel and Holly Hunter in The Piano |
And although I liked Colin Firth very much in The King's Speech, I can't get over him as Vermeer in Girl With A Pearl Earring. I don't say that lightly, as I've tended to be disappointed with most biopics of famous artists. Probably not a lot was known about Vermeer, certainly hardly a thing about the young maid, so most of it is probably fiction. Oh, how I love a good story; passionately expressed!
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| Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson, director Peter Webber |
What are your favorite movie roles? If you make your own list, please link me up but also feel free to leave your lists, however long, in comments!
Part II coming up when I am next inspired.
Love and Peace,
Pagan Sphinx
