My Movie Alphabet Blogathon

Mettel Ray has a great idea for a blogathon, tasking bloggers with creating their specific movie alphabet. The one rule in effect is to simply match every letter of the alphabet with something relating to film. And the only rule I’ve set for myself is that I will list the very first thing that pops into my mind for each corresponding letter. Challenge accepted!

In Character: The Cast of Lincoln

If Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is nothing else, it is a glorious roll call for many of the finest character actors currently working in film. As often as I can, I dedicate this blog to character actors in my recurring column, In Character, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to mix things up.

So, below I have called out more than 20 character actors who appear in Lincoln, highlighting some of their best work, and drawing attention to their one particular best role.

Hope you enjoy putting names to the faces!

Lincoln

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is a superbly acted historical drama about the most famous President in American history. It is gorgeous looking, impeccable sounding and unimaginably boring. In fact, when all’s said and done, Lincoln represents 150 of the most puzzlingly dull minutes I’ve spent in a movie theater this year. It wants (and tries and urges and pleads) to be excellent, which, given the talent involved in front of and behind the camera, it should be. But, alas, it remains anything but.

Holy Motors

The more I think about Leos Carax’s Holy Motors, the more I appreciate it. The more I analyze Holy Motors, the more I am frustratingly confounded by it. It’s a film of such unique sensibilities, that, in passing, I could hail as a potential masterpiece. But under the harsh scrutiny of my movie-freaked mind, I’m still not sure if it fully holds up. Actually, forget fully… try remotely.

Top 5 James Bond Films

I’m among the many people who have gone back and refreshed their cinematic minds on the films of James Bond in the wake of Skyfall’s release. And while refamiliarizing myself with some of Bond’s films proved to be as taxing as watching really really bad horror films, there is so much about the 007 franchise to love. 

Here are the five James Bond films that so clearly make my case.

Skyfall

The new James Bond film, Skyfall is a worthy induction to the throwback Bond. Which is to say, it is so easily reminiscent of the best that the franchise has to offer. Many times while watching the film, I kept remembering to be thankful that Skyfall didn’t take on too much. So many Bond films (which are, incidentally, many of the weakest films of the series) assemble themselves around plots that are so needlessly intricate.

And make no mistake, the main objective of a Bond film (of any Bond film) is to please. They’re supposed to be fun and entertaining, and sort of corny and pleasantly ridiculous. With Casino Royale, the producers wanted something different – darker and foreboding and new. Skyfall is all of these things – a fresh mix of the old and new and more.

James Bond by the Numbers

Us Americans are a little slow on the go sometimes. Many of my digital friends who reside overseas have already been privy to the presumed wonderment of the latest James Bond flick, Skyfall. So, while I wait a few more long hours before marveling at the baddassery of 007, here’s a list I cooked up that breaks the world’s greatest spy down statistically. These figures are from Dr. No through Quantum of Solace, and exclude the in-no-way-affiliated-with-the-franchise Never Say Never Again.

Rust and Bone

A movie like Rust and Bone is the hardest kind of film to assess. It’s a film that is so perfectly aware – aware of its intentions, aware of its manipulations, aware of its impact – that describing its faultlessness can be taxing. Push too far, and the reader becomes desensitized in hyperbole. Hold too much back, and the mystery of the film isn’t done due justice. All’s I can hope to do is trigger something within you to see this film. It likely won’t come to your local theater, nor will it be discussed much outside of critical circles and awards shows. What it will do, if seen, is provoke. It will provoke fear, laughter, devastation and humiliation, in the best, most effective ways possible.

In Character: Don Cheadle

Of all the Don Cheadle performances I’ve seen (and there have been many) I cannot recall him giving a bad performance. He’s been in some crap films, sure, but he always brings it, no matter what.

Rarely changing his appearance or voice inflection, Cheadle has an uncanny ability to not only make every character its own, but to captivate you within mere minutes. He’s one of the best we have right now. Period. Here are a few reasons why.

Liv & Ingmar

Ingmar Bergman has been my favorite film director since I spent a quiet, warm June night a few years ago watching The Seventh Seal (twice). I had never seen anything remotely like it, and from that point on, I was utterly intoxicated by watching the cinematic world through Bergman’s eyes.

I was first exposed to the great Liv Ullmann through Bergman’s Cries and Whispers, a film, like most of Bergman’s best, that continues to haunt and inspire me inexplicably. I was (and am) completely entranced with Cries and Whispers, much in part to the perfect, emotive face of Liv Ullmann. I had never seen anything remotely like it, and from that point on, I was utterly intoxicated by watching a film unfold strictly by paying attention to Ullmann’s facial expressions.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

I think the best way to start this review is with the man. A man I admittedly had never heard of before seeing this documentary that so closely chronicles his struggle. And having seen the film, I’m almost ashamed to relent that I’ve gone this long without familiarizing myself with his fight. But that’s what a great documentary (or any film, really) is for: to inform. To make us aware, and, possibly, care.

Flight

Let me tell you about a movie I love that I never anticipated loving. This film tells the story about a man lost. He’s not hidden, but rather drowning in public.

Whip Whitaker is a man who enjoys the life. The life of a middle aged bachelor, commercially piloting his way around the globe, banging stewardesses in whatever city he happens to be laid over in. He caps the night with whiskey, vodka, beer – whatever. And jumps his morning with a line (or two) of premium blow. But inside, he’s completely vacant. An empty shell of a man, using substances to distract himself from his long ago failed marriage and current status as an absentee father.

The Sessions

The Sessions tells the true story of Mark O’Brien, a middle aged man crippled and deformed by polio, who wants nothing more than to be loved. Soon after we meet him, the love he longs to feel manifests itself in complete physicality. The man is 38 and has never felt the intimate touch of a woman. To speak clearly: Mark wants to get laid. And soon. Can you blame him?

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is almost as hard to review as it is to watch. How do you go about explaining and analyzing a film that you don’t fully understand (especially when you feel the filmmakers involved aren’t particularly interested in having the film clearly defined anyway)?

Halloween Horror Marathon: The Scariest Scene I’ve Ever Seen

Over the past month (and as early as yesterday), I’ve made my appreciation for John Boorman’s Deliverance abundantly clear. So, by this point, there’s no need for me to casually remark how much this film terrifies me – it is, without question, the most horrifying film I’ve ever seen. And its most infamous scene is reason enough to thank for that.

Note: The scene in question has been discussed, mocked, ridiculed, made famous and everything in between, ten times over. With all that in mind, I’m going to discuss it in great detail. Detail that would be best appreciated by people who’ve seen the film.