Category Archives: Cinema

Gorgeous Lady of the Week — Malin Akerman

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What is it about Swedish beauties that stirs the, um, soul? Take the lovely Malin Ackerman. She made an indelible impression in Zach Snyder’s remarkably faithful (with one major exception to the deus ex machina) 2009 film adaptation of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ paranoid 1980s graphic novel masterpiece, Watchmen. Dressed up in a kinky bumblebee-colored latex costume and sporting a brunette wig, Malin’s Silk Spectre was the kind of sexy superheroine dreams are made of (though not it you’re a bad guy — then you just get your ass kicked).

While she’ll never be confused with greats like Ingrid Bergman or Liv Ullman in the acting department, Ms. Akerman does tend to light up the screen whenever she’s on it with her classic Scandinavian good looks and playful charm.

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Swedish by birth, Malin grew up primarily in Canada. After acting and modeling success there, she made the transition to Hollywood with a good supporting role in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle followed by starring parts in the Farrelly Brothers’ remake of The Heartbreak Kid alongside Ben Stiller, the formula rom-com 27 Dresses and her breakthrough in the eye-popping anti-superhero movie Watchmen.

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She’s also a rock chick, yet another turn-on, and was lead singer for the Petalstones where she met her now ex-husband, the drummer (of course — but, hey, I said “Ex” at least), with whom the 35-year-old stunner has a son. And while she left the group to focus on acting, that experience undoubtedly helped her accomplished and sexy duet with Tom Cruise singing Foreigner’s “I Wanna Know What Love Is” in 2012’s big budget classic rock musical, Rock of Ages, where both stars do the singing for real.

Malin can currently be seen showing off her comedic chops in ABC’s Trophy Wife alongside Macia Gay Harden and Bradley Whitford. While we’re certainly happy for her success on that funny sitcom, we can’t help but wish it were on a more risque channel like HBO or Cinemax. Because the more we see of Malin, the more we like.

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Remembering Philip Seymour Hoffman with laughter

It’s easy to forget between the sadness of his untimely passing and the accolades for his “heavier” work that Philip Seymour Hoffman was damn funny in comedic roles. In particular, his scenes in 1998’s The Big Lebowski stand out as masterful comic miniatures. He doesn’t have a lot of screen time in the movie but he wrings maximum hilarity out of his uptight sycophant character, Brandt. And his interactions with Jeff Bridges are pretty much priceless.

Notice how many quirky, funny tics and mannerisms he packs into that 2-minute scene. We’ll put another scene where he introduces The Dude to Bunny Lebowski poolside below the fold because it is definitely NSFW. Continue reading →

What we’re listening to today — Harry Nilsson

Image from LorberFilms.com

Just saw a really good documentary last night via Netflix streaming on singer/songwriter and soft rock superstar Harry Nilsson called Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?. As implied by the title, Nilsson is somewhat forgotten today but was fairly omnipresent in the late 1960s throughout the 70s, with several big hits recorded by him or written by him and recorded by other artists. You’ll probably recognize his tunes if not his name, which fall into what I lovingly call the “Crap Rock” genre (America, Player, Ambrosia, Bread, Bob Welch, etc). His own breakthrough was the theme song from 1969’s Oscar-winning downbeat classic Midnight Cowboy, “Everybody’s Talkin'”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz6GzKWiIAs

Although “Everybody’s Talkin'” was ironically not actually written by Nilsson, it was clear a major vocalist had arrived on the scene after many years of cult status earlier in the 60s. Of his own material, “One” is arguably his best known and also most successful single.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nB5VxPOoio

Even so, it wasn’t a huge blockbuster for Nilsson but rather for AOR staple Three Dog Night (as well as a ton of artists subsequently). Their signature blues-rock version reached #5 on the Billboard charts.

Having established himself in a short period as a hot commodity, Nilsson went on to have a huge commercial and critical success of his own with 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson. Continue reading →

RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman, 1967 – 2014

We’ve lost one of our finest American actors. The brilliant and gifted Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead on February 2nd in his West Village apartment of an apparent intravenous drug overdose, most likely heroin. In addition to his many highly praised film roles, Hoffman was an accomplished stage actor and director, winning special acclaim for his lead work in excellent revivals of True West, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Death of a Salesman. He was also a co-artistic director of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City. Part of Paul Thomas Anderson’s informal repertory company, Hoffman appeared in 5 of his 6 films to date, including the title character in last year’s The Master. He also won the Best Actor Oscar for his uncanny portrayal of Truman Capote during the In Cold Blood years in the 2005 film Capote. He was always a standout from his first big breakthrough as the no good prep school kid alongside Chris O’Donnell and Pacino in Scent of a Woman; to his irreverent priest matching wits with Meryl Streep in Doubt; to his wonderfully touching work in Tamara Jenkins’ underrated The Savages alongside Laura Linney. In fact, his standout parts are too numerous to do them justice here so I hope you’ll explore his filmography to see what a wonderful actor he was (see below for links) even if it hurts to think that we’ll see no more from him. You’ll probably also be surprised at how prolific he was.

He leaves behind his wife Mimi O’Donnell and their son and two daughters. Just an ineffably sad day for those who admired his work and his creative spirit. We are all truly poorer for his premature passing because you never really knew what delightful thing he was going to do next.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s full Wikipedia bio is here.

His IMDB page is here.

What We’re Watching – Charlie Is My Darling

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Above from left: Mssrs. Jones, Watts, Jagger, Richards, and Wyman in Ireland, 1965.

One of my favourite film genres is music documentaries. They offer a fun insight into the bands, indulging us fans and giving us a glimpse of what went into a certain record or period of time in a band’s career. For me, one of the best music docs of all-time is “Charlie Is My Darling”. There have been a lot of documentary films made about The Rolling Stones over the years. From the seminal concert film “Gimme Shelter” to Robert Frank’s unreleased (but often bootlegged), down and dirty “Cocksucker Blues”, to the nearly unwatchable 2008 bloated disaster of a film by Martin Scorcese, “Shine A Light”. The Rolling Stones have had their magical career covered from every direction, but never so insightfully as in this not often seen film from 1965.

Continue reading →

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year’s Eve, folks, and if you are going to tie one on tonight (as you bloody well should) this clip from 1942’s classic musical comedy Holiday Inn shows you how to do it with style and elán as only the great Fred Astaire can.

*Unfortunately, this video has its embedding disabled but click over to YouTube for this terrific performance–you won’t regret it.

We should all be so charming when we’re blitzed.

Wishing our loyal readers all the very best in 2014 and we hope you’ll keep hanging around our ever-evolving blog!

And of course, be careful who kisses you come midnight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gBalU46KqKI

Merry Christmas, Part II

And for those who prefer their Christmas entertainment traditional, there is probably no better cinema Christmas Carol than the 1951 Alastair Sim version directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. This adaptation is every bit as faithful and moving as Dickens could have wanted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ERtv_CC_nY

Merry, Merry and how’s that goose coming? I’m starved!

Gorgeous Lady of the Week — Amy Adams

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With her girl next door good looks, peaches and cream complexion and megawatt smile, Amy Adams is a born ingenue and the stuff that Holywood dreams are made of. But she’s more than just a wholesome all-American girl with a decidedly pretty face. Ms. Adams can flat out act.

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After struggling in Holywood in the early 2000s for several years without much to show for it, Amy Adams broke through to widespread critical recognition in 2005’s indie hit, Junebug. Her irrepressible Ashley Johnsten in that film earned the then-30-year-old a Best Supporting Actress nomination. And she has’t looked back since.

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In 2007 she was Princess Giselle in Disney’s megahit Enchanted and quickly followed that up with starring roles in the underrated Sunshine Cleaning and another critical success alongside Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia, which hinted at something more in her than just sweetness and light. She explored her tougher side further in David O. Russell’s excellent The Fighter as boxer Mickey Ward’s tough-as-nails and fiercely protective working class girlfriend, Charlene Fleming. After a return to perky form with The Muppets, Ms. Adams continued to mine a darker vein as the manipulative power behind a cult leader in P.T. Anderson’s grim The Master.

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With major roles in this past year’s Man of Steel as a fair haired but pitch perfect Lois Lane and another David O. Russell success, the recently released Oscar contender American Hustle, Amy Adams is now securely on Hollywood’s A-list for leading ladies and it would seem that the hard working 39-year-old’s best work is yet to come. With a smile that can melt the most cynical heart and an inner toughness that can tame the most unruly leading men, it’s certain that Ms. Adams is determined not to let her wholesome looks typecast her as just another good girl. Which suits us just fine — there’s nothing we like more than a little spice with our sugar.

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