Reviews of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in IMAX, BANG BANG YOUR DEAD… A report out on the Venice Film Festival, the latest production news, and the Top 6 List.. NOTABLE FILMS WHERE THE LEAD ACTOR IS PLAYING AGAINST TYPE (And it actually works).
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Film Fustians, 9/11/124 comments to Film Fustians, 9/11/12Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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My vote for NOTABLE FILMS WHERE THE LEAD ACTOR IS PLAYING AGAINST TYPE (And it actually works)is “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” (the late Patrick Swayze).
We need a review “Innocence of Muslims”. Why let the extremists be the only critic.
You probably shouldn’t comment on the substance of that Mohammad movie, so as to avoid spoiling the surprise ending. And of course we wouldn’t want to have that fatwa on the cast and crew be extended to reviewers. But it might be worthwhile to contrast the technical merits of this film against a project of similar ambition and notoriety. Perhaps you might evaluate the direction, script, acting, cinematography, special effects, and of course wardrobe, as compared to Paris Hilton’s breakout vehicle, “1 Night in Paris”.
A few scattershot comments…
About actors playing against type…Did someone suggest “Adam Sandler” in PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, which showed that Sandler had a capacity not evident in most of his work?
About films set in the office…when Phyllis Diller passed away, I’d mentioned her role in the film version of Elmer Rice’s play, THE ADDING MACHINE. This surreal adventure is launched from an office, although it moves well beyond it as events progress. But the office is so central to the theme that I think THE ADDING MACHINE qualifies for the category.
With respect to your “best whatever” category…what I’d like to hear are your awards for “Best woman having a nervous breakdown”. I’m looking for a psychological/spiritual edge rather than an external threat. Here are a few candidates that come to mind. Mimi Rogers in THE RAPTURE would be a very strong contender. Faye Dunaway in MOMMY DEAREST. Perhaps Shelley Duvall in THE SHINING, which I think qualifies as a psychological threat and not just an axe-wielding Jack Nicholson. If you’re willing to stretch the gender (and it’s not much of a stretch), maybe even Buffalo Bill in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
It would more precisely define the “nervous breakdown” category if we added a couple of distinctive alternate categories: “Best woman being chased by a monster” and “Best love-obsessed psycho-girl-from-hell ” (e.g. PLAY MISTY FOR ME). What do you say?
Finally, I got around to seeing PROMETHEUS. Hadn’t rushed out because I knew I was going to hate it, and indeed my expectations were exceeded. PROMETHEUS lost me in the first minutes, when they made it clear that the most important and expensive expedition in history was manned by a motley assortment of slackers that didn’t know why they were there or what they were supposed to do, and had no discipline or any concept of teamwork. You can get away with that sort of idiotic plotting if you’re making lowbrow entertainment like STARSHIP TROOPERS, and you remember to toss in a few gratuitous shower scenes to satisfy the popcorn-munching wankers. Instead, Ridley Scott struck a serious tone, which grated against the cheap plot. A wiser director, if stuck with that crummy script, would have abandoned his lofty pretensions and made that doctor machine cut off the garments of a squirming Elizabeth Shaw. Then cut to a moment’s comic relief, showing Vickers and Capt. Janek in bed, sharing a post-coital cigarette, watching Shaw’s operation on the big screen. Then cut to a drooling old Peter Weyland, watching Vickers and Janek on his own big screen. I know Ridley Scott is listening; maybe it’s not too late to re-shoot and salvage the director’s cut.