Roger & Me

I had a colonoscopy once, and they let me watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than The Brown Bunny.

~ Roger Ebert

If life and death are truly cyclical, and we really do get to come back and be someone else for a lifetime, then I hope I’ve enough karma set aside to be reborn as a facsimile of Roger Ebert.

If you’ll allow me to resort to a couple of now-antiquated terms of endearment, Da Man is Da Bomb.

He’s won a Pulitzer Prize. He’s got a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. And he watches movies for a living. Can it possibly get any better than that?!

As fellow movie critic and writer Christ Beaumont once put it . . .

Roger Ebert is a national treasure. He is the most recognizable and well known movie critic. He has been my favorite writer for some time now. I do not always agree with his opinions, which is my right, but he always backs them up. He is not someone who will say that such and such about movie X is bad and leave it at that – he will give the reasons for his thought process.

As a case in point, consider Ebert’s response to Steven Jay Bernheim and David Defalco, the brains behind the movie Chaos . . .

Your real purpose in making Chaos, I suspect, was not to educate, but to create a scandal that would draw an audience. There’s always money to be made by going further and being more shocking. Sometimes there is also art to be found in that direction, but not this time. That’s because your film creates a closed system in which any alternative outcome is excluded; it is like a movie of a man falling to his death, which can have no developments except that he continues to fall, and no ending except that he dies. Pre-destination may be useful in theology, but as a narrative strategy, it is self-defeating . . . What I miss in your film is any sense of hope. Sometimes it is all that keeps us going. The message of futility and despair in Chaos is unrelieved, and while I do not require a “happy ending,” I do appreciate some kind of catharsis. As the Greeks understood tragedy, it exists not to bury us in death and dismay, but to help us to deal with it, to accept it as a part of life, to learn about our own humanity from it. That is why the Greek tragedies were poems: The language ennobled the material.

That quote hangs on the wall above my desk, a poignant reminder to find the hope in even the darkest of subjects.

About many of my favorite movies, we are in total agreement:

Dances with Wolves

. . . has the kind of vision and ambition that is rare in movies today. It is not a formula movie, but a thoughtful, carefully observed story.

Minority Report

Some directors place their trust in technology. Spielberg, who is a master of technology, trusts only story and character, and then uses everything else as a workman uses his tools. He makes Minority Report with the new technology; other directors seem to be trying to make their movies from it.

Monster

What Charlize Theron achieves in Patty Jenkins’ Monster isn’t a performance but an embodiment. With courage, art and charity, she empathizes with Aileen Wuornos, a damaged woman who committed seven murders. She does not excuse the murders. She simply asks that we witness the woman’s final desperate attempt to be a better person than her fate intended.

Amores Perros

Inarritu’s characters are not the bland, amoral totems of so much modern Hollywood violence, but people with feelings and motives. They want love, money and revenge.

Magnolia

. . . is the kind of film I instinctively respond to. Leave logic at the door. Do not expect subdued taste and restraint, but instead a kind of operatic ecstasy.

And at his personal blog, he writes with equal passion about topics ranging from evolution . . .

The zealots of Creationism are indefatigable. Even now there are attempts to legislate that the pseudo science of Intelligent Design must be taught in school systems as a “debate” with Evolution. In common sense terms, that debate was over a century ago. Yet there are votes out there for politicians who support such legislation, and at the 2008 GOP presidential debate, no less that three candidates said they do not believe in evolution. I suppose I should be gratified that there weren’t more. They were Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback. Some took their stand on religious grounds, but didn’t include Mitt Romney, who as a Mormon knows his church has no official dogma about whether or not Darwin’s theory is valid. A Mormon can be a Darwinian if he chooses. Romney chooses to.

. . . to his own battle with alcoholism:

I’ve known two heavy drinkers who claimed they never had hangovers. I didn’t believe them. Without hangovers, it is possible that I would still be drinking. Unemployed, unmarried, but still drinking–or, more likely, dead. Most alcoholics continue to drink as long as they can. For many, that means death. Unlike drugs in most cases, alcohol allows you to continue your addiction for what’s left of your life, barring an accident. The lucky ones find their bottom, and surrender.

God, I love Roger. And hate him as well, for this week he’s at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he had a chance to see Lee Daniels’ film Precious . . .

I have been dying to see this movie since hearing about it several months ago. The book it is based on is a difficult, painful and powerful read. And now Ebert has seen the movie and I haven’t. He writes . . .

Precious, one of the best films of the autumn, is Lee Daniels’ story of a physically and mentally abused poor black girl from the ghetto, who summons the inner strength to fight back for her future. It contains two great performances, by Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, in the title role, and Mo’Nique as her pathetic mother. Sidibe is the life force personified. Mo’Nique has a closing monologue that reduced some of us to tears.

Damn him! I cry just watching the trailer. I imagine I’ll be a blubbering mess when I finally get to see this one for myself. For I love movies. And (have I said this already?) I love Roger Ebert.

This has been a long post, filled with many words that are not my own. And if you’ve made it this far, Dear Tweaker, you deserve some sort of payoff. Which is why I am now, publically, making a promise to myself: Next April 21-25, I do solemnly swear to be in Champaign, Illinois for Ebertfest 2010. I’ve lived too long without meeting enough people that I truly admire. I’ve thought of making plans to do this or that thing and then let them fall by the wayside of life’s rambling and unpredictable highway. But, unemployment be damned, I will find a way. Like Roger, I will take my place in an aisle seat and feed my passion for movies until I’m sick with glee. I’ll wait patiently in the queue to shake Roger’s hand. And if I can get a word out of what I imagine will be my extremely cottony mouth and can still my beating heart for more than a second or two, I’ll thank him for giving me so many things: a passion for movies; for words; for thinking critically about the details of life. And for being a survivor . . .

[photo credit]

My Leading Ladies

The Cheek is all about me. My life. Stuff I’ve done, places I’ve been, things I’ve lived through and just a smattering of the moments that have shaped me and made me the multitalented, highly educated and downright super swell guy I am today.

Stop laughing . . .

Anyway, after the Magnum opus that was my last post, I thought I’d come back today with something a bit on the sunnier, fresh-air side of life.

I love movies. Always have. The peaceful moments of my existence are embodied best in a quite evening at home with a DVD in the Pioneer and the lights out. And while there’s nothing wrong with the occasional lighthearted romantic comedy or a mindless blockbuster action movie, what I really enjoy are movies about interesting characters. Often called dramas, these presentations of honest people living real, complex lives in the midst of both the magnificent and the mundane turn my crank and drag me through the entire spectrum of emotions. I laugh. I cry. I escape for a couple hours and then slide reluctantly back into the real world, often having learned a thing or two about myself along the way. And making good character-driven movies take incredibly talented and versatile actors.

I got to thinking about all this last night while watching one such movie with my son, and our chat was still jogging upon the dewy grass track of my mind as I awoke this morning. So I decided to run with it and solidify a list of my favorite character actors to share with you, starting with the ladies. When I see any of these gals cast in a movie, it’s almost always a must-see. So here they are, my leading ladies, in no particular order:

 

Patricia Clarkson

She oozes talent from every pore. While most may not consider her a leading lady, I find that she brightens nearly every movie I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her in. I fell for her in The Green Mile. To watch her transform from a diseased and bedridden bag of bones into a beacon of light and redemption moved me. She stole the show, even if only for a brief few minutes. She did almost the same thing in The Station Agent. And then she melted my heart completely in Lars and the Real Girl.

 

Joan Allen

She never plays a weak character, every one a strong woman with poise and intelligence. Consider her as Bonnie Waitzkin, the protective yet compassionate mother to a chess prodigy in Searching for Bobby Fischer, or as the no-nonsense senator in The Contender. And who really wants to mess with Pamela Landy, the hard-as-nails agent with a heart of gold in the last two installments of the Bourne trilogy? She’s been in too many good movies to list here. As a leading lady, she’s not had much success. But she steals every scene she gets with her wit and charm. She’s spot on every time and a pleasure to watch.

 

Helen Hunt

I’ve loved her since Mad About You. She was the perfect foil for Paul Reiser, counterbalancing is stupidity with her spunk and grace. She manages to save Twister, and then burst onto the big screen with class in As Good As It Gets, providing the shaky yet determined voice of reason to Jack Nicholson’s insanity and earning and Oscar in the process. Her eyes speak volumes and her silence screams. It all just simmers underneath and then bursts out with such precision and poise. She’s been sort of underground for a while but has a new movie out, Then She Found Me, which she wrote, produced, directed and starred in. I can’t wait to see it.

 

Charlize Theron

She could have been a bimbo actress. Her first big screen role was in Children of the Corn III. What?! Then came The Devil’s Advocate. I was a bit worried. Then she started taking on some real meaty roles and came out shining. Most people missed The Legend of Bagger Vance, which is a shame. And . . . my God . . . the awesomeness that is her performance in Monster. Rent it today if you haven’t seen this Oscar-winning performance. She sparkled in The Cider House Rules and showed her tough side in The Italian Job. She’s gorgeous, talented and hasn’t disappointed me in quite some time. Of course, I haven’t seen Æon Flux yet . . .

 

Cate Blanchett

My favorite elf. I’d enter a spooky, ancient forest any day for an audience with this extremely talented former Queen of England . . . er . . . I mean actress. Cate has portrayed almost everyone imaginable, including Bob Dylan, and done so with her own unique style. Her smile can lift your spirits or rip out your heart. Consider her role in Notes on a Scandal opposite the always-good Judi Dench. She fell apart on screen, deconstructing the stereotypical image of a successful woman with secrets in the closet. And she managed to steal Babel right out from under Brad Pitt. Then there’s all that red hair. My oh my, what a beautiful woman.

 

Toni Collette

She quietly slipped on the scene in 1994’s Muriel’s Wedding in a performance lauded by critics but missed by most moviegoers. Then came The Sixth Sense, in which her startling and sympathetic turn as struggling single mother Lynn Sear earned her an Academy Award nomination. I watched this movie again last night with my son and I’m still touched by her transparent performance. Simply riveting. Almost as good as her role in the funny yet touching Little Miss Sunshine. Her pout isn’t . . . pouty, if you catch my drift. She’s honest with her emotions and never fails to make me smile.

 

Kate Winslet

Face it. Anyone who could make Titanic a joy to watch has to be good. Kate is fearless when it comes to the roles she chooses. She can play the classics, as she did as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, embody such eccentric personalities as Iris Murdoch in Iris, and then bring boring to life with an easy dramatic flair as she did in Little Children. She even managed to breathe life into Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opposite Jim Carrey. That was no small feat, for that movie would have been dead without her knack for sincere laughter atop a smile that speaks a thousand words. She’s a rare and elegant beauty, and I just adore her.

 

Jennifer Connelly

I just realized that Jennifer Connelly is the first brunette on my list. I’ll let you decide what that means. Meanwhile, I’ll watch her again and again. I loved her in the thinking person’s sci-fi noir flick Dark City. She looked just so darn poised and otherworldly standing on the dock at the end of the film, her dark hair blowing in the breeze. But her other roles have taken her deeper, as a drug addict in Requiem for a Dream, as Jackson Pollock’s impressionable lover in Pollock, as a single mother with supernatural water stains on her apartment ceiling in Dark Water. But watching her shatter a glass of water in anger and frustration in A Beautiful Mind is a study in excellence of expression and personification. And those baby blue eyes . . .

 

Hilary Swank

Russell Crowe once encouraged anyone who came from “the downside of advantage” to pursue their dreams whatever they may be. Such is the case with Hilary Swank. She got her first big break in The Next Karate Kid after she and her mother moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Then came Boys Don’t Cry, and astonishingly compassionate and realistic performance as Brandon Teena, a transsexual who was brutally raped and murdered in Nebraska in 1993. Few people saw this movie, which is a shame. She earned an Oscar for her performance, and then earned a second Oscar for her portrayal as boxing phenom Maggie Fitzgerald in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. She’s had some duds (The Reaping) but the good far outweigh the bad.

 

Laura Linney

If I were pressed to name my favorite actress, I wouldn’t hesitate a second in picking Laura Linney. Honestly, I’ve never seen her in a bad movie. She has that rare ability to rescue even the shallowest of screenplays and bring her performance to life. I first fell for her in The Truman Show. Her over-the-top performance matched Carrey’s step for step. And consider her opposite Mark Ruffalo in You Can Count on Me. The quiver in her voice sounds genuine and unforced and adds a sympathetic touch that dives deep but never drowns. I especially enjoyed her in The Savages with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Interestingly, she always seems to be cast opposite some of my favorite actors. She holds her own and brings out the best in everyone.

 

Julianne Moore

Ever see Magnolia? No, not Steel Magnolias. That one sucked. Magnolia is the three-hour ensemble drama directed my Paul Thomas Anderson, the wunderkind behind last years best movie, There Will Be Blood. He has a way of bringing out the best in his actors, and he got way more than even he could have imagined from Julianne Moore in Magnolia. She walks the tightrope of madness and never slips. She’s done sensitive and sweet in Far From Heaven, sexy, dirty and nasty in Boogie Nights, and strong and proud in Children of Men. Not all of her movies have been masterpieces, but that’s no fault of hers. Heck, I even liked her as Clarice Starling in Hannibal, not an easy role to take on after Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning turn.

So there you have ’em, my leading ladies of cinema. Were I an actor in need of someone to work with who could make my star shine, I’d choose any one of these gals any day of the week. Feel free to add your favorites to the comments, or simply add your praise for these actors if you feel so led. I love talking movies, so fire away . . .