Tribute to Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Is it better to burn out or fade away? It seems like all too often we are given examples to help answer that question. Marylin Monroe died at the age of 36 capturing her image and immortalizing it. History will always remember her as the beautiful blonde woman who sang “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”. Had she not died, today she would have been an 87 year old has been who once was known for her beauty; history would have eventually forgotten her.

So is it a curse or a blessing that Phillip Seymour Hoffman should die at the age of 46 during the highest point in his career? We all die, but only some of us become immortal. Hoffman certainly will go down as one of the bests actors of his generation and whether he lived another 40 years that would not have changed.

I was very surprised to read that he was only 46 years old. I assumed that he was at least in his mid fifties, not based on his looks but based on the, impressive to say the least, body of work he had. There have been films I’ve watched where I was surprised to even see him in and still sometimes forget he was even in them. “The Big Lebowski” is a good example of that. In that film he showed so much versatility in playing the all too polite butler of the eponymous character, showcasing a great deal of talent for background roles that SHOULD be forgotten at the end of a film. In another film “Scent of a Woman” he played a student who pulls a prank and sets in motion the events of the film. He plays it calm and is not very concerned about his fate or even about the fate of anyone involved including the innocent students. Then of course in an excellent thriller called “The Talented Mr. Ripley” he played a small but important role whose job was to push the protagonist over the edge and do something rash. In all three films he did one of the most difficult jobs an actor of his caliber can do; he held back. He knew that the show wasn’t his to steal; he knew that his character was fully fledged and he didn’t need to bring anything to the film that his character didn’t already do. He respected his characters so much that some of his best work will be forgotten.

I have never seen a film were he didn’t give a great performance. Even in films like “Along Came Polly” or “Patch Adams” where it is so easy to lose control of everything, he remained a positive force for the films and performed his character like he should have.

I for one think he will definitely be missed in Hollywood as now there is one less actor we can fully trust working in the field, and that is why I am truly upset about his passing. Hoffman could have lived to the age of 100 and still have burned out when he died. He would have never faded away.

Thank you for your patience with me reader. I know it has been a long time since my last post but hopefully now that the ball is going again I will be able to deliver. Soon I should be able to post a list of my favorite films of last year, do not miss it.

A Tribute to Roger Ebert.

I may have not always agreed with him, I may have always thought that he was a bit full of himself; I may have thought that he favored dramas and indulgent 3 hour history movies over fun action packed movies but he was my favorite film critic and without him I wouldn't have a blog.

Roger Ebert shaped the way film criticism works today. Before him people would ask each other if they liked a movie or not and get a yes or no answer, but him and his partner Gene Siskel made talking in depth about movies cool. He made film criticism a respectable branch of journalism at a time when people thought of movie lovers as nothing more than couch potatoes. Of course today there is still that notion of laziness attached to those who watch movies all the time but at least because of Roger we film critics can defend ourselves.

All over the internet, film criticism is becoming more popular, with countless movie reviewers on youtube, all being respected by their viewers, myriads of blogs just like mine each devoted to a different field of cinema, and even shows like RiffTrax, all being influenced by the man that started it all.

He had a long and painful battle with cancer during which he had to have his bottom jaw removed. It was truly sad to watch him in that state as the prosthetic he used made him look very sick. He lost his ability to speak, he lost the ability to eat or drink, but he never lost his ability to be a film critic, and thank God for that. He still continued to do what his heart desired to do even at his state and his age.

I am happy to have lived during a time when he was alive and still posting reviews, because I rarely watched a new movie without reading his review. Like I said before, I think his taste was a bit questionable, and I never based my intention to see a movie based on his opinion but I always respected what he had to say of a film and I am honored to have been part of his staff of admirers.

Long Live the King

Roger Ebert

1942-2013

Tribute to Michael Clarke Dunkan

OK. So the big man is dead and I have a duty as a film critic to pay tribute to him. I’m not going to lie; I wasn’t a huge fan of his movies but credit should be given where it is due, the man could act. He might not have been in many great movies but no matter how ridiculous his role was or how absurd the movies premise was he always had the conviction required and always gave his character likeability.

As I said he hasn’t been in that many good movies in his career but some of them stand out, and I am going to talk about some of them.

“The Island” is a very entertaining film directed by Michael Bay, and has a very interesting premise: Pay enough money and you can have a clone of yourself made. It’s sort of an insurance policy because if, god forbid, you need a new kidney, a new liver, or a bone marrow transplant, you have a donor waiting for you to get sick just so they can give up their organs. It’s an exciting plot and is carried nicely by good acting but Michael Bay being the Antichrist to Steven Spielberg’s Messiah, goes and dumbs it down for the audience. Anyway Michael Clarke Duncan has a small but brilliant role in this film, and he can make you really scared about the stuff that happens in the film.

Duncan had another small but interesting role in “Sin City”, the black & white noir film based on Frank Miller’s comic book series of the same name. His role is pivotal in putting everything together and making the film whole. He is pretty menacing with his deep voice, his tall height, and his red eye (occasionally there are some colored objects in the otherwise black & white movie), and just the way he presents himself is very different from what he usually played.

And then of course we have the movie that defined his career. “The Green Mile” is known to make grown men cry, and not because that one guy steps on a cute mouse. Duncan is so tragic in the role, and it comes as a shock to those watching it for the first time because you wouldn’t expect someone that looks 7 feet tall and sounds like a gorilla, to be so sensitive and gentile. He is undoubtedly the centerpiece of the film and it is definitely worth watching for him alone.

Now I don’t want to rate these films because I am not really giving them full reviews, I’m just paying tribute to the big man and his legacy. R.I.P

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