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Happy Birthday to Daniel Day-Lewis
Happy Birthday to Daniel Day-Lewis! He turns 56 today.
He most recently won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Lincoln (2012). He was nominated for Best Actor 5 different times and he won 3 times. Besides Lincoln, the other 2 movies that he won for were There will be Blood (2007) and My Left Foot (1989).
My favorite Daniel Day-Lewis movies are The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Gangs of New York (2002).
Can you name the 2 movies that he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but didn’t win?
Hitchcock (2012)
Hitchcock (2012)
In Hitchcock Anthony Hopkins steps into the shoes of the Master of Suspense and they fit him quite well. In fact, he seemed so much like Alfred Hitchcock that at times I forgot it was actually Anthony Hopkins. They even have the same monogrammed towels, although, that’s merely a coincidence. Or is it?
Hitchcock is based off of Stephen Rebello’s non-fiction book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. The film gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the relationship that Alfred Hitchcock had with his wife and the struggle he went through to create his most popular beloved masterpiece, Psycho (1960).
I am a huge Hitchcock fan, and I was not familiar with a lot of the events that occurred in this story. The movie was a sort of tribute to the legendary genius film director. It was enlightening and very entertaining.
Just as Hitchcock was able to get tons of popular actors to act in his films, Hitchcock the movie is overrun with a number of great actors: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Wincott, James D’Arcy, Richard Portnow, Kurtwood Smith, Ralph Macchio, Wallace Langham, Currie Graham, Spencer Garrett, and Frank Collison. Sacha Gervasi directs the movie.
Helen Mirren is superb as Hitchcock’s wife Alma. The chemistry between Mirren and Hopkins on screen is perfect.
The filming of Psycho was very tastefully recreated in Hitchcock. Scarlett Johansson does an excellent job playing Janet Leigh. Jessica Biel is a great Vera Miles. I thought James D’Arcy was a pretty believable Anthony Perkins.
Anthony Hopkins did for Hitchcock what Daniel Day-Lewis did for Lincoln (2012). They didn’t just act the part. They became the part.
If you are an Alfred Hitchcock fan like I am, than you will most certainly enjoy Hitchcock.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Note: You might be wondering why the name Ralph Macchio sounds so familiar. He was the original Karate Kid (Daniel Larusso) in The Karate Kid (1984). Can you believe he is already 51 years old?
13 Awesome Actors, 13 Awful Movies
13 Awesome Actors, 13 Awful Movies
Unfortunately I had the displeasure of viewing these vile movies. I was duped into thinking that each one of these films could do no wrong because of the awesome actors that were in them. Boy was I wrong. Do yourself a favor and stay as far away from these movies as you can get.
Anthony Hopkins: Alexander (2004)
Brad Pitt: Killing Them Softly (2012)
Daniel Day-Lewis: The Boxer (1997)
George Clooney: Syriana (2005)
Jeff Bridges: The Contender (2000)
John Travolta: Battlefield Earth (2000)
Johnny Depp: Before Night Falls (2000)
Kevin Costner: Waterworld (1995)
Kevin Spacey: HurlyBurly (1998)
Morgan Freeman: Dreamcatcher (2003)
Nicolas Cage: The Wicker Man (2006)
Robin Williams: The Night Listener (2006)
Tom Cruise: Interview with the Vampire (1994)
When I look at this list, I can only ask myself one question: What were they thinking?
Lincoln (2012)
Lincoln (2012)
Lincoln is a very well crafted film. It is Steven Spielberg filmmaking at his best. Even though the film crept along at a snail’s pace, and felt longer than the 2 ½ hours running time, it was definitely worth seeing.
Begin the movie with expectations that it will be slow and long and you will be pleasantly surprised by the Oscar worthy performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and his supporting cast of what seemed like an endless number of major character actors such as Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Jackie Earl Haley, John Hawkes, Bruce McGill, Tim Blake Nelson, Jared Harris, etc., etc., and then some. You probably do not recognize half of those names listed, but you will definitely recognize their faces when you see them in the film. Every couple of scenes, I was surprised to see another familiar face of a very likable character actor.
Because so many people hopped aboard the Steven Spielberg train that is Lincoln, I think that the only ones that could win any awards for their performances would be Daniel Day-Lewis, Steven Spielberg himself, or maybe Tommy Lee Jones.
There did not seem to be a whole lot of character development for any one supporting character and I believe this is because there were almost too many characters to try to develop.
Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of Lincoln was amazing. He was the spitting image of Lincoln. Bravo to the makeup crew. It must have taken a couple of hours to make him look like Lincoln every day. If I didn’t know that it was Daniel Day-Lewis acting as Lincoln and you showed me footage from the film, I would have believed it was actually Lincoln.
These days, it is risky to make a film like Lincoln. But without risk there is no reward, and in this case maybe a few awards.
I rate Lincoln an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
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