Right Cinema

Entertainment Weekly has released its list of the Top 25 Hollywood Hookers, and Julia Roberts has taken the number one spot for her role in “Pretty Woman”. Because, honestly, who else would win that one?

Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”

The list takes a look at the actors and actresses who played prostitutes and the careers that such a role gave them. For Julia Roberts, her role as Vivian, a prostitute who happens upon Eddie (played by Richard Gere) when he can’t figure out how to drive a stick shift on Hollywood Boulevard, skyrocketed her to fame. Though Julia had appeared in “Steel Magnolias”, and a few movies like “Mystic Pizza” before that, it was “Pretty Woman” that landed her the title of America’s Sweetheart.

And the same might be said for a few of the other prostitutes on the list as well. Rebecca De Mornay lands at 17 on the list for her role in “Risky Business”. The actress was virtually unknown in 1983 when the film released, with only one movie completed prior to that. But after she stole Tom Cruise’s heart, she was in America’s as well. De Mornay has gone on to star in about 40 other films and various television shows. Others on the list include Jamie Lee Curtis (”Trading Places”), Jodie Foster (”Taxi Driver”), and Elisabeth Shue (”Leaving Las Vegas”).

There’s even a few men on the list, including Dermot Mulroney for his role in “The Wedding Date”. I’ll be adding that to my Netflix queue … now. And of course, Richard Gere makes the cut for “American Gigolo”.

See more photos of the Top 25 Hollywood Hookers and a video of Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” below.

Photos and Video

Who are some of the best actors to never have won an Oscar? I tried to think of some actors who I was unsure of whether they received an Oscar or not.

First, here are some who came to mind and did win at least one:

Robert Deniro has two for Raging Bull and The Godfather II; Al Pacino won his first for Scent of a Woman; Susan Sarandon has won it for Dead Man Walking and her costar in that film, Sean Penn, has got one for his role in Mystic River.

Now here are some names who you might expect to have an Oscar on their mantle, but don’t:

Johnny Depp: Nominated for Sweeney Todd, Finding Neverland, and Pirates of the Caribbean. One glaring omission in my opinion is Edward Scissorhands. Without that movie there is no Johnny Depp film career, and he was fantastic in that movie.

Tom Cruise: Nominated for Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, and Born on the Fourth of July. But what about A Few Good Men?

Matt Damon: Nominated for Good Will Hunting, for which he won as a screenwriter. But what about The Departed and even The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Michelle Pfeiffer: Nominated for Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and Love Field (never heard of it). Even though I really liked her in White Oleander, Michelle Pfeiffer feels like yesterday’s news.

Clint Eastwood: Nominated for Million Dollar Baby (won for directing) and Unforgiven.

Michael Rapaport: Lighten up, that’s a joke.

Peter O’toole: No actor has been nominated for more Oscars (8) without winning one. The first film that got him a nod was Lawrence of Arabia in 1963 and his last one was for Venus in 2007. I wish O’Toole the best of luck and hopefully he will still have another opportunity.

Of course, if any of the talented actors above need some tips, they could always ask Marissa Tomei who has won an Oscar for her role in My Cousin Vinny – no seriously.

Imagine having to say, “yes, I was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to the woman from My Cousin Vinny.” Speachless.

The 2008 MTV Movie Awards were televised live on Sunday, June 1, 2008. One of the presenters was the star of “Knocked Up” and “Superbad”, Seth Rogen. And while he’s always good for a laugh, rumor has it he’s good for a smoke, too.

Seth Rogen

Seth was at the awards to present the winner of Best Summer Movie So Far. When he and James Franco walked up to the microphone to announce the nominees, they talked about how they’re not potheads and didn’t really smoke on the set of their upcoming movie “Pineapple Express”. And then they continued down the path: this isn’t really a big bag of weed, this isn’t really a fat joint, this isn’t really a lighter, and we’re not really smoking this really good weed. Interesting bit, considering the MTV demographic is the same that those Above the Influence commercials are targeted toward.

But now the speculation is starting that Rogen was really smoking the wacky tobacky, mostly because the camera zooms waaaay out when the talk of smoking begins. Things that make you go hmmm. Decide for yourself.

See the video of Seth Rogen at the MTV Movie Awards and the trailer for “Pineapple Express” below.

Video

Heath Ledger was brought to Hollywood with the expectation that the Aussie would be a heartthrob that could play the lead in light, formulaic, bubblegum, moneymaking vehicles. If the studios had their way, Ledger would play in a variation of 10 Things I Hate About You twice a year until he became too old and no one would take him seriously. However, Ledger’s talent and desire to be a great actor shattered Hollywood’s moneymaking schemes. He was on the verge of blazing a fantastic fiery trail, but like many before him, his star burned out much too soon.

Ledger gave one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain (2005). He is also set to leave us with one last performance for the ages as the Joker in this summer’s The Dark Knight. After his passing, I was interested in watching his 2006 role as a heroin addict opposite Abbie Cornish in Candy. Candy is a story of two young artists who yield their love to the powerful hold of their heroin addiction. However, unlike most films about addiction, Ledger and Cornish were able to deliver their roles with a tragic beauty rather than a depressing sadness. Ledger described the movie as a love triangle between his character, Cornish’s, and lady heroin.

Although I am saddened by Ledger’s death, I look forward to what I expect to be a one-of-a-kind performance that will blow us all away this summer. Of course, there is another famous actor who once played the Joker, and he was not supportive of Ledger in this role.

In an interview with MTV, Jack Nicholson expressed his frustration:

I’m furious. I’m furious. They never asked me about a sequel with the Joker. I know how to do that! Nobody ever asked me. . . . Maybe it’s not a mistake. Maybe it was the right thing, but to be candid, I’m furious. . . . [T]he Joker comes from my childhood. That’s how I got involved with it in the first place. It’s a part I always thought I should play.

Well Mr. Nicholson, I would like to go out on a limb and predict that Heath Ledger will be nominated for a much deserved Oscar for supporting actor as the Joker. Although Jack’s performance was very good, I think Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker will make Nicholson pale in comparison.

In an excellent interview with The New York Times, Ledger discussed his trouble sleeping and his use of sleeping pills. Of course, it is easy to speculate, but I would rather leave with this quote from that same interview:

But there are many stories inside of me and a lot I want to achieve outside of one flat note.

No one will ever accuse Ledger for being flat, and I look forward to see him tell the Joker’s story. He was an exceptional talent and a decent human being by all accounts. Whatever happened, and however it happened, I hope that he rests in peace.

Click below to watch a fantastic interview of Heath Ledger on Charlie Rose talking about “stillness,” his appearance on Ellen, and the trailers to Candy and this summer’s The Dark Knight.

Videos

Throughout his career, Daniel Day-Lewis has delivered some of the most memorable, brilliant, and unique performances in recent cinematic history.

At the age of 32 in My Left Foot (1989), Daniel Day-Lewis won his first Oscar for playing the true story of Christie Brown – a quadriplegic who becomes an accomplished artist and writer all by using his lone functional limb. In 1992, Lewis played in The Last of the Mohicans as an adopted orphan reared by Mohawks. In 2002, Lewis received another Oscar nomination for playing Bill “The Butcher” Cutting in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. While I did enjoy Gangs, everything else in the movie played a distant second to Lewis’ performance as The Butcher. Of course, then there was his universal praise in 2007 for playing Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.

Lewis takes all of his roles very seriously and on the screen you can tell that he gives himself completely to the roles he chooses. When he accepted his Oscar for There Will Be Blood, he referred to his wife as “Mrs. Plainview.” Of course, unlike many of his successful peers, Lewis is very patient with the roles he chooses and only averages a film once every 15 to 24 months. Between 1992 and 2007, Lewis has played in exactly 8 films. One of those films was in 1997 where Lewis played another Danny in The Boxer. In the film, Danny Flynn is a hometown favorite who is released from prison after 14 years for some IRA related activities that he had little or nothing to do with. He comes home to a town that is sick of fighting and a group of local strongmen that do not appreciate Danny’s desire to live a life of peace. Overall, the film was good and Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance was solid, however, this one falls short compared to the amazing roles with which he has spoiled us. For now, Daniel Day-Lewis is not slated for any new films, but I am sure that once he comes out of his typical hiatus, he will move us with another unforgettable performance.

Click here to see an interview with Daniel Day-Lewis on the Arsenio Hall Show and SNL’s Bill Hader in “There Will Be Milkshakes for Old Men.”

Videos

In the second season of one of my favorite shows when I was in high school, Picket Fences , a new D.A. was elected to the small town of Rome, Wisconsin. Don Cheadle played in 35 episodes as D.A. John Littleton, and he immediately drew me in as a very likeable and warm character.

In a time when TV was still a distant second to the silver screen, Cheadle made a smooth transition and has played memorable roles ever since. He played an undercover agent in the Oscar winning Traffic (2000), he was hilarious as an explosives expert with a Cockney accent in Ocean’s Eleven (2001), he was part of another ensemble Oscar winning picture in Crash (2004), he was nominated for an Oscar in the awe shocking Hotel Rwanda (2004), and he played in a movie that was both sweet and sad with Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me (2007).

In 1999, Cheadle played in a lesser known made-for-TV movie, A Lesson Before Dying. Set in the deep South in the 1940s, an African American (played by Mekhi Phifer) is wrongly accused with murder, and his attorney’s only defense to keep him from being sentenced to death is that the black man’s worth is that of a hog and it would be absurd to put a hog on the electric chair. Don Cheadle plays a teacher who helps the young man find his dignity so that he can walk as a man before his life is meaninglessly ended.

This movie was subtly powerful and tragically beautiful. Yes, it was made-for-TV, but it won numerous awards including an Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. After watching A Lesson I realized two things about Don Cheadle. One, he is very good working with others and he does not need the spotlight. Ensemble movies typically do not work because there is not enough room for all the stars to shine, but Don Cheadle consistently plays in amazing ensemble movies. Second, his characters are always very warm, endearing, and comforting, and if I were behind bars and on death row, I know who I would want my teacher to be.

I think it would be wrong to write about Don Cheadle and not mention his tireless humanitarian work to stop the genocide in Darfur. Here are links to www.1800genocide.com and a CNN article about his efforts.

Click below to see a trailer for Cheadle’s documentary Darfur Now and to view an interview with him regarding Darfur and the 1800Genocide.com organization.

Videos

Before winning an Oscar for best leading actor in Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman proved he can play the leading role and deliver a memorable performance in Love Liza. In the movie, written by his brother Gordy, Hoffman plays Wilson Joel. Dealing with the recent suicide of his wife, Wilson carries around an unopened suicide letter and numbs the pain by getting high on gasoline fumes.

No matter how sad or obscure the character, and he has played a few, Hoffman never fails to bring a unique sense of humor. There are few things sadder than the love of your life committing suicide, but Hoffman still finds the comedy in a seriously tragic character. High on fumes and dazed with denial, Wilson Joel sinks lower than most viewers are willing to go, but he provides some laughs along the way. Here are my three favorite randomly funny things from the movie:

1. Joel, a web designer, continues to awkwardly laugh at a simple joke told around the water cooler until every one of his fellow employees uncomfortably leaves.
2. When his friend wins some random remote control boat race, Joel is so elated with his clapping, jumping, and laughing that it in slow motion it looks like he is flying.
3. Every time Joel gets in trouble with his nerdy remote control buddy, Denny, Denny keeps playing the “his wife just committed suicide” card as a way to get them out of trouble.

Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a seriously thoughtful performance, and I would recommend Love Liza for sure. By the way, the next night I watched Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War. Let’s just say that I have never seen Philip give a less than excellent performance.

To refresh your memory, here are just some of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s memorable performances in supporting roles: 1) Brandt, the brown-nosing assistant in The Big Lebowski (1998); 2) Freddy Miles, the rich vacationing prick in Europe in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999); 3) Lester Bangs, the jilted rock critic in Almost Famous (2000); 4) Sandy Lyles, the once childhood star “making it rain” in Along Came Polly (2004).

If you love The Big Lebowski as much as I do, you could even go to the Lebowski Fest as Brandt.

Click below for an interview with Philip Seymour Hoffman about his new movie with Laura Linney, The Savages.

Video

The Goonies falls squarely in that category of feel-good movies that you just have to watch every once and awhile to remind you of everything that is fun and good about movies and the world as we know it.

Well, I was flipping through channels last night, and my movie-watching soul jumped for joy when I saw that The Goonies was on TNT! So as I’m ready to snuggle with my favorite cuddly blue blanket and revisit all my fond childhood memories of first kisses, Cyndi Lauper, and hidden treasure, I noticed something. Brand Walsh, the cool, bandana-wearing, good-looking older brother in the movie looked oddly familiar. And that’s when it hit me. Brand Walsh looked like . . . like . . . Josh Brolin. No way, right? Well, yes frick’n way!

Oh my God! Brand Walsh has turned into a stud and one of the most successful actors this year. In case you missed it, Josh Brolin starred in both American Gangster and this year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture – No Country for Old Men. I guess ‘ol Brand always did have the looks in the Walsh family.

The funny thing is I don’t ever remember hearing of Josh Brolin before this year. A quick glance at Brolin’s filmography shows that The Goonies was his first movie ever. After that, it was a long streak of forgettable roles until he picked up some steam in 2005 with roles in Milwaukee, Minnesota and Melinda and Melinda. Then Josh Brolin blew this mother up with roles in American Gangster, In the Valley of Elah, No Country for Old Men, and Grind House in 2007. Wow, rock on with your bandana-wearing self. Oh, by the way, Mr. Brolin is married to none other than Diane Lane. I guess she loves The Goonies as much as I do.

For a look at trailers for The Goonies and No Country and a short interview clip where Mr. Brolin discusses making The Goonies 2 next summer, click below.

Videos

Since the kiss felt around the world in The Notebook (2004), Ryan Gosling has extended himself as an actor playing roles far off the beaten path. In Half Nelson (2006), Gosling was nominated for a best actor Oscar playing an endearing eighth-grade drug-addicted teacher who develops a close relationship with one of his students who catches him smoking crack in the bathroom. In Lars and the Real Girl (2007), he is a shy and delusional young man who brings the love of his life, a blow-up doll, to his brother’s house. Anyone can make really obscure independent flicks, but Gosling is one of the few actors that draws you into becoming invested in his character and, in turn, becoming invested in the film.

Who could have seen this coming? The cute, baby-faced actor who got his start with the Mickey Mouse Club alongside Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera (that’s him second from left on the top row) and became popular with a well-done, but relatively safe movie in The Notebook, has become one of today’s finest and most daring actors.

Looking at Ryan Gosling’s filmography, I came across a film that he did way before the Notebook, and that proves to me that he has always been unafraid to take on challenging roles. What if a young kid raised as an Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva becomes a fanatically Neo-Nazi by his 20s? That is the plot of The Believer (2001), where a 20-year old Gosling delivers a one-of-a-kind performance.

The Believer is as disturbing as it is thought provoking. As much as I detested the Nazi ideals of Danny Balint (Gosling), I could not take my eyes off of him, and I could not stop trying to understand why. Why would this Jewish kid become a Neo-Nazi? Gosling is razor sharp in this movie, and I had to continuously remind myself that he was only 20-years old. Gosling’s character is deeply conflicted between his hatred for Jews and his ongoing battle with faith in Judaism. In a very simplistic way, you could compare it to a teenager who at once both loves his parents and hates some of the contradictions and hypocrisies any authority figure inevitably represents. As a brilliant young student, Danny’s continuous questioning and challenging of God and the accepted interpretations of the Torah (Old Testament) make him somewhat of an outcast. As he grows up and his anger matures, he finds answers and power through his following of the Nazi doctrine.

I would definitely recommend The Believer, but not if you are looking for a light-hearted entertaining movie. The controversial film forces you to think, and Gosling’s performance forces you to recognize his undeniable talent. Gosling is anything but safe in this movie, but he has shown us that he has no interest in playing it safe.

It is utterly absurd to watch The Believer, and then watch Gosling in the Mickey Mouse Club where he performed pop songs with Justin and JC Chasez. Watch the trailer for “The Believer” and a clip of Gosling in the Mickey Mouse Club below.

Videos

For my first post ever on Right Cinema I wanted to take a look at 5 actors that I think are on the top of their game today, right now, as we speak. As we take a closer look at these great actors, I’ll spend the next week or two reviewing some of their lesser-known roles.

I struggled awhile deciding on what factors to consider when putting this list together, but I thought I should trust my instincts. So, off the top of my head and in no special order (except for my honorable mention), here are my favorite five actors along with their respective movies that I’ll be reviewing:

1. Ryan Gosling – “The Believer”
2. Christian Bale – “Empire of the Sun”
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman – “Love Liza”
4. Daniel Day-Lewis – “The Boxer”
5. Don Cheadle – “A Lesson Before Dying”

Honorable Mention: Heath Ledger – “Candy”

The common thread that holds these actors together in my mind is that they all create new characters that shine and that we as viewers gravitate towards, as opposed to letting their celebrity cast a shadow on the characters. This is no easy task because there is a very thin line every famous actor walks where either they become the character, or unfortunately the character becomes them. Some of the best actors have spent most of their careers in the first category only to wake up one day in the second (see, Jack Nicholson).

There has already been a lot of Oscar success with this group: Daniel Day-Lewis (2 Oscars and 4 total nominations), Philip Seymour Hoffman (an Oscar and 2 nominations), and Don Cheadle, Heath Ledger, and Ryan Gosling have all been nominated for an Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role for their respective roles in Hotel Rwanda, Brokeback Mountain, and Half Nelson. However, what I truly respect and love about these guys is that they are never afraid to take on a completely different role and give themselves to the character to the point that you forget you are watching the actor, and all you see is the character they are playing. I can’t wait to pop some popcorn and watch these movies!

First up will be Ryan Gosling and a review of his movie “The Believer.”

See the trailers for these six lesser-known movies below.

Videos