A recent LA Times discussion with Robert Downey, Jr. walked down memory lane with him and recorded his thoughts on his many roles, including those in Weird Science, Tuff Turf, Less than Zero, Air America, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers, Home for the Holidays, Zodiac, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes, and Due [...]
Archive for the ‘Genius In Action Awards’ Category
Downey Jr.’s Irony Man
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, Music of the Spheres, tagged Air America, Chaplin, Home for the Holidays, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Less than Zero, Natural Born Killers, Restoration, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes, Tropic Thunder, Tuff Turf, Weird Science, Zodiac on October 8, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Genius in Action: The Thomas Crown Affair
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, Music of the Spheres, tagged Denis Leary, Faye Dunaway, Monet, Nina Simone, Pierce Brosnan, Rembrandt, Rene Russo, Sinner Man, Steve McQueen, Thomas Crown Affair on August 17, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The recent theft and recovery of a Rembrandt sketch in California brings to mind a movie that is on the sasoc list of perfection: The Thomas Crown Affair, with Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, and Denis Leary. The real-life story involved what seems like an almost identical plot: The 17th Century Rembrandt sketch stolen from a [...]
Genius In Action: John Hannah in Spartacus – Gods of the Arena
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, tagged Californication, Callum Keith Rennie, James Gandolfini, Joaquin Phoenix, John Hannah, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lucy Lawless, Spartacus Blood and Sand, Spartacus Gods of the Arena, The Sopranos, The Tudors on March 13, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I am in shock (and total joy) over the boldness and beauty of the Starz series Spartacus – Blood and Sand and its prequel Spartacus – Gods of the Arena, which is even better and more perfectly executed. Before the series aired last year, marketing for the show touted its alchemy of two other beautifully [...]
I Saw Black Swan Again
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, Music of the Spheres, tagged Aronofsky, Black Swan, Natalie Portman on January 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
An absolute masterpiece, as I said before and then again. This is an artistic statement of serious measure. I wasn’t sure I’d have the same emotional response the second time knowing the arc of the story, and yet there I was, carried over the edge of the abyss again. What a thrill ride, and what [...]
More Black Swan
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, Music of the Spheres, tagged A.O. Scott, Black Swan, Kirtimukha, Natalie Portman, Tony Scott on January 2, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Tony Scott’s review of Black Swan (or rather, his discussion of Natalie Portman’s performance in the context of the Oscar race) in the New York Times is pretty darn good. He has some nice flourishes of language and understanding, such as: Nina’s psychological state is evidently part of the artifice of “Black Swan,” but her [...]
Genius In Action: Black Swan
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, tagged Art, Darren Aronofsky, Natalie Portman, The Black Swan on December 23, 2010 | 5 Comments »
The simplest definition of Art is that which makes us actually see what we have already seen (but not seen); know what we already knew (but did not know). Key aspects of the human struggle are thoroughly known and explored by us all, many to the point of cliche and lost meaning. The magic of [...]
Genius In Action: Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII
Posted in Body Language, Genius In Action Awards, tagged England, Eric Bana, Genius, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, JRM, King Henry VIII, Menace, Pope, The Tudors on July 4, 2010 | 4 Comments »
On this Independence Day, I am moved to enter the next installment of my GIA essays on behalf of Jonathan Rhys Meyers and his role of King Henry VIII on the show The Tudors. As in my previous GIA post on Callum Keith Rennie in Californication, the accolade is not just for a particular actor, but [...]
Genius in Action (GIA): “Lew Ashby” in Californication, Season 2
Posted in Genius In Action Awards, Music of the Spheres, tagged Californication, Rennie on April 1, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Today’s GIA Award goes to the casting executive of Californication who found Callum Keith Rennie for the part of record producer-legend “Lew Ashby” on the show (interesting blog post about this character here), and to CKR himself for an absolutely brilliant performance throughout the season. That all the acting on the show is brilliant makes [...]
