Thursday Great Acting Blogging

You know, I really do want to examine a younger American actress in my Great Acting portion of this blog, but I'm having intense difficulty finding one who has really shown great ability and artistic stamina yet. Certainly, you can mention Patricia Clarkson and Marcia Gay Harden and Joely Richardson, but all of these actresses are older (yo, don't jump on me, Clarkson and Joely are fantastic, but they're both over 40). Not that that is a problem, but it's not what I'm seeking in this post.

Now, all of you are going to jump on me and say, what about Scarlett Johansson? Ok, yeah, but have you got another name? Are you telling me there's a single really great American actress under 40?

If you haven't seen Funny Ha Ha, sign up with Netflix and get your copy now, you silly wanker! The thing that makes Funny Ha Ha work is Kate Dollenmayer. She's cute, she's real, she's pathetic, she's wonderful. Somebody hire this actress now!

Recently Seen Movies

Kenji Mizoguchi's Sisters of the Gion (1936) (9/10)
Richard Linklater's Tape (2001) (7/10)
Bruce Conner's Report (1967) (8/10)
Jean Vigo's Zero for Conduct (1933) (10/10)
Stephen Gaghan's Syriana (2005) (6/10)
Bruce Conner's Cosmic Ray (1962) (7/10)
Bruce Conner's Looking for Mushrooms (1996) (4/10)
Bruce Conner's Television Assasination (1995) (6/10)
Wong Kar Wai's As Tears Go By (1988) (5/10)
Stuart Heisler's The Glass Key (1942) (5/10)
Mikael Hafstrom's Derailed (2005) (3/10)
Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985) (6/10)
Tetsuya Nakashima's Kamikaze Girls (2004) (8/10)
Harold Ramis' The Ice Harvest (2005) (6/10)

Belated Thursday Great Acting Blogging: Jose Ferrer and Dan Duryea

Two character actors in classic Hollywood that were true artists and bold explorers of the dark side of humanity: Dan Duryea and Jose Ferrer. Both highly cultured and well-educated (Duryea at Cornell, Ferrer at Princeton), both stuffed into character roles that they worked for all those roles were worth, both true class acts. Ferrer is a overlooked director, too - I particularly like his The High Cost of Loving and Great Man. Duryea is the forgotten "Other" of film noir and Anthony Mann, without which our Jimmy Stewart or our Ray Milland or our Burt Lancaster play off of. If you can find it, seek out Paul Wendkos' film version of David Goodis' novel The Burglar, where Duryea got a rare chance to star (Jayne Mansfield's....uh, "talents", don't hurt either).

Thursday Great Acting Blogging: John Lurie

I don't like John Lurie's characters. I don't think you're supposed to like John Lurie's characters. I don't think John Lurie likes John Lurie's characters. But I sure like what John Lurie's characters make happen in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law and Stranger than Paradise. Jim, more John Lurie, less Tom Waits, please.