Have you seen this man? AKA Oh THAT guy!

Career Retrospective

There are lots of actors that people recognise but can't place.  One of my favourite actors is such a person.  You may know him as Ethan Embry but I remember when he went by his birth name Ethan Randall!

My first memory of him was in Drive Me Crazy (Dutch in US) with Modern Family's Ed O'Neill (with whom he would again work in L.A Dragnet.)

He's been in a number of easily recognised roles over the years including Empire Records, Can't Hardly Wait and Sweet Home Alabama...

...and a number of roles that you may not have realised was him!  Remember That Thing You Do, White Squall, Timeline?

You may be under the impression that Ethan just pops up every now and again?  But you would be wrong.  Ethan voices a number of animated series in addition to the couple of movies he makes each year.

He has also branched out into tv and I was stoked to see him recently in a stellar cameo on House.

But my absolute favourite of his roles was as spoiled Harry Winslow in the terrific kids movie A Far Off Place.  It's a performance with real heart by one talented young man and the rapport with Reese Witherspoon is palpable. Two up-and-comers before their time.  This is how I remember them...

Go you good thing!

Weekly Challenge #2 - I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.

In 1997, before Cougars and LOTR, back when Demi and Bruce were still together and before Ridley Scott discovered Russell Crowe, there was GI Jane.

 

Sadly, this is the thing most people remember about this movie...

Yes, Demi pulled a Sinead and shaved her head. Moving on...

Take another look... First of all, it's great for the guys and gals alike.  Produced by ScottFree (that's Ridley & Tony Scott to you) means quality production with decent action and effects.  

As for the ladies, how does Viggo Mortensen in fatigues sound?  How about a woman beating the odds and surpassing her male classmates on sheer guts?

No?  Need more?  Supporting cast includes Jim Caviezel, John Michael Higgins, David Vadim…

 

Forget personal trainers and calorie counting; one screening of this has me off my couch and getting fit every time!  Plus I love the action and watching Jordan shit all over a bunch of misogynist expectations and getting up in the face of the politicians using her.

This chick's got game. 

GI JANE

PLOT: An ambitious politician orchestrates the enrolment of the first female officer into Navy Seal training… but will O'Neil complete the gruelling training when everyone expects her to fail?

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott (Robin Hood, Body of Lies, Black Hawk Down)

CAST: Demi Moore (Charlie's Angels, A Few Good Men, Ghost), Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Lord of the Rings), Anne Bancroft (Keeping The Faith, Great Expectations, The Graduate)

LOCATED IN: Action

52 Week Challenge - Week 1 "James Cameron"

As this is a 52 week challenge and I have more than 52 DVDs (I know it's a real shock, right?) I thought I would start with a collection I have rather than a single film.

I am often accused of being pedantic, finicky and many other adjectives which all mean the same thing... anal... about cataloguing my dvds but that's just because I can now go to the drawers and know exactly what is where.  No, it's not chronological or alphabetical, it's much harder to crack than that.  Essentially my catalogue system is intuitive - some of it is chronological but other sections are by director, genre or actor - and the reason for this is that I have exceedingly eclectic taste.

So this inaugural blog is of my James Cameron collection.  No, don't groan!  There's a reason he was invited into a guest spot in Entourage people! Long before monsters like Titantic and Avatar broke box office records, Cameron was pushing the envelope technologically and his films were incredible.  I will concede that in some cases the plot and character development came second to the technology but in those that got it right, wow!  And it is for these films that Cameron currently sits in my list of Top 3 Directors.

So, below is a list of my JC collection in order of preference (Least Fave to AWESOME):


Avatar - JC taking his love of blue to a new level!)
Titantic - Love Winslet, love Leo but hate this film simply because it took people soooo long to see these excellent actors as anything but Rose & Jack. I do however love it for the detail )
True Lies - Arnie taking the mickey out of himself, Jamie Lee Curtis as the fish out of water in a very hot striptease, and Tom Arnold as, well, Tom Arnold.  Sigh... I love it. (PS - hear rumors of a tv series in the works... what's with all the spy shows at the mo?  Is it just that people are already missing 24?)
Terminator 2 - Assassin turned protector, liquid metal villain and a beefed up but clinically insane mother. Forget relating to the characters and just enjoy shit blowing up! 
Terminator  - How can you not love a film with Arnie, Biehn AND an iguana!
Aliens - While Ridley Scott pioneered this franchise we have JC to thank for taking it mainstream.  PS - can't believe they're recasting Ripley in a new prequel GRR!!

THE ABYSS

This one sits in my top 10.  It's an awesome flick that I just never get sick of.  Part sci-fi, part drama, part love story, part thriller.

CAST: Ed Harris (A Beautiful Mind, The Rock, A History of Violence, The Hours) Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Prince of Thieves), Michael Biehn (The Rock, Terminator).


PLOT:
A civilian diving team are enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and face danger while encountering a potentially unidentified aquatic species.

LOCATED IN: Sci Fi

52 week challenge

Okay, so if there was a country of slack people, I would be their queen. So to keep me motivated to send u updates and as I refuse to recommend anything that I myself haven't seen, every week for the next year I am going to post a review of a DVD I own!

Naturally, we won't even scratch the surface of my collection but I guarantee that most of them are currently living in the weekly section of your local... Stay tuned!!