16 Days of Birthday, Day 10: My Many Man-Crushes

I'm not gonna lie, I genuinely find a lot of men in the film industry to be rather good looking. Usually, when I like an actor enough, I start stalking their IMDb pages and looking for movies I can watch with them in it. While you might just dismiss it as a creepy teenage obsession, these little love affairs I have with people I don't even know have their advantages. For example, there are some movies that I would have missed without stalking their IMDb pages. And yes, that's what I'll be taking a look at today: the movies I love from the actors I love that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Because I'm both a shallow person and I want an excuse to look at hot pictures (jokes...).

As you can clearly see in my sidebar, I've got a little obsession going with Ralph Fiennes at the moment. Over the past few weeks, I've watched quite a few of his movies (Schindler's List twice...I can't get over how unbelievably good looking he is in that movie even though he's so evil). But a couple of nights back, I watched this movie called Strange Days. When I cleaned the shelves at work during the holidays, I stumbled upon this DVD, which has probably been there for years, and was drawn in by the name 'Ralph Fiennes'. I finally got my sister to get it out for me (it's an R18 for pretty obvious reasons) and pretty much went into it blind. All I knew was the fact that it starred Ralph 'sex on legs' Fiennes back in his early days, and it was written by James Cameron and directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Once I finished this movie, I was so glad that I watched it, but kinda sad that it isn't widely-known. Holy crap, this movie was adrenaline through and through, with it's sci-fi brilliance and a bit of originality that seems to be lacking these days. Seriously, you need to see this movie. It's directed like a man would direct it (Kathryn Bigelow is my idol!), it requires a bit of brain power, it's totally satisfying in the end and Ralph Fiennes is literally at his best (both looks wise and acting wise - he's BADASS!). And hey, it was made in the year I was born.

Now Cillian Murphy is a guy who I feel everybody should obsess over, because he's got some great, severely underrated movies out there. I've seen a whole lot: Sunshine, Peacock, Red Eye, Perrier's Bounty, The Wind That Shakes the Barley...but one I hold close to my heart is Breakfast on Pluto. Between me being jealous of how pretty Cillian looks as a chick and how flawlessly he plays his role, there is some genuine heart and whimsy in this movie. It's a film that doesn't take itself too seriously, which eventuates in a whole lot of flaws, but Patrick 'Kitten' Braden is one awesome character. He's one which is fearless, always happy and usually does the right thing, even though people don't believe in him. This is probably the best example of what Cillian can do...

We all know Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He is the guy who experienced a huge boom in his career thanks to an indie romantic comedy called (500) Days of Summer. But we also all know that he has been around forever. From the time he was working on the really cool TV show 3rd Rock from the Sun to being Christopher Nolan's latest go-to actor, JGL has working at a damn good filmography. I'm a huge fan of Brick, a modern day film-noir set in a high school. Who knew that high school could ever be so dirty? To this day, I still have these resounding nightmares about how interesting Lukas Haas is as 'The Pin'. Maybe there's someone like him around Dannevirke and I just don't know it.

Andrew Garfield is a name you should all probably know by now. Last year, his career sky-rocketed thanks to some movie about a website called The Social Network. People loved him, just not enough to give him an Oscar nomination. One movie he did win something for, though, was Boy A. Back in 2007, he got a BAFTA for his brilliant performance in this made-for-TV drama about an ex-con trying to make his way in the world. Young Andrew was at the beginning of his career then, but he looks like he's been acting for most of his life in films just like this. It's a heart-breaking and gritty story, which takes it's time to unfold the story behind the story, which leads the viewer to draw their own conclusions about Garfield's character. I do have to wonder how Andy will handle The Amazing Spider-Man, because in Boy A he exhibits some really good acting skills that aren't perhaps the best for a superhero (or a teenage boy, for that matter). Anyway, I'm sure he'll rock.

So yeah, I'm pretty sure that Michael Fassbender is going to be in everything soon. Everyone wants a piece of him...or to be one of his many teeth. I admit to falling prey to his charm and badassery in X-Men: First Class, and I'm slowly making my way through his awesome filmography. One of his films which I particularly liked was Fish Tank. This movie is one which has become pretty well known, especially since Fassy's instant rise to fame thanks to being Magneto. The film mainly focuses on a rebellious teenage girl, with Fassy playing her mother's new boyfriend. Let me tell you, while this guy seems like a real family man who only means good, there is plenty of creep in him. Fassy and his young co-star Katie Jarvis make for a great duo inn this perfectly realistic and gritty look at a teenager trying to find her place in the world.

I don't really know what to ask here...ah, maybe...has a love for any particular actor introduced you to something special?

Week #5 in summary...! JGL, devilishly gorgeous clothes and Playboy bunnies?

This week was probably a bit better than previous weeks have been to me. Or was that just three rewatches of some of my favourite movies??
Recap on what I watched and blogged:

• The House Bunny (2008) Anna Faris playing a dumb Playboy bunny who takes some nerds under her wing. Sound stupid? It is. 4/10


• Iron Man (2008) Robert Downey Jr. at his best in an awesome superhero movie that doesn't really have a 'superhero'. Haven't seen it? Please, for the love of God, go get it out! 10/10


• Clash of the Titans (2010) Proof that 2010 has failed in giving us lots of high quality blockbusters? Look no further than this. 4/10


• The Butterfly Effect (2004) Even though Ashton Kutcher isn't my favourite person in the world, I still enjoyed this confusing thriller. 7/10


• Waitress (2007) One of my favourite movies of all time...and also the movie that makes me the hungriest. 10/10


• The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Also one of my favourite movies of all time...and a movie which makes me get some major wardrobe envy. 10/10


• Back to the Future: Part III (1990) It was about time I watched the final installment to the trilogy, right? 6/10


• Brick (2005) Joseph Gordon-Levitt...need I say more? 8/10
  

Best movie of the week? Non-rewatch...definitely Brick.

Worst movie of the week? Clash of the Titans. Yawn.

Highlight of the week? Start to 'birthday season'!

Lowlight of the week? Being sick for the six zillionth time this year.

Brick

Brick is a movie that I may not have been that interested in had Joseph Gordon-Levitt been in it. But when I started reading up on it, I thought it sounded like a pretty interesting story, and proceeded to search for it everywhere. By some stroke of luck, I managed to get hold of the DVD from some backwoods-ish supplier. Lucky, lucky me.

Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a loner, but is someone who knows all the ins and outs of the social lives of the people at his high school, though he chooses to stay on the outside. When his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie De Ravin) turns up dead, he is determined to find who killed her and why she is dead. Here he finds himself in the dark and dangerous social strata of rich girl Laura (Nora Zehetner), intimidating Tug (Noah Fleiss), drug-addled Dode (Noah Segan), seductive Kara (Meagan Good) and the ominous Pin (Lukas Haas). But who can he really trust to get the answers to his questions?

This is one of the greatest examples of a modern Film Noir, made all the better by it's relevant High School setting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as always, performs to his utmost best, and is truly convincing as a young detective. His emotional connection to both the character and the audience makes this film worth the while. All of the other characters in this movie are well thought out and have several similarities to other Film Noir characters from the 1940's.

What makes this movie so unique is the way it is directed. Rian Johnson once cited that influences on visualization for this movie were Spaghetti Westerns. This is just one facet of this film which is taken from the past. It is a mish-mash of different films which comes together as quite an original film itself. It's drug dealing storyline is quite interesting, and the character 'The Pin' is rather intriguing and serves as one of the films greatest originalities.

An intriguing modern Film Noir, with a great lead performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the actor to watch into the future.

8/10