10 Favourite Cillian Murphy Performances...

Today is the wonderful Cillian Murphy's 36th birthday. Back in the dark ages of this blog, I had a HUGE obsession with the man. Like, I'm talking more than Ralph Fiennes obsessed. During that obsession, I managed to see pretty much everything he's been in, apart from maybe 3 or 4 films (which are impossible to find in NZ). He's a pretty brilliant actor, who has shown more diversity than the average Joe in the movie. As shown in my 10 favourite performances from the most underrated actor of our time:

10. Neil in Watching the Detectives

I guess you could say that Watching the Detectives is Cillian's only real foray into an out-and-out comedy. Unfortunately, this rom-com starring Lucy Liu isn't overly great - mainly because it is so insane. But Cillian still manages to be completely awesome as the lovesick puppy Neil, with his performance venturing into such over-the-top outlandishness that only he could possibly pull off. Plus, he plays my dream guy (he owns a video store, he knows lots about movies...what's not to like?) Hopefully he can get a better comedy soon, because I'd like to see the funny side of Cilly again.

Week #8 in summary...! Cillian Murphy week, Part II

Wow...up to week eight already?! Just as a pre-warning, not this coming week, but the week after (12th-19th??), A Movie a Day maybe taking a break. Don't worry, I will make up for it with an extra week at the end. And I will still manage to watch a few films. Reason? Got the job of doing make up for the local production of Les Miserables, and probably won't have enough time in the day to get a movie in. This could be subject to change, though.

Anyway, I watched a few more Cillian Murphy movies this week, and I think there are very few left to dig up in the future that I still should watch. I think it's fair to say that Cillian Murphy may just be my favourite actor...yes, right up there with Leonardo DiCaprio.

• The Edge of Love (2008) This movie I watched a year and a half ago, and clearly overrated it. Upon the second, more educated watch, the rating was slashed in half. 4/10


• Insomnia (2002) I have now watched every single Christopher Nolan film. And enjoyed every single one of them. Yeah, he is God. 8/10


• Red Eye (2005) Sit buy an impossibly cute guy with amazingly gorgeous eyes on a plane, who seems a little stalkerish? He's trying to kill your Dad. And there's not a lot you can do, Rachel McAdams. 6/10


• Watching the Detectives (2007) Cillian Murphy does comedy. And is good at it. Are their any ends to this guys talents? No, I don't think so. 4/10


• Boy (2010) New Zealand actually does make good films. Boy should be getting Oscars...10/10


• Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) This film has to be the most beautiful piecce of cinematic art...ever. 7/10


• Adventureland (2009) Kristen Stewart makes pot cookies. Jesse Eisenberg gives away a giant-ass panda at knife point. Yup, this movie is preeeeety interesting! 8/10

I think you can sort the best from the worst in this group of movies. It's just a shame that the Cillian movies I watched this week weren't as good as last weeks round.

Highlight of the week: Hmmmm...no real highlights spring to mind at the moment. Oh, I did get my driver's license!

Lowlight of the week: The weather has been so cold and miserable for 'Spring'. And I guess I should say something about the Christchurch Earthquake. No city is more beautiful than that place, and I hope with all my heart that it comes back to normal.

The Edge of Love

This is a classic example of how bad I was at watching/rating movies last year. When I first watched The Edge of Love I rated it 8/10. I must have been sleeping and dreaming of a movie that actually happened to be Atonement or something. So then I get the movie out again, just because Cillian Murphy is in it, and I suddenly realize: this movie is crap. Absolutely crap.

In the depths of World War II, we are introduced to two feisty and free-spirited women: singer Vera (Keira Knightley) and reluctant housewife and mother Caitlin (Sienna Miller). These two women are connected not only by friendship but by the poet, Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) who loves them both, though he is married to Caitlin, and Vera is married to a loyal but violent William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The War tears them apart, and they must find a way of picking up the pieces and try to return to the way things were.So we all know that Keira Knightley has starred in a lot of period films, and this film seems below par compared with the rest of them. She does, however, turn out a good performance, as do most of the rest of the cast. However, the good performances, even though they try their best, just can't cover up the truck loads of flaws this film drags along.

I know that this is some sort of biopic, so most of what happened was based on a true story, but this story was filled with plot holes and to be honest, I didn't like any of the characters. Vera was a whiny self-pitying loser who kept turning down the opportunity to get in with Cillian Murphy (okay, so I wouldn't do that, and that isn't exactly Cillian in the movie...but I hate her for it anyway). Caitlin is just downright annoying because she just doesn't care for the world enough but all of sudden turns over a new leaf and somehow realizes that life is more than she wanted it to be. Dylan was just a smoking and talentless bum for most of the movie that fit right into the stereotype of 'drunken writer'. As for William, I wouldn't have liked him is he wasn't Cillian Murphy, but he was extremely lovely if not a little stalkerish in the start, then in the second half of the film he was violent and reminded me of a confused little kid.

The characters let the film down big time, and I blame that on the extremely weak script which never quite depicts the brutality of War like a real War movie should. It's pretty much a cheap rehash of Atonement, but it just isn't as good. However, I could be quite interested in the real story of the Thomas' and the Killick's, because I believe their story is possibly more interesting than the way this film makes it out to be.

Film is letdown by characters, characters letdown by scriptwork. The film is lifted though by some solid performances.

4/10