Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Red Carpet: Radioactive Lohan & Gangster Depp

It's that time again, Red Carpet Lineup. Here's a (truly) random sampling of actors at events this past week. Let's check in with...

Ever classy Lindsay Lohan who celebrated her 23rd birthday (it's actually tomorrow) at a Vegas pool wearing that, flashing a peace sign, and sporting bright blue contacts. Unless she's been spending too much time on Nevada's nuclear testing grounds, those are contacts. I should never ever look at Lohan as she's become the avatar of Lost Potential. She found the empty calories of fame more enticing than the rich nutrients of good actressing.


Public Enemies opens today and it should be an interesting test of Johnny Depp's box office pull. The public is generally averse to period dramas but they do like gangster crime films so it's a bit of a toss up, really. It's already on IMDb's Top 250 but that's typical for masculine "cool" movies when they first open. It's early still and the mixed reviews so far are fascinatingly contradictory. You know that old saw "you must have seen a different movie than I did" Who to believe?

Patricia Clarkson is all smiles and why not? Knowing that you're the best thing in your movies must be heartwarming. That's definitely true of Whatever Works. The only thing that makes bad Woody Allen scripts bearable is his ability to get fine actors to vividly color his caricatures. In Whatever Works Patty is forced at penpoint to delineate the conversion from empty-headed bible thumping Southerner to bohemian polyamorous New Yorker. The movie has little flashes of against-all-odds charm but it's mostly annoying in its broad and stale misanthropy. Yes, I'm a Woody apologist to some degree but I'm not going to apologize for this one.

<-- Josh Duhamel's got something in his eye. Dreams of movie stardom outside of Transformers, perhaps?

Kristen Bell sent geek hearts fluttering when she attended the Saturn Awards. She lost but she's a previous winner (this nomination was for her bad girl on Heroes -- people still watch that?!? -- but the previous three and one win were for good girl Veronica Mars). After years of television it looks like Forgetting Sarah Marshall prompted a committed big screen leap. She's got five movies on the way. First up: Romantic comedy When in Rome with Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito, Anjelica Huston, Will Arnett and my friend Luca Calvani whom I've already congratulated for the gig. Go Luca! It's about time Hollywood bit.

I've placed Mike Doyle in the lineup to keep you and myself guessing about who might be included each week. He's here only because he was a) at the opening of Twelfth Night and b) he's got a role opposite Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole. The play it's based on had only five roles and his character "Craig", unless they've changed the names, was not one of them so there's been some expansion for the screen. I hope he dies in the movie! He's previously worked Off Broadway and played "Leprechaun" in the Hilary Swank vehicle P.S. I Love You (I don't want to know) but he's best known from regular work on both Oz and Law & Order: SVU.

Hey, it's Rosie Perez. "Fight the Power!" She's been on my mind because of the Do The Right Thing anniversary. I miss her absolutely rambunctious screen presence. Good to see her, however briefly, in Pineapple Express. Get it Rosie!

19 comments:

Fox said...

Nathaniel-

Have you ever seen Amy Poehler do her Rosie Perez impression?? It's absolutely brilliant.

B/c of NBC not letting their stuff on YouTube, you might have to dig for it, but it'll be worth it when you find it!

And it's funny about K. Bell. I was just telling my wife how I thought her career was "on a downward trajectory" b/c I had only seen her in Fanboys lately. But... once again, Nathaniel shuts my mouth!

Joe Shetina said...

I refuse to look at IMDb's Top 250 list ever since I saw The Dark Knight in it's top ten.

Patricia Clarkson needs bigger roles. I adored her in Vicky Cristina despite having a smaller role.

TheMedwenitsch said...

Lindsay Lohan fascinates me...
She's one of THE stars of my generation, but why?

Maybe it's true: every generation gets (or idolizes) the icons it deserves or, even worse, the icons which represent this generation the best...
Which I think really nails it because from my point of view "my" generation is very shallow, self-absorbed and all about party, alcohol and drugs. Yeeeha!

It's all about excess nowadays, maybe crisis management (CRISIS! CRISIS!) in a way...?

anyway...
BAROQUE IS BACK!

Anonymous said...

i think angelina jolie, drew barrymore, natalie portman are more of a star of this generation than lindsay lohan...

remy

TheMedwenitsch said...

Britney Spears
Paris Hilton
Kate Moss
Pete Doherty
etc

of course there are counterexamples, but I defenitely wouldn't count Angelina Jolie or Drew Barrymore to them...

Somebody said...

Just saw Public Enemies. It was great. All of the performances were solid. It was never boring and I was surprised by how quick it went by. I would definitely recommend it.

DJ said...

I saw Public Enemies last night at midnight.. and LOVED it! It was amazing. My #1 of the year right now. Depp and Cotillard was fantastic, while Bale was... well, reliable at least.

NATHANIEL R said...

y'all are depressing me. please don't let these people be representative of your generation.

i was watching some program the other day and paris hilton was on it (damnit. there's no escape) and she's just SO vapid. How are people still fascinated with her? what is there left to see about her? i had high hopes for Lohan because she could actually act (and I'm a sucker for that of course) but she threw it all away to be a "stupid girl" (thx, P¡NK)

Fox i have not seen that. must search

Joe if you haven't seen HIGH ART. rent it. It's like porn for Patty lovers. She's so good in it and it's a pretty substantial role, too.

NATHANIEL R said...

DJ huh. I actually loved BALE in it. It restored my faith that maybe he can remember to dial it back and make characters different from film to film.

Anonymous said...

Hey, cretin, you don't have to apologise for Whatever Works or Woody Allen, for that matter. Who the hell do you think you are? Talk about delusions of grandeur!

Somebody said...

Nathaniel- I agree, I don't understand why people are fascinated by Paris Hilton. She's 28 and uses a baby voice when she speaks. She just seems like a horrible person probably because she is.

Deborah said...

Lindsay Lohan: The spice must flow.

NATHANIEL R said...

anon 9:42 it's a critical figure of speech "apologist" when you love an artist too much and tend to overlook or explain away their flaws.

and my name is Nathaniel. I don't know this "cretin" person.

anyway, i l-o-v-e woody allen. but no, i don't love this movie. sorry.

Derreck said...

oh, Lindsay. what a tragic hot mess. Even Tina Fey and the SNL cast staged an intervention to fix her to no avail. I blame her parents who are both a-holes and famewhores. I say we follow the example set by GEORGIA RULE and have Jane Fonda fix her ass. You just know she would get it done.

and was Christian Bale in PUBLIC ENEMIES? oh. i couldn't tell from the advertisements.

and the less we speak about Paris Hilton, the better. She's currently in desperation mode for attention, so i think we're doing something right.

and ah, Rosie Perez. you just have to love her. She's just one of those people. like Whoopi Goldberg.

NATHANIEL R said...

well Jane Fonda tried. it didn't take.
i remember her being interviewed about georgia rule and what her advice to Lindsay was. It was pretty smart and basic along the lines of

'this is a tremendous opportunity' (not Georgia Rule -- ha ha -- but major stardom and big talent) 'and you generally only get one shot. Use it'

i might be remembering it wrong but i love Fonda's no nonsense smarts.

josh said...

did you like Public Enemies because i loved it. Mann also happens to be one of my favorite directors. am i the only one that thought the movie had an original feel to it, but that might just be the digital look. anyway looking forward to your review.

Derreck said...

Jane Fonda is always great when it comes to cutting through the b.s. or a funny soundbite.

But whoa. i guess she only could do so much for Lindsay. Lindsay just seems to have singlehandedly destroyed her promising career. She's like the new old Robert Downey, Jr.

but enough about trainwrecks. Let's get back those Streep posts. I'm looking forward to one that focuses on THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. That movie is forever burned into my mind since it caused a river of tears to come gushing out of my eyes.

and oh, yes. there are some people still watching "Heroes". I'm just about done. I'm giving the next season three episodes to recapture my interest...
plus, Bryan Fuller leaving the show does not look well to me.

KD said...

Mike Doyle is yummy.

Glenn Dunks said...

Didn't Meryl Streep try her hand at helping Lindsay too? If she won't take advice from Fonda and Streep, then honestly... wow.