Top Ten: Better Than The Movies They're In

Let's sing the praises of some actors that warranted better material or at least better decision making to frame their game performances...

10 Performances From 2007 That Deserved Better Films

(I figure the title is self explanatory)

10 Thomas Haden Church as "Sandman" in Spider-Man 3
First things first: He looked perfect in the part. Second and even better: that hangdog expression he was wearing like an anvil combined with Sam Raimi's careful tragic attention to his origin augured another super sequel. Sadly, the film lost its focus. They shoulda stuck to sticking with this Sandman. [my original reaction]

09 Lindsay Lohan & Jane Fonda as Rachel and Georgia in Georgia Rule
I know what you're thinking. What!? Yes, yes, the movie is a mess. But know this: it'd be unwatchable without LiLo's wildchild magnetism and Fonda's effortless force of presence. Ditch the poorly conceived and terribly executed middle generation character/performance/actress (sorry Felicity, I don't mean to bag on you constantly) and give these two stars a non repetitive throwdown of a movie. My guess is that that imaginary movie would've had a fighting chance.

08 Marion Cotillard as "Edith Piaf" in La Vie En Rose
Surprised? If you've read my review you know I'm no fan of the movie. But there were individual moments when I thought I might buy into the Cotillard hype, only to be dragged away with another off chronology tangent --seriously filmmakers, this gimmick is stale. And there's only a couple people who can do it well to begin with. Is her performance as great as the fans claim? I doubt it but I'd have to see her scenes with some logical throughline to know. As it is it feels like Saturday Night Live sketchwork (without the humor): a different wig here, a different body posture there; unrecognizable from one scene to the next. That's no way to sell a character's evolution.

07 Zöe Bell as herself in Death Proof
Like some swashbuckling Princess Charming, she rescued me! I was sleepily trapped in talky tedium and her fresh physical presence and confidence woke me up. I'm so glad this stuntwoman is getting more acting work.

06 Ben Foster as "The Stranger" in 30 Days of Night
His detractors will tell you that he's a total ham, shamelessly begging for "one to watch" media attention. I'm not here to argue with that assessment. So far I agree with it. I haven't yet seen his other 2007 entries (3:10 to Yuma and Alpha Dog) But if you're making a movie about vampires in an Alaskan town, try to entertain me. I'm begging you. He's the single element of the film that works beyond the concept stage. His performance is just weird enough... just self-consciously creepy enough to sell me on the proceedings and the characters own truth. Josh Hartnett and Melissa George aren't spinning their blandness into any interesting places as the lead marrieds. Danny Huston is terrible as the head vampire (how is it that he's cast in everything?). Only Ben Foster seems to know that there's an audience and that you have to really work for their thrills and chills.

05 Shia LaBeouf as "Sam Witwicky" in Transformers
Anybody who can make me deaf to terrible dialogue in --something nobody in those Star Wars prequels could do --earns respect. You don't win Oscars for this type of accomplishment but you do earn bank if you can make action films better for your mere presence. He's a star. (my review)

04 Nicole Kidman as Margot at the Wedding
More on this star turn in previous posts

03 Sigourney Weaver as "Lenny" in The TV Set
It won't come as a surprise that Ms Weaver can do corporate soulessness with style and aplomb. She was Oscar nominated for the same 19 years back in Working Girl. She's working just as hard for this new film. Unfortunately this mild satire doesn't quite know how to capitalize on her wicked wit.

02 Michelle Pfeiffer as "Lamia" in Stardust
This fantasy adventure was thisclose to being a good movie despite its many annoying and easily remedied flaws (how did no one on this production realize the overkill happening in so many places: editing, CGI, Danes twitching, DeNiro mugging?). That it manages to almost be good is a tribute to this goddesses way with a foregrounded cartoon villainess. Practice makes perfect I guess, though I hope my personal goddess steps away from the evil bitches for her next couple of roles. Keep us guessing, Michelle. [my review]

01 Tabu as "Ashima Ganguli" in The Namesake
A text book case of a film adaptation trying too hard to be the novel. It's a different medium, Mira, let the book go! Two hours cannot contain three hundred and four pages. That said, the movie worked well whenever Tabu's lovely evocative face was onscreen as the mother... this movie was begging for trimming and focus so focus on what works. These parents (Irfan Khan, even better in A Mighty Heart was the dad) were always more interesting than the son.
*

What If You Do Great Work and Hollywood Doesn't Notice?

Hood-riding Death Proof amazon Zoë Bell, surprise badass Freddy Rodriguez (I did not see "El Ray" coming watching Six Feet Under, did you?), and syringe-wielding wide eyed Marley Shelton were the revelations of Grindhouse this past Spring. While it's true that the movie flopped it's also true that actors can ignite their careers by doing unarguably charismatic and scene-stealing work. Even in flops.

Zoë Bell is getting her shot with a project developed for her but what the hell is going on with Freddy & Marley? Freddy has only another ensemble role on the way. He'll be part of the Napa wine industry drama Bottle Shock. Marley, so completely attuned to Planet Terror's comic absurdity and giving the movie a couple of its very best moments. Where's the breakthrough? I sincerely hope this is a case of delayed career explosion. Maybe she's taking meetings every day in Hollywood... perhaps she's swimming in offers and I just don't know it. She has only one new film listed on IMDB and she was probably involved with that before Planet Terror premiered. Why isn't she being cast in everything? I demand an answer!

Hump Day Hotties: Grindhouse Girls

At the risk of sounding undeniably easy/geeky by mentioning this again: Rose McGowan has a machine gun for a leg (!!!) in Planet Terror, the first and most accessible half of Grindhouse. Though that famous image is some kind of genius mix of the physiologically wrong and the emotionally right --I've always thought of McGowan as a harder more vulgar version of many other starlets before her with gorgeous mugs and killer legs, ha ha -- that prop is hardly the only hot/sick thing about this double feature and she's hardly the only woman onscreen with deadly --well, I'd share a little more but I'd risk spoilers about some clever symmetries in the three hour adventure. But I don't wanna spoil anything (you really should see it in theaters)


These are my four favorite women (in alpha order) in Rodriguez & Tarantino's double feature jampacked with babes, gore, guns and abundant vehicular homicide.

Zöe Bell, a New Zealand born stuntwoman, plays herself in Death Proof. Kiwi accents are always adorable and combined with her self-possessed physicality and instantly likeable smile --well, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. The cynic would say that this is because she spends half her time in an elaborately compromising position but I really hope she takes another acting role soon to test my theory that this is a woman with screen presence and not just great stunt skills.

Rosario Dawson. Uncle! I've resisted Rosario in the past but since she's looking more and more like she really loves to act (I love it when you can see the joy in performing. I'm usually a goner if that's visible) I've opened my heart. Anyway... appropos of nothing: Remember in 25th Hour when she had those flashback scenes where she's supposed to be in high school only she didn't look young enough? Well she's five years older now (almost 28) but she looks younger than ever in Death Proof. Was it the hairdo? What's going on there?

Rose McGowan, has two legs for most of Grindhouse (she is one of only a handful of actors to appear in both Planet Terror and Death Proof) but the leg gimmick / marketing hook aside this is the best performance I've ever seen her give: Unforced, sexy, charismatic and in on the joke.

Marley Shelton. Aside from her 2000 Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue cover appearance, sandwiched inbetween Chris Klein and Mena Suvari, I've never much noticed this actress before but she was probably my favorite part of Grindhouse. Loved her jittery wide eyed fear and drawn out character gimmick: she plays a nurse with a secret and three deadly colored needles. Rodriguez has lots of fun forcing you to guess how the needles will be used.

As for the movies themselves, I thought Planet Terror was a scream --visually inventive, off its rocker, and perfectly cheesy while maintaining a straight face. Death Proof is wildly exciting in its last act but getting there I'll admit I found torturous. I admired the overall structure a lot and normally I enjoy Tarantino's longwinded dialogue but I failed to see his oft criticized penchant for blather adding up to anything here other than the excessive padding of the running time --can he not edit himself? Here's a thought: Just make a movie that's the same length as your story! If the aim was to make me feel for the characters it didn't work at all. I am mostly a pacifist as a moviegoer and I can't recall ever feeling this way before but I was super glad about the first casualties in Death Proof because I was so anxious for the characters to stop talking --I like talky movies. But I need something to actually be said. The fake trailers were mostly ingenious and fun (Don't! was highlarious but I thought Machete was pretty great, too) but three hours was enough 'sploitation for me. I'm glad I didn't have to sit through the imaginary movies.

Planet Terror B+ / Death Proof C+ / Grindhouse B
Disclaimer: The grade might seem a little low (I had a ball and highly recommend) but adjust accordingly after remembering that I don't go for gore and am not well versed in the type of movies they're paying homage to here.


If you need more from the Grindhouse babes, check out Vanity Fair's fun video of their photoshoot for the magazine. ("Get me Dermarchelier"... "I have Patrick")