Now I know what you’re thinking, good Deadsplinter friends – Speed and Thespians are two words that don’t belong together. But hear me out – Speed is a perfect movie – not for the premise. It is on it’s face ridiculous, but for the perfect casting of two of my favorite thespians – Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
Now, I work with a lot of thespians – so I’m not starstruck generally – in my book there are only two types – ones that are pleasant to work with and ones that aren’t. I have interacted with Keanu a couple of times – including him almost running me over in a crosswalk on Franklin Ave when I first moved to LA in the early 90’s – but I’ve never worked with him or Sandra. I’ve heard they’re both pretty cool from other people. Anyway, my point is that whether it’s a crappy movie like The Watcher or a great movie like River’s Edge – I will watch pretty much anything Keanu Reeves is in. Although, I have to say – I can’t watch the John Wick movies because of certain scenes that I have been warned about and I don’t think I finished the third Matrix movie. Same for Sandra Bullock – my favorite romcom is While You Were Sleeping, I loved The Net and I even sat through all of Speed 2. Why do I like them? I have no idea – maybe it’s because I haven’t ever worked with them. A lot of the time, dealing with them from day to day seems to take the shine off of even the nicest ones.
Keanu – Constantine – even though I really like Tilda Swinton and Rachel Weiss too.
Sandra Bullock – and I also have to say I love Bill Pullman.
Oh, and I also love Gregory Peck and have seen every single film he’s ever been in.
So, Deadsplinterians – are there any thespians you will go see no matter what they are in?
Last week’s poll – the correct answer is A – I had to hide from him because every time he saw me – he apologized. It was completely bonkers. B – is also Dom – it happened to a friend of mine who was his costumer. C – happened to a friend of mine but with the actor with a name similar to Bron Pavolta. D – did actually happen to me but it was the director who had to explain it to us and his name is similar to Steven Spielberg.
This week’s poll:
No contest: Tom Hanks. His acting chops are beyond belief.
@butcherbakertoiletrymaker Yeah, but he’s the head of the pedophile cannibal cult, Q said so! And even worse he fathered Chet Haze.
I desperately want that NOT to be true, but too many of the whisper network rumours eventually turn out to be true, so…
How did I wind up back in the middle of an Unpopular Opinions post?
I sort of feels like being back in the Gawker comments.
He is not the “head” ffs…get it right!
Jim Carrey is…
I don’t know, nor do I even want to know, where you’re getting your information from but eating a few stem cells does not make a head! It merely prolongs one’s youthful appearance to protect them from Soros’ space lasers and Bill Gates’ magnetnetised micro-chipped plandemic vaccine. Everyone knows, who ain’t sheeple and know how to be internet sleuths, the CORRECT information (knowledge is power!) which is that Jim Carrey – who, by the way, used to go by James Carrey on In Living Color until his transformation to Jim which proves this fact with simple math by means of the number of letters being 3 (Jim) 6 (Carrey) meaning, obviously triple six (666) – was handed down the devil crown from the Rothchilds after they murdered Kubric for exposing their sexcapades in a Dom Bruise movie (I think Lymond is Illuminati for accurately portraying him by his Kubric porn handle) and decided on triple-six Carrey after Dom Bruise jumped on Illuminati-alumni Oprah’s couch proving he couldn’t live up to the task. I mean, the obvious choice was a Canadian who had a child with a Playboy Bunny who is certain her ex’ demon semen caused autism via “the poke” and “the jab” in their child.
I mean…DUHHH…get your facts straight! Sheeple.
Holy shit.
Drats! Since I’ve been found out – I guess my days are numbered on this sight. They add up to 42.
…so you have the answer
…care to let us in on the question…or is that between you & the mice…& maybe the dolphins?
All I’m allowed to say is…So long and thanks for all the fish.
I remember watching Tom Hanks when he was on Bosom Buddies. I haven’t watched it lately but I can’t imagine that’s it aged well.
I like a lot of Tom Hanks movies but I think my fave of him is as Woody in Toy Story.
…I have kind of a soft spot for joe vs the volcano…to this day I sort of wish I owned at least one proper steamer trunk?
…oh…& the dragnet movie
Tom Hanks is amazing!!
Oh God, none of those make Robert Redford sound very good! I love the results from last weeks poll, lol.
Damn, there are so many. But I’d have to put Brendan Gleeson and Maggie Smith at the top of the list. Shout outs to Merritt Weaver, Toni Collete, Brian Cox, Ray Winstone, Steven Root, Guy Pearce. In the RIP category peter O’Toole and Bob Hoskins. I could go on and on!
I had never seen Merrit Weaver in anything until Unbelievable – that was a great show and she and Toni Collette were great in it.
Maggie Smith is the star of everything she’s ever been in. I happened to catch an old episode of Carol Burnett that she was in. I love Carol but she was out of her league with the Countess.
If you ever saw Three Days of the Condor you know why he goes low tech.
I love that movie – and coincidentally just watched it the other night. My current cable provider Comcast has decided that I’m not paying enough to deserve TCM so I’m giving my money to HBOMax – they have a lot of great older movies including 3Days of the Condor.
*googles thespian*
sometimes i feel a little under educated over here
i dont really have one….. tho..i generally know anything nic cage is going to be entertaining
and the rock is a big charming bastard
and i have a pretty good idea of what im in for if i see statham on the poster
really i have pretty much the same aproach to my movies as i do with music..i like the movie/music i dont really dig into who did what
i tend to regret finding out about anyone remotely famous
I used thespian because that’s a joke I have with some of my crew – if we encounter an actor that is somewhat too big for their britches – we refer to them as The Master Thespian. As in – Wow, The Master Thespian has actually learned your name!”
Nic Cage movies are hit or miss for me – some I love and some he’s too much. Jason Statham always plays himself – but he’s cheeky and entertaining.
I like thespian because it’s gender neutral.
I once worked under/with a Division Head who, like Donald Trump, would launch initiatives that always ended in spectacular failure. The owner of the company liked him, though, so he was able to stick around. I dubbed him “The Visionary” and the name stuck for the rest of his tenure, at least among my smart, snarky buddies.
PM @splinterrip
They are WAY better than Google and adamantly precise.
…I appreciate the vote of confidence & all…although “adamantly” makes me sound…well, actually there’s a few folks who know me that would probably get a chuckle out of that…but I like to think I’m not that much of a hard-ass
…it’s just that there are a lot of words…& sometimes when “there’s a word for that” it’s nice to be able to break them out… especially since some of the good ones don’t get out much…& I suck at emojis?
Robert Redford…this is very tough for me. I actually spent quality time with RR by mistake, and at no time did he not make eye contact (just the opposite; he seemed to want to make eye contact with strangers, like “Yes, it is I, Robert Redford, and I’d be happy to give you my autograph…”) He did not pull out a flip-phone and we were unexpectedly together for half an hour. He didn’t look into any reflective surfaces though he had ample opportunity. I went with Sundance but he introduced himself as “Bob” and I blurted out, “yes, I know,” but this was not on a set.
This may give it away(the poll) but “Bob” is a very pleasant person and for being who he is – is very accessible.
David Tennant, Michael Sheen. Why yes, I liked Good Omens.
Oh, me, too, and the book. I will say though that as a “Mad Men” superfan I was shocked at how bad Jon Hamm was and his was a bit part.
Ah, this predictive text: “superfan” god autocorrected to “Superman,” fair enough, but “shocked” got autocorrected to “shoaled.” So I learned a new vocabulary word. A group of fish is known as a shoal and when they form the group that’s called shoaling. I’d love to meet the creator(s) of this program.
And the autocorrect struck again, changing “got” to “god”! I think I’m going to turn this into a party game. I will type a couple of paragraphs into a dummy Deadsplinter comment field and pick out the wrongly autocorrected words. Then, guests have to form them into a coherent sentence or two.
If the village idiot who controls the backend of this site would give us a fucking edit function we wouldn’t have this problem. What kind of shit-show are you guys running here?
Oh, I don’t blame anyone but myself, for not proofreading my own work, and the creator(s) of the predictive text/autocorrect function. Whoever dreamed this up must have had a reference handy. “This word A is used approximately 3.7 million times a day by English speakers in North America.” “This word B was used three times during the period 1994–2019, and two of those instances were in the Portland, ME, “Journal of Applied Marine Biology.” Go with B.
Can the function be turned off? I’d much rather live with a typo like “tyop” than something like “Trevelyan.”
@matthewcrawley
The first thing I do when I get a new device is disable autocorrect.
Deadsplinter madlibs
Frances McDormand was God’s voice in Good Omens, and she’s someone whose role is always worth the price of admission.As for Hamm not shining in his supporting role, I think it’s another version of the Kilmonger Effect (TM). Michael B. Jordan is a good actor, but alongside a classically trained cast (or a cast of pros who may not have been classically trained, but are still damn fine actors) including Lupita, Chadwick, Angela, Danai, Forrest, Daniel, Winston, and Florence, he seemed like the weak link.
As in, how can one NOT look like a lightweight alongside Tennant and Sheen?
I know this is juvenile – but when I see David Tennant – I only see his character from Harry Potter for some reason – when he had the snake like tendencies. I liked him as Doctor Who – but the whole time I kept expecting him to stick out his tongue and talk like his Harry Potter character. I guess it also didn’t help that I really loved Christoper Eccleston as the Doctor.
Michael Sheen in always great in everything.
I was fine with Tennant but my hand’s down favorite is Matt Smith. To be fair, I haven’t spent much time with the new lady.
I’m partial to Paul McGann, but that’s because I associate Dr. Who with family fare growing up. For whatever reason, the books and series take on a strong sci-fi culture identifier when they cross the pond. I haven’t really watched more than a few episodes or the obligatory Christmas special for anything since the Moffatt revivals.
…damn…I swear I didn’t have your comment on the screen or I might have skipped saying much the same thing?
Happens to the best of us. I do it all the time on DUAN.
I never could get behind the pre-revival Doctor Whos. A friend tried to get me to watch them and I just found them terribly quaint. I’m much happier with the revival.
That said, I fully acknowledge that growing up with something colors your perspective. I love the original Lost in Space, Batman (1966) and several other shows that probably don’t meet the standards of most viewers today. And I could tell that the writing on Who was far beyond the technical limitations of the day. Nonetheless, I can’t bring myself to watch more than a few.
…I probably should have put this in that unpopular opinions post but when it comes to dr who…I feel like paul mcgann doesn’t get enough credit
…he was only in one sort-of-feature-length episode/special…but that was the first time the character came back to tv after the original series dropped off the schedule…& if he hadn’t done a pretty great job there wouldn’t have been all the dr who I’ve largely failed to keep up with since
…plus he’s the one that isn’t withnail in withnail & I so…I feel like not getting as much credit as he arguably deserves might be his version of typecasting?
I’d venture to say Withnail & I is a strong contributor to my thinking Paul McGann is my favourite Doctor.
It’s also probably why I wanted Richard E. Grant to win the Oscar for Can You Ever Forgive Me?
…david tennant did a run as hamlet…didn’t get to see it on stage but they taped it & I caught it on the BBC’s iplayer service…he’s a remarkably talented guy & he was really great at the hamlet thing…I think that changed my baseline take a out him, to be honest?
Have you watched Prodigal Son? Michael Sheen is a one man show in a box (he’s in a cell for most of his scenes). It’s like a rip of Silence of the Lambs. Sheen is a serial killer who helps his xFBI son solve murders. I like it a lot.
I did too. Now I must consider forgiving you for your unspeakable sandwich choices. Ah, well. I am large; I contain multitudes.
John Cleese, Peter Sellers, Martin Short, and Bill Murray, Robin Williams for comedy. Meryl Streep, John Lithgow (he could be comedy or serious and should be top of my list), Kevin Spacey (I know), and Uma Thurman.
Stockard ~muthafuckin’~ Channing. She’s the absolute best part of Six Degrees of Separation. I often replay her final scene in which she takes a liberating promenade down Park Ave.
I also recently commented on my love and respect for Vincent D’Onofrio, Stephen Root, and Frances McDormand. Korean actor Song Kang-ho (who is largely considered South Korean cinema’s Tom Hanks everyman). Timothy Olyphant (he’s so goddamn funny as well–I love his Conan appearances). Ian McShane. Christopher Evan Welch (RIP). Juliette Rylance. Mark Rylance. Olivia Colman (including sketch comedy). Agree on Meryl Streep, Brian Cox (especially on stage), and Guy Pearce.
Stockard Channing is amazing in that movie. She’s really amazing in The Business of Strangers.
All good choices – one of my favorite John Lithgow roles was when he was in The World According to Garp – that was the first time I remember seeing a man dressed as a woman. I haven’t watched that movie in a long time so I don’t know if the depiction of transgender was realistic, but I always remember that character and how it seemed perfectly natural to me even as a kid. I don’t know if it was Lithgow’s performance or what – but as weird as it sounds – I think it helped me as someone who never encountered transgender or even gay people growing up – normalize and accept them for who they are. I don’t think I’m explaining myself well – but Roberta was the character I remember most from that movie.
my reply above was to @Loveshaq – somehow my replies don’t end up with the original comments even though I’m replying in their comment.
@Lymond I forgot to mention, I am a Keanu fan too. Even though he didn’t grow up in Hawaii (just got a Hawaiian name), he has a ton of family that lived close to me. I used to be friends with his cousin Hauoli who would take him out clubbing when he would come into town. They got a bunch of attention as you can imagine. Hauoli was a madman back when I hung out with him and one of Hawaii’s best bodyboarders.
http://bodyboardmuseum.com.au/tag/hauoli-reeves/
@Loveshaq – Yeah – I think in his early years Keanu was quite the partier. One of my friends used to be roommates with is sister. The couple of times that I’ve dealt with him(except when almost ran over me) – he’s the nicest most soft spoken person I’ve ever met.
I love that movie soooo much. That was the firt serious movie I remember Robin Williams being in too. The openning baby scene is great too. I have watched that movie with so many people that said they never saw it that I must have seen it 10x.
Angelina Jolie, Statham, Cage, Cillian Murphy, Tony Jaa, Saoirse Ronan, Michelle Yeoh, Joseph Gorden-Levitt, Daniel Radcliffe…and many more that I can’t think of right now.
Bruce Willis used to be on my list but it’s been too pitiful to watch his career decline into cameos and shitty action flicks (even by my standards which are low depending on my mood).
I recently rewatched some of Death Becomes Her and it reminded me that Willis is a wonderfully effective comedic actor and very convincing as a nerdy doormat.
…if you haven’t seen it (well, them since they made a second one) the R.E.D. movie(s) are a good fit for willis…the acronym stands for Retired: Extremely Dangerous and if you can take them on their own terms & not overthink it they’re pretty great…as is the cast…I forget if reeling off who’s in it would trip into spoiler territory but my guess is the various people in them enjoyed the first one enough to be willing to sign up for the second
…they were a comic book first, too…so you can always blame anything that seems questionable on that provenance?
@SplinterRIP – Yes, those are really fun movies
Filmed in Montreal!…or at least the second one was. I walked by John Malcovich while I was hunting for a wedding venue in old Montreal. I’ve seen the RED movies. That was when Willis was still somewhat reliable.
Bruce Willis was the very first “big” name actor that I ever dealt with one on one. We were doing reshoots of one of his lesser known films – Striking Distance. I was horribly nervous but he was really nice to me. We were doing the reshoots at night while he was working on something else that I don’t remember during the day. He had a gym in a big bus as well as his regular trailer. Tom Sizemore was also in it – he was a bit of a douche.
This would sound trite but I’m a Daniel Day-Lewis completist. Still wishing to see him do outright comedic stuff, but I’ll settle for Bill Hader’s There Will Be Blood sketch.
Alan Fucking Rickman (RIP too soon)
Regina King is amazing. If you never sat through HBO’s Watchman series, you’re missing out and should watch it pronto.
The biggest problem I have is that I have never been a Woody Allen fan with all the creeper grossness and so I’ll really like someone and then they start acting in his movies and I’m like REALLY REALLY YOU DID THAT??? and it sours them for me. Like I won’t stop watching their movies, but I’m not going to be all “omg Cate Blanchette is amazing in everything!” all gushy gushy.
I thought about this alot and while there are many actors that I will actively avoid, some of my favorites are in movies I won’t watch.
I’m going to go with Jude Law, he’s pretty and sort of sneaks up on you with his acting chops. omg, The Young Pope. He’s my favorite Dr. Watson, even though that other guy is a terrible Holmes.