After years of never getting around to it, last night I finally popped in Jacques Demy’s 1964 film, LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG) – a wondrous, lovely homage to the tragic/melodramatic narratives and sung dialogue of operas, as well as the visual style of classic Hollywood musicals. It’s a movie filled with gorgeous music, colors, cinematography, and – perhaps above all else – people.
None are so stunning though as a twenty-one year old, Catherine Deneuve. She radiates beauty to a point where she seems to almost become ethereal, yet without ever sacrificing a shred of natural presence and accessibility (which is saying something given that we’re dealing with the hyper-emotions of opera). There are few times I can think of in my movie-watching lifetime where I was that transfixed, that enamored, that hypnotized by an actress (or actor for that matter). When she was off screen, I was desperately waiting for her to return. The few times she breaks the fourth wall, looks directly into the camera – and therefore at me – I felt myself just a little bit thunderstruck and lost in the glaring glow of the lightning.
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These days Famke Janssen seems to be popping up everywhere in low-budget and indie affairs such as THE TREATMENT, TURN THE RIVER, THE WACKNESS and TAKEN. It’s almost as if she’s desperate to shed herself of her Jean Grey/Phoenix character from the X-MEN films. Given the mess the last X-MEN film was though, who can really blame her? Mainstream Hollywood’s loss is our gain.
Perhaps the shift to the smaller scale has to do with the fact that for a while there she was mainstream Hollywood’s gain, working pretty consistently in high-concept, high profile projects. Starting with her breakout role as a sadistic, torturing lust murdering Russian Bond girl/henchwoman in the successful (first) franchise reboot, GOLDENEYE, since then she’s covered horror (THE FACULTY, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL), pseudo-horror (HIDE AND SEEK), thrillers (DON’T SAY A WORD), actioneers (DEEP RISING, I-SPY), big cast dramas (ROUNDERS, CELEBRITY) and even some daring television (she played a transsexual on the always insane “Nip/Tuck”).
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You’d think as a comic book geek it would have been the role of Scott Summer/Cyclops in the X-MEN films that would have resulted in James Marsden winning me over. Given the fact that I find Cyclops a boring stick-in-the-mud character in the comics, who was given nothing to do in the films, it would have been hard for Marsden to make any sort of impression on me. There’s also just something about sunglasses that completely hides away someone looks. Have you ever noticed how you’ll find someone attractive or non-attractive, and then they take the sunglasses off and it all falls apart or all comes together? Then again, maybe that’s just the value I place in eyes being able to pull a whole face together.
The point of that tangent is that a guy with such a dashing chiseled face and piercing eyes shouldn’t be hidden behind sunglasses. Especially one whose face exudes complete charm, and seems to be the very definition of “hunk.” That’s why even though I missed out on him when he was cutting his teeth on teenie flicks (DISTURBING BEHAVIOR, GOSSIP, SUGAR & SPICE), television (”Ally McBeal”), and films I get yelled at for not having seen (THE NOTEBOOK), it wasn’t until a small little indie film called HEIGHTS that I stopped and thought: “Hello. Who is this guy?” Admittedly it was at times a film aiming too hard to be indie (i.e. being a little pretentious), but Marsden’s performance impressed me enough to encourage me to keep an eye out for his future projects.
He didn’t disappoint.
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With Zooey Deschanel there’s no one specific thing that makes me have such a big crush on her. It’s rather the amalgamation of so many things that make her so adorable and admirable. It’s the knee-weakening sexy, sultry, raspy voice. It’s that face that somehow manages to be both gorgeous and utterly cute at the same time. It’s that sheepish smile that seems to always suggest she knows something you don’t, but likes you anyway. It’s her dry, devilish (and funny) wit. It’s the expressive and lively eyes that seem to convey so much warmth, regardless of where they are directed. It’s her range of talent that allows her to seem at home in both mainstream Hollywood films and quirky, dramatic indie flicks. It’s the major hipness credit she gets for being the lead singer in an indie music band (She & Him), and the fact that she has a phenomenal voice.
It’s the personality that comes across both in her public appearances and in her film roles of being an endearing, adorable, down-to-earth everyday woman. She seems completely natural and totally at ease with who she is, and the world around her (check out the Kimmel interview below to see what I mean). She’s the type you could see yourself talking to into the wee hours of the morning about everything and nothing. The type who would be happy going on silly mini-golf adventures, dressing to the nines for a night on the town, or watching movies together (she loves old movies, especially screwball comedies, another thing I love about her).
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I imagine like most people my first exposure to the dreamy, intensely blue-eyed Bradley Cooper was on the TV show “Alias.” There he played Will Tippin, one of Sydney Bristow’s (Jennifer Garner) closet friends. Though his character could sometimes get annoying because he would often naively wander into situations that would threaten to endanger both himself and Sydney, you could never really outright dislike him because he was ultimately a nice, well-meaning, and even admirable guy. He was the kind of guy you would actually want as your real life friend. That feeling was all Cooper, who infused Will with such seemingly genuinely natural charm and sweetness – further accentuated with those emotive, gorgeous, entrancing eyes, and that debonair smile – that you never really held it against the character (or the show runners) that he kind of a pain on occasion.
His success as a genuinely good guy made it all the more interesting that he followed up his roles on “Alias” playing a clichéd chauvinistic jerk boyfriend to Rachel McAdams in WEDDING CRASHERS, and a sidekick to Matthew McConaughey in another romantic comedy, FAILURE TO LAUNCH. Neither of them were great roles, but I was nonetheless overjoyed because a) it was just good to see him, and b) small parts in high-profile films often easily lead to bigger and better things for actors like Bradley Cooper.
Initially “bigger and better” seemed to be his headlining the fun TV show “Kitchen Confidential” which provided a perfect character for Cooper to work with, combining his ability to play drama and comedy well, and throwing us a mix of sexy bad boy behavior with genuine humanity. Sadly, Fox (shockingly out of character, I know) cancelled the show after a few episodes, leaving many Cooper fans – or maybe just me – severely disappointed.
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The gorgeous Kate Mara first came to my attention when she illuminated the screen when she appeared at the end of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, playing Ennis’ (Heath Ledger) daughter. It was one of those quintessential moments that movie fans (or at least this one) love experiencing. That moment where you immediately perk up and think “Who is that?” and somewhat instinctively sense that a) they’re going to be the next big thing, or b) they’re going to be your next big thing.
In the case of Kate Mara in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, I couldn’t help but instantly be overwhelmed by how undeniably gorgeous she was (helped by a soft spot I have for redheads), and how sweet but somehow sultry her Julia Roberts like voice was. Of course it wasn’t just the superficial that impressed me about her, but also the energy she seems to give off. I’m not usually into the whole aura/energy thing, but this girl was the exception to the rule. In the film I was struck by how quiet and calm, but also assured and effective her acting approach was, and how it seemed to be as much a part of her actual self, as it was her performance in that film. All that contributed to me knowing this was an actress who a) I now had a massive crush on, and b) who I was going to keep an eye out from now on.
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