You are currently browsing all entries tagged with 'Keanu Reeves'

FLOUNDERING FILM FLUNKEE worries about inarticulate film discussion!

  • December 8, 2011 1:08 am

Someone once said that while two people may love, both might love in very different ways. I said that. Just now. Because it’s a great way to start this blog. I can’t very well wait on someone splendid to spout out opening lines for everything I write.

I, of course, love movies. Like near everyone else, I’ve watched them for as long as I can remember. And yeah, I went to film school.

An idea that is constantly perpetuated about film school is that once you’ve been there, once you know the work that goes into a movie, you never really see a movie the same way again. The artifices are exposed and you are beyond the veil.

People coming out of the machine claim they can no longer enjoy the simple pleasure of going to the moving pictures.

I am not one of those people. For better or worse.  Read more...

1,001 Reasons I Love Movies: (#16) River Phoenix

  • August 25, 2010 12:01 am

If he hadn’t died of a drug overdose outside a West Hollywood nightclub at the tragically young age of 23, River Phoenix would have turned 40 this week. He may not carry the iconic weight of an actor like James Dean who also died much too early, but for my generation, he was just as important.

Phoenix was around the same age as me and I grew up watching him in his early roles like Explorers and Stand By Me. Even as a child actor, it was easy to see that he stood out. There was a purity to him; an honesty that made him seem mature beyond his years. When I think of Phoenix, I remember the great director Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon) talking about a particular experience directing Phoenix in Running On Empty which captures these qualities:

 Read more...

What I Learned on YOMYOMF This Week – May 9-15, 2010

  • May 16, 2010 2:42 am

I was pumping gas today when a kindly old station attendant saw my UCLA license plate. She asked if I went there and I smiled politely, said yes. She responded simply, “That’s unfortunate” and walked away.

"Go to hell, dear."

After I had gone home and cried for my usual thirty minutes, I drew solace from the pearls of wisdom YOMYOMF dispensed this week, amongst those being why Filipinos are the ‘dancing Asians;’ how to discipline children with mental anguish; and why you probably shouldn’t eat rats.

In other words, this is a blog post YOU MUST READ!  Read more...

Great Moments With…

  • October 26, 2009 12:22 am

ALAN RICKMAN

Yes, the great Alan Rickman. The sexy, Irish/Welsh bloke who perpetually sounds like he has a lozenge/sucrets stuck in the back of his throat when he speaks.

arickman_10x8

I suppose the great Alan Rickman would be considered a “character actor” in Hollywood speak. But pigeonholing the great Alan Rickman (i will refer to him as TGAR from now on) into the same Hollywood sardine can as Danny Devito, James Hong, or William Macy would be like putting a dead falcon in your butterfly collection – it just doesn’t belong.

Hollywood has always been in search of the elusive “watchability” factor in actors. It’s that star quality that sneaks into the back of a viewer’s subconscious and inspires them to fall in love with and want to watch that particular persona on screen as much as possible.  It’s what dreams are made of (wet or dry).  But what is that “watchability” factor exactly? That certain sprinkle of stardust that makes an actor a step above all others who grace the screen? Well, here are a few…  Read more...