TOP 100 ACTOR SITES
| |||
|
| |||
| |||
|
| |||
| George Michael rules out reforming Wham! George Michael insists Wham! will never reform. breakingnews.ie |
Clip joint: immortality Who wants to live for ever? Well, in cinema, many apparently do. So slap on the anti-ageing cream and enjoy Phil Hoad's roundup of enduring death-defying actsUnmanageable taboos are usually checked in to the collective unconscious, where they look after themselves. It's for our own good. Take immortality, the arch-tantaliser with the greatest price – for gods and madmen, only. But immortality got closer, courtesy of the vampires. Hit the 1890s, and living for ever seemed no more morally burdensome than a 300-page lifestyle glossy: apply eyeshadow and ennui, fast-forward any boring epochs. In the 2010s it just means RPattz won't shag you, and his yearbook photo never changes. Admit it, time now whispers, the immortals aren't them, but us: anti-ageing pledges, nip-and-tuck, mad DNA science, the embers of religion. But perhaps the great hereafter is no closer at all. Perhaps it's still tantalising: the neverland where death's on hold, and you're frozen, always young. We could ask Jimmy Dean for directions.1) The declamatory acting of a passing era, but cutting imagery - a butterfly struggling in preserving fluid (2min 45sec) – as epigram machine Lord Henry chats up Dorian Gray in the serviceable 1945 adaptation.2) Time brings many enigmas. Compared with today's crop of processed actioners, 1985's Highlander actually seems quite imaginatively written. But it may take several more millennia before we fully understand why Christopher Lambert – here, facing off fellow immortal the Kurgan – was a star circa 1985.3) "I don't expect you to understand this, and I am loath to admit it myself, but the writer is necessary." Scoring heavily as a riff on the cut-throat movies, not to mention the old art/immortality chestnut, the underrated Shadow of the Vampire has FW Murnau (John Malkovich) hire an actual bloodsucker in the lead role of his Nosferatu.4) If Emperor Palpatine is Dick Cheney, then that makes Anakin Skywalker George W Bush (Hayden Christensen's acting is on a par with his governance) in the new trilogy's convoluted scheme. Palpy seals their pact with the promise of some family-and-friends vouchers on the Dark Side elixir-of-life scheme.5) It's not news that Bill Murray is a god. But even the demiurge of deadpan hits the point of despairing with invulnerability (2min 3sec) in Groundhog Day.Last week on Clip joint, swanstep shuffled and shimmied through some favourite clips demonstrating great physical acting. Here's the chorus line of top suggestions:1) Jackie Chan is Chaplin and Keaton's heir in this playground extravaganza from Police Story 2.2) The amazing Nicholas Brothers are out to impress a gal in Kalamazoo (4 mins in) and make us forget about Glen Miller in Orchestra Wives.3) Donald O'Connor might approve of Ash's (Bruce Campbell's) struggles with his possessed hand in Evil Dead 2.4) A snow dance is impossibly beautiful; transfixing and perplexing us in equal measure in Memoirs of a Geisha.5) And this week's winner is Benj for 2min 50sec to 4min 25sec of Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris. Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) wakes and tidies his tiny Parisian apartment into a painter's studio, all in a single, 65-second shot. This is Hollywood as infused-with-physical-elan dream factory. Who doesn't want to wake up in Paris, transfigured; gorgeous and moving like that?Thanks to Modshavnofriends, albert23, mald2 and AJBee for the rest of this week's picks.Fancy writing Clip joint? Email Catherine Shoard for more details.Phil Hoadguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Nicole and Keith sing at GDay USA NICOLE Kidman and Keith Urban surprised stars at the GDay USA Ball by appearing on stage and singing honouree Simon Baker a song based on the words of the Men at Work classic, Down Under. news.com.au |
Renaissance man: Anthony Hopkins's paintings come to the UK From calm pastoral scenes to nightmarish figurations, the paintings of actor and director Anthony Hopkins go on show in London next month as part of his first exhibition of works in Britain guardian.co.uk |
Tim Burton to head Cannes jury Batman Returns and Charlie and the Choclate Factory director to lead Cannes festival juryJust as Hollywood succumbs to its annual pre-Oscar tension and Britain to its Bafta jitters, the Cannes festival has contributed to the seasonal film fever by announcing the name of its jury president for this year: Tim Burton.The tousle-haired 51-year-old director of dark and cult classics such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, has it in his power to make or break the reputations of auteurs everywhere.Burton – whose partner is the British screen star Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he has homes in London and Los Angeles – was a member of the Cannes jury in 1997 and on the short film jury in 2006. His biopic of the crazed B-movie supremo Ed Wood Jr, premiered at Cannes in 1995, again starred Depp, the pulchritudinous actor who is something between Burton's muse and dapper alter ego.In a way, Burton is the perfect Cannes president. He looks like every American's view of a Euro-intellectual (dishevelled, black shades), is but also a very ÂEuropeanised Hollywood film director, with his intensively designed and sepulchrally atmospheric Goth-type pictures, in which Depp is a regular performer. His next film, Alice In Wonderland, starring Depp as the Mad Hatter and out in two months, will underline his reputation as a film-maker with a very personal style.Aspirant film-makers should however beware. Jury presidents at Cannes tend to be very self-conscious about giving prizes to films that look like something they could have made. Dark, moody films starring people in eyeliner who look like Depp, probably won't make the grade.Tim BurtonCannes film festivalJohnny DeppPeter Bradshawguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |