Robert Downey Jr. is one of my absolute favorite actors. He has an uncanny ability to play lovable assholes. I don't know what I love more, RDJ as Tony Stark/ Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes. In my opinion, he was born to play both these roles. He was incredibly over the top in Hugo Pool (a movie written and directed by his father), hysterical in Tropic Thunder (though the movie sucked) and creepy in In Dreams. Also loved him in Only You, Heart & Souls, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Due Date, Zodiac, Air America, Soapdish and Home for the Holidays. He can do comedy, drama, action, suspense, period pieces, he even sings. I can't wait for Iron Man 3 and The Avengers 2. And I hope they make a third Sherlock Holmes.

I have loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt since 3rd Rock from the Sun. He just gets more talented and adorable as he gets older. He gave a powerful performance in Manic (though I don't think I would watch the movie again), absolutely wonderful performances in Brick, The Lookout and 50/50. He was sadistic in Killshot, adorable in 500 Days of Summer and 10 Things I hate About You. He was positively outstanding in Looper. Also loved him in Inception and Premium Rush. Will be renting Dark Knight Rises soon.

Reese Witherspoon is wonderful in everything. I loved her in Walk the Line, This Means War, Legally Blonde 1& 2, Just Like Heaven, Penelope, Overnight Delivery, How Do You Know, Sweet Home Alabama, Four Christmases, Best Laid Plans, Pleasantville, Little Nicky, Monsters Vs Aliens and Freeway.

My favorite Michelle Pfeiffer performance is Batman Returns, she will always be Catwoman (sorry every other actress to play her). I also loved her in Ladyhawke, Stardust, Witches of Eastwick, Married to the Mob, What Lies Beneath, White Oleander and Wolf.

Eliza Dushku will forever be known as Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was excellent on Tru Calling and Dollhouse (both shows were cancelled too early). Some of the movies I enjoy of hers are Bring it On, Soul Survivors and Wrong Turn.

I fell in love with Kevin Spacey when I saw The Usual Suspects. I also loved him in Seven, The Ref, L.A. Confidential, A Time to Kill, Outbreak, A Bug's Life and The Negotiator. He was good in Horrible Bosses, but it was basically the same character he played in Swimming with Sharks.

Simon Pegg is geekily adorable in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul, Star Trek, and a couple of Mission: Impossible movies.

John Cusack has an everyman quality. Movies I liked him in are Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Must Love Dogs, The Contract, 2012, Grosse Pointe Blank, War Inc, 1408, Identity, Serendipity, America's Sweethearts, Con Air, The Raven, The Factory and The Numbers Station.

Tom Hanks is the same way, he has that everyman quality. Movies I liked him in are Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Big, Toy Story 1-3, Saving Private Ryan, That Thing You Do, A League of Their Own, Joe Vs the Volcano, Turner & Hooch, The 'Burbs, Dragnet, The Money Pit, Splash, Catch Me If You Can and The Green Mile. His son Colin Hanks has the same qualities and like abilities as his dad.

Elijah Wood is very talented. I loved him in Sin City. I also liked him in The Lord of the Rings movies, Chain of Fools, The Faculty, North, The Good Son, The Oxford Murders and even Wilfred.

Zooey Deschanel is absolutely adorable. She is delightful in New Girl and hysterical in Failure To Launch. She was also good in The Happening, Elf, Big Trouble, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 500 Days of Summer and Yes Man.

Johnny Depp is the king of weird characters and plays all of them to the hilt. My favorites are Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Sands (Once Upon a Time in Mexico), Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow), Sam (Benny & Joon) and Rango (Rango). Also loved him in The Tourist, Edward Scissorhands, Nick of Time, Secret Window and Ed Wood. He's hilarious in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (though the movie sucked). He had a hilarious cameo in 21 Jump Street. I'm looking forward to him playing Tonto in The Lone Ranger.

Chloe Moretz is quite talented for someone so young. My absolute favorite role of hers so far has to be Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass, second being Abby in Let Me In. I'm looking forward to her in Kick-Ass 2 and Carrie (I'm one of the few who hated the Sissy Spacek version). Other movies I loved her in are Amityville Horror, Wicked Little Things and Not Forgotten.

I loved Dakota Fanning as Jane in the Twilight Saga movies, but they needed more with her. She is an amazing actress and she's only 18. She was good in Hide & Seek (though the movie lacked), I Am Sam, Trapped, War of the Worlds, Push and adorable as young Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama.

When I first saw Justin Long in Galaxy Quest, I knew I adored him, he has this cute/geeky thing going on. I also loved him in Dodgeball, Accepted, Drag Me To Hell, He's Just Not That Into You, Jeepers Creepers and Live Free or Die Hard. He has also played some weird characters in Idiocracy, Strange Wilderness, Old Dogs and Zack & Miri Make a Porno. In Serious Moonlight he was actually a bad guy.

More later.



Quote of the day: "I'm William Shatner; I can score anything."----Fanboys





 

More hidden gems (see previous posts).


After a tragic accident leaves Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) with brain damage, he is reduced to being a janitor at a bank. As he struggles to maintain some semblance of order in his life, he is befriended by an "old school classmate" who ropes him into robbing the bank in The Lookout.


High school collides with film noir. When the girl he loves turns up dead, Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is determined to find the "who" and "why", getting entwined in a web of drugs and duplicity. Brick is a crime drama with a language all its own.


In Frailty, Fenton (Matthew McConaughey) enters the FBI station, claiming that he knows who the "God's Hand" killer is. In flashback, we see his father (Bill Paxton), believing God has recruited him to "destroy" demons in human form.


A couple (Rory Cochrane and Mary McCormack) struggles to survive when several bombs detonate in Los Angeles, spreading toxic ash across the city in Right at Your Door.




When a botched robbery leaves him 48 hours to pay or die, Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and his girlfriend Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) undertake drastic measures to get their hands on some fast cash in Best Laid Plans.


 A group of strangers have to take refuge in an isolated motel when a rainstorm turns into a monsoon. Then one by one, they start getting killed off. Identity stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, Alfred Molina and Clea DuVall. It has a twist I loved.


Thinking that his girlfriend is cheating on him, Trips (Paul Rudd) with the help of Ivy (Reese Witherspoon) send a nasty "dear john" letter via Overnight Delivery. When a misunderstanding is revealed, he has 24 hours to try and stop the package.


A family curse causes Penelope (Christina Ricci) to have the nose of a pig. She thinks she may be able to break the curse when she meets Max (James McAvoy). Reese Witherspoon also stars in this romantic comedy.


Jimmy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a young man who lives in a bubble. When he learns the girl of his dreams, Chloe (Marley Shelton) is getting married, he builds a portable suit and ventures out to win her over. Along the way he meets bikers, freaks and cultists. Bubble Boy is pure silliness.




Quote of the day: "As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish, I wish he'd go away."----Identity

When I hear certain songs, I always think of particular movies, television, even commercials. Anybody who has seen Reservoir Dogs would understand that when I hear "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel, I automatically see Michael Madsen dancing around and torturing the cop. "Twist & Shout" by The Beatles makes me think of Matthew Broderick on the float in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (a movie I know verbatim). In Sgt. Bilko (the movie, not tv), whenever the Colonel was coming, they were warned by "No Particular Place To Go" by Chuck Berry playing over the P.A. Another Chuck Berry, "Johnny B. Goode", I picture Marty McFly singing from Back to the Future. I don't know anyone who can hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen and not think of the scene in the car from Wayne's World. "Barracuda" by Heart, I see Lucy Liu looking like a dominatrix in Charlie's Angels. I always see the opening of Zombieland when I hear "For Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica. Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams" is House on Haunted Hill. "Psycho Killer" by The Talking Heads is Behind the Mask, Soundgarden's "Jesus Christ Pose" is S.F.W. Most anything by AC/DC makes me think of Iron Man, but "If You Want Blood" is Empire Records. Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" will always be The Replacements. The Rolling Stones have many songs I associate with movies. "Time is on my Side" is Fallen, "Paint it Black" is Stir of Echoes, "Gimme Shelter" is Air America and "Sympathy for The Devil" is Interview with the Vampire (even though that version is Guns and Roses). Any version of "Bad Reputation" plays and I see Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass. Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" makes me think of Phantoms. Anything by Neil Diamond is Saving Silverman, except "Sweet Caroline", that's Beautiful Girls. Every time I hear "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson, I see the Midnight Margarita scene from Practical Magic. "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash is Dawn of the Dead, "Don't Fear the Reaper" is The Frighteners, "Low Rider" by War is Gone in 60 Seconds, "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones is Mars Attacks,  "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees is Virtuosity, Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City" is Die Hard with a Vengeance, "Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin is Sneakers, Rosemary Clooney's "Mambo Italiano" is Married to the Mob. Say Anything may have been a movie I'm not fond of, but it had the infamous scene where John Cusack held up the boombox playing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. I still remember commercials that featured certain songs. "Happy Together" by The Turtles was used for Golden Grahams cereal. Besides being in every '80s movie (like Ferris Bueller), "Oh Yeah" by Yello was Twix. The swing tune "Sing, Sing, Sing" was Chips Ahoy. Supernatural is full of classic rock songs, but the two I remember the most are "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas which any fan knows is used in the recap montages before season finales and "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor which was used in the episode "Yellow Fever" and the extra scene at the end where Jensen Ackles is lip-synching and air guitaring to it. I saw a video somebody made on YouTube of clips from the Nightmare on Elm Street movies done to Avenged Sevenfold's "Nightmare", which is awesome.



Quote of the day: "When man meets a force he can't destroy, he destroys himself. What a plague you are."----30 Days Of Night

I love to read (horror mostly). When I was a preteen, I read anything by Christopher Pike, L.J. Smith and some R.L. Stine. Then I graduated to Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, John Saul, Michael Crichton and Stephen King. When I discovered Bentley Little, I bought everything I could find from him. I love the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, the Werewolf books from Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld Series and the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson. I own and love the Twilight Saga books and movies. I still think a vampire that sparkles is moronic and Bella is very annoying. What I enjoy most are the other characters outside the idiotic couple. I would love Stephanie Meyer to write books just about Alice and Jasper or the Volturi (especially Jane). I thought Victoria was cool, but then they changed actresses in the movie and I didn't like it as much. The wolf pack was fun, I will always prefer Jacob over Edward. I read the Hunger Games trilogy in less than a week. Peeta is one of the most likeable characters ever and Josh Hutcherson did a really good job playing him.





Quote of the day: "Bitch, that's cheating! I'm not even dead yet!"----Stay Alive