Crazy Stars

I crave the rest, and the good times, because I hardly allow them at all. I'm too busy chasing the dream.

But how much of a dream is it if you're stuck in the editing room at 3am going crazy because an actor moved their eyebrow in a weird way?

You have to be stuck in the editing room at 3am, because working when everyone else has given up for the night is how you get things done.

But you can't do anything if you're exhausted. It's romantic to think of genius coming at 5am, but you need the sleep.

And come the day, you need to see your friends and you need to make new ones. And you need to make your wife happy or have an awkward conversation with someone you like (if you're single).

If you write, you have to live something. Me and my friend Jessica were talking the other night, tired of always meeting up in bars and coffee houses, because everything is planned as if it's a Facebook event. We realised we should be climbing things, and getting high, and staring up at the crazy stars in the black sky while wondering what the hell everything is about.

Because that's how writing gets good and how acting gets real -- when you focus on the inbetweens. It's not the party you remember, it's getting lost on the way there, or getting arrested on the way home.

You need that energy in your life. You need to get out of Starbucks and see the world.

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Kid On The Facebook Front Row (Terrible Title, I know)

I'd love it if you'd join the Facebook Fan Page for Kid In The Front Row. That's where half the action is happening! Sometimes I watch a film that I really love, but I don't have a whole blogs-worth of things to say about it, so we chat about it on the fan page.

If you like what I do here, and you love films, I'd hate for you to be missing out. Of course, there are a million places to talk about film, but on Kid In The Front Row we seem to like similar films and similar things about the films we love. We're not so much about box office and technical stuff -- we like talking about creativity, about movies with a bit of heart, and we love finding random intriguing films from the independents and from world cinema.


Kid In The Front Row

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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

1. Thomas Horn (the kid) is fantastic. What an amazing role for him! I wonder how similar he is to the character. He's perfect in it. And it's his first movie! Astonishing!

2. You may cry when you watch this film. It may happen about six times, usually when you least expect it. When I saw it today, there was one particular, gut-wrenching moment, and the whole audience went SILENT. But REALLY silent. It hit everybody the same way. 

3. Max Von Sydow, wow. That is EXPERIENCE. You sense it and feel it, just by the way he looks or walks or stands or pulls a face, he's so compelling. He grabs your attention. It's like a super-power. He's a true elder, a legendary actor. 

4. Tom Hanks. Nice to see him doing something like this. Makes up a little for 'Larry Crowne'. Still feel like we've lost him in recent years though. Something's not the same. He was always my favourite actor, but in the last ten years I haven't liked his work. Keep trying to figure out how he's changed, but maybe it's me that has. 
5. Jeffrey Wright, wow; he pretty much stole the show! He's only in it towards the end. This guy is fantastic. 

6. It felt like a big Hollywood film but at the same time, it didn't. It had maturity, it knew when to shove things in your face and when to be subtle. This is what 'War Horse' wasn't able to achieve.

7. I really loved the use of the U2 song in the trailer and was disappointed to not find it in the movie.

8. Sandra Bullock is incredible. The moments when she's on the phone to Thomas when he's in the tower, and at the end when she's on the bed with her son... wow, so powerful. She's fantastic.

9. This film, like '127 Hours' last year, just makes you want to ring up everyone you know and tell them you love them. Because they remind you how extremely and incredibly SHORT life is, and how we're all emotionally retarded muppets for not telling people how much they mean to us with every chance we get. 

10. It has a 'Best Picture Nomination'. Here's the thing: I enjoyed it more than 'The Artist' and 'The Descendants'. My favourites were 'Midnight In Paris' followed by 'Moneyball' - but I really got a lot from 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' both times I saw it. So, I'd have no problem with it winning 'Best Picture', but of course, it has no chance. 

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The JUNO Soundtrack Mystery

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The Genius Of ROBERT DOWNEY JR

Robert Downey Jr is, without question, one of the finest actors of this or any other generation. His ascent to the top of the industry, currently heading up two huge franchises (IRON MAN & SHERLOCK HOLMES), is deserved and it has to be said, should have happened a long time ago.

In truth, I have  very little interest in either of those above mentioned movies. With most actors of great potential, I'd lament them focusing their talents solely on these types of blockbusters. Yet, with Robert Downey Jr, I can't help but feel he's earned it. He showed his brilliance in the 80's, showed genius in the 90's and wisdom and maturity in everything since. He put in the ground work a hundred times over. Not only this but, we get the fairytale story too -- a troubled man who overcame his personal demons and addictions to go on to be one of the greatest actors alive, complete with a lovely wife and kids. 

Yet his personal life and financial riches are not why I am writing about him. I am writing about him because of his remarkable ability and talent. He was able to not only 'portray' Charlie Chaplin but somehow channel him, to become him. His performance in "CHAPLIN" was nothing short of a masterpiece. 

Any young person who decides to become an actor can become good. With enough practice and hard work, they can even become great.  But to get to the level of RDJ, something else is at work. Whether it's God, or luck, or a neurological malfunction, who knows. What we do know is that he brings something to the screen that so few can.

His genius has often shined brightest in mostly forgotten movies and smaller roles. His character in the heartwarming "HEART AND SOULS" is one of his most memorable. His character, haunted by four disgruntled ghosts, has to deal with looking absurd in front of colleagues baffled by his behaviour; and then the ghosts actually take over his body --- meaning Downey had to become the other characters. Two particular moments stand out, and in both of these he is forced to become a woman. One is during a board meeting, when Kyra Sedgwick's character overtakes him, and the other is when Alfre Woodard's character inhabits his body, making him act like a strong black woman, arguing with a security guard. The moment was handled so beautifully and hysterically that it leaves you craving for more of the same. Little did we know that nearly two decades later he would do something similar in 'TROPIC THUNDER'.

In 'ONE NIGHT STAND' he played the role of Charlie, a gay man who is dying of AIDS. It is quite possible that this is his finest acting performance to date. Gay characters are still, for the most part, stereotypically and ignorantly portrayed on screen. Yet Downey was able to bring us a character so real and fascinating and heartbreaking, that he makes you relate to him and feel like him. It turns out that a gay man who is dying of AIDS is still exactly like you and me. Tom Hanks did it first with "PHILADELPHIA", yet somehow Downey's subtle and little known performance feels even more authentic.

When Guy Bellow's character, Billy Thomas, was killed off in "ALLY MCBEAL", it felt like the end of the show. The Ally and Billy storylines were the heart that kept everything else in place. And then Robert Downey Jr's 'Larry Paul' walked in, and gave the show such a outrageously huge lift that when he left, after only one season, the remaining episodes were uninspired and struggled to re-capture the audience. 

The thing about Larry Paul was that he was so ordinary. A good guy struggling to be a Dad and deal with his exes while falling for Ally. The show was always about delving into Ally McBeal's crazy imagination, yet Season 4 was able to delve delicately and truthfully into the relationship between Ally and Larry, focusing on their neurotic problems which made every little thing about their relationship so difficult. 

Even though we were watching a quick talking, witty lawyer in Boston, we somehow felt like we were staring directly at ourselves. When you watch Robert Downey Jr, you see a part of yourself staring back at you. Most actors may achieve this once, but Downey reaches this level time and time again.

"ALLY MCBEAL" was very much a comeback for him. He was sacked at the end of his first season on the show for drug related reasons, which was perhaps the last great downfall in his career. Somewhere in the proceeding years found the resolve and determination to finally overcome the addictions that were threatening to ruin his career and life. He cleaned up his act, met the woman he would marry, and suddenly things looked promising again, even though productions were finding him difficult to hire due to the astronomical costs of his insurance. He was initially cast in Woody Allen's "MELINDA & MELINDA", but they couldn't afford the insurance costs. Looking back at the film, which is one of Woody's more disappointing efforts, you can't help but wonder how much better it would have been. Perhaps, if Downey had got the role, we'd be referring to it now as one of the great Woody Allen masterpieces. 

"KISS KISS, BANG BANG" is filled with hilarious moments. Much credit undoubtedly belongs to the extremely talented writer/director Shane Black, along with co-star Val Kilmer, yet RDJ steals the show with a great performance where his acting and comedic skills were simply irresistible. Again, he somehow managed to elevate himself above 'good acting' to a level of expertise that is a pleasure to watch if only because it is so rare.

There are two scenes in "A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS" which demonstrate more than anything else in his career just how good an actor he is. It's surprising to say that, considering his role is only a supporting one. Then again, "ONE NIGHT STAND" and "NATURAL BORN KILLERS" showed how he doesn't need a lot of screen time to steal the show.

Both scenes are between him and Rosario Dawson's character. The first is a very sweet and beautiful moment where their characters meet again after twenty years apart. It's a simple, understated moment, where Downey appears on the street below Dawson's window, calling out, "wanna come out and play?" The scene is so simple and straightforward that it needn't be so interesting, but IT IS! RDJ manages to be entirely natural, yet still extremely 'Robert Downey Jr'. What I mean is that, Downey's acting is always extremely natural and truthful, yet he is always specific. He makes decisions about his characters. What we see is never incidental or luck. It exists because of how completely he understands his characters.

The second scene with Rosario is when they're on the rooftop and she's challenging him to go take care of his Father. He does something in this scene that I have hardly seen anywhere, at all. You know that deep horrible resistance that sits inside of you? It's when people force you out of your comfort zone, when they bring up your worst fears and make you lose yourself... well, in this scene, we see Downey go there. We see him pushed past the place his character is psychologically actually able to function in. The result is one of the more truthful moments I've ever witnessed on screen. I remember watching these scenes many years ago with a girlfriend, and she kept crying her eyes out and making me stop the movie. She kept being reminded of her self, her life, of problems she'd been through -- and it was all because of what RDJ was doing. The situations were different, yet the emotion was the same -- Downey had captured something universal, that takes on meaning far outweighing the story of the movie. How often can an actor achieve that?

In the years that followed "A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS", he appeared in some films which were not particularly great, yet his performances always shined. His consistent work in "A SCANNER DARKLY", "ZODIAC", "CHARLIE BARTLETT" and "TROPIC THUNDER", showed audiences and the industry that he had, finally, truly arrived and was here to stay. With a new stability to his life and his work; he was then ready to make the leap, to become the coolest and most sought after actor in Hollywood. 

Aside from the fun "DUE DATE" and the sadly misfiring "THE SOLOIST", his schedule has been taken up almost entirely by fronting the "IRON MAN" franchise, which has a third film shortly on the way, and "SHERLOCK HOLMES" which is also likely to yield a third movie. He undoubtedly is the perfect man to lead these popular movies -- and he has joked in many interviews that he's tired of doing independent films that nobody ever gets to see. He's a joy to watch in these big blockbusters, but the concern is that we will lose the subtle and nuanced performances that he has become such an expert at. Yet, I am wise enough to know that it would be silly for an internet blogger to question a man who is, as I stated at the beginning, one of the finest actors ever to grace the big screen. I believe that, if he continues to make bold and interesting choices, his best work is yet to come. 

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