Happy now, bitch?

The cast of Boardwalk Empire

Find me a show that is currently on the air that has a better ensemble than Boardwalk Empire. I dare you. In lieu of its final season, I have decided to name my favorite performance from each major character in the show. As well as highlighting characters who only had a handful of episodes but were played by big name character actors. Boardwalk Empire has an enormous cast so I should point out that I don't highlight all the players involved. That in itself is saying a lot. Special recognition goes to Anthony Lacura, Vincent Piazza, Charlie Cox, Paul Sparks, Margot Bingham, Dabney Coleman, and several others.

Steve Buscemi

Plays the role of Nucky Thompson

Favorite performance:

Other favorite roles: Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, Donny in Big Lebowski, Seymour from Ghost World, Tony Blundetto in The Sopranos

Stephen Graham

Plays the role of Al Capone

Favorite role:

Michael Shannon

Plays the role of Nelson Van Alden

Favorite performance:

Michael K. Williams

Plays the role of Chalky White

Favorite role: Omar Little in The Wire

Michael Pitt

Plays the role of Jimmy Darmondy

Favorite role: Paul in Funny Games

Kelly MacDonald

Plays the role of Margaret Schroeder

Favorite role: Carla Jean Moss in No Country For Old Men

Shea Whigham

Plays the role of Eli Thompson

Favorite role: Justin in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Gretchen Mol

Plays the role of Sally Darmondy

Favorite role: Betty Page in The Notorious Betty Page

Jack Huston

Plays the role of Richard Harrow

Favorite role: Peter Musane in American Hustle

Michael Stuhlbarg

Plays the role of Arnold Rothstein

Favorite role:

Jeffrey Wright

Plays the role of Valentin Narcisse

Favorite role: Bennett Holiday in Syriana

Bobby Cannavale

Plays the role of Gyp Rosetti

Favorite role: Joe Oramas in The Station Agent

Stephen Root

Plays the role of Gaston Means

Favorite role:

Other roles: Fernand Gudge in The Ladykillers, Sheriff Wynan in Red State

Patricia Arquette

Plays the role of Sally Wheat

Favorite role: Mom in Boyhood

William Forsythe

Plays Manny Horvitz

Favorite role: Sheriff Wydell in The Devils Rejects

Ron Livingston

Plays the role of Roy Phillips

Favorite role: Michael in Office Space

Robert Klohessy

Plays the role of Alderman Jim Neary

Favorite role:
 

Domenick Lombardozzi

Plays the role of Ralph Capone

Favorite role: Sgt. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk in The Wire

Christopher MacDonald

Plays the role of Harry Daugherty

Favorite role: Shooter McGavin in Billy Madison

James Cromwell

Plays the role of Andrew Mellon

Favorite role: I would post a video of a clip from this film but all I really have to say is “I wouldn’t trade places with Edmond Exley for all the whiskey in Ireland” and you should know what I’m talking about.

Roll Call: August 2014

BOLD - film

TV SERIES

* indicates seen for the first time

8/1- BOYHOOD (Richard Linklater, 2014)*

8/2- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (James Gunn, 2014)*

         COMPLIANCE (Craig Zobel, 2012)*

8/3- AMORES PERROS (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, 2000)*

       BLUE RUIN (Jeremy Saulnier, 2014)*

8/4- SNOWPIERCER (Korea/US- Bong Jon-ho, 2014)*

8/6- MONEYBALL (Bennett Miller, 2011)*

       ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (Documentary- Werner Herzog, 2007)*

8/7- BLACKFISH (Documentary- Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013)*

       INCENDIES (Denis Villeneuve, 2010)*

8/8- BOYHOOD (Richard Linklater, 2014)

8/10- NYMPHOMANIAC VOL. 1 & 2 (Lars Von Trier, 2014)*

8/11- THE PRESTIGE (Christopher Nolan, 2006)

           GOOD WILL HUNTING (Gus Van Sant, 1997)

8/12- FRUITVALE STATION (Ryan Coogler)*

           RUST AND BONE (France- Jacques Audiard, 2012)*

8/13- MONTY PYTHON’S THE LIFE OF BRIAN (Terry Jones, 1983)*

8/14- RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (Jonathan Demme, 2008)*

8/15- THE PRESTIGE (Christopher Bolan, 2006)

8/16- TREME (2 EPISODES)*

           BABEL (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, 2006)*

8/17- ANOTHER WOMAN (Woody Allen, 1988)*

8/18- SOLARIS (Steven Soderbergh, 2002)*

           INSOMNIA (Christopher Nolan, 2002)*

8/19- HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (Woody Allen, 1986)*

8/20- WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE (Documentary- Spike Lee, 2006)*

         THE CONTENDER (Rod Lurie, 2000)*

8/21- HOMICIDE (David Mamet, 1991)*

           TREME (2 EPISODES)*

8/22- TREME*

           THE KNICK*

8/23- TREME*

8/24- GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (George Clooney, 2005)*

           BIUTIFUL (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, 2010)*

           TREME (2 EPISODES)*

            BOARDWALK EMPIRE

8/25- MILIUS (Documentary- Joey Figueroa, 2013)*

           JURASSIC PARK (Steven Spielberg, 1993)

8/26- TREME*

           ENOUGH SAID (Nicole Holofcener, 2013)*

           BOARDWALK EMPIRE (2 episodes)

8/27- SPARTAN (David Mamet, 2004)*

           DO THE RIGHT THING (Spike Lee, 1989)       

8/28- THE KNICK*

           THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (Woody Allen, 1985)

           RESCUE DAWN (Werner Herzog, 2007)*

8/29- THE KNICK*

           THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD                       (Andrew Dominik, 2007)*

           I SHOT JESSE JAMES (Samuel Fuller, 1949)*

           PSYCHO (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

8/30- THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed, 1949)

           WAG THE DOG (Barry Levinson, 1998)*

           THE LOST WEEKEND (Billy Wilder, 1945)

           BOARDWALK EMPIRE (2 episodes)

Women in film: Joan Allen

This series will cover important contributions from women to the world of cinema. First up, Joan Allen.

Joan Allen

Joan Allen first caught my eye with her work in Manhunter. Specifically in a scene in which she lays her head against a tiger to hear its heartbeat as a shaken Frances Dolarhyde looks on. Allen's characters are multi- faceted strong women with integrity. She isn't afraid to stretch herself to play the villain or the accused either.

Favorite role: Senator Laine Hanson in The Contender

Of all her roles, her turn as Senator Laine Hanson has affected me the most. She displays just enough and knows when to draw back if necessary. Through her acting, she shows Hanson as having a social life and, as this scene shows, someone who lives by ethical principles that will remain unshaken. 

Runner up: 

Reba McClane in Manhunter

Patricia Nixon in Nixon

Elizabeth Procter in The Crucible

Elena Hood in The Ice Storm

Betty Parker in Pleasantville

Top 10 Cinematographers

Michael Ballhaus

Films: The Marriage of Maria Braun, After Hours, The Color of Money, Broadcast News, Last Temptation of Christ, GoodFellas, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Age of Innocence, Quiz Show, Sleepers, Gangs of New York, The Departed

Roger Deakins

Homicide, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy,  The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Jarhead, No Country For Old Men, A Serious Man, Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Skyfall, Prisoners, Sicario

Frederick Elmes

Films: Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Night On Earth, The Ice Storm, Broken Flowers, Synecdoche New York

Robert Elswit

Films: Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, Redbelt

Janusz Kaminski

Films: Schindler’s List, Jerry Maguire, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Munich, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Lincoln

Emmanuel Lubezki

Films: Sleepy Hollow, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Ali, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The New World, Children of Men, The Tree of Life, Gravity, Birdman

Rodrigo Prieto

Films: Amores Perros, 8 Mile, 25^th Hour, Frida, 21 Grams, Brokeback Mountain, Babel, Biutiful, Argo, The Wolf of Wall Street

Robert Richardson

Films: Platoon, Wall Street, Born On the Fourth of July, JFK, A Few Good Men, Natural Born Killers, Casino, Nixon, Wag the Dog, Bringing Out the Dead, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, The Aviator, Inglourious Basterds, Shutter Island, Django Unchained

Gordon Willis

Films: Klute, The Godfather I & II, All the President’s Men, Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Zelig

Vilmos Zsigmond

Films: McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Deliverance, Images, The Long Goodbye, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate, Blow Out, Melinda and Melinda

THE BEST OF THE REST

John Alcott

Films: A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining

Sean Bobbitt
Films: Hunger, Shame, The Place Beyond the Pines, 12 Years A Slave

Robert Burks
Films: Strangers On A Train, I Confess, Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, Vertigo, North By Northwest, The Birds, Marnie

Stanley Cortez
Films: The Magnificent Ambersons, The Night of the Hunter, The Three Faces of Eve, Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss

Dean Cundey

Films: The Thing, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Apollo 13

Caleb Deschanel

Films: Being There, The Right Stuff, The Natural, Killer Joe

Tak Fujimoto

Films: Badlands, Melvin and Howard, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, The Sixth Sense, Signs

Conrad Hall
Films: In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man, Love Affair, A Civil Action, Road to Perdition

James Wong Howe

Films: The Thin Man, Kings Row, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Body and Soul, Baron of Arizona, Picnic, The Sweet Smell of Success, Hud, Seconds

Slawomir Idzik

Films: A Short Film About Killing, Double Life of Veronique, Three Colors: Blue

Robert Krasker

Films: Brief Encounter, Odd Man Out, The Third Man, Billy Budd

Charles Lang

Films: A Farewell to Arms, The Uninvited, A Foreign Affair, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Ace In the Hole, Sudden Fear, The Big Heat, Sabrina, Separate Tables, Some Like It Hot, The Magnificent Seven, One-Eyed Jacks, Charade, Wait Until Dark, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Robby Muller

Films: Paris Texas, Down By Law, Dead Man

Guillermo Navarro

Films: Pan’s Labyrinth, Hard Candy, Hannibal episodes

Wally Pfister

Films: Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, Moneyball, The Dark Knight Rises

Vittorio Storaro

Films: Bird With the Crystal Plumage, The Conformist, Last Tango In Paris, Apocalypse Now, Reds, The Last Emperor, Dick Tracy, Bulworth

Harris Savides

Films: The Game, The Hire: The Follow, Gerry, Elephant, Birth, Zodiac, American Gangster, Milk

Michael Sloavis

Films: various Breaking Bad episodes

Dante Spinotti

Films: Manhunter, Heat, L.A. Confidential, The Insider, Wonder Boys, Public Enemies

Best of 2014 (so far) and what's to come

Inherent Vice

First day. Midnight. 

Interstellar

The trailer alone nearly invoked tears. This is Nolan aiming for the bleachers.

Birdman

Innaritu’s death trilogy consisted of three of the best films of the 00’s. To go from bleakness to surreal comedy is just another reason out of several as to why I love this director.

The Dance of Reality


Joorowsky's back.

Foxcatcher

Capote and Moneyball proved Bennett Miller was more than capable of guiding actors through multi- faceted performances. I hope he does the same with Channing Tatum, Steve Carrell and Mark Ruffalo as he did with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Brad Pitt.

Frank

Michael Fassbender plays a singer who wears a giant plastic head throughout the film. How many ways can you say sold in?

Gone Girl

Fincher adapts Gillian Flynn’s best selling thriller.

The Homesman

Maps to the Stars

Given the recent subtlety of stylization that Cronenberg has employed since Spider, Maps to the Stars looks to act as another outlet of the many subjects that gnaw away in his mind.

The Rover


They Came Together

Tusk

A story that started out on Kevin Smith’s podcast is now a feature film being released in theaters. Add Michael Parks and the concept of being sewn into a walrus costume and you have my money.

Two Days One Night

Marion Cotilliard could just have easily rested on her laurels after La Vie En Rose. But no. She has proved with Rust and Bone in 2012, that she is one of the best actresses working today. I am not a fan of the Dardienne Brothers but Cotilliard invests tremendously in any role she is in.

Whiplash

I was sold on the force of nature that is J.K. Simmons the second I finished Season 1 of Oz. So it’s a given I will want to be seeing this. But what has given me just as much incentive is Miles Teller. 

Whitey: The United States Vs. James J. Bulger


Bruce Sinofsky releases his firstpost- Paradise Lost trilogy documentary. The subject, Whitey Bulger, sounds perfect for Sinofsky's sensibilities and examination.

1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)

2. Enemy (Denis Villeneuve)

3. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)

4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Matt Reeves)

5. Jodorowsky's Dune (Frank Pavich)

6. Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier)

7. Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn)

8. Snowpiercer (Bong Jon-ho)

9. Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 (Lars Von Trier)

10. 22 Jump Street (Chris Miller, Phil Lord)

I like ya. Just not as much as the others: Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

Our fearful trip is done.

Robin Williams was one of the first comic performers I realized could not only do comedy, but heavy drama. Through youthful eyes I would watch Peter Pan in Hook, Aladdin emerge from a lamp and a nanny disguised as a father cover his face in cake. He would later speak a monologue about the importance of being in love, talk to Will Hunting about intelligence vs. experience and profess Carpe Diem to a bunch of English students. He gave a handful of performances that many hold dear to their hearts.

1. Perry in The Fisher King


2. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting


3. John Keating in Dead Poets Society