Being a movie fan I watch almost anything that is on TV or any DVD I can pick up, always with an open mind (my advice to all - don’t listen to the up themselves, self styled film critics like Mark Kermode or whatever his name is, watch a movie and form your own opinion!).
Of course you will find yourself watching some awful stuff but you have the power to push the eject button or switch channel. You will however come across some that you like, be it in the story, cinimatography, writing or acting. This brings me to the point I wish to make today - Actors.
An actor in a role has to convince you that you are watching a character not the actor himself and this is where I establish whether the actor is indeed an actor or a star. There are those that you see on the silver screen that automatically draw you to them, you love watching them, you generally like the type of films that they are in or, and let’s be honest, you just fancy them - I will watch anything with Nicole Kidman in for example, though she is just "Nicole" to me, she just doesn’t know we’re on first name terms!
So, for example, any films made by Tom Cruise over the last 15 years or so have, generally, been extremely similar. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but since his early work - Rainman, Born on The Fourth of July for example - he has rarely stretched his acting ability, which is a shame, because I actually think he has got some. However if you’re going to watch almost any Tom Cruise movie made in the last 15 years you can be sure of one thing - he’s going to do some running in it - see Collateral, Minority Report - both good films. It is my opinion that Cruise has become a film Star when he started off as an actor.
There are few that can claim to be actor as well as star but the currently leader of this rare bread has to be Johnny Depp who, apart from when doing sequels, manages to take on a different role, and I might say brilliantly, with almost everything he does! How different can Willy Wonka be from Captain Jack Sparrow or Sweeney Todd.
Al Pacino and Robert De Nero are regularly placed at the top of the "best Actors of All Time" lists and I won’t dissagree that they have both done some excellent work playing a wide variety of characters. All I would say to those people who write these lists is to remember Johnny Depp - look at his whole body of work - if he keeps going as long as Pacino and De Nero, then he will certainly depose them at some time!
I have just updated the illustrations on the homepage for bio diesel fuel, I know that it may surprise you that I am doing some stuff for an oil company; but I don’t think they are as un-green as I once surmised. Plus, I’ve sold out, I need the dinero (ha)!