Love 'em and Leave 'em? A Brief Memory of Russell Crowe.

Have you ever loved a performance so much that your subsequent disinterest in the same actor is actually hard to wrap your head around? That's me when it comes to Russell Crowe.

I love everything about him in L.A. Confidential... but in particular the way he looks at Kim Basinger. God, the way he looks at her. It's just riveting. He easily made my Best Actor shortlist in 1997. For the record it went like so...

• Russell Crowe, LA Confidential
• Johnny Depp, Donnie Brasco
• Christopher Guest, Waiting for Guffman
• Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter *winner*
• Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights

I'd probably rejigger to make Christopher Guest the winner now that it's been 13 years (yes, Guffman arrived in '97 even though it's listed as '96 everywhere) and that performance is still the most hilarious I think I've ever seen.

But I'm veering off topic. Damnit.

Back on. I watched a few key Confidential scenes after reading Craig's Take Three: Kim Basinger this weekend and fell for Crowe's "Bud White" (great character name) all over again. Before L.A. Confidential hit I had only seen him in the Australian movie Proof (1991, not the Gwynnie Paltrow movie -- this one is more interesting) and in the western The Quick and the Dead (1995). And after L.A. I rented another Australian movie The Sum of Us (1994) and also loved him there.

So back in 1997 I assumed he was totally my new favorite actor. He became everyone else's favorite actor (at least for a few years)... but weirdly not mine. Not mine at all. So now when he has a new movie out (like The Next Three Days) it almost doesn't register with me.

<--- Crowe in Proof (1991).

I lost interest so quickly.

Have you ever had that happen to you with an actor / actress that you just really thought was going to be a personal fav? Does it mean that we let external forces get in the way? Does it mean we never loved the actor/actress but just the role they won / did justice to? Or maybe it's a complicated mix of all sorts of things like media saturation, public persona, film choices, personal quirks.

I'd love to hear stories if this has ever happened to you...
*

Linky Linky

Movie|Line offers up pre 1970s horror movie suggestions for Halloween
/Film James Franco making another poetry film. From behind the camera this time.
MCN Halle Berry's Frankie & Alice to get Oscar qualifying release. Have I ever told you how much I hate the one week qualifier rule?  "YES. SHUT UP," the readers shout in unison. I'm just sayin' movies should be eligible only if the year of their real release. It's the only way a calendar year 'future history!' eligibility system actually means anything.
Serious Film wonders where the critical bar is set for Best Picture nominees in the wake of the cool response to Hereafter. As some of y'all know I don't put much stock in rotten tomatoes scores as Oscar signifiers (partially because all positive or all negative scoring (the dread thumbs!) is an inherently flawed system for reflecting worth and even true opinion. Unless of course everyone is all "A"s and "F"s these days and I realize that's the sad way it's been heading.
The Spy in the Sandwich reviews an interesting-sounding film I hadn't yet heard of called Le Fil (The String), a gay film with Antonin Stahly and Claudia Cardinale (!)
Hell on Frisco Bay looks at the explosion of film festivals over the last decade. I suspect this is our future since distribution has become so impossible for so many films. My guess: people attending festivals these days are the people that used to frequent their neighborhood arthouses.
Paul C wrote a (spoiler-heavy) review of Never Let Me Go that I think is really interesting and perceptive ...though he likes the movie much more than I.

offcinema just cuz
Before Glee revives The Rocky Horror Picture Show mania for the next few days, why not a peak at Russell Crowe in fishnets in 1987 playing Eddie & Dr. Scott. Whaaaaa? [hat tip: Cinemablend]



I wish I knew who was playing the other roles. Anyone else famous on that stage?

i09 You have taste receptors in your lungs. Wait... what?
Everything I Know a perceptive review of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson which I just saw on Broadway (see "crush of the moment" in the sidebar.) I wish movie biopics had this much irreverent invention.
ONTD Madonna to open fitness centers around the world. "Hard Candy"! Ha, I love this idea. Sometimes when celebrities branch out into other fields it's a big "No!" head scratcher. But this one makes perfect narrative sense.
Luc Latillipe awesome drawing of Yvonne Craig's Batgirl. There are no other Batgirls if you ask me.

Link & Order: Special Random Unit

The Awl "10 Reasons Why You Should Give Me One More Chance This Weekend" by that bucket of charm "Russell Crowe". (teehee)
Go Fug Yourself theorizes that Cate Blanchett stole a White House carpet
Go Fug Yourself... and welcomes Cannes crazy with open arms
Catalogue of Curiousities "floating heads of doom!"
Buzz Sugar the trailer for True Blood Season 3
Mister Hipp "He can take it." I love this illustration of Wolverine. So fun


Towleroad Elton John covering Madonna hits with scandily clad go go boys. What the hell?
Towleroad my weekly column
The Portland Mercury hilarious movie marquee. Poor Terrence Howard
A Socialite's Life Christina Ricci to join Laura Linney on Broadway in September. Interesting
Playbill Antonio Banderas returning to Broadway for Kander & Ebb's Zorba
Empire strangest bedfellows ever: Charlie Kaufman + Kung Fu Panda
/Film yes I've heard about the duleing Monroe biopics: Naomi Watts vs. Michelle Williams. Just haven't mentioned them yet since they kinda deserve a whole big post. Later. Have patience.

Finally, PopEater says goodbye to Law & Order (just cancelled) with a opening credits mashup of all casts from the franchise. I know people are sad that the original flagship series is going bye-bye. But puhleze. It lives on in 3 spinoffs and endless syndication like some unholy hydra beast. I will never be able to escape it. You've won, television my nemesis, you've won! I thank the original L&O for keeping my Broadway babies fed and in rent payments... but otherwise I kick it to the curb. See, I don't think I can take one more Linus Roache or Dianne Wiest situation wherein some gargantuan talent hides their magnificence under that particular bushel. The next great that the series plans to taint is... Isabelle Huppert. Je pleure.

French Tweets #1: Cate, Robin Hood, Market Titles

Robert begins his daily Cannes roundup tomorrow afternoon and Julien you'll hear from soon directly from France. I'll pop in occassionally with snippets for those of you who aren't tweeting or are just plain desperate to see what Cate Blanchett is wearing.

Here are my nine favorite recent tweets from Cannes

You know @guylodge of In Contention (made breathless by the Blanchett) and Sasha from AwardsDaily well. I believe both of them are at Cannes for the first time this year. Maybe next year or the year after or the year after (when will my ship come in?) I'll be able to pop my Cannes cherry. @jamesrocchi is totally worth following if you aren't already.

Tweets from @anupamachopra on market titles (always a curious bunch of films), slashfilm (everyone seems to think this Robin Hood is problematic) and @akstanwyck from Thompson on Hollywood who asks if Russell Crowe's arrogance surprises.

Um... Is this a trick question?


@scott_tobias from the AV Club and @gemko from The Man Who Viewed Too Much share Robin Hood concerns.

But yes... yes... Blanchett. You're here for the pictures of the red carpet queen.

Cate at the photo call | Cate at at the premiere

She is beautiful in 3 dimensions, though only 2 are represented her... and in Robin Hood for that matter. (Ridley Scott could not attend the festivities due to recent surgeries so we wish him well.)