The first series of Prison Break has finally ended, something which means I won't have to say "I didn't know Haakon Myrtvedt had a part in this series?" every Monday evening. You see, back when we started watching it, I knew I'd seen the guy playing Lincoln before, and it took me about half a second to place him in an Australian series I used to watch in the late nineties, Raw FM. But I just had to check anyway, and off I went to IMDb. When I read on his page that his father was Norwegian, I just had to read further, and found that his full name is Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt Purcell. So naturally I have to mention this every time he's on the screen.

I also watched a documentary about the Patrick Henry College in Virginia, USA. I had decided to try and refrain from commenting during the programme, but that lasted for about eleven minutes. I can understand why parents think it is really scary out there these days, but I don't think that kids who have grown up in a closed environment, with homeschooling and as part of a very homogenous community, should become politicians. If you don't at least have a sense of what other people's lives are like, you should definitely not be allowed to represent the people. They look innocent, but their thoughts are highly dangerous and giving them power would be a huge mistake. The school itself declares that its students are carefully selected among the top notch evangelical Christian families of the US and the aim is to put them into powerful positions, preferably in the White House. It was very suspicious that we spotted one Asian American and no black people, and about half of the students seemed to have Northern European surnames (particularly German and, sigh, Scandinavian). I've said it before and I will repeat it many times over: Mixing politics and religion is the most scary thing there is. Nothing good comes out of it.

On a much more positive note; we went to see X-Men: The Last Stand today and it was just about as good as I had expected. The next big film I have been looking forward to for a very long time (ever since the first film ended) is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and after having seen the trailer for about six months now, it is highly overdue.

And I'm still boycotting The Da Vinci Code; I will not give Dan Brown my money. Too bad a few of my favourites have sold their souls and appear in the film.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: alfred molina, film, personal, TV

Look, Colin, if you don't think of yourself as a sex symbol, stop posing for pictures, you fool!

Ah. Yes, well... Just got home from watching Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which was fun, but not over-the-top-ha-ha-ha kind of fun. I was sort of thinking I'd seen most of it before. That said, any romantic romp starring Colin Firth is worth a second glance, and it had some brilliant moments. All in all I definitely liked the film and will buy it on DVD when it's released. (This isn't such a signet of quality as I suggest by this last sentence, as I have bought quite a few iffy films as well. Like...uhmm...Red Planet. Hey, Terence Stamp is in it; of course I had to own it! And being a fan of William Hurt's has led me to acquiring all sorts of slightly questionable additions to my collection over the years. Tut, tut.)

Another (non-iffy) addition to that very collection arrived in the post today: The newest Harry Potter film. Knowing me, I won't even bother to unwrap it until...oh, I don't know, Christmas, I suppose, if I'm bored. Haven't actually watched any of the extras on the previous DVD yet! Did, strangely enough, watch all of the extras on the Spider-man 2 DVD during the weekend, though - after all, it features this year's coolest villain: Doc Ock, AKA Alfred Molina.

Current track: Comedy Tonight (from the 1996 Broadway version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)

Labels: alfred molina, colin firth, film, william hurt

It's obviously that time of year when I start publishing my Lists(TM); could be because I had a delicious supper, or just because I was getting tired of people constantly asking me which films I've got. So here is my film collection. I keep a huge database in Excel with loads more info than this, but I decided on just listing the titles here. I have kept my four categories, though: Normal, where most of my films are kept - these films are not among my favourites, but they were good enough for me to keep in my collection; Classic - older films (often in black and white), also not my absolute favourites; Must-see - newer films that I adore; Champ - classic films that I absolutely love.

Having browsed my newly updated list, I discovered that my Top Ten list of actors appearing in most films (in my collection, that is) is as follows:

William Hurt - 24 films
Alan Rickman - 18
Dustin Hoffman - 18
Geoffrey Rush - 18
John Cleese - 17
David Niven - 16
John Lithgow - 16
Sir Alec Guinness - 16
James Garner - 15
Michael Palin - 14

Further investigations left me with these additions - these are the ones that appear in ten or more films within my collection:

Christopher Walken - 12 films
Kenneth Branagh - 12
Alfred Molina - 11
Kevin Kline - 11
Bruce Willis - 10 (What? Must be the Die Hard films.)
Eric Idle - 10

The first actress appearing on the list is right beneath Eric Idle with her nine films; Emma Thompson. We need more parts for women in the film industry!

Current track: D12 - How Come

Labels: Alan Rickman, alec guinness, alfred molina, david niven, dustin hoffman, film, geoffrey rush, james garner, john lithgow, kevin kline, lists, michael palin, william hurt

Not yet, but getting there. Yesterday, after having been a tourist for a couple of hours, I got back home and slipped a DVD into the player. It just took off from there. Apart from the occasional pee break and snack attack and the ever-so-annoying nightly sleep, I've been watching films ever since one o'clock yesterday afternoon: Cypher (better than I thought, and Jeremy Northam had an interesting, nerdy look), East is East (third time I watch it and it just gets better), Bent (slow-paced drama about the treatment of homosexuals in Hitler's Germany; a much overlooked aspect of that period, as well as what they did to gypsies, people with Down's syndrome and physically disabled people - their cruelty is beyond belief; this film also features Mick Jagger as a fugly drag queen), My Name is Joe (now, this one was bit difficult to follow for someone who's not used to listening to Glaswegians all day long, but I got through it all right), Nuevas reinas/Nine Queens (the only Argentinian film I own; when I first saw this film I knew I just had to have it - it reminded me of The Sting, which is one of my topmost favourites ever), Frida (second time I see it - I really like this film and I can finally admit that Salma Hayek can act. But what is it about Alfred Molina in this one; I know they've done something to his appearance but I can't for the life of me see what it is), Sister Act (must be the fourth or fifth time I see this, I particularly like the lively Kathy Najimy and the very proper Dame Maggie Smith in this one, as well as the music, of course) and The Actors. This film was a big surprise. It's gone unnoticed past anyone but the critics, who'd like to send it to hell, it seems, but I really liked it. Dylan Moran has been a favourite since I first laid my eyes and ears on Black Books (brilliant!) and he's really good in this film. So is Sir Michael Caine as per usual, but the biggest surprise was Sir Michael Gambon. Now, I know he can act, but I haven't really paid any attention to him until now (although I'm one of those not the least bit disappointed by his Dumbledore.) His hilarious turn in The Actors may very well cause me to begin following his career (which has already been going on for more than 40 years.) And he's tall. Not that that's got anything to do with it, I just thought you'd like to know.

My DVD recorder is very picky. It may tolerate non-brands but would rather accept well-known DVD media brands, preferably of its own brand. This has come to my attention recently, as I have been a bit unlucky with some of the media I've put into it. This week I almost fainted when it went into its infamous "recover" loop on my most precious DVD recording. Skip this paragraph if you don't know anything about DVD-ripping and/or -recording and you want to stay ignorant. The disc in question hadn't been finalised yet, meaning it can only be played on DVD recorders that accept DVD-R media. I had just been watching this precious programme and decided to finalise the disc. Just as I had typed in the title, it goes into "Recover" mode. This is (apparently) a well-known bug in this recorder, and if you're unlucky it may render the whole disc unusable. I freaked out and started cursing at the recorder (which pretended not to be listening.) It turned off and on a couple of times, then came back to where it had been. Panicking, I took the DVD out of the tray, not wanting it to swallow it completely (my last DVD player did that; I was watching my very precious Ultraviolet series when it suddenly stopped and refused to open its tray. I had to disassemble the bleeding thing in order to get it out of there; I bought a new player within the week.) Earlier today I dared putting it back. Fortunately, the programme is still playable (thus far, touch wood) but only on that very recorder. The problem is I would have bought brand media if they'd been available. I've been looking for a year, buying a few through eBay (ooh, that reminds me, must check if I won last night's auction,) but no stores sell that particular brand here, and my contacts within the company can't be arsed to answer my questions. Great customer support. However, since I'm actually very pleased with the product apart from this little flaw (which is wholly due to my own cheapness, really, and not in a tarty sort of way,) I won't mention any names or brands. I've just got one tip for you: Don't buy cheap recording media of any sorts. It usually isn't worth it.

Current track: Roxette - Milk and Toast and Honey

Labels: alfred molina, comedy, film, technology

I told you Alfred Molina would be a great Doc Ock. Well, actually, I didn't, but I have now. Just got back from the Oslo premiére of Spider-Man 2 and I thought Molina was fabulous, sexy and very possibly on my favourite villain list. The film itself was filled with action and clichées to make Hollywood weep with pride. *rolls her eyes* It was great to be watching this in a huge, THX-certified cinema with enough space for my legs to be comfortable (let's just say I've got a favourite seat.) I will also buy the DVD, but that's just because I want to see Molina's fighting scenes. The first part of the film was funnier than the last part, which was pretty much about special effects and mushy scenes. I was entertained, but wouldn't give this product much for plot... Molina saved it for me, though, but I'm highly biased. *grins*

Current track: Some track by Franz Ferdinand.

Labels: alfred molina, film

I have currently exactly 600 films on the Excel list of my film collection, which I don't actually consider a real collection, as it's more of a bunch of films that I personally appreciate, I don't just buy them because they're a must-have. However, I know there are a few films I haven't catalogued yet, must be about 25-40 in all. In other words, the collection is growing larger (and by the minute, I'd say - I just popped by Play to find a photo and two minutes later I'd ordered four films (well, they're Sir Alec Guinness classics that I don't have already.) Shame on me.

Actually, "personally appreciate" is a bit of a lie. I like most of the films, but some of them I bought because of some actor appearing in them and they turned out to be utter crap. So I guess from that aspect it's more of a collection; like I have to have all the films in which old so-and-so has appeared. Some of the films I've regretted (but still aren't as bad as Safe, directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore - it has become the film I put every other film up against; we managed to sit through all of Safe but we were so bored it felt like it lasted for about four and a half hours, and I'm not exaggerating. It truly is pure boredom) are:

Alice - I generally hate Woody Allen films, but William Hurt (AKA The Actor of Which I Own the Most Films) was in it. Haven't managed to watch the whole film yet, and I got it eight or nine years ago.

American Buffalo - I like David Mamet and love Dustin Hoffman but this film was pointless.

The Beach - Not sure why I've got this. Because of Robert Carlyle, perhaps?

Caligula - Now this I bought merely because of Malcolm McDowell and because it's a cult film. Haven't watched all of it yet. Probably never will.

Cleopatra (the American TV version) - Bought it just because of Philip Quast (he's not appearing in that many films); have watched about 1/3 of it, but it's so Hollywood I can barely look at the cover without feeling a bit under the weather.

Eyes Wide Shut - I am really, really sorry, but even though I'm a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick, I thought this film gave me absolutely nothing. It was part of a Kubrick collection, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it.

The Fall - Another Philip Quast film. He's in four scenes. They're brilliant. The rest of the film is boring me to tears.

Fire, Ice & Dynamite - It's got a hilarious Simon Shepherd in it. The rest is very embarrassing.

Here on Earth - I have no idea why I've got this.

Little Noises - I think Crispin Glover is playing well in this, but I bought it because of Rik Mayall. Otherwise it's a pointless film.

Scorpion Spring - Because of Alfred Molina. He's cool, the film is...uhmm...have I used "boring" too much yet?

Current track: Erasure - Run to the Sun (Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun Mix)

Labels: alec guinness, alfred molina, dustin hoffman, film, lists, online shopping, philip quast, rik mayall, simon shepherd, william hurt

I've spent many hours watching superheroes today. It started with (a borrowed) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which was by all means not the worst film I've ever seen, but it's not going to be among my favourites. It helped that Richard Roxburgh was in it. Unfortunately so was Sean Connery which sort of drags is back down, sorry to say. I then put on X-Men, followed by X-Men 2 (naturally.) They're both good films and I find myself shouting Wolverine! quite a lot during those films, even though I'm not particularly fond of neither him nor Hugh Jackman. I guess it's his coolness that gets to me. :-) At the same time, my favourite must be Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler - I think Alan Cumming is acting very well in X2. I finished the superhero evening by watching Spider-Man, which I think is fun and action-packed and I like the CGI a lot. Looking forward to the sequel which should arrive soon, especially since Alfred Molina is in it (albeit as a rather disguised person.)

But first, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on Wednesday. Go Snape! [cue evil laugh]

Current track: Aled Jones - Walking in the Air

Labels: alfred molina, film, richard roxburgh

I would say it should be considered bad luck when one of your audience members dies right before the curtain goes up. That's what happened at the recent premiére of Fiddler on the Roof (starring Alfred Molina and Randy Graff) at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. I guess break a leg wasn't good enough for them, it just had to be have a heart attack.

Desperately trying to stay awake during most of the night, with the help of lots of cappuccino. Should have been espresso, though - I'll probably get around to warming the espresso machine up later on. Or I may just go to bed. Actually, I feel that I should be brainstorming for my next big project, but since we've already established that I probably won't follow through with it anyway, there really is no point. I could also be watching Seabiscuit (I have to see it before the Oscars anyway). Seems like I'm going for the Bedfordshire idea after all. Have fun and play nicely.


Current track: Antiloop - Only U

Labels: alfred molina, film, musicals, theatre