My favorite role of Ice Cube (so far) is Captain Dickson in 21 Jump Street (2012 and it’s sequel, 22 Jump Street in 2014). He steals every scene he is in, giving the two leads (Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) grief for their misadventures and being the not so friendly boss. Since his first role in movies, Boyz n the Hood (1991 with Cuba Gooding Jr.), Cube has often played the serious, tough guy who speaks his mind in anyones…
One of the shows that my family watched together was Home Improvement (1991-1999) starring Tim Allen. I looked forward to seeing what invention he would have or what item got a bigger engine installed, as well has always having a positive family message, and making fun of Al. The show lasted 203 episodes over 8 seasons and I always liked how Tim looked like he was always scheming something, always planning a renovation or getting a joke ready. He also…
I first noticed Natalie Portman when she took the female lead role in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999). She had the unenviable role of following in Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher)’s footsteps as the only major female role in the film and she had to play politics to do it. She made the hair, makeup, and costumes work (as extravagant as they were, still think she looked like she was bitting her lip with the lip stick placement),…
I first noticed Karl in The Bourne Supremacy (2004 starring Matt Damon), he was like Jason Bourne, highly skilled, good looking, and dangerous. Matt is the star of the franchise, but he needs a strong enemy to go up against, (like Clive Owen in the previous film in the series), and Karl was equal to the task (Matt). He went to toe to toe with Bruce Willis in RED (2010) and had one of the best fight scenes in the…
I first saw Mark Wahlberg in Three Kings (1999 with George Clooney and Ice Cube), where he was assertive and yet somewhat playful, a role that he has been perfecting throughout the years. When Mark was in Planet of the Apes (2001) and now that he is in the latest 2 Transformers (Age of Extinction in 2014 and coming soon, The Last Knight) he takes some of the attention off of the apes and robots, which should be the major…
I first saw Angelina Jolie in Playing God (1997 starring David Duchovny), where she pouted her lips and played a character that can be both tough and vulnerable. She was the girl stuck between David’s doctor down on his luck and Timothy Hutton’s criminal, and she made the role stand out with her wrestling with the choices she has made. With other roles standing out against my cinematic regulars like Denzel Washington (1999 The Bone Collector) and Nicolas Cage (2000…
I first saw Morena in the tv show Firefly, which was only on for 1 season (2002-2003) and 1 movie, Serenity (2005). Morena was part of a group lead by Nathan Fillion but it was the dynamic between the two of them that gave the show its most watchable moments. Fast forwarding 15 years, Morena continues to be at the heart of what made Deadpool (2016) and tv show Gotham (2015-present) successful. She can match wits with Ryan Reynolds and…
I have always known who Clint Eastwood is because my dad watched his share of westerns and as I saw more and more of his movies, I learned the guy knows what to do in front of and behind the camera. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly made me want to see every movie with Clint in it (and wear a poncho) as he commanded respect and captured attention while barely breaking a sweat, making the craft of acting…
To this day, one of the most visually stunning movies I have seen is The Cell (2000 starring Jennifer Lopez), directed by Tarsem Singh. I liked the cast (including a freaky Vincent D’Onofrio and a more calm Vince Vaughn, making me look forward to more of all 3 of their work), and the premise (a social worker uses a new technology to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer), but it was the visual style that Tarsem brought to…
I grew up in the 1990s and thanks to my older sister who watched Wayne’s World on repeat (and can recite the whole film, not just Bohemian Rhapsody), I grew up laughing with Mike Myers. He was one of the first actors I knew was Canadian, which made me like him even more because I already really liked his humor and that he always seemed like such a nice guy. Mike was the reason I began watching Saturday Night Live…