Last night, I went to a site called Fametracker, which has a variety of "for entertainment only" articles about celebrities (some of these articles are interesting and somewhat informative, and some are completely ridiculous, IMHO, such as the "Celebrity vs Thing" articles. This month they're comparing Tom Hanks to a shower puff.)
Anyhow, they also have a section called "Hey! It's That Guy!" which is devoted to the character actors whose faces we may recognize from many TV shows or films, but don't necessarily know their names. I browsed the index, specifically checking out all the female actors, hoping to find someone that I recognized and liked who I could possibly use as a female role model for myself. And I found one! -- Kathy Baker! I'd forgotten about her because I hadn't seen her in anything recently. But I remember her from the TV show Picket Fences, and also the movie Edward Scissorhands, and the two roles were so completely different, I was stunned that it was the same person! I also saw her this summer in a re-run episode of Chicago Hope. I haven't seen any of her other work yet, but I'm interested to see more.
I've also been catching a lot of Alfred Molina's movies on cable the last few weeks. Most recently I saw him in Dudley Do-Right, Coffee & Cigarettes, Boogie Nights, and on two Law & Order crossover episodes (L&O:Special Victims Unit and L&O:Trial By Jury) I've found I always like his lead roles or larger supporting roles more so than his cameo appearances. But I've also discovered that as much as I admire his acting skills, I'm not always blown away by his individual performances. But then when I think about how he can absolutely convincingly be Doc Ock (in Spiderman 2) who is a strong, confident, intelligent, charismatic, dangerous and menacing villian, and then turn around and convincingly be a wimpy, spineless mama's boy who may or may not be entirely connected to reality (on Law & Order)--That's when I'm blown away.
I saw Dudley Do-Right last weekend and overall I didn't really like the movie, not my type of humor, but it was interesting and fun to see Molina as Snidley Whiplash. One of the scenes in the movie, he's swing dancing with Sarah Jessica Parker (Nell?) and he totally put his all into the dancing, and I think he did a good job, especially condsidering that Parker is a good foot shorter than he is, and he had to dance crouched down. It just always surprises me somehow when he's physically active for a role like that, (or for Doc Ock). He's 6'2, a largish man (Molina has called himself one of nature's big boys), and he can still be physically active for a role. I guess it surprises me because my father is also 6'2, only 5 or 6 years older, (and the size of Diego Rivera in Frida) and he's rarely physically active. Even walking seems arduous for him. So I guess seeing Molina being physically active goes against that image of my father. I feel like cheering for Molina when I see that stuff. Weird, huh?
I also really liked Molina in Chocolat, that's another one of those roles where you could totally see him thinking between his lines. And I liked his part at the end of Species, I wish he'd had more to do in the rest of the film: ***SPOILER**** (Just in case someone hasn't seen it yet)
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After he had sex with Sil, he was so sweet to her, and then when she says she can feel life starting inside her, and he doesn't believe her until she puts his hand on her stomach--The look on his face as he realizes he can feel it too, and then the fear in his eyes as he looks up at her--Wow!
Anyhow, I think I'm done rambling now.
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