March 3, 2016
I knew Leo was going to win the academy award for \”The Revenant\” because he got to follow in the footsteps of Richard Harris, who was cast as Hugh Glass in the 1971 movie entitled \”Man in the Wilderness\” — and Richard Harris, as you can well imagine, did a damned good acting job in it. \”The Revenant\” is, however, a remake!
Don\’t get me wrong — it\’s high time Leo grabbed an Oscar — he\’s a damned good actor, and, has played other roles that I thought might earn him the little statue before now (like Howard Hughes or Leo\’s character in \’Inception\’). I didn\’t get very fired up about his character in \”Titanic\” though — because not only was the movie essentially a remake of earlier Titanic films (\’A Night to Remember\’); but Leo\’s character was a fabrication for the storyline (like that Tauriel addition to \’The Hobbit\’). So it seems that James Cameron is also pretty good at remakes — what with his remake of the classic Cowboys and Indians tale — through \”Avatar.\”
The thing that really gets-my-goat, however, is the vapidity of the American moviegoer, critic and/or actor. Everyone I made mention to about \”Man in the Wilderness\” was oblivious to its existence. How does this happen? \”Man in the Wilderness\” was released only 45-years-ago?! Yet every American I told \”the man in the wilderness\” story to either suggested that I was re-hallucinating an old trip (shades of Roger Zelazny); or, that I was somehow getting confused with Harris\’ more famous film, \”A Man Called Horse.\” Alejandro González Iñárritu probably capitalized on this national character flaw to grab his second Oscar.
I also saw \”Deadpool\” on opening weekend with my son and his girlfriend, and thoroughly enjoyed it! I\’m giving Ryan Reynolds my nod for best actor of 2016. He gave a tour de force (in my mind at least) — no resemblance to his \”Green Lantern\” performance.
I believe this film is destined to be a juggernaut (like \’Guardians of the Galaxy\’), particularly when Old Farts like myself will have to watch the movie at least 3 times because the dialog moves so quickly we can\’t catch everything the first or second time around (my Son spent a good deal of time trying to explain \’shit\’ to me). Since I won\’t be paying the big bucks again — smaller screen servings should make for a financial bonanza.
I can\’t say that I\’ve ever read a Deadpool comic — but I\’m betting that Ryan Reynolds nailed the character — as I found myself chuckling to much of the dialog I did understand! While Deadpool is quite violent and frequently raunchy — he\’s a survivor (much like a Hollywood actor) — and much like Hugh Glass (the character Leo also played so well)…and, well, there\’s that \”death\” connection…