Greatest Actors, Greatest Inspirations

We all know Meryl Streep is the greatest actress of all times. But sometimes it is not clear why. Since she's my ultimate role model, I feel the necessity to number those reasons, synthetizing as much as I can:

1- Her constant mutation from role to role.
She is always re-inventing herself, unlike many actors she has never played one role twice. Just watch Sophie's Choice and Silkwood and start wondering how did she mutate so fastly from one role to another when they are so extremely different. Then watch The Bridges Of Madison County and Marvin's Room. In both movies she plays a mother BUT it's amazing how different they are, and there's only one year difference between the releases of the two films. Watch The Hours and The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia!. Or just watch Angels in America where she plays four roles. Then tell me she doesn't mutate.

2- She's multitalented.
She can do everything. Even at her age, we find her singing and dancing in many movies. And she does it greatly. We can even find her jumping on beds! Just watch Mamma Mia!, A Praire Home Companion and Postcards From The Edge. The best part is, she even sings differently according to the character she's playing!

3- You forget you're watching Meryl Streep.
Unlike most actors, Meryl completely submerges in the character. When you watch Kramer vs. Kramer, you're watching Joanna Kramer, not Meryl Streep. When you watch The Devil Wears Prada, you're watching Miranda Priestly, not Meryl Streep. When you watch Adaptation, you're watching Susan Orlean, not Meryl Streep. When you watch Ironweed, you're watching Helen Archer, not Meryl Streep. You're not watching an actor randomly doing stuff, pretending to be somebody, you actually see the character and you forget even Meryl's name.

4- She can manage to do absolutely any accent.
That's been alredy clarified. She can do Polish, she can do Dannish, she can do English, she can do Southern, anything, you name it. She can even do Bronx! Just watch her on The Ellen Degeneres Show ;)

5- She's so commited to her work.
She would always do anything in her power to become attached to the character and to learn how to portray it. She would do all the research needed and she would even learn Polish, even if it would not be useful for her because she'd later forget it. And most importantly, she's very responsible and always tries to grow the best atmosphere possible on set, with the rest of the cast and crew. (I know this only for references, but it's true!)

6- She's very natural.
Her dialogue doesn't seem rehearsed or forced. It just comes out naturally again, as if she truly was the character, deeply involved in the situation of the scene. It's always as if she's improvising.

7- Her roles are very demanding and clever.
Most of the times, she chooses demanding roles in intelligent films. She has done some light comedies greatly of course, but in drama she's just breathtaking. She constantly makes smart choices for her career.

8- She's down to earth.
Behind cameras, she's a lovely and kind woman who doesn't take advantage of her celebrity status, and she could really do that. Even though she holds the record in awards, she doesn't even consider herself a star! She treats everybody, including her outrageous fans, kindly as if she was one regular person as well.

9- She's a devoted mother and wife.
She's been married for thirty years with Don Gummer and has four children. Many co-stars talk very good about her parenting skills and say she has an enourmous mothering instinct that shows in her relationship with everybody.

10- Her signature gestures.
This shows her overwhelming personality and also gives more humanity to her characters. In each role she plays there's always one of her signature gestures that apparently come out naturally. Some of them are the lip tap, the temple scratch, etc.

11- She knows what she does.
Whenever you see her on an interview you learn more about acting. She shows a real knowledge about acting, but at the same time she shows that she does not do everything technically and that many things about acting are pure emotion, and there's absolutely no way to describe it. With her Inside The Actor's Studio interview, I learned more about acting than with any other, or from any other source, really.

12- She loves what she does.
It shows. It shows in her performances, in her interviews, in her constant enthusiasm, energy, willpower and commitment.


Next: Marlon Brando.

Across The Universe

Yes, it's somewhat rambling.

Yes, some versions of The Beatles songs are bad.

Yes, there are too many songs (although, I couldn't disagree more with this argument, you can NEVER get enough of The Bealtes!).

But I loved it. It's a very lovely story, very well and beautifully made, colorful, well acted, entretaining, touching both cheesily with a young love story and nostalgically with harsh subjects such as Vietnam and the revolution. You must admit is has potencial. It has all you can ask for. I was very disappointed in many versions of the songs such as 'Oh Darling', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', and many others. And sad they didn't include 'Sexy Sadie'. Well, not sad... just surprised, given that there's a character named Sadie, you would expect that.

The story is very coherent actually, despite the rambling, and it's extremely beautiful. Nevertheless, the rambling has a signification, so it's not really rambling, but it can sometimes take your attention away of the truly important thing.

It's clearly a visual feast and it's also very entretaining despite the enormous ammount of songs. The performances are great, a very talented young cast, I absolutely adored Jim Stugess. Evan Rachel Wood and Joe Anderson really surprised me, too. It also has one of the greatest cameos in the history of cinema, which was Bono's. I just love him, and he was excellent and absolutely stunning singing 'I Am The Walrus', and in the closing credits performing 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', with his beautiful, beautiful voice.

Across The Universe it's a must-see. One of the best American musicals (I say American because, let's face it, it has nothing to do with Fellini, I mean, you really can't compare, but you also can't base your critics in comparisons, can you?)

If I fell

If I fell in love with you would you promise to be true and help me understand. 'Cause I've been in love before and I found that love was more than just holding hands.
If I give my heart to you I must be sure from the very start that you would love me more than her. If I trust in you, oh please, don't run and hide. If I love you too, oh please, don't hurt my pride like her 'cause I couldn't stand the pain and I will be sad if our new love was in vain. So I hope you see that I would love to love you and that she will cry when she learns we are true.
If I fell in love with you...

Apologize

Sorry for the absence. I guess I'm saying sorry to myself because no one read my posts, but that's okay.
Movies I've seen lately:

The Bridges Of Madison County (*****)

It was lovely. Clint Eastwood is certainly not my favourite director, but this movie was completely different. Surprisingly, it wasn't because of Meryl Streep's precense, who tends to make every movie great, even if it sucks, she lighted up the film, definitely, but the film itself was great. I loved the storyline, it was very powerful, and even though the filmaking is average, usual in Eastwood's films, it didn't need more. Loved it.

The Aviator (****)

I wouldn't have sit through three hours and a half it it hadn't been really good. Visually, it was a feast: great costumes, great make up highlighting the best of the golden Hollywood years, great scenery, great special effects. As far as performances: Leonardo DiCaprio was excellent, the rest were average, including Cate Blanchett's Oscar winning. Actually hated Cate Blanchett, she had some good moments, but overall, it was crap. The movie captured perfectly Howard Hughes powerful and interesting life, Hollywood at its best years and the corruption and complexity of aviation bussiness, and made it in an elegant and tasteful way.

Nights in Rodanthe (*)

This movie was a complete failure. And could have been so much better. I think the first mistake was casting dreadful Diane Lane. She was overacted, nervious and unnatural in every single scene. Viola Davis and the girl who played Lane's daughter looked also very uncomfortable on screen. It was actually painful to watch. Richard Gere gave all his character and the poor screenplay could give, he was great. The second one were the writers. It was the worst screenplay I've seen in years. Each line felt uncomplete, unnecessary and forced. And some were just ridiculous. It's a Nicholas Sparks' book, c'mon, you could have done so much better! I never felt attached to the characters, nor I felt connected with the story. It was dreadful.

Adaptation. (*****)

This movie is sooo underrated! I found it original, catchy, well-written, well-acted, funny, seriously themed, just great. And I found new respect for Nicholas Cage. It simply managed to kept me watching, excited in every scene, totally wrapped in the story. Meryl Streep is my acting goddess, she can do no bad. Great movie.

The Strangers (*)

It's hard, but you can make good horror movies, I mean, look at Hitchcoch! The Strangers was simply poor. I jumped out of my seat several times, but that was because of the sudden noise, the movie didn't create a scary atmosphere. Plus, horror movies are not just fear! It had no character developtment, no real plot... it was awful. Liv Tyler is fucking gorgeous, the only good thing about the movie.

All That Jazz (****)

Stunning! Loved the catchy songs, the wonderful choreographies, the originality, the acting. One of the greatest musicals ever made.

Closer (****)

Many people find it boring, I found it completely absorving. I don't know, but I find human relationship the most intriguing thing in the world. Many people say nothing happens, I think lots of things happen! I mean, throughout the movie, there isn't one moment where nothing happens! Many people say it doesn't leave any message, I tell them it's not supposed to leave any message, it's propuse is merely telling a story about casualities and human nature. I think the most important things you have to pay attention while watching Closer are the wonderful, wonderful, amazing screenplay, one of the best I've seen, actually, every word is carefully chosen; and the acting, I mean, the way those actors deliver those words could easily be unnatural, but is perfect, it's just so organic, the words just flow. Great movie.

Manhattan (***)

Really cute, but once you've seen so many Woody Allen movies, they start seeming all the same, you know all the jokes and their outcomes, it looses its magic. I should have seen this movie earlier, that's the problem.

Georgia Rule (*)

It tries to be good, but it tries too hard. Adding so many drama, it just seems a soup opera. And Lindsay Lohan's dreadful unnatural performance, certainly does not help.