Shine A Light : Four Devils and One Crossroad

Meet Mick 63, Keith 63, Ronnie 59, and Charlie 65, sounds like a good starting four for a nursing home, but they are still ....the Rolling Stones, and boy they had it Rolling for almost half a century, and under the Camera of Marty Scrorsese 65, one of the best when it comes to film a buddy band such as Goodfellas and Casino, you an imagine that the result would be.... satisfactory.

A lot of people Believe Mick Jagger is the devil, and that would be because the stones had always this develish delta of mississipi, Robert Johnson feel, and that's because the band was always so Bluesy, and the blues was always meeting the devil at the crossroad and selling him one's soul in exchange of musical prodigy

So even for a non stones person (like me) it's hard to ignore the influence this band had on popular music and the whole concept of "cool", they were always kind of aware of the huge heritage of American blues and folk and country music, and they really could channel it into something unique, but why am I talking about what everybody knows already, let's talk about the concert itself.

The Film documents two performances of the Stones at the beacon theater in 2006, with archival snippets, and the concept really is "who thought we'd make it that far without becoming a cartoon of ourselves", yes people it's true, the stones are , like them or don't, true to their legend

the performance is beautifully filmed, in the format of the concert movie, of which scorsese is a fan, since he was an editor in his youth on the most influential "the last waltz", the guest stars are Jack White, the only man of this generation who can really perform with the Stones or Dylan and not be ashamed of himself, and Blues legend Buddy Guy.

you can't help it but be blown away by the powerful performance this sixty something people are giving, it's quite incredible that at the age of sixty they still have it to that extent, and of course you will be blown away by Robert Richardson cinematography, or Scorsese's attention to detail, and i am sure this is the closest you can ever be to attend a live performance of the stones

So missing this would probably be a sin, even for people who hate the Stones, and frankly I am sure now that these four guys signed a deal with the devil, because it's logically impossible to be relevant to that level at that age in this time.

But .... why Christina Aguilera.... she doesn't belong in a stones concert

JM Classic Performance Dissection : Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna

The year is 95 and the perspectives tempting, "the first film ever to star Pacino and DeNiro", well matter of fact, both of them were in "the godfather II" but in diffrent time periods, which means they never met on screen, The director was Michael Mann, one of the biggest unsung heroes of directing in hollywood, and the movie was called simply "Heat"

First of all, you can say anything about Pacino, but almost no actor is that intense, and the intensity of Pacino drives his performances, of course so many to number, and generally great ones, and Pacino plays Vincent Hanna, an LAPD crime fighting unit boss, who has to deal with a team of hyper professionals lead by the character played by DeNiro.

But not only that, because he plays a detective who is possessed by his work, as maybe he sees in it a form of gratifiction, or a way to let his primary hunter instincts at work, and all that while working out a third or fourth marriage already on the verge of the D valley, and a teenage suicidal daughter, who is not even his daughter.

As the film evloves, the hunter becomes the hunted, and a lot of mirroring between the two charaters happens, which leads to one of the most famous scenes in cinema history, Pacino drives this neurotic, brilliant, paternal figure character with his sheer force of wit, and makes us really wish that crime fighters were so dedicated, and uncorruptible.

I think the pacino performance at the time marked everybody who watched it, and many of the film's scene have been copied and pasted all over cinema history, but if there was one thing you can't forget, it's the calm Vincent Hanna in the diner scene, the neurotic Vincent Hanna while dealing with criminals, and of course the satisfied hunter Vincent Hanna while shooting a criminal, and man, It was big !

JM Classic Performance Dissection : Heath Ledger as The Joker

Well, i have to confess that i ain't that fan of Heath Ledger, I did not like him much in Broback Mountain, or in that movie where he plays a knight, still he was a decent actor, but his swan song performance of the Joker was mind blowing

Think about it, the "other" joker being Jack Nicholson, who gave a great performance as the joker in "Batman", the odds were really against Ledger, how do you compare to Nicholson, that would bring cold sweat to any actor's forhead, but this guy was fearless

Ledger plays "the joker" in "The dark knight", well i was not so enthusiastic about that movie since it made that much money, but you know everybody was saying it was good and blah, so i watched it, and frankly his performance is so faithful to anybody's joker that you sometimes forget that it's just acting, of course this performance owes a lot to the Directing and the Writing of Mr Nolan, the fact that he never shows the origins of the joker, to make him "absolute", but Ledger did dive into his character, it's known that he spent six weeks isolated in a motel room working on the mannerism and the madness of the character, and when delivery time came, he made such a credible and scary performance, that he is a serious contender to be the second actor to ever receive a posthumous oscar (hint, he will surely win)

The Character in the movie spread havoc throughout gotham city, and makes character make sometimes non human personal choices, he is drilling to draw everything in each other character that is pure evil, and of course he does that with class, and wit and fun, and .... fearlessly

Fearless is the keyword to that performance, fearless to compare to Nicholson, Fearless to do whatever it takes to spread chaos, Fearless of the mob, the batman, death, failure, or as he just says "I just DO things"

so for anybody who didn't see this, the time is now, and as Bruce Wayne said in the movie "you either die a hero, or live enough to see yourself become the vilain", well Ledger died a hero, with such a performance, and unfortunatly Nicholson lived enough to become the vilain, becoming sometimes a cartoon of himself, and what he was in the golden years.

Sina's favorites : One hit wonders

For the final post of this special I'd like to mention those actors I liked in one movie only. There are so many of them out there and actually they should be discussed, too. I'd never go as far as calling them my favorites, since I don't like 90% of their work mostly. No disrespect, just counting. Let's take a look at those one hit wonders.

Keanu Reeves

He was Mr. "I talk kinda dumb" in many of his movies. What's that in "Johnny Mnemonic"? I love the movie but why has Keanu to talk as if he's a bit damaged? No, I am not a big fan of him BUT he was great in "My own private Idaho", that was some fine classic acting! Another good part was in "Dangerous liaisons". The rest of his career wasn't my cup of tea, not even in "Matrix" I liked him. I am sometimes under the impression he turns his acting down, fitting to the grade of the movie. That's btw what Udo Kier confesses to do. He used to say "If you want me on a B-Movie you also just get a B-Performance!".

Denzel Washington

Not a big fan of Denzel, though. I don't really know why, maybe its just not my kinda genres he's usually in. But I do love him for one role desperatly and that one is in "Fallen"! And from that movie I also got another favorite who is



Elias Koteas

I am not sure if I ever saw any of his movies, except for "Fallen". His filmography implies I should know him from 4,5 movies. But somehow I didn't see him in there what means nothing less than that I didn't like his performance then. But he was unbeatable in "Fallen", I can assure you!



Colm Feore

who I mentioned before was always the guy I got mixed up with Elias Koteas. They somehow did the same role from my point of view. One in "Fallen" and Feore in "Storm of the century". It's kinda similar but still the same greatness in there!



Alec Baldwin

I love him in "Mini's first time". That was such a great job! And yea I know he's a good actor but that doesnt mean I've seen him in so many movies. Still, I freaking love this character and acting.



Christian Bale

Was Patrick Bateman. One of the greatest characters ever written. He did him so well that the disappointment about him in person alreay started at the Making Of of the movie. It took some illussions about the actor himself. I never saw another movie again where I thought "Man that is a great actor" although I saw him in many. Nah.



Jon Bon Jovi

Yes, I know he's a musician. I loved him in "Vampires: Los Muertos" although the movie itself was a bit crappy.



I think I could go on with that for a while but you get the point here. Some actors don't need to be actual favorites, you see them, you enjoy their work, doesn't always take 20 movies of one actor to do so.

Thanks for reading our special over the last weeks, let us know how you liked it and suggest other specials if you like to!

Greetz, Sina Hawk

Sina's favorites : Udo Kier

He is the master of horror, the actor that gives every character that "creepy" flair. And he also is one of the only few actors who made it in Hollywood. Even Warhol was fascinated by him and dedicated him main roles in his movies. He is Udo Kier.

You all have seen him in one or another movie. You all know his face and you can name a few movies you liked him in. But he is one of the "It's that guy again"-faces. But Udo Kier surely doesn't worry about it. Around 180 movie parts made him an honoured and well known actor in Hollywood, even though young Udo had not really planned on getting famous. In the late 60s when Udo started up he caught roles because he was a nice looking young guy and it wasn't Hollywood he was heading to. In the early 70s that changed when Warhol dedicated his movies "Blood for Dracula" and "Flesh for Frankenstein" to the German actor. And it was unwritten law that everyone who was in touch with Warhol had to be good. In the 80s Madonna showed interest for him doing her "Sexbook". Schlingensief did most of his movies with him and Uwe Boll discovered him for his video games adaptations. 180 movies and 40 years later Udo Kier confesses that he also did a few bad roles but why would he bother when all those movies made him a star.

Unfortunately Udo Kier is also famous for negative news such as being drunk already when he comes to a party, leaving interviews because he doesn't like the questions ect. but actually that shouldn't keep anyone from showing respect to 40 years of acting and working with the big ones.

(from the movie "My own private Idaho" we reviewed earlier)

My personal Top 5 roles:

• Masters of horror - Carpenter's 'cigarette burns'
  
• Blade
  
• One point 0
  
• Gate to heaven
  
• Flesh for Frankenstein
  

Editor's note:

Dear Udo,

stop the drinking. Concentrate on your work and if you are tired of that on your art collections. I know it's harsh to say but I'm tired of hearing of your antics on various parties. Is a life as a movie star really that hard to take? You got your dogs, you got your houses, your lamps, your art, your furniture. And you got hella lot talent. Don't ya waste it and better provide us with some new blockbusters!

I'm still plannin on dedicating one of my exhibitions to you, maybe in 09, so keep up the great work, Udo!

Greetz from one of ya biggest fans and from Leipzig

Sina's favorites : Robert De Niro (+2)

Sorry again for the interruption of our special! We continue today with an actor you probably all know quite well. There's nothing much left to say and write about him, everyone's got a positive opinion on him, isn't it?

Robert De Niro is THE guy in Hollywood. He fits into every big role, he is a guarantee for well selling movies and after all he's really one of the best actors of our days! He's been around for 20 years at the business now and there are only a few people left he hadn't worked with yet. We saw him in action movies, gangster movies, comedy, dramas, actually he did it all - he even produced some really good movies, for example "A bronx tale" with his friend Palminteri, I bet you didn't know that. We actually see Robert De Niro on such regular bases every year in alot of movies that we just don't consider him "someone special" anymore, isn't it? But we really should because he does some great work and he definitly is an all time favorite of mine!

Just because everyone seems to know an actor it doesn't automatically mean that he's "mainstream", he just does his thing for 20 years now, get some respect for that man! Robert De Niro is really one of the rare to find people who deserve to be "stars"!

My personal Top 5 roles:

• Hide and seek
• A bronx tale
  
• Analyze this
  
• Meet the parents
• The untouchables

Editor's note:

There is none. Our editors (including me) are kinda scared of writing to Mr. De Niro. And we admit it.

------------------

Today we also wanna remind you that JebbyMovies DID tell you about other actors in the past, too! Please make sure you check out the following reviews because these guys are my personal favorites, too!

Jeff Goldblum



Gabriel Byrne

News on jebby-movies.blogspot.com

Hey guys, sorry for the break. We got some news to announce, ready for it?

You may have noticed there's some stuff missing on the site. We thought you may be tired of the Ebay ads so except for asking you to support us through clicking ads we just opened a little JM-merchandising store. Yea that's right, you can buy our stuff on Cafépress from now on. Express your love for good movies through these great goodies and accessories.

Check by from time to time because we gonna add many great products to the store the next weeks. It's not too late to buy some of our stuff on good prices for X-mas and it's never too late for some good fashion! Just click the Cafépress-button at the right side of the page!

We also realized you guys aren't really using the poll - and for that it's gone. That makes the site look much more cleaned up, don't you think so?

You may also have spotted the "Breakfast with Alice" button at the sidebar. This is not really a new feature of us, it's more my personal favorite radio show and it's by Alice Cooper. Can't get any better than that. If you listen to it from the US its kinda late at night, I think 9-12pm, at the UK its on 6am and around here in Germany it's 7am. Just tune in while you read some of our reviews!

We hope you enjoy our new features and will continue our reviews as soon as possible!

Greetz
Sina

Sina's favorites : Billy Drago

I founded billy-drago.de.vu in 2005 when I realized that this great but totally underrated actor didn't have a bigger mentioning anywhere on the internet. As one of my favorites he totally deserved it!

You may know Billy as the creepy guy. He gives every movie he appears in the dose of creepy-ness it needed. But mostly known he is through the TV series "Charmed" who everyone might remember well. He did the demon of fear, Barbas. But little may remember him in action movies back in the 80's with Chuck Norris like "Hero and the terror" or "Delta force 2". Basically Billy was in so many movies that he should be one of the big ones! He was in the "Masters of Horror" movies, too - to be exact he was in "Imprint" - and some may have seen him in "The hills have eyes" the remake, that was released in 2006.

Billy Drago is the ultimate bad guy when you need one and and fits into nearly every creepy character! That guy really made his way through Hollywood without getting the appreciation he should get. Make a difference: Know him ;)

My personal Top 5 roles:

• Delta force 2
  
• Guncrazy
  
• Tremors 4
• The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
• Breaking the silence
  

Editor's note:

Dear Mr. Drago,

we did it, we created your fanclub. It's not as if that would have made you world famous but we did the best to push your career - even if it wasn't that much. You are a great creepy actor and everyone should know so so do me a favour and produce some really mainstream teeny horror movies like "Blood relic" again and get famous! Finally! Pls!

Sina's favorites : Chazz Palminteri

There are a lot of movies from the late 80's you could have known Chazz Palminteri from but most people just got to know him when in '93 his biographical movie "A bronx tale" was released. It became a movie classic even though most people just saw it as a nice fictional story. The man played his own childhood and teenage friend Sonny and became famous with it. After that many top roles followed like in "Faithful" with Cher, "The Usual Suspects", "Bullets over broadway" and about 50 more Hollywood productions.

Who's that guy and why doesn't everyone remember his name if he's that famous you may wonder. Well, it's the "It's this guy again"-phenomenon again. Everyone's seen Chazz in some movies but no one would recall who again he is. Well I can assure you at least he's a great actor!

Last year Chazz Palminteri started a broadway show on "A bronx tale" as a sold out one man thing. There again he showed everyone what kinda actor he is - a legend who's on one level with his friend DeNiro!

My personal Top 5 roles:

• A Bronx tale
  
• Faithful
  
• A guide to recognizing your saints
  
• Down to earth
  
• Mulholland Falls
  

Editor's note:

Dear Mr. Palminteri,

I am still sorry I couldn't make it to the show but I am optimistic your coming up (currently 5) movie productions will be just as good! Man, you really are one of if not the best in your field! Keep it up!