Monday News, Views And Other Things

Greetings Imaginarians, how was your weekend? Mine was good, but too hot and certainly too short, LOL. It seems like I just went to bed and it was Friday night. And now it's Monday morning. Yikes!

On Saturday, I did a Men in Black movie marathon with my oldest nephew. Since there were just the two, we threw in some Resident Evil and visited with Alice for a bit as well. I loved sharing MIB films as my faithful sidekick had never seen any of them before. It was like passing on a beloved treasure. It was awesome seeing him laugh his little butt off at Agents J and K as they took on aliens and saved our planet. Twice.  And when we were done with MIB, he went right to Alice for some Extinction and After Life. Needless to say we are anticipating the newest Resident Evil installment, Retribution.

Thank you all for commenting on my post on Friday. It seems, however, that my selection of Meryl for the actors list was in violation of the rules for the Ten Best Actors blog relay. Busted! I apologize to my friend Matt at FilmMattic, who  kept Meryl on the list. Sorry, Matt. Didn't mean to get you into trouble, too.

So, in compliance I changed my choice to Meryl's one time love, John Cazale, an actor I love, whose stellar career was cut short by cancer. He is best known as Fredo Corleone, but he did five feature films that were all nominated for Best Picture. You can read my update here.

You know someday, there will be no more separate, but equal terms differentiating the sexes. I can't wait to say so long to ridiculous, gender constraining words like actress, waitress, huntress. Screw the esses! Why aren't we simply actors, waiters, hunters? Why the add on? I never understood that and drove my English teachers nuts. Why are there so-called male and female words? Do these words have girls parts and boy  parts I don't know about? Okay, enough with the rant. I'm raising my blood pressure and haven't had my dose of caffeine, yet.

I'm giving a big shout and congrats to Christine Rains, whose story, Red, has been accepted for inclusion in Pill Hill Press' Daily Flash 2013: 365 Days of Flash Fiction. Rock on Christine! Make sure you also check author Gail M. Baugniet's blog. She has a very intriguing interview series called Fast Five in which she talks to some phenomenal writers.

In my own writing news, I should have my Battleship review up later today or tomorrow. I am also putting the finishing touches on  an article about the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opening this Friday. 

Enjoy your Monday, my friends.

Happy Birthday, John Cazale

Today I am taking some time to talk about one of my favorite character actors of all time, John Cazale, on what would have been his 76th birthday. Best known as Fredo, the weak link in the Corleone crime family, John is considered by his colleagues to be one of the greatest actors of his generation. If he had lived, he would be mentioned in the same breath as Pacino, De Niro, Duvall, Hoffman, Hackman and Streep. Pacino has said that "all I ever wanted to do for the rest of my life was act with John. He was my acting partner." High praise indeed.

He only made five films, yet all five were nominated for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Godfather, Part 2, Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation and The Deer Hunter. John himself was never nominated, though he did receive a Golden Globe nod for his turn as Sal in Dog Day Afternoon. He was recognized for his amazing accomplishments on stage, though, receiving OBIE awards for his performances in The Indian Wants The Bronx and Line. How's this for awesome, he appears through archival footage in The Godfather, Part III and this, too was nominated for Best Picture.

John had the kind of intensity that gets into your bones, drawing you unerringly into his character. You hate the person he's playing, he's weak and broken. Who wants to be the clown, the loser, the guy who falls apart? But he had a way of seeing inside those people, of finding their pain and bringing it to the surface. You despise Fredo and yet, you understand him. He's not the man he imagined himself to be. He never planned on being third best. Or Sal, the guy in fucked up circumstances that just snowball. John was not afraid to tackle these kinds of roles, having a well of compassion for them that showed in his performances. He was so good, he made the actors around him better. Michael Corleone would not be the guy he is without Fredo.

That intensity and cool extended to his personal life as well. Known for being a bit of a Romeo, John always had the luck with the ladies. He met and fell madly in love with Meryl Streep when they worked together in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. He remarked to Pacino that he had "met the greatest actress in the history of the world." And considering her accomplishments, it's safe to say he was right. Meryl, herself, has said that John taught her about acting, to see other "possibilities" within the characters.

Tragically, John succumbed to lung cancer on March 12, 1978. He was just 42 years old. Meryl was by his side right through to the end. He made The Deer Hunter in the last stages of his disease, dying before its release. Because of his illness, he was not able to get the required insurance so Robert De Niro stepped in and paid for him. His star burned brilliantly for the briefest of times and it leaves one with a tremendous sense of what might have been.

Richard Shepherd directed and Brett Ratner produced this incredible documentary short, I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale which was featured at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO last year. It is an in-depth look at Cazale's brief career with lots of amazing interviews and commentary. In a rare moment of disclosure, Meryl opens up at length about John and their time together. It's a unique chance to see some of our greatest actors in another light as they talk about their friend and fellow thespian.

I have the film below in three short parts. If you have the time, please watch. It is well worth the effort. Parts 1 and 3 are here, but Part 2 is linked because for some reason the embed code has been disabled.

Part 1


Part 2
http://youtu.be/12bLuAD269A

Part 3