Miscellaneous Debris: July 2010 Edition

Our end-of-the-month wrapup of reviews, news, and observations that didn’t get a full post.

Here come the dog days of summer, but it’s not a complete loss. For as blah as the summer has been so far - and it’s been a giant yawn, by and large – the coming weeks show plenty of promise. In the meantime, last weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con and the upcoming fall television season has given probably half the Internet several weeks worth of blogging and complaining fuel.

Some of our own complaints and blogging fuel are listed below. All opinions are our own, and as always they’re presented in no particular order of importance.

1. Actually, first things first: Mad Men‘s fourth season premiere was a virtuoso bit of television, as good if not better than the series’ vaunted pilot and a jump ahead in quality from the season three debut. With its characters entering the post-JFK era – some leaping, some getting pulled along by the undertow of changing times – the show seems at once re-energized and recommitted. Jon Hamm continued to bring new range and depth to Don Draper, as Matthew Weiner’s script stood the character on his handsome head, while Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) and Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) finally emerged as the confident grown-ups fans have waited for them to become.

Weiner made some comments last spring that the show would only run six seasons, and it’s not hard to see this ep as the halfway point in the story’s evolution. This coming week’s episode reveals – just in time for summer – the first-ever Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Christmas party.

2. It’s fun to get what we want. After complaining last year that we wished some former A-list leading men deserved and were due for comebacks, two of our picks have movies opening this week and next. Kevin Kline’s indie comedy The Extra Man, co-starring Paul Dano and John C. Reilly, opens in limited release this weekend. Next week’s The Other Guys, starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, co-stars Michael Keaton; we’ll mention again that The Merry Gentleman, Keaton’s directing debut, remains one of our favorite films released since this blog began a couple of years ago.

In the meantime, here’s the trailer for The Extra Man:

3. Nothing came out of the San Diego Comic-Con that really amazed us, but a few things surfaced that sort of disappointed. We’ve made the case before that Joss Whedon isn’t the best choice to write or direct the upcoming Avengers movie, but now that he’s confirmed to do both we’ll give him an even chance. Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac) is a trade-up in replacing Edward Norton as the Hulk, and it’s good to see Jeremy Renner finally confirmed as Hawkeye. All the same, it’s still a bummer to hear that Avengers founding member and mainstay Hank Pym will not appear in the film. The full cast list was revealed at the convention’s panel.

For no good reason, here’s an episode of The Avengers: United They Stand cartoon from the late 90s. Actually, it’s so painfully 90′s it might as well be sporting a pair of Doc Marten’s and a Friends haircut.

4. Better late than never: we’re happy to report that The Unusuals, the exceptional police comedy-drama that Renner headlined last year, has been available on DVD for a while now. Co-starring Terry Kinney, Amber Tamblyn, Adam Goldberg and Harold Perrineau, the show mixed black humor with sometimes surreal drama and plot twists, creating something unlike anything else on network television. Naturally, it lasted just ten episodes before ABC pulled the plug. Renner immediately went on to acclaim in The Hurt Locker, so hopefully the network regrets its cancellation. Nine episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.

5. October sees the release of The Social Network, which except for its pedigree might seem cause for suspicion; still, an Aaron Sorkin script directed by David Fincher is too good to pass up, and anyway a film that’s intelligently made about current events is seldom a bad thing, if ever.

Based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, the film chronicles the rise of Facebook. By the way, please join our Facebook group.

The film opens nationwide October 1.

6. In previous installments of Miscellaneous Debris we chastised both Rescue Me and Leverage for their egregious product placement, devoting too much time to mentioning or in some cases outright singing the praises of their commercial sponsors. Happily, both shows have toned that down quite a bit in their current runs. After a hit-or-miss second season, Leverage seems to have found its legs, with each episode by and large more entertaining than the last. Meanwhile Rescue Me, though too quick once again to fall back on the Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary)-as-human-trainwreck plotlines, has returned to ideas from earlier seasons that worked well before getting abandoned. In particular, the ace comic chemistry between firefighters Sean Garrity (Steven Pasquale) and Mike Silletti (Mike Lombardi) and the reappearance of slain firefighter Jimmy Keefe (James McCaffrey) improve every episode in which they’re used.

7. Ten years ago, Ang Lee’s martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon caused something of a quiet sensation, re-defining how audiences (particularly sci-fi and fantasy audiences) thought about the limits and potential of the action film genre. The  film’s luxurious cinematography and eye-googling special effects, combined with a simple but moving story of revenge and deferred love, made larger Western franchises including the then-popular Matrix and Star Wars prequel trilogy seem instantly cumbersome and outdated. Subsequent imitators and similar wuxia efforts trickled through Western multiplexes for years afterward.

A Blu-Ray edition was released this month (a previous edition was available in a three-film wuxia box set), and though we haven’t seen it yet we can only imagine how Lee’s incredible vision appears in high-definition. If you haven’t seen the film, you should. If you have, it might be time to revisit it.

8.  Criterion has officially announced the Blu-Ray and two-disc DVD release of Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. Set to debut September 28, Criterion’s edition includes a new digital transfer supervised by Malick, thirteen minutes of outtakes, interviews with cast members, newsreels of the actual fighting on Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands, and audio tracks of the Melanesian chants heard throughout the film.

To reiterate what we said a couple of months ago: Upon its 1998 release the film was unfairly ignored by a public that preferred the more simplistic jingoism of Saving Private Ryan (released earlier that year) or felt leery of its sorrowful, meditative tone. Nevertheless, Malick’s eye for arresting imagery didn’t dull one bit after an almost twenty year hiatus from filmmaking; the trailer alone is more picturesque than the entirety of most films, and also more moving. 

Our annual summer hiatus runs through next week. We’ll return Tuesday, August 10 with more of what you come here for. Thanks for reading.

- Michael Kabel

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Preview: Red Cliff

John Woo’s massive historical epic comes to America – in condensed form – this November.

The most expensive film in Asian production history but also the highest-grossing among Chinese cinema to date, director John Woo’s Red Cliff relates the momentous Battle of Red Cliffs that marked the end of China’s Han Dynasty and the beginning of its Three Kingdoms period in the Third Century CE. The film also presents something of a comeback for Woo himself, marking his first Chinese film since 1992 and his first full-length feature since the 2003 flop Paycheck.

Though the Asian release saw the four hour-plus epic cut into two parts, American audiences will see an abbrieviated 148-minute version that condenses the complicated and far-reaching story into a single narrative while introducing new footage that helps explain and clarify the depicted events. The film follows Han Chancellor Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) as he leads the Imperial Army on an expedition to crush Southern warlords Sun Quan (Chang Chen) and Liu Bei (You Yung). Desperate for new territory with which to bolster their crumbling empire, the Han army is swift and merciless, overrunning provinces and killing civilians as well as combatants.

Liu Bei and his compatriots lead the defense of the civilians and their own lands, eventually allying with Sun Quan in a last-ditch effort at defense even while Cao Cao’s forces approach the city of Red Cliff, situated along the strategically crucial south bank of the Yangtze River. Quan’s sister, Sun Shangxiang (Zhao Wei), infiltrates Cao Cao’s camp to gather intelligence while leaders on both sides beg, borrow, and steal the supplies and intelligence needed to gain an upper hand. Much of the film’s Asian release detailed the intrigue and human drama leading up to the cataclysmic main engagement, with subterfuge and deceit blooming all around. By the end of the battle the victorious Sun and Liu retain their holdings south of the Yangtze, in time establishing the kingdoms that would come to be known as Shu Han and Eastern Wu.

Woo also co-wrote the screenplay, basing the story not on the landmark historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (celebrated as one of the finest novels in all of Chinese literature) but on the more neutrally-toned historical record Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, which reportedly presents a more even-handed treatment of characters on both sides of the fighting. As perhaps a sign of the film’s importance as a Chinese cultural event, the nation’s government lent the production more than 100,000 soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army to serve as extras for the combined naval and land battle.

For all that scale the story is also one of characters, many of whom are legends in their own right and revered throughout 17 centuries of Chinese history. Though the cast is stocked to overflowing with Chinese actors both veteran and up-and-coming, the film’s earlier announced cast would have offered a meeting of stars seldom seen: screen legend Chow Yun-Fat (The Killer) was slated to star as Zhou Yu, Quan’s military commander, but withdrew over script and contract disputes. Japanese actor Ken Watanabe (Batman Begins) was cast as Cao Cao but was released after the production drew complaints for casting a non-Chinese actor in such an important role. Finally, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Internal Affairs) was originally cast as strategist Zhuge Liang (played now by Takeshi Kaneshiro) but replaced Chow instead.

Woo himself became a legend in the early 90s, thanks to staggeringly innovative and artistic work on action films such as Hard Boiled (1992) and especially 1989′s The Killer. His American career was less impressive, starting slowly with the Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle Hard Target (1993) and reaching through the John Travolta-led films Broken Arrow (1996) and Face-Off (1997), both somewhat formulaic efforts that often cribbed plot devices or imagery from Woo’s earlier, Asian-produced work. His films in the current decade have been even less noteworthy, including the Nicolas Cage-starring Windtalkers (2001) and the aforementioned Paycheck.

Still, there’s something about such a sweeping and important work that feels a natural fit for Woo, and if the reduced version does well in theatres hopefully a restored DVD edition will find its way to American shelves.

 

Red Cliff opens in limited release November 20.

- Michael Kabel

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Miscellaneous Debris, September 2009 Edition

A round up of news, rumors and opinions at the edge of the fall season.

September’s pretty much over, and the whole industry greets the coming of autumn and winter not with cooler temperatures but with meatballs. Lots and lots and meatballs. Once again a CGI spectacle rules over adult-oriented films like The Informant! and Surrogates, even while the rest of the Top 10 looks like a scrap heap. The coming months at least bring a few intriguing films: the Gerard Butler-Jamie Foxx ne0 noir Law Abiding Citizen, the perfect storm of hipsterness Where The Wilid Things Are, the Coen Brother’s A Serious Man, and dozens of others. So there’s light at the end of the tunnel, even as the days grow shorter.

The following few news items are a miscellany of observations and opinions we’ve built up over the last month. The opinions are our own, though you’re welcome to discuss.

Does it still happen if no one's watching?

1. As far as box office goes, September was notable not for what made money but for what didn’t: Jennifer’s Body, the double flash-in-the-pan teaming of Megan Fox and Diablo Cody, was dead on arrival despite a saturating media campaign. Meanwhile the Jennifer Aniston romantic drama Love Happens (which we like to call Pointless In Seattle) also went nowhere, even in a year in which other romances like The Proposal and (500) Days of Summer have exceeded box office expectations.

We think the lesson to be learned is pretty simple: people are bored, and ready for something new and fresh. Aniston and Fox are both overexposed, though Proposal star Sandra Bullock isn’t. The public won’t pay money to see faces they see too much already, for free, on magazine covers.

2. We bitched some about the season premiere of Mad Men, but the show has gotten substantially better with each episode, and the last couple especially can stand with the best of the series. Watching the Sterling-Cooper ad agency unravel from within is a suprisingly gut-wrenching process, even as Don and Betty Draper (Jon Hamm and January Jones) seem to prepare themselves to finally go their separate ways. Cheers also for bringing back Draper’s nemesis Duck Philips, played so well by Mark Moses.

As last night’s episode, “Seven Twenty Three,” was the halfway point of the seasons, we’ll risk predicting that by season’s end both Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss) and Don Draper have left Sterling Cooper, either by choice or through firing. We also hope there’s some resolution to Joan Halloway’s flailing marriage, though we can’t help but see domestic violence on the horizon.

Jon and Kate plus hate.

3. Has reality television finally, at long last, neared its tipping point? Scandals such as the murder mystery surrounding VH1′s Megan Wants A Millionaire and the ongoing tabloid marketing scheme that is the Gosselin’s marriage seem to be the kind of negative-buzz generating backlash events that signal the end of a trend. We hope so. In roughly a decade the advent of “reality” based television has rearranged the television landscape, and largely for the worse. As the major networks grow increasingly desperate, quality programming has fled to some cable networks, while other cable channels, such as VH1 and especially TLC, cater to a lower denominator than was even thought to exist ten years ago. Television does not have to be a vast wasteland, the efforts of most reality programming to the contrary. Enough already.

4. One potential bright light for network scripted drama arrived last week in the form of Flash Forward, the ABC sci-fi drama adapted from Robert J. Sawyer’s novel by David Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Brannon Braga (Star Trek: Enterprise). The Goyer-directed pilot was a long way from perfect, lacking as it did the confidence and effortlessness that accompanied previous landmark debuts such as ER and Lost to the screen. We’re also not sure about star Joseph Fiennes’ ability to center the somewhat expansive cast, which includes Courtney B. Vance, John Cho, Jack Davenport, Dominic Monaghan, and Gabrielle Union.

Still, the premise – everyone on Earth gets a 137-second glimpse of their near future, six months hence - is intriguing enough to earn our loyalty for two or three episodes, by which time the show will have probably found its sea legs or not. Ratings for the debut were solid, meaning the show’s fortunes now depend on word of mouth. If not, hpefully ABC will show the series more patience than it extended to other sci-fi fare like Invasion and Life On Mars, neither of which we imagine carried Flash Forward’ s hefty payroll.

Yo ho, yo ho hum: Depp

5. In what must be the answer to a question nobody asked, Disney is moving forward with a fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, this time with or without Johnny Depp’s involvement. Depp is reportedly aware the second and third Pirates movies lacked quite a bit in quality, and wants script approval after former Disney studio chief Dick Cook resigned last week.

Just so this doesn’t go unsaid, Depp’s post-Jack Sparrow career is nothing to crow about: Secret Window, Public Enemies, and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory are nobody’s idea of classic cinema, and the upcoming Alice In Wonderland looks like standard Tim Burton weirdness. Depp might do well to get out the eyeliner once again.

Gong Li in Shanghai

6. A rare highlight of the last Pirates film was Chow Yun-Fat’s appearance as pirate warlord Sao Feng. The long delayed Shanghai, in which Chow co-stars with John Cusack and Gong Li, has been delayed yet again, this time looking at a release sometime next year. Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (1408) and featuring Ken Watanabe and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the saga of an ill-fated romance in the months leading to the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor seems a treat for older film audiences, offering the kind of film spectacle Hollywood rarely attempts anymore. So why the delay?

7. Finally, we forgot to mention While The City Sleeps in our recent list of movies watched while under the influence of DVR-enabled cinematic insomnia. If you’re a fan of classic cinema, Fritz Lang, movies about newspapers, Ida Lupino, and/or lurid trash, this film has something for you. Basically, its sprawling plot follows the staff of a major newspaper as its department heads race to outdo each other pursuing “the Lipstick Killer,” a freudian nightmare of a serial killer preying on women who live alone.

Lang directs the 1956 film with a kind of dreamlike detachment, keeping the characters in close proximity to one another even as they never really establish meaningful contact, even when intimate. The always-underrated Dana Andrews plays the television commentator leading the hunt for the killer, with Vincent Price, film noir siren Rhonda Fleming, and John Drew Barrymore also swirling around the tangle of events. Part film noir, part melodrama, and part Hollywood ensemble piece, it’s a weird mixture that doesn’t come off as well as it should, yet still remains completely, if cheaply, entertaining.

UPDATE: We’ll be back Monday. Thanks for reading.

- Michael Kabel
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And Let Us Also Praise Former Leading Women

Seven women we wish still ruled the Hollywood landscape.

Last week we posted a long blog entry about leading men of the 80s and 90s who, although still working, seem to have undeservedly slipped somewhat from the top of the movie industry hierarchy. That only got us thinking two things: 1. We really need to watch Johnny Dangerously again but more importantly 2. For every actor that we miss seeing lead movies there’s at least one actress who also deserves a return to the center spotlight.

It’s an open, dirty secret that film careers for women have a much shorter half-life than those of their male co-stars, so the talent pool for an article like this is possibly both broader and deeper. The following list shows only the actresses we miss seeing lead big-budget productions that draw the kind of acclaim we think they deserve. As with its companion article, for each star we’ve included film clips showing some of their best work as well as recognition of an “unsung” performance that maybe didn’t get the attention it deserved.

1. Rene Russo: Former model Russo worked her way up in standard wife/girlfriend roles in films such as Major League (1989) and One Good Cop (1991) before breaking through with winning turns holding her own opposite Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Clint Eastwood in In The Line of Fire (1993). Best unsung performance: As Trudy Lintz, a Jazz Age eccentric raising a gorilla as her son in the based-on-fact family film Buddy (1997). Possible career tipping point: Playing Natasha in 2000′s little-loved The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was bad enough. Her projects since, including turkeys like Showtime (2002) and Two For the Money (2005), have further estranged her from public recognition. Career advice: find a role that displays the effortless confidence and poise shown in 1999′s Thomas Crown Affair; follow Glenn Close and Holly Hunter’s lead and find a cable project tailor-made to her strengths.

2. Ashley Judd: The girl next door with an edgy sexuality, Judd seemed a meteoric success in the mid-90s following the indie darling Ruby In Paradise (1993) and showcase parts in Heat (1995) and A Time To Kill (1996). For a while, she was sort of the female George Clooney, desired by the opposite sex but equally admired by her own. Best unsung performance: Though she has a bevy of indie roles weaving in and around her big-studio work, we’re partial to her turn as a griefstruck serial killer in 1999′s Eye of the Beholder. Possible career tipping point: Rumored bouts with depression kept her off the Hollywood radar for several years, and since coming “back” with 2006′s weird horror flick Bug she’s mostly kept to low-profile parts or roles in ensemble dramas, including this year’s Crossing Over. Career advice: The odd romcom or two notwithstanding, Judd’s filmography is unusually dark. Find a lighter project that shows her range and ability to connect with an audience. Something with the Coen brothers, maybe?

3. Michelle Pfeiffer: Not to put too fine a point on it, but for Gen X’ers the name Michelle Pfeiffer is pretty much synonymous with “beauty” and “movie star” alike. Films like The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) and Tequila Sunrise (1988) were milestones in our introduction to adult drama. Best unsung performance: As a jewel thief on the run from Irani hitmen in 1985′s darkly comic romp Into The Night. Possible career tipping point: Pfeiffer spent much of the 90s trying to work against her glamorous screen persona, with roles including Frankie and Johnny (1991) and Dangerous Minds (1995). The public didn’t buy it. Nevertheless she’s remained undaunted, heading both fantasy films like Stardust (2007) and complicated dramas such as White Oleander (2002). Career advice: It’s difficult to criticize an actress who consistently picks challenging roles, but Ms. Pfeiffer should consider a historical drama that would get the Academy’s attention. Alternately, take on an indie film that feels deliberately less polished than most of her screen work.

4. Carrie-Anne Moss: The screen goddess of tomorrow at the turning of the Millennium, Carrie-Anne Moss was the elegantly cool center of The Matrix trilogy while also appearing in the indie sensation Memento (2000). Best unsung performance: Her understated, brainy-sexy performance is actually the only reason to watch the otherwise staggeringly awful Red Planet (2000). Possible career tipping point: The Matrix trilogy’s utter collapse couldn’t have helped, but later appearances in genre tripe like Suspect Zero (2004) didn’t do her any favors either. Career advice: Moss has a face born for neo-noir, so getting projects that expand her range is probably difficult. Still, moving away from films in which she’s some kind of agent – like the upcoming Unthinkable – will prove an important first step.

5. Tea Leoni: A white-hot screen presence throughout the 90s after roles in films like Bad Boys (1995) and Deep Impact (1998) and on television in the sitcoms Flying Blind (1992) and The Naked Truth(1995), Leoni was as smart as she was sexy – though audiences were sometimes slow to recognize her sly comic agility. Best unsung performance: As the sexiest child adoption case worker ever in David O. Russell’s hilarious Flirting With Disaster (1996). Possible career tipping point: Leoni seems to only work every now and then, most often in lower-profile indie fare like House of D (2004) and You Kill Me (2007). And her higher-profile work, like Spanglish (2004) and Fun With Dick and Jane (2005), is often terrible. Career advice: Get in on a project opposite a leading man that can keep up with her, as she did with Sir Ben Kingsley in You Kill Me. Alternately, take the historical-drama route or find the right flat-out screwball comedy.

6. Anjelica Huston: Even though she’s among the best examples of Hollywood royalty, Huston’s string of virtually flawless performances in films such as Prizzi’s Honor (1985) and The Grifters (1990) established her as a creative force in her own right. Best unsung performance: Though it amounts to a pre-fame walk on part, the future Oscar winner unveiled the band’s 18-inch tall Stonehenge monument in 1984′s This Is Spinal Tap. Possible career tipping point: We can understand playing Morticia Addams once, but twice? Career advice: Linking up with indie auteurs like Wes Anderson, with whom she’s worked three times now, is the right idea. Tackling higher-brow work, as she did for her father with 1987′s The Dead, might also re-establish her in the public eye as a prestige actress synonymous with quality film.

7. Mira Sorvino: Gifted with the face of an angel, Sorvino’s screen persona nevertheless hinted at a heartbreaking fragility. Roles in Beautiful Girls (1996) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995), for which she won Best Supporting Actress, showed that versatility to its best effect. Best unsung performance: Playing against that persona, as a tough-as-nails document forger in 1998′s The Replacement Killers. Possible career tipping point: Her Oscar win is often used to support the “Best Supporing Actress = Kiss of Career Death” theory. It’s more likely that attemps to build mainstream box office bankability, for example with the romantic weepie At First Sight (1999), failed to click with audiences. Career advice: Like Pfeiffer, Sorvino continually challenges herself with high-risk turns in projects including a remake of The Great Gatsby (2000) and downbeat indie efforts like Reservation Road (2007). Like Marisa Tomei, it’s probably only a matter of time before she’s accepted as an actor’s actor.

- Michael Kabel

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A Field Guide to the Thinking Woman’s Sex Symbol

No pretty boys here – how to spot the modern sex symbol for today’s educated woman.

There are obvious Hollywood hunks, and then there are those that stray from the typical tall, dark (or blonde), and handsome stereotype. While the list that follows is by no means exhaustive, it attempts to shed a little light on some of the types favored by the “Thinking Woman,” one who is generally college-educated, in her thirties or beyond, and who likes her men with a little edge. 

The (Gracefully) Aging Intellectual: A man “of a certain age,” known for his razor wit and social savvy. Generally plays authority figures or characters much like himself – critics of the social and political scenes. Often sighted signing copies of his latest book or playing with his jazz ensemble between seasons of filming his basic cable television show. Why he’s so appealing: There’s something incredibly sexy about a smart man. And it doesn’t hurt that men of this type have some of the best voices in the industry. Classical Exemplar: Peter Lawford Modern Exemplars: Eric Bogosian, Anthony Bourdain, Peter Weller

The Human Teddy Bear: A man with a few extra pounds and a congenially self-deprecating attitude. Routinely plays the underdog whose dedication to his family or team carries him through intense trials. Sometimes sighted answering questions about his struggles with weight. Why he’s so appealing: The Human Teddy Bear is the Average Joe, but what makes these actors (via their characters) appealing is that they show such devotion, either to their loved ones or to an idealistic cause. Classical Exemplar: It’s a recent phenomenon; no example available. Modern Exemplars: Greg Grunberg, Aaron Douglas, John C. Reilly

The Lovable Dork: A man with perpetually odd haircuts, whose combination of doe-eyed innocence and awkward charm tempers his obvious genius. Generally plays the geek, who saves the day with his intelligence or dogged determination, or the goofball who harbors a crush on the girl next door. Often sighted wearing much nicer outfits in real life than he’s allowed to wear on television. Why he’s so appealing: Every Thinking Woman that grew up on “Pretty In Pink” wants her own Duckie. Classical Exemplar: John Cryer Modern Exemplars: Masi Oka, John Krasinski, Kadeem Hardison, Eric Szmanda

The Method Man: A man devoted to his craft, inhabiting his characters with a palpable intensity. Generally plays characters who are battling demons (literally as well as figuratively). Often sighted engaging in one of his many other artistic pursuits – photography, music, poetry… Why he’s so appealing: Artists are sexy. And these men see their acting craft as art. Plus, many of them are just downright good looking. Classical Exemplar: Marlon Brando Modern Exemplars: Viggo Mortensen, Don Cheadle, Gary Sinise, Paul Giamatti

The Badass with a Heart of Gold: A man, often foreign, whose ability to beat the living crap out of someone is matched only by the tenderness he can display with a single look. Generally plays hit men, kung-fu masters, and guys who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Often sighted wearing black suits and looking debonair. Why he’s so appealing: In addition to the sheer thrill of watching their combat prowess, these men have more charisma than most actors. Put one of these men in a room with a chair, and there will be chemistry. Classical Exemplar: Robert Mitchum Modern Exemplars: Chow Yun Fat, Jean Reno, Jason Statham

- Jennifer Vasil

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