Sick Transit

Seven films to watch while you’re laid up with the cold, the flu, or whatever else gets you down.

NOT recommended viewing. For so many reasons.

Welcome once again to cold and flu season! Every year who knows how many millions of people get the common cold, the flu, the stomach flu, and a variety of other painful and discomforting illnesses. Some people (we think they’re the smart ones) cope by parking themselves on the couch and in front of the DVD player , creating some prime movie-viewing time.

Watching a favorite movie is pretty much the best way to spend a sick day. You don’t have to move around, you don’t have to think that much about the plot (since it’s your favorite, you’ve seen it before already) and you can pause the film for trips to the bathroom, kitchen, or medicine chest. For those of you who don’t have a “favorite” movie to help get you through the long, queasy recuperation hours, consider these classics. We’ve tried to include a variety of stuff, representing several genres.

Office Space – If you’re not going in to work you owe it to yourself to laugh at American office culture. Mike Judge’s (Idiocracy) comedy, in which Ron Livingston gets hypnotized into not giving a damn about anything his boss or company wants, remains the perfect way to laugh at all the healthy worker drones spending the day at their jobs. Bonus sick day activity: Drawl like office middle manager Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) to everyone you speak with, as in: “Hello, pharmacy? I’m gonna need you to go ahead and refill my prescription. Yeah, that’d be great.”

In The Good Old Summertime – A favorite among Judy Garland’s legions of fans, this romantic comedy/musical puts her at professional odds with fellow music shop salesman Van Johnson, even while the two fall in love as pen pals when off the clock. Proudly warm and nostalgic for its soundstage-perfect Victorian Era setting, the film features Garland as irresistable as ever and Johnson well-cast as a suitor so straight-laced he seems almost quaint by modern standards. And if store owner Mr. Oberkugen seems familiar, you probably also saw S. Z. Sakall play Carl, the maitre d’ at Rick’s Cafe Americain, in Casablanca. Bonus sick day activity: Sing along with Garland, especially during the showstopping “I Don’t Care.”

The Dirty Dozen - Twelve Army convicts are offered full pardons if they follow a bitter commando (Lee Marvin) on a suicide mission deep into Nazi-occupied France. The epitome of classic Hollywood cinema that doesn’t ask too much of the brain, director Robert Aldrich’s fast-paced adventure stays enthralling right up until the last, disappointing final scene. Still, it’s a hell of a lot of fun to see while you’re watching it. Bonus sick day activity: Devise your own resolution to the Dozen’s raid on the Nazi castle, one that doesn’t uphold the Establishment status quo but instead lets Posey (Clint Walker) and Jefferson (Jim Brown) survive.

High Noon - Speaking of guy films, this high-water mark of the Western genre has everything a good Western should: an iconic good guy (Gary Cooper), a ferocious antagonist (Ian MacDonald) and a whole town up for grabs. Director Fred Zinnermann (From Here To Eternity) films the story in real-time, ratcheting the suspense up even further. Not for nothing, but it’s also probably got the coolest theme song of any Western ever made (shown in the fan video below). Bonus sick day activity: Count off the townspeople running from outlaw Frank Miller (MacDonald) on their big clay feet; come up with your own argument to give the sheriff’s wife (Grace Kelly) that yes, sometimes violence is the answer.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles – Especially topical this time of year, John Hughes’ masterwork tells the hilarious story of an uptight yuppie (Steve Martin, giving probably his best performance) and an uncouth shower curtain ring salesman (John Candy, definitely giving his) stuck with each other while trying to get home for Thanksgiving. The ending is amazingly touching without falling into hokum, a rare feat in most Hollywood films. Bonus sick day activity: Follow Del Griffith’s (Candy) suggestion and play pickup sticks with your butt cheeks; alternately, wash all your pillowcases.

Stripes - Ivan Reitman’s spoof of basic training and army operations works from such an episodic script you can basically watch the film in ten and fifteen minutes doses. Nevertheless, stars Bill Murray and Harold Ramis put in some sublime comic acting, bolstered by a wide ensemble cast including Candy, Judge Reinhold, Sean Young, Warren Oates and John Larroquette. Fans of the Canadian series SCTV should look for cameos by alumni Dave “Doug McKenzie” Thomas and Joe “Count Floyd” Flaherty. Bonus sick day activity: Teach yourself to march and drill the John Winger (Murray) way, by shouting songs at the top of your lungs while making goofy faces.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy – Probably best if you’re going to be laid up all weekend (or for several days, anyway) the monumental LOTR saga has everything you could want from a film series – adventure, intrigue, romance, a metric ton of action – while still remaining approachable and reasonably episodic. The plotlines start to drag a bit at times, and director Peter Jackson’s (King Kong) sense of restraint gets out from under him in the third chapter. Nevertheless, taken as a whole the trilogy delivers hours and hours of riveting viewing, especially the epic Battle of Helm’s Deep. Bonus sick day activity: Take a shot of Vitamin C every time Frodo (Elijah Wood) or Legolas (Orlando Bloom) stare at something in close-up. You’ll be up and moving around in no time.

Take it easy and we hope you feel better.

- Michael Kabel

(This article was orginally published November 3, 2009.)

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Sick Transit

Seven films to watch while you’re laid up with the cold, H1N1, or whatever else gets you down.

NOT recommended viewing. For so many reasons.

Welcome to cold and flu season! Each year untold millions of people get the common cold, the flu, the stomach flu, and a variety of other painful and discomforting illnesses.Many sufferers cope by parking themselves on the couch and in front of the DVD player , creating some prime movie-viewing time.

Watching a favorite movie is pretty much the best way to spend a sick day. You don’t have to move around, you don’t have to think that much about the plot (since it’s your favorite, you’ve seen it before already) and you can pause the film for trips to the bathroom, kitchen, or medicine chest. For those of you who don’t have a “favorite” movie to help get you through the long, queasy recuperation hours, consider these classics. We’ve tried to include a variety of stuff, representing several genres.

Office Space - If you’re not going in to work you owe it to yourself to laugh at American office culture. Mike Judge’s (Idiocracy) comedy, in which Ron Livingston gets hypnotized into not giving a damn about anything his boss or company wants, remains the perfect way to laugh at all the healthy worker drones spending the day at their jobs. Bonus sick day activity: Drawl like office middle manager Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) to everyone you speak with, as in: “Hello, pharmacy? I’m gonna need you to go ahead and refill my prescription. Yeah, that’d be great.”

In The Good Old Summertime – A favorite among Judy Garland’s legions of fans, this romantic comedy/musical puts her at professional odds with fellow music shop salesman Van Johnson, even while the two fall in love as pen pals when off the clock. Proudly warm and nostalgic for its soundstage-perfect Victorian Era setting, the film features Garland as irresistable as ever and Johnson well-cast as a suitor so straight-laced he seems almost quaint by modern standards. And if store owner Mr. Oberkugen seems familiar, you probably also saw S. Z. Sakall play Carl, the maitre d’ at Rick’s Cafe Americain, in Casablanca. Bonus sick day activity: Sing along with Garland, especially during the showstopping “I Don’t Care.”

The Dirty Dozen - The epitome of classic Hollywood cinema that doesn’t ask too much of the brain, director Robert Aldrich’s fast-paced adventure stays enthralling right up until the last, disappointing final scene. Still, it’s a hell of a lot of fun to see while you’re watching it. Bonus sick day activity: Devise your own resolution to the Dozen’s raid on the Nazi castle, one that doesn’t uphold the Establishment status quo but instead lets Posey (Clint Walker) and Jefferson (Jim Brown) survive.

High Noon - Speaking of guy films, this high-water mark of the Western genre has everything a good Western should: an iconic good guy (Gary Cooper), a ferocious antagonist (Ian MacDonald) and a whole town up for grabs. Director Fred Zinnermann (From Here To Eternity) films the story in real-time, ratcheting the suspense up even further. Not for nothing, but it’s also probably got the coolest theme song of any Western ever made. Bonus sick day activity: Count off the townspeople running from outlaw Frank Miller (MacDonald) on their big clay feet; come up with your own argument to give the sheriff’s wife (Grace Kelly) that yes, sometimes violence is the answer.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles – Especially topical this time of year, John Hughes’ masterwork tells the hilarious story of an uptight yuppie (Steve Martin, giving probably his best performance) and an uncouth shower curtain ring salesman (John Candy, definitely giving his) stuck with each other while trying to get home for Thanksgiving. The ending is amazingly touching without falling into hokum, a rare feat in most Hollywood films. Bonus sick day activity: Follow Del Griffith’s (Candy) suggestion and play pickup sticks with your butt cheeks; alternately, wash all your pillowcases.

Stripes - Ivan Reitman’s spoof of basic training and army operations works from such an episodic script you can basically watch the film in ten and fifteen minutes doses. Nevertheless, stars Bill Murray and Harold Ramis put in some sublime comic acting, bolstered by a wide ensemble cast including Candy, Judge Reinhold, Sean Young, Warren Oates and John Larroquette. Fans of the Canadian series SCTV should look for cameos by alumni Dave “Doug McKenzie” Thomas and Joe “Count Floyd” Flaherty. Bonus sick day activity: Teach yourself to march and drill the John Winger (Murray) way, by shouting Manfred Mann songs and making goofy faces.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy – Probably best if you’re going to be laid up all weekend (or for several days, anyway) the monumental LOTR saga has everything you could want from a film series – adventure, intrigue, romance, a metric ton of action – while still remaining approachable and reasonably episodic. The plotlines start to drag a bit at times, and director Peter Jackson’s (King Kong) sense of restraint gets out from under him in the third chapter. Nevertheless, taken as a whole the trilogy delivers hours and hours of riveting viewing, especially the epic Battle of Helm’s Deep. Bonus sick day activity: Take a shot of Vitamin C every time Frodo (Elijah Wood) or Legolas (Orlando Bloom) stare at something in close-up. You’ll be up and moving around in no time.

Take it easy and we hope you feel better.

- Michael Kabel
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Review: Extract

Mike Judge’s new workplace comedy could use some more flavor.

Extract, the new comedy by Office Space and King of the Hill creator Mike Judge, isn’t a bad film, though it’s not a great one, either. A sweet-natured ensemble piece until almost its very end, full of the wry observational humor at which Judge has always excelled, it’s a work that’s almost impossible to have strong feelings about one way or the other. That’s either faint praise or damning criticism, depending on your point of view. Maybe the biggest gripe will also be the one most repeated: “It’s not Office Space.” Given the cultural reverence that earlier film enjoys, it almost couldn’t be, at least not immediately.

The premise, at least, is promising enough: Joel (Jason Bateman) co-owns a flavored extract factory, a small business he and partner Brian (J.K. Simmons) built up  themselves. Joel’s prosperous and content with his work but not at home: his sex life with wife Suzie (Kirsten Wiig) has fizzled, leaving him bemoaning his celibacy to buddy Dean (Ben Affleck), the bartender at a local sports bar. “We’re gonna be one of those brother and sister couples,” Joel complains.

Meanwhile a freak, hilariously-staged accident at the factory renders veteran employee Step (Clifton Collins, Jr.) the victim of a painful testicular injury and entitled to a huge insurance payout. A newspaper story about the incident catches the attention of local “criminal drifter” Cindy (Mila Kunis), who begins temping at the factory while romancing Step as a means of convincing him to sue, the better to milk him for cash. She also flirts with Joel, leading him to ponder his chances of stepping out on Suzie. Dean suggests Joel hire a gigolo friend of his to seduce Suzie, so that Joel can enjoy his fling with Cindy without guilt. Hazy from some ketamine Dean offered him, Joel agrees. Suzie and the gigolo begin an affair that continues long after the one-time-only proposition Joel envisioned, pushing him further towards Cindy.

Much of the film’s long and winding second act covers the buckshotting plots and subplots as they only occasionally overlap. As with Office Space, Judge places his scenes in a world that feels real and lived-in, full of sports bars, anonymous business hotels, and suburban myopia; that he overpopulates this near-world becomes the film’s biggest obstacle. There are a lot of characters, and the many subplots all jockey for time, resulting in a story that never settles on one plotline long enough to build momentum or depth. In that sense it’s much more similar to the nuances of Judge’s long-underrated King of the Hill than his barbed farce Idiocracy. But bereft of an explicit point to make (corporate America eats the soul, the world is getting stupider), Extract often doesn’t seem to go anywhere fast. At least one set piece, a long and tepid interlude in which Joel does bong hits in a shitty apartment, feels almost completely needless.

To his credit as a director, Judge has the sense to trust his actors to handle his naturalist, free-flowing dialogue. Such an approach almost always works, except in cases where the actors can’t quite get a grip on their characters: though an interesting stunt casting, Affleck seems unmotivated in playing the spacey Dean, while a hustling lawyer played by Gene Simmons never really comes across. On the positive side, Bateman is charming in the role of the decent guy slowly coming if not unglued then very nonplussed. Kunis and Wiig both shine as, rspectively, the woman Joel wants but shouldn’t have and the woman he should have but can’t seem to close the distance between them. In what must be compliance with some weird federal regulation, the ubiquitous David Koechner shows up as Nathan, Joel and Suzie’s pestering neighbor. His part is largely superfluous, though with a pair of thick-lens eyeglasses he bears a striking resemblance to Hank Hill.

Actually, Nathan plays a big part in the film’s conclusion and a resolution to one of the central plotlines, albeit in a grim manner that stands in stark contrast to the earlier scenes’ froth. It’s a weird ending, one that reaches for a note of hope and renewal but instead plays clumsy and random. Some credits-accompanying postscripts feel added as an afterthought, an attempt to compensate for the downer just preceding them.

One telling comment about Judge’s attention to detail that might reveal some of his priorities: watch the exterior shots of the Reynolds Extract building. Based on an actual former extract factory in Austin, TX, it’s typical of the kind of sturdy mid-century business architecture that still exists in the older parts of so many American cities, not yet replaced by a glass box or aluminum shed. If only the rest of the movie were so clearly envisioned.

- Michael Kabel

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The Life of Reilly

Chronicling the screen career of the ever-versatile John C. Reilly.

For most people, John C. Reilly broke through as Reed Rothchild, the dim, affable sidekick to Mark Wahlberg’s Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. Yet the versatile character actor, with his bartender’s face and imposing but not especially frightening physique, had by that point been working in mainstream and independent film for close to a decade. Working steadily, at that, flying below the radar in films with flashier performances by Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and many others.

Revisiting those early films today - including State of Grace (1990), Hoffa (1992), and Georgia (1995) – it’s hard to miss Reilly honing his screen presence while going through the motions of playing the second or third supporting role. He was typically the sad sack friend or dim loser in those early films, but managed to give his parts unexpected depth, fleshing them out as distinct personalities that buzzed in the viewer’s mind even as the camera focused on the films’ glamorous stars.

The seven films below don’t make a comprehensive list, but they show some main points on his career timeline. Each is available on DVD.

Casualties of War (1989): America was already at its tipping point with Vietnam remembrance and director Brian DePalma alike when this overcooked wartime rape/murder story hit theatres, obscuring Reilly’s big-screen debut. Penn leads a group of U.S. soldiers, including a lankier Reilly than usual, that kidnap a Vietnamese girl above the objections of their squadmate (Michael J. Fox). Reilly is essentially a speaking extra for much of the film, somewhat lost behind Penn’s hamming and Fox’s earnest attempts to keep up. He’d go unnoticed, a character actor in a character role, largely because the film met with thunderous indifference from audiences.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993): A film that couldn’t be farther from Casualties of War if it tried, Lasse Halstrom’s (The Cider House Rules) light melodrama cast Reilly as Tucker Van Dyke, the blue-collar buddy to titular suffering soul Grape (Depp). Reilly’s charm starts to bubble up through the stock role about halfway through the plot, when Van Dyke’s enthusiasm for the milkshake of a new-in-town fast food franchise – “That’s real milk!” – fills him with giddy hope for the future. A cult favorite, it’s a sweet movie full of well-pitched performances and slice-of-life grace, thanks to a supporting cast that also includes Mary Steenburgen and Crispin Glover.

Sydney/Hard Eight (1996): Reilly’s three films with Anderson began with the writer-director’s Sundance-fueled debut, a grim neo-noir about losers circling one another between drinking and gambling in Las Vegas and Reno. The film turns on Reilly’s performance as a sweet-natured journeyman gambler caught between loyalty to his mentor (Philip Baker Hall) and his love for a tinsel-like cocktail waitress (Gwyneth Paltrow) who’s not quite sure what to make of his sincerity or how to exploit it. All three stars are excellent, as is Samuel L. Jackson as a thug who sees opportunity in the safe haven the trio create for themselves. The ending is a rare Hollywood example of a finale that makes sense. Anderson would get better – and worse – as a director, but his debut let Reilly and the undervalued Hall do some of their finest work. 

Magnolia (1999) Depending on who you ask, Anderson’s third film was either a work of genius by a brilliant talent or the first warning flare that the young auteur doesn’t know his limitations. We say it’s kind of both, but amid a broad collection of career-best performances (including Tom Cruise and William H. Macy) Reilly stands out as a lovesick, lovestruck LAPD patrol officer not quite callous enough for his job. An early collection of moments showing Reilly’s Officer Jim Kurring greeting the day alone (his wife has left him, taking their child) are propelled by tiny gestures that speak volumes, as is a later scene in which he approaches the drug addict that might present a chance at happiness (Melora Walters).

The Perfect Storm (2000): Besides the ambitious Anderson films and a part in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Reilly also spent the late 90s cashing in on his growing star power, appearing in high-profile but disposable studio fluff like Never Been Kissed and For Love of the Game (both 1999). The two extremes came together, in a sense, with Wolfgang Petersen’s The Perfect Storm, based on the true story of a fishing boat caught in the worst oceanic storm of the 20th Century. Reilly sinks into the role of fisherman Dale Murphy like putting on an old flannel shirt, all windblown squint and cheap cigar ameliorated only by love for his young son. A rivalry subplot with a crewmate (William Fichtner) becomes as interesting as the here-comes-the-storm main plotline (Reilly and Fichtner had recently completed The Settlement, a micro-budget indie about life insurance con men.) until it’s resolved with a too-familiar twist. Still, the film is entertaining while remaining just smart enough to avoid making mature audiences feel like they’re slumming.

Chicago (2002): Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the caustic Bob Fosse Broadway musical has its flaws, oft-debated and often valid as they are: it didn’t deserve the Best Picture Oscar, Richard Gere has a tin ear, Rene Zellweger was miscast, and so on. Yet, despite, and nevertheless, Reilly’s song and dance as Roxie Hart’s (Zellweger) cuckolded, cluess husband Amos showed his formidable music hall chops. The film had the same heart of chrome as the musical, but Reilly’s number is all emotion. That same year he appeared as another scorned spouse, this time opposite Jennifer Aniston, in the pseudo-indie The Good Girl. 

 

The Promotion (2008): After years spent as a foil to Will Ferrell and starring in Judd Apatow’s unfairly ignored Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Reilly returned to familiar ground with writer director Steve Conrad’s (The Weather Man) indie dramedy about two assistant grocery store managers vying for the promotion that could bring either of them financial security. Reilly plays Richard Wehlner, a recovering drug addict and family man still rattled enough by a misspent youth to rely on cheap motivational tapes and the occasional joint to get himself through the work day. The script is derivative of any number of earlier films, including Tin Men (1987), Changing Lanes (2002) and Office Space (1999) but gets carried along by Reilly, Lili Taylor as his wife and an unusually strong performance by Seann William Scott as his rival.

- Michael Kabel

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Preview: Extract

Mike Judge’s new comedy puts Jason Bateman and Mila Kunis in a sex-charged workplace comedy.

Arriving as something like a gourmet dessert after a summer more loaded with junk food than usual, September’s Extract returns animation guru Mike Judge to the big screen for the first time since the whip-smart genius of 2006′s Idiocracy. Judge’s films, such as that one and the now-classic Office Space, have a tendency to run a bit ahead of their time, only getting their due recognition once the rest of our culture catches up to their subversive wit. If five years from now we all remember Extract as a classic, remember you heard about it here first.

Recalling Office Space‘s hapless Peter Gibbons, the new film follows a well-meaning everyman as his life goes through some professional and personal rejuvenation. Joel (Jason Bateman) owns a factory that makes and bottles flavor extract for cooking, a job that’s every bit as exciting as it sounds. Bored with his job, his life, and especially his marriage, he spends a lot of time complaining to laid-back bartender pal Dean (Ben Affleck) and trying to woo his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) into bed. Suzie’s lost interest in herself and her marriage, it seems, leaving Joel shut off from getting any despite earnest efforts to play by her romantic rules. 

Things change after a freak chain-reaction mishap leaves a male factory employee hurt in a bad place and on the hook for a giant insurance settlement.  The injured worker’s replacement, a sexy temp named Cindy, gets Bateman worked up enough to start pondering a potential affair.

Though none of that sounds like groundbreaking comedic material, remember how Office Space used the same plot contrivance as Superman III to potent comic effect.  Judge has never shared the killer instinct that fellow animation auteurs Seth MacFarlane, Trey Parker and Matt Stone frequently exhibit, and while that means his humor is often more nuanced it’s also likely cost him a degree of edginess. His films are more about performance and observational satire more than invention, not poking fun so much as holding the already ridiculous up to light and letting it speak for itself. King of the Hill has served as the SCTV to Family Guy‘s more aggressive early years-Saturday Night Live for years now.

In that regard Extract is a perfect vehicle for Bateman, who’s been honing his John Ritter-esque ordinary guy charm in films like Hancock and The Break-Up. Likewise Kunis, who apparently plays the same tempting sweetheart she was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Seeing as she didn’t get the attention she deserved for that performance, we can’t really fault her taking another stab at perfecting her luminescent romcom potential. The film also stars the mighty J.K. Simmons as Bateman’s partner, continuing the wily comic snark that let him steal all his scenes in darker comedies like Burn After Reading and Thank You For Smoking.

Judge himself has described the film as a flip side to Office Space, this time making the boss the nice guy and the owners the troublemakers. Given the hip star power of his tight ensemble cast, which also includes Clifton Collins, Jr. (Sunshine Cleaning) and the ubiquitous David Koechner (Anchorman), maybe this new film will escape the unfair fates that befell his previous efforts.

Extract opens in limited release September 4.

-Michael Kabel
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Secret Stars: Six Actors Who Deserve More Recognition

If we had our way this would be the Hollywood A-list

Plenty of people in Hollywood are overrated. Movies and television shows teem with actors who were either lucky, shrewd, good-looking, or well-connected enough to rise despite a certain lack of talent. Probably every one has their own pet example – a movie star, an ingenue starlet or a pretty boy semi-celeb – that illustrates just what a capricious bitch good fortune really is, especially when Fame is at stake.

Obviously we watch too many movies and waaayyy too much television, and as a result we’ve seen some actors come and go that we wish worked more. The list below isn’t comprehensive and it’s not scientific; of course it’s not objective either. But if you see one of these actors on a screen, pay attention and you’re guaranteed to see good work.

Lee Tergesen: Of the hundreds of actors (we’re only slightly exaggerating) that came out of the late and much-missed HBO series Oz, perhaps no one is more overdue for widespread acclaim than the actor that brought Tobias Beecher to life. Tergesen’s done laps around the guest star circuit, appearing on the Law & Orders as well as CSI and Masters of Horror, but he’s an astonishingly versatile actor who deserves a wider audience. Possible liability: Suffers from The Nancy Travis Paradox: not pretty enough for leading roles, too charismatic for supporting parts. Notable performance: Any of his scene-stealing guest spots on Rescue Me and Desperate Housewives. Next appears: In this year’s Iraq War HBO mini Generation Kill.

Maria Bello: A true actor’s actor, Maria Bello has held her own against leading men as diverse as Mel Gibson and Viggo Mortensen. Her performances are dependably well-modulated and restrained, showing a technique built on craftsmanship rather than showing off for the camera with a lot of tics and strutting (probably why the Academy routinely ignores her.) Possible liability: Conspicuously not above taking paycheck roles such as in Coyote Ugly. Notable performance: Breathing new life into the waitress-with-a-heart-of-gold archetype in The Cooler. Next appears: Adventuring with Brendan Fraser in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Stephen Root: An actor whose fame has remained at an unreasonable volume for much of his career, Root’s turn as the flopsweating Milton Waddams in 1999′s Office Space made the Swingline stapler a hip accessory. He’s since appeared in O Brother, Where Art Thou?  and done regular work on underrated series like King of the Hill and News Radio. Possible liability: Hollywood only has so many parts for heavyset men that don’t involve buffoon schtick. Notable performance: He’s Milton Waddams, for Christ’s sake. Next appears: In Joe Wright’s (Atonement) Oscar-bait biopic The Soloist, opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Catherine Keener.

Gretchen Mol: Sometimes early fame is a curse. Mol shot to overweening public exposure in the late 90s, a time when new actors were mercilessly forced upon the public. Following starring roles in underperforming films like Rounders and The Thirteenth Floor, Mol built a career in indie cinema including Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things and last year’s The Ten. Possible liability: A tendency to appear in films that aren’t as good as they should be. Notable performance: Her fearless and revelatory starring performance in 2005′s The Notorious Bettie Page. Next appears: Opposite Luke Wilson in the indie comedy Tenure.

Gina Torres: We’re sort of convinced that Fame owes Gina Torres money. If you’re even a little bit geek, you’ve seen her in something: Firefly, 24, Alias, and several more genre serials. A gifted character actress, Torres plays strong women effortlessly without sacrificing her femininity. Possible liability: She may be typecast in geek culture roles. Notable performance: As first mate and Nathan Fillion’s conscience in Joss Whedon’s wildly uneven Serenity. Next appears: In the indie drama Don’t Let Me Drown, about two Latino teens in the aftermath of September 11th (yeah, that old cliche.)

Michael Hogan: Battlestar Galactica has made its mistakes, but even its low points were made gripping thanks to screen-melting performances by Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, and especially Michael Hogan as the troubled and self-loathing Colonel Saul Tigh. Adding layers of emotion to what in other hands might’ve been a generic hardass role, Hogan never resorts to capital-A acting to communicate his character’s complexity. Possible liability: Long-running science fiction shows often become an albatross for their casts’ later careers. Notable performance: Parodying the Tigh character on Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken. Next appears: Helping Galactica grind to a conclusion in its final season.

- Michael Kabel

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