Sometimes in movies, the good guy isn't really a good guy; they can actually be bad guys or just regular guys and that's fitting, because life isn't always black and white enough to clearly delineate the good guys and bad guys.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of these kinds of characters - flawed individuals that you route for regardless of the situation. Whether they remind us of ourselves or are simply too compelling to truly despise as clear cut antagonists often are, there is something more enjoyable about a quality anti-hero than a cookie cutter good guy. At least in my books.
On that note, welcome to today's Rundown.
Top Five Cinematic Anti-Heroes
5. Rob Gordon, High Fidelity
John Cusack took Nick Hornby's record store owner and gave him life on screen, creating a first rate anti-hero out of the relationship sabotaging Rob Gordon.
No one caused Rob's problems; he brought them unto himself by being afraid of his relationship and unhappy with his station in life. Raise your hand if you know what that's like.
For the record, my hand is raised... and I'm guessing at one point or another in your life, you should have been raising your hand too.
4. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Let's get one thing clear: robbery is against the law and in the real world, those who commit these crimes are not the type of people you openly route for.
That being said, it's damn hard to not cheer fro Paul Newman and Robert Redford in these titular roles when the chemistry and charisma they exhibit ranks right up there with the best in movie history.
3. Nick Naylor, Thank You For Smoking
Aaron Eckhart's character in this way too under-watched flick is the chief lobbyist for the tobacco industry, a villain if ever there was one. He's the guy who tries to convince people that there is no actual proof that smoking causing cancer and things like that.
The problem is that he's so damn charming and easy to like that you can't help but root for him, even though he spends half of the movie (and the book from which it was adapted) looking for ways to promote smoking, like having movie stars smoke more in their films.
You want to beat the hell out of the anti-smoking guerrillas who kidnap him at one point (sorry if I just spoiled part of the movie, but you should have seen it already) despite the fact that we all dislike the real life version of Naylor, the guy who spins research into a favorable light for "Big Tobacco" to help them make money off misery, addiction and possible death.
2. Hannibal Lector, The Silence of the Lambs
He is a murderous cannibal who eats his victims, yet we're still completely enthralled with Anthony Hopkins' on screen creation. Admittedly, I laugh at the brilliance he displays in escaping confinement so that he may go out, kill and consume Dr. Chilton, the arrogant and off-putting asylum director.
Creating a monster that audiences can become at the very least ambivalent to incredible, and Thomas Harris accomplished just that in the novel, while Hopkins more than did the same in the film.
In fact, he did it so well he took home an Oscar for the role.
1. Tyler Durden, Fight Club
Can a figment of your imagination be an anti-hero? I would say he can when that figment is as entertaining and enjoyable as Brad Pitt's frantic fantasy character from Edward Norton character's mind.
He does deplorable things that we laugh at, like pissing in the lobster bisque and splicing shots of big hair nutsacks into kids movies. Ultimately, he serves as the vehicle for what would be the destruction of the entire financial system the country operates on.
And we love him the entire time.
Who is Tyler Durden? The greatest anti-hero of my cinematic generation...
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Rundown: The Anti-Hero List
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Rundown: Book It
In looking back over the numerous Rundown's we've shared together in the year and change I've been writing them and you've been reading them, I realized that I have skipped out on one major, major Rundown.
My Favourite Books.
See, I consider it major because reading is what turned me on to writing. I was always decent enough at it in school and once considered pursuing an English degree in University, but that never happened and entry into the working world involved shaking hands and settling disputes, not writing essays on the character interactions in King Lear or my views on abortion.
But that foray into the world of customer service did provide two important components that led to where we are today - a bunch of disposable income and fairly decent amounts of time off to lay around the house doing nothing.
In my case, nothing often meant playing PlayStation 2 and watching movies, but sometimes it meant reading.
One of the books I read during those years changed my life and started me down the path we're on together today. The gentlemen pictured above who looks like a Gap mannequin is to blame...
Top Five Books
5. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
I know it was partially fabricated and Oprah hates him, but I'm not a suburban housewife so I don't have to do everything that Oprah tells me. Outside of the controversy, this is an incredibly powerful work. The way it's written in disjointed sentences, more staccato than prose and the violent, vivid images that Frey creates for the readers hook you in to the point that you don't want to put the book down for a minute. The book about overcoming addiction becomes your addiction. At least it did for me.
4. Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley
The movie also made my Favourite Movie list a while back, so you had to know that I was a major fan of the source material. This one goes along with the longstanding belief that the book is always better than the movie. As outstanding as the film was - and don't kid yourself, it was outstanding - the book is even better in delivering more background on protagonist Nick Naylor, his insane boss B.R. and his relationships with his family, his friends and a back-stabbing bitch that never really showed up in the movie. This one got me through my stint at the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal.
3. The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff
I actually read this book because I love the author's brother - Zach Braff, he of Scrubs and Garden State fame. Thankfully, incredible talent is a trait both Braff boys hold (as does their sister...) as Joshua crafts a beautiful tale of a young Jewish boy growing up with some truly unthinkable thoughts. As I write this, I'm eagerly awaiting Braff's next effort because if it's anything like Jacob Green, it'll be on the next incarnation of this list.
2. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
This is the fictional version of "That's me!" Hornby's Rob Fleming - later turned into Rob Gordon and dumped in Chicago by Cusack & Co for the outstanding film version - encompasses everything that I am and everything that I was at the time I read the book. He has no idea what to do with his life, I had no idea what to do with my life. He was a moron with women, I was a moron with women. In the end, it worked all worked out... for the both of us.
1. Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
This is the non-fiction version of "That's me!" Everything Klosterman put down into words in this collection hit on something I had thought at one point or another in my life. And we're not talking brilliant, Earth-shattering developments here either, we're talking shit like, "How are there so many naked housewives in the world?" and "Is the Sim version of me happier than the real me?" I own everything the man has ever written now, having gone back and read what I had missed and bought everything that has come after it, save for his crappy fictional effort...
So if you need to blame someone for getting me started down this path and making me think I could one day be a real, live writer, blame Chuck Klosterman.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Rundown: Yes, I Enjoy Reading
I find it incredible how many people think of reading as one of the most painful acts on the face of the Earth. To some people, if you gave them the option of sitting down and reading a 300 page book or having an anal probe, they would scoff at the notion of opening a book and bend over. To me, that just seems wrong.
All of this came to light again today as I sat in the bar at work, just hanging out, waiting to see if Juice (one of my managers) was going to need me to start. I had opened the bar as a "training exercise" and volunteered to sit tight in case we got busy. To occupy my time, I brought Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs.
Note: Not bad so far, especially when I only paid $4 for it at Chapters last week. Really, how bad would a book have to be to not be worth $4?
Of the collection of people in the restaurant at the time, one shared my love of books and Chapters, two were entirely non-committal and two were astounded that anyone would choose to open a book of their own free will, let alone make it through 56 pages in roughly an hour.
While I know my stance on this might be skewed by the fact that I intend to make my living (and hopefully a modest one at that) off people being interested in reading, the fact that reading makes some people's skin crawl is mind-blowing to me.
As the NBA taught me years ago through All-Star laden Public Service Announcements, Reading is Fun-damental!
Without reading, I never would have become a writer, because I never would have encountered the subjects of today's Rundown.
All-Time Top Five Books
5. Rebels of the Backlot by Sharon Waxman
As has been mentioned a time or two, I like movies. I also like books about movies or books that become movies, as you'll see shortly. This effort is a behind-the-scenes look into the careers of six of the biggest and brightest directors in Hollywood today - Tarantino, Sodderberg, David O. Russell, Spike Jonze and Paul Thomas Anderson. If you don't know these names, you (a) have missed some really good movies and (b) would absolutely hate this book. If you have any interest in Hollywood, the film industry or what it would be like to get into an argument with George Clooney while filming Three Kings, find this book and read it.
4. Everything Bad is Good for You by Stephen Johnson
As part of the video game, music video, Reality TV generation, I've been told countless times how all of today's technology and entertainment mediums and everything else in the world is making me dumber. Finding a book that actually proves that we're becoming smarter and more intellectually advanced as a result of all these things is outstanding. Seriously, this book is a well-researched middle finger to parents everywhere who told their kids that watching too much TV or playing too much Nintendo would rot their brains.
3. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Seeing the movie made me want to read the book. I loved the movie - it's #1 on the All-Time Top Five if you recall - and since the old standing truism is that the book is always better than the movie, I had to find out for myself. Since reading High Fidelity, I've read everything else Hornby has put out, except for his most recent effort Slam, since it's geared to teens and I'm painfully far removed from the teenage demographic. Anyway, the book was better than the movie, though not by much. Then again, it's my favourite movie ever, so being even a ounce better is pretty damn impressive.
2. Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley
Back-to-back book to movie adaptations near the top of the charts, where both hit the Top Five on my movie list too. While the movie rankings for these two efforts are reversed, Buckley's book has a lot more to offer that wasn't brought to the screen and therefore bests Hornby's best effort. Maybe having seen Aaron Eckhart play Nick Naylor so perfectly on screen influenced my enjoyment of the book. But if biases came into play, I would have hated the character Heather Holloway because Katie "Kate Cruise" Holmes brought her to life on camera and I downright loathe the former Joey Potter. That wasn't the case though. I loved everything about this book, including Ms. Holloway, dirty, scheming tramp that she is.
1. Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Imagine opening a book and finding everything you have ever thought of on the pages before you. That is what this book is to me. I've wondered about the suddenly enormous amounts of "Housewife Sluts" willing to pose nude since the rise in cultural relevance of the Internet. I too have known since I first saw Say Anything that every woman wants to be with a guy like Lloyd Dobbler and I would never quite make it to his level of excellence. Klosterman seemingly tapped into my brain - or that of every other Pop Culture Obsessive with the attention span of a gnat - when putting together this collection. Everything he has done has struck a chord with me, but this one was first and it will probably always remain that way.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Rundown: Feeling Basic
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