Continuing my alternating pattern between Paul Newman and Michelle Williams movies, I watched the Robert Rossen (All The King’s Men, Body and Soul) 1961 classic The Hustler. This movie stars Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke, Hud), perhaps in his most recognizable role. If someone were asked to name a billiards player, either real or fictional, the name Fast Eddie Felson would be on the tips of most people’s tongues. Twenty-five years between the release of The Hustler and 1986’s The Color of Money is the longest period between an original movie and its first sequel. Newman’s performance as Fast Eddie in the sequel is the one that won him his overly due Oscar Win for Best Actor.
Deception (2008)
Continuing to get my Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine, Incendiary) fix, I caught the directorial debut of Marcel Langenegger, 2008’s Deception. While captivating initially with its slow, almost methodical building of suspense, this movie ultimately tries to outsmart itself by offering twist after twist after twist. By the time the movie crawled to its conclusion, we either figured out the twists, or they were so far-fetched and ridiculous that we didn’t care about them.
Hud (1963)
What a great actor Paul Newman is. An eight-time Oscar nominee for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Newman finally won for 1986’s The Color of Money. During 11 years between 1958-1969, Newman received an Oscar nomination an astonishing six times. We have all seen the first two of these (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Hustler) movies. His third nomination was as the title role of the slightly less recognized Hud.
The Ledge (2011)
The Ledge is one of many movies with a trailer that hooked me and made me think the film would be terrific. I reevaluated my decision when I saw that it made just $ 5,000 at the box office and earned a whopping 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, as I was updating my Netflix queue, I saw it was already coming to my house. So I gave the movie a chance that very night it arrived, thinking I’d have it on, but I would probably be glancing at it while doing some work online. However, I gave it a chance, and it hooked me. Usually, this type of movie would be one I would mock (see below). But for reasons unknown, the story caught me, and while the situation did get a little absurd, I didn’t see it as being unreasonable because of the characters and what drove these characters.
Everything Must Go (2011)
Everything Must Go was not Will Ferrell’s (Old School, Blades of Glory) first attempt at anything more than silly humor. He did a great job as a socially awkward and isolated IRS agent in Stranger Than Fiction. In more of a subdued role (Winter Passing), Ferrell plays a would-be musician. This movie could have been better, and Ferrell looked out of place. While he can still crank out $100 million laugh-out-loud comedies (2010’s The Other Guys, 2008’s Step Brothers), he is still trying to show the world that he can do more than make people laugh. He does just that in Everything Must Go, a movie with a few subtle laughs but one with its lead character not delivering the joke. In this regard, the film did an excellent job.