Beauty vs Beast: Cillian Time
Monday, May 23, 2016 at 3:00PM 
Howdy and Happy Monday, folks, Jason from MNPP here with your "Beauty vs Beast" for the week - this time around we're wishing the great and still somehow under-rated Cillian Murphy a happy 40th birthday! He hits the milestone on Wednesday, and we couldn't be happier to watch him age - his smooth-skinned preternatural prettiness was kind of too much to look at once upon a time. Time has made him seem more human, less alien and terrifying, which on the one hand is a loss, but I think that he's a great enough actor that it's one he can overcome with ease.
Anyway in his honor we're stepping back to a role that, contrary to everything I just said, showed him at his most human and his most terrifying all at once, with Wes Craven's terrifically entertaining 2005 thriller Red Eye. Cillian Murphy plays Jackson Rippner (yes really!), the viscious cat to Rachel McAdams' determined little mouse Lisa, and they Tom-n-Jerry each other all over an airplane. S'good times!
PREVIOUSLY We put on our best brave face to face off the mother-daughter team of Terms of Endearment, and in the end it was "Big Momma" MacLaine who stuck her head through the sunroof to victory, taking about 64% of the vote. Said Suzanne:
"Aurora is winning because Shirley MacLaine is one of the great screen actresses but somehow doesn't seem to get enough credit. Also because I voted for her on each of my electronic devices."
Reader Comments (11)
Team Lisa easily. She could teach Sydney, Laurie, and other final girls how to be resourceful and handle stressful and claustrophobic situations.
His name can't possibly be Jackson Rippner, shut the fuck up
Oh, I forgot all about this movie! I've never seen Wes Craven so subdued.
Considering i remember nothing about Lisa and so much about Jackson I have to vote for the psychopath.
I voted for Aurora Greenway like crazy
Agree with Nathaniel. Wasn't a big fan in the first place, but Murphy was the standout.
Team Lisa because she was quick and resourceful. They had the oddest chemistry going on to the point where if he wasn't all terroristy, it would have been nice if they went out for a drink at the end of the movie. But you know, murder and all tends to get in the way of that. Always the years, always the love, always the murder.
I mainly remember that Lisa either always or never ordered Bay Breezes. What a goofy movie, but in a good way.
I also don't remember a lot about RED EYE. Just that I enjoyed it and I liked the chemistry between Cillian and Rachel
Underrated movie!
I'm not ashamed to admit that I own this movie on DVD and have watched it on more than a few occasions. It's always seemed like one of those ideas held over from the 1990s when films like this were more popular. At any rate, I'm team Lisa if only for the fact that movies never can be too abundant with female leads who (literally) kick ass.