The Pot Calling the Kettle Bleech, or Hypocritical Cinema
Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 7:30PM Hello all! My name is Nick McCathy, and I’ve been a reader—and unfortunately infrequent commenter—of The Film Experience for roughly six years. Nathaniel recently introduced me here, and it's a pleasure to meet you all as well. I’ve written for The L Magazine, Boston Phoenix, Moviefone, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Blog, and now I’m glad to find an occasional home here. I hope you find my credentials worthy, my spirit playful, and my addition to this palace of cinema and actressexuality that Nathaniel has built to be inspired.
In direct contrast to my introduction, I would like to start by celebrating a few celebrity birthdays, and congratulate them for continuing the tradition of living (well, except one of them).
Today, July 23rd, Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, turns 22. Potbellied, Oscar-winning master of schlub Phillip Seymour Hoffman turns 44. Potboiler-cum-masterpiece noir author (The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, and screenwriter (Oscar nominated for co-writing Double Indemnity and writing The Blue Dahlia), Raymond Chandler would have turned 123 today.
And, most significantly, everyone’s favorite Hollywood pothead and two-time Oscar nominee, Woody Harrelson (you heard me right, Matthew McConaughey), turns the big 50 today.
What’s your favorite performance by Mr. Woodrow Tracy Harrelson?
He has had, and continues to have, such a strange career; I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone had different answers. He's unsurprisingly awarded more for his dramatic work, which is very good, but I find his best comedic performance to be his gleefully sleazy, broken, and banged-up Roy Munson in Kingpin.
You can see two of these birthday boys in the movie theater this week: Radcliffe in a little film called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Deux and Woody Harrelson in Friends with Benefits (although I would proceed with caution since it's only an ugly gay-panic stereotype).