Dork Hero: Jonathan Pryce

    From the quietly desperate everyman of Brazil, to the Bill Gates-like Bond villain in Tomorrow Never Dies, to the bumbling aristocrat Pirates of the Caribbean, Jonathan Pryce has been a stalwart performer in genre film for a long time.  Often playing slightly pitiable, comically befuddled characters, he peppers his filmography with solid dramatic work, too, like Behind the Lines and Age of Innocence.  And it can’t be ignored that he starred in the one movie from my childhood that gave me nightmares, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Five Favorite Jonathan Pryce Films:
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
4. Tomorrow Never Dies
3. Something Wicked This Way Comes
2. The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen
1. Brazil

-Matt

Gloria Grahame

I love this photo of Gloria Grahame, looking bored.  From Man on a Tightrope.

I'm thinking about revisiting Grahame in two of her best films, The Big Heat and In a Lonely Place, soon.

-Matt

Dork Hero: Lea Thompson

    Lea Thompson was so, so very important to the development of my young brain.  She hit the scene in 1983 with Jaws 3 (which, I saw in the theaters, and even as a boy of 7 thought was stupid), then followed that up with Red Dawn, Back to the Future, SpaceCamp, and Howard the Duck.  That was all it took.  Sure, she came back for Back to the Future II and III, but that initial wave of films was magic.  Though I was never as in to Red Dawn as my friends, the others were all staples of my childhood.  And when we got a VCR in ‘86, they were go-to films.  To this day, Howard the Duck is among my favorites.  Thompson was just the right mix of 80s cool and naïve nerd, just on the cute side of hot, and she radiated hopeful energy.

Five Favorite Lea Thompson Films:
5.  SpaceCamp
4.  Red Dawn
3.  Back to the Future II
2.  Back to the Future
1.  Howard the Duck

-Matt

Dork Hero: Shane Rimmer

    One of the great ‘That Guy’ actors, Shane Rimmer has been a staple supporting actor for more than 50 years.  Recently, you might remember him as that guy in control of the waterworks during the climactic battle in Batman Begins.  But go back through the years and you’ll find him popping up in such gems as Space Truckers (“Square pigs!!!”), Out of Africa, Superman II & III, Doctor Strangelove, even Star Wars and three Bond films (as three different guys).  Originally from Canada, he’s spent much of his career in England, frequently playing the American.  He’s got a darned jovial face, and always adds a little something extra to a film.  The perfect quality of a ‘That Guy.’

Five Favorite Shane Rimmer films:
5.  Rollerball
4.  The Spy Who Loved Me
3.  Space Truckers
2.  Doctor Strangelove
1.  The People That Time Forgot

-Matt

Dork Hero: Vincent Price

    Since my earliest days, Vincent Price has been an important person in my life.  As a wee lad, I would watch him introduce Mystery on PBS, and appear in The Muppet Show and others.  As I grew older, I began to enjoy his work with Roger Corman and the like, as well as some of his late life screen appearances (Edward Scissorhands being a favorite).  More recently, in the years since he passed, I’ve discovered his sometimes more serious work in early films, as well as his love of art and cooking.  He remains one of my all time favorite actors, and one of the only celebrities I ever felt genuinely, deeply sad upon hearing of his death.  I think the thing that always stuck with me was his attitude.  He always seemed to be having fun.  Today (May 27) marks the 103rd anniversary of his birth.  I think I might raid the DVD wrack tonight for one of his films.

Five Favorite Vincent Price Films:
5.  Laura
4.  The Masque of the Red Death
3.  More Dead than Alive
2.  House on Haunted Hill
1.  The Abominable Dr. Phibes

-Matt

Dork Hero: Christopher Lee

    For a long time, Christopher Lee existed as photos of various monsters (often Dracula) in creature books I’d pore over as a kid.  Though I’m sure I saw him in a few things (Man with the Golden Gun?), it was with my delving into Peter Cushing’s filmography that I began to get into the venerable old gentleman’s work.  You could write books on the man, about his various exploits and esoteric knowledge.  He’s a Tolkien fan (maybe THE Tolkien fan).  He’s former British Special Forces.  And he speaks several languages.  His voice is like the cracking of the Earth.  And yes.  He’s in a metal band…at 92.

Five Favorite Christopher Lee Movies:

5. Hannie Caulder
4. Hugo
3. Horror of Dracula
2. The Man with the Golden Gun
1.  The Wicker Man

-Matt

Book Review: Annihilation

    Who the heck is Jeff VanderMeer, and where the heck did he come from?!  Well, turns out, he’s been around for a while, working frequently as an anthologist, and penning a few stories as well.  And he’s been garnering some acclaim for that.  But, due to my general disappointment with the state of science fiction today (I’ll go out and wave my cane at whippersnappers later) I’d never heard of the guy.  Now I have, and I won’t soon forget.

    Did you like Lost?  Do you like weird, challenging stories that hint at much bigger things?  Do you enjoy that unsettling feeling created in the best horror (not the jump-scare/gore horror that is so common, but the real, intellectually terrifying stuff)?  I do, and this delivers.  Alienness and the slow, creeping madness it instills in people gives the book a terrible menace that builds and builds.  What could possibly be worse or more shattering than the previous discovery?  Try the next one.

    The book unfolds like a puzzle.  It’s the journal of a biologist, recording her part in an expedition into a corrupted landscape called Area X.  What is it?  Who made it?  How long has it been there?  Why?  So many questions and too few answers.  But it is the questions that linger.  And who is this biologist, anyway?  Is she a reliable narrator?  Why did she sign up?  Who are these other women on the expedition?

    Annihilation is the first part of the Southern Reach trilogy, which will be completely published before the end of the year (no waiting years on end for the next part of the story).  It should appeal to fans of Lovecraft and his disciples, fans of Lost and Fringe, and fans of mysterious adventure.  I was frequently reminded of the strange science fiction that trickled out in the late 60s and 70s, and of the works of Robert Charles Wilson.  I’ve heard good things about the second book, Authority, which has recently been published.  And I understand that it is stylistically quite different, giving more indication as to why this was split into three books.  The final book, Acceptance, is due out in September.

Annihilation
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
ISBN: 978-0-374-10409-2

-Matthew J. Constantine