Greatish Performances: Bill Paxton in Weird Science

John Hughes was a master. In the mid 80s he really knew how to tap into the teenage zeitgeist and make it seem exactly like he knew what they were going through. He made some of the greatest comedies of our time, and a fantastic Comedy Drama in The Breakfast Club. 16 Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off were two great comedies with heart, but one that gets overlooked is a straight up comedy called Weird Science.
The cast was filled with great young actors like Anthony Michael Hall who was in Hughes previous two films 16 Candles and The Breakfast Club, as well as co starring in National Lampoon's Vacation which Hughes wrote but did not direct. Kelly leBrock was an attractive, sexy model who was perfect in the role of Lisa. You also have some young kid by the name of Robert Downey Jr. who showed up as well as one of the "bad guys".  But the actor who stole the show was Bill Paxton who has become quite the character actor as well, by his role as Chet, the brother of Wyatt played by Ilan Mitchell-Smith.

A quick synopsis of the film, two nerds during a wild weekend create a woman with their computer who they hope will do whatever they tell her to do, but the tables are turned as she tries to help them become accepted in who they are. I told you it was a crazy film. Bill Paxton as Chet is the abusive older brother of Wyatt who extorts money from his brother, gives him wedgies, beats him up, almost as an extreme older brother. And Paxton plays the biggest jerk in the world.

Paxton's Chet has a close shave military esqe haircut, acts like he is in the military, likes guns and hunting, and is a creepy abusive bully. When he catches Wyatt doing things he is not supposed to Chet extorts money from him so as not to tell their parents what he did. This partricular weekend their parents are going away for a weekend and leave Chet in charge. He decides to spend all day on Saturday hunting leaving Wyatt and Gary(Hall's character) to have their big party, and their time with Lisa. So Chet may not be in the film all that much, but when he is, you are drawn to him and you laugh at how big of a dick he is. From hurling insults at his brother, to walking around in a towel, to freaking out when he sees what his brother did to their house, then his sleaziness really comes through when he is hitting on Lisa, In the end though he gets his comeuppence in a huge way, and in a way that is perfect for Chet.

Paxton is able to create such a sleezeball, that no matter how over the top he gets, you think to yourself, yeah I can see someone being just like him. Paxton appears to be having a blast playing this role, because he can go way overboard and everything he does makes us laugh and hate him, but you kind of can't hate him because he is just so crazy insane. And he makes everyone laugh.

Greatish Performances: Antonio Banderas in Spy Kids

Welcome to the second blog in my Greatish Performances section. The first one was a few years ago and focused on Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka. As a reminder this is a blog about a performance, not a review of the movie.

Spy Kids was a fun family film that came out at the tail end of the 90s. Directed by Robert Rodriguez of El Mariachi fame and starring his go to guy Antonio Banderas. Antonio has always been known as kind of an intense actor, starting in movies that filmed overseas and soon he made his way here and married Melanie Griffith, and I think unlike alot of other hollywood couples they are still together.

Anyway Antonio plays Gregorio Cortez a father of two kids and loving husband to Ingrid. The secret is that Ingrid (played by the still hot Carla Gugino) and him were spies who were given an assignment years ago to kill each other, instead they fell in love and got married. Then retired from the spy biz and had kids. Living off of their riches and acting as consultants to other spy agencies. However they still have enemies and he and Ingrid have to downplay their "spyness" thus their kids find them weak parents. But one case gets their motors going again, but they get captured and their kids who now know the truth have to save them.

It's a very unique and cute story, but it is Antonio's deft use of humor from the way he talks to the way he moves and reacts to things that make this film a classic and his performance greatish.

Some of the good stuff. When he was a spy early in his career he had a mustache much like the one in the pic above. He is now clean shaven, but when he is required to go spy he slips on a fake mustache. When Ingrid wants to go on an assignment with him, she whispers seductive things to him and you watch as his resolve melts away. Opening and closing the car door for his wife is one big flourish, over exagerrated in a fun way.  His deft comedic timing with lines and improvs shows that he is a top flight comic actor. He allows anything to happen to him, including having his face smooshed against a glass wall. And just his pure joy that radiates from him during the film proves that he was having the time of his life playing this charming yet goofy role and having the acting chops to do both at various times so that you realize when he is charming, he's not acting charming he is charming, and when he is goofy, it's not just to mug to the camera the goofiness comes out of the situation and the type of person he is.

It's a shame that his role decreases in the other two Spy Kids films he was in. However, the final climatic battle between him and the bad guy in the second film is the one time in that film where he appears to recreate the fun and goofiness he had with the character in one of the all time funniest final battle scenes. In the end Antonio Banderas is a killer action actor, killer dramatic actor, and a truly hilarious comedic actor. I hope to see more of that in the future.

Greatish Performances: Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka

"What is this Wonka? Some kind of funhouse?" "Why? Having Fun?"

Back before Blogs were the big thing I used to write what I called an email column, which I guess was a predecessor to a Blog. I wrote movie reviews and other things of interest to me and sent them out as emails to some people, Family and friends mostly. One of the columns I used to write was one called Greatish Performances, which I think I stole from Movieline or EW or Premiere or one of the myriad of movie magazines I used to read. They would take a performance from an actor or actress and just focus on that, not really getting into a review of the film or TV show they wrote about, but a review of a great performance. I have decided to bring that back.

I was flipping the remote around the other day and caught the classic 70s musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This happens to be one of my favorite films and the main reason why is the utter insanity that is Gene Wilder in this film. The funny thing is he does not appear until about 45 minutes in because you have to set up the storyline, 5 lucky kids get a chance to get to see Wonka's chocolate factory. Wonka having been a recluse for so long finally appears walking with a cane very slowly and looking very old, then the cane gets stuck and Wilder falls but he rolls and stands up, not old and weak at all, just very deceptive, and the start of his deception. While you spend more time with him you can't believe anything he says or does he's the greatest con man in the world and you love him.

Wilder plays him with a sparkle in his eye, as if he is having the time of his life. This film is weird enough that it gives him license to go out of his head and he does and he is fabulous. Be it the heartfelt singing he does about Pure Imagination, or his insane glee about Augustus Gloop getting stuck in a pipe, or Violet Beaureguard turning into a blueberry, or best of all Veruca Salt getting dropped into the garbage chute. He loves that this horrible children are getting their just desserts, and on top of that he even messes with their parents who are enabling their children's bad habits. It's a fun, sly little act that Wilder nails. He acts like every bizarre thing that happens in his factory is perfectly normal and you love it.

Wilder is loads better then Johnny Depp's portrayal in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, though if Wilder's performance did not exist, Depp's would be a good start, but Depp's was just a little out there for me. His Wonka was a kooky recluse, Wilder looked like he was just biding his time and having fun. And you will enjoy his performance as well.