Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Holly, Halle; dark and lighter berries

2003:

Scarlett Johansson. Photobucket

As I said here not long ago, there was a time when Scarlett Johansson looked like being more than just a hot piece of ass with a fine rack.

That time has, apparently, passed (at least for now...but who knows what the future will bring?)...well one thing it'll bring is her impending marriage to Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, who I like to think of as the Jessica Biel of actors.

(Kind of nice to look at, if you like that sort of thing, but otherwise a pretty big joke)

She appears in the latest Woody Allen film to be hailed by nostalgic critics with hope in their eyes as a "return to greatness" and attract almost no audiences. She is also an Obama supporter and Kanye West's "favorite white girl."

Halle Berry.

Photobucket

Besides her undeniably inspirational body and beautiful face (I mean, I wouldn't deny them--would you?), the former model is a talented actress who can give a layered, felt performance--when she has a role she can sink her teeth into.

Sad to say, what's probably her best known part--Storm in the X-Men films--is by no means her best work. They're good movies--at least the first two are, I haven't seen the third--but Berry performance is poor.

I don't think it's entirely her fault--it's not a well-written role, and Berry is miscast in any case. I thought she was better as a Bond girl, which isn't a very original role either, but at least it called for more elements that Berry could bring to the part.

But her Oscar for Monster's Ball was no fluke.

And I cannot recommend Things We Lost in the Fire to you highly enough.

Like others in this series, Berry is presently focusing on being a new mom, but she also has a couple of films coming up.

Holly Hunter.




Hunter is, for my money, the best, bravest actress in America. There just seems to be nothing between the eyes of the audience and the souls of the characters she plays.

She's nude above (oh, you noticed?), but it almost doesn't matter: A Holly Hunter character is always nude anyway.

I've spent a lot of time on my other blog talking about her series Saving Grace, which I first I didn't think lived up to its hype, but I've come to fall in love with it.

Somewhere there's a piece to be written--maybe it already has been and I just haven't seen it--about how feminist that show is. Not just because of Hunter--though as I've said before, I think she's constitutionally incapable of playing a "girlfriend" part.

But the other women in the show and Hunter's relationships with them are all fine and funny creations. Meaning fine as in "superior;" not "she was so fine"--although actually that applies too when you're talking about Hunter and Laura San Giacomo.

The same goes for her character's relationships with the men, but it's no accident the series was created by a woman, I'm sure.

Grace finished its summer run last night but will return in March. Christina Ricci--who really ought to make it into this series of posts somewhere--has been cast as a guest-star for a multiple episode arc, I believe as Detective Grace's new partner.

Hunter is a long shot for the Emmy, given how few people seem to be watching the series, but I'll be praying for her, in my way.
Photobucket

Beyoncé.

Two words:

Smooooooth bootylicious.

Some protests have recently erupted over an ad for L'Oreal cosmetics in which Beyoncé appears with her skin appearing to have been lightened. Now married to Jay-Z, she'll appear in an upcoming movie, Obsessed. Her little sister Solange has a new album.

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