Tag Archives: The Right Stuff

Jeff Goldblum’s 10 Best Movies

Jeff Goldblum

Jeff Goldblum is an exceedingly unlikely movie star.  The man looks like a human goose and speaks in a cadence that suggests that he could be, at any time, doing slam poetry.  I have a fascination with Goldblum’s vocal stylings.  My grand movie idea (and we all have one) is to put him, Christopher Walken, and William Shatner in a car and simply film whatever happens.  It would be human jazz.  Goldblum first appeared as “Unnamed Freak #1” in 1972’s Death Wish.  As his career incredibly nears half a century you have to seriously admire what sheer nebbishness has accomplished onscreen.  Goldblum has to be paired with the right role because, let’s be honest, we’re pretty much always watching JEFF GOLDBLUM IN (insert name of movie).  But…if you have a quirky character who needs an actor who brings that in bushels, Jeff Goldblum can be the paprika in your casting stew.   Continue reading Jeff Goldblum’s 10 Best Movies

Sam Shepard’s 10 Best Movies

Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and Oscar nominated actor, passed away this week from complications from ALS at the age of 73.  Shepard was never a glamorous actor.  He rarely had starring roles; he preferred to work as part of an ensemble.  His most memorable role was his only Oscar nomination, playing test pilot Chuck Yeager in 1983’s The Right Stuff.  He was an actor who worked more and got progressively better roles as he aged, his next-to-last coming in the acclaimed Netflix series Bloodlines as the patriarch of the troubled Rayburn family.  He also was outstanding in the mini-series adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s sequel to Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo.  “Presence” is a quality you either intrinsically have as an actor or are constantly working to manufacture.  For Shepard, it was effortless.  RIP.

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