Happy Birthday, Gerry Butler!

Today I want to do something here on my long neglected blog to make a tribute to a wonderful man that I discovered several years ago after seeing his magnificent performance in a movie that I will love to the end of my days, Phantom of the Opera. It is his 42nd birthday today & I hope wherever he is, he is thoroughly enjoying his day.  He just finished filming a new movie, Of Men and Mavericks, and is set to start work on a few new projects while we wait for his finished movies to be released in 2012, Coriolanus, Playing the Field, Movie 43, and then Of Men and Mavericks in the fall of 2012. His new projects are Thunder Run with Matthew McConaughey & Sam Worthington, & Hunter Killer with possibly Sam Worthington again. He was in Reign of Fire back in 2003 with McConaughey, so Thunder Run will be his 2nd movie to work alongside him.

So, let me start this tribute with his filmography. Before he became a major heartthrob to thousands of women of all ages, he was in several Hollywood movies, but was not the main character.  He was excellent in all of them, but remained virtually unknown until Phantom of the Opera was released in 2004.  (Please note that if you click on each of the images below, it will make them bigger & can be saved to your computer)

His 1st acting break came in a small role in Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown, where he played Archie Brown, the younger brother of John Brown, Queen Victoria's servant that became a very close friend to her after the death of her beloved Prince Albert.  Gerry did very well in the role of Archie, giving his older brother rich advice while also making foolish mistakes due to his inexperience of working for the royal family. He displayed a wonderful naivety in the role as well as running naked into the surf alongside Billy Connolly who played John Brown. It was a really fun scene that showed their boyish delight in doing something for once that was extremely informal unlike the way the Queen herself would go swimming in full dress up to her neck. It's an excellent movie, (nominated for multiple awards), with Judy Dench in the title role, & Billy Connolly is as always wonderful. If you have not seen this gorgeous piece from 1997, run, don't walk, & rent it asap.

Here is a clip of one of his scenes in the movie:

Here's the official trailer:

After this, he was hired for a few small roles in various movies, the James Bond, Tomorrow Never Dies, Tale of the Mummy, the British TV drama, Little White Lies, and then he portrayed Marty Claymore, an arrogant womanizer that fancied himself a major rock star in the British TV comedy, The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star. He went on to be in several British movies, the wild and crazy Jacko in Fast Food, the sweet and love torn Sam in One More Kiss, and then the mischievous, wickedly manipulative Yasha in the more critically acclaimed Chekov period drama, The Cherry Orchard. He had a very small role as a combat photographer in the indie flick, Harrison's Flowers that starred Andie McDowell after which he got a much bigger break in a major Hollywood movie, Wes Craven's, Dracula 2000 when he auditioned while filming Attila, a period historical drama made for the USA cable network in early 2000.  

He portrayed the fierce leader of the Huns, Attila in the 5th century. While this version is not totally accurate historically, it does show a different side to the nomadic conqueror. Gerry did a marvelous job as the romantic and shrewd diplomatic leader who befriended Flavius Aetius, an influential Roman general.  Even though all accounts of Attila show him as a squatty most likely homely man, Gerry makes him appear very sexy and dynamically handsome. Much more appealing to the female audience for sure. Regardless of the historical innaccuracies & dramatic license taken with this film, I really enjoyed it, the cinematography and the horseback fight training scenes were breathtaking.  Filmed in Lithuania, it made me want to include that country in my future travel plans. 

Here's the official trailer:

Now on to his portrayal of Count Dracula.  This was a very different take on the classic Bram Stoker story. Written by Joel Soisson and Patrick Lussier, it actually was a very well made movie that starred Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing and the little known British actors, Jonny Lee Miller and Justine Waddell. Gerry had a magnificent soliloquy in the movie that was edited from the final theatrical cut, however it is included in the DVD extras, I highly recommend renting this movie just for that if not for the extremely sexy and mesmerizing Dracula he portrayed.  He was very convincing, I would have given him my neck to bite if I had the opportunity.  Yummmm.  

Here is a clip from the movie:

Here's the official trailer:

In between filming Attila and Dracula 2000, he appeared in 14 episodes of the British comedy series, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, based on the book of the same name by Marian Keyes. Gerry plays a real womanizing two timer, Gus, while stealing the heart of our protagonist, Lucy. She has recently moved on after a breakup wanting a real fiance & believes she has found a soul mate in Gus when she meets him by accident at a friend's party. Gerry steals most of the scenes he's in & even though we know he's a real shit who basically doesn't really care about anyone but himself, we still love that bad boy he delivers & forgive him for doing Lucy wrong & lying to her. Unfortunately, the DVD has only been made available for purchase in Australia, but it can be ordered there & copied to region 1 blank DVD's if you have the know how.  

Here's the official trailer:

Around this time, he also did a 15 minute short film that was based on an old joke, called Jewel of the Sahara that he graciously agreed to take the lead part in for his buddy, Ariel Vromen, who made the film. The film was never released for sale, but was given away by the filmmakers when it was first completed for a short time, so several Gerry fans did manage to get a copy of it back in the early 2000's.  It has been uploaded online from time to time, but usually gets removed for copyright reasons.  

Here is a small clip of it that was put up by one of his fans:

Around the same time, he was featured in another 15 minute short called Please! & did an excellent job, it is available to watch online in various places, plus has now been included in a new DVD that is a collection of shorts called Guilty Hearts. 

The entire film is available to watch on youtube here:

Then came a small role as the lying cheating Tim Bolton in one episode of the British TV series, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.  After which he could be seen as the crazy gun runner, Jackie Jr.  in the British gritty crime drama, Shooters. He was not in it long, but has a very memorable scene wearing nothing but a yellow towel.  Ask any of his fans & for the most part, that is the only scene they actually care about.  I thought it was a good film with superb acting by all the main characters & recommend it for those who appreciate this genre.

Here's the first 4 minutes of the movie on youtube:

Next came his portrayal of the depressed lonely alcoholic Johnnie Donne in the critically acclaimed British mini -series, The Jury. He was in it along with an impressive cast that included Derek Jacobi, Mark Strong, & Helen McCrory.  I highly recommend this very well made & acted drama. In the words of PBS Masterpiece: In London's imposing Old Bailey courthouse, a gruesome crime is brilliantly prosecuted, ingeniously defended, and then painstakingly judged ...  The rest of the synopsis is here along with the small video preview too: PBS - The Jury

Unfortunately, I could only find a very small trailer of it online at PBS which I have uploaded here:

Next we come to the Disney big budget sci-fi action thriller, Reign of Fire.  He portrayed the quick witted and very courageous Creedy which starred Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey as the main characters. It was well made & very well acted, but unfortunately, the viewing public was not impressed & it flopped at the box office, it didn't even make back it's budget.  I loved it, being a big fan of the sci fi & action genres as well as being a dragon buff, yes this movie is about dragons & bad human eating ones too.  I highly recommend it even though Gerry does not play the main character and has very limited on screen time in it.  Bale & McConaughey were superb in it. 

Here's the official trailer:

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Next up is the fun action thriller sequel to the movie adaptation of Lara Croft Tomb Raider, the sequel being titled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.  He co-stars as Terry Sheridan with Angelina Jolie as the title role.  Terry is Lara's ex-lover as well as a mercenary & Royal Marine gone rogue & she gets him released from a Kazakhstan prison to help her on her quest to thwart the evil bio-terrorist, Jonathon Reiss played very convincingly by Ciaran Hinds. I thought he was great as the arrogant swaggering Terry that really pulled off that type of character while also trying to hide his love for Lara. I love this genre, so it was great fun in my opinion & I thought Gerry did a very good job in it, not to mention very handsome & sexy once again. 

Here's the official trailer:

That brings us to the movie adaption of the Michael Crichton bestseller, Timeline.  Gerry plays Andre Marek alongside Paul Walker, Billy Connolly, a deliciously evil Michael Sheen, a delightful Anna Friel, David Thewlis, Frances O'Connor, & the wonderfully traitorous Decker/De Kere played by Marton Csokas.  Unfortunately it was another box office flop although I was surprised about that. It was again very well made & acted by all, & had a thoroughly engaging storyline.  It did not follow the book totally & maybe that did not set well with Crichton fans, I don't know.  I highly recommend this to any that love the sci-fi fantasy time travel type of movie.  & of course, Gerry did an excellent job portraying Marek.  

Here's a 3 minute unofficial trailer I found that is really well made:

With this, I am taking a break & will continue the post later with part 2 of his impressive filmography.

Thanks to gerardbutler.net, GALS, & Google images for the screencaps, pics, & posters.

Coriolanus review

Below is my review of Coriolanus, directed by Ralph Fiennes, starring himself, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, & Jessica Chastain. 

Coriolanus

This movie was well made, & had excellent performances by Fiennes, Butler, Redgrave, & Brian Cox, & the cinematography was gorgeous. All that said, did I love the movie?  No, but I did like it a lot. Unless you are a Shakespeare aficionado, the original dialog set to modern day does not work. Brian & Vanessa were the only ones that sounded natural speaking like that. Ralph and Gerry sounded OK for the most part, however Jessica sounded unnatural & like she was reading lines. She did put in a good performance in her scenes, otherwise. I thought the battle scenes were extremely realistic & were very much like real footage of war that I have seen over the years. I did not like the super extreme close-ups of the characters' faces in every scene while speaking. I love being able to see their expressions, but they needed to pull back just a little bit with the camera. Also, they used a hand held camera for about 70% of the movie & apparently the reason for that was it was supposed to represent the way people in the streets today use smart phones to video tape current events. It was too shaky though, so I would have preferred they hadn't done that. I understand using that technique for the battle & fight scenes, but not for the dramatic non action scenes. So, if you love Shakespeare & don't mind the original dialog being used in a modern day setting as well as hand held cameras being used, I highly recommend it.  


One more thing I would like to say about the story itself is that it is perfect set in modern day as things have definitely not changed much over time when it comes to social unrest, political sabotage, intrigue, propaganda, and war.

Here is an excellent HD trailer on youtube:

FYI, this is not a film for fan-boys, (or fan-girls either), as the dialog would be lost on them, & they will be bored with the non action scenes which are abundant. But, I do think it would be an excellent film to be viewed for Literature classes at school & will be appreciated by intelligent movie buffs. I give it 3 out of 5 stars, (but only because of the handheld camera filming).