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). 

Garrett Hedlund, OMG...

Geez, I have actually gone insane recently after I saw Country Strong for the first time about 3 weeks ago. I have now seen it 4 times at the theater & could literally watch it 100 more. & the reason for that is due to an actor by the name of Garrett Hedlund. OMG. The man's voice is so damn gorgeous, it is unreal. How could any man's voice be that beautiful???  He plays Beau Hutton, rising country music singer/songwriter that is asked to go on tour & open for country superstar, Kelly Canter, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.  The movie is really more Beau's story with a great performance by Leighton Meester as Chiles Stanton, a former small town beauty queen discovered by Kelly Canter's manager husband, James, played very well by Tim McGraw. Check him out singing "Give In To Me" with Leighton as Chiles from the movie (& yes, they did all their own singing in the movie, no lip syncing for Garrett either):

BEAU HUTTON

I grew up around country music a little, but I really only cared for rock & roll, hard rock, heavy metal, new age, jazz, blues, & pop.  After I saw this movie, I went nuts over the music in it.  Mostly because of the man that I previously mentioned.  & he's not even a singer by trade.  He has been an actor for most of his life, & has now been in 8 movies, with his 9th to come out later this year, "On the Road" based on the novel by Jack Kerouac.  Can't wait to see that one.  He plays the main character Dean Moriarty.  

DEAN MORIARTY

After seeing Country Strong, I discovered I had seen all his movies since he was first in Troy back in 2004.  Who knew???  I had already gone nuts over his other recent release, Tron Legacy when it came out before Christmas, but I didn't lose it over Garrett until Country Strong.  OK, OK, I truly have lost it.  But can you blame me??? 


He stars in Tron Legacy as Sam Flynn, son of Kevin Flynn, (played by Jeff Bridges), the protagonist from the original Tron movie from 1982.  It is a sequel of sorts starting up 28 years after the 1st movie.  I was a fan of the original Tron from way back then, regardless of how lame it is now compared to today's special effects.  It was great for it's time & I loved it.  The sequel is fabulous with out of this world visual effects.  I loved every bit of it, & Jeff Bridges & Olivia Wilde were great in it as well as Garrett. I have now seen Tron Legacy 4 times & will be seeing it again before it's gone too. Have recently heard that Disney has already decided to make another one & not 28 years from now either.  Thank God.  I probably wouldn't live that long, shit.  Plus we want Garrett back as Sam Flynn & while he's still young & gorgeous, not as a CGI character the way they had to do Jeff Bridges as his younger self, thank you.  
Check this out:

SAM FLYNN

Here's the trailer from the original Tron from 1982, (not good rez, but you can see what it was like for the most part):



I actually own that DVD from the original Tron which is no longer available, (it's in the Disney "vault"), geez.  I discovered I could probably get $100 for it if I wanted to part with it.  Thanks, Disney. 


Now for the rest of this jewel's movies that he has been in.  Mark my words, Garrett is going to be the next big thing.  


Here he was in "Death Sentence" as the baddie skinhead, tattooed & all, Billy Darley, with Kevin Bacon being the protagonist.  It actually was a very good movie, a lot of great action scenes & major violence in the unrated version.  Garrett shows his acting chops here proving he has a pretty damn good emotional range.  BTW, John Goodman plays his disgusting baddie father, he really made me believe he was a rotten POS.  Goodman is always good though in everything, in my opinion.

BILLY DARLEY

Here he was in a Garry Marshall dramedy opposite Lindsay Lohan also starring Jane Fonda, "Georgia Rule". I really liked this movie, he had a fairly small part in it, with Lohan being his love interest, although he played a Mormon virgin saving himself for his fiance.  Hmmmmm.  & Lohan's character gives him his first BJ in the movie, causing him to fall hopelessly in love with her.  He played a very convincing innocent, sweet, young man, Harlan, that was very endearing to say the least.  

HARLAN

Prior to that he had a small part as the goth looking, wildly heroic Murtagh in the fantasy dragon flick, Eragon, that was supposed to be the next big series after Harry Potter.  Unfortunately it didn't make it off the ground, so we didn't get any more of Garrett's Murtagh which was indeed very well done once again.

MURTAGH

Right before Eragon, was the excellent movie with Mark Wahlberg, "Four Brothers".  He played the youngest brother, Jack Mercer, who is my favorite character of Garrett's after Beau Hutton from Country Strong. 

JACK MERCER

His 2nd movie released in 2004 was Friday Night Lights, he played Don Billingsley, football player from Permian High in Odessa, TX, based on the true story of them going to state:

DON BILLINGSLEY

& that brings us to his 1st movie he was in, "Troy".   He played Achilles' younger cousin, Patroclus, small part, actually very small part.  It was the 1st movie he was ever in, he was just 18 when it was filmed & it shows.  

Since his character is not featured in the trailer at all, here is a little clip of his scene with Brad Pitt's Achilles, practicing sword fighting:

PATROCLUS

OK, have I convinced you yet that this is a rising star in the making?  Seriously, he is going to be famous sooner or later.  "On the Road" may very well do it, we shall see... 


some photos courtesy of mrhedlund.com