63 thoughts on “Day Nine”

  1. Maybe I haven’t been reading very thoroughly, but I’ve missed the actual NAME of this movie… :(

  2. Dances With Wolves is high on my list of great movies. Costner was excellent in that. There are some other performances that he seems to go through the motions to get the paycheck. Sometimes I think that Cruise has the potential to be very good. Sometimes he just comes off as an average actor with good looks. Anyway, thought that might have been over generalizing to some extent. Anyway, way to hang in there and give all you can give.

  3. With all due respect to your acting abilities (because I’ve long felt you are a genuine and original talent) and your generosity vis a vis your web site …
    I’m not sure exactly how you can conclude that Costner and Cruise are “faking it,” but it seems fairly certain your perceptions are fueled and colored either by A) an elitist and uninformed dismissal of all popular acting (which is understandable, given the huge — though mostly deserved — popularity of these two performers), or B) a petulant, defensive and almost debilitating lack of confidence in your own abilities (less comprehensible, but also understandable, given your own publicly voiced disdain for the “flavors of the month” who garner the lion’s share of the best roles today).
    Your frustration with the general lack of depth in this generation’s crop of 20-mil-per-film megastars is warranted in most cases (we all know asshats like Vin Diesel are essentially smirks and biceps masquerading as actors); in the case of Cruise and Costner, however, the impatience seems a bit strident and glib.
    Sorry Wil, but these two gents aren’t faking their craft any more than Tom Hanks does — or any more than you are — despite their box office appeal. Like Hanks, they’re both leading men with enormous range (Cruise moreso than Costner), who choose, unlike a Spacey or Malkovich or Pacino, to retain much of their real-life personas regardless of the role. They don’t lose themselves in characters, for the most part, because they don’t need to. They’re skilled enough through whatever freakish gifts God gave them to fully reveal character without sacrificing identity — and this is a rare and marvelous skill found in only a handful of actors in each generation. These are movie stars, first and foremost, not Method Actors or Grand Artistes. There should be no stigma in that, and to dismiss them as thespian frauds is at best churlish — at worst, ignorant and critically indefensible.
    Sure, Costner has had his share of howlers, but he’s also turned in nuanced, often stunning, peformances in films such as FIELD OF DREAMS, BULL DURHAM, TIN CUP and DANCES WITH WOLVES.
    And you’re making a grave mistake by failing to overlook Cruise’s early work. Because I know you’ve watched him grow from the one-dimensional pretty boy of RISKY BUSINESS, TAPS and TOP GUN to the accomplished and mesmerizing lead of films like EYES WIDE SHUT, MAGNOLIA, RAIN MAN, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY and THE COLOR OF MONEY.
    Of course, you’re entitled to your opinion — and, after all, this is your site to say what you wish. I just feel you’re being a tad unfair to Mr. Costner and Mr. Cruise, and well, I think you doth protest too much.

  4. hey.. i love this site.. i think its cool how you write for us to know what’s going on in your life. i’ve liked you for a long time and i was wondering if me and you could email towards one another….. of course as you can see my email is [email protected]…. (dont’ ask) lol.. well i hope you get the chance to email me… later…..

  6. See now, mah brothah KEN knows whassup with the pics an’ flix man, an’ ah tell ya what’s mo, he got a pocket full o’ nine, jes waitin in dah cornah fo dem ho’s can’t act a damn sneeze fo’ jimmy, an’ a heist o’ cracked oats, son!
    Man, this one time brothah KEN go into church wit alla’ dem green pot lamp, an’ kick dat preist silly, an’ say point dat gun at the baby Jesus an’ say,
    “C’MON OUT GOD, OR THE KID GETS IT!”
    An’ God say, “…”
    An’ he go RATTA TATTA TAT at da crucifix, an’ wha-BAM!
    An’ dat’s da jizz fo’ today, so don’t front on BROTHAH KEN!!!
    -TOM CRUISE

  8. I agree, Wil. The only time I saw a performance where Tom Cruise might have felt emotion was Rain Man and that was a LONG time ago.

  9. Oh yeah, Angelwwolf? You are forgiven, and your penance is:
    - 20 “Hail Wesleys”
    - 10 “Episodes of ST:TNG “you freak.
    - 300 “I am a frothing bootlicker who kisses Wil’s white ass because I have no ability to think on my owns”

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