Spotlight On: Charlize Theron

This week's spotlight is one the beautiful and talented actress, Charlize Theron. I love Charlize Theron because even though is is absolutely gorgeous, she takes such interesting and challenging roles that require more than a pretty face. She has three upcoming projects that I am really REALLY excited about and I look forward to more from her in the future. Here are some of my favorite roles of hers as well as a look at some upcoming projects.

Mighty Joe Young

I used to love this movie when I was a kid. Theron plays a girl who lives in the jungle and takes care of a giant gorilla named Joe. I haven't seen this movie in FOREVER, but it used to be one of my favorites.



Monster

I actually have not seen this entire movie, but I have seen enough pf it to understand why Theron won her Oscar. She is completely unrecognizable as Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute turned serial killer. She gained weight and then had a lot of make-up put on her to transform her from beautiful to what you see above.



North Country

She followed her Oscar win with another amazing performance in North Country.  She plays a woman who tries to get a sexual harrassment lawsuit against the mine where she works. This is a movie where I actually cried because I was getting so pissed off!!! Whats worse is that this movie is based on a true story.



Aeon Flux

While not the best movie in the world, I did find the whole clone plot really interesting, and Charlize does look really cool in this movie!



Arrested Development

I loved when Theron was on this show! She played Rita, a British woman who Michael had a crush on. We eventually find out that she is Mr. F...or actually a MRF. (Mentally Retarted Female)



The Road

In this postapocalyptic movie she plays Viggo Mortensen's wife who ends up leaving him and her child after the world goes to shit. She isn't in the movie for very long, but she is still great in her small role.



Upcoming Movies!
Like I said before she has three upcoming movies that I am really excited for!

Young Adult

In Young Adult she plays a girl who was really popular in high school and returns to her hometown to get back together with her ex. Except he is married...This movie looks really funny and Mavis looks like a really cool role for Theron.



Snow White and the Huntsman

What perfect casting! I think that she looks amazing as the Evil Queen and I am looking forward to seeing her evil side!



Prometheus

don't know who is in this picture...

THIS is a movie that I am REALLY looking forward to. It starts Theron, Noomi Rapace, AND Michael Fassbender. What could be better than that? Oh yeah, the fact that it is some how connected to the Alien movies!!!!

Best Werewolf Movies

In celebration of Halloween and my werewolf costume, here is my list of my 13 favorite movies featuring lycanthropes.

13. Cursed

This is one of the corniest horror films ever made, but it is a total guilty pleasure for me. I mean, you don't see many movies where a werewolf gives you the middle finger.


12. The Company of Wolves

This Little Red Riding Hood story has the strangest werewolf transformations I have ever seen. The weirdest one is probably the one with Stephen Rea where he peels his skin off.


11. Underworld

While this movie is mainly about vampires, I was much more interested in the Lycans. I loved Michael Sheen as Lucian, the lycan who once had a vampire bride that was murdered by her own father for loving a werewolf. I haven't seen Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, but I am really curious to because the backstory of the werewolves was something that I found interesting from the first film.



10. The Wolfman

This movie didn't get the best reviews, but I actually love it. I love Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt, and I thought that this movie was really cool. "I will kill ALL OF YOU!"

9. Trick r Treat

This movie was cool because I had no idea that they were werewolves until they started transforming. I thought that they were just a bunch of college girls looking to get laid, but they were actually looking for victims. Awesome. You can find that scene HERE

8. Silver Bullet

A bunch of really great werewolf films came out in the 80s and Silver Bullet was one of them. I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid, but I used to love this movie. Here is one of the best scenes in the whole movie.



7. Wolf

Here we see Jack Nicholson as a man who gets bitten by a wolf and finds himself turning into a lycanthrope.



6. The Howling

Another classic 80s werewolf movie. Those were the good days when they used practical effects instead of CGI, so all the transformation scenes look really cool, like the one HERE

5. Curse of the Werewolf

This is one of my favorite Hammer horror films, starring the handsome Oliver Reed. My favorite scene starts below at about 2:38.



4. The Wolf Man

This is the classic 1941 Universal horror film starring Lon Cheney Jr. as Lawrence Talbot aka The Wolf Man. "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."



3. Dog Soldiers

This movie is really cool. It is about this group of soldiers trying to fight off this pack of werewolves in the middle of nowhere. This movie goes old school and has the werewolves walk on two legs.



2. Ginger Snaps

I love this movie. It is about these two death-obsessed sisters, and one of them gets bitten by a werewolf. So, she slowly starts turning into a lycanthrope, and that includes growing a bit of a tail.



1. An American Werewolf in London

Best. Werewolf. Movie. Ever. That just goes without saying. This movie features the best werewolf transformation scene ever, has a great story, some great gore effects, and is also really funny at parts. It is not only the best werewolf movie, but is one of the best horror films ever made. I love love love this movie!

My Favorite Movie Lines

My first YouTube video! A compilation of my favorite movie lines. As soon as I made it, I thought of a million more so I'll probably have to make another one...

Spotlight On: Christina Ricci

This spotlight is on Christina Ricci, who is an actress that I have loved since I was a little kid. I grew up watching her movies and basically loved everything that she was in, especially the Addam's family movies. I remember this one Halloween I was really excited about my Wednesday Addam's costume and I was PISSED because noone knew who I was supposed to be! Stupid people... Anyways, here are the roles that I loved her in as a kid (and still love), as well as my favorites of her more recent roles.

Mermaids

I watched this movie a million or so times when I was little, and I always loved Ricci as Cher's youngest daughter, and younger sister to Winona Ryder. She plays Kate Flax, a little girl who wants to grow up to be an Olympic swimmer. Although I absolutely loved this movie, the one thing that I remember the most was Cher's music video to The Shoop Shoop Shoop Song that went with it that featured both Winona and a very adorable little Christina Ricci.



The Addam's Family/ The Addam's Family Values

I LOVE WEDNESDAY ADDAMS! The Addam's Family and The Addam's Family Values were two of my favorites when I was a kid, and of course Wednesday was my favorite character. She had the best lines, and the best moments of those movies were the parts where she was onscreen. Favorites: the sword fight between her and Pugsley, forcing a smile at camp, basically anything she says...



Casper

Another one of my favorites that I watched a million times as a kid. I was obsessed with Halloween when I was a kid (and still am..), so how could I have not loved this movie? Not only did I love Christina Ricci, but I also had a huge crush on Devon Sawa when I was a kid, so my favorite scene was when Casper turned human and went to the Halloween party and danced with Ricci.



Now and Then

This is a really cute movie that also featured other young actresses I liked as a kid (Thora Birch and Gaby Hoffman).



Buffalo '66

I didn't really care for this movie because I CAN'T STAND Vincent Gallo, but I did love the scene where she tap dances in the bowling alley. You can watch that scene HERE

Sleepy Hollow

This movie features Ricci at her loveliest. She plays Katrina Van Tassell, a girl who lives in a village that is tormented by the Headless Horseman. I must also say that Christina Ricci has one of the best movie screams ever. Here's a cute little video I found...



Pumpkin

This is a sort of dark comedy about a sorority girl who falls in love with a mentally challenged guy. It's kind of a weird movie, but I was watching it on IFC one day and I have to admit that it is kind of cute. It is definitely not your typical romantic comedy...

Monster

This movie is mostly remembered for Charlize Theron's Oscar winning role as a serial killer, but it also features a great performance by Christina Ricci as her lesbian lover.



Cursed

This is probably the cheesiest werewolf movie ever, but that's kind of why I like it. Ricci plays a girl who, along with her brother, is turning into a lycanthrope.



Black Snake Moan

In this movie, Ricci plays a sex addict who is chained to a radiator by Samuel L. Jackson, who plans to teach her a lesson.



Penelope

Here Ricci plays a girl who is cursed with a big pig nose. In order to break the spell she needs to find true love, and she finds it (spoiler alert...) with the adorable James McAvoy.



Upcoming: Now she has her own show called Pan Am on AMC. I haven't seen it yet, but it looks interesting. She also has some movies coming up called Bel Ami and War Flowers.

Spotlight On: Winona Ryder

This week's spotlight is on an actress that I have loved since I was a kid. I grew up watching Beetlejuice, Mermaids, Dracula, and Edward Scissorhands a million or so times, and now that I am older I still love all of those movies, along with several others of hers. Here are my favorites in chronological order...

Beetlejuice

In Beetlejuice, Ryder plays goth girl Lydia Deetz, the only member of her family who can see the ghosts living in her attic. This was one of her very first movie roles, and is probably the one that helped start out her career. I have seen this movie a million or so times, so I could probably quote the whole thing. Here are some of my favorite parts...




Heathers

Ryder also starred in my all-time favorite teen movie. (You can find the whole list HERE) She plays Veronica, a girl who hangs out with a clique of bitchy girls called the Heathers. Veronica and her boyfriend start a little killing spree, and make all of the deaths look like suicides. As you can see, this movie is very dark, but also absolutely hilarious and is one of my favorite movies.




Edward Scissorhands

This was her second film that she did with Tim Burton, and is another one of my favorite movies. She plays Kim, a suburban girl who ends up falling for a guy with scissors for hands. Here is one of the best (and sweetest and saddest) moments in the film...



Mermaids

This is another movie that I watched a million times growing up. She stars along with Cher and Christina Ricci (another actress that I loved growing up.) She plays Charlotte Flax, a girl who wants to be a nun (even though she's Jewish) and ends up crushing on an older guy.



Dracula

In Dracula Winona plays Mina, a girl who Dracula falls for because she looks an awful lot like his dead wife Elizabeta (also played by Ryder.) While she doesn't have the best British accent in the world, I still really love this movie, and I think that she looks great in her period costumes.




Little Women

Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is on my list of books that I want to read, and a big majority of that reason is because of how much I like this movie. I think that Ryder is great as Jo, and my favorite scenes were all of the ones with her and Christian Bale.



Girl, Interrupted

Although this film is usually remembered for Angelina Jolie's performance as Lisa Roe, it also features a great performance by Winona Ryder as Susanna Kayson, the film's protagonist. She plays a girl who is sent to a mental institution and is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. She becomes friends with the other inmates, forming a close bond with a sociopath named Lisa Roe who she finds out is even more messed up than she thought...



Mr. Deeds

While I think that overall this movie is pretty stupid, it is worth watching just for one clip of Winona Ryder. Its in the video at about 2:06. It always makes me laugh...



Black Swan

In my favorite film of 2010, Ryder plays an aging ballerina who becomes jealous of Natalie Portman's character and gets really depressed.

Upcoming: She will next be lending her voice to Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, and will also star in a film called The Stare.

Spotlight On: Colleen Atwood

Somewhat related to last weeks spotlight, this week's spotlight is on costume designer Colleen Atwood. She has worked on several movies with Tim Burton as well as many other films. She has been nominated for nine Oscars and has won two. I am hoping that she will win her third on Sunday because her costumes for Alice in Wonderland were so much better than the costumes in the other nominated film. I am about as far as it gets from a fashion expert, but here are some of my favorite costumes that she has designed.

Edward Scissorhands

Colleen does a great job in Edward Scissorhands making costumes for both the dark, gothic looking title character and the pastel-clad inhabitants of the little suburb. I just love the look of Edward's costume. There is just so much detail and I'm really curious about whether he can take it off or not. He wears it throughout the whole movie, even under his normal clothes, so I'm wondering if his costume is actually a part of him.

Ed Wood

In Ed Wood she had to create costumes for characters that were actual people, including director Ed Wood and Vampira.

Little Women

Period costumes are always really cool in movies, and these are two of my favorite costumes in Little Women. my favorite is probably the one that Winona is wearing. Its a pretty simple dress, but I like the black lines going up the front.

Mars Attacks

Mars Attacks is a movie thats not necessarily well-known for its costumes, but my favorite costume in the movie is the one for the Martian girl.

Sleepy Hollow

I love everything that Katrina Van Tassel wears in Sleepy Hollow! All the costumes that Colleen made for her are gorgeous!

Chicago

Chicago is the movie that Atwood got her first Oscar win for, and it was well-deserved. I adore the outfit that Catherine Zeta-Jones wears to court, and all of the sparkly costumes for the musical numbers are amazing!

Big Fish

Wow, all of the movies that she does with Tim Burton have the most amazing costumes! All of Alison Lohman's costumes look gorgeous on her, but my favorites are the costumes for the people from the circus.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

All the costumes in this movie are really cool, but Emily Browning's are my favorites.

Memoirs of a Geisha

This is the movie that got Colleen Atwood her second Oscar. There are tons and tons of absolutely gorgeous kimonos in this movie. Visually speaking, I don't think that this movie would have been nearly as beautiful without Atwood's amazing costumes.

Sweeney Todd

Lots of black and white stripes, with the ocassionaly pops of colors like blues and reds, these costumes are very Tim Burton-esque. I was actually really disappointed when she didn't win for Best Costume Design for this movie because I think that she did a fantastic job.

Nine

This movie wasn't my favorite, but I did like the costumes. My favorite has to be the costume that Kate Hudson wears for her musical number.

Alice in Wonderland

If Colleen Atwood doesn't win Best Costume Design on Sunday I will be pissed! Every single costume in this movie looked fantastic and fit the character perfectly!