Spotlight On: Juliette Lewis

This week's spotlight is on a woman who is not only one of my favorite actresses, but one of my favorite singers as well. I was so pissed when I didn't have enough money to go see her at El Corazon when I lived in Seattle! I'm just going to have to see her the next time she comes to Minneapolis. This will be my first spotlight where I am going to post about someone as an actress and a musician. I'm going to start with some of my favorite films featuring Juliette Lewis

Cape Fear

I have never seen the original Cape Fear, but there is no way that it could be creepier than Martin Scorsese's version. Even with all the violence done by Robert DeNiro's character in this film, the creepiest scene has to be the one with him and Juliette Lewis in the school. It is really unsettling because she is so sweet and innocent. This is the film that got Lewis an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.



Natural Born Killers

Love this movie!!! Lewis and Woody Harrelson play Mickey and Mallory Knox, a Bonnie in Clyde type couple. After they kill her father, Mickey and Mallory set off on a crime spree. This film features Juliette as her most badass! I love every scene from this movie.



Strange Days

Strange Days is a really interesting sci-fi movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow that also stars Ralph Fiennes. It is worth seeing simply for the scene of Juliette singing PJ Harvey's Hardly Wait.

From Dusk Till Dawn

In From Dusk Till Dawn, Lewis plays a girl whose family has been taken hostage by two criminals and then brought to a bar that is full of vampires!!! I haven't seen this movie in forever, but I really want to watch it now! Here is what is probably Juliette's most memorable scene.



The Other Sister

This is a movie that my sister and I would watch whenever it was on TV. Juliette plays a mentally challenged girl who falls in love with a mentally challenged guy. It is a really cute movie.



Old School

Although she doesn't have a very big part in this movie, she is in one of the funniest scenes, where her boyfriend comes home to find her in the middle of a "gang bang." I'm pissed that I can't find a video of the scene!

Whip It!

I love this movie, and I love her in this movie! Juliette plays the villainous character who is on the rival roller derby team of the main character played by Ellen Page. I just love how she is such a bitch.



Upcoming: Lewis has some really cool looking movies coming up, including Open Road and Foreverland. She also stars in an upcoming TV show called The Firm.

Juliette was also the frontwoman of one of my favorite bands, Juliette and the Licks. After they broke up, she went solo and continues to make awesome music. Here are some of my favorite songs of hers.

Spotlight On: Martin Scorsese

I never realized that I was a big Martin Scorsese fan until one day I realized that I have loved every single movie of his that I have seen. Crime/ gangster films have never been my favorite, but for some reason I just love Scorsese films. They are always really cool and have really great dialogue. Plus, a good majority of them feature Robert De Niro, who is one of my all-time favorite actors. Here are the films of his that I have seen.

Mean Streets

I actually just saw this movie for the first time around a week ago. I believe that this was the film that first started to get Scorsese some notice, and was also his first collaboration with Robert De Niro.



Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is one of my favorite Scorsese films. It has an interesting story, a great performance by De Niro, and is just a classic. It also features one of the most famous scenes in cinema history...



Raging Bull

I've always hated sports films, but for some reason I just love ones about boxing. In my opinion, the greatest boxing movie of all time is Raging Bull. Both De Niro and Joe Pesci are brilliant in this film, and it also features some of the greatest boxing scenes ever. Like the one HERE. There are just tons of great scenes in this film, like the one HERE. One of the other main things about this movie is La Motta's jealousy which is shown in the clip below...



The King of Comedy

This movie is quite a bit different than most Scorsese films. It features De Niro as an aspiring stand up comedian that ends up stalking and kidnapping the star of a talk show. Rupert Pupkin is one of the saddest characters in film history, and is also another great De Niro performance.



Goodfellas

Although I've never been a big Ray Liotta fan, I do like Goodfellas. De Niro and Pesci give more great performances, along with a great performance by Lorraine Bracco. This is, without a doubt, one of the greatest gangster films of all time.

Cape Fear

I have never seen the original Cape Fear, but I guarantee that the villain in that film is nowhere near as creepy as De Niro is in this film. The accent he has in this film just makes him ten times as creepy. This film also features a young Juliette Lewis in an Oscar nominated role.



Gangs of New York

This is Scorsese's first collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio. To be honest, I don't know if I have ever seen this entire movie. What I remember most is Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as Bill the Butcher, which is one of his many brilliant performances.



The Aviator

This biopic features DiCaprio as film director Howard Hughes. Being a huge fan of Katherine Hepburn, I think that Cate Blanchett did an amazing job playing the famous movie star in this film. Blanchett gives an Oscar winning performance of an Oscar winner...



The Departed

After decades of brilliant filmmaking, this is the film that  (finally!) won an Oscar for Director for Scorsese. If features great performances by DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, and Vera Farminga. My favorite performance in this film, however, is Mark Wahlberg as Staff Sergeant Dignam.



Shutter Island

Probably my least favorite of all of the Scorsese movies I have seen, but it does have its good moments. Plus...you gotta love that BAAW-ston accent.



Upcoming:
I'm really excited for Hugo Cabret, which comes out in November. If features Johnny Depp, Christopher Lee, Jude Law, and Chloe Moretz. Silence with Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro is set for 2013, and he is also going to direct a biopic of Frank Sinatra. I think that that is really cool, but who in the hell are they going to get to play the Chairman of the Board?