Sunday, December 30, 2007

DVD review of Eastern Promises

DVD Times has in depth review of EP, with great photos.



"...the driver is a much more subtle and elegant turn by an unrecognisable Viggo Mortensen. Mortensen is a revelation, for an actor who has graced rubbish like A Perfect Murder as a second banana clothes horse, and he gives an excellent, enigmatic performance that shows up Cassel as a scenery chewer and holds the centre of this film brilliantly. The film relies on his character being able to be seen as both kindly and having the capacity for violence, and the integrity he brings to his Nikolai is never less than convincing or compelling."

Rea it HERE

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Always Viggo

Just wanted to say that..

Friday, December 14, 2007

Digging up Viggo's Eastern Promises Review


In honor of Viggo's nomination, I am posting this article about Eastern Promises.

Finding Viggo Mortensen

www.awardsdaily.com

"Viggo Mortensen is missing. Yes, that actor on the screen looks like him—and he certainly possesses the same quiet assurance when he speaks and physicality when he fights. But more like a magician than actor, he has disappeared into the world of Eastern Promises.

As much as I’ve admired his work before—in movies like my beloved The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A Walk on the Moon and A History of Violence—I wasn’t quite prepared for the total character immersion displayed in the film, as he morphs into Nikolai, the enigmatic driver/undertaker/protector of Kirill, (Vincent Cassel), the “prince” of a London-based Russian crime family......

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Viggo got nominated for Golden Globe...!!!!

Finally!!!! The talent got recognized.

Congratulations to Viggo and David Cronenberg for Golden Globe Nominations.

"Vying for the 65th annual Golden Globe for best drama are an especially full field of seven films, including the box office hit "American Gangster," the romantic drama "Atonement," the visceral film noir "Eastern Promises," the civil rights drama "The Great Debaters," the legal thriller "Michael Clayton," the epic drama "There Will Be Blood" and the gritty thriller "No Country for Old Men.""

"Vying for best actor in a drama feature are George Clooney in "Michael Clayton," Daniel Day-Lewis for "There Will Be Blood," James McAvoy for "Atonement" and Viggo Mortensen for "Eastern Promises" and Denzel Washington for "American Gangster."
Read it HERE

Yeah!! Baby!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The King On My Mind

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

Aragorn
The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

Satellite Awards Nominated for Eastern Promises




David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley are among the nominees for the 2007 Satellite Awards, which will be handed out by the International Press Academy on Dec. 16 in Los Angeles.

Cronenberg was nominated for Eastern Promises, a thriller about the Russian mafia starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts. Polley got the nod for her first feature film, Away From Her, based on an Alice Munro story about an elderly couple trying to cope with Alzheimer's.

Eastern Promises received a total of six nominations, including best drama, best director, best actor, best screenplay, best score and best film editing.

Read the story HERE

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Viggo's ad-lib

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-strike1dec01,1,1685506.story?track=rss

From LA times.com, a reference to Viggo's ad-libbing during APPLOOSA,
"Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole had been riding all day, chasing bad guys across the chaparral in the western "Appaloosa." As actors Viggo Mortensen (who was playing Hitch) and Ed Harris (Cole) sat around a campfire filming a scene on the Galisteo, N.M., set, Mortensen improvised a line. "I'm about ready," he grumbled, "to make a pair of chaps out of that Godforsaken mule."

It was the kind of ad-libbing that happens on almost any movie and, given Mortensen's cranky but erudite "Appaloosa" character, a perfectly fitting riff. But was the actor being a quick-on-his-feet movie star or a strike breaker?



As it happens, Mortensen's new dialogue was kosher, but it illustrated the gray area affecting scores of movies in production. If Mortensen had been a Writers Guild of America member, as many actors including costar Harris are, and if he had typed up his new line, he might well have been headed to the WGA cooler."