THE ICEMAN

THE ICEMAN
Written by Ariel Vroman and Morgan Land
Directed by Ariel Vroman
Starring Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Ray Liotta and Winona Ryder

Roy Demeo: You want to complain about life? You’re talking to the wrong fucking guy.

I’ve met Michael Shannon before. He is a friendly fellow but he is just as menacing to meet as one would expect from his ominous presence on screen. And while I wonder when the day might come when we might see Shannon in a comedy or as a romantic lead, for now we can all admire his ferocity in the many tough guy parts that get thrown his way. The latest is Ariel Vroman’s THE ICEMAN, a biopic of one of the most notorious contract killers in American history, Richard Kuklinski. See if you can guess who plays the lead.

Kuklinski is said to have murdered between 100 and 250 people between the years of 1948 and 1986. Somehow, amidst all that murderous mayhem, Kuklinski found the time to marry and have two daughters as well. Vroman’s film covers this entire period, from the moment he goes out on his first date with the future mother of his children (Winona Ryder is a surprisingly impressive turn), through his time as an independent murderer for hire, to his inevitable capture and conviction. Shannon bounces back and forth between family man and maniacal murderer with an eerie ease that eludes to only one of the reasons Kuklinski earned his Iceman moniker. The other is that he froze his victims for months before disposing of the bodies so that no time of death could be accurately determined.

In many ways, and I mean this with all due respect, Shannon was born to play this part. He is as callous and as icy as he would have to be to pull this off. His powerhouse performance helps THE ICEMAN reach terrifying heights it most certainly would not have, if it weren’t for Shannon’s presence. The lean script rolls through the decades of killing as though they meant nothing to anyone and subsequently, the film is just as frigid as the subject matter. And as disturbing as all this coldness is, a little bit of warmth would have given the character insight necessary to take this film from disconcerting to downright harrowing.

173. Dead Birds

173. (27 Aug) Dead Birds (2004, Alex Turner) 28



I'm all for slow builds in horror movies, but Dead Birds takes forever to offer up a scare. By the time it finally does, it's well past the point of mattering much. Alex Turner's weak grasp on genre filmmaking is rivaled by his inability to make a convincing period piece. Seems whatever money they had for Dead Birds went to sets and costumes when dialect coaches were sorely needed to give this some actual authenticity.

PREMIUM RUSH

PREMIUM RUSH
Written by David Koepp and John Camps
Directed by David Koepp
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon

Wilee: I like to ride. Fixed gear. No brakes. Can't stop. Don't want to, either.

It may not be premium on any level but there is still plenty of rush to be had with David Koepp’s latest, PREMIUM RUSH. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a spry and sweaty bike messenger named Wilee - like the coyote, seriously. As he barrels down the busy streets of Manhattan at speeds reaching upwards of 50 miles per hour, you cannot help but feel your pulse accelerate at comparable speeds. At any moment, he could be run off the road, be smashed by oncoming traffic or worst of all, not make it to his delivery destination on time (gasp). And with all those endorphins pumping throughout this 90-minute thriller, it is easy to ignore how ridiculous it truly is.

To be clear, I mean ridiculous in the most complimentary sense of the word. The premise of PREMIUM RUSH is entirely beside the point, which is really just to focus on the extreme biking. Wilee is a premium rush junkie of sorts. He doesn’t ride with brakes on his bike; in fact, he considers them to be killers. He picks up an ordinary delivery from an acquaintance and is about to begin making his way downtown when he is stopped by a menacing man, played by Michael Shannon. Shannon wants what Gordon-Levitt is delivering; Gordon-Levitt won’t let it go; the chase begins from there. Koepp throws in a few other distractions, like a love interest and a crooked cop subplot, to keep it lively, but nothing takes away too much from the central race toward the finish line that Gordon-Levitt is desperately trying to win. It is as simple as it could be but it is this very simplicity that allows it to be so intensely satisfying.

The trick that Koepp has figured out here is to just go all in. PREMIUM RUSH is an exhilarating bike messenger chase flick and was never meant to be taken seriously. It’s meant to have a little fun with and that is exactly what Koepp is doing here. From the constant Google map inspired progress reports on where our hero currently is, to the shifts in both perspective between characters and in time and place, Koepp is playing up anything he can to heighten the tension. Sealing this deal though is the often hysterical and almost at times surreal performances by Gordon-Levitt and Shannon. They appear as if they are delighting in every single contrived word that comes out of their mouthes and, as a result, we are eager to take part in that very same delight. To be truly enjoyed, you just need to give in and let PREMIUM RUSH just rush right over you, in all its ridiculous splendor.

Alternate Best Actor 2011: Results

5. Robert Wieckiewicz in In Darkness- This is not a great performance by any means as the role is relatively simple, but Wieckiewicz nevertheless gives a realistic performance.

4. Brendan Gleeson in The Guard-Gleeson makes this just a very entertaining from beginning to end through his realization of a man who may be the best and worst cop simultaneously.

3. Michael Shannon in Take Shelter-Shannon gives an excellent performance here through his ability to maneuver through the complex state of his character.

2. Michael Fassbender in Shame- A compelling performance by Fassbender that creates a memorable performance of a man seeking pleasure but only finds emptiness.

1. Ryan Gosling in Drive- This is another year where the choice of the winner was extremely difficult not only among the alternates, but also the overall of the year. My top three favorites still consist of the three who speak the least. Gosling gives an amazing performance with few words, but all the meaning needed through the smallest of gestures.

Overall Rank:

1. Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2. Jean Dujardin in The Artist
3. Ryan Gosling in Drive
4. Michael Fassbender in Shame
5. Michael Shannon in Take Shelter
6. Brendan Gleeson in The Guard
7. Demian Bichir in A Better Life
8. Christoph Waltz in Carnage
9. Michael Fassbender in X-Men First Class
10. Tom Hardy in Warrior
11. Joel Edgerton in Warrior
12. Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March
13. Daniel Craig in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
14. Brad Pitt in Moneyball
15. Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method  
16. Ewan McGregor in Beginners 
17. Robert Wieckiewicz in In Darkness
18. Asa Butterfield in Hugo
19. James McAvoy in X-Men First Class
20. Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris
21. Chris Evans in Captain America
22. John C. Reilly in Carnage
23. Jason Segal in The Muppets
24. Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows
25. Hunter McCracken in Tree of Life
26. George Clooney in The Descendants 
27. Eddie Redmayne in My Week With Marilyn 
28. Jeremy Irvine in War Horse
29. Thomas Horn in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Next Year: 1954

Alternate Best Actor 2011: Michael Shannon in Take Shelter

Michael Shannon did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Curtis LaForche in Take Shelter.

Take Shelter is an effective film about a man who sees strange visions which may be indicating some sort of terrible future, or they may be caused by a developing paranoid schizophrenia.

Shannon did not receive an Oscar nomination here as the film, and his performance never gained enough traction for the Oscar nomination. He very well could have been close though. Shannon did receive an Oscar nomination earlier for his supporting role in Revolutionary Road which was quite over the top needlessly so depiction of a mentally disturbed man. I did not think he was terrible in that role as I do believe he showed some quality in the performance that suggested that he could have been given a far greater performance if he merely toned down the performance slightly.

Shannon seriously dials back his performance this time as a man with a possible mental problem, or a man who is having prophetic visions. What they are technically does not matter to Shannon's performance as Curtis is deeply disturbed by what he sees either way. Shannon portrays the disturbance in a low key fashion for a great while during the film. He shows the constant internal uncertainty within Curtis as he sees one horrible event after another with very little idea of what they mean. Shannon effectively brings to life all of the pain Curtis faces over his visions and how they bring out the worst fears in him.

The focus on the film is how the visions persist and how they slowly worsen his own mental state as well as his relationship with his wife (Jessica Chastain) and the local community as well. Shannon is quite effective as he builds the disturbance that grows slowly in Curtis as his visions become more frequent as well as more disturbing. At first Shannon portrays a struggle within Curtis to fight against the feelings of anxiety, and he tries to express some sort of sense of normalcy on his face although, Shannon shows it is very very difficult for him to do so for long.

In his more strained moments Shannon is quite good as he has fierce short moments of intensity where he tries to quickly cut off his paranoia, but as well Shannon keeps the same intensity in the scenes where his wife questions his behavior. Shannon again presents as a rather brutal anger to keep his wife from finding out more about what is affecting him. Shannon does not portray this as a cruelty, even if it is blunt, from Curtis but rather his way of trying to keep his wife from really finding out the truth of what really is going on with his behavior exactly.

He cannot shake the visions though, and his condition only becomes worse when he makes the connection that his mother became a schizophrenic at the same age he is now. Shannon importantly keeps us with him through this battle going on in his mind though as he does always manage to humanize Curtis. Shannon always manages to bring to life the idea that really part of what haunts Curtis is his own care for his family. Shannon always makes it very clear that he has a genuine love for his family, and great deal of his fear comes from that he is either alienating them do to his condition or being concerned for them due to the disaster in his visions.

Shannon is excellent in the slow decay of Curtis's mental state. Shannon is careful in this as he always shows that Curtis is trying his very best to not fall into what he believes to be a mental condition, and Shannon properly stresses the resistance Curtis has to the visions. The visions never do leave though, and Shannon falls deeply into believing everything that he sees in the vision. Shannon is able to reflect the conflicting emotions that result from falling into his state of urgency he is forced to feel do to what Curtis sees. Shannon never makes it so Curtis is ever one way, but always stresses the unbalances nature the visions have caused in him. Shannon is convincing by showing an incredible drive in Curtis in his scenes where he thinks he is being prophetic, but as well is just as believable when he shows Curtis's intense sadness and pain when he believes himself to be falling apart.

Shannon effectively leads to his final scenes which include his more Oscary scene, and his actual best scenes. His more oscary scene where he confronts the town people and espouses loudly about his apocalyptic visions. This is certain more like his Revolutionary Road performance, but really he earns it here. Shannon manages to make it work because throughout the film he has been building the anxiety growing up until this point, and it is earned that Curtis would finally burst out as he does. Shannon turns it into a strong scene because he shows really the full extent to what the visions have been doing to him.

 His very best moments though come when he and his family going until the shelter during the storm. Shannon once again dials it down but he frankly more intense here than he was in the scene with the town people. Shannon is chilling here because he realizes his paranoia so quietly. He is truly off putting here as shows just how intense his fears have become. Michael Shannon though is equally strong as he portrays Curtis finally facing his fears. Shannon is absolutely heartbreaking as he shows the terror in his eyes as he finally confronts what is outside the shelter. Shannon gives an excellent performance here and as he is able to really allow the ending occur through his ability to maneuver through the complex state of his character. Shannon here shows exactly what his earlier Oscar nominated performance could have been with this powerful work.

Alternate Best Actor 2011

And the Nominees Were Not:

Ryan Gosling in Drive

Robert Wieckiewicz in In Darkness

Michael Fassbender in Shame

Michael Shannon in Take Shelter

Brendan Gleeson in The Guard

Best Supporting Actor 2008: Results

5. Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road- Shannon gives an intense performance that serves the film the way it wants him to, I only wish his depiction of the mentally instability man could have been a little less obvious display of acting.

4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt- Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives an effective performance that succeeds in treading the fine line to keep the mystery of his character intact without making his performance seem lacking.

3. Josh Brolin in Milk- Josh Brolin although has a very limited screen time that realizes the standard politician on the outside as well as the lonely unhappy man on the inside.

2. Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder- Robert Downey Jr. gives a very enjoyable and entertaining performance by portraying a character who is entirely there to be funny by portraying him with the utmost conviction and devotion.

1. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight- Excellent prediction Eddie. Heath Ledger simply gives an outstanding performance. Ledger never tries for a moment to portray the Joker in a safe fashion. Every risk that he takes with the performance that absolutely succeeds in creating a chilling entertaining and very memorable villain.

Deserving Performances:
Ralph Fiennes in In Bruges
Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading
Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actor 2008: Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Michael Shannon received his first Oscar nomination for portraying John Givings in Revolutionary Road.

Revolutionary Road is one of those films about the soullessness of suburbanites this time about the Wheelers played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Michael Shannon portrays a plot contrivance the son of one the Wheelers friends who has been in an institution and is mentally unbalanced. The whole point of his character seems to be the Oscar nominated character for the film, since John acts as the only one who will tell those suburbanites that they are the soulless individuals they are. This is not to say that Michael Shannon performance is bad, but his character's whole existence is a little questionable.

Shannon shows up in three scene to chew the scenery a bit particularly in his first and last scenes. Again this does not mean its bad, after all the performance and character seemed setup just to be the Oscar nominated supporting performance for the film. It is true that since his character is suppose to be intrusive as well as mentally unbalanced it would be technically wrong for his performance to be quiet but I don't think the part of John has to be quite actory fashion Shannon chooses to portray him.

All three scenes he wants to steal with his performance which makes John seem frankly more intrusive than he some ways should be, because he seems intrusive through what feels like a performance more than what feels like actually human behavior but than again the character in itself is just a plot device to be used therefore I suppose Shannon's method is supportive of that fact. I do think though John would have been more interesting if he had been portrayed more realistic and in a less purposefully showy manner.

I should not be mistaken though because Shannon still is effective in the role. He is intense and certainly entertaining as he acts out his part. He never came alive as a mentally disturbed man exactly but he did act well as the plot device he was written as has. The doubt and hatred John fires up is most certainly understandable through Shannon's striking performance. He does control his scenes without question and certainly makes it so cannot avoid John's observations.

Shannon performance does work in context for the film which I highly doubted really wanted a more realistic and depth filled approach, which I think perhaps Shannon could have pulled off to, but the film does not care about who John really is it just wants him to cause conflict within the film when it needs him to. It really is a missed opportunity for both Shannon and a character for his character to less than he frankly could have been. John easily could have been a great very memorable character, but as it is Shannon gives a strong enough performance but not one that stays with you too long after watching the film.

Best Supporting Actor 2008

And the Nominees Were:

Josh Brolin in Milk

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

056. The Broken Tower

056. (19 Feb) The Broken Tower (2011, James Franco) 41



The deliberately episodic nature of The Broken Tower, providing brief snapshots of Hart Crane, really does nothing to define the man. Though Franco would surely be annoyed to hear it, this is style with little substance. To his credit, his aesthetic is at least well-developed and confident; it's rare that a contemporary black-and-white film looks this good.

Franco's recent work make him appear determined to announce himself as a voice in New Queer Cinema. There's a fearlessness in the gay content, like in an early scene where he graphically gives a blowjob. The best scene here by far has Franco picking up a sailor from a bar. In an alley, he lights both of their cigarettes and stares longing in a way that's too electric to really fit the film's tone. Romance and that sense of longing are really where he has a strength in creating atmosphere.

Though The Broken Tower moves briskly and Franco photographs well, it's willfully dull. A lengthy poetry reading, for instance, underscores Franco's limitations as a performer. It's punishing watching him try to hold attention, thinking he's magnetic when he's plainly not.

Best of Black Sheep: Black Sheep interviews Michael Shannon

HEED HIS ADVICE

An interview with TAKE SHELTER star, Michael Shannon

When I sat down to speak with Michael Shannon about his mesmerizing performance in Jeff Nichols’ equally transfixing film, TAKE SHELTER, Hurricane Irene had just paid a visit to his hometown, Manhattan. The media had made out the event to be potentially catastrophic but the weather came and went without much damage to mention. The media may have had egg on their faces but what if they were right? One day, they very well might be.

In TAKE SHELTER, Shannon plays Curtis, a husband, a father, a construction foreman and a good man. Curtis has a secret though; Curtis is having visions that a storm that could end all storms is coming and he isn’t quite sure how to deal with that. “I don’t think he’s a prophet,” Shannon begins to explain of Curtis. “I don’t think Curtis has necessarily even thought it out to the extent that he thinks the end of the world is coming. I think it’s much more poetic than that.”

That it certainly is. When Curtis dreams, he sees rain of a different colour than we are accustomed to, falling from the sky. Whatever it is that is falling from the sky, it is potent and powerful and it will be the game changer humanity has managed to avoid for centuries now. Rather than presume too specifically what that would will be like though, Nichols chooses to keep things ambiguous, which is what Shannon loves about the film. “The sky is such a beautiful poetic image. People ask why can’t he just run but you can’t run from the sky.”

The supernatural elements of TAKE SHELTER are counterbalanced with Curtis’ family life, which is tested greatly by his mounting paranoia. In yet another stellar supporting turn, Jessica Chastain plays opposite Shannon as his wife. Their marriage is already braving its own storm of sorts, with their daughter facing the possibility of permanent and total hearing loss. It was the scenes with Curtis’ daughter (played by Tova Stewart) that Shannon found most disturbing and difficult. “I have a 3-year old daughter. The thought of some disaster happening to her, it’s not something I can digest. I think that’s what is so terrifying about what’s happening to Curtis is that he’s lost the ability to block it out.”

That’s an understatement. Faced with a potentially apocalyptic storm, Curtis begins expanding an underground shelter in his backyard. Naturally, this tips off his friends and family to his increasingly bizarre behaviour. Complicating matters further, Curtis’ mother (Kathy Baker) was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was roughly Curtis’ current age. This begs the question, is this madness or is this divine intervention?

“I think what Curtis is experiencing beyond schizophrenia is just feeling unsafe because he doesn’t know who’s running the show,” Shannon clarifies. Curiously enough, Curtis is not a churchgoer, unlike the rest of his family, and yet God has chosen him to warn of what’s coming. Or, he’s totally losing it. It could go either way. “For me, one of the reasons I was interested in doing the film, is that more metaphysical, spiritual component,” says Shannon, a non-churchgoer himself.

It is these kinds of delicate layers that inform both Shannon’s performance, one that will certainly come up come awards season, and the effectiveness of TAKE SHELTER itself. “To me, the inherent question is, if you don’t believe in God or if you’re not religious, then isn’t the world a terrifying place?” Shannon asks, of both his audience and himself. “Because everything is arbitrary and nature is very arbitrary. Nature is not malicious; it’s not like it wants to destroy your house but its there and its undeniable. It’s been that way for centuries. Just ask the dinosaurs.”

Would that I could but we all know how that turned out. If only the dinosaur that was having premonitions had spoken up.

This interview originally appeared in Hour Community.

BOARDWALK EMPIRE

HBO has a reputation for producing quality, cinematic television and BOARDWALK EMPIRE is a perfect example of this. Set in Atlantic City during the prohibition era, the show focuses around the city treasurer, one Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, played with great weight and resolve by Steve Buscemi. Often relegated to showy, albeit still mere, character roles, it is incredible to see Buscemi take the lead in this series and to see him do so with such impressive strength. He leads an ensemble made up of actors who are often not given their due, from Michael Pitt and Michael Shannon to Kelly McDonald and Michael Stuhlbarg. Altogether, they make up one of the most dynamic and effective ensembles on television today.

The first season, now available to rent or own on either DVD or Blu-ray, consists of twelve addictive installments. The series itself was created by Terence Winter, one of the main writers on another HBO gem, THE SOPRANOS, but the pilot episode itself, which reportedly cost $18 million to make, was directed by none other than Martin Scorsese. Scorsese, who also serves alongside Mark Wahlberg as an executive producer, is the Godfather of gangster cinema (sorry, Francis) and his gravitas anchors the series from the very beginning, allowing it to go to places that are often shocking and moving. The first season, based on the Nelson Johnson novel, Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City, follows Nucky as he gets his bootlegging business off the ground, falls for a recent widow (McDonald) and struggles to ensure the Republican party, the one he controls from behind the scenes, remains in power. It is at times uncanny how some of the issues people wrestled with then are still prominent today.

BOARDWALK EMPIRE presents the golden age of gangstering and it does so with such class and subtlety that it burns directly into your mind, leaving you wanting to get back to that boardwalk as often as possible. If more television series took as much care with their stories and characters as this one does, I think its fair to say I would have a lot less free time on my hands.

Black Sheep interviews MICHAEL SHANNON

When I sat down to speak with Michael Shannon about his mesmerizing performance in Jeff Nichols’ equally transfixing film, TAKE SHELTER, Hurricane Irene had just paid a visit to his hometown, Manhattan. The media had made out the event to be potentially catastrophic but the weather came and went without much damage to mention. The media may have had egg on their faces but what if they were right? One day, they very well might be.

In TAKE SHELTER, Shannon plays Curtis, a husband, a father, a construction foreman and a good man. Curtis has a secret though; Curtis is having visions that a storm that could end all storms is coming and he isn’t quite sure how to deal with that. “I don’t think he’s a prophet,” Shannon begins to explain of Curtis. “I don’t think Curtis has necessarily even thought it out to the extent that he thinks the end of the world is coming. I think it’s much more poetic than that.”

That it certainly is. When Curtis dreams, he sees rain of a different colour than we are accustomed to, falling from the sky. Whatever it is that is falling from the sky, it is potent and powerful and it will be the game changer humanity has managed to avoid for centuries now. Rather than presume too specifically what that would will be like though, Nichols chooses to keep things ambiguous, which is what Shannon loves about the film. “The sky is such a beautiful poetic image. People ask why can’t he just run but you can’t run from the sky.”

The supernatural elements of TAKE SHELTER are counterbalanced with Curtis’ family life, which is tested greatly by his mounting paranoia. In yet another stellar supporting turn, Jessica Chastain plays opposite Shannon as his wife. Their marriage is already braving its own storm of sorts, with their daughter facing the possibility of permanent and total hearing loss. It was the scenes with Curtis’ daughter (played by Tova Stewart) that Shannon found most disturbing and difficult. “I have a 3-year old daughter. The thought of some disaster happening to her, it’s not something I can digest. I think that’s what is so terrifying about what’s happening to Curtis is that he’s lost the ability to block it out.”

That’s an understatement. Faced with a potentially apocalyptic storm, Curtis begins expanding an underground shelter in his backyard. Naturally, this tips off his friends and family to his increasingly bizarre behaviour. Complicating matters further, Curtis’ mother (Kathy Baker) was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was roughly Curtis’ current age. This begs the question, is this madness or is this divine intervention?

“I think what Curtis is experiencing beyond schizophrenia is just feeling unsafe because he doesn’t know who’s running the show,” Shannon clarifies. Curiously enough, Curtis is not a churchgoer, unlike the rest of his family, and yet God has chosen him to warn of what’s coming. Or, he’s totally losing it. It could go either way. “For me, one of the reasons I was interested in doing the film, is that more metaphysical, spiritual component,” says Shannon, a non-churchgoer himself.

It is these kinds of delicate layers that inform both Shannon’s performance, one that will certainly come up come awards season, and the effectiveness of TAKE SHELTER itself. “To me, the inherent question is, if you don’t believe in God or if you’re not religious, then isn’t the world a terrifying place?” Shannon asks, of both his audience and himself. “Because everything is arbitrary and nature is very arbitrary. Nature is not malicious; it’s not like it wants to destroy your house but its there and its undeniable. It’s been that way for centuries. Just ask the dinosaurs.”

Would that I could but we all know how that turned out. If only the dinosaur having premonitions had spoken up.

423. Take Shelter

423. (26 Sep) Take Shelter (2011, Jeff Nichols)* 78



This is truly masterful filmmaking. Jeff Nichols sustains so much tension and blurs the lines between truth and reality with such ease, it's easy to get lost within Take Shelter. There's also an astonishing amount of humor and heart here, despite its unrelentingly bleak content. Even in the final moments, as it seems the world is about to come to its end, Nichols shows that family unity means far more than anything else.

Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, giving two of the best performances of the year, flesh out fully-realized characters. While it's sure not to be noticed by the Academy, there will be few films that are shot, edited, or scored better than this.