Women We Love: Glenn Close

Object of our affection: Glenn Close, actress.

- For her film debut in The World According to Garp, she received her first of three consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, followed by nods for The Big Chill and The Natural. She "graduated" to the Best Actress category with her iconic villainesses in Fatal Attraction (making its Blu-ray debutnext Tuesday) and Dangerous Liaisons.

- In addition to another beloved bad girl, Cruella De Vil in the 101 Dalmatians live action movies, her other notable films include Jagged Edge, Reversal of Fortune, Hamlet, The Paper, Mars Attacks!, Air Force One, Tarzan, The Stepford Wives and Evening.

- Prior to making it big on the silver screen, she had an illustrious career as a stage actress, including a Tony Award nomination for the musical Barnum. Since, she has won three Tonys, for the plays The Real Thing and Death and the Maiden and the Broadway version of Sunset Boulevard, in which she recreated the legendary role of Norma Desmond originated by Gloria Swanson in the classic film.

- On television, she won an Emmy for playing lesbian activist Margarethe Cammermeyer in the made-for-TV biopic Serving in Silence, as well as a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for her Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. She has also starred in such other popular TV movies as Something About Amelia, the Sarah, Plain and Tall series, In the Gloaming and small screen adaptations of the stage productions The Elephant Man and South Pacific.

- As well as memorable guest spots on The Simpsons and Will & Grace, she received critical acclaim and Emmy and Globe nominations for her one season stint on The Shield. That led to her current series, Damages, which has earned her more acclaim, as well as her second Emmy and Globe awards.

Reel Thoughts: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Damion Dietz’ emotionally powerful drama Dog Tags (now available on DVDfrom TLA Releasing) tells the intersecting stories of Nate (the sexy and soulful Paul Preiss), a handsome and good-hearted young man who is joining the Marines at his fiancée’s urging, and Andy (the cute and sweet Bart Fletcher), an aimless young gay man who is looking to escape his life any way he can.

Nate’s never been given much faith, even from his well-meaning single mother (American Graffiti’s Candy Clark, in a subtle, nuanced performance), and he’s aching to meet the father who abandoned him as a child before he goes to war. Andy has left his infant son with his loopy mother, a faded former actress who gives the child cough syrup to quiet him down. Andy meets Nate when both guys are unwittingly set up to perform in a porno film, which neither of them are prepared to do. Andy’s car dies and Nate gets it running again, and the two head off together, Nate to surprise his fiancée and Andy to see his mother in Hollywood before “hitting the open road.” Fate throws the two different men together, and Dog Tags becomes a surprising love story.


Dietz directs his actors very well, and gets genuine, smart and sexy performances from his two stars, particularly Preiss. The relationships throughout the film, from Andy’s creepy friendship with his pal Chris, who takes him to what appears like a hustler’s buffet, to Nate’s strained bond with his mother, are handled with a mature complexity that you don’t always see in gay-themed films. The chemistry between Preiss and Fletcher creates a smoldering tension (as seen in this clip), and part of the pleasure of Dog Tags is in watching the two characters expose their vulnerability and unexpected desire for each other. At first, Nate is joining the Marines for all the wrong reasons, but it takes Andy’s probing and help to get him to face his decision with maturity and a dedication he was never allowed to have.

While it is a crime that nothing has been done to dismantle “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” while good soldiers are being discharged indiscriminately, Dog Tags respects and honors our troops while showing that sexual orientation is not always easy to pin down.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Toon Talk: Up Lifting

Towards the beginning of Up, Pixar’s tenth feature film and their first to be screened in 3-D, there is a sequence that will surely stand as a triumph of cinematic storytelling — animated or otherwise — for years to come.

We have been introduced to the young Carl Fredricksen, a boy whose quietness masks a soul yearning for adventures (like those of his idol, ace explorer Charles Muntz). Carl has met his polar opposite in Ellie, a chatty tomboy who shares his dreams of a life of thrill seeking and excitement. Time goes on and, as young adults, we see the two wed and plan for their future, one that will hopefully, some day, include a home-sweet-home in some exotic locale. But, as life would have it, mundane obstacles along the way delay their plans to another day … a day that, alas, never arrives for Carl’s beloved Ellie.

Alone and embittered, the now elderly Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) feels that the world has passed him by — literally, as a bustling city has sprung up around him, including a pending skyscraper that threatens to engulf his very home (à la the 1952 Disney short The Little House). Yet, when push comes to shove, Carl takes a bold action to finally fulfill his promise to his dear Ellie. And here is where Up really takes off ...

UPDATE: Up is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Up at LaughingPlace.com.

Cinematic Crush: Jared Padalecki

Crush object: Jared Padalecki, actor.

- As Dean Forester on Gilmore Girls, he captured the hearts of Rory Gilmore and audiences alike.

- During his time on Gilmore, he also starred in several made-for-TV movies, as well as an unsuccessful pilot for a MacGyver spin-off titled Young MacGyver.

- On film, he appeared in Cheaper by the Dozen, New York Minute, Flight of the Phoenix and the horror movies House of Wax and Cry Wolf.

- He is best known for his performance as Sam Winchester on Supernatural, opposite fellow Cinematic Crush Jensen Ackles.

- Most recently, he starred in yet another horror remake, this year's Friday the 13th reboot, which debuts on DVD and Blu-raynext week.