Dick van Dyke -- Happy 85th!!

Happy 85th birthday to one of my all-time favorite entertainers -- Dick van Dyke. This guy was one of the faces and voices of my childhood, which is something I guess I share with a lot of people in this age group -- anything from 40 to 60. I'll never forget some of the movies like Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ... and then being dumbfounded at the man's verve, energy and charisma in Night at the Museum.

Here's the thing of it: movies are a time machine. You watch the same movie at 10 and at 30, and you see two different movies. As a kid you just see the adventure and love the movie -- the flying car and all. At 30, you're going, "Lionel Jeffries was fantastic in that," and "Gawd, d'you remember Benny Hill and Stanley Unwin? Those were the days," and "Whoah, that's one damned attractive hunk of male -- what have I been missing?"

You notice, you read some really, really stupid things on YouTube. Like the complete idiot who thought Dick van Dyke was born a Cockney, because he played one Cockney part in his entire career. Cheese-zeus. His Cockney accent was good, but not quite good enough to pass the sniff test of real Londoners (who apparently can pick the flaws in Johnny Depp's Cockney -- inFrom Hell, for example. At which point I started to conclude that it's all in their imagination, because Johnny Depp's Cockney is utterly, absolutely, totally identical to Michael Caine, who is Cockney born and bred -- and anything else is all in your head).

Sorry for the digression. YouTube is great, but sometimes the comments get you steamed up.

Happy Birthday, Dick van Dyke ... and may you be entertaining us for many, many years to come!

Happy Birthday, Johnny Depp!

Johnny Depp ... happy birthday, 2010! What more can you say? Here's a mighty good lookin' 47 years old, and you'd have to say the man is showing the rest of us how to age gracefully:

A few years are accumulating, but Johnny Depp is going to be one of the lucky ones -- he has the bones and the hair and the eyes to carry the extra years and look as gorgeous as ever. Or more. He ought to write a book, tell how he does it!

So, happy birthday, man -- way to go...

Ewan McGregor: Happy Birthday 2009!

Is it really possible that Ewan McGregor is 38 years old today?! Good lord ... AG takes a moment out and looks at the calendar ... is it. Woah. Where does time go?

Seems like only yesterday we were watching the new Obiwan Kenobi. And Brassed Off! -- which has to be my favorite of Ewan McGregor's movies, and that's saying a lot, because he's made some great ones.

Here's a bit of trivia for you: he's short sighted. Like yours truly! You might recall the serious eyeglasses you saw in The Long Way Round ... no joke. Those are the real deal. (He's also one of those guys who looks just as dishy with the spectacles on. Like Johnny Depp, for a start.)

So -- Happy Birthday, Man! Many more of 'em!

And now, shut up and paste in the eye candy, AG. I hear you growling, so ...

Christopher Lambert: Happy Birthday 2009!

And it's a big, loud HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Christopher Lambert, who turns 52 today! Can you believe that? It only seems like yesterday that I was drooling -- uh, watching, uh -- well, yes, all right, drooling my way through Greystoke. Never mind Highlander!

I have some fantastic memories surrounding Christopher Lambert, whose movies don't seem to get a lot of publicity downunder, so it's easy to miss them. One of my favorites is the off-the-wall comedy he did with Christopher Loyd, Why me? I laughed and laughed. Love the scene with the piano...

It's astonishing to go over to CL's page at IMDb and check out the amazing list of credits he's assembled. I have one monster wish: to see Vercingetorix. Not likely to happen, I know, but I can wish...

So -- hey, happy birthday, man! And now, who's for some eye candy?

Matthew Broderick: happy birthday 2009

And it's happy birthday to Matthew Broderick, who turns 46 today (same age as AG). Is it really 25 years since Ladyhawke?! Good gods, it is. I mean ... that's a quarter of a century! I was a mere child when I sat in the dark, eating popcorn and watching Rutger Hauer turn into a wolf, and Matthew Broderick picking locks --! Marvelous memories, which I relive every time I play the DVD. Here's a bit of trivia for you: did you know, Ladyhawke was only his fourth credited role? True.

And Matthew Broderick went on to do loads of great projects, not just as an actor (for instance, Godzilla), but also as a voice artist (ex., The Lion King). In fact, I'm remembering all the way back to Wargames, and wishing I had a DVD of that one. Note to self: get one!

So -- happy birthday, man! Have a great one. (And now, shut up AG, and paste in the pictures -- sheesh, you think people visit this page because they want to listen to you babble on?)

Gary Oldman ... happy birthday, 2009!

It's also happy birthday to Gary Oldman today ... and I can't believe he's 51. Mind you, I've enjoyed his movies for a couple of decades now, so I guess he must be!

His roles are so diverse, you're just left blinking. He has a gift for accents that is quite the equal of Johnny Depp ... in fact, I don't think I've heard Gary Oldman sound the same in two consecutive movies! My favorites from among his movies? It's almost impossible to choose. Immortal Beloved, Air Force One, The Dark Knight, The Fifth Element, Lost in Space ... the Harry Potter movies ...?! Like I said, utterly impossible to choose.

So I'm not going to choose -- I'm just going to nominate Gary Oldman as one of my most favorite actors, wish him Happy Birthday, and get on with the eye candy ... which is the whole reason you're on this page anyway, right? (In other words, shut up already, AG, and paste in the pictures. Right.)

Timothy Dalton: happy birthday 2009!

It's Happy Birthday, 007 today -- wish birthday wishes going to my personal favorite of the James Bonds. Don't get me wrong -- I like them all! But Timothy Dalton is my favorite. Why? I think it's because I actually believed James Bond as a real person in his two movies. The other actors were consistently "tongue in cheek," and the movies had the quality of satire or even spoof. In the Timothy Dalton movies, though, you had a greater sense of reality, and I guess I liked that!

It also doesn't hurt that Tim Dalton had devilish good looks, a gorgeous voice ... and great legs! Would you believe he's 64 years young today?! (Good grief, that would make AG...)

Want some eye candy now? You bet. Here goes:

Bruce Willis: happy birthday, 2009!

What else can you say? Happy birthday, man! You have us some of the greatest motion picture thrills and laughs ... have a great 54th, and a great 2009!

Michael Caine: Happy birthday, 2009

Would you believe it? It's Happy Birthday to Sir Michael Caine today ... and he's 76 years young. I've been watching Michael Caine since I was old enough to be allowed to see Zulu, which he made in the mid-1960s, when he was something like 32 years old -- um, about the time I was born, I suppose. My favorites among his movies are (still!) Zulu, and Ashanti, and Deathtrap. Those three, I can watch any time -- and thank gods for DVDs.

(You know AG by now: love the part in Deathtrap with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve in a clinch, with a kiss! In fact, the film company apparently called this the "$10 million kiss," because they reckon that when the movie was made, this was how much revenue the bad publicity cost them ... thank gods things have changed! Sorry about the quality of the capture at left: best one I could find.)

Here's his page on IMDB ... check out that filmography. I'm impressed.

James Dean: happy birthday, 2009 ... albeit posthumously!

James Dean would have been 78, if he were alive today. In fact, he was killed in a car smash when he was just 24. His movie legacy is brief, with just three iconic films (East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant) leaping out of filmic history to bring Dean into the forefront of the twentieth century motion picture legends. He was the first real genuine "Bad Boy" to catch the attention of movie fans and make hearts beat faster (though James Cagney had set a precedent for the Bad Boy back in the 1930s, with another generation of iconic movies like Angels With Dirty Faces, and White Heat.)

It would be fair to say, a lot of viewers couldn't stand him! It would be equally true to say he was worshipped by a lot more fans, and he continues to be idolized 54 years after the car wreck which ended his career. Now, much of what I know about James Dean, I learned from the biography James Dean: Portrait of a Friend, in which he was portrayed by one of my own favorite actors, Stephen McHattie (Canadian, born in 1947). I've been fascinated by Dean myself, for a long time.

Here's a brief quote from his page at Wikipedia:
Many American teens at the time of Dean's major movies identified with Dean and the roles he played, especially in Rebel Without A Cause: the typical teenager, caught where no one, not even his peers, can understand him. Joe Hyams says that Dean was "one of the rare stars, like Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift, who both men and women find sexy." According to Marjorie Garber, this quality is "the undefinable extra something that makes a star." Dean's iconic appeal has been attributed to the public's need for someone to stand up for the disenfranchised young of the era[18], and to the air of androgyny that he projected onscreen. Dean's "loving tenderness towards the besotted Sal Mineo in Rebel Without a Cause continues to touch and excite gay audiences by its honesty. The Gay Times Readers' Awards cited him as the male gay icon of all time."

Couldn't have put it better myself. The Stephen McHattie movie hints in every direction about James Dean's private life and persona, but it was made way back when, in an age when you couldn't be too up-front about this kind of, uh, thing. But it's interesting that reviewers now place Dean in the self-same file folder as Montgomery Clift, Rock Hudson and Sal Mineo -- all of whom were gay, and all of whom were attractive to both sides of the fence.

So -- happy birthday, James Dean, wherever you are.

James Spader: Happy birthday, 2009!

And it's Happy Birthday to James Spader, who turns 49 today! Who'da thunk it ... my brain must be stuck in a timeloop, because every time I think "James Spader," I think Stargate! Can't seem to help it ... which isn't actually fair to the actor, who was done REAMS of work since 1994, when the iconic movie came out -- most notably the part of Alan Shore, which spans two shows, The Practice, and Boston Legal.

So -- many happy returns to the original Doctor Daniel Jackson ... James Spader started something that isn't finished even yet. The movie Stargate really was James's project. The character of Jack O'Neill wasn't even really likable till the end -- even though you thoroughly understood what had made him so prickly. Kurt Russell was great in the role ... but James Spader stole the movie out from under him, and it would be fair to say that Richard Dean Anderson's Colonel Jack (as clearly distinct from any of the many Captain Jacks!) is by far the audience favorite.

The jury is out, as per who's the favorite Daniel Jackson, James Spader or Michael Shanks. Depends who you talk to. James Spader was the Jackson who got to actually play scenes with Jaye Davidson's Ra ... woah. I loved this movie. I know a lot of critics ripped into it, in 1994, but I think I saw it about six times at the movies!

(Incidentally, Stargate is back in 2009! See this: Headin' back through the Stargate in 2009)

Since Boston Legal, the question has been kicked around a lot: is the character of Alan Shore gay? What's going on between James Spader and William Shatner in this show?!

Here's a cute quote from Queerty:
Boston Legal may just be the funniest show on TV. It is well written, smart, and has an all-star, hilarious ensemble cast. It is the relationship between two straight men that makes the show so gay. William Shatner and James Spader share the same bed, bicker, and even dressed as matching pink flamingos for Halloween. It is the perfect gay relationship, except they don't have sex.
http://www.queerty.com/tag/james-spader/

Nice one ... I guess the jury is out on another issue here, too.

So now we get to the important stuff ... the eye candy! Here goes:

Think I'll be watching the movie tonight ... I got the director's cut, which is quite a lot longer, which makes it more of a treat!

Elijah Wood: Happy birthday, 2009

And today it's Happy Birthday Elijah Wood -- he turns 28! Time flies, doesn't it? The first time I saw Elijah Wood he was about 12, and he was playing Jamie Lee Curtis's son in the Mel Gibson movie, Forever Young.

History happened thereafter with the Lord of the Rings trilogy ... and the question fans are asking right now is, will he, Billy and Dominic be in the upcoming Hobbit movie? And this picture is NOT a costume call for The Hobbit, though one might wish it was:


The real problem with having Elijah, Billy and Dom in the next Tolkein movie would be simply that the three young hobbits didn't take part in the book ... in fact they wouldn't even have been born at the time Bilbo and Gahdalf took off on their previous adventures! ... so if they're going to be in the movie they'll have to be written into it. Or else they'll be under ten pounds of makeup playing dwarf characters. That won't be too good because when there's that much latex and paint on someone, you can't really SEE them! But for the story on this, click here: http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/the-hobbit-the-hobbit-prequel-in-the-pipeline-2009012710073

Mikhail Baryshnikov: happy birthday, 2009!

It just doesn't seem possible to believe that Mischa is 61 years old today! And yet ... how long is it since I sat in a cinema watching White Nights, and wishing the boy would stop acting (which he does very well) and start dancing ... because noooobody in this world does that like Baryshnikov!

I feel privileged to be old enough to remember seeing him when he was young, when things like The Turning Point were brand-new.

I hear somebody out there saying, "Mikhail who?"

Let me get this straight: some of you don't know who Baryshnikov is? Take a word of advice from AG: find out. Find out soon. You have no time to waste.

And if you'll just keeping scrolling down, I shall avail myself of the opportunity to show you why!







There you go. Men in tights. And you thought the ballet was boring! Snarfle. Who told you that?!