Smarties : actresses and actors who made wise career choices

Unlike The Lost from a few days ago,these artists have made extremely smart career choices.Whether they were average or extraordinary,child prodigies or mature actors,all of them resisted the urge of over-exposing and built their careers on excellent roles in smart movies.They may have slipped occasionally but their careers could be a good studying material for young wannabee stars.


So my choice of Smarties,in random order:





1.Michelle Wiliams,probably one of the smartest career women in Hollywood,from Dawson's Creek to 3 Oscar nominations,the girl is an uber Smartie





2.Tobey Maguire, even though he was Spiderman and therefore very exposed,all of his choices were very intelligent and he made the most of his qualities





3.Maggie Gyllenhall,in spite of some slips she still manages well her career,could do much more




4.Kevin Spacey,excellent guy,excellent choices




5.Emma Stone, from "Easy A" on she chose well





6.Johnny Depp,the man with many wise choices and then he did  "The Tourist"?????Still,smart career




7.Ellen Page,from "Juno" to "Touchy Feely",good moves




8.Joseph Gordon Levitt, thoughtful career




9.Marisa Tomei,excellent actress,enviable roles




10.Stanley Tucci,I ll forgive him "Burlesque" bc he is almost perfect




11.Elisabeth Olsen,so far so smart




12.Julia Louis Dreyfus,one of the funniest women in show business,excellent career planner,brilliant




13.Gillian Anderson,agent Scully keeps reinventing herself

Talents who got lost in confusing career choices

It is always sad to watch talented people make bad career decisions,starting with great roles and then getting lost in disputable or really awful projects.Some of them come to their senses but some get simply lost.

So a whisper to all the lost boys and girls in la la land and worldwide : wake up quickly and find some decent roles even if it means waiting for some time.

My choice of The Lost,in random order:





1.Jake Gyllenhall,from Brokeback Mountain to Prince of Persia,seriously?????????????The End of Watch gives me hope but still........




2.Kate Hudson,from Almost Famous to becoming the queen of rom coms,I am furious with her because she was very good at her beginnings




3.Gerard Butler,probably the biggest waste of talent and the worst career choices imaginable,could have been very good





4.Amanda Seyfried,also a lot of questionable choices and a lot of potential




5.Jim Sturgess,potential,potential




6.Katherine Heigl,does anyone remember her debut with Depardieu?After all her bad roles,hardly.




7.Shia LaBoeuf,a guy everyone loves to hate,actually a very talented kid whose career is a mess




8.Freida Pinto,great start and then nothing,a pity




9.Adrian Brody,I don't even know where to start,what is he doing???????????




10.Natalie Portman, an Oscar winner with some absurd choices




11.Hugh Jackman,sadly, he managed to waste his undeniable many talents on mostly unchallenging roles

Looks only : in acting,it is simply not enough

The inspiration for this post came from the trailer for "Rush",the new movie by Ron Howard who made a common mistake to trust a great looking actor with much more than he can give.I love to see beautiful people on screen and tv,I really do.And generally I am very generous and try not to expect a lot from them since they already have those gorgeous  physiques.It is crucial to have good looking  actors and actresses on screen since the public needs escape from dreary everyday life.We want to fall in love with them and we do,forgiving them  easily the lack of real talent or skill .

When they stay in the realm of non demanding roles,everything is fine.But when misguided directors encumber them with challenging and complex tasks,all they have is lost.Their looks fade and the whole purpose of their on screen existence vanishes.

So here are a few of the "beautiful and damned",in random order,and I think no explanations are necessary.





1.Chris Hemsworth




2.Eva Mendes




3.Arnie Hammer



4.Olivia Wilde




5.Ashton Kutcher




6.Malin Akerman





7.Chris Pine




8.Blake Lively




9.Hayden Christensen




10.Megan Fox





11.Kellan Lutz




12.Amber Heard

Emmy nominations 2013, great surprises and the snub of the year

The Emmy nominations are out and congratulations to all the nominees,they have all deserved it.Of course,I have some favorites and a few true regrets.

Lovely surprises:

 Linda Cardellini in Mad Men

              all the House of Cards nominations

Connie Britton in Nashville

                               Vera Farmiga in Bates Motel

Don Cheadle in House of Lies,

                                                          Laura Linney in The Big C

Bobby Cannavale in Boardwalk Empire and

                                          Khaleesi herself ,Emilia Clarke for Game of Thrones!



And my regrets are "Boardwalk Empire",the fantastic drama that wasn't nominated in drama series category and of course "Rectify",probably the best drama on tv,utterly and unjustly snubbed.

Let's all hope that we'll all have a great show in September and  see some new faces receiving the awards!

"The Bridge": an intriguing story ruined by poor casting

"The Bridge" is a new tv series,a powerful story about lost girls of Juarez,American crime,illegals,Mexican cartels and much more.It could be a great tv series if the casting directors Rebecca Mangieri and Wendy Weidman did their job well. Well they didn't and we can watch a fantastic actor like Demian Bichir over-playing everyone in the ludicrously chosen cast.

Every good casting director knows that it is forbidden to put an overwhelming talent with average or awful partners.He can do everything he can but he can't save the show.

His partner,the irritatingly overrated Diane Kruger,is trying to interpret a complex and interestingly written character,a female detective with AS.Mrs Kruger was never up to the great expectations and great chances someone in Hollywood continues to offer her and this project is no exception.She tries,I give her that,she has some not awful moments but she is continuously over her head,skill or talent.She is simply an average girl,decent looking and obviously born under a very lucky star.Every scene she has with Bichir is a carnage,a pitiful demonstration of how a true,effortless talent rules over anything.

The rest of the cast is unfortunately closer to Kruger's tone with the exception of Catalina Sandino Moreno,a very fine actress who is unfortunately lacking challenging roles.

Annabeth Gish,a very pretty actress with long experience in various tv shows, she has nothing interesting to offer but her good looks.

Ted Levine,decent,experienced,boring.Matthew Lillard,completely out of place here,could be interesting but somehow lacks depth for this theme and last but not the least, an absolutely awful episode played by Arturo del Puerto,a gem of role gone ludicrous by predictability and lack of talent.The rest of the cast is not even worth mentioning.

So You have an Oscar nominee,Demian Bichir playing it as it should be done and opposite him everyone else ruining it .It is a betrayal to the kind of story they were supposed to tell and it is offensive to the serious and talented actors in Mexico and USA who could have made a truly great series if someone has given them the chance.

Series casting is one of the toughest jobs in the business.There are so many things to be careful about but there is one simple rule:homogeneous cast.You can have a star,everyone prays for it, but then the rest of the cast,even the smallest roles,need to be chosen accordingly.A good casting director knows it and a good director and producers should know better than to rely on one great actor to pull all the weight.

It's a pity,for Bichir,and much more for the important story and message that this project had a chance to deliver.

And anyone who has seen Sofia Helin in the Swedish original understands even better how tragic was the choice of Diane Kruger.