Pacino

I have heard many people say that their favorite actor from the 1970s is Dustin Hoffman or Robert De Niro. There's also Jack Nicholson and Jack Lemmon and Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman and Warren Beatty. I like all these guys, but my favorite - that's my story and I'm sticking to it - is Al Pacino and has been for ages.

It's easy to say that he yells a lot in his performances these days. Fine. He has a lot to yell about. But, let's just go back a moment: Serpico and The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II and Dog Day Afternoon and ...And Justice for All. are really just the beginning of a career for a man who has continued to produced excellent, surprising performances for the three decades since ...And Justice for All. The man continues to choose difficult roles and is choosing, more often than not, excellent material as well. It seems unfair to compare Angels in America or The Merchant of Venice to, say, Meet the Fockers and Everybody's Fine, but... well, I just made the comparison. My point is that I think Pacino has continued to challenge himself and add to his own work with engrossing and powerful performances even though he is over seventy years old. It's a fine body of work, and I hope the fine performances keep coming.

Love him.

The Jewish Dog of Venice Who Was Made to Be a Christian

In case you were wondering, The Merchant of Venice is still a profoundly bigoted piece of writing and Michael Radford's film is not—even in the year of our Lord 2004—able to overcome the play's inherent bigotry.
I watched my screener's copy tonight after hanging out with Jai in Old Town Pas.
Al Pacino is wonderful, simply put, and this woman who plays Portia (her name is Lynn Collins) is completely alluring and totally hot.
I loved the costumes, but I have to say I just still hate this play. It makes me incredibly upset and almost sick to my stomach. The injustice in this play is equal for me to the injustice in a hit-'em-over-the-head piece like The Crucible: it's that level of injustice. I was seriously saying "fuck you" over and over and over to my screen. There's no way around it. I don't ever want to do this play; I don't think I ever want to even see this play again. And if anyone ever tells me they want to mount a production I will ask them why with a look of complete incredulity on my face and then politely refuse to be a part of it.