Abe Vigoda’s catch phrase could be taken from Mark Twain, “News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated.” Apparently the actor has been dodging death rumors since 1982, when it got falsely printed that the late actor was not at a Barney Miller wrap party. Like some surreal Monty Python sketch Vigoda has spent the last twenty-five plus years routinely popping up to dispel death rumors. CNN.Com just put up an article on Tuesday assuring everyone that he is still alive at age 87 and is one of the top hand ball players in New York City. You go Mr. Tessio!
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Mickey Rourke’s new movie Wrestler, which got a lot of good press at the Toronto Film Festival. A lot of critics are saying that this is his big comeback. I don’t consider this Rourke’s comeback. For me he was already back. The film that did it was Sin City. Though technically not the star due to the film’s set up as an anthology, Rourke’s brutal anti-hero Harv blew everybody from Bruce Willis to Clive Owen off the screen. He was the real star of that film and is the one character that sticks in your mind after the credits finish rolling. I hope Rourke enjoys the kind of success from his re-emergence as a leading man that Robert Downey is having.
With the election coming up, it is a time to start weighing pros and cons on the candidates, Obama or McCain, Democrat or Republican, stances on the War, the economy, who looks more presidential, etc., etc.. Then I was reading an interesting article on Roger Ebert’s web site and found that there is another way of deciding who my vote should go for. According to Facebook, Obama’s favorite movie is Casablanca and McCain’s is Viva Zapata. So now it comes down to would you rather have a Bogart fan or a Brando fan running the country. Tough call! Checking out the Vips doesn’t help, neither Biden or Palin list favorite movies on any web pages. I know, you think I’m being sarcastic and a little silly, which I am. But considering the state of our country right now and how doubtful that it can be fixed within the time span of the next administration, regardless of who wins the election, picking a candidate by what their favorite movie is, is as good a way as any. My choice? Not saying, both were great actors. Now if one of them had said Raiders of the Lost Ark or Ed Wood, that would be a different matter. Interesting side note: the article also lists former President Clinton’s favorite movie as High Noon and current President Bush’s as Field of Dreams. Make of that what you will.
