Happy Friday the 13th all!
A few of my upcoming posts are taking longer than usual, but no fret, in the meantime, we’ve got some film folks’ birthdays to celebrate. So to mark the occasion, I pick a scene from one of the films in their resume that I think are memorable.
Samantha Morton turns 34
Miss Morton might not be a household name, but chances are you’ve seen at least one or two of her stellar work. The English actress was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Woody Allen’s Sweet and Low Down and she was fantastic in Jim Sheridan’s In America, about an Irish immigrant family adjusting to life in the United States. But one of her most memorable roles to me was in Steven Spielberg’s neo-noir sci-fi thriller Minority Report as the precog Agatha who ends up helping Tom Cruise’s John Anderton escape the Precrime team. This mall chase scene, especially right as the balloons show up, is by far one of the coolest scenes from the movie:
…
Joe Johnston turns 61
The Texan-born director isn’t what you would call prolific as he’s only got 11 titles under his belt. But this year is a big one for him with the release of Captain America this July. The look of the Marvel superhero flick is a throwback to an action adventure flick he did in 1991, The Rocketeer. It’s such an under-appreciated film that just celebrated its 20th anniversary recently with a special re-release event in L.A. attended by the cast and crew! (see info on Hero Complex) I wish I had been able to attend that and see it on the big screen once again. I highly recommend it if you haven’t already. Check out the trailer below:
…
Robert Pattinson turns 25
The massively popular Twilight star now can legally rent a car on his own 😀 Now, don’t worry, I’m not gonna post a clip of him all pale and sparkly. To his credit, I think he’s a pretty talented guy if you’re willing to get past his emo-vampire character and actually watch him in something else. I did that with Remember Me and thought he did a decent job shedding his Edward persona, and proves to be quite a versatile actor. There’s not exactly a memorable clip from that movie though (well other than the ending but I don’t want to spoil the film for you), so I choose this one from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the only HP movie Pattinson’s character Cedric Diggory appears in. His character’s tragic demise at the hand of Voldemort is certainly one of the most memorable scenes in the whole franchise.
…
So happy happy birthday, Samantha, Joe and R-Patz!
Please feel free to add your own well-wishes to the b’day folks in the comments below.
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
AH! Rob Pattinson in Harry Potter. I was totally tormented by his death. Even in the book, Cedric Diggory was described as an extremely good-looking guy, and an only son of Mr. Diggory. Why JKRowling would off such a guy was beyond me. (^~^) It was too cruel.
Y’know I gotta admit I teared up quite a bit seeing the reaction of the people seeing his lifeless body… especially when his dad yelped ‘that’s my boy…’ So sad 😦
I’m surprise that Samantha Morton never became a household name after Minority Report, she’s very good in that movie. I’ve never seen In America but I always hear good things about it.
I’m also surprise that Joe Johnston only has done 11 films, I need to see The Rocketeer again, it’s been a long time since I saw it. His Jumanji film was a lot of fun but I haven’t seen it in a while, not sure how I’d feel about it now if I see it. Hopefully Capt. America will be a fun movie.
You know Rob Pattinson looks a lot like a friend of mine and I always call him Cedric, he doesn’t read the Harry Potter books or watch any of the films but he knows about that character because he’s been told many times by other people. It annoys the heck out of him. Ha ha.
Morton is so talented and still relatively young so who knows she might get a super high profile role that’d finally gets her noticed.
Apparently Johnston is a visual effects director as well so he probably just busy doing other stuff besides directing. I remember enjoying Jumanji, but it’s Rocketeer that makes me really hopeful about Cap. America. One thing for sure, he sure knows how to cast a good villain 😉
Wow, you have a friend who looks like R-Patz? Bring him along next time we go out, ahah… but like you said, as a guy it’s probably no fun to look like someone who’s adored by tween girls. At least count himself lucky he doesn’t look like Justin Bieber!
Oh trust me my friend doesn’t mind looking the way he does at all, let’s just say he changes his girlfriends as many times as I change my socks in a week. Ha ha.
I think the last movie I saw that Johnston directed was The Wolfman, great effects of course but the film failed in so many ways. Wasn’t in fault though since he came in the last minute to finish it. It could’ve been a great horror classic.
Team Samatha!
I saw a filler news item about R-Patz’s birthday, making my sister highly resentful that she’s a days older than him. Then I tell him about his mopey ‘lonely at the top’ stories, his fame having a great effect on him. There are five actors in the Twilight series that I care more about (Stewart, Sheen, Fanning, LeFevre, Gidandet. Yes, Gigandet.), but good luck to him.
Oh I like Sheen, but not in that franchise. As for the rest, I’m not familiar w/ their work, though I’m curious to see Stewart and Fanning in The Runaways after my friend Vince told me how much he enjoyed it.
Totally forgot that The Runaways is a Twilight alum reunion, and an acceptable acting film as well!
Fine article, rtm. Since I was born on a Friday the 13th, I have a natural affinity for posts like this one. Ah… Samatha. She was great in Minority Report, a sci-fi film I really admire. Rachel and I started our duo book/film post series with it, in fact (the review is on my old blog).
And of course, you and I are Joe Johnston enthusiasts. He was also the art/visual effects director for another of my all-time faves, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Can’t wait for his Captain America to arrive. And while I’m not into Twilight or his character in that series, Pattison was good in his brief Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire stint. Thanks for this.
Wahoo… well then you’ll be extra blessed. My two twin brothers are born on the 13th so I never see that as a ‘bad’ number (or any number for that matter, except 666)
I took a brief look at your MR article, I have to go back and read it more closely. It’s a great film indeed, one of Spielberg’s best and Cruise’s best performance IMO.
Yes, we both are fans of Rocketeers, yay! I just realized he’s won an Oscar for his visual effects work, so Cap. America will certainly look great, especially digging the retro look as you know.
Oh so you like HP too, so we have another thing in common, Michael 😀
As you know, Flixy, I find Morton rather irritating. Kinda like Emily Watson. But there is one film I liked her in. She was quite great in ELIZABETH THE GOLDEN AGE as Queen Mary!
Oh right, Morton was Mary the Queen of Scot, she really was good in Elizabeth. Btw Dezzy, speaking of that costume drama, you have to come back tomorrow for a special tribute to one actress we both adore 🙂
who could that be? Lindsay Lohan? 🙂