This clip makes me think about Doug Patterson and N.C. State Youth Camp.
In honor of release of the upcoming movie 2012, here are the top 5 John Cusack leading roles, with some (but definitely not all) favorite lines from the movie.
* Note: In true Rob Gordon (#5) fashion, the list is character age chronological.
Lane Myer (Better Off Dead): This, to me, is the template movie for many teen movies to follow (and, even though it wasn’t his first movie, was the first movie to really draw attention to him.)Line: “Man, it’s a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that.”
Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything): The iconic 1980s movie. Peter Gabriel certainly benefited, as did the trench coat industry. Line: “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.” (Alternate: “I’m looking for a dare-to-be-great situation.”)
Walter “Gib” Gibson (The Sure Thing): While Better Off Dead may have made people take serious notice, it’s his role in this Rob Reiner film that’s one of my favorites. Line: “How’s this for an opening line: Did you know that Nietzsche died of syphilis?”
Martin Blank (Grosse Point Blank): Let’s face it, how many of us avoided / tried to avoid the dreaded high school reunion? And, who among us hasn’t wondered what it would be like to be an assassin? Line: “You can never go home again … but I guess you can shop there.”
Rob Gordon (High Fidelity): This movie let me know it was OK to get married. That’s all I’ll say. Line: “John Dillenger was shot dead behind that theater in a hail of FBI gunfire. You know who tipped them off? His f***ing girlfriend. He just wanted to go to the movies.”
It could be (successfully, I think) argued that each of these characters are just one character: the typical X-generation male growing up, from awkward high schooler to self-realization to marriage crackup. It’s the circle of life, Simba, in five movies. If that is the case, that’s why I’ll add this bonus:
Craig Schwartz (Being John Malkevich): Puppeteer and entrepreneur. And pretty quirky. Line: “This is something I call Craig’s Dance of Despair and Disillusionment.”
Including the bonus, you have pretty much the life cycle of millions of men: high school achiever, college slacker, career questioner, husband, leading to the downward spiral. Kind of depressing, isn’t it? But, I guess that’s where Serendipity comes in.
What are your top five John Cusack leading roles? What order would you put these in? What lines would you use?
After listening to Bob Dylan’s latest album, I’m convinced that this, “Spirit on the Water” from 2006’s Modern Times, may be his last great song.
The meandering 7-minute tome has a beautiful, relaxing beat and lyrics to match. This video doesn’t do the song justice, but trust me, it’s the best thing he’s done in a while.
This also begs the question, paraphrased from the classic John Cusack movie “High Fidelity”:
How much grace are we supposed to grant a once-great artist for their late-career albums?
Grace may have ended at the release of Together Through Life.
In an effort to brush the dust off CDs I haven’t heard in a while, I pulled out Third Eye Blind’s first album from 1997. Even though it’s been 11 years, I still crank the stereo when this songcomes on. The lyric at the end of the first verse always hits home.
… And I’m sleeping on the couch when I came to visit you
That’s when I knew
That I could never have you
I knew that before you did Still I’m the one who’s stupid …
I’m not exactly sure why, though I think it has something to do with a natural post-teen angst and a self-loathing about being “the friend” when we always wanted more. I think most people — guys especially, but girls too — can identify with that sort of longing. There’s a twinge of sadness mixed with a twinge of satisfaction in knowing that someone has finally given words to your emotion. Like John Cusack says in High Fidelity: “Do I listen to pop music because I’m depressed, or am I depressed because I listen to pop music?”
I saw Third Eye Blind with gal-pal Kristen at the old Tampa Stadium when they opened for U2 during the ill-fated Pop Mart tour (which was a good show and album that got a bad rap … but that’s an opinion for another time). I had no idea who the band was until they launched into Semi-Charmed Life, which was getting huge at the time. They were good enough for me to get the album sometime in the weeks after the show.
And what an album. This is one of the few albums where the last three songs are as strong as the first three; and this song, stuck between The Background and God of Wine shines with its crescendo and fist-pumping anthem of “I’ve never been so alone alone alive alive …!”
Anyway, Motorcycle Drive By is just another song that twists and wrings its way into the biography of life. And that’s where it fits in mine. On the couch. Feeling stupid but alive.
Saw the John Cusack film War Inc. this past weekend.
It was a curious blend of ego, cynicism disguised as sarcasm, and, oddly enough, nostalgia. To be honest, it probably could’ve used another rewrite and a tighter edit. The story could have possibly worked (a cross between Grosse Point Blank, Thank You for Smoking, and Lords of War.
It seems that Cusack is trying with the film (as with the straight-to-video The Contract) to remind everyone that he’s not just a RomCom champ. It doesn’t seem like anyone is buying. As he enters this leg of his career, he may find himself slowly being pushed aside and into a type. These projects may be his attempts to stay relevant. But it also recalls the scene in High Fidelity in which Barry (Jack Black) asks:
BARRY
Rob. Top five musical crimes
perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the
’80’s and ’90’s. Subquestion — is
it in fact unfair to criticize a
formerly great artist for his
latter-day sins? “Is it better to
burn out than to fade away?”
Which begs the question: what are the top five, desert-island Cusack movies of the 2000s? Are they all just latter day sins? No, but a list like this would negate most of the movies that made Cusack Cusack, including The Sure Thing (1985), Better Off Dead (1985), Grosse Point Blank (1997), and, of course, Say Anything (1989).
But, still, the 15 or so Cusack movies of the 2000s do offer some gems … and some lemons. Here’s my top five:
5. Identity (2003)
4. Martian Child (2007)
3. Serendipity (2001), I’m a sucker, I know.
2. Max (2002)
1. High Fidelity (2000) … of course.
Here’s the others from the 2000s (from imdb.com): America’s Sweethearts (2001) (this could easily fit in the top five), Runaway Jury (2003), Must Love Dogs (2005), The Ice Harvest (2005), The Contract (2006), Grace Is Gone (2007) (Note: I haven’t seen this one yet), 1408 (2007) (liked it, but need to watch it again), Summerhood (2008) (uncredited), Igor (2008), and, of course, War, Inc. (2008).
So I go out of town tomorrow and that means I get to make a travel CD. It’s my own private “Project Mayhem,” except without all the violence and hitting and explosions and split personality.
It’s something I have done the past couple times I rent a car: I leave the CD in the player for the next person to enjoy. (OK, OK, I know … the company checks the radio for stray CDs before renting the car out again, but allow me my fantasy.)
Now, making a mix CD always reminds me of “High Fidelity,” one of my top five favorite movies. In it, Rob Gordon (John Cusack, the greatest American living actor) delivers this soliloquy:
“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick it off with a killer to grab attention. Then you gotta take it up a notch, but you don’t want to blow your wad, so then you gotta cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.”
Mind you, this project has two distinct purposes:
It has to entertain me as I tool around some strange town for a couple days.
And possibly, more importantly, this music I leave behind is a statement of who I am to the next person, a kind of tutorial on things that I think others should be listening to.
With that in mind, what should I put on it? Who is worthy of such a statement? Bob Dylan? U2? Hanson? (OK, maybe not Hanson … I just don’t know you well enough to drop some MMmm-Bop) … Should I put some Johnny Cash or stuff more obscure, like The Pigeon Detectives or Iron & Wine? Should I try for some street cred with early Public Enemy AND some Clash? Should I be totally androgynous and record 80 minutes of Morrissey?
Sometimes I put the Britsound radio show on. Maybe I’ll be loyal to the family and put the Pomegranates.
What would you put on a mix tape left for someone anonymous?
Lane Myer (Better Off Dead): This, to me, is the template movie for many teen movies to follow (and, even though it wasn’t his first movie, was the first movie to really draw attention to him.) Line: “Man, it’s a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that.”
Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything): The iconic 1980s movie. Peter Gabriel certainly benefited, as did the trench coat industry. Line: “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.” (Alternate: “I’m looking for a dare-to-be-great situation.”)
Walter “Gib” Gibson (The Sure Thing): While Better Off Dead may have made people take serious notice, it’s his role in this Rob Reiner film that’s one of my favorites. Line: “How’s this for an opening line: Did you know that Nietzsche died of syphilis?”
Martin Blank (Grosse Point Blank): Let’s face it, how many of us avoided / tried to avoid the dreaded high school reunion? And, who among us hasn’t wondered what it would be like to be an assassin? Line: “You can never go home again … but I guess you can shop there.”
Rob Gordon (High Fidelity): This movie let me know it was OK to get married. That’s all I’ll say. Line: “John Dillenger was shot dead behind that theater in a hail of FBI gunfire. You know who tipped them off? His f***ing girlfriend. He just wanted to go to the movies.”
Craig Schwartz (Being John Malkevich): Puppeteer and entrepreneur. And pretty quirky. Line: “This is something I call Craig’s Dance of Despair and Disillusionment.”
