Cheers to the (nearly) long weekend!
Cheers to the deadline that has been postponed!
Cheers to another movie marathon!
Call me crazy, but I immediately started another movie marathon right after my lecturer announced that the final assignment's deadline had been postponed to next Monday. This movie marathon was not planned, I'll tell you my reason why I chose this actor. And, my latest 3 movie marathons were all the actors who have played Sherlock Holmes, my favorite fictional character ever -- Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, and now, Jonny Lee Miller! You can check my SH post here and here :)
Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is one of my favorite actors of all time. For all the people who don't know who he is (OH, COME ON), I suggest you check the TV series Eli Stone, or his latest series Elementary, where he portrays Sherlock Holmes.
JLM was born British, but he also can use American accent perfectly, like he did in some of his movies and in Eli Stone and Dexter. Some people who have watched Eli Stone couldn't believe that he was a British because he sounded and looked like an American. He had played various kind of roles (hacker, drug addict, journalist, pilot, killer, cyclist, detective, and many more -- I wouldn't list them all, right?!) and that's what made him got into the list of my favorite actors haha. He also appeared on broadway for After Miss Julie, and played Victor Frankenstein and The Creature alternately with Benedict Cumberbatch for the stage production of Frankenstein. Yes, they are both Sherlock Holmes!
I've heard him singing in one of his movies, Love, Honour and Obey. He is also a marathon runner. I told ya, he's good at anything. Oh, and he is a supporter of Chelsea -- I knew this because he once replied to my tweet (and it made me go GYAAAAAHHHHH). Too bad, I myself support Chelsea's rival Manchester United. Well, that doesn't mean I stop loving him. Come on, my father is also a Chelsea supporter, my brother is a Gunner (Arsenal supporter) and Barcelona supporter, and my mother doesn't even care about this football thing to support one.
So, what makes you decided to do Jonny Lee Miller movie marathon?
Like I said, I wasn't planning this at all. I just happened to have a Dexter marathon, and since JLM was a guest star in season 5, I rushed to watch it until it reached season 5. I didn't know what kind of role he would be playing; didn't even try to find it on the internet. I just had to watch it. And voila! I loved it. He played Jordan Chase, a motivational speaker who was tied to a rape and murder case. Not that I loved the character, I just loved the way JLM played Chase -- who was inspiring and intimidating (and scary!) at the same time. It was soooo great!!! I mean, I watched him on Elementary first, so I just couldn't believe it that he used to play the character like Chase. *standing ovation*
After I finished it, I got a starstruck on him, despite having known him for years. You can see all the fuss on my latest Midnight Random Thought. Yeah, I'm sorry I got crazy like that sometimes. (SOMETIMES???!!!)
At first, I watched Aeon Flux and Mindhunters only. Then, after a week without movies because of the assignments, it was announced that the deadline has been postponed. So, I got even crazier; I watched all of JLM movies that I had and the ones that I could find.
Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Aeon Flux
2. Mindhunters
3. Endgame
4. The Flying Scotsman
5. Plunkett and Macleane
6. Dracula 2000
7. Byzantium
8. Dark Shadows
9. Complicity
10. Trainspotting
11. The Escapist
12. Hackers
13. Love, Honour and Obey
After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
Is it wrong to say that I LOVE all of them? There are so many movies of his, but I could only watch 13 of them. But I think it's impossible to short-review those 13, so I just picked some.
First, I really, really love Mindhunters. It's like FBI meets Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None. How could I not love this movie?! Yeah, I love FBI-related movies or TV series, especially about profilers, like Criminal Minds. I could not just miss this movie. JLM here played Lucas Harper, one of the young FBI students who were sent to an island to undergo a training to be a profiler. What they didn't know was that it was more than a training as they discovered that one of them was a serial killer and was targeting the others. Quite convincing, huh? And it had amazing cast, other than JLM himself.
The second is Hackers, where JLM played a young hacker, Dade Murphy, who, along with other fellow hackers, discovered a dangerous computer virus and must use their skills to take down the man behind it, while being pursued by Secret Service. Oh, and this movie also starred Angelina Jolie (who was JLM's ex wife -- ok, don't be surprised), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy in Scooby Doo), and Jesse Bradford (Charlie in My Sassy Girl). Just so you know, this movie came out in 1995, where the internet was unfamiliar to the public. It has became a cult classic since.
The third is The Escapist. I watched this without subtitle, so excuse me if I got the movie wrong. Denis Hopkins (JLM) was a pilot. When some robbers led by Ricky (Andy Serkis) broke into his house and killed his wife, he tried to get revenge by breaking a police car so he could get arrested -- later attempting to escape purposely from the prison to get him transferred to the maximum security prison where Ricky was. It was very good and thrilling. JLM's acting as desperate and vengeful husband was sooo great. It was supported by convincing acting of Serkis, who was really scary and annoying too.
The fourth is Love, Honour and Obey. So, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from different adaptations in one film? This is irresistible, at least for me. JLM and Jude Law! Wait, there's more. Rhys Ifans and Sean Pertwee, who played Mycroft Holmes and Lestrade respectively in Elementary (yep, with JLM), also appeared in this movie. Daaammmnnn! I was so happy that I could only laugh and clap my hands speechlessly. In this movie, almost all the characters had the same name with the actors who played them. Jude (Law), who came from a gangster family, was asked by his friend Jonny (JLM) to help him got into the North London criminal gang. As Jonny got more involved, he started making mistakes that would led him and the others to start a 'war' with South London mob.
The fifth is The Flying Scotsman, a film based on the true story of Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree (JLM) who tried to break the world record by building his very own bicycle from washing machine parts and inventing the unlikely riding position. We also could see Obree's mental health problem which he had suffered since the world-record title was stripped from him after only a week. I'm not a cyclist though, but I love cycling with my family. Seeing this movie made me want to go home sooner, reunite with my bicycle, and then go cycling until my legs tired!
Honorable mention: Aeon Flux and Trainspotting
Aeon Flux was the first movie where I recognized JLM. Trainspotting was a good movie, but somehow I couldn't 'connect' with it--but again, JLM was soooooo great in this movie as Sick Boy!
Ah, I really want to write them all, but I'm tired already -_- And I love all his movies. He's always been perfect in every movie he's in.
Okay then, you should know Jonny Lee Miller by now hahaha.
"The whole point of being an actor is to get satisfaction out of a role --
unless you're just vain about celebrity. You're always looking for the
one thing that will surprise you."
- Jonny Lee Miller
See you in the next movie marathon post!
And have a great 2014!
Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.
Brenda Gagnon
ReplyDeleteloved him in Dead Man's Walk, Behind Enemy Lines, Mind Hunter and The Escapist.