Tues Top Ten: Eye Patch Cool

by Nathaniel R

In the new film A Private War Rosamund Pike plays real life war correspondent Marie Colvin (killed in 2012) who ran straight for trouble to cover it for the Sunday Times. Critics have been enthralled with her work in the film, often mentioning 'Oscar worthiness'. Jeff Schneider recently said "if Nicole Kidman gave that same performance we'd all be talking about it as a potential frontrunner". I haven't yet seen the film but there is definitely truth in thae general implications of that statement that some actors carry with them a head start in terms of perception of awards-worthiness.

In honor of Pike's new eye-patched role, and to distract us from election worries, a tuesday top ten featuring one-eyed favs from both feature films and TV series.

10 GREAT EYE PATCHED CHARACTERS

10 The Chevalier du Balibari (Patrick Magee) in Barry Lyndon (1975)
Magee was one of the best characters actors of the 60s and 70s, wasn't he? Strange that he got so little awards love during his career (apart from that Tony win for Marat/Sade).

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One Week Left to Watch ___________

It's a massacre of available older streaming titles this month although there aren't very many major titles among them. [Disclaimer: Netflix hasn't announced yet so all of these titles are Amazon Prime but bear in mind that the Amazon Prime titles are not "official". They don't ever publish that list much to the frustration of their customers! So this info gathered from users about expiration notices they've seen on their personal watch lists. Sometimes it changes abruptly.

Let's play our game where we freeze frame them at very random places and see what pops up. Okay? Okay.

Mrs Doyle: I'd like to see that file.
Police Inspector: I'd be very happy to show it to you. 

Crime of Passion (1957)
My god Barbara Stanwyck's voice. It gets me every time. Everything sounds so subliminally erotic. In this one she's married to a detective but bored into ambitious dangerous action.

Five more after the jump...

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Beauty vs Beast: Daughter Dearest

Howdy, folks - Jason from MNPP here with this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" is which we'll be celebrating the 61st birthday of the great Debra Winger. I assume most of you, being right and proper actressexuals, have seen the terrific documentary bearing her name Searching For Debra Winger, but if not, get on that. I haven't seen it since it came out in 2002 and part of me wonders if it's maybe, hopefully, begun to feel a bit dated? That film feeling dated can only be a good thing because it means roles for actresses are getting better. If nothing else, Winger herself has been working somewhat steadily over the past few years with recent roles on In Treatment and the Netflix series The Ranch.

All that said, we're really here today for Classic Winger...

PREVIOUSLY Two weeks back we celebrated the sexy time that is A Bigger Splash with a glance back at its original (and also sexy) incarnation, 1969's La Piscine - stuffing the ballot box like he did those speedos, Alain Delon carried off about 80% of your votes. Said Steven:

"Alain Delon>>>>>>>every young pretty boy out there in Hollywood."

Beauty vs Beast: Who's Splashin' Who

Jason from MNPP here with our Tuesday serial "Beauty vs Beast" - one of our most anticipated movies of the year is out this upcoming Friday with A Bigger Splash, director Luca Guadagnino's reunion with his I Am Love star Tilda Swinton. (I saw the two of them talk here in NYC recently and the love is real, people.) Coming along for the ride is the hottest cast this side of sex-dreams - Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, and my Belgian boyfriend Matthias Schoenaerts. (Back off, people - when you've done over 100 posts about him maybe we can talk.) The sweat's been palpable in every trailer we've seen, and we can't wait.

I imagine most of you know this film is a remake of Jacques Dera's equally perspirant La Piscine from 1969, which starred Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin as the equally (maybe even more, somehow???) photogenic foursome, and that's where we're taking you for today's challenge. I'm not sure how well-seen this movie is these days so I foresee a lot of votes being cast simply for "Alain Delon in a swimsuit" but I have no problem with that. It deserves recognition! (Plus Ronet's no slouch in the sex department.)

PREVIOUSLY You guys sure were hot for Chicago and those dangerous dames at its black jazzy heart - with just under 600 votes the contest was as tight as Roxie's fringed dress, but she ultimately stomped her way to the title with .34% of the vote. Wowza! Said Nick T:

"The fact that these women are so close to tying is probably the best way to reward two great characters who'd be livid that they're tying with anyone at all, especially each other."

Oh No Not Alain Delon

JA from MNPP here with some upsetting news - famed French beauty Alain Delon (who I could have sworn was openly bisexual way back in the day) has spoken out against homosexuality in France, calling it "unnatural" and saying that men "are here to love a woman, to woo a woman, not to flirt with or get picked up by guys." French writer Claude Serraute hysterically responded, “It is against nature to love yourself as much as he does.” Anyway Delon says he doesn't give a damn about gay marriage, but that he's against the adoption of children by gay couples.

Am I going to have to burn my copy of Purple Noon now, you guys? I really don't want to burn my copy of Purple Noon. And Rocco and His Brothers! I loved that shower scene so much. And what to do about my cherished memories of the way he and Jean-Paul Belmondo were always hanging on each other? Am I supposed to forget all that? This is a travesty. With one bigoted pile of big-mouth bullcrap so many of my favorite movie fantasies have been dashed. Damn him. It's like how I can't watch Contempt anymore without thinking of Brigitte Bardot's homophobic comments. Can old French actors just shut up and stop ruining classics? At least we'll always have Saint Deneuve. (Oh wait.)