"788"

Robert Duvall fully earns the hallowed term “actor’s actor.” He is superb in most anything he’s in. And at age 83, he’s still doing his thing. On a plane recently, I finally caught Tom Cruise’s diverting thriller “Jack Reacher” (2012), and there was octogenarian Duvall playing a gun dealer, stealing every scene he was in. Watching him ace this small but key supporting role made me feel it was time to pay tribute to a man who’s appeared in some of the greatest films of the past half-century.   Born to William Howard Duvall, a career military officer from Virginia, and his wife Mildred, an amateur actress and descendant of General Robert E. Lee, Duvall's childhood was peripatetic; his father was transferred frequently to various bases around the country.

It’s very hard not to like Harrison Ford. He seems like one of us. He’s a ruggedly handsome, well-built guy, but his prominent nose, slightly goofy, off-center grin, and that prominent scar on his chin, somehow make him more human and accessible than your standard issue leading man. And in all his “heroic” roles, be it Han Solo or Richard Kimble, he’s never afraid to show us when he’s totally freaked out. I love that.    Not many people know this, but Ford’s movies have grossed more worldwide than any other actor’s, close to — wait for this — $6 billion. Yet the man seems completely humble and down-to-earth. (I know — I’ve met him.) Why? Because, God bless him, he recognizes the role  luck played in his remarkable journey. Ford was a native of the Chicago suburbs whose adult life started without much direction. Showing little interest in his philosophy studies at Wisconsin’s Ripon College, Ford decided an acting class might help him get over his shyness. Hey Mikey — he liked it! He then quit college, did a season in summer stock, and leapt off to LA with dreams of becoming an actor. Yeah, him and everyone else.

I’m taking this opportunity to speak directly to six gifted actors whose recent output on the big screen does not live up to their God-given (and Method-trained) abilities.  We can always learn from history, right? In that spirit, I’m suggesting some other players from yesteryear whose examples might provide some inspiration if these stars choose to break out of their respective ruts.   I fervently hope at least some of them do.   

Over the course of movie history, there have been the great actresses, women who light up the screen with charisma and character, like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, and Meryl Streep. There have also been women whose special gifts had more to do with the sexual allure they projected. Hey fellas, you must have noticed them, right? Brace yourselves then- here are our picks for the top twenty female cinematic sex symbols of all time. (Drum roll). 

Oscar season is now upon us, as the year’s prize-worthiest fare begins its annual rollout to theaters in time for the holidays, sliding in just under the wire for nomination eligibility.  It is never too soon to start handicapping the contenders in the acting category, so we have compiled a handy reference guide to some of the types of roles that Academy pops for year after year. Once one starts to look for them, it becomes easy to spot future winners. Many of the performances in the upcoming raft of releases will be jaw-dropping.

Movies with similar titles often show up next to each other on the shelf, or line up in a search, but are usually very different animals—animals you don’t want to get mixed up.