Spotlight on Cate Blanchett, Loki and Crisis

Spotlight on Cate Blanchett, Loki and Crisis

what’s up world I’m Cameron mckin and this is Pop Culture Spotlight a podcast about the career of actress K Blanchette the Disney plus series Loki and the movie Crisis first let’s talk about the career of Kate Blanchett Blanchett Rose to prominance with her role in Elizabeth playing Queen Elizabeth Blanchett was nominated for her first Oscar for her performance she then went on to have supporting roles in The Talented Mr Ripley with Matt Damon Jud law Philip Seymour Hoffman and she played a key part in The Lord of the Rings trilogy so right off the bat she was appearing in really solid movies I mean The Talented Mr Ripley is one of the most underrated films of the 1990s this film stars matad Damon Jude Law Philip Seymour hofman gwenth paltro I mean Anthony miguela directed that movie if you’ve not seen The Talented Mr Ripley I highly recommend you do so I think the year that put Cape Lanett on the map as a movie stars in 2004 when she worked with two of the best directors of all time first she worked with Wes Anderson on the Life aqu quatic with Steve zizu along with Bill Murray and Owen Wilson and then she worked with Martin Scorsese on The Aviator starring alongside Leonardo Dicaprio and she played Katherine heurn and for that performance she won her very first Oscar and if you watch that movie she goes head-to-head with Leonardo DiCaprio and is as good if not better than he is in that movie I mean that film is one of the more underrated Martin scorsi movies I mean not a lot of people talk about it it’s the best movie about Howard Hughes a lot of movies have been made about him I mean there was that waren Bey movie that I liked but there has not been a better film about Howard Hughes and Kate Blanchett is spectacular in it and one of the things I noticed when looking at blanchett’s resume is she has worked with some of the best directors of all time Blanchett has made movies with Martin Scorsese p Jackson Wes Anderson Todd Haynes Steven Spielberg Terrence Malik Ridley Scott David Fincher Richard Ling later Steven Soderberg Ron Howard Alejandro inuu and Anthony miguela and I think it says a lot about Blanchett as an actress that all of these great filmmakers want to work with her another thing I’ve noticed watching Blanchette over the years is she is terrific at playing a villainous character in big blockbuster movies I mean that’s something she’s done a lot over the years she’s done it Indiana Jones in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with Harrison Ford Hannah with cersa Ronin Cinderella with Lily James and Thor Ragnarok with Chris Hemsworth and Tom hson I mean she is terrific and Thor Ragnarok I think that is her best villainous role I mean those other films are flawed I really like Cinderella Kingdom skull is a really bad Indiana Jones movie although Blanchett is really good in it Hannah is a good film I mean that is a film director Ed by Joe Wright sir Sheron is in that movie Eric Bana I mean that’s a good movie that’s an underrated film but when I think about her best villainous role it’s definitely in Thor Ragnarok I mean I think that’s the weakness of most Marvel movies is the villain and that’s why Thor Ragnarok is a better Marvel movie yes it’s super funny but I think it’s super effective because it has a great villain in K Blanchett Blanchett is also one of those rare actresses that have two Academy Awards I mean she won for Martin Scorsese The Aviator and then her second Oscar came for her leading performance in Blue Jasmine which I think is a very good movie and Blanchette is terrific in that film I mean Alec Baldwin is really good in that movie there’s a great scene between Blanchett and Alden enich who would go on to play Han Solo Blanchett is in rarified Era I mean the list of actresses that have two Academy Awards include Merill Streep Francis mcdorman jod Foster Renee zel wager and Hillary Swank among others Blanchett is one of the best actresses of her generation and one of the best of all time I also want to note that Blanchett is from Australia and look at the list of talent that has come from Australia over the last 20 to 30 years in Hollywood you have Blanchett you have Hugh Jackman you have Russell Crowe you have Guy Pierce you have Joel ederton Nicole Kidman Margo Robbie Rose Burn Tony Colette Naomi Watts I mean a lot of very three best actors working today are Australian I mean we always talk about British actors and how great they are but I think we need to start talking about Australia like that because a lot of the best movie stars working today are coming out of Australia and these are Big names I mean Mia vaji Kasa played Alice and Wonderland in a big movie Sarah snook who is on one of the biggest TV series right now succession and this has been going on for quite a long time I mean Mel Gibson’s run was in the 80s Australia has been d dominating Hollywood for quite a long time and Clay Blanchett has played a huge part in that my favorite K Blanchette performance comes in the movie Carol her along with Rooney Mara give two of my favorite performances of all time this is one of those movies I saw that change my entire viewpoints on movies I have that list they include social network the fighter La La Land those movies that I go back to over and over again I love Carol I don’t think enough people have seen movie Carol cape lanched has never been better on screen and that’s saying a lot because she’s been so good in so many great movies and yes you can say she’s been better in other things but I think you’d be wrong if you watch the movie Carol you would say to yourself K Blanchett has never been better on screen I mean it is a fullon movie star performance and that movie is so well casted I mean Kyle Chandler is great in that movie John mararo Sarah Paul son I mean that movie is so well casted Todd Haynes that is the best Todd hannes movie by far I love Carol I could watch that movie any day of the week I think it is one of the best movies of the 2010s and again not enough people have seen it the most underrated film of blanchett’s career is this movie called Truth a film she co-starred with Robert Redford toe for grace and Dennis quaade the movie is about the controversy that led to Dan Rather leaving 60 minutes it’s a very good movie again a movie not a lot of people have seen and Blanchett has some great scenes with Robert Redford and toe for Grace what I love about that movie is it’s reminiscent of those Robert Redford movies of the 1970s like All the President’s Men and you get to see K Lanett in that environment with one of the very best actors of all time blanchett’s next projects include guo del Toro’s nightmare alley with Bradley Cooper and Adam McKay don’t look up with Leonardo DiCaprio Jennifer Lawrence Merill stre Jonah Hill Timothy sham Mark Ryland and Chris Evans so next year could be another massive year for K Lanett here’s the list of K Blanchett performances I recommend you check out Elizabeth The Talented Mr Ripley the Lord of the Rings trilogy The Life Aquatic of Steve zizu The Aviator Babel I’m not there The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Hannah Blue Jasmine Cinderella Carol truth song the song and Thor Ragnarok now let’s switch skars and talk about the Disney plus series Loki here’s a quick synopsis after the events of Avengers endgame 2012 Loki is arrested by the time variance Authority for crimes against the timeline listen I think the Marvel TV series on Disney Plus have been a bit of a mixed bag I was kind of disappointed by W Division and the falcon in the Winter Soldier but Loki for the most part lived up to my expectations of what a Marvel TV show should be and the biggest reason why is Tom hillston I absolutely love Tom hillston as Loki he’s Far and Away the best villain in Marvel movies sorry Thanos and it’s great to see him play the character but when watching the show I also think there is a small part of me that thinks that hlon will never be looked at as anything else other than the god of mischief and that’s fine but he’s a great actor who’s done amazing work in other projects like midnight in Paris Only Lovers Left Alive Crimson Peak and the night manager but I feel like most people view him as a one trick pony he is a guy that can only play this one iconic character so while these other people like Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr hang up the capes and stop playing their iconic comic book characters it’s kind of sad to see Tom Heston keep playing this character yes he’s very good at doing it and yes Loki is a high quality show and I love seeing him as Loki but I want to see Tom Heston do other things and I’m happy that it seems like there’s going to be a season two of Loki but I’m more excited for his next project the Apple TV plus series The SX serpent with Claire Danes I want to see Tom Hillson play other characters the same way I want to see Robert Downey Jr plays something other than Iron Man it feels like there are two approaches to playing a character where there’s the one actor that’s all they do all they do is play that character that’s what Robert Downey Jr did for the most part yes he plays Sherlock Holmes but for the better part of a decade he was Iron Man Chris Evans was Captain America although he did do some other projects well there have been other guys who’ve been good at doing other things I think Mark Ruffalo was good at being in other things while being the Hulk he was in Spotlight he was in some very good movies I think that these people need to have a better balance of playing these Marvel characters while doing other things and I don’t think Tom hillston has done a very good job at that I mean ever since the night manager ended he hasn’t been part of anything other than Marvel projects while his Thor co-star Chris Hemsworth has at least attempted to be in other things some of the things not very good but Rush is a very good movie and I really liked extraction that’s what I want from Tom Heston I want him to be in other things other than playing Loki the other star of Loki is Owen Wilson and I loved Owen Wilson in the show he was able to bring his comedic chops and it’s been a rough couple of years for Owen Wilson and the projects he’s been in I mean I I don’t remember the last good Owen Wilson movie it was probably midnight in Paris I mean he he was in that really bad sequel to Zoolander I mean he turned down the part in miracle workers that role that Steve Bui ended up playing it would have been fascinating to see Owen Wilson in that show because I think that show would have been really good with Owen Wilson if he had stayed a part of it it’s interesting to see when actors who are at a down point in their career use Marvel to help with their Resurgence Owen Wilson knows a lot of people are going to be watching this show this could rejuvenate his career and get him cast in other roles I mean it’s a win-win for both parties Owen Wilson wants to be in something that a lot of people see and Marvel wants to work with interesting actors like Owen Wilson goooo and Batu Rock and Sophia D Martino also play key roles in the series raw has some great scenes with Owen Wilson and like I said earlier this is the best of the free Marvel Disney Plus shows so far ju division was good except for the terrible ending and the Falcon and the Winter Soldier felt like an 80s buddy cop movie and I don’t mean that in a good way that show was just not for me one thing I find frustrating about all three of these shows is the obsessive talk about what they all mean for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe it doesn’t feel like we are ever going to get a Marvel Standalone project ever again every show and movie has to build to the next thing and I find that to be super frustrating at times because we are dissecting every scene and thinking to ourselves what does this mean for that movie that’s coming out in 2023 why should that matter in the moment the one thing I did not like about Loi at all was the relationship between Hon’s Loki and the character played by Sophia D Martino they do not have great chemistry I know they needed Loki to change his ways but for me this wasn’t the way to do it I do want to point out the most fascinating thing about the show Loki and it proves one thing at the end of the show there is a gigantic Cameo who’s the next great villain of the Marvel show and this proves that moving forward you are going to have to watch these shows to understand the upcoming movies t TV and movies are now being mixed together and that could be both a good and a bad thing a good thing in that you get rewarded for watching 6 hours of Loki the bad thing is what happens to those people who only watch the movies and avoid the TV shows I mean there are some people who are not going to want to watch 20 hours of Marvel content to understand what’s happening in these movies what Avengers endgame had going for is there were those casual fans that were just just watching it to be a part of the moment they only watch the movies I think there are people out there that don’t want to devour 6 hours of w Division and 6 hours of Loki to understand what’s happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe I think the future of the Marvel movies is fascinating how many of these people are going to watch these movies and not understand what’s going on because they didn’t watch the show Loki overall the show is really good and I’m very much looking forward to season two give me more Tom Heston and Owen Wilson immediately let’s switch gears one final time and talk about the movie Crisis here’s a quick synopsis the movie focuses on free interweaving stories all about the opioid epidemic I think this is one of the better movies of the year so far and no one is talking about it because of one of the stars of the movie is Army Hammer who if you haven’t been reading the news is going through a bit of a downward spiral in his personal life but overall other than that this movie is enjoyable it’s entertaining and it’s compelling and I think the biggest reasons why are because of the performances of the lead actors first you have Evangeline Lily who is best known for working in mainstream projects like Ant-Man loss and two of The Hobbit films it’s great to see her in a dramatic Thriller and she’s great in the movie Her performance reminded me of Francis mcdorman in free Billboards outside ebbing Missouri because like Francis in that film Lily is playing a vengeful mother and then you have Gary Oldman who no matter what the role Gary Oldman is always compelling he can be playing Dracula Serius black Jim Gordon or the character he’s playing in this and no matter what he’s the most interesting thing on screen and Oldman is on a great run recently with Darkest Hour the lrat m and now crisis he’s doing some of his best work and that’s saying a lot because is one of the greatest movie stars of all time one of the main issues in a movie like this is when you go back and forth between plot lines you can go to one plot and be bored by it but this movie does not suffer that problem because both Oldman and Lily are giving Great Performances so when you’re in scenes with just Lily you’re like wow this is a really good movie and then you go back to Gary Oldman and it’s equally good they both feel like they are in the same movie and they are equally entertaining it also doesn’t hurt that the supporting cast of the movie is filled with big names I mean The Supporting Cast includes Luke Evans from Beauty and the Beast Greg caner from As Good As It Gets you’ve got M and L Miss Sunshine Michelle Rodriguez from The Fast and the Furious and widows and Martin Donovan from insomnia and tenant and the big standout here for me is Greg caner who has some of the best scenes of the movie I mean this guy is an incredibly underrated actor recently I loved him as Bob Hope and misbehavior I mean the scenes between between him and Gary Oldman are the best scenes of the movie I’m not saying that crisis is a perfect movie and a lot of people will compare it to Steven soberg traffic like it wants to be traffic it’s nowhere near as good as traffic I mean traffic is a masterpiece that movie stars bonio deloro who won an Oscar for that movie Don Cheeto Michael Douglas toe for Grace I mean that movie is Head and Shoulders above this one but what this movie has going for it is it’s about a topic that is relevant to everyday life and it stars some massive massive movie stars I mean Gary Oldman is a big name and he is interesting and the movie is entertaining and ultimately compelling enough to justify its existence I’m not asking this movie to be a best picture nominee it’s not that it’s not a great film but it is better than most movies out there and that’s because the movie is filled with movie stars again to see a performer like Evangeline Lily who I know best from the ant M the wasp in a movie like this is enough to get me to enjoy a movie like this I mean the Gary Oldman scenes would be boring if it weren’t Gary Oldman in the scene that’s what this movie has going for it has star power it has free actors I want to see in a movie like this giving performances I want them to give it has Gary Oldman Greg caner and Evangeline Lily all giving three of the best performances of the year so far and for a movie like this there’s not going to be Awards look like Oldman is not going to get Oscar nominated like he was for a darkest hour or M but he should be he is super good in this movie and Lily has never been better on screen and Greg caner gives one of the better supporting performances of the year that’s how I feel about the movie it is possible that I end up liking a movie like this more than I should because there are very few movies like this I mean all the movies we get out there are these big Blockbuster action super hero franchise movies I want more movies like Crisis so when I get one that’s very good I’m probably going to give it more credit than it deserves and I think this movie does deserve some credit it’s entertaining it’s insightful about a crisis that’s actually happening on planet Earth that relates to our everyday lives I think this movie is 100% worth watching and I also loved the ending I mean Evangeline Lily’s performance got better and better as the movie went on I really think this is her career best performance I mean I just knocked Tom Heston for not doing enough different things so yeah I’m going to reward Evangeline Lily for doing something outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not only did she do something outside of it she was way better in this than she is in a Marvel movie and she is really good in those Marvel movies along with Paul rdd and Michael Douglas she’s great in those movies I want her to be in more movies like Crisis and then less movies that include Marvel characters this movie has everything I want from a movie an intense Thriller that stars well-known movie stars what else could you ask for I highly recommend you check out the movie Crisis thanks for listening to this edition of Pop Culture Spotlight I’m Cameron mckin and there’ll be a new episode of podcast every Thursday on Apple podcast and Spotify and this week I put the spotlight on the career of actress Kate planette the Disney plus series Loki and the movie Crisis next week I’m putting the spotlight on the movies gunpowder milkshake starring Karen Gillan and Greenland starring Gerard buler and marinaa ban so tune in to that and please rate review And subscribe [Music] [Music]

This week’s episode is jam-packed as I talk about the career of two-time academy winning actress Cate Blanchett, the Marvel Disney Plus series Loki Starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson and the movie Crisis Starring Evangeline Lilly, Gary Oldman and Greg Kinnear.