always on my radar :: Max Martini

One of my greatest pop culture joys in life is introducing friends to favorite movies, TV series, books, and actors, and having them validate my love for those things. It happened unexpectedly last night while watching Castle. As the first scene began I noticed that longtime beloved Max Martini was appearing in the episode and posted a quick shout of joy onto my Facebook profile. Within seconds a FB buddy replied with “????” which gave me the opportunity to share a little love for the man. A couple minutes later my pal said she’d looked up Martini on her own, and that began an hour-long online commentary while we patiently awaited his arrival onscreen. [Of course, we were both pretty engaged in the episode, as well, since it was one of the very best of the entire series so far.] By the conclusion of the program, she and I were in agreement that my affection for Martini is justified, and the smile on my face was in place the rest of the night.  In describing Max at the onset of the conversation I stated that he was redheaded, scruffy, gravelly-voiced, and gorgeous. I also said he was my idea of the perfect man, which is why I’m still single.     Though I was joking at the time, I couldn’t stop considering that last statement. It occurred to me that, yes, in my laundry list of qualities I would include if I could design my own mate, a great many of them appear in Max Martini. Such a realization just couldn’t go unexplored, so here is my list to judge for yourself.

Qualities I Would Include If I Was In Charge of Creating My Own Mate  Height: 5’10″ to 6’3″ Build: strong and broad Hair: red, closely cropped (bonus points for natural curls) Eyes: light and clear Short and scruffy facial hair wide smile weathered but jovial countenance crinkles at the eyes from lots of laughter rich timbre voice slightly calloused hands (bonus points for skills in woodworking/carpentry) tender heart that recognizes others’ needs joyful spirit that can find the humor in any situation not overly serious about the stuff of life personal, intimate relationship with Christ profound devotion to family a love of cold weather, mountains, music, baseball, and movies skilled in cooking (because I am soooo not) seeker of knowledge for the sheer joy of knowing things interest in how the rest of the world lives speaks with an accent from Australia or Scotland or Ireland

Now, obviously these qualities are not in order of importance, nor are they meant to imply that I’m only interested in men who possess these qualities. It’s simply a list of what I find attractive. And honestly, I find these things to be attractive in anyone. I want friends who have these personality traits, and I’m drawn to people who have the skills and interests listed here. But, just for the fun of it, I kinda enjoy writing out all the things I would include if I could genetically engineer a companion. And I find it pretty cool that one of my celebriloves has so many of these qualities himself.

Though I look at Max Martini’s filmography and see that he’s been acting since he was a child, I only came to the point of remembering him in 1999 when he co-starred in Harsh Realm. It was his name that I caught first: Maximillian Martini. Whether that’s truly his birth name or not, it’s a seriously cool name. I remembered him, though, because of his stature. He is a bold figure. Many of his characters are gruff, plain-speaking, in-your-face and take no prisoners. He often plays a soldier or a hard-edged criminal, but he also has this amazing soft-spokenness about him. Many times his speech is just slightly above a whisper, which can be equally seductive and terrifying but is always, always mesmerizing. He just commands attention. Likewise, he can be one of the most explosive personalities onscreen, which is why he comes across as truly dangerous in many of his performances. What took my affection for him to a completely different level was the many photos I see from Hollywood events with his wife by his side and true joy in his eyes. I love that he’s been married for 13 years, that he has a fine arts degree in sculpture and painting, and that he founded a theatre company in New York City. So, yeah… my little dream list is somewhat embodied by Max Martini. And it’s just so fun to realize that after all these years!

THE EXPENDABLES

December 31, 2010 (Pay-Per-View)

The Expendables is the perfect kind of summer popcorn flick so I’m not quite sure why I waited so long to finally watch it. I had planned to see it right away… the appeal of all those 80s stars in one giant, explosive movie! But then I heard that Bruce and Arnold had minor roles (more like cameos, even), and Mickey was terrific but had just a few scenes. Which left me with a group of men I’d never heard of (Terry Crews? Randy Couture?) or just plain didn’t care for (hello, Eric Roberts! hello, Stone Cold what’s-your-name!). I opted to wait, but even as I let the time slip by until the DVD release my mind kept returning to the movie. It just has such great appeal for me! Dolph Lundgren alone — and back in a movie that would actually be shown in a cinema! — was enough. Stallone, though, is better and better as he mellows with age but never quite loses his magnitude. I could go on and on with reasons I wanted to see this movie, but very few people in my life really understand. It’s those invisible strings at work again.

Finally watching the movie tonight was all the fun I expected and a rousing kick in the head, as well. I can’t recall a movie with so much gunplay, so many explosions, so much hand-to-hand combat that also featured undercurrents of great wit and humanity. Until I began to watch I also didn’t know that Stallone directed the film, but I could see his touch in every scene. I admit that the major players were all much more interesting than I expected some of them to be, and I now have a genuine interest in Jason Statham (who always surprises me, though I immediately forget about him when the films end) and a new respect for Steve Austin. And Mickey Rourke… he’s a revelation, once again. I hope his career stays on the upswing so he can play these kinds of characters that reveal layers you just don’t expect. Of course, I want my Lundgren back, too. The Expendables proved to be an interesting character study of men with something to say, and though it was carried through the film beneath bullets and breaking bones and more than a few exploding heads, it was undeniable and given the appropriate amount of attention. I felt I got to know the men who comprised this elite team of specialists, and in the end I really wanted to know them all even better.

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image via Internet Movie Database, linked to source
 

FROZEN

October 4, 2010 / DVD Rental
 

 
My choosing this movie is another case of watching something I normally wouldn’t simply and only for an actor. In this case that’s Shawn Ashmore, a beloved of mine since his Disney days, before X-Men came along and made him a familiar face to the general public. I’ve seen a few films just for him that I would never have made time for otherwise, including The Ruins, which still creeps me out but has become one of those movies I can’t resist when I see it on TV. With Frozen, my hesitation would normally have been the horrific nature of the story. I don’t do any kind of horror, of course, and I typically avoid stories that include gruesome scenes that will linger in my mind, and Frozen was guaranteed to be one of those films. It’s the story of three college students on a ski weekend who find themselves forgotten and trapped on a ski lift after all of the employees go home for the week. The terror comes in the inevitable: knowing that no one is coming to rescue them and trying to survive the high altitude, the freezing temperatures, and the wildlife that surrounds them on the ground. It’s a harrowing thought, and the film is beautifully shot to provide every terrifying emotion that you would go through in such a situation. I cringed and squirmed and squealed and covered my eyes repeatedly throughout the film, and I was simultaneously horrified and saddened at the trials the three kids went through. Frozen is the best kind of horror movie in that it’s not meant for shock value but for real-life terror. Watching it gave me the same experience as Open Water and as Jaws before that; you can be certain I won’t be jumping on any ski lifts without long and serious thought.
 

Invisible Strings ~ Band of Brothers

The entire concept of Invisible Strings came about in 2001. I was living in Dallas and working for a start-up ISP, when one day I used the phrase to refer to the many things in pop culture that I once loved and couldn’t seem to shake years later. Most specifically I related it to Donnie Wahlberg, whom I had once adored as a member of New Kids on the Block and then couldn’t seem to shake his presence in my cultural world as years went by. I laughed with my friend Nate about how often Wahlberg seemed to show up in movies just when I was finally past the point of caring and thinking he was part of my semi-shameful past, as if I was tied to him with invisible strings that I couldn’t figure out how to clip. It’s not that he hadn’t had a couple of good roles by that point — he was decent in Ransom and shockingly memorable (though unrecognizable) in The Sixth Sense — but he still hadn’t shown Hollywood much to rave about and was still seen as a 90s-era joke. By the turn of the century I was more than ready to put him in the past and be a grown-up. And then Band of Brothers aired on HBO.
 
Up to that point I had never been a fan of history studies — every single post-9th grade instructor made sure of that — but I was a huge fan of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, so Band of Brothers appealed to me on that level. And it hooked me within the first half hour, but beyond the stories I came to love the cast. I was instantly smitten with Damien Lewis, so excited to see Kirk Acevedo and Matthew Settle again. And yes, Donnie Wahlberg, in what is most certainly his best role to that point and, perhaps, still his best work ever. At first I was so surprised to see him in that cast, but with so much happening onscreen and so many faces to remember, I immediately forgot about watching “Donnie Wahlberg” and dove deep into the series. Anyone who has ever seen Band of Brothers can attest to the brilliance of it, the quality of acting and writing and production levels. For nine weeks I was consumed by it. It was all I talked about, at work with Nate and for hours on the phone with my best friend. No series of this type had ever affected me so deeply, and all I wanted was to hold onto those emotions and feelings of reverence long after the series ended. I never realized quite how that would manifest.
 
In the months that followed I began noticing actors from Band of Brothers in television guest spots and commercials and movies. Everywhere I looked it seemed there was yet another appearance by these men who had come to captivate me in their Easy Company roles. Michael Cudlitz showed up on The Agency, where his co-stars Richard Speight Jr. and Jason O’Mara were working. Neal McDonough and Donnie Wahlberg showed up in the same episode of the short-lived series UC: Undercover. And then Neal McDonough appeared that summer in Minority Report and again that fall in the new (and completely underrated) series Boomtown, which was created by one of the episode writers from Brothers. Wahlberg starred in that series, too, and their Band of Brothers cast members showed up as guest stars in episode after episode. Suddenly, everywhere I looked were members of the Brothers cast. It was like a crazy game of Six Degrees! But I would never complain.
 
The entire joke of “invisible strings” began with Donnie Wahlberg, but it has come to extend to Band of Brothers in the same way. That no matter how many years pass and how far my interests extend, the cast members always find a way to pull me back to that moment in time when I couldn’t get enough. I see Wahlberg and I’m transported to 1989. I see Neal McDonough or Damien Lewis (who have become my favorites of them all) and I can’t help but recall the way my heart swelled at their respective portrayals of Buck Compton and Major Winters. I’m forever indebted to Hanks and Spielberg for collecting such a cast and so faithfully telling the story of Easy Company and the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. I’m forever touched by the recollections of the cast’s real-life counterparts. And I’m forever a fan of every single actor who appeared in the series. I follow them practically anywhere, and each time I see one of them appear on screen, I can’t help but smile in remembrance of that 2001 entertainment experience. I don’t lament these invisible strings that tie actors to my past pop culture experiences. I’ve come to appreciate it and love it and look for whatever new project tugs at them again.
 
I think the joke of Invisible Strings stopped being cute and started being real (to repeat a phrase) when dear ole Nate took it to a new level. For Christmas 2002, he presented me with a series of wrapped items featuring dental floss for ribbon. Four packages featured a printed “tag” with images of four separate actors, and a fifth package contained an agreement to split the cost of the Band of Brothers DVD set. When I opened the other packages I found more DVDs featuring each of the respective actors shown on the gift tags. And then, with a little help from Nate, it hit me: dental floss = invisible string. String that was linking these longtime favorite actors to Band of Brothers. It remains one of the most perfect gifts I’ve ever been given. It is exactly the kind of gift I strive to give others. No one understood me better than Nate. And I still have those “strings” as a reminder that my past is forever a part of me.
 

my “invisible strings” Christmas package featured Ron Livingston‘s Swingers, Tom Hanks‘s Saving Private Ryan, Donnie Wahlberg‘s The Sixth Sense, and Neal McDonough‘s Angels in the Outfield (click photo for more detail)
 

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Invisible Strings ~ NIKITA

My love of the Nikita franchise goes way back, almost to its beginning. I’ve always loved Point of No Return, the American movie that was based on the original French film, and after that I followed the TV version of La Femme Nikita all the way to the end. The character of Nikita is endlessly fascinating and the series was always rich in character and cast. So when The CW decided to bring the series back to television for a new generation I was thrilled. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that nothing can ever be as good as the originals.
 
My first problem with the new Nikita series is that it’s a complete retread. The first episode offered nothing new in terms of story — girl gets arrested while committing a crime, girl is proclaimed dead and taken into custody of shady “government” agency, girl is thrown into training to become one-woman assassination crew, girl resists and gets thrown around until she complies — except that the series has chosen to show that girl as a new recruit while Nikita is on the run after her escape from the agency. There is one twist: Nikita is responsible for the girl being recruited. But other than that, it’s the same old, same old, same tired story, told Alias-style.
 
As I watched the first episode I became so bored that I skimmed through it in fast-forward until the end just to see if there was a good setup for the rest of the season. There wasn’t. Based on the pilot, all I’m gonna see are stories I already know put to techno music and featuring scantily-clad women in hand-to-hand combat situations. Which is supposed to make them appear “strong” when it actually just makes them sex objects twice-over. Been there, done that with Alias. And I was less and less impressed with that show as it continued that focus. So, no thank you, CW. I’ll take Nikita as she was meant to be: in the form of Peta Wilson.
 

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image via The CW and linked to source