curtis armstrong Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Moonlighting had all sorts of Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis goodness, with a sweet side Agnes DiPesto and a certain Boogery Curtis Armstrong. In 1986, it got even better when they went Shakespearian in the episode Atomic Shakespeare -- one of my favorite media moments of the '80s. Some unknown student wanted to watch Moonlighting, but his mom told him he had to read Taming of the Shrew for school. As he reads the play, the characters from the hit show slip into all of the bard's famous characters.

Bruce Willis is Petruchio, a man looking to gain a wife with lots of cash, and the shrew, otherwise known as Katherine (Shepherd), becomes the object of his monetary affection. In this scene, he meets Kate for the first time, and battles with her to try and win her hand in marriage. He crashes into the room a la The Shining (Here's Petruchio!) and the two banter in all sorts of sexy punningness ("pianist envy").

Poll Answer from last time: Nicole Kidman was the actress who bet George Clooney.

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Cinematical takes great joy in bringing you the final poster for Richard Kelly's Southland Tales (click on the poster for a larger image) -- mainly because we've been anticipating this film's release for upwards of two years now. And so when the last poster goes public, it means we'll be sitting in a movie theater, watching Kelly's follow-up to the cult hit Donnie Darko, soon enough. And what a poster it is! You know they mean business when The Rock goes by his real name -- and only his real name -- Dwayne Johnson. Also starring in this eclectic cast are -- ready for this -- Seann William Scott, Mandy Moore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Curtis Armstrong, Cheri Oteri, Justin Timberlake, Jon Lovitz, Bai Ling, Kevin Smith, Miranda Richardson and John Larroquette, among others. If that line-up isn't worthy of your lousy 10 bucks, you have issues I don't want to go near.

Essentially, Southland Tales is an ensemble piece (that mixes sci-fi, comedy, music and drama, if you can believe it) which takes place in a 2008 where Los Angeles is on the verge of political and environmental disaster. Boxer (Johnson), an action star with amnesia, soon finds his life intertwine with the dysfunctional worlds of an adult film star (Gellar) and a cop (Scott) mixed up in a conspiracy. But from what I gather (and knowing Kelly's work), there's a whole lot more going on as well. I mean, just look at that poster -- it definitely gives us a peak peek inside the complexity of the film. Southland Tales will finally make its new and improved debut in theaters on November 9.

You can figure out the cousre of my romantic history by my high-school secret movie crushes: I preferred Gene Hackman over Christopher Reeve in the Superman movies, Harold Ramis over Bill Murray in Ghostbusters, and disdained the all-American, fresh-faced Tom Cruise in Risky Business in favor of the actor playing his sidekick, Curtis Armstrong. Armstrong, who turns 53 today, has had a long and varied career as a character actor in film and TV -- and yet many people still remember him for his early role as "Booger" in the Revenge of the Nerds movies. I can barely remember Revenge of the Nerds myself, although I know I saw it (I didn't realize there was more than one film, either) and apparently the movie is memorable enough to warrant work on a remake that was never realized. I recall watching Armstrong in Moonlighting episodes and in Better Off Dead, but I most associate him with that 1983 breakout movie for Tom Cruise, as the guy who tells his uptight friend that sometimes, you've just got to say, "What the f---?"

The photo above isn't the best shot of Armstrong, but it illustrates my point perfectly. Tom Cruise, in the middle of the photo, looked and acted like a typical clean-cut high school guy. Borrrring. But Armstrong, smoking a cigar there on the left, was a daring and charming bad boy, the kind who led his friends (and perhaps innocent young women) into trouble. That's the kind of dope I was in high school: I liked the long-haired, shady-looking guy who said "What the f---?" (I just realized that Armstrong must have been nearly 30 when he played a high-schooler in that film.) When I first saw the movie, I was young enough to get a slight shock out of the casual and repeated use of that four-letter word. Looking at pictures of the young Armstrong now, I realize I've outgrown that particular preference ... although I'm not any fonder of his Risky Business co-star, either. All I feel is nostalgia. (And by the way, the other guy in that photo is in fact Bronson Pinchot, in case you were wondering.)

One of my favorite TV-shows in the '80s was Moonlighting, a comic drama about a detective agency, which starred Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. My favorite episode, because I'm a hardcore junkie for new versions of Shakespeare, is the one based on Taming of the Shrew, but otherwise I also had a ball following private eyes David and Maddie, a pair who beautifully evoked the screwball comedies of the '30s, as they solved quirky cases and got on each other's last nerves. Even more than the Sam and Diane relationship on Cheers, the David and Maddie partnership defined sexual tension, and of course like many other shows, Moonlighting eventually "jumped the shark" when the characters finally did it.

Now, after nearly twenty years, Willis is very interested in updating the show for the big screen. And I am right there with him on the idea. The actor is apparently only able to play two roles, and we're all about tired of John McClane, so the time is ripe to resurrect David Addison. Hopefully the two of us aren't the only ones who think so. Of course the movie could only work if Shepherd is interested, and it would also be a shame if they can't get Allyce Beasley and Curtis Armstrong on board, as well. And one more thing: No way can David and Maddie do it again.