laurel canyon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

From Pacman to Public Enemies, he's had more ups and downs than most other actors of his generation. Christian Bale has careened between extreme highs and deep lows, in the view of the folks at MovieFill, and they decided that a rollercoaster was the most apt visual metaphor for his career. A reduced-size version can be seen above.

They squeeze most of his films into the chart, though they left out a few. Before his sensational role in Mary Harron's American Psycho, he was very appealing in Metroland and got good notices in Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine; pre-Batman Begins / The Dark Knight, he was fun to watch as a frisky villain in John Singleton's Shaft and an uptight, would-be psychiatrist in Laurel Canyon. I don't agree with every notation in the chart. Harsh Times, for example, is cited as one of his "lows," but Bale was riveting. Two notorious off-screen incidents are included, which both affected his public perception, though it seems somewhat unfair to lump those in with his films.

Still, the rollercoaster graphic provides an easy way to look back and consider the range and daring of what he's done, especially earlier in his career. Recently he's been in more big-budget productions than anything else, and next up is David O. Russell's boxing biopic The Fighter. I'd love to see him in a couple of smaller indie flicks. What are your thoughts on Christian Bale's career so far? More ups than downs?

With the shopping rush and rampant buy, buy, buy commercials, it's easy to get bogged down by the material aspects of Christmas and forget about the fun. However, we shouldn't forget the one tradition that allows you to give love and steal a kiss from someone special -- the mistletoe. The parasitic plant morphed from a pagan symbol in pre-Christian Europe that signified life and fertility, to a Christian symbol inextricably linked to Christmas and kisses. (It's funny how years can change the scope of things.)

In honor of the tradition, and as an opportunity to distract oneself from the smothering kisses of Great Aunt Bea, I thought I would put together a list of mistletoe escapes. What follows are three men and three women who provide an alternative choice to mistletoe fantasies -- free from the mainstream, full-lipped Angelinas and muscle-bound Brads of the world. Better yet, the actors and actresses are teamed with a good film in which they are particularly smoochable. Some of this list might make you nod in agreement, and some might make you think I'm crazy (even though I already took out the likes of eyebrow-raisers such as Christopher Walken). At the very least, it will provide a list of recent film fodder for when things wind down or you're hiding away from family.