For the Love of... Taylor Kitsch

 In 2006 I was introduced to Taylor Kitsch and his beautiful face (and THAT BODY) on the TV show "Friday Night Lights". Tim Riggins was the best, and although he rarely cracked smiles like the one he's sporting in the photo below, Kitsch's Riggins was one of the most complex characters written for television for that time period when vacuous reality television was exploding and taking over everything in its path.

In interviews Kitsch always comes off as sort of a doof. A Canadian muscle-bound dumdum who is very earnest and sincere but sort of an airhead. I actually think he has "Keanu Reeves disease", where his good looks and sort of stoner goof voice make him seem way dumber than he actually is. I kept waiting for him to land a film role that would show the type of depth that he was able to show on FNL. Instead his muscles and face just kept on getting him action hero roles which was fine. (As an aside - John Carter is totally underrated and is a great action/sci-fi movie)
Well 2014 may just be Taylor's year to shine. First, we get to see his heartrendingly raw and captivating performance as Bruce Niles in HBO's The Normal Heart, Ryan Murphy's well done adaptation of Larry Cramer's famous play. When Kitsch as Bruce tells the story of his boyfriend Albert's horrible death...I cried buckets. Also Kitsch was really made to wear those early 80s power suits.

Then last weekend I had the privilege to see Taylor Kitsch stretch his comedic and romantic lead wings in the great Canadian comedy The Grand Seduction, about the residents of a small Newfoundland fishing town who attempt to hoodwink a hot, young Toronto doctor into moving to their small harbor and setting up a clinic practice so that the town can secure the bid to have a big factory build there and bring needed jobs to their struggling community. This is another SIFF film that I think will get a wider release, or at least be available on demand or dvd soon, and I would highly recommend it. Also? It has Taylor Kitsch in it looking like this:

Greatest Thing I've Seen This Week - the Marry me, Aaron Johnson's hair! edition

Yesterday I had the day off to attend a memorial service in the morning. As the afternoon approached, and the heat and temperature rose I decided that I should see a movie. I've been totally excited for Oliver Stone's latest outing, Savages, but none of my friends were too jazzed about it, so I decided it was the perfect choice to see by myself on a Monday early afternoon.

You guys? You guys! It's awesome. Please go see this movie. I couldn't believe how empty my theater was; true, it was a Monday, on a sunny Seattle afternoon, but I went to the Metro near UW, so I expected a bunch of college boys or at least a smattering of film nerds to join me. I was all by my lonesome until 1 minute into the film when a young guy in his early twenties came in and sat about 5 rows ahead of me.

I can't possibly do a better job at reviewing the film than the great Joe Reid did over at his blog Low Resolution; so go read his review and come back here...I'll wait.

I will just re-emphasize some of the best parts of Savages:

Salma Hayek and her GLORIOUS wigs. Those bangs! They deserve their own Oscar y'all.

Taylor Kitsch! Finally (maybe) he'll get some respect for his acting, post-FNL. I thought he was just fine in John Carter, and Battleship was just a fun, stupid action film. But Stone gave Taylor something to really work with in the character of Chon. He's complex and quietly riveting. And hello gorgeous!

Really both Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson do a great job with their lead characters Chon and Ben. They're able to believably convey the deep love they feel for each other and for their shared lover O, played by Blake Lively and her legs. They manage to not make this menage a trois a silly thing; it seems totally plausible and you're rooting for their relationship the entire film.

And seriously, enough praise can never be given for Aaron Johnson's luxurious mane of bouncy curls.

Also, as Joe suggested, I would love for someone with more time on their hands than I, to come up with a Tumblr about Salma Hayek's character Marina eating lamb chops. So awesome!