Friday, June 15, 2012

(30) Stars of Summer - Day 15: Keith David

(30) Stars of Summer hits the halfway mark with one half of the greatest fight scene ever filmed.

Here are the rules. Check out this list of all the month's actors with links to what's available on Netflix Instant. If you're not a Netflix subscriber, maybe this will help.

Day 1: Jimmy Stewart
Day 2: Catherine Deneuve
Day 3: Christopher Lee
Day 4: Bette Davis
Day 5: Nicolas Cage
Day 6: Diane Keaton 
Day 7: Orson Welles 
Day 8: Catherine Keener 
Day 9: Kurt Russell
Day 10: Pam Grier
Day 11: Clint Eastwood
Day 12: Susan Sarandon 
Day 13: Cary Grant 
Day 14: Barbara Stanwyck 

13 comments:

  1. Gotta love that fight scene... and love Trey and Matt for doing it clip for clip on South Park with Timmy and Jimmy. You dirty motha f*ck*r.

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  2. Pitch Black (2000)

    Well-made science fiction horror film tries to channel both Aliens and The Birds, with mixed success. The film is marred by what always seems to deep-six movies like this - relentlessly stupid behavior by the characters. Vin Diesel may not be much of an actor, but he does have a convincing screen presence. His main adversary is Cole Hauser, playing the least convincing bad-ass in action movie history. Keith David plays a Muslim Imam whose faith is sorely tested - quite a different role from what I'm used to seeing him play (The Thing, They Live), but he makes it work - what a marvelous voice.

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  3. They Live (1988)

    Man oh man. A movie that lived up to the considerable hype created fully by my participation in this Internet venture. It strikes pitch perfect notes of humor, gore and spectacle. And more importantly, I can see why THEY LIVE is the sort of movie that gains more relevance as time rolls on and the distance between the rich and poor gets larger and larger. POLITICS.

    As a less controversial aside, I was scrolling through Keith David's IMDb, and one question lept to the forefront of my mind. How loaded is Keith David? I mean, he's certainly not a "movie star" in the conventional sense of the term, but wouldn't the Matthew Modines, Emilio Estevezes and even Amanda Byneses of their world trade their flings with stardom with Keith David's career in a heartbeat? At the risk of undermining my previous comment about economic inequality, I'm really speaking less about David's personal wealth and more about his sheer longevity.

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  4. I dare somebody to watch THE CAPE.

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  5. They Live

    Yes, the epic fight scene is a genuine classic, but unfortunately it seems to be all people remember about this underrated gem. Part sci-fi, part dark comedy, it follows a nameless drifter (listed as "Nada" in the credits and played by a surprisingly solid Roddy Piper...yeah, I said it) as he uncovers the truth about our greedy consumerist culture. Sure, it's a bit heavy-handed, but I enjoy the way it's built up and presented and I appreciate a movie with something to say. David is dependable as always, and godDAMN does he not want to put on those sunglasses!

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  6. PBroms, if selecting Keith David was simply your way of getting F This Movie fans to watch the supercool and oddly prescient "They Live"... then well played, sir, well played.

    Of course, I've already seen "They Live" many times, so I opted for "The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck."

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    1. Then you, my friend, have confused Keith David with David Keith. And they are VERY different.

      Side note: I saw The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck in the theater. It actually OPENED at the second run show, and I was WAAAY too young to be seeing it. I had friends with irresponsible parents.

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  7. Lottery Ticket (2010)

    Bow Wow is a kid living in the projects who wins $370 million in the lottery, so everyone wants something from him. The movie changes from scene to scene -- sometimes, it's a broad comedy, sometimes it's a morality play, sometimes it's reaching for social commentary. All of the movies it attempts are not very good. Keith David shows up for two or three scenes as one of the heavies, and the movie is well beneath his talents.

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  8. BTW, Shout! Factory is releasing "They Live" on Blu-ray later this year or early next (along with 80's "Halloween II & III"): http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/07/shout-factory-launches-scream-factory .

    And its nice, checking his filmography, to see that Keith David has had steady work (mostly voice-overs for cartoons and videogames) ever since his 80's heyday with "The Thing" and "They Live." That said, I also want to be a 'rulebreakah' and do this one different.

    LAW & ORDER ('Bronx Cheer,' 2001)

    This Season 11 TV episode features Keith in his only guest appearance on the show as fictitious Bronx DA Robertson, who so jealously guards the conviction of an innocent man for a murder he didn't commit out of territorial pride (along with his and his county's inferiority complex to Manhattan) he ignores/opposes the conviction of the real, just-found murderer. In a show notorious for disclaimers at the start for being too close to the stories it rips off this episode has a disclaimer that went out of its way to say the real Bronx DA is a nice guy because, damn it, David portrays him like the most arrogant and petty DA/human being... evah! :-)

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  9. Okay, okay, sorry! I think I got it right now. I watched (i.e., REwatched) Season 2 of Hardcastle and McCormick.

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  10. I didn't realize it was F This TV Show. If that's the case, watch The Cape!

    #SixSeasonsAndAMovie

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  11. Don King: Only In America (1998)

    Ving Rhames gives a career-defining performance as the flamboyant and notorious boxing promoter. Quick paced and thorough biography can be enjoyed even by non boxing fans.

    Keith David has a small but pivotal role as Muhammad Ali's handler Herbert Muhammad, but quite frankly the entire supporting cast is overshadowed by Rhames, which is rather appropriate within the structure of the movie.

    Sorry to post this late, but my computer's been in the shop the last couple of days.

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