Apparently Guys Feel Pressurised to Look Good Too...About Bloody Time! You Know We Live in a Messed Up Society When Even Jessica Alba and Megan Fox are CGI'ed Naked, Using Body Doubles, AND Being Slimmed Down Thanks to an Airbrush! And Charlie Hunnam Will Only Get His Top Off After Multiple Gym Sessions!

So was watching this documentary a little while back on the pressure that MEN feel to look good nowadays.  You know what...about fucking time!!  Women have been feeling insecure and like they need to look a certain way for way too long.  Why the hell should we keep this for ourselves...it's about time we dish the insecurities back!?!!!  Ps. this is a point about the state of society as a whole, and how fucked up it is!  I know plenty of guys who've been insecure about the way they look for a very long time.  And this doesn't mean I want all men looking like pretty boys either, I like my men to look like REAL men...you know, like Jax Teller!!  BWAH!!  Ideally I'd like society to come to a crossroads where everyone just feels comfortable being themselves.  But in the meantime, I feel like payback's a bitch!! ;)

Although the funny thing is....even though I mention Jax Teller there...the reason why we didn't get much shirtless Jax in Season 5 was because he'd hurt himself shooting Pacific Rim, so couldn't get to the gym for a while and didn't feel like he was in shape enough!!  And even in the commentary on the first episode from Season 4, they were all taking the piss out of him about how much time he was going to the gym just for that opening sequence.  Which FYI, I totally think is one of the best opening montages ever!!  It's totally epic!

Women have obviously been under a lot more pressure than men to look good for a whole lot longer however, and in an age where there is so much digital enhancement; you literally can't trust if anything is fucking real anymore!!  Be it in still photos, music videos, films...the whole shebang!!  

I found this article earlier about ten actresses this guy said he'd like to see take their clothes off.  Amongst these actresses were Jessica Alba, and Megan Fox.  Now funnily enough, they mentioned scenes in Machete, and Jennifer's Body respectively...both of which had been featured in an issue of Nuts magazine where Alba and Fox were on the cover with a big caption saying something about 'favourite actresses naked', or some unimaginative shite like that!  The only reason I even noticed this was because I grimaced that my precious Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body was on the cover of such utter trash!!  I actually find it rather entertaining that the publishers of this garbage, along with I'm sure what is at least 98% of the morons that read it (HAHAHA....read!!)....actually believed it to be true.  

The thing that this wank rag didn't realise however (or perhaps they're just incapable of actually reading/researching actual films...probably the latter!!?), is that the two of them are CGI naked!!  And as in the case of Jessica Alba, not only did they CGI her clothes off....they also slimmed down her stomach, back and hips....and done something freaky deaky to her left leg!!  See pictures below.  

 

Since becoming a mother Alba has turned into a really likeable young woman...not just an annoying twit that couldn't hardly act and pranced around in a bikini all the time.  And I'll give the girl her due...she has stuck to her guns about her no nudity clause.  So good on her I say.  Be suggestive, but keep your own dignity!  

Despite the fact that I like her in Idle Hands; it wasn't until she did flicks like The Killer Inside Me and The Eye (which wasn't a terrible remake!!), and showed this whole other side to her that I really started to like her.  And having being subjected to Good Luck Chuck....she was truly the only likable thing about it.  She also had a great line that she delivers so perfectly when talking about his stupid "curse" thing, Chuck questions "Do you believe that!?!!!"  To which she replies - 

"Please....people will believe whatever they wanna believe."  

A statement that is so fucking true.  Whether it be images fed to them in magazines, bull shit rumours that get spread around.  The way I see it; the more that people see bad in others...the more fucked up shit they're guilty of as well.  Unless they've been totally shat on before and have a hard time trusting people.

 Since becoming a mother though, she's started up her own eco baby products company The Honest Company; and has actually become quite the spokeswoman for the modern day woman.  I'm curious as to what she felt of the CGI version of herself?!  

(Edited later to say, she possibly approved.  It is rumoured that she used a body double for Sin City 2 as she wasn't comfortable with her own body being used...although I'm pretty sure that's just a rumour and it might have just been CGI they used. It's Sin City though, so that would surely be easier to CGI her appearance than in Machete.  Apparently she exercised profusely, and due to having had an eating disorder as a teenager...resorted to chain smoking more than usual!!  It appears that even Jessica Alba struggles living up to being 'Jessica Alba'!!   No wonder she feels so insecure though......fanboys are hard people to please, so I think I'd be shitting it too if I'd just had two kids!!)

She has openly spoken about body issues in the past, and that it's only now, when she doesn't have the body that she used to....pre-stretch marks/baby inflicted cellulite....that she actually feels comfortable in her own skin, as a person. (Edited to say that despite this...she is still too uncomfortable to NOT use a body double in Sin City 2.) She still has a great figure, but I think it has been through sharing with other new mums just how hard it was to try and get back to that pre-pregnancy body, that's she's actually become so popular amongst women.  Personally I think she looks way better now anyway.  I always felt that she had such a boyish body, and she always seemed to be sprayed with so much fake tan and all that crap....now she just looks really natural.  She also knows how to take the piss out of herself and not take life too seriously...something I think you can see in this awesome photo shoot that was done for In Style Magazine in January of this year.  

And check her out being a super nerd in her new movie!! :) 

As I mentioned before, Megan Fox was also on the cover of this magazine, when the only pics that got out there, were not from the film, they were illegally snapped.  In the film she's totally CGI'ed out.  

Just flicking through pictures of these two girls alone....some of the pictures of them are absolutely horrendous.  They've been photoshopped so much it hardly even resembles them any more.  Hell, just look at some of the promo pics/posters for Jennifer's Body...the UK one is fine, but some of the others...total airbrushed to the max!!  For example the one below.  

I don't understand why they'd want to airbrush her to look like that when the two pictures below are obviously either completely natural (not counting lighting and make up), or minimal touch ups.  And she looks amazing in both of them.  The picture below was one of the first released from the film and I instantly fell in love!....like, I went Megan Fox crazy.  Megan Fox posters, desktops....hahaha!  Gone was the Michael Bay spray tan and CGI effect, and here was a more kick ass awesome look!

At the end of the day, if not even Jessica Alba or Megan Fox can't live up to the crazy standards demanded of them by our fucked up society; how the hell is anyone else supposed too!?!  And the reason why Charlie Hunnam has that body...he works out....like, a lot!!  Nobody's perfect though.  Everyone has things about themselves they hate/dislike or are insecure about.  Yes, I'm sure everyone has the odd flaw they'd like airbrushed out...but's that's all it is....it's still gonna be there at the end of the day.  

I love what writer Diablo Cody said about the role of Jennifer upon the release of the film - 

"There's the scene where Jennifer's sitting alone smearing make up on her face.  I always thought that was such a sad image.  She's so vulnerable.  I don't know any woman who hasn't had a moment sitting in front of the mirror and thinking, 'Help me, I want to be somebody else.'  What makes it extra affecting is that Megan is stunning!"

If it's something you can change through diet and exercise, then go for it.  That's easier for men, and women who've not had babies obviously.  If not, remember - we're all supposed to be unique in our own little ways.  Who wants to be a fucking clone....or a Barbie doll plastic fanspastic!?!  Sure as fuck not me!  Nobody needs a false idol.  And I'm pretty sure that everyone that reads my blog would agree with me.  Y'all being the freaks all week that ya are!! ;)

Oooh, and lastly...whilst I'm on the subject of Jennifer's Body....check out sexy Jennifer Check here.....it really is a Jennifer thing of 'typical night out'!!  HA.  Same initials and all! ;) 

And she comes away with just as witty a one liners too!!  Hahahaha.  

Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl WORKING TOGETHER!?! Woot woot!!!

So it came to my attention the other week that two of my most favourite of actors are making a new movie together!!!  Both are actors I’ve been following since the early 1990’s and both I admit, unashameably to have had major crushes on, but not just that, they have both proven from an incredibly young age that they are bloody good actors.  I am indeed speaking of Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl.  They are both totally awesome actors, have played some downright superb characters and when it comes to both mainstream and indie credibility, they’re equally sound on both counts!!! 

I grew up watching these guys and both made a significant impression from my early teens onwards.  Devon Sawa is the eldest of the two, being just over a year older.  (Sawa is roughly half a year older than me with Stahl being about the same younger so yay, PERFECET ages!!!)  Now both actors receive super geek love from me due to involvement in super fucking cool movies all made by my X Files peeps…plus both starring the lovely Chad E. Donella.  But more about that in a bit.  ;)

Early career wise, I’ve liked Devon Sawa since movies like Little Giants and Now and Then (nice coming of age drama with a fucking awesome cast, including a young Thora Birch).  Plus he was Caspar the friendly ghost…in boy form (a personal favourite of my sister Susan’s, who likewise, has major crushes on both).  <3   Love of him in these movies got me renting films like The Boys Club (which is criminally underrated and really annoying that you can’t buy it on DVD in the UK!!!) and Wild America. 

(Above: Devon Sawa going all Evil Dead on us in Idle Hands)

Idle Hands, released in 1999 is easily one of my most favourite of his movies to date, it is also in my top 3 favourite zombie movies and probably top 5 most quoted movies of all time too.  Can you guess how much I love it!?!  ;)  Plus it’s perfect zombie comedy, years before Shaun of the Dead!!!  It’s ridiculously funny, fantastically gory, has a superb cast including Seth Green, Elden Henson and Jessica Alba, plus an Offspring cameo that doesn’t end well for Dexter Holland.  Amongst all the weed smoking, there is definitely a tip on what NOT to smoke as well haha.  Something that always makes me giggle when I’m in the supermarket purchasing either nutmeg or oregano.  ;)  It also has a banging soundtrack as well, what more could you want for in a movie!?!  Hell I even named this awesome pumpkin man Halloween decoration Anton after his character in the movie.  Muchos dorko’s much??? (And no I’m not talking about a whales peepee!!!)

“As usual, marajuana saves an otherwise disatrous day!” (Above: Jessica Alba in turmoil; saved by getting high, haha.)

Thinking it impossible for him to follow up on the genius of Idle Hands, he does it with the one and only Final Destination.  Now I’ve have major love for Final Destination right from the start…I mean how could I not love a movie that started as an episode of The X Files.  Written and directed by James Wong and Glen Morgan, two guys responsible for some of the most amazing episodes of The X Files, including Home which was basically Wrong Turn before Wrong Turn.  Oh yesss, the lovely Peacock family!! 

Ans speaking of favourite X Files episodes brings me to a co-star of Sawa and Stahl, Mr Chad Donella, or Rob Roberts from the episode Hungry (“What is this, good cop…insane cop!?!”).  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do a major squeee when his name came up in the opening credits.  Anyhoooo…funny story, when I went to see Final Destination, I convinced my flatmate Chris to come along (yes, Chris is a boy before I get to the amusing part).  Our flatmate Becky had come along with her boyfriend (who freakishly looked like Heath Ledger) but they went to see Three to Tango and the plan was to meet them out in the foyer afterwards.  So anyway, you know the part in the film when Death is at Miss Lewton’s house; just before all the knives fall…Chris gets up and leaves because he can’t take it anymore as he’s too scared, ahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  True story!!!  Becky, her boyfriend and I went back to the house and continued to freak Chris out by throwing stones at his window etc.  Totally childish but so worth it, lol. 

Getting off track though, Final Destination proved yet again that Devon Sawa had what it took to lead an all star young cast.  I have to admit I was a bit pissed off that he wasn’t in Final Destination 2 and my reaction to them killing off the Alex character was “They killed Devon Sawa off with a fucking brick!!!”  Can’t say I was a very happy bunny with that one.  I basically sat and grrrr’ed throughout the whole movie totally hating it.  I’ve still never actually given it a chance so if you think I should, let me know prescisely why and I might give it another bash!

Following Final Destination he was the lead Eminem obsessed character in Eminem’s superb video for ‘Stan’.  He didn’t even need to speak to put across a wonderfully powerful performance that perfectly encompassed the lyrics of the song. 

With the movie Slackers with Jason Schwartzman and a few others afterwards, he then went quiet for a number of years however has recently been making an incredibly welcome comeback starring in geek love shows NCIS: Los Angeles and also a recurring role in Nikita.  More exciting however, and what led me these ramblings is discovering that he has indeed just started filming a new movie 388 Arletta Avenue with Nick Stahl. 

Now Nick Stahl I’ve adored ever since The Man Without a Face.  Starring opposite Mel Gibson, he must have been about 12 or 13 when he filmed this and he held his own without a doubt.  I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Mel Gibson however this is a brilliant film and both performances from Nick Stahl and Mel Gibson are ace. 

Now the next movie from Nick Stahl that I totally love and that follows The X Files theme is Disturbing Behaviour (see right with Chad Donnela and James Marsden).  “paranoid, paranoid, everybody’s coming to get you!!!” plays over in my head when I think about this movie.  Like Final Destination this movie is all full of X Phile’ness, from being directed by David Nutter, music by Mark Snow, a cast filled with lots of ex-Files cast members as well as future X Files “monster”, Chad E. Donella who plays Stahl’s best friend, albino stoner UV who sums up him and Gavin (Stahl) as being “freaks ALLLLL week!!!”.  A term to which I can most definitely relate too haha.  Disturbing Behaviour is great in that it still retains that early 90’s feeling of claustrophobic paranoia, combine that with a great cast, brilliant director, eerie score and great soundtrack, you’re in for a winner.  Plus if you’re an X Files fan then you’re gonna enjoy playing ‘who’s the character and what episode are they from?’ throughout the movie. 

Throughout the noughties Nick Stahl, in my humble opinion, kept a pretty darned good balance of both indie and studio films and a bloody good TV show, Carnivále under his belt. 

Indie crackers such as Larry Clark’s Bully, starring the late Brad Renfro (whom alongside Stahl, Sawa and Edward Furlong, was one of the four young actors around my age who I absolutely adored), Sunset Strip, In the Bedroom and Wasted kick off the decade before acting chops turn to action chops with Terminator 3.  Now when it was announced that Edward Furlong would not be reprising his role as John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines I was inititally disappointed, but as soon as I read that Stahl was to take over, I was more than happy with this news.  Replacing one of my favourite young actors with another of my favourite young actors, can’t argue with that.  And yes, Terminator 3 has got nothing on the downright awesomeness of Terminator 2, but doh, how many movies do!?!  I still like the movie though and the addition of Claire Danes is definitely an added bonus. 

The next couple of years were followed with the wonderfully quirky yet, big surprise, not commercially popular show Carnivále.  A weekly tale of freaks (all week, teehee) and superbly kooky characters in a travelling carnivále, this was a superb show and it was great seeing Nick on the small screen as well.  Although it was cancelled after just two seasons, Carnivále had a cult following that was gutted by its cancellation.  I guess it was just too quirky for mainstream America.

Post Carnivále, Nick played Roark Jr./Yellow Bastard in Frank Miller’s Sin City, a role in which he got all twisted and torturous with Sawa’s Idle Hands obsession, Miss Jessica Alba (pictured below with Stahl as Yellow Bastard).  Both played characters obsessed with her and both ended up a bit worse for wear afterwards, I think Sawa won in the end though, haha.    

Stahl slowed down the workload after this, special nod goes out to indie depressive drama Sleepwalking with Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelyson and the late Dennis Hopper. 

He has picked back up again at a major pace however with ten listed films on IMDb for 2010 alone.  The one I’m most looking forward to is Dead Awake with Rose McGowan and Amy Smart which has just been released in the States last week.  It sounds depressing as hell, but at the end of the day it has a great cast and I’m a sucker for all things depressive!!!

So anyhoo, getting back to why I started writing this in the first place, and the reason for my excitement…the Vincenzo Natalia (Splice) produced 388 Arletta Avenue.  The synopsis for this film is as follows:  
“Shot from the point of view of hidden cameras, the film follows a thirty-something couple, James and Amy Deakin, as they are secretly videotaped 24/7 by a mysterious stalker in their home, on the streets, and at their workplace. The stalker uses information gleaned from the footage to subtly manipulate the unsuspecting couple, and cracks in their relationship surface. When Amy suddenly vanishes, James is not sure whether she has been abducted or has simply left him. As the acts of the tormentor become more twisted and violent, James desperately tries to figure out who is behind the terror in order to save his wife. But it seems the stalker is always one move ahead…”

388 Arletta Avenue is being billed as a Hitchcockian thriller and I can definitely see why.  And being the hardcore Hitchcock fan that I am, I’m more than excited to see such a vast array of talent in this type of film.  Stalker movies are always fun and I have high hopes for this one.  BloodyDisgusting.com posted this teaser poster last week.  I love the creepiness of the emoticon as well  

So yes, to end this.  Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl ROCK and I'm pretty sure that my sister and I won't just be the only ones routing for this movie.  Now if only Chad Donella was in it, mwahahaha.