Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Here's Johnny!



Johnny Depp's birthday was June 9th. To celebrate, Tracy and Ms. B present you with this, er, "objective" rundown of Depp's Top Ten Movies:


TRACY: I don't really remember the first movie I ever saw Johnny Depp in. It might have been What's Eating Gilbert Grape, but I can't say for sure. I knew who he was from his days on 21 Jump Street, although I didn't watch that show. No matter how it happened, once I did see him in a film, I was hooked. I loved that he never played the same type of character twice and always brought something new and fresh to the screen. So here, in no particular order, are five of my favorite Johnny Depp movies.





Benny & Joon (1993)

When this first came out, the studio really tried to push it as a romantic comedy with Mary Stuart Masterson and Johnny Depp as the couple. While there is a romance between their characters, this is a story about what being a good sibling means. Aiden Quinn plays Joon's older brother Benny, who is his sister's guardian since the death of their parents. Benny has a hard time taking care of Joon due to her mental illness. There has been a revolving door of help in their house, since Joon can be quite difficult. Enter Sam, played by Johhny Depp, a young man who is the cousin of one of Benny's friends. Sam ends up moving in with Benny and Joon, and soon all three lives are changed forever. Sam is a delightful and unique character who is a devoted fan of silent film star Buster Keaton. A young Depp plays Sam with a lot heart and he displays his ability for physical comedy. (Rated PG)






Chocolat (2000)

The story is about an unmarried woman (Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter who blow into a small French village at the beginning of Lent and open a chocolate shop. This, and other aspects of her life, puts her at odds with the mayor. Depp plays a roving musician who leads a band of gypsies into town. A romance develops between Vianne (Binoche) and Roux (Depp). I found this to be a very charming and lovely film with wonderful performances by all actors, but especially Johnny Depp. He was already a huge star who probably could have had the lead in just about any film he wanted. But he took this supporting role and made it come alive. This is one of those rare occurrences where I liked the movie more than the book by Joanne Harris. Granted, I read the book after seeing the movie, but even then I usually prefer the book. (Rated PG-13)





Ed Wood (1994)

If you've ever seen the film Plan 9 From Outer Space, then you have seen the work of Edward D. Wood Jr., considered to be the worst director of all time. And if you have seen Plan 9, you have also seen the "best" Bad movie of all time. It is so wonderfully bad, it's fun! The thing with Ed Wood, though, was that he was very passionate about his filmmaking and put everything he had into it. That comes through beautifully in this film, in which Depp plays the title character. This film is funny one moment, and then bittersweet the next. Depp manages to play this person in such a way that you can't help but like him, even though you know that things don't end well for him. Ed Wood, of course, never achieves the greatness that he is searching for, but somehow, you still hope that he will. That is due to the wonderful performance of Johnny Depp. A special mention should be made for Martin Landau's Oscar-winning performance as Bella Legosi in his last days. Depp and Landau portray the special friendship that developed between these two men late in Legosi's life. (Rated R)




Edward Scissorhands (1990)

This most likely was the first film I saw with Johnny Depp in it, which also was the first time that Depp worked with director Tim Burton. This was the first of many roles that Depp would take on where he is physically transformed into the role.

Edward is the creation of an inventor who dies before he can give Edward hands, and Edward is left with scissors for hands instead. After the death of his creator, he is left on is own, until one day an "Avon" lady comes calling and realizes that he is all alone. She invites him into her home, where he becomes a part of the family. That is, until Edward is taken advantage of by a local young man. Edward is then accused of many things, none of them true. He is forced to return to the castle, where the townspeople believe he has died. This is a beautiful and sweet performance from Depp. He brings an innocence to Edward that is believable and moving. (Rated PG-13)




Finding Neverland (2004)

I have to admit, I've never been a huge fan of Peter Pan. Of course I've seen the many different film versions there have been over the years, and I've enjoyed most of them, but that is the extent of my interest in Peter Pan. Until I saw this film, I'm not even sure if I was aware that the story started as a stage play, before becoming a book and then numerous films. This is one of those rare times that Johnny Depp plays a "normal" person: J.M. Barrie, the creator of the boy would didn't want to grow up. How much of this is true, I have no idea, but it was wonderful to see the inspiration for Peter Pan come to life in front of our eyes and to see the special relationship Barrie develops with the family who inspired him. It is also one of the rare films that actually made me cry. (Usually, I might get a little teary eyed or choked up, but I never cry.) If you haven't already seen the film, I won't say what made me cry, but if it doesn't move you then I'm not sure anything does. (Rated PG)




MS. B: I've only been a Johnny Depp fan for the past ten years, myself -- but we'll get to that later. In the meantime, here are my personal five favorite Depp flicks (and boy, was it hard to pick just five):




Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

I always struggle to describe this movie to people, because, in many ways, it defies description. Genre-wise, it's listed as an action picture -- which is true -- but on more than one occasion I've described it as a modern folk tale, bordering on myth.

In this sequel to writer/director Robert Rodriguez's Desperado, Antonio Banderas stars as a vigilante mariachi (yes, you read that right) up against the local drug cartels. And then there's Johnny Depp as Agent Sands, a member of the CIA dispatched to Mexico to help keep the peace. Sands is looking for an unofficial partner to help him keep things in balance -- though the agent seems to have his own ideas about exactly what that means.

But a description like this doesn't do justice to this gritty and quirky action picture, which plays more like an urban fairy tale than any kind of straight-up action flick. The plot is not nearly as important as the characters -- those fighting to take control of the county, those fighting to save it, and those merely fighting to save themselves. In the middle is Agent Sands -- whose wry, ironic agent (Sands walks around Mexico wearing lame tourist t-shirts while reading Judy Garland's biography) easily steals the show. (Rated R)




Sweeney Todd (2007)

It's a musical for people who don't like musicals and a horror flick for people who don't watch horror. Johnny Depp stars as barber Benjamin Barker, returning to London after spending fifteen years in prison convicted on false charges. Thoughts of his wife and young daughter waiting for him had kept him going -- but now he returns to learn that his wife has died, and his daughter has been adopted by the very judge responsible for Barker's wrongful imprisonment. Vowing revenge on the judge and the society that's wronged him, Barker changes his name to Sweeney Todd and teams up with the erstwhile landlady Mrs. Lovett to exact a particular type of vengeance -- Todd finishes off his customers' shaves by finishing off the customers themselves, leaving Mrs. Lovett with fresh "ingredients" for her famous meat pies.

Casting Johnny Depp as the lead in a musical was a gamble, since the actor -- though a long-standing musician -- had never sung before. Luckily, Depp can sing. (Co-stars Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Sasha Baron Cohen all pull off their roles with noteworthy aplomb, to boot.) With songs by Stephen Sondheim, this musical transcends its gory premise to become a tale that's about the sinister and precarious path of revenge. (Rated R)




Secret Window (2004)

Combining Stephen King and Johnny Depp is sort of as good as it can get for me -- especially when the Stephen King story being adapted for film is the amazing novella "Secret Window, Secret Garden," from King's superb collection Four Past Midnight. Depp plays novelist Mort Rainey, whose recent divorce from his wife Amy (Maria Bello) has put him in an emotional tailspin. He retreats to his summer home at Tashmore Lake, hoping to find a little peace and solace -- maybe even enough to start writing again. Instead, he gets John Shooter (John Turturro), who shows up on Rainey's front porch to deliver the most frightening accusation an author can receive: "You stole my story."

According to Shooter, Mort Rainey plagiarized one of Shooter's own stories -- a tale called "Sowing Season" -- and rewrote it as the story "Secret Window." Rainey stole something from Shooter; so, according to Shooter, it's time for Rainey to pay him back. When Rainey refuses, having no memory of reading "Sowing Season," Shooter begins to do what he can to convince Rainey to rethink his decision ... with murderous consequences.

This had already been one of my all-time favorite King stories, so having Johnny Depp appear in the lead role makes this one of my most treasured Depp flicks. King loves telling stories about authors and the power of fiction, and Secret Window is about the mystery of where we get our ideas as much as it's about the human desire for justice ... and revenge. For being a thriller, it's also got a surprisingly funny lead in Depp's Mort Rainey -- a good thing, since much of the movie consists of Depp in scene alone. The ending is also far removed from the original King novella, so even if you've already read the story, make sure you stick around till the credits!  (Rated PG-13)




Alice in Wonderland (2010)

I have been a fan of Lewis Carroll's world of Wonderland -- and its protagonist hero, Alice -- since childhood. When it came to fantasy stories about kids discovering strange and hidden worlds, I liked stories about Narnia and Neverland, too, but Wonderland was always in a class by itself. This was partly because I so enjoyed the illogically-logical weirdness of Wonderland, but it was also because I so loved Alice.

This Tim Burton-directed film is a sequel of sorts to Carroll's original tales Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Mia Wasikowska gives a brilliant performance as Alice Kingsley -- who, now that she is nearly grown up, has quite forgotten her time spent in "Underland" as a child (save for the occasional bad dream). She's attending what turns out to be, unbeknownst to her, her own engagement party -- when she abruptly catches sight of a white rabbit in a waistcoat. Chasing him down the rabbit-hole, she soon finds herself back in Underland, though as far as she knows, she's never been there before. Indeed, she doesn't even protest when the various inhabitants of this bizarre otherworld insist she's the "wrong" Alice, because she knows she can't be who they're looking for. She can't possibly be the Alice they think she is, the one destined to slay the Jabberwocky and bring the Red Queen's evil rule of tyranny to an end ...

This is one of those rare things, a Johnny Depp movie where the Johnny Depp character is not my favorite character in the film. (That honor goes to Alice herself.) But I love Depp's Mad Hatter, who was originally the Royal Hatter to the White Queen (before she was overthrown by her older sister Red). For being yet another "bizarre Johnny Depp character," the Hatter has a surprising layer of subtlety to him: yes, he's quite crazy, but underneath that craziness is a very real anger and determination to end the Red Queen's rule and restore the crown to its proper monarch. (I also appreciate this movie for its third act, when it's the girl, not the guy, who gets to march off into battle and save the day.) This is a film I love a little bit more each time I see it.





Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2011)

If not for this film series, Tracy would have been doing this list on her own. I don't think I'd ever seen a Johnny Depp movie before I sat down on Opening Day to watch The Curse of the Black Pearl, the first in Disney's four-picture Pirates of the Caribbean series. It was nothing like I, or anyone else, had ever expected. The runaway -- and completely unanticipated -- blockbuster success of the first film led to three sequels: Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, and On Stranger Tides. (At World's End is still my favorite.) And it was Depp's starring role in the series that made me into a Johnny Depp fan.

If you haven't seen the movies, I can't possibly hope to explain the twists and turns of their epic-spanning plot in a paragraph. Suffice it to say, these action/adventure, historical-fantasy pirate movies can hinge their success on one thing: Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow.

You don't have to have seen the movies to know that name. Clever and quirky, unbalanced yet always in command (or possibly just very, very lucky; you decide), Jack Sparrow became an iconic character from the moment he first sailed on screen. People the world over fell in love with the character's bizarre charms and completely unique humor, making him something unlike anything audiences had ever seen before.

I love the humor, too -- but I've also loved watching the subtle transformation of Jack Sparrow's character over the course of the series. When we first meet him, he's content to straddle the fine line between "bad pirate" and "good man," but as the story goes on he's forced to make a decision as to which side he truly stands on. He does it all while retaining his high good humor -- and remaining completely devoted to his ship, his freedom, and his rum. What's not to love?



You can check out these and other of Depp's films at Monroeville Public Library!

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