“Make Your Life Spectacular” – Robin Williams In Memoriam: 3 Years Later

Hard as it is to believe, this month marks three years since Robin Williams’ left us.  Doing this blog, I write about a lot of celebrity deaths, but in the time that I’ve been doing it, and in my life really, the death of Robin Williams hit me like I’d lost a family member.  Good times and bad, the man had a boundless joy running through him in such volume that you weren’t sure if it was going to actually make it to his mouth or go bursting out his ears.  All that being said, his suicide didn’t surprise me, it just made me profoundly sad.  People look at funny people like Robin and think how happy they must be, but humor doesn’t come from happiness; humor is the best bad way to cope with deep pain.  The theory being that if you can’t escape your own demons and be happy yourself, maybe you can bring a smile to someone else’s face.  I think Williams was happy when he was making others happy, but the need to be ON all the time and to do that must have been tremendously exhausting.  I miss him, like I miss a friend gone on before, and this video from Goalcast which manages to take his graduation speech from Jack (NOT one of his better movies) and marry it to a beautiful montage of his career, is just beautiful.  I think it’s the way he’d want to be remembered.  Then if you find yourself tearing up after the first one, check out this interview with Craig Ferguson a few years before his death and you’ll remember the joy of just watching the man talk.  We miss you Robin, and thank you.

My Favorite Scene: Dead Poets Society (1989) “Oh Captain, My Captain”

We continue to pick scenes from the late Robin Williams’ best works with 1989’s Dead Poets Society.  This is, in my opinion, Williams’ best film.  His unorthodox English-teaching methods exhort his students to seize the day and to love words.

The right words, strung together can lift the spirit to unmatched heights.  The wrong words, strung equally effectively can destroy a life.  Words were Williams’ business and he relished concocting ways to use them in ways that had never before been used.  He wasn’t a wordsmith.  He was a word alchemist.

Trying to pick one scene out of this film is nearly impossible, but-after thinking-I had to go with how the transformed students bid Mr. Keating farewell.  It seems fitting given the circumstances.

Robin Williams’ Greatest 10 Movies

Latest vs. Greatest looks at directors, actors, actresses, screenwriters and composers to assess the state of their career as it stands.  We normally look back at the latest 10 movies the artist has done, rate them and then average them out to see where they stand today. Today, In Memorium of Robin Williams, we’re simply going to focus on his greatest movies.  I had another person ready to go, but I think it will be more cathartic to simply look back on Williams’ triumphs and I think that will be the policy for any future profile of a person who has left us.
As details start to emerge as to how Robin Williams last hours were tragically spent, I still can’t comprehend the simple fact that he’s gone.  I grew up with Mork.  I started watching films around the same time his career began to explode.  He was just a joy, whether he was playing a demented DJ in Good Morning Vietnam, Mrs. Doubtfire or just sitting on a couch talking to Letterman.  There were darker roles in guest spots on Homicide, Law & Order and in one of his best performances, One Hour Photo.  Maybe for the extreme light to shine, an equal darkness was required.  It seems to be that way for many comics.

I want to celebrate his best films, though, and just for a moment, step back from this awful reality and give us the perspective that time will eventually grant.  This was a funny, flawed, stunningly talented, compassionate man.  I always used to think to myself that it would be so weird to see that explosive energy eroded by age.  I could never picture him as old.  Maybe he couldn’t either.

RIP Robin Williams (1951 – 2014); The World Loses A Comedic Genius

He’s gone.  He was an unrestrained joyous comedic presence in American television, film and stage.  His boundless energy, willingness to tackle any subject with humor and to use humor to fight some of the world’s most desperate ills made him a beloved figure  to myself and millions of fans around the world.  The news has just broken, but it appears Williams took his own life after battling severe depression.  He was very open about problems with substance abuse and depression and would work them into his act, giving others with the same battles a smile where none previously could exist.  He was….simply brilliant at anything he did and it breaks my heart that someone who brought so much joy to so many people reached a he place where he couldn’t go on.  I don’t think any celebrity death has so shocked me and personally affected me in years.  The feeling I’m most left with, past the shock and sadness, is one of profound gratitude.  I owe this man thousands of smiles and laughs, and I’ll always remember him dispensing those with an energy I’ve never seen before and I don’t think I’ll ever see again.  The latest on the situation is below, courtesy of CNN.  Rest well, Robin.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Movie Supercut

It’s been awhile since we had a good Supercut.  A montage of movie magic by Marc Federico.  And what better way to greet Friday than with the primal cinematic howl of NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Time-tested and abused unto death, it remains awesome in its pathos.  I wish my days were dramatic enough to require its constant usage to a John Williams score.  Happy Friday to all!