“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.

Robin Williams Tribute Art by Jeff Victor

Jeff Victor has done this wonderful piece on the late Robin Williams and prints can be bought at his website (link below) with part of the proceeds going to St. Jude’s.

“My tribute to the illustrious career of Robin Williams. Obviously, there are many, many more movies that could be included in this piece, but I tried to represent as many highlights as I could. This particular Evolution was quite emotional to draw. Williams’ work was so meaningful to me, and a big part of my childhood. His death is a loss for us all. I’m not very eloquent at eulogizing, so hopefully my art will speak for itself and remind you of the joy you felt watching his films.

“I am selling this piece as a print here, and for every copy I sell, I am donating $5.00 to the St. Jude Children’s Hospital, a charity Williams was very passionate about.”

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.

R.I.P. Actor Bob Hoskins Has Died (1942 – 2014)

A rough year for celebrity deaths continues as we say good-bye to Bob Hoskins.  The Oscar-nominated actor had retired in 2012 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and passed from complications from pneumonia yesterday evening.  A consummate career actor, Hoskins is probably best known for playing detective Eddie Valiant in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?    He was nominated for an Oscar in 1986 for Mona Lisa.  His last screen role was in 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman.  He always seemed to me to be a blue-collar guy in a white-collar industry, and he always brought something special to any movie he was in.  Hoskins was 71.  You can read CNN’s full obituary below.

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!