Major Garland Briggs has entered the White Lodge

The great Don S. Davis...



... Major Garland Briggs from TWIN PEAKS, Major General George Hammond on STARGATE SG-1, and Scully's father Captain William Scully on THE X-FILES, among many, many other film and television projects befitting one of the great character actors of my generation... has passed away at age 65.

I wish I had a way of ripping videos off DVD to put them on YouTube. If I could, the first thing I'd post would be the little interview conducted with Mr. Davis a couple years ago for a short "where are they now?" type segment on the TWIN PEAKS Season One DVD. Most of the cast did one of these, and most were marginally interesting little trifles, a couple minutes of an anecdote or two, but generally forgettable.

Don S. Davis' one, on the other hand, was about fifteen minutes long, following him through his house as he shows us his beloved black lab, his office area, his garage where he would carve wooden sculptures and decoys, and upstairs to his studio for a look at his art. During the course of this "postcard," as it's called on the DVD, we get a subtle inside glimpse into the heavy heart and soul of this soft-spoken, laconic man, and the result is--for me--one of the most moving little bits in my entire DVD collection.

It's all part of the plan.

In hono(u)r of my Girlfriends in Canada, I would like to do my own Yankee part for Canada Day by directing you to Cracked.com's essay, 15 Reasons Why Canada is Better Than Your Country.



Secondly, as I was reading aintitcool.com's review of WALL*E*, "Mr. Beaks" makes a very good observation about films in general:

The problem with anticipating a "masterpiece" is that even if the filmmaker delivers on such impossible promise, their vision will most likely prove divergent from yours. As a grown man who's not an idiot all day long, I've come to understand this. Still doesn't keep me from engaging in a multitude of "what ifs" when I see trailers for movies I'm insane over. This is why, for instance, it took me a few viewings of HEAT to get with its vacuum-sealed perfection; the Mann/De Niro/Pacino teaming was so monumental that I got caught up in what it "should be" rather than letting the picture simply be on its own terms. I did the same thing to BARTON FINK back in 1991, and, in the intervening years, it's gone from "good Coens" to "top-shelf Coens" in my estimation.

Of course, this has put me in mind of another film entirely, THE DARK KNIGHT.

( Thoughts on hyperbole, expectations, and the Joker. Plus the brand new kick-ass poster for THE DARK KNIGHT! )

*Who, coincidentally, is similarly torn about the ending of WALL*E as I am! I don't care if it's commercially nonviable for a family movie, this generation's children seriously needs more life-scarring fare! We've tenderized them with the opening of FINDING NEMO, so really, the end of WALL*E really should have been the next logical step. You kids today need your own personal OLD YELLER, damn you!

Boo-yaa

Hellboy on INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO:

God, can we just have Ron Perelman go on the talk show circuit (right down to Rachel Ray's cooking show) in costume and character as Hellboy? That would make me a happy panda.

Everyone here is going to go see HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY this weekend, right?

It doesn't matter if you didn't see or didn't like the original HELLBOY. It really doesn't. By all accounts, HELLBOY II has far more in common with PAN'S LABYRINTH, with several sources hailing it as a magnificent next step for Mr. Del Toro on the way to directing THE HOBBIT. This film is supposedly nothing short of fantastic.

So go. Everyone who loves ass-kicking fantasy, everyone who gets a little moist thinking of David Bowie as the Goblin King or the entire Mos Eisley Cantina scene, go see, support, and love HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY. This film cost more than the first one made, so it needs the love and support.

Go. Friday. Go.