Ten Characters Played By: Michael Wincott

First off, we apologize for the delay. Been a long time.
Anyway, we love Michael Wincott. Suave, gravel-voiced, and very talented, he's one of the best at playing those who are off centre. So, here's a look at ten characters played by our man Wincott:

1. Matthew, Curtains (1983)
OK, so he doesn't actually have a single line in this. But the film is an underrated, genuinely creepy little horror, in which a film director (John Vernon) holds auditions for a leading lady in a big house in the woods. Needless to say, someone starts killing the hopeful leading ladies one by one. Wincott plays Matthew, Vernon's assistant, and swaggers into the film, louche and mysterious, sleeps with one of the actresses in the hot tub and is killed off early. All without saying a word. Alright, so maybe Matthew's not his best character. Good film, though.


2. Guy of Gisborne, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
"Might I have the pleasure of your name, before I run you through?"
Now we're talking. The best thing about Kevin Costner's cheesy, overblown version of the Robin Hood story were its villains, played with great relish by Alan Rickman and Michael Wincott. They got the best lines, and they knew it. Wincott's sniveling, cowardly villainy works wonderfully next to Rickman's grand pride and vanity. He'll shoot his mouth off when he's backed up by an army, but he still gets run through by his cousin the Sheriff. And he's stupid enough to question why the Sheriff would threaten someone with a spoon.


3. Top Dollar, The Crow (1994)
"I'm sorry if I spoiled your wedding plans there, friend. But, if it's any consolation to you, you have put a smile on my face."
Top Dollar, the villain of Alex Proyas' superb adaptation of James O'Barr's Gothic revenge comic, is perhaps Wincott's best-remembered performance, and with good reason. In a film that will always have Brandon Lee's shadow hanging over it (He died during filming), the fact is that when Wincott is on screen, you're watching him. As a villain, he's full of contradictions, going from introspective and melancholy to joyful murderous excess at the drop of a hat. That's what makes him impossible to forget. There's the creepy incestuous relationship with his sister, the obviously traumatic childhood ("Dad gave me this. Fifth birthday. He said "Childhood's over the day you know you're gonna die"), the acceptance of Eric Draven's supernatural abilities, and the relish with which he accepts the challenge. The Crow may not be the masterpiece its fans herald it as, but it is an excellent film, and a lot of that is due to Wincott.



4. Conway Twill, Dead Man (1994)
"I'll Tell you one thing: If that there Blake fella keeps on shootin' marshalls I might end up likin' the bastard!"
Wincott's performance in Jim Jarmusch's oddball western Dead Man has a different balance to his previous roles. Conway Twill is a bad man, one of three hired guns charged with hunting down William Blake (Johnny Depp), but his drinking and dirty jokes are nothing compared to the past acts (cannibalism, incest) of fellow mercenary Cole Wilson (Lance Henriksen. Here, Wincott lends a much needed sense of levity to the proceedings. Twill's a simple man wandering through Jarmusch's bizarre landscape, one of the few characters not prone to double meanings and symbolism. He's out of tabacco, impressed by Blake's shooting of Marshalls, and unsettled by his employer's tendency to talk to a stuffed bear. He's funny, and becomes more and more likeable, but is obviously doomed by his decision to ride with Wilson.


5. Philo Gant, Strange Days (1995)
"Paranoia is just reality on a finer scale"
Kathryn Bigelow's sci-fi, written by James Cameron, is an odd one. Not good enough for "cult classic" status, but certainly not bad enough to be completely forgotten. Wincott plays the interestingly named Philo Gant, a record producer who's stolen our hero Lenny Nero's (Ralph Fiennes) rocker girlfriend (Juliette Lewis). Of course, given that he's played by Wincott, he's clearly a bad man, and the prime suspect when brutal murders start happening around Lenny. He's also such an obvious bastard that it's not much of a surprise when he turns out to be a red herring. Still, that's what Lenny gets for having Tom Sizemore for a best friend...Not Wincott's best performance, but he does well with an underwritten part.


6. Rene Ricard, Basquiat (1996)
"When I speak no one believes me, but when I write it down everybody knows it to be true"
Wincott followed his OTT villainy with a wonderfully sensitive performance as art critic/prophet Rene Ricard in Julian Schnabel's Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic. He puts that gravelly voice to a different use as the man who discovered Basquiat and set him up with his first show. Rene is flashy and flamboyant ("My God, you sound famous already) but easily hurt. The scene in which he watches Basquiat sell a painting previously dedicated to him to Warhol's manager (Dennis Hopper) is heartbreaking, as he storms out of the gallery. He reappears at a celebratory dinner, insults Warhol, and delivers the film's central message: "We're no longer collecting art; we're buying people." In a film packed with stars (Bowie! Dafoe! Walken! Hopper! Oldman!), Wincott's performance brings the heart. It should also be mentioned that Jeffrey Wright is terrific in the title role.


7. Frank Elgyn, Alien: Resurrection (1998)
"I'm guessing what you've got going on here ain't exactly approved by Congress?"
There's a lot wrong with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien sequel, scripted for Joss Whedon. Fortunately, Michael Wincott's not one of them. A popular theory is that the gang of crooks that Elgyn leads was a blueprint for Firefly's loveable band of rogues, and it certainly applies for some of the characters (Ron Perlman's Johner is almost identical to Adam Baldwin's Jayne). However, Elgyn is certainly not Captain Mal. You wouldn't get Nathan Fillion referring to one of his crew as "severely fuckable." Elgyn wisecracks his way through the first twenty minutes, showing no concern for the morality of his mission, and proceeds to suffer one of the most frustratingly stupid deaths in the film. Note: If a gun is covered in slime, best to leave it. Don't keep walking down the corridor.


8. Heberto Zorilla Ochoa, Before Night Falls (2000)
Wincott re-teamed with Basquiat director Schnabel for this superb Reinaldo Arenas biopic. It's a small role, but a memorable one. Ochoa introduces Arenas (Javier Bardem) to the literary elite in Havana. In his most memorable scene, Ochoa is forced to testify before a tribunal. As sweat runs down his face and his voice trembles, we're reminded how well Wincott can portray vulnerability.


9. Julius Bicke, The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
"As of this moment, I wash my hands of you"
It's fair to say that this film is pretty much a one-man show, with a superb central performance from Sean Penn as the mentally unstable Samuel Bicke, despite good work from Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle. Wincott has one scene late in the film, as Samuel's severe brother. He reveals that Samuel has stolen from him, and disowns him. There's nothing big or flashy here, just a solid depiction of solemn authority. The film's worth hunting down, too.


10. Hayes, Seraphim Falls (2006)
"I never was much for scripture"
The decision to cast Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson in a gritty chase Western is an odd one, no question. However, it's difficult to argue with the casting of Wincott as Hayes, the foul-mouthed, callous gun-hand hired by Carver (Neeson) to help him hunt Gideon (Brosnan). Asked by a young colleague how to spell "wife", Hayes tells him "W-H-O-R-E". It may not be a complex part, but it's a pleasure to watch his obvious discomfort as he and Neeson take shelter in a Christian missionary camp. As for the film, it's underrated but takes an ill-advised turn for the dream-like in the final third.

The Dollhouse Memorial List Part 2: Jonny's Top 5 Cancelled TV Shows

Following Ben's idea to write a top 5 cancelled TV shows list, I decided to strike out with blazing originality, and write my own. Yes, that's how we do things around here. So, here are my five unjustly terminated small-screen programmes.

1. Firefly (2002-2003)
This is the one that is still pretty much the benchmark of unfair cancellations. Nerds everywhere still get angry about Firefly being shut down, myself included. Joss Whedon's superb space western show lasted an all-too-brief 14 episodes, only 11 of which were aired. Those 11 were shown out of order. And Fox wondered why ratings were low. The show's merry band of smugglers, led by war veteran Malcolm Reynolds (Fillion), move from job to job, struggling to keep ends meet and keep flying. Oh and there's the evil alliance, who are hunting down River and Simon Tam who are being sheltered on board. Yes, it's kind of a niche show, but the DVD sales were enough to convince Universal to pay for feature film version Serenity, which was just as excellent. It's my favourite Whedon series, and it introduced us to the talents of Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau, and made cult heroes out of Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk. The dialogue was fantastically quotable, the characters wonderfully well-drawn, and it achieved the rare feat of making a show about smugglers on a spaceship feel both intimate and thrilling. From Fillion's Captain Mal and Baldwin's not-too-bright muscle Jayne, to Jewel Staite's shiny happy mechanic Kaylee and Glau's damaged-but-deadly runaway River, we cared about each of the great characters. Why can't we have more?
Best episode: Either "Jaynestown", in which Jayne (the ship's muscle) finds out that he's a Robin Hood-esque folk hero to an oppressed small town, or "Objects in Space", where a mercenary gets more than he bargained for while trying to abduct River.
Best quote: That's tough. Everyone gets great lines in Firefly. River: "I can kill you with my brain". Jayne: "I get ten percent! Let me do the math here, ten percent of nothin'...nothin' and a nothin' , carry the nothin'...
Why it was cancelled: Not enough people watched it. And Fox are the devil
Sum it up: "We're still flying" "That's not much." "It's enough."


2. Arrested Development (2003-2006)
This is one of those shows which got a huge amount of critical acclaim, but too few viewers. Star Jason Bateman described AD as "The Royal Tenenbaums meets Cops", which is an accurate distillation of the combination of witty family feud driven dialogue and the documentary-style hand-held camera work. Bateman played Michael Bluth, the only normal-ish member of the spoiled Bluth clan who lost all their money. It made stars out of Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and David Cross and has created the kind of fanatical following that only a cancelled cult show can. Comparisons to Seinfeld are completely justified, as are comparisons to the still-running 30 Rock. It's wacky, and the third series was admittedly too wacky for its own good, but it was tempered with awkwardly believable situations, great characters and dialogue that is more quotable than Firefly. Now, what network was this on again?
Best episode: I'm going with "Pier Pressure", in which Michael and Gob suspect Michael's son George Michael (Cera) of smoking marijuana and decide to teach him a lesson.
Best character: It's a tie between Michael's magician (and ex-stripper) brother Gob (Arnett), and his hapless therapist turned aspiring actor brother-in-law Tobias (Cross). Michael's parents (Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter) come a close second though.
Why it was cancelled: Not enough viewers. Oh and Fox are the devil
Sum it all up: "There's been a lot of lying in this family"
"And a lot of love"
"More lies"


3. Deadwood (2004-2006)
David Milch's foulmouthed Western couldn't have really been made at any other network than HBO. It was expensive, defiantly adult and even more defiantly literary. The dialogue was often deliberately oblique, and sometimes the cusses were almost the only comprehensible words. But it had one of the best casts on TV, led by Ian McShane, proving he was more than Lovejoy with his blistering performance as Gem Saloon owner, murderer, pimp, and civic minded Al Swearengen. He was backed up by Timothy Olyphant (ostensibly in the lead) as the Sheriff with a short fuse Seth Bullock, Brad Dourif as the town Doc, Powers Boothe as Al's rival, John Hawkes as Seth's partner Sol Starr, Molly Parker as the heroin-addicted widow Alma Garrett, Garret Dillahunt playing not one but two muderers, and Keith Carradine as the legendary Wild Bill Hicock. Milch showed the west as it was: dangerous, blood-soaked, disease-ridden. Like Unforgiven, the characters cling to what they know as the march of progress threatens to replace them with a greater evil. The show occasionally got too involved with the Machiavellian workings of the town as it struggled to give up its non-Union status and become part of a state, but when it gained momentum it was superb.
Best character: Al Swearengen. Without a doubt.
Best quote: "Now, here's my counter offer to your counter offer - go fuck yourself!"
Best episode: Either "Suffer the Little Children", in which two con-artists get a brutal lesson, or "A Lie Agreed Upon Part 1", if only for Al's bloodsoaked greeting to Bullock's wife: "Welcome to fuckin' Deadwood!"
Why it was cancelled: Ratings weren't high enough for the very expensive show.
Sum it all up: "Don't I yearn for the days when a draw across the throat made fucking resolution"



4. Angel (1999-2004)
Yup, it's another Joss Whedon show. Given that he created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'd have thought that Fox would cut him some slack. No such luck. That being said, Angel had the longest run of any of the series on this list with a full five series. Unlike Firefly, there's a lot of episodes to watch and immerse yourself in. Angel was one of those rare things: a very good spinoff. Taking the character of Angel (David Boreanaz), the-vampire-with-a-soul, from Buffy and moving him to LA where he founds what is essentially a PI service with Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), another second-string Buffy character, and an Irish half-demon sounds like a bad joke. But it worked. Admittedly, it wasn't until the second and third series that Angel really settled into a groove with the addition of Giles-esque Wesley (Alexis Denisof), significantly altered from his Buffy incarnation, ditsy nerd Fred (Amy Acker) and vampire hunter Gunn (J. August Richards). Things got very shaky with the addition of Angel's angst-ridden teen son Connor in series 4, but they got rid of him for series 5 and brought punk vampire Spike (James Marsters) in from Buffy in an inspired stroke. The show was cancelled halfway through series 5 and the last episodes do seem a little rushed, but they are among the show's best. Acker is especially good as Fred and warrior goddess Illyria, Denisof comes into his own in the last series, and Marsters gives the series the sense of humour it needed so desperately.
Best character: Up until series 5, I'd say Wesley or Fred. Series 5, it's a tie between Spike and Illyria. I do dearly love the scenes in which Spike has to test her abilities. "She can hit like a Mack truck, selectively alter the flow of time, and, er, possibly talk to plants." "I enjoy hitting Spike. He makes noise."
Best quote: Spike: "You're a wee little puppet man!"
or
Spike: "This next one's called "The wanton folly of me mum"!"
Best episode: Either Smile Time, in which Angel is turned into a puppet, or A Hole in the World, in which Whedon shows us that he's prepared to kill off the nicest character even if it makes us cry.
Why it was cancelled: Dropping viewing figures. And because Fox are the devil

5. Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Before Judd Apatow was the Grand Lord General of Hollywood comedy, he was the producer of this much-loved but short-lived high-school comedy set in 1980. Deliberately and lovingly focussed on the kids who serve as the butt of jokes on most high-school shows, it deserved much more attention and a longer run than the one series gave it. Starring Linda Cardellini as Lindsay Weir and John Francis Daley as her younger brother Sam, it was about both of their groups. Lindsay is a maths geek who decides to become one of the stoner gang (the freaks), including Daniel Desario (James Franco), Nick Andropolis (Jason Segel) and Ken Miller (Seth Rogen), and Sam is a nerd who is trying to get the girl of his dreams with the help of his two friends Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr) and Neal Schweiber (Samm Levine). Freaks dealt with traditional issues like the first beer and the first kiss in a way that wasn't old and tired, and also gave us heartbreaking situations like Neal finding out that his dad who he admires so much is having an affair. It was as funny as the best teen comedies and touching in a way that noughties youth indies couldn't match.
Best episode: Either "The Garage Door", with Neal's discovery, or "Chokin' and Tokin'", in which Lindsay smokes weed and allergic Bill is fed peanuts by a bully and falls into a coma.
Best character: Either the so-uncool-he's-cool Harris (Stephen Lea Sheppard) or hippie guidance counsellor Jeff Rosso (Dave "Gruber" Allen).
Best quote: Jeff Rosso: "What do you want me to do, to do for you, to see you through?" Guidance through Grateful Dead!
Why it was cancelled: No one was watching it.
Sum it all up: Nick: "Look, these teachers...these teachers want us to work, you know? And I say fine...I'll work. But you gotta let me do the kind of work that I wanna do. And for me, Lindsay, it's my- it's my drum kit, man. This my passion, you know? This is- this is the essence of who I am now. But before I had this, I was lost too. You see what I'm saying? You need to find...your reason for- for living, man. You've got to find, your big, just gigantic drum kit, you know?"

In memoriam: Dollhouse - 2009-2010

"I know you've heard colorful rumors about what an 'Active' is. Robots, zombie slaves — they are, of course, quite the opposite. The 'Active' is the truest soul among us."

It always seemed inevitable that Dollhouse would be cancelled. When it was announced that Joss Whedon would be making his latest series at Fox, Whedonites started a website campaigning to save the show before a single episode aired. Looking back now with some perspective, how will Dollhouse be remembered? In the larger context of Whedon's work, the series is probably the least successful, coming in a long way behind Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. But at its best, Dollhouse was miles ahead of genre shows currently on television.

The idea for Dollhouse apparently came about during a lunch Whedon had with Eliza Dushku, when they discussed possible ideas for a vehicle for her. The premise, at least in the week-to-week sense, is fairly simple. The dollhouse is a secret worldwide organisation which brainwashes beautiful young people into "Actives", and hires them out to wealthy clients, having programmed them to be whatever the clients want. When they return, they are wiped clean and spend their days in a child-like, memory-free state while they wait for their next assignment. The Los Angeles dollhouse is run by glamorous Brit Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams), with staff including amoral genius Topher Brink (twitchy and funny Fran Kranz), short-tempered security chief Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond), scarred and sympathetic Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker), and tough-but-gentle handler Boyd Langton (an excellent Harry Lennix. Apart from the fact that FBI agent Paul Ballard (over-earnest Tahmoh Penikett) persists in searching for them, everything is running smoothly. If one of the dolls malfunctions, they're sent to the attic. But one of the dolls, Echo (Dushku), starts to remember her assignments and retains the skills she is given.

This being a Joss Whedon show, there's a big bad company that will bring about the end of the world, the very different characters end up banding together to form a makeshift family, and the dialogue is often excellent. When Dollhouse picks up speed, it's snappy, gripping television. But when Dollhouse was bad, it was infuriating.
So what's wrong with it? Well, it got off to a bad start. We were told by the makers that Dollhouse episode 1 would not be the pilot, instead it would be a "mission of the week" installment which aired amid a howl of anguish from the wronged Whedonites. And while we got some nice insight into the workings of the Dollhouse (a theme that would continue to be very strong), the story, about Echo being programmed to be a hostage negotiator, was frankly dull. Echo's plotline was not interesting, and it was the A plot. Episode 2 introduced the big bad Alpha, but kept him offscreen while giving us a Most Dangerous Game storyline in which Dushku was chased around a national park by Matt Keeslar. Nothing we hadn't seen before. The next episode would prove to be the show's worst hour: Echo is programmed to be a backup singer/bodyguard for a pop diva whose stalker may turn deadly. It's one of the worst things Whedon has ever been associated with. The next two mediocre episodes were frankly a relief. But that's five sub-par episodes in a row. Not how you want a TV show to start, especially one that most people are convinced won't last long.

Then, suddenly, Dollhouse got good. Whedon issued a statement telling fans to wait for episode 6, which he said would finally get the plot going and introduce what he was actually trying to with the show. Sure enough, "Man on the Street" was what we were hoping Dollhouse would be. Clever, with adult themes, and moral ambiguity. This rise in quality continued with "Echoes" and "Needs", which pushed the arc forward. Dollhouse was now a must-see. The last two aired episode, "Briar Rose" and "Omega", finally introduced Alpha, a wonderfully psychotic Alan Tudyk, who showed us just how wrong the dolls can go. The slow build gave way to sudden, shocking violence. While the ending was a little rushed, we were left hoping for a second series.

But nobody thought that Fox would bring Dollhouse back for a second series. Yes, the reviews had gone from indifferent to enthusiastic, but the viewing figures were still low. It didn't help that Fox decided not to air "Epitaph One", the last episode of the series. The episode was set in the future and we were shown how technology created by Topher led to the apocalypse. Characters were changed, switched around. Topher was a hysterical wreck, and Adelle had become a motherly figure to him and the others who had barricaded themselves inside the dollhouse against the outside world. in an episode that was both scary and fun in a postapocalyptic way. It was geniunely exciting, it gave us clues as to the final end of the show, and we had to wait for the DVD to get it. But then Fox announced that Dollhouse would be coming back for another thirteen episodes, and we got all excited again.


We hoped that Dollhouse had got over the troughs in quality that the first series had suffered from, but we were wrong. The start of the second series was very much a mixed bag. Amy Acker, so good as the scarred Dr. Saunders in the first series, was no longer a regular. For every good episode (Belle Chose and Belonging were superb), there was an Instinct. Good guest stars (Keith Carradine, Ray Wise, Summer Glau) couldn't help make episodes like The Public Eye much more interesting. As Christmas approached, Fox announced that they would be airing two episodes back to back two weeks running. Then they announced that Dollhouse would not be coming back for a third series.

And just like that, Dollhouse kicked back into gear. The pace was, necessarily, tightened, as the overlong government conspiracy plotlines were condensed to make room for as much character and plot development as possible in the time available. Topher develops a moral compass! Whose side is Adelle on? And what's in the attic? The last six episodes were fantastic.

Perhaps most importantly, Whedon had time to wrap up the series. Unlike his other shows, he has said he has no intention of a comic book spinoff, or any attempts to revive it. Dollhouse is finished, and it finished well. But maybe the overwhelming feeling about Dollhouse is disappointment and a sense of a missed opportunity. It got two series, one more than Firefly. It was given time to tie up most of the loose ends. And, with Epitaph Two, it had two episodes set in the future, meaning that both present and future plot-lines were resolved, which is pretty cool.

So what was the best part of Dollhouse? No, not Echo. Frankly, I found Dushku, her missions of the week, and her relationship with Ballard pretty tedious. Strange that the apparent main plot-line of the series was the least interesting. No, the best part was the dollhouse itself. The really interesting arc was never Echo's, with her struggle to bring the dollhouse down with her accumulated memories. No, the best was the power struggle between the LA dollhouse staff and their employers, the evil Rossum corporation. The dollhouse itself had so many interesting areas that were underexplored. That said, at least we finally got to see the attic

The best characters were the ones within the system. Olivia Williams was superb as Adelle DeWitt, consistently keeping us guessing as to who exactly she was playing for and showing impressive comic timing to go with icy mercilessness. Fran Kranz was a revelation as Topher, who slowly begins to realise that his actions will cause the apocalypse and discovers that he does care. Also impressive finds were Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj as dolls Sierra and Victor. Both manage to do more with their different personalities than Dushku in much less screentime, and get two of the best episodes dedicated to their burgeoning romance. Oh, and Gjokaj does an excellent impression of Fran Kranz. Amy Acker was also great, despite being only an occasional presence, but makes the most of her screentime. Another Angel alum, Alexis Denisof, fares worse in a tedious run of episodes as Senator Perrin who is trying to expose the Rossum corporation, although Summer Glau was a very welcome guest star as Topher's opposite number in Washington, Bennett Halverson.

This is somewhat rambling, but it's difficult to sum up how I feel about Dollhouse' cancellation. In a way it's good that it got wrapped up. It sounds cruel, but when they were under pressure the writing seemed to be so much better. But then again, the show had so much potential. I'm going to miss tuning in to watch Adelle's scheming, Topher's panicked ideas, Gjokaj's hilarious performances when being inhabited by Topher. When Dollhouse was good, it ranked with Whedon's best work. But it was too inconsistent. At least it went out with a bang. And how do you know that you care about a television show? When characters are hurt or killed, and it upsets you. Nobody does that like Whedon, and hey, I cared about these characters.

Best Whedon moment: Subliminal messaging. "There are three flowers in a vase...the third flower is green". That, and the invention of the word "thoughtpocalypse"

Best character: It's a tie between Adelle and Topher. Both Williams and Kranz got the biggest emotional arcs of the characters. For the most part Williams did icy menace while Kranz did comic relief, but check out "Echoes", in which their characters are reduced to a childlike state. Topher: "What's brown sauce made of? Science doesn't know!" Adelle: "It's made of brown!" Topher: "Brown...mined from the earth by the hard scrabble miners of North Brownderton!" Adelle: "My god...I find lentils completely incomprehensible!"

Best violent shock: Tough call, but right now I'm going with the flashback where we see Alpha flip out and first leave his signature on his victim's face. "Let Echo be number one"

Best episode: Damn tricky. I'm going with Needs. Or Spy in the House of Love. Or The Attic. Or Epitaph One. Or Getting Closer, and The Hollow Men...............

Worst episode: Stage Fright. No contest.

One line to sum it all up: "You don't know me! That's the contract. You don't know me, and I don't know you, not fully, not ever! I made you a question. I made you fight for your beliefs. I didn't make you hate me. You chose to."