Lots of movies have a hero … that flawless person who always saves the day, and for the right reasons … but what about the anti-hero? The tarnished and flawed characters who emerge heroic in spite of themselves.
Friday on Up to Date: the DVD Gurus look at the traditional idea of the Hollywood hero and explore how it has changed since the middle of the twentieth century. We’ll talk about how movies like The Searchers and A Fistful of Dollars changed the way movie goers thought about them.
Also on our list...
Jason Heck's picks:
From Dusk till Dawn
Man on Fire
The Crow
Mitch Brian's picks:
Donnie Darko
Watchmen
LA Confidential
Mitch Brian has written screenplays and teleplays for major Hollywood studios, television networks and independent producers. He co-created and wrote episodes for Batman: The Animated Series and co-wrote the NBC miniseries The '70s. He has written screenplays for directors Chris Columbus, Oliver Stone and Robert Schwentke, as well as producers Geena Davis, Mike Medavoy and Dino De Laurentiis. Brian directed the award-winning short film James Ellroy's Stay Clean as well as Hang Ups and Rhubarb Pie. He contributed essays to Harper Collins' The Book of Lists: Horror, and teaches screen writing and film studies at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He writes for 435 South magazine. When not commenting on cinema with Steve Kraske and Mitch Brian, Jason Heck is a film critic for the Kansas City Star as well as a part-time clerk at Hollywood at Home, Kansas City's oldest movie store. He enjoys windsurfing, backgammon, women who aren't afraid to cry, and finds traveling a breeze, as he's a licensed airplane pilot. His fantasy crushes include Famke Janssen, TV's Wonder Woman and Cate Blanchett. His favorite films include Lawrence of Arabia, Black Belt Jones, The Big Combo and Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
