Category: Movies

Google Saves the Planet By Adding “Bacon Number” Function

John Wayne's Bacon Number

Finally, the folks at Google have solved a worldwide problem by making it easy to find the “Bacon Number” for any actor, past or present. Google apparently was concerned that people were spending too much time thinking when they played “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” so they added a function where you can find the number easily on Google.

Here is how: (1) In the Google search box, type “Bacon Number,” followed by an actor’s name; (2) Then hit “search.” That’s it. That actor’s “Bacon Number” will come up on the screen, along with an explanation of the steps.

Considering actor’s mentioned in recent Chimesfreedom posts, it is easy to find that Daniel Day-Lewis’s Bacon Number is two. Casey Affleck’s Bacon Number is one because he appeared with Kevin Bacon in Lemon Sky (1988). Bob Dylan’s Bacon Number is two. . .

“Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” was inspired by the play and film, Six Degrees of Separation (1993), which popularized a theory by author Frigyes Karinthy that everyone is on average only six introductions away from any other person on earth. The theory eventually developed into the theory that Kevin Bacon has been in so many films that one may connect him to any actor through six films or less. Up to now, one had to think to figure out the steps, but no longer.

New York Magazine found some flaws with the program. And, since “bacon” made me think of Miss Piggy, I discovered that Google has no Bacon Number for her. But it does have a lot of actors.

So, fire up Google and go at it. The world’s biggest problem is solved. Oh wait, you mean The Oracle of Bacon had already solved the problem (as well as knowing that Miss Piggy’s Bacon Number is two)?

2024 UPDATE:  Unfortunately, Google no longer offers the Bacon Number function.

Whose Bacon Number did you check? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • Daniel Day-Lewis and the Voice of “Lincoln”

    Spielberg Lincoln One of the first things I noticed in watching the newly released trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is the voice Daniel Day-Lewis gives to the sixteenth president. As discussed in a previous post about The Gettysburg Address, actors often portray Abraham Lincoln with a booming deep voice, and we seem to imagine him that way because of his legendary status in American history. But contemporary reports of his voice discuss a higher-pitched nasally sound coming from The Great Emancipator.

    As you can see from the trailer, Spielberg and Lewis are aiming for something close to reality, even in Lincoln’s voice.

    The movie that examines the life of Lincoln in his final months before his assassination. I cannot wait to see this film, which is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. By contrast, Slate gives the trailer a B-.

    What do you think of the trailer for Lincoln? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    These Shades Can’t Hide the Broken Heart, But They Make Good Cinema

    sunglasses shades

    Video makers at Found Item Clothing have created a tribute video to the role of sunglasses in movies. The video of Supercut: 65 Iconic Movie Sunglasses, 1962-2012 was conceived, researched, and curated by Travis Greenwood, while Brett Roberts edited and sequenced the clips.

    The video includes segments from films like Cool Hand Luke, The Blues Brothers, Fight Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  Check it out.

    The song with the video is “Shades,” a 1966 recording by the great Dean Martin. You may see the list of films in the video at the Found Item Clothing website.

    What is your favorite use of sunglasses in film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Ambiguous Morality With Casey Affleck (Missed Movies)

    This edition of “Movies You Might Have Missed” features two 2007 films starring Casey Affleck where his character makes a complicated moral choice near the end of the films. Did his characters make the correct choices?

    jesse james coward robert ford The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): This unusual Western, like its title, is a bit long, but the epic meditation on the Western myth, outlaws, and heroes is worth your patience. Brad Pitt does an excellent job as Jesse James and Sam Rockwell is great as always, but it is Casey Affleck as Robert Ford that forms the heart of the film. With some wonderful documentary narration by Hugh Ross, the movie is also filmed beautifully by director Andrew Dominik. Affleck portrays Ford as a complicated character who worships the celebrity James and then has to make the ultimate decision about killing his idol. The short coda of the film, which covers the time period after James’s death, is one of the most beautiful endings of any Western in cinema.

    Gone Baby Gone Gone Baby Gone (2007): One one level, Gone Baby Gone is a crime mystery. Casey Affleck’s character and his girlfriend, played by Michelle Monaghan, are hired to find a missing little girl by her aunt. But it is not your run-of-the-mill crime drama, as one might guess after learning that the film is based on a book by by Dennis Lehane, the author of Mystic River and Shutter Island. Casey’s brother Ben Affleck stays behind the camera as director and expertly conveys the character of the Boston neighborhood while weaving a morality tale of sorts. The mystery of the little girl takes some twists and turns, but ultimately, as in The Assassination of Jesse James, it ends with Casey Affleck having to make a choice and then pay the consequences for that choice. Gone Baby Gone is one of those quiet gems that draws you in and sneaks up on you. I recently re-watched the movie and liked it even better the second time. If you have not seen it, watch it for your first time.

    The year 2007 was a big one for Casey Affleck with these two outstanding films, as well as appearing in Ocean’s Thirteen. He has not matched that year so far, and did not have another starring role until The Killer Inside Me in 2010. But he has several films in post-production and pre-production now, so we can look forward to some upcoming Casey Affleck movies, even if it will be difficult for him to match The Assassination of Jesse James and Gone Baby Gone.

    Other Reviews Because Why Should You Trust Me?: Rotten Tomatoes gives a 75% critics rating and a 73% audience rating to The Assassination of Jesse James. Meanwhile, the Tomatometer gives Gone Baby Gone a 94% critics rating and an 84% audience rating.

    {Missed Movies is our continuing series on good films you might have missed because they did not receive the recognition they deserved when released.}

    What do you think of these Casey Affleck films? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Total Recall, Total Waste (Short Review)

    total recall There is a scene in director Len Wiseman’s new film Total Recall (2012) where we see someone who reminds us of a funny scene in the original Total Recall (1990) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. If only the rest of the remake had the sense of humor of that one scene. It says a lot about the new remake that the only time the new film made me smile was when it reminded me of the original.

    The new film follows the same basic premise of the original film and both are based on a short story by Philip K. Dick (whose work also inspired Blade Runner and Minority Report). Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) works in a futuristic society and decides to go to a company named Rekall that promises to implant memories into your brain so you will believe you had a vacation or whatever fantasy you wish. Quaid asks to fulfill a fantasy of a spy adventure, and then it turns out Quaid is really a spy (or is he?) but did not know it and thus begins the adventure.

    Philip K. Dick’s short story that inspired both movies — “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” — is about the twists in the tale questioning reality. Although both film versions deviate from the short story, the 1990 film adaption did much to play with the idea of whether Quaid was really a spy or imagining the whole thing. It questioned reality while taking the viewer on an exciting adventure with some campy humor by Schwarzenegger and his co-stars.

    Regarding the 2012 movie, I give the new film too much credit by summarizing the plot about the identity issue, which is really just background for the real plot of the film: Kate Beckinsale does her best angry look while chasing Farrell through dim CGI special effects, occasionally catching up to him and fighting. Then it repeats again and again. You get a sense of that from the trailer.

    With all the potential themes, ranging from questions about reality to colonization to invading another society, the film is not much more than a chase film. I appreciate the attempts to turn the original into a darker setting like Blade Runner, and I was intrigued by the decision to move the Mars of the original to a futuristic colony on Australia. But the movie fails to do much with the change, while wasting the talents of Colin Farell. Thus, although there are some good action scenes, one leaves the movie theater wondering what was the point of the remake.

    Conclusion?: Rent the original Total Recall, which was directed by Paul Verhoeven and co-starred Sharon Stone, Rachel Ticotin, and Ronny Cox.

    Other Reviews Because Why Should You Trust Me? Rotten Tomatoes currently has a 31% critics rating and a 50% audience rating for the Colin Ferrell film (compared to 85% critics/70% audience for the original). Because I am deviating from my usual practice of writing about things I like, I will just include a few positive review links: Slate‘s Dana Stevens said the remake is “a taut, serviceable sci-fi thriller with a couple of neat visual ideas.” Richard Roeper prefers the original but praises the new version’s special effects and performances of Farrell, Beckinsale, and Jessica Biel.

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