Author Archives: robin
Before They Were Stars: Benicio Del Toro in “License to Kill”
Javier Bardem’s performance in the newest James Bond film, Skyfall, is a case of an Academy Award winner playing a Bond villain, but let’s harken back to when a future Academy Award winner started off his career as a Bond … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Hank Azaria on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
UPDATE: From Hank Azaria’s Twitter on November 21, 2012: “Somebody found this and now I’m making it your problem RT @the_back_row Hank Azaria on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” http://ow.ly/fpFNb” As if Hank Azaria wasn’t awesome enough already! In 1990, … Continue reading
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Robin’s Underrated Gems: Freeway (1996)
Two years ago, The Back Row put the spotlight on an ultra-bizarre 2003 movie called Tiptoes, which was prominently featured on Cracked.com in an article entitled “The Single Most Ridiculous Movie Premise Ever Made”. Long story short, this movie starred … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Stephen Tobolowsky in “Keep My Grave Open”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hncyoc_cNcM By the time you read this, all of us here at The Back Row will have seen legendary character actor extraordinaire Stephen Tobolowsky perform at the Ottawa International Storytelling Festival last night. So I’m happy to give him the … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: 12-Year Old Jason Bateman Gets Spanked on “Little House on the Prairie”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz8EghAmF8c At the age of 12, Jason Bateman got his first major break when he was cast on Little House on the Prairie in the recurring role of James, an orphaned boy who is adopted by the Ingalls family. In … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Javier Bardem as Superman on “El Dia Por Delante”
All the creepiness that Javier Bardem has exuded during his memorable villainous performances in No Country for Old Men and Skyfall might vanish forever once you watch this clip. In 1989, the 20-year actor joined the cast of a Spanish … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Matthew Perry on “Who’s the Boss?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxRWHzfGF_Y I’ve previously showcased how the cast members of Friends all made a ton of guest appearances on other famous television shows before they made it big. In this 1990 episode of Who’s the Boss?, Matthew Perry plays a college … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Calista Flockhart in a Disney Channel Short
In 1990, the Disney Channel aired a special called The American Dream Contest. This contest was open to high school students and basically gave them the opportunity to make and submit a short film about a subject which they thought … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Ralph Fiennes in “A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia”
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Robin’s Underrated Gems: The Bank Job (2008)
On this week’s Shouts From the Back Row podcast, we covered the subject of movies “based on a true story”. We discussed a number of films which have made this claim and debated how “true” some of them really were. … Continue reading
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