peter stormare appreciation

I was looking to kill 10-15 minutes of waiting time before going out the house. Usually this tv situation calls for ESPNews. But today I caught the perfect cornball flick for a Saturday afternoon: Armageddon. Its bad in an entertaining way. And I get sentimental because it was one of our first movie dates. Nope, I'm not ashamed to admit it. My wife (gf at the time) and I watched it at the Riverview in South Philly and quickly forgot about it over dinner at Jon's on South Street. Anyway, its 90's personified from the cheesy Aerosmith ballad that scores the charming courtship between upcoming actors Ben Affleck and the constantly tearful and pouty Liv Tyler to the clichéd one-liners (courtesy of Bruce Willis, Steve Buscemi and Billly Bob) that lighten up each ensuing life or death situation.

But the comedic highlight for me is the Russian astronaut played by Peter Stormare. I never knew his name till now, but I always applauded his work especially in Fargo. He almost always plays the same character - a shady Russian or Eastern European with a thick accent. You gotta respect how he embraces the pigeonhole and rides it from role to role (Minority Report, Bad Boys II, Nacho Libre, CSI) . Thanks Peter for helping me kill some tv time. Here he is in a funny VW spot: