Chris Devlin, you say? Really. Do you know Chris Devlin? She is an angel. On Monday, I blogged about angels, real angels, and I talked about Linda Rohrbough. Who I am currently interviewing. I could do a week of posts on Chris Devlin. I would not be the writer I am today without her. I wouldn’t be half the man I am today. Not a quarter. She is the literal wind beneath my wings. Yeah, I’m tearing up right now. A little about Devlin. She never sleeps. She is kind to a fault. She has lots of friends. And she helps me. Lord, does she help me. Like today. She is kicking off my Heavenly Friday blog post by blogging on angels. One more thing about the Devil in Devlin. She is kind of a media-T.V.-movie-Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-Battlestar-Galactica-all-things-Joss-Whedon junky. And when I say junky, I mean hardcore. And away we go. Take it Devlin!
Devlin here. Aw, the things Aaron says. I’m getting all verklempt. Like, Buffy Season 3, prom episode verklempt. Quick, let’s talk about pop culture.
My friend Aaron has written an awesome book about the age-old war in heaven between angels and demons, The Never Prayer. Here are some more badass messengers of heaven and action heroes of hell. (I do more blogging about pop culture at chrisdevlinwrites.com.)
Hammiest Lucifer
Tie: Robert De Niro as Louis Cypher (geddit?) in Angel Heart and Al Pacino as the most demony ‘adversary’ of them all in The Devil’s Advocate.
Best Angel Name
Clarence Oddbody; It’s a Wonderful Life
Most Beautifully Filmed Angels
Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire
Hottest Angels
Cary Grant as Dudley; The Bishop’s Wife
Misha Collins as Castiel; Supernatural
Paul Bettany as Michael; Legion
David Boreanaz as Angel: Angel (Okay, he wasn’t really an angel, per se, though he was a demon. And he was certainly hot.)
Scariest Demon Ever
The one in Paranormal Activity
Respectable Second Place Scariest Demon Ever
Pazuzu; The Exorcist
Best Gabriel
Tie: Christopher Walken in The Prophecy and Tilda Swinton in Constantine
Walken is, of course, Walken and he does his thing with a wink and a vicious smile as he saunters through the mortal world, looking for an evil human soul. He even blows a trumpet as a glibly homicidal Gabriel. But Tilda Swinton holds her own as another fallen Gabriel in Constantine as she plays in some serious heavenly traffic. Bonus points for the androgynous-fabulous suits.
Most Intentionally Funny Demons
Evil Dead II
Most Unintentionally Funny Demon
Azazel; Fallen
Best Sid Vicious Leather-Cool Demon
Pinhead; Hellraiser
Hottest Homo-erotic Subtext
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt; Interview With The Vampire
Demon We’d Most Like to Play Kitten Poker With
Clem: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Best Vision of Hell
The scorched-and-burned post-apocalyptic Mad Max movie on fire in Constantine.
Okay, who’d I miss? Who are your favorite demons, angels and those where you can’t tell the difference?
I totally agree with you on Paul Bettany… Ohhhh soooooo beautiful. And hot. And yummy. And ripped… Ya, so, I agree 🙂
Also love the imagery of Hell in Constantine. Love the unending fire and wind – totally original and hellish!
Great post – thanks for sharing 😉
I will not comment on Paul Bettany. Okay, I will. One word. Yowza. But then, we work out together, so I have to keep it professional. And he’s jealos of my juicy rip, but I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. Oopsies! I’m kidding, kidding, kidding.
Alan Rickman as Metatron in Dogma. It was like a dream come true.
And you cannot beat Christopher Walken as Gabriel. The sheer and utter boredom/madness as he sits playing the trumpet on the school steps. “Study yer math kids, it’s the language of the universe.” Brilliant. Best Angel ever.
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Sasha,
Paul is a hottie. He’s hot in Priest, too. And thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
I thought of some more categories for angels and demons on film:
Best Line
Best Weapon
Best Redemption
My fave: Misha Collins as Castiel 🙂
The version of Hell shown in Constantine stayed with me. It’s so close to what’s possible upon this earth, yet exponentially more dangerous and devilish.
Those are all my most fav movies! Cary, Tom, and the rest. What a great blog.
The stone angels from Dr. Who. Delightfully twisted concept.
Dude, I haven’t thought about them for years. Dang. Awesome. Like mainlining nostalgia. Thanks Wendy!
Rebecca–Of course! Rickman in Dogma, how could I have forgotten? He’s so yummy anyway. Great film.
Traci–Misha Collins is so cool. I miss him on Supes.
Angela–I loved the special effects/CGI in Constantine. The imagery was gorgeous in a haunting way.
Louann–thanks, glad you liked the post. I have a lot of fun, maybe too much fun, writing about pop culture minutia.
Wendy–Ashamed to admit I’ve only watched the Eccleston Dr. Who. Stone angels sound cool.
Oooh! Great post! I have a thing for angels and demons, especially when it’s hard to tell what side they’re playing on. These are all great references. I wish Angel never went off the air, though David Boreanaz makes a great Sealy Booth in Bones.
Now I want to watch Constantine again. Such a fabulous story arc. A really great flick.
Yeah, I miss the Angelverse, and the Jossverse in general. I wish he would get a show on SyFy where they might leave him alone to write the way he wants to, like with Ron Moore on Battlestar Galactica.
I watched Bones for three years and really liked the leads. Gave up when they turned one of the main characters into a cannibalistic serial killer out of nowhere. Bad writers.
I have Constantine and watch it every now and then. It’s got some great scenes that are fun to rewatch.