Colm Meaney Day

Jerry Lynch: "You just don't have the requisite Celtic soul, man."
-Intermission

Colm Meaney is an interesting fellow. He played Miles O'Brien for years and on two different Star Trek series. He's also done a score of films, and I wonder how he finds the time for it all. Since I've recently Netflixed a couple of his movies, I thought I'd dedicate this post to him. (Sorry about the lack of images-stupid library computer)

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation. Good fun, often more than just a little dorky, and vastly, vastly better than the original.

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. My favorite series of the franchise. Interestingly enough, like TNG, it also featured a bald commanding officer. Coincidence? I think not. Here's where Miles O'Brien came into his own though. He got a family and a bigger role, and dozens of his own adventures.

Movie: Intermission. An overall nut-job of a movie, though in a good way, like Snatch where you get a dozen separate characters that all end up falling together in fun ways. Meaney makes an appearance as Jerry Lynch, a nutter of a cop who's out to prove he's "all that," and failing. He does and excellent job with his role, and there's a turn at the end which is rather well done.

Movie: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. Long title for a movie, but it has some fun moments-like those with Meaney. He plays Morgan the town pub owner and local womanizer who's always scheming about making a bit of extra money. Not a bad movie, but I'd never watch it twice. If only they cut out more of the Hugh Grant and added more of the Colm Meaney...

Movie: Bitter Harvest. Adapted from a short story, the flick is set in 1920's Ireland. Meaney plays Harry, a bitter man who's hell bent on ruining the life of his "enemy" the local pub owner. The problem, of course, is he becomes consumed by this vendetta that he himself started, because "a man is known by his enemies" and the pub owner is the best he can have. The movie won a few awards, but I ended up struggling with the directing. The acting was good, the setting was great, the story wasn't bad, but the director didn't take advantage of them. His shots, angles, etc. really could have been done better, but I guess other people liked it just fine-one of the awards was Best Feature Film from the Newport Beach Film Festival. Okay, not quite an Oscar, but those folks were more impressed than I.

After all this, I can't help but wonder where Meaney will pop up next.