>>>He was never the hugest movie star but I liked him in everything I saw him in. A particular favorite was "The Long Good Friday".
>>>
>>>http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/showbiz/obit-bob-hoskins/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
>>
>>I got dragged out by two female friends, many years ago to see Mona Lisa. I really didn't want to go, but that was my intro to Bob Hoskins, and I still think it's my favourite of his movies.
>>
>>But you didn't mention, equally important, Al Feldstein died too. A mad genius.
>
>Influential, sure. Like many people, I used to read Mad magazine. It was when I was 12 or 13 and I have not had the temptation for a long time. I am not going to disagree with anyone's personal taste; Feldstein just hasn't had any lasting power for me.

I haven't read Mad since my early teens either, but it was a huge influence on my funny bone development growing up.

>We don't have to disagree about "Mona Lisa". It's been quite a while since I watched it so I just popped it onto the Netflix queue.

I don't think I've seen Hoskins in anything in which I didn't think he was superb (even Hook). It's also entirely possible that Mona Lisa stuck with me so intensely for no more reason than because it was the first time I'd seen him. But I do remember being astonishingly surprised by how good the movie was after having to be dragged kicking and screaming to see it.