Tagged: 2000s
Lanterns: Kyle Chandler’s Weathered Wardrobe as Hal Jordan
I’m pleased to again present a guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who has written several pieces for BAMF Style previously and chronicles the style of the Ocean’s film series (and beyond!) on his excellent Instagram account, @oceansographer.
Kyle Chandler in Lanterns. Photo credit: John Johnson/HBO Max.
Vitals
Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, cocky former test pilot and Green Lantern of Sector 2814
Coast City, California, Summer 1975 and 1996, and
Rushville, Nebraska, Fall 2016 and 2026
Series: Lanterns
Air Dates: August 16-October 4, 2026
Created by: Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King
Costume Designer: Cynthia Ann Summers
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
While most comic fans regard Hal Jordan as one of the medium’s most recognizable heroes, the pre-eminent Green Lantern of Earth, the character has really had a rough go in live action. Created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane, Jordan debuted in DC Comics’ Showcase #22 in 1959, succeeding Alan Scott as the second human to use that superhero moniker. When finally brought to life on the big screen by Ryan Reynolds in 2011, the movie’s overwhelmingly negative reception made the character untouchable for mainstream audiences for years to come.
Fifteen years later, DC Studios was finally ready to give Hal another opportunity to prove his worth, this time on HBO. To distance this interpretation from the last in the audience’s mind, a decision was made to shift the focus of Lanterns from spectacle to story, from special effects to character. The show deliberately takes a more grounded (not to mention cheaper!) approach, setting its character-driven mystery primarily in Middle America, à la True Detective. So rather than sending its protagonists on a galaxy-hopping adventure battling a host of CGI extraterrestrials, we see our heroes confront aliens and cyborgs (convincingly disguised as humans) in very recognizable environments, even when they’re briefly on another planet.
But who could bring this fantastic character back down to Earth, making him seem equally at home downing shots of whiskey in a roadside bar as soaring through outer space? Who could possibly make him feel convincingly lived in with just the right combination of rakish charm and dogged grit?
Enter Kyle Chandler. Continue reading
The Departed: Leo’s Leather Belstaff Jacket as Billy Costigan
Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan in The Departed (2006)
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Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, undercover Massachusetts State Police trooper
Boston, Fall 2006 to Spring 2007
Film: The Departed
Release Date: October 6, 2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The Departed was widely released 20 years ago today on October 6, 2006, days after its September 26th premiere at the Ziegfield Theater. William Monahan adapted the material from the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, also taking inspiration from real-life Boston crime figures like Winter Hill Gang leader Whitey Bulger and his crooked FBI handler, John Connolly. After six nominations, the prolific Martin Scorsese finally won his first Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed—which was also honored with Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay to Monahan, and Best Film Editing to Scorsese’s regular collaborator, Thelma Schoonmaker.
This was also Scorsese’s third consecutive collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars as the working-class Massachusetts State Police (MSP) recruit Billy Costigan tapped by Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) to infiltrate a ruthless Boston mob run by Francis “Frank” Costello (Jack Nicholson). Continue reading
Miami Vice: Jamie Foxx’s Brown Silk Suit as Tubbs
Jamie Foxx in Miami Vice (2006)
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Jamie Foxx as Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs, Miami-Dade PD detective
Miami, Summer 2005
Film: Miami Vice
Release Date: July 28, 2006
Director: Michael Mann
Costume Design: Michael Kaplan & Janty Yates
Jamie Foxx’s Costumer: Yaa Boaa Aning
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Michael Mann’s frequently memed update of Miami Vice was widely released 20 years ago today on July 28, 2006, reintroducing cooler-than-ice detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs as Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, respectively.
As portrayed by EGOT hopeful Philip Michael Thomas, Tubbs may have lived within Crockett’s [five o’clock] shadow in the series, but the 2006 movie gives the character more room to breathe with Jamie Foxx—fresh off his Oscar win for Ray—in the role. In fact, it was reportedly Foxx who suggested the idea of a Miami Vice film to Mann, who had executive-produced the 1980s TV series.
Despite his increased degree of characterization, the 2006 film still leaves some questions about Tubbs’ character unanswered; for example, how does he feel about mojitos? Is he fiendish or ambivalent? Continue reading
The Sopranos: Paulie Walnuts’ Mint Shirt at Sea
Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” on The Sopranos, Episode 6.15: “Remember When”
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Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob captain and Army veteran
Miami Beach, Fall 2007
Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Remember When” (Episode 6.15)
Air Date: April 22, 2007
Director: Phil Abraham
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
For some reason, TikTok users in 2021 decided that May 24 was National Rigatoni Day. Leave it to me to five years behind on the trends, but rigatoni is my favorite pasta so I may as well find this tenuous connection to again post about my favorite show—specifically the episode of The Sopranos where Paulie whips up some “rigatoni alla Paulie” or “rigatoni alla Tony, heh heh heh,” while silently—or not so silently—fretting about his fate. Continue reading
The Sopranos, Season 6: Christopher’s Houndstooth Sports Coat
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos (Episode 6.09: “The Ride”)
Vitals
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, ambitious Mafia captain
New Jersey, Fall 2006
Series: The Sopranos
Episodes:
– “The Ride” (Episode 6.09, dir. Alan Taylor, aired 5/7/2006)
– “Walk Like a Man” (Episode 6.17, dir. Terence Winter, aired 5/6/2007)
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On Michael Imperioli’s 60th birthday, it feels right to look at one of the more matured looks from his acclaimed performance as Christopher Moltisanti. Christopher’s signature style throughout The Sopranos had been track suits and leather jackets, though his ascension through the ranks of the New Jersey underworld brought a more sophisticated style to fit his status. Continue reading
Denzel Washington in Déjà Vu
Denzel Washington in Déjà Vu (2006)
Vitals
Denzel Washington as Doug Carlin, ATF agent and Marine Corps veteran
New Orleans, Spring 2006
Film: Déjà Vu
Release Date: November 22, 2006
Director: Tony Scott
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On this Fat Tuesday, flash back to 20 years ago when the observance set the scene for Tony Scott’s sci-fi crime thriller Déjà Vu. The movie itself is fine, but it’s a shining example of Denzel Washington’s uncanny ability to elevate any material with his considerable charisma and talent.
Déjà Vu begins with an explosion aboard the Sen. Alvin T. Stumpf passenger ferry which killed 543 people—mostly civilian families and U.S. Navy personnel en route New Orleans’ first Mardi Gras celebration following Hurricane Katrina. A task force across federal agencies and local police includes ATF Special Agent Doug Carlin, given the explosive nature of the act and the responsibilities covered by BAFTE’s final letter. Continue reading
The Good Thief: Nick Nolte’s Black Leather Bomber Jacket
Nick Nolte in The Good Thief (2002)
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Nick Nolte as Bob Montagnet, retired thief and junkie gambler
French Riviera, Spring 2002
Film: The Good Thief
Release Date: February 28, 2003
Director: Neil Jordan
Costume Designer: Penny Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Since Nick Nolte turns 85 tomorrow, today’s post responds to a long-overdue request from BAMF Style reader Steve who has asked to see the actor’s style in The Good Thief, Neil Jordan’s remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1956 French film noir Bob le flembeur. Nolte stars as the titular Bob Mantagnet, a retired thief now living as a junkie gambler in the French Riviera, where he receives the opportunity to pull the proverbial “one last job”—stealing priceless art from the vault of a Monte Carlo casino on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix. Continue reading
The Family Stone: Luke Wilson’s New Plaid Polo Jacket on Christmas Morning
Luke Wilson as Ben Stone in The Family Stone (2005)
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Luke Wilson as Ben Stone, documentary film editor
New England, Christmas 2005
Film: The Family Stone
Release Date: December 16, 2005
Director: Thomas Bezucha
Costume Designer: Shay Cunliffe
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Merry Christmas!
Released twenty years ago this month, The Family Stone (written and directed by Thomas Bezucha) has quietly earned its place in the modern Christmas-movie canon—not through spectacle or sentimentality, but by capturing something far more recognizable: the particular emotional chaos of being home for the holidays with people who know you a little too well.
Already an emotionally demanding watch, The Family Stone feels newly poignant in the wake of Diane Keaton’s death in October 2025 at age 79. Her characteristically stylish, warm yet acerbic, and ultimately devastating performance as the matriarch Sybil Stone has long been the film’s emotional anchor, and revisiting it now adds an unavoidable layer of grief and gratitude to a story already steeped in both.
Headed by the formidable Sybil and her husband Kelly (Craig T. Nelson), the Stones live in the fictional New England town of Thayer, likely somewhere in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley. Each Christmas, their five adult children—and an assortment of significant others—descend on the family home for a few days of overlapping traditions, unresolved resentments, and aggressively honest conversation.
Most families have a Ben. Luke Wilson’s youngest Stone sibling is the laid-back, free-spirited one—sometimes too laid-back, if his two consecutive missed flights are any indication. An excessive stoner even by his liberal New England family’s standards, Ben’s unbothered demeanor ultimately establishes him as the family diplomat: the only one who really gets along with his brother Everett’s tightly wound girlfriend Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), gradually thawing her icy, defensive exterior. Continue reading
The Departed: Jack Nicholson’s Seersucker Sport Jacket
Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello in The Departed (2006)
Vitals
Jack Nicholson as Francis “Frank” Costello, sadistic Irish-American mob boss
Boston, Spring 2007
Film: The Departed
Release Date: October 6, 2006
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With 12 Academy Award nominations (and three wins), today’s birthday boy Jack Nicholson remains the most-nominated male actor in Oscar history. Following a prolific career that began in the late 1950s, Nicholson delivered one final characteristically intense performance in The Departed (2006), his first—and, given his decades-long retirement from acting, only—collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. Continue reading
Michael Scott in The Office’s First Episode
Steve Carell as Michael Scott on The Office (Episode 1.01: “Pilot”)
Vitals
Steve Carell as Michael Scott, paper sales regional manager
Scranton, Pennsylvania, February 2005
Series: The Office
Episode: “Pilot” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: March 24, 2005
Director: Ken Kwapis
Creator: Greg Daniels
Costume Designer: Carey Bennett
Background
The American adaptation of The Office debuted 20 years ago today on NBC, bringing viewers into the everyday monotony of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company. Led by the cringe-worthy but eventually endearing salesman-turned-manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), the show quickly established Michael’s desperate need for affection, which only becomes more apparent with each passing episode. Continue reading
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