So for this week's star power, I decided to talk about one of the only real bankable actors in Hollywood today, Johnny Depp. For most of the 90's Johnny Depp was that name you heard of but would you ever pay the money to go see those weird films? Probably not. Then all of the sudden, out of no where, he decides to star in a little film known as Pirates of the caribbean and he's the biggest star out there. Now, as a fan of Depp's, I will say that he's done some great work before being in Pirates, but that's the movie that showed everyone what an actor can really do with a good character. Don't believe me on his star power? He got an oscar nod for being a pirate and in his next film, he played the writer of Peter Pan with Kate Winslet. There's no way people would go see this movie. I mean, it's about a writer? But people see the name Johnny Depp and one of two things happen. Any woman starts screaming and saying they need to see it now, or those guys who went to go see Pirates say, I'll give it a shot because Johnny Depp's in it. What happened after Finding Neverland? He got another oscar nod. Now personally, I don't believe Johnny Depp has really done anything great since playing Jack Sparrow and the writer of Peter Pan. Sure, he's spent a good number of years playing Sparrow in the Pirates trilogy (soon to come out with number 4) but for the most part it seems like Johnny Depp is that actor who doesn't really need to take those risks anymore. So for now, he goes with whatever his good buddy director Tim Burton is doing. Let's forget the tragedy that was Charlie and the Chocalate Factory (althoug I will aruge that no one would be that interested in a Tim Burton remake unless Depp was attached) but take a look at the Burton movies with Johnny Depp. I know there are a lot of Tim Burton fans and even I have to give him some credit for what he did with Batman and Edward Siscorhands, but the guy has problems making a normal movie. What makes Burton's money is the fact that every movie seems to have Depp attached to it.
Johnny Depp's schedule seems to be almost filled or the next couple of years. Is he going to do the safe movie? No, Depp has never done the safe film and he never will. And for once creative directors like Tim Burton are happy because Johnny Depp's star power is making people see films that are not of the norm.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
HANCOCK and The Highest Paid Star of '08: Will Smith - Darnell Brown
What is "Star Power?" Well, it's the energy those things up in the sky run off of. No? Let me try again. Star power is when you have a normally horrible film that you won't think twice about going to go see and the minute you hear: "Staring...." your interest is peaked. And soon you find yourself sitting in a film that you knew going on wasn't going to be good but somehow, they got your seven bucks...or $10.50 if you live in Delaware and go to Regal Cinemas. For directors, studios and anyone involved in the production aspect of making a film, having an actor with "Star Power" is crucial because it means you'll have more seats filled. And no one embodies this more that my man, Will "Blockbuster" Smith. A man who has eight films that have grossed at least 100 million in a row. You want star power? His latest, "Eight Pounds". There's no way in hell I was ever thinking about going to go see that movie simply reading the short synopsis on the screen. When I clicked and saw Smith's skiny as head on the poster, I knew at some point I was going to go see it. I mean WTF? I really don't think it's going to be good. Yeah sure it might get him an Oscar nod but...yeah.
Take this past summer's "Hancock". Directed by semi-respected actor director Peter Berg. This was Smith's seventh film to gross 100 mil. This film benefited from being an action film coming out during the era of "Superhero" films. But that alone wouldn't have put asses in the seats. The premise of the film was actually good too, until it got to the second half and turned into a completely different film. So why did I see it and buy the DVD? You know the name: Smith. His star power is undeniable. Which is incredible considering he's a former raper turned highly respected, bankable actor. He also benefits from genetics. It was reported recently that while Smith was the highest paid actor, the closest actress only made close to half of what he made. Cameron Diaz.
Star power is essential to have when making a film. It sucks that actors get paid so much money while the gaffer only gets...whatever he/she makes. But think about it. Without Will Smith, would I have really gone to see Hancock? Probably, but I wouldn't have bought the DVD. Whether it's the Fresh Prince episodes I watch all the time (You know you do too) or the countless times I watched him say, "Oh no you didn't shoot that green shit at me!" in Independence Day, or watch him befriend aliens in M.I.B (one and two) or watch him say hello to a mannikin after vanipires killed his dog friend in I am Legend. Will Smith's star power crosses demographics and racial boundaries. For a black man to be the highest paid actor of '08 and have seven films in a row gross over 100 mil, is amazing. For him and the studios because until his likeabilty runs out, we'll be seeing, Handcock 2 or "What I was befrore I am Legend" because even though when you sit at home and look at the trailer online and say to youself, "Damn, that sucks", you'll be saying the same thing when the lights come back on in the theater only the past tense verison.
Take this past summer's "Hancock". Directed by semi-respected actor director Peter Berg. This was Smith's seventh film to gross 100 mil. This film benefited from being an action film coming out during the era of "Superhero" films. But that alone wouldn't have put asses in the seats. The premise of the film was actually good too, until it got to the second half and turned into a completely different film. So why did I see it and buy the DVD? You know the name: Smith. His star power is undeniable. Which is incredible considering he's a former raper turned highly respected, bankable actor. He also benefits from genetics. It was reported recently that while Smith was the highest paid actor, the closest actress only made close to half of what he made. Cameron Diaz.
Star power is essential to have when making a film. It sucks that actors get paid so much money while the gaffer only gets...whatever he/she makes. But think about it. Without Will Smith, would I have really gone to see Hancock? Probably, but I wouldn't have bought the DVD. Whether it's the Fresh Prince episodes I watch all the time (You know you do too) or the countless times I watched him say, "Oh no you didn't shoot that green shit at me!" in Independence Day, or watch him befriend aliens in M.I.B (one and two) or watch him say hello to a mannikin after vanipires killed his dog friend in I am Legend. Will Smith's star power crosses demographics and racial boundaries. For a black man to be the highest paid actor of '08 and have seven films in a row gross over 100 mil, is amazing. For him and the studios because until his likeabilty runs out, we'll be seeing, Handcock 2 or "What I was befrore I am Legend" because even though when you sit at home and look at the trailer online and say to youself, "Damn, that sucks", you'll be saying the same thing when the lights come back on in the theater only the past tense verison.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Orson Welles - Star Brown
Orson Welles (1915-1985)
Orson Welles is acclaimed as a phenomenal director, actor, producer, writer and artist during the time the Star Studio system was established in Hollywood. As a visionary artist with a passion for creative control for epic films, he went against the grain of the studio system replacing that sense of stardom with something more unique and grand--his brilliant pieces of work.
As a young boy, he lost his parents but guarded over by Maurice Bernstein. He attended Todd School for Boys where he was positively influenced by his creative teacher, Roger Hill. Welles was told he was a prodigy at a young age and so he acted on that by striking out to Europe by age 15 and immersing himself in broadway acting launching an early career in the public eye. He directed the first all-black production Macbeth which was a great success. He directed a few other plays, one being The Cradle Will Rock that also met booming success. With his successful streak and still in his early 20s, Welles formed and John Houseman formed The Mercury Theatre who's first production was Shakespeare's Julius Caesar that was again met with great applause.
Like James Earl Jones, Welles projected a great, deep voice that resounded through radio. On October 30, 1938 as a Halloween prank Welles broadcasted War of the Worlds which stated martians had landed in New Jersey preparing for invasion. This spread panic amongst the listeners causing a massive reaction that is still talked about today. With his successful notoriety in radio, Welles crossed over to film where acclaimed as "one of the greatest films ever made" Citizen Kane debuted with Welles starring as Charles Foster Kane. The entire movie as an art form projected immense skill and brilliance. Even though it wasn't a successful box office hit, the film with Orson Welles' acting is still considered a great masterpiece.
He also starred in other great pieces of work like, The Magnificent Abersons in 1942 that received Oscar nominations including Best Picture for its black-and-white cinematography. He also starred in Jane Eyre (1944) with Joan Fontaine, The Lady From Shanghai with his wife Rita Hayworth, the Long, Hot Summer (1958) alongside actor Paul Newman, and The VIPS (1963) as Max Buda next to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Welles held a grandiose stage and screen presence. His acting was superb and his ability to captivate the audience was not in the sense that he was a sex symbol but as a true unique and genius artist. The fact that he was a brilliant, witty character was the drawing and appealing aspect of him as a Star. There isn't an actor I think of that could replicate his specific style. One of my favorite films he starred in is F for Fake where he plays a strong character greatly influenced by Shakespeare. He portrayed a man of intelligence, wit and a defining classical Shakespearean. Although Welles had many great successes in Hollywood, he had constantly fought over creative control over all his works. He was known to be hard to work with for his sheer brashness because not many who worked with him really understood his vision except for Gregg Toland who shot Citizen Kane. Welles was chosen to be the voice of Darth Vader, but Lucas thought his voice would be too recognizable. Welles was named #16 on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list of the American Film Institute.
Toward the end of his career after many accomplishments and struggles for artistic freedom, Welles' career was slowly dwindling. He was obese and rather gluttonous. In a sense, his life was a reflection of the tragic Shakespearean characters like, Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth and their rise and fall from power and prestige.
"Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation."
Orson Welles is acclaimed as a phenomenal director, actor, producer, writer and artist during the time the Star Studio system was established in Hollywood. As a visionary artist with a passion for creative control for epic films, he went against the grain of the studio system replacing that sense of stardom with something more unique and grand--his brilliant pieces of work.
As a young boy, he lost his parents but guarded over by Maurice Bernstein. He attended Todd School for Boys where he was positively influenced by his creative teacher, Roger Hill. Welles was told he was a prodigy at a young age and so he acted on that by striking out to Europe by age 15 and immersing himself in broadway acting launching an early career in the public eye. He directed the first all-black production Macbeth which was a great success. He directed a few other plays, one being The Cradle Will Rock that also met booming success. With his successful streak and still in his early 20s, Welles formed and John Houseman formed The Mercury Theatre who's first production was Shakespeare's Julius Caesar that was again met with great applause.
Like James Earl Jones, Welles projected a great, deep voice that resounded through radio. On October 30, 1938 as a Halloween prank Welles broadcasted War of the Worlds which stated martians had landed in New Jersey preparing for invasion. This spread panic amongst the listeners causing a massive reaction that is still talked about today. With his successful notoriety in radio, Welles crossed over to film where acclaimed as "one of the greatest films ever made" Citizen Kane debuted with Welles starring as Charles Foster Kane. The entire movie as an art form projected immense skill and brilliance. Even though it wasn't a successful box office hit, the film with Orson Welles' acting is still considered a great masterpiece.
He also starred in other great pieces of work like, The Magnificent Abersons in 1942 that received Oscar nominations including Best Picture for its black-and-white cinematography. He also starred in Jane Eyre (1944) with Joan Fontaine, The Lady From Shanghai with his wife Rita Hayworth, the Long, Hot Summer (1958) alongside actor Paul Newman, and The VIPS (1963) as Max Buda next to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Welles held a grandiose stage and screen presence. His acting was superb and his ability to captivate the audience was not in the sense that he was a sex symbol but as a true unique and genius artist. The fact that he was a brilliant, witty character was the drawing and appealing aspect of him as a Star. There isn't an actor I think of that could replicate his specific style. One of my favorite films he starred in is F for Fake where he plays a strong character greatly influenced by Shakespeare. He portrayed a man of intelligence, wit and a defining classical Shakespearean. Although Welles had many great successes in Hollywood, he had constantly fought over creative control over all his works. He was known to be hard to work with for his sheer brashness because not many who worked with him really understood his vision except for Gregg Toland who shot Citizen Kane. Welles was chosen to be the voice of Darth Vader, but Lucas thought his voice would be too recognizable. Welles was named #16 on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list of the American Film Institute.
Toward the end of his career after many accomplishments and struggles for artistic freedom, Welles' career was slowly dwindling. He was obese and rather gluttonous. In a sense, his life was a reflection of the tragic Shakespearean characters like, Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth and their rise and fall from power and prestige.
"Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation."
Star Image - Harrison Ford
When I think of star power, I think of the names and faces of actors and actresses who possess the charm and talent to command lead roles in addition to the cultural impact they have made over the years. I think for someone to be considered an icon, they should be easily recognized, constantly on screen, and actively changing the entertainment world as we know it. People think of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, and George Clooney to name a few, but I think of Harrison Ford.
You walk around and ask a handful of people who "Maverick", "Tyler Durden", and "Danny Ocean" are and I guarantee you half of them won't have a clue what you're talking about.
Mention Han Solo and Indiana Jones, however, and I bet you'll get 99.9% recognition rate.
Harrison Ford got his start in the 1973 classic film American Graffiti, which is where he met George Lucas, the man who reluctantly launched his career. As it goes, Lucas didn't want all of his films to star Ford. In fact, he used him only to read lines for other actors auditioning for Star Wars. It wasn't until Lucas's best friend and fellow director Steven Spielberg convinced him that Ford was perfect for the role of Han Solo that Lucas began to see the potential in Ford.
In fact, they were so moved by his talents that they eventually cast him as the title role for the Indiana Jones films.
It is important to mention that for the longest time, Star Wars was the highest grossing film of all time until Titanic bumped it to second in 1996 and then The Dark Knight bumped it to third in 2008.
He is very versatile, being able to star in sci-fi, horror, drama, crime-drama, comedies, action-adventure, and even "chick flicks". He ad-libbed two of the most famous moments in pop culture -- the first is in Star Wars when Princess Leia says "I love you" and Han Solo responds, "I know."
The second moment is when Indiana Jones shoots a man trying to fight him with a sword in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Apparently, there was to be a long fight scene and Ford opted out because he was sick.
Lastly, in addition to his commanding presence on screen, Ford is well-mannered and amusing to watch during interviews as well as classy and humble in public. I've been captivated by him and admired him since I first saw Star Wars as a small child -- that film was what helped me discover that I wanted to pursue a career in the film industry.
You walk around and ask a handful of people who "Maverick", "Tyler Durden", and "Danny Ocean" are and I guarantee you half of them won't have a clue what you're talking about.
Mention Han Solo and Indiana Jones, however, and I bet you'll get 99.9% recognition rate.
Harrison Ford got his start in the 1973 classic film American Graffiti, which is where he met George Lucas, the man who reluctantly launched his career. As it goes, Lucas didn't want all of his films to star Ford. In fact, he used him only to read lines for other actors auditioning for Star Wars. It wasn't until Lucas's best friend and fellow director Steven Spielberg convinced him that Ford was perfect for the role of Han Solo that Lucas began to see the potential in Ford.
In fact, they were so moved by his talents that they eventually cast him as the title role for the Indiana Jones films.
It is important to mention that for the longest time, Star Wars was the highest grossing film of all time until Titanic bumped it to second in 1996 and then The Dark Knight bumped it to third in 2008.
He is very versatile, being able to star in sci-fi, horror, drama, crime-drama, comedies, action-adventure, and even "chick flicks". He ad-libbed two of the most famous moments in pop culture -- the first is in Star Wars when Princess Leia says "I love you" and Han Solo responds, "I know."
The second moment is when Indiana Jones shoots a man trying to fight him with a sword in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Apparently, there was to be a long fight scene and Ford opted out because he was sick.
Lastly, in addition to his commanding presence on screen, Ford is well-mannered and amusing to watch during interviews as well as classy and humble in public. I've been captivated by him and admired him since I first saw Star Wars as a small child -- that film was what helped me discover that I wanted to pursue a career in the film industry.
Pierre Batcheff by josh cohen
Pierre Batcheff was well known during the years of French avant-gard cinema during the mid-to-late 1920s. He is most well known to me as the main character in Salvador Dali's Un Chien Andalou. His other works include Gance's 1927 film, Napoleon, and Les Deux Timides from 1928. I particularly like Batcheff because he reminds me of a period in cinema where directors were still exploring techniques of story telling. Looking specifically at Un Chien Andalou, it's such a strange film looking at it from a modern Hollywood standpoint. As an actor, especially when film itself is still a relatively new medium, has got to be real difficult. Acting styles haven't been perfected as well as directing styles. Under Dali's direction, Batcheff was probably scratching his head more times than the audience. One particular scene where Batcheff is riding a bicycle and around his neck is a box, and what’s inside is revealed later to be a tie. It’s with this device that Dali and Bunuel inject a kind of dream like quality into their film. Batcheff falls over and dies, carrying this mystery box around his neck. The woman, although crying about, seems to know just what to do in order to bring him back to life. The woman character has some kind of precognizant knowledge that, by laying the clothes and the box’s contents on the bed would eventually bring the man back to life. This is another example of the filmmakers’ unique cause and effect logic. Batcheff, i imagine decided at some point not to ask any questions about what he was being asked to perform. Another particular scene Batcheff had to deal with in Un Chien Andalou was the chase around the room. Dealing with the constant cuts so add in the various items in the shot truly takes a patient actor. To me, Pierre Batcheff defines a hard working actor. It's too bad he overdosed on Veronal.
Theresa Corvino - Star Image - Ocean's Twelve
Ocean’s Twelve
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
2004
Synopsis: When they are forced to repay the money they stole in Ocean’s Eleven, they add another member to their crew in order to pull off three European heists and beat a master European thief.
This film, like all in the series, relied heavily on the star power of all of the 12 main cast members. The three biggest stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon are the three biggest characters. The rest of the 12 are big name actors that each draws their own unique crowd to the film.
One of this film’s biggest faults is their exploitation of the star system not just in the casting of the actors but also becomes an integral part of the story. There is a part in the story where it seems as though there was no way out of the situation they had stuck themselves in. Most of the cast had been captured and the few that are left are searching for ways to save the others.
Then, when you wonder if they could sink low enough to draw completely on the star card – but the possibility does not seem realistic. However, then they do it and you feel like you are watching a train wreck the entire time. They actually have the actress Julia Roberts, who plays a character in the film, pretend to be Julia Roberts the actress because the character looks like her. This is possibly the lowest a film can sink in exploiting star power. The film hints at this the entire time as a joke but then plays it right through in what they think must be a joke, but is just a horrible way to fill a plot problem they could not fix.
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
2004
Synopsis: When they are forced to repay the money they stole in Ocean’s Eleven, they add another member to their crew in order to pull off three European heists and beat a master European thief.
This film, like all in the series, relied heavily on the star power of all of the 12 main cast members. The three biggest stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon are the three biggest characters. The rest of the 12 are big name actors that each draws their own unique crowd to the film.
One of this film’s biggest faults is their exploitation of the star system not just in the casting of the actors but also becomes an integral part of the story. There is a part in the story where it seems as though there was no way out of the situation they had stuck themselves in. Most of the cast had been captured and the few that are left are searching for ways to save the others.
Then, when you wonder if they could sink low enough to draw completely on the star card – but the possibility does not seem realistic. However, then they do it and you feel like you are watching a train wreck the entire time. They actually have the actress Julia Roberts, who plays a character in the film, pretend to be Julia Roberts the actress because the character looks like her. This is possibly the lowest a film can sink in exploiting star power. The film hints at this the entire time as a joke but then plays it right through in what they think must be a joke, but is just a horrible way to fill a plot problem they could not fix.
Tom Hanks - Maureen McGuirk
Tom Hanks got his his start as an actor in Cleveland when he auditioned for a community theater play. From there, he couldn't be stopped. He was first introduced into the public eye on the show Bosom Buddies (1980), where he met his wife, actress Rita Wilson. From there, Hanks earned his stripes through smaller films that have become classics over the years including Splash (1984), Big (1988), A League of Their Own (1992), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). 1993 was a huge year for Hanks and put him into the ranks of the best actors when he was nominated and won his first Oscar for Best Actor in Philadelphia. He would be the second actor, (after Spencer Tracy), to win back-to-back Oscars when he won again the next year for Forest Gump.
After Hanks' two Oscar wins, he was officially listed as one of the best actors of his generation. Ever since he has been involved both behind and in front of the camera, including That Thing You Do! (1996) where he wrote, directed, and starred in for the first time. He has been involved in numerous series, the most famous being Band of Brothers (2001).
Tom Hanks has been involved in some of the greatest films of the last few decades and continues to wow crowds with his ability to tell stories through acting, writing, and directing. He's committed to his work, his family, and also to saving the planet. He is a big supporter of the "green" movement in Hollywood and the rest of the world.
After Hanks' two Oscar wins, he was officially listed as one of the best actors of his generation. Ever since he has been involved both behind and in front of the camera, including That Thing You Do! (1996) where he wrote, directed, and starred in for the first time. He has been involved in numerous series, the most famous being Band of Brothers (2001).
Tom Hanks has been involved in some of the greatest films of the last few decades and continues to wow crowds with his ability to tell stories through acting, writing, and directing. He's committed to his work, his family, and also to saving the planet. He is a big supporter of the "green" movement in Hollywood and the rest of the world.
Justin Afifi - Bill Murray
Bill Murray first came into the public eye on NBC's Saturday Night Live. There he established himself as a star on the rise in the world of comedy. Murray continued to climb the comedy ladder in the 1980's with such classics as Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Caddyshack. Murray became known for his sarcastic delivery and his improvisational abilities. Noncomedy Murray films like Razor's Edge and Where the Buffalo Roam weren't so well thought of.
In the early 90's he continued to appear in comedies like Groundhog's Day and What About Bob? and continued to prove successful. His career received new life after starring in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, a comedy that required more acting range. After critical acclaim and several awards Murray began to take more dramatic roles, including roles in Hamlet and The Royal Tennenbaums.
Murray was not immune though, as he still appeared in several movies that did not garner such praise including Garfield, Charlie's Angels, and Osmosis Jones. Yet another resurgance would come in the form of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, which garnered Murray with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Murray has made a steady living on other dramatic roles including his critically acclaimed turn in Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. Murray is still one of the most influential and highly regarded people in comedy today.
In the early 90's he continued to appear in comedies like Groundhog's Day and What About Bob? and continued to prove successful. His career received new life after starring in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, a comedy that required more acting range. After critical acclaim and several awards Murray began to take more dramatic roles, including roles in Hamlet and The Royal Tennenbaums.
Murray was not immune though, as he still appeared in several movies that did not garner such praise including Garfield, Charlie's Angels, and Osmosis Jones. Yet another resurgance would come in the form of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, which garnered Murray with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Murray has made a steady living on other dramatic roles including his critically acclaimed turn in Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. Murray is still one of the most influential and highly regarded people in comedy today.
Tom Cruise - By Brian Herron
Tom Cruise has been known to be a male sex symbol as well as a typical protagonist action star that saves the day at the end of a movie. One of his earliest movies, Risky Business, defined him as a male sex symbol because his characters sexual relations with Lana, who is a prostitute in the movie. Cruise portrayed this character so well that he was cast in other movies that needed a male character that can easily get the girl.
Three years later came along Top Gun, which not only shows Cruise as a playboy but also as an action star that can attract an audience expecting to be entertained by special effects. To me, this is why Top Gun was so successful because of Cruise’s ability to play two characters at once. This in turn led to his casting in Days of Thunder in which his character is a NASCAR driver who is focused on his sport but at the same time is in love with the doctor involved in his race team.
This was a time in society; I feel like when movies were being made that couples could go see that they would both enjoy. They weren’t just chick flicks or flat out action movies; they were action-romantic movies. Tom Cruise’s good looks, charm, and heroic type of acting proved to be a big part of this mixed genre. Today, these action-romantic movies aren’t really around any more. I think they after the 80’s decade romance and action started to split. This is also proved in Tom Cruise’s career where he is seen in roles that are either defined by romance, such as in Vanilla Sky, or in action, such as Mission Impossible and War of the Worlds.
Three years later came along Top Gun, which not only shows Cruise as a playboy but also as an action star that can attract an audience expecting to be entertained by special effects. To me, this is why Top Gun was so successful because of Cruise’s ability to play two characters at once. This in turn led to his casting in Days of Thunder in which his character is a NASCAR driver who is focused on his sport but at the same time is in love with the doctor involved in his race team.
This was a time in society; I feel like when movies were being made that couples could go see that they would both enjoy. They weren’t just chick flicks or flat out action movies; they were action-romantic movies. Tom Cruise’s good looks, charm, and heroic type of acting proved to be a big part of this mixed genre. Today, these action-romantic movies aren’t really around any more. I think they after the 80’s decade romance and action started to split. This is also proved in Tom Cruise’s career where he is seen in roles that are either defined by romance, such as in Vanilla Sky, or in action, such as Mission Impossible and War of the Worlds.
Julie Angelicola - Christian Bale
Currently best known for his recent roles as the comic book world’s caped crusader, Batman, Christian Bale has taken the film world by storm ever since he put on that mysterious black mask. Besides the fact he has been a paid actor since 1986, when he was only twelve years old, Bale has appeared in over 40 films and television shows, and produced over 30.
His first major role was playing a young, English boy trying to escape under Japanese occupation during WWII, in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987). My first time seeing Bale in a film was during his loveable and charming role as Jack, in Disney’s Newsies, one of my favorite films of all time. I’ve probably seen it over 100 times, literally, and every time I watch it I get excited to see Bale’s character light up the screen and the simple story of a group of newsboys trying to make a difference. At the time he was just a teenager but I soon feel in love with him and his natural charisma on screen. I later saw Empire of the Sun and put two and two together. I continued to watch him in titles such as, Little Women, Laurel Canyon, All the Little Animals, The Machinist, and American Psycho, another personal favorite. Bale displays his natural acting ability and versatility on screen by sometimes taking risky roles. He is not necessarily always in Blockbusters, but manages to play an array of characters and personality types. He is witty, captivating and has classically good looks. Despite his well-rounded nature, Bale doesn’t always play the lead role, and no matter what role he is playing, it never seems small because of the way he pulls the viewer into the film’s story, and his own personal story. He has a tendency to make you want to hear every word he says, and creates a feeling of importance even when he’s in the background. He is incredibly dedicated to his work as has done truly amazing things, sacrificing his image in order to play a role the best he can, such as losing a whopping 63 pounds for his role in The Machinist (getting down to about 120 lbs) and then skyrocketing to around 220 lbs right after for the lead in Batman Begins.
Although his role in American Psycho landed him some much deserved attention, audiences almost seemed to forget about him until he was decided on as the new face of Batman. He has been called the best Batman yet, and there are still more of the films to come. Finally, Batman and everything he does is more believable because of the casting of Bale. He is strong, cynical, charming, and overall captures the essence of Bruce Wayne’s complex character. He owns the screen along with the star cast and his presence makes you anxious and excited for the next film to be released. He is a truly talented actor and now a household name thanks to DC Comics. What sets him apart from other ‘movie stars’ such as Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, is the fact that he has successfully carried on with a low-key lifestyle and modest celebrity profile. He isn’t all over the tabloids, avoids getting into trouble, and escapes being followed by paparazzi. He has not been sucked into the Hollywood ways of most celebrities, which is part of what makes him so relatable and likeable. He is an immensely talented actor, and no doubt a cultural phenomenon in the movie/acting world.
Bette Davis
BETTE DAVIS: THE QUEEN OF CINEMA
One of the most beautiful, enigmatic, and astounding actress’ to ever grace Hollywood was the legendary Bette Davis. Her legendary mark was made threw portraying insensitive women and gave her audience brilliant, timeless performances for many years. She was an inspiring figure for women being the first to be on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and the first to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Some of her most famous works is What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, All About Eve, and Jezebel. These are only a few of her greatest works after having ten Oscar nominations and winning two Academy Awards. In her first breakout film, Jezebel, played an incredible performance as a southern belle and the role boosted her career into stardom. Davis had become a radio and fan favorite. In What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? Davis portrays the life of a childhood vaudeville actress and the story ventures into their elder age. Davis plays the perfect villain, making incredibly hard to not separate the woman from the character.
Through her career she’s been able to exceed her stardom from the screen but into real life. After the Pearl Harbor attacks, Davis spent most of 1942 selling war bonds. She also performed in African American acting troupes as the only white performer. During the war, she spoke out against the segregation within the military believing that all soldiers fighting for America should be given the same treatment. As her career went on she did fall into personal setbacks within her roles. Davis was getting older and most parts favored a younger looking actress. She was unable to get along with most people including Joan Crawford. An infamous rivalry between the two actresses stemmed from fighting over film parts to stealing the other one’s husband.
By 1949, Hollywood columnists felt like Bette Davis’ career was at an all time low and bound to end very soon. She filmed The Story of a Divorce in 1951, where she began a romantic relationship with leading man and future husband, Gary Merrill. Critics began to see light to Davis’ career giving her performance positive reviews. She won three Best Actress Awards from the Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Critics Circle Award, and the San Francisco Film Critics Award. In this year Davis received even greater news when she was invited to lend her handprints to the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. During this time of redemption of success, only very few of Davis’ movies did well.
In her latter years, Davis moved her talents back to the stage of where her acting roots originated. In the early 80’s Davis career was finally coming to an end due to illness. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and received a mastectomy but unfortunately two weeks later she suffered with four strokes, which caused her paralysis to the right side of her face and left arm. Davis was emerged under physical therapy, which slowly helped her recover but her light was starting to fade. Even though Davis was trying to deal with her recovery, her daughter, B.D. Hyman wrote a memoir called, My Mother’s Keeper. This book detailed a supposedly difficult mother-daughter relationship, which devastated Davis extremely. Davis was absolutely shocked that her own child would write a degrading book behind her back. Later on Davis collapsed during an award show to find out her cancer returned. Soon later, Bette Davis died at the age of 81 on October 6, 1989 in France.
During Davis’ savvy career, she was deeply criticized on her performance and looks. Davis was constantly questioned on what made her spark on camera. Personally, I believe people were extremely jealous of such a rare talent in a woman who knew how to portray characters in a memorable way. Most actors can’t captivate an audience or leave a magnificent impression on their audiences. Bette Davis had the gift of telling a story through character and many people will remember a woman who inspired future actresses to come. Her performances were so inspiring to me it nearly made me want to act but not just because of the glitz and glamour, for the passion of depiction. It was Bette Davis’ sex appeal, mysterious persona, classic unsympathetic roles, and stalwart personality, which will stay in the hearts of film lovers for eternity.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Although he is now an aging politician from California, Arnold Schwarzenegger ushered in the generation of bad ass. Prior to his appearance on screen our tough guy roles were played by James Dean or Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and other great actors with huge personas. But now it almost seems that you do not need a persona, you just need to be huge! The reason i chose Arnold was to show how the idea of a "star" can sometimes ruin a genre. Now don't get me wrong, I think what Schwarzenegger did for film was truly remarkable, highlighted by his roles in James Cameron's Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. But, when you look back and see what has came from him it really is sad. Arnold became the image of the alpha male, as opposed to Brando and Dean whose images were something we could reach for within normal means. No one knew of the word "steroids" like we publicly do today. People saw Arnold and wanted to be him and as they dug deeper and deeper the result was synthetic drugs. Not only did this disarm the action genre in the long run, it disarmed what it means to be a fine upstanding American Man.
Take a look at some of those that followed him, Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), John Cena (The Marine), Terry Crews (Training Day, Harsh Times). These are all extremely muscle bound and steroid infused freaks. Correct me if i am wrong but John Cena doesn't hold a candle let alone a damn lighter to Brando or Pacino. Even James Bond's Daniel Craig in Casino Royale was rumored to being HGH or the Human Growth Hormone. What's next, Vin Diesel as a Babysitter....Oh, wait that happened.
I completely understand where these people get their star appeal and image from. As an avid gym rat (non steroid user, obviously) I know that no matter what you take it is still a ton of work to look like any of the guys i have listed here. But i guess my attempt was to disarm the star image for once rather than just explain it or glorify it. Because when it really comes down to it, movie stars dictate fashion, physique, relationships, cars, and every other general way that we carry ourselves through everyday life. And these guys are promoting a life style that dabbles in drugs. I have researched steroids countlessly I know a good ammount of people on them, alot of the lure of roid rage is false and the ridicuous side effects as well, but it is still a drug. People do go through withdrawal, sometimes bad enough to take their own life. I think by building a star image like that is just too high and eventually people are going to give up. We need to hold on to our talented action stars like Bruce Willis and Matt Damon and understand that Arnold and Sly may be impressive, they are in a league of their own.
Take a look at some of those that followed him, Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), John Cena (The Marine), Terry Crews (Training Day, Harsh Times). These are all extremely muscle bound and steroid infused freaks. Correct me if i am wrong but John Cena doesn't hold a candle let alone a damn lighter to Brando or Pacino. Even James Bond's Daniel Craig in Casino Royale was rumored to being HGH or the Human Growth Hormone. What's next, Vin Diesel as a Babysitter....Oh, wait that happened.
I completely understand where these people get their star appeal and image from. As an avid gym rat (non steroid user, obviously) I know that no matter what you take it is still a ton of work to look like any of the guys i have listed here. But i guess my attempt was to disarm the star image for once rather than just explain it or glorify it. Because when it really comes down to it, movie stars dictate fashion, physique, relationships, cars, and every other general way that we carry ourselves through everyday life. And these guys are promoting a life style that dabbles in drugs. I have researched steroids countlessly I know a good ammount of people on them, alot of the lure of roid rage is false and the ridicuous side effects as well, but it is still a drug. People do go through withdrawal, sometimes bad enough to take their own life. I think by building a star image like that is just too high and eventually people are going to give up. We need to hold on to our talented action stars like Bruce Willis and Matt Damon and understand that Arnold and Sly may be impressive, they are in a league of their own.
Elyse Stefanowicz - Steve Carell
Steve Carell is one of America's current top funny men and can be seen everywhere from television, movies and magazines. He is a newer actor with a comedy style all his own that sets him apart from other comedians like Will Ferrel, Adam Sandler, etc. He isn't exactly the most attactive man and his dry, dorky demeanor can't help but pull in audiences because of his relatability.
The first time I ever saw Steve Carell was in the 2004 film Sleepover. The film circles around four teenage girls who are involved in a scavanger hunt in order to get the coveted lunch table. Carell plays a not-so-smart security gaurd who is chasing them and inevitably gets out-smarted. Before this, he on several television shows ("The Dana Carvey Show", "Strangers With Candy", "Watching Ellie"), but didn't have his solo breakout role until the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin. If there was any character that fit Steve Carell's looks, this would be it. The film is exactly what the title suggests--a man searching for sex because he is a 40-year-old virgin. Carell captured audiences hearts and women couldn't help but be drawn to him because of this film. Since then, he was in several huge movies (Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life, Little Miss Sunshine, Get Smart) and now carries the hilarious television show "The Office".
What's unique about Steve Carell is that he doesn't try to be something he's not. While he is good looking, he doesn't play the role of the heart throb. He uses his dorkiness to his advantage and helped mold a career on what he really believes in. His comedic style is very dead pan and dry but at the same time clever and witty. He charms audiences by being exactly who he is and makes no excuses for himself. He now carries films by himself and can be considered to have surpreme "star power". Many people come to his films just because he stars in them, and he is one of the top paid comedians in the industry. In his mid 40s he has the industry in the palm of his hand and is a very vital actor in Hollywood today.
The first time I ever saw Steve Carell was in the 2004 film Sleepover. The film circles around four teenage girls who are involved in a scavanger hunt in order to get the coveted lunch table. Carell plays a not-so-smart security gaurd who is chasing them and inevitably gets out-smarted. Before this, he on several television shows ("The Dana Carvey Show", "Strangers With Candy", "Watching Ellie"), but didn't have his solo breakout role until the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin. If there was any character that fit Steve Carell's looks, this would be it. The film is exactly what the title suggests--a man searching for sex because he is a 40-year-old virgin. Carell captured audiences hearts and women couldn't help but be drawn to him because of this film. Since then, he was in several huge movies (Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life, Little Miss Sunshine, Get Smart) and now carries the hilarious television show "The Office".
What's unique about Steve Carell is that he doesn't try to be something he's not. While he is good looking, he doesn't play the role of the heart throb. He uses his dorkiness to his advantage and helped mold a career on what he really believes in. His comedic style is very dead pan and dry but at the same time clever and witty. He charms audiences by being exactly who he is and makes no excuses for himself. He now carries films by himself and can be considered to have surpreme "star power". Many people come to his films just because he stars in them, and he is one of the top paid comedians in the industry. In his mid 40s he has the industry in the palm of his hand and is a very vital actor in Hollywood today.
Lil' Wayne as a Cultural Phenomenon: Reviewed by Davis Rivera
In the past few years there has been one person who has seen their star rise to such an unparalleled height that they’ve acquired a not-so-obnoxious pun on a great comedy that is ubiquitously used in conjunction with their name whenever it appears in print. This person has single-handedly taken the once vastly underappreciated art form known as the music video from a looked down upon thoughtless way of proselytizing the brain dead American public into buying the newest and flashiest product to a condensed blast of atomic cinematic beauty that until recently had been toyed around with and labeled as a “vignette” to alleviate the targeted demographics’ disgust by using a French word, often being forced together in an attempt to pass off the product as a full-length film, as in the case of Angus Andrew and the Liars’ “Drum’s Not Bread.” The man solely responsible for this revolution also happens to be America’s biggest star, the CEO/founder of Young Money Records, the president of Cash Money Records, and the self-proclaimed “greatest rapper alive” Weezy F. Baby A.K.A. Lil’ Wayne.
For audiences of all ages, Wayne’s name is synonymous with his hometown of New Orleans, the glorification of money, an Apollonian head of flowing dreadlocks, and the finest wordplay that has been heard in rap since the days of Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash. Although he has released only a handful of albums, Wayne has become such a pervasive component of American popular culture that, without a doubt, many who have not heard one of his albums or seen one of his videos have some sense of Wayne’s magnetic persona. As anyone who owns a printed copy of a film still from the iconic opening scene of Wayne’s “Lollipop” video can attest, audiences do not just appreciate a star’s performance onscreen; they also consume the public image that a star gradually acquires over the course of a career. Fans are so drawn to these larger-than-life figures that they imitate the attire and mannerisms of their favorite stars, they scour gossip magazines looking for them, and they can even vote them into political office.
All one has to do to notice this fact is step outside and become immediately aware of Wayne’s imminence in the cinematic and music world. Everywhere one looks there will be a man or woman fully equipped with dreadlocks, a mouth shining vibrantly thanks to a recently acquired grill, and a wardrobe rich with ostentatious colors straight out of a production of Gilbert and Sullivan yet, due to Wayne’s magnetic persona previously mentioned, somehow made trendy and worthy of being resurrected in the early 21st century. Letting one regain their senses, the next step would be to notice the way they carry themselves and, again, be transported into the world of Wayne and his dedicated sense of himself. Not since Mick Jagger has there been a star more self-assured and swaggering than Wayne and this attests to the few or, more likely, none that can pull off the boldness of Wayne due to a mixture of self-consciousness and a misunderstanding of Wayne’s reinventing himself, not recapturing himself. A topical example of this is immediately after being sued by the Rolling Stones for appropriating a riff from one of their songs to use on Tha Carter III highlight “Playing with Fire” Wayne retaliated by collaborating with some of the biggest stars in the music and cinematic world for a track titled “Swagga Like Us,” a worthy title and perhaps a jab at Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, the acknowledged predecessor of Wayne in the swagger department. While Wayne doesn’t yet have the showmanship or the reputation of Jagger, it is admirable that he is willing to take on the titan of vivacity in a gesture that can only be interpreted as a desperate attempt to receive the torch.
Whether Jagger is willing to give up the torch or not, it does not matter for Wayne possesses a publicly acknowledged magnetism that lures audiences to watch his videos or buy his records and lingers in viewers’ memories after the video or the album ends. In most cases studio heads, talent agencies, publicity outlets, and the stars themselves carefully cultivate the public’s admiration, but not Wayne. Wayne’s magnetism is so great that, in the opening track “3 Peat” from his album Tha Carter III, Wayne can mention going into someone’s house and “shooting their grandmother up” and still go on to sell over a million copies in his first week, fittingly prophesized by Wayne in another Carter highlight, “A Milli.” Wayne’s versatility as a film and music star is so great that the groundbreaking recurrence heard throughout “A Milli” was later remixed, with Wayne’s approval, and used by famed producer Diplo to rally people to vote for Obama in the 2008 Presidential election. It shows the kind of humbleness exhibited by Wayne that he was more than willing to allow this free usage of his Grammy-nominated song to further the career of another charismatic figure, instead of using it to his advantage to take on the benefactor in his own quest for political power (which he has made reference to on several occasions, most notably the opening line of his 2008 hit “I’m Me”). Another less altruistic aspect of a star’s appeal is, quite obviously, his performance on screen. Why are audiences still mesmerized by Wayne (and not, one might add, Birdman) in “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy”? Why did fans suddenly scour the Internet for pictures of Wayne after seeing his performance in “We Takin’ Over”? Rather than attributing a star’s appeal to an enigmatic, indefinable talent, film scholars are interested in trying to explain what makes a particular performance memorable. As all of Wayne’s performances could be considered memorable, one has to pay close attention to other elements of mise-en-scène and cinematography to understand why any variation of shots or order will inevitably complement Wayne’s physical presence.
In his 2005 video “Fireman,” Wayne begins the video by having Birdman attempt to ignite a lighter in a clever diegetic scene that syncs beautifully into an explosion of fire that produces meaning at an abstract level (which Wayne will later reference in the first verse of the song), defies audience expectations, and creates a visual association with the song’s subject matter. That he was willing to give this scene to his mentor is another example, like the Obama example mentioned above, of Wayne allowing his friends and allies to have their own share of the spotlight he will regain seconds later. Indeed, seconds later, Wayne is seen in a long-shot walking through a hallway in a scene reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic big wheel sequence in “The Shining.” Though, instead of running into a pair of twins whose images are spliced with their unfortunate death, the director ingeniously posits Wayne amongst a barrage of women handing him wads of money and throwing knowing glances his way, paying tribute to the numerous instances of Wayne’s own prophetic visions and also enacting them before they happen. This kind of camera trickery is now common, as seen in the new David Fincher film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but was done first and most effectively by Wayne. This is often skipped over by critics when evaluating the artistic life of Wayne, but the attentive will remember where the music video world was at the time this classic early video of Wayne’s was released and how easy it is to forget past groundbreaking events due to this being Wayne’s forte in our current day.
This kind of star discourse circulating through criticism and commentaries has proven to be both good and bad for Wayne. Critics evaluate and study a star’s work, either contemporaneously or posthumously, in popular reviews in magazines, newspapers, television, radio, fan websites and “blogs” on the Internet, and academic research. Film and music criticism can play a crucial role in determining a star’s persona, either by reflecting public sentiment or by shaping public opinion. Before the release of Wayne’s album Tha Carter II and his subsequent “Fireman” video, he was labeled as one of the weaker members of the Cash Money family who mugged for the camera and already contributed all he would ever be capable of by introducing the phrase “drop it like it’s hot” to the rap world. After the release of these two milestones, critics and the public began to take Wayne a little more seriously. Wayne, the adroit being that he is, probably read the glowing portions of the reviews devoted to his non-sequiturs, garbled vocal delivery, and impeccable timing and decided that he could effectively turn this into a persona that audiences could come to recognize as the star’s signature. With this in mind, Wayne embarked on a mission so ambitious that one can only wonder how he avoided vertigo. First came Like Father, Like Son then a seemingly never-ending series of mixtapes which included highlights such as Dedication 2, Da Drought 3, and The Drought is Over 5, followed by appearances in some of the biggest (and frequently the best) songs, films, television shows, and videos of the past half dozen years such as “Gimme That,” “Make It Rain,” “Hello Brooklyn 2.0”, and “The Boondocks” all culminating in Vibe magazine dedicating an entire section to Wayne titled “The 77 Best Lil’ Wayne Songs of the Year” and MTV, GQ, The New Yorker, Blender, Pitchfork Media, Rolling Stone, and countless other publications calling Wayne the best rapper alive and one of the most innovative and tireless artists working in the video field. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Wayne seized on this moment to seek out Adam Bhala Lough, one of his peers in the film world, to document this meteoric rise that will debut as the documentary “The Carter” at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2009.
This essay has focused on what is, to many viewers, the most immediately visible and emotionally compelling element of a film or video: its star. It has emphasized that when audiences pay attention to a star, they watch more than a performance – they see acting technique, an accumulation of onscreen and offscreen roles that the artist has attempted, and the market force of that star’s persona. Stars’ ability to hold audiences in their sway underscores the power of celebrity as a cultural and economic institution. Lil’ Wayne is a new star, granted, but his ability to morph the wordplay of Van Dyke Parks, the street credibility of the RZA, the commerciality of Marvin Gaye, the artistic credibility of David Byrne, and the ability to reinvent himself on par with Madonna, assures the appreciators of his film, video, and music that Wayne is not, as New York Times film critic A.O. Scott predicted, someone who will have trouble cultivating a lasting persona in a contemporary culture that is awash in more celebrities than it knows what to do with, but will instead remain the multiple medium innovator he is today and age gracefully as a progenitor of many things but, perhaps most importantly, a pioneer of music video.
For audiences of all ages, Wayne’s name is synonymous with his hometown of New Orleans, the glorification of money, an Apollonian head of flowing dreadlocks, and the finest wordplay that has been heard in rap since the days of Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash. Although he has released only a handful of albums, Wayne has become such a pervasive component of American popular culture that, without a doubt, many who have not heard one of his albums or seen one of his videos have some sense of Wayne’s magnetic persona. As anyone who owns a printed copy of a film still from the iconic opening scene of Wayne’s “Lollipop” video can attest, audiences do not just appreciate a star’s performance onscreen; they also consume the public image that a star gradually acquires over the course of a career. Fans are so drawn to these larger-than-life figures that they imitate the attire and mannerisms of their favorite stars, they scour gossip magazines looking for them, and they can even vote them into political office.
All one has to do to notice this fact is step outside and become immediately aware of Wayne’s imminence in the cinematic and music world. Everywhere one looks there will be a man or woman fully equipped with dreadlocks, a mouth shining vibrantly thanks to a recently acquired grill, and a wardrobe rich with ostentatious colors straight out of a production of Gilbert and Sullivan yet, due to Wayne’s magnetic persona previously mentioned, somehow made trendy and worthy of being resurrected in the early 21st century. Letting one regain their senses, the next step would be to notice the way they carry themselves and, again, be transported into the world of Wayne and his dedicated sense of himself. Not since Mick Jagger has there been a star more self-assured and swaggering than Wayne and this attests to the few or, more likely, none that can pull off the boldness of Wayne due to a mixture of self-consciousness and a misunderstanding of Wayne’s reinventing himself, not recapturing himself. A topical example of this is immediately after being sued by the Rolling Stones for appropriating a riff from one of their songs to use on Tha Carter III highlight “Playing with Fire” Wayne retaliated by collaborating with some of the biggest stars in the music and cinematic world for a track titled “Swagga Like Us,” a worthy title and perhaps a jab at Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, the acknowledged predecessor of Wayne in the swagger department. While Wayne doesn’t yet have the showmanship or the reputation of Jagger, it is admirable that he is willing to take on the titan of vivacity in a gesture that can only be interpreted as a desperate attempt to receive the torch.
Whether Jagger is willing to give up the torch or not, it does not matter for Wayne possesses a publicly acknowledged magnetism that lures audiences to watch his videos or buy his records and lingers in viewers’ memories after the video or the album ends. In most cases studio heads, talent agencies, publicity outlets, and the stars themselves carefully cultivate the public’s admiration, but not Wayne. Wayne’s magnetism is so great that, in the opening track “3 Peat” from his album Tha Carter III, Wayne can mention going into someone’s house and “shooting their grandmother up” and still go on to sell over a million copies in his first week, fittingly prophesized by Wayne in another Carter highlight, “A Milli.” Wayne’s versatility as a film and music star is so great that the groundbreaking recurrence heard throughout “A Milli” was later remixed, with Wayne’s approval, and used by famed producer Diplo to rally people to vote for Obama in the 2008 Presidential election. It shows the kind of humbleness exhibited by Wayne that he was more than willing to allow this free usage of his Grammy-nominated song to further the career of another charismatic figure, instead of using it to his advantage to take on the benefactor in his own quest for political power (which he has made reference to on several occasions, most notably the opening line of his 2008 hit “I’m Me”). Another less altruistic aspect of a star’s appeal is, quite obviously, his performance on screen. Why are audiences still mesmerized by Wayne (and not, one might add, Birdman) in “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy”? Why did fans suddenly scour the Internet for pictures of Wayne after seeing his performance in “We Takin’ Over”? Rather than attributing a star’s appeal to an enigmatic, indefinable talent, film scholars are interested in trying to explain what makes a particular performance memorable. As all of Wayne’s performances could be considered memorable, one has to pay close attention to other elements of mise-en-scène and cinematography to understand why any variation of shots or order will inevitably complement Wayne’s physical presence.
In his 2005 video “Fireman,” Wayne begins the video by having Birdman attempt to ignite a lighter in a clever diegetic scene that syncs beautifully into an explosion of fire that produces meaning at an abstract level (which Wayne will later reference in the first verse of the song), defies audience expectations, and creates a visual association with the song’s subject matter. That he was willing to give this scene to his mentor is another example, like the Obama example mentioned above, of Wayne allowing his friends and allies to have their own share of the spotlight he will regain seconds later. Indeed, seconds later, Wayne is seen in a long-shot walking through a hallway in a scene reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic big wheel sequence in “The Shining.” Though, instead of running into a pair of twins whose images are spliced with their unfortunate death, the director ingeniously posits Wayne amongst a barrage of women handing him wads of money and throwing knowing glances his way, paying tribute to the numerous instances of Wayne’s own prophetic visions and also enacting them before they happen. This kind of camera trickery is now common, as seen in the new David Fincher film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but was done first and most effectively by Wayne. This is often skipped over by critics when evaluating the artistic life of Wayne, but the attentive will remember where the music video world was at the time this classic early video of Wayne’s was released and how easy it is to forget past groundbreaking events due to this being Wayne’s forte in our current day.
This kind of star discourse circulating through criticism and commentaries has proven to be both good and bad for Wayne. Critics evaluate and study a star’s work, either contemporaneously or posthumously, in popular reviews in magazines, newspapers, television, radio, fan websites and “blogs” on the Internet, and academic research. Film and music criticism can play a crucial role in determining a star’s persona, either by reflecting public sentiment or by shaping public opinion. Before the release of Wayne’s album Tha Carter II and his subsequent “Fireman” video, he was labeled as one of the weaker members of the Cash Money family who mugged for the camera and already contributed all he would ever be capable of by introducing the phrase “drop it like it’s hot” to the rap world. After the release of these two milestones, critics and the public began to take Wayne a little more seriously. Wayne, the adroit being that he is, probably read the glowing portions of the reviews devoted to his non-sequiturs, garbled vocal delivery, and impeccable timing and decided that he could effectively turn this into a persona that audiences could come to recognize as the star’s signature. With this in mind, Wayne embarked on a mission so ambitious that one can only wonder how he avoided vertigo. First came Like Father, Like Son then a seemingly never-ending series of mixtapes which included highlights such as Dedication 2, Da Drought 3, and The Drought is Over 5, followed by appearances in some of the biggest (and frequently the best) songs, films, television shows, and videos of the past half dozen years such as “Gimme That,” “Make It Rain,” “Hello Brooklyn 2.0”, and “The Boondocks” all culminating in Vibe magazine dedicating an entire section to Wayne titled “The 77 Best Lil’ Wayne Songs of the Year” and MTV, GQ, The New Yorker, Blender, Pitchfork Media, Rolling Stone, and countless other publications calling Wayne the best rapper alive and one of the most innovative and tireless artists working in the video field. Never one to pass up an opportunity, Wayne seized on this moment to seek out Adam Bhala Lough, one of his peers in the film world, to document this meteoric rise that will debut as the documentary “The Carter” at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2009.
This essay has focused on what is, to many viewers, the most immediately visible and emotionally compelling element of a film or video: its star. It has emphasized that when audiences pay attention to a star, they watch more than a performance – they see acting technique, an accumulation of onscreen and offscreen roles that the artist has attempted, and the market force of that star’s persona. Stars’ ability to hold audiences in their sway underscores the power of celebrity as a cultural and economic institution. Lil’ Wayne is a new star, granted, but his ability to morph the wordplay of Van Dyke Parks, the street credibility of the RZA, the commerciality of Marvin Gaye, the artistic credibility of David Byrne, and the ability to reinvent himself on par with Madonna, assures the appreciators of his film, video, and music that Wayne is not, as New York Times film critic A.O. Scott predicted, someone who will have trouble cultivating a lasting persona in a contemporary culture that is awash in more celebrities than it knows what to do with, but will instead remain the multiple medium innovator he is today and age gracefully as a progenitor of many things but, perhaps most importantly, a pioneer of music video.
Casablanca- Isaac Richter
1942
Directed by Michael Curtiz
I took a class last semester called Gender Images in Media in which we studied about gender roles and the roles of different sterotypes in film and other media, and part of the class was to look at the big stars of the 1930's and 1940's, ranging from Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Cagney, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and so many others. After that class, I started rwatching films with a lot of these actors, and the one I wa actively pursuing the mos for a while is Humphrey Bogart, mainly because he was the star of my favorite film from the 1940's. That film is Casablanca, the famous romantic WWII drama about Rick Blaine, a cynical American cafe owner in Casablanca (French Morocco) trying to stay out of politics or any kind of business that will get him too involved. His heart was broken by a woman he met in Paris. Before that, he was a passionate man ready to do his part to help this war, but after this woman left him, he's been guarding his heart so carefully that nothing affects him, that is, until the woman who left him in Paris, Ilsa Lund, arrives in his cafe in Casablanca with her husband Victor Laszlo, a wanted activist who as managed to escape every situation he's ever encountered, and he'll need Rick's help to get out of this one, but will he find it in his heart to help the woman who betrayed him, and the man she betrayed him for.
Casablanca makes good use of Humphrey Bogart's persona. His characters are self-reliant, skeptical, smooth and usually tough-as-nails. He's usually very stiff in the way he acts, which works with his sarcastic, cynical personna that he displays as Rick Blaine. Sarcasm drips out of his moth so effortlessly, and only he can give "Here's looking at you kid" the right mix of secure self-reliance and passionate romanticism, without even havingto change his tone. Bogie has always had to work with a partially paralyzed mouth (caused by an explosion on his face during his time in the Navy), so his lip movements have always been limited, and he's had that slight impairment in his speech, but he managed to make that work in his personna.
Humphrey Bogart was typically cast as a film noir hero. His personna included the hat and the coat, and walking toward the shadows in films such as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. A Humphrey Bogart film meant that he was going to meet a woman, be skeptical of her, but ultimately fall madly in love with her, he would talk to his superiors with sarcasm and even anger a few people he shouldn't anger, and in the end, he would have to face these people, or the women who typically betray him. A trademark of a Humphrey Bogart film is to see him pointing a gun at someone, which can be seen in many of his film noirs, and is also present in Casablanca toward the end when he's pointing a gun at Captain Renault to get him to keep quiet while he puts Laszlo and Ilsa on the plane, and he also uses it to shoot Major Strassar of the Third Reich. This was put into the film at the last minute, because the writers agreed that people love watching Humphrey Bogart shoot the bad guy. Bogie also had experience playing the evil gangster, since he was typecat in those roles before becoming "Bogie", the smooth, sarcastic man who is really a romantic at heart.
Bogie departed from this personna in his later films, like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, where he played a desperate begger who finds an opportunity to hunt for treasure, and in The African Queen, he played a dirtier version of his own personna (since most of his characters are clean-cut and stylish), but the audience knew what to expect from Humphrey Bogart, and in Casablanca, a film that has miraculously lived beyond its time, the audience gets the smooth, cynical, clean-cut womanizer, with a cigarette in his hand, we get the passionate romantic side of him in the Paris scenes, and in the scenes where he finally forgives Ilsa, and we see the hero in his personna, the guy who takes action, points a gun at the right people to help those who need help. He's the guy who is always on top of things, even when he's trying to avoid everything around him, and even when he makes a mistake, or is being played by a woman, when people see Humphrey Bogart, they expect to see a man who is in control of hi emotions and will do everything to protect those who need to be protected.
Directed by Michael Curtiz
I took a class last semester called Gender Images in Media in which we studied about gender roles and the roles of different sterotypes in film and other media, and part of the class was to look at the big stars of the 1930's and 1940's, ranging from Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Cagney, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and so many others. After that class, I started rwatching films with a lot of these actors, and the one I wa actively pursuing the mos for a while is Humphrey Bogart, mainly because he was the star of my favorite film from the 1940's. That film is Casablanca, the famous romantic WWII drama about Rick Blaine, a cynical American cafe owner in Casablanca (French Morocco) trying to stay out of politics or any kind of business that will get him too involved. His heart was broken by a woman he met in Paris. Before that, he was a passionate man ready to do his part to help this war, but after this woman left him, he's been guarding his heart so carefully that nothing affects him, that is, until the woman who left him in Paris, Ilsa Lund, arrives in his cafe in Casablanca with her husband Victor Laszlo, a wanted activist who as managed to escape every situation he's ever encountered, and he'll need Rick's help to get out of this one, but will he find it in his heart to help the woman who betrayed him, and the man she betrayed him for.
Casablanca makes good use of Humphrey Bogart's persona. His characters are self-reliant, skeptical, smooth and usually tough-as-nails. He's usually very stiff in the way he acts, which works with his sarcastic, cynical personna that he displays as Rick Blaine. Sarcasm drips out of his moth so effortlessly, and only he can give "Here's looking at you kid" the right mix of secure self-reliance and passionate romanticism, without even havingto change his tone. Bogie has always had to work with a partially paralyzed mouth (caused by an explosion on his face during his time in the Navy), so his lip movements have always been limited, and he's had that slight impairment in his speech, but he managed to make that work in his personna.
Humphrey Bogart was typically cast as a film noir hero. His personna included the hat and the coat, and walking toward the shadows in films such as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. A Humphrey Bogart film meant that he was going to meet a woman, be skeptical of her, but ultimately fall madly in love with her, he would talk to his superiors with sarcasm and even anger a few people he shouldn't anger, and in the end, he would have to face these people, or the women who typically betray him. A trademark of a Humphrey Bogart film is to see him pointing a gun at someone, which can be seen in many of his film noirs, and is also present in Casablanca toward the end when he's pointing a gun at Captain Renault to get him to keep quiet while he puts Laszlo and Ilsa on the plane, and he also uses it to shoot Major Strassar of the Third Reich. This was put into the film at the last minute, because the writers agreed that people love watching Humphrey Bogart shoot the bad guy. Bogie also had experience playing the evil gangster, since he was typecat in those roles before becoming "Bogie", the smooth, sarcastic man who is really a romantic at heart.
Bogie departed from this personna in his later films, like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, where he played a desperate begger who finds an opportunity to hunt for treasure, and in The African Queen, he played a dirtier version of his own personna (since most of his characters are clean-cut and stylish), but the audience knew what to expect from Humphrey Bogart, and in Casablanca, a film that has miraculously lived beyond its time, the audience gets the smooth, cynical, clean-cut womanizer, with a cigarette in his hand, we get the passionate romantic side of him in the Paris scenes, and in the scenes where he finally forgives Ilsa, and we see the hero in his personna, the guy who takes action, points a gun at the right people to help those who need help. He's the guy who is always on top of things, even when he's trying to avoid everything around him, and even when he makes a mistake, or is being played by a woman, when people see Humphrey Bogart, they expect to see a man who is in control of hi emotions and will do everything to protect those who need to be protected.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Jose Saca – Freddy Got Fingered (Twelfth Post)
- The New York Times film critic A.O Scott, in his review of Freddy Got Fingered
Freddy Got Fingered is a comedy film directed by and starring Tom Green. It was released in 2001.
The film casts Green as Gord, an animator from Oregon who decides to pursue his dream of becoming a star animator by moving to Los Angeles. The trip fails, he moves back in with his parents, and the film becomes a strange meditation, if you will, on the bond between a black sheep son and an overbearing, angry father.
The film was released off the heels of the then popular The Tom Green Show on MTV. The show was gleefully crazy, staring Green as a host who would play pranks and mean reality based stunts on his friends, family, and unsuspecting strangers. The cruelty inflicted on his parents and on his friend Glenn Humplik were of particular note, in particular, a prank where Green drives and strands Humplik on the streets of New York with next to nothing. Mean-spirited, yes, but also fucking hilarious.
20th Century Fox, looking to capitalize on Green’s success (it go to the point where Green couldn’t do pranks on unsuspecting strangers since too many people were now familiar with him and his show), decided to give him a chance at replicating the show’s success to the big screen.
The end result, Freedy Got Fingered, accompanied by intense promotion and even an MTV special dedicated solely to the film (a DVD bonus), was a critical and box-office failure. The brand of humor Green practiced on television was successful because it was short (a half hour with a weirdo, laugh, change channel), that it translated unsuccessfully to what audiences anticipated in feature films (more on that point later).
The following analysis will discuss how a star-led vehicle can flounder if the star in question is given total creative control, with the fickleness of today’s star system also being a key point I’ll touch upon as an example of a studio trying to capitalize on an unorthodox comedian’s short-lasting stardom.
Green’s film works as an attack on good taste, yet it also harbors a brainier core. It parodies the small-town guy moving to a big city with dreams of success story, itself an institution, and jars audience expectations by inserting random, crazy asides that play like a cross between Duck Soup and David Lynch—anarchic, hysterical, frightening, and ultimately unbelievable. In one particular scene, Gord, while driving to California, stops his car after spotting a horse being stimulated and prepared for mating in a stud farm. He proceeds to bolt out his car, run towards the horse, grab its aroused penis, and masturbates the now-aroused member for no apparent reason whatsoever.
The interspersion of the familiar with the bizarre is rampant throughout the film, as if Green were giving the finger to the rigid formal components of films that follow standard three-act structure with little to no obstruction from the creator. The clearest example of this is in the scene where Green, after showing a series of incomprehensible drawings to animation mogul Dave Davidson (well-played by Anthony Michael Hall), Gord, driving back to his house, spots a dead moose and, remembering Mr. Davidson’s advise (“Get inside the [characters]”), proceeds to gut the dead animal, yank its skin off, slip inside the animal’s skin, run around the open highway terrain for a few seconds, before getting hit by a truck that launches him back like a projectile. Gord gets up, drenched in animal blood, laughing as if stoned, unscathed by the experience. All this occurs while sappy non-diegetic folk music plays in the background. In another scene, a kid runs up to Gord’s car, calling out his name, and trips over himself and land on his face. A close up on the kid’s bleeding face, crying, cuts to an extreme close up of gravy soaked roast beef being served for dinner.
Such a blend of anarchic Dada with comedic lightheartedness did not go well with mainstream film audiences. 20th Century Fox thought it could capitalize on the success of Green’s show and his wild humor by giving carte blanche on this project. The film’s commercial and critical failure is an example of the fickleness of today’s star system, where society at large is up to its neck in celebrities. The success of Paris Hilton for showing up at parties and not wearing panties is one of many examples, as this generation glorifies said persons as heroes in an age of extreme mass consumption.
Hence, it’s no surprise that the same people Green catered for turned their backs on him at the time of this film’s release. People like Green were and still are disposable since the next trend or flavor of the month is bound to waltz into the public’s consciousness in no time. Especially nowadays, with the advent of YouTube, all it takes is the simple click of a mouse to see the latest public fascination.
His comedic unorthodoxy made it hard for studios to capitalize on a certain fan culture or community for this film. The people who watched his show were young, yet they ranged from college kids to geeky middle-schoolers such as me at that time. The difficulty to find an appropriate niche for Green to advertise himself toward led to what I believe was the ultimate failure of Tom Green as a film star.
All of which is unfortunate, since Green had a finished product of deranged genius bordering on outsider art with this film.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)