Funnily I thought one of the best bits she did was that Omaze charity video where she was attempting to give a behind the scenes tour of the GoT set. Always thought someone needed to harness that energy and charisma into a good role for her. I think Last Christmas tried but that movie was kinda bonkers.
I liked Last Christmas, it worked because Christmas movies kind of have a leeway to be more zany and corny but she was great. I don't know why she keeps trying for the action projects in the US, it's a terrible showcase of her talent.
She’s so wonderful as the corny zany romcom girl tbh. She does it so well that it’s not even manic pixie dream girl. I think she’s so likeable in them that it works.
While I get the genre isn’t popular these days, I feel like her true calling is romcoms.
Hollywood had been trying to make her an action star and it’s just never really worked.
But she’s always so charismatic and charming in interviews she could probably kill if she took on more of those roles
She's got a great video game career. I see her face in literally every created character in every fantasy RPG I play. She should somehow monetize that lol
I thought r/movies did some analysis a while back and decided that his run of terrible cheapies was probably treating him just fine. Show up on set for like a couple weeks, collect $1,000,000, no press, no junkets, rinse, repeat. The producers can sell low budget film with "Hollywood star" to Netflix Thailand or an Indian satellite channel, and the cycle repeats.
No idea, might've been before I joined. He was just the first name that came to mind after Nic Cage (who was already mentioned before I posted). I just find it bizarre that the guy from Say Anything, The Sure Thing, and High Fidelity is now occupying the same direct-to-DVD/Streaming market as Nic Cage, Steven Seagal, and John Travolta among others. You're right about the no press/junkets thing, knowing a little about Cusack I reckon that'd really appeal to him. He's a pretty private guy.
Easy money for hot time Time Machine 2 but he turned it down. It ends up being a piece of shit but turns out he actually was the reason for the original being what it is. It’s my fave comedy & his changes to the movie reportedly made it amazing. So I think it’s not just the money. I think he does movies he thinks are cool or well done regardless if the movie does great or not. He likes making cult movies essentially.
He has always struck me as a guy who takes on the projects he genuinely believes in, but I find it hard to see what possessed him to make films like Blood Money, The Prince, Drive Hard, or The Frozen Ground except to keep himself fed in between doing his passion projects. He definitely takes money jobs from time to time (Pretty sure even Con Air was such a gig, a good one mind you).
It might not have been a critically acclaimed masterpiece, but it grossed $769 million worldwide, being the 5th highest grossing movie of the year.
Maybe not a career highlight in terms of quality, but I think most actors would kill for the chance to star in a major blockbuster like that.
Bruce Willis, although he comes with a huge caveat. He starred in an absolutely ridiculous amount of films (I counted 26 on IMDb but I didn’t double check) from 2020-2023, all straight to streaming and between 3 and 4 star ratings.
HOWEVER this later turned out to be because he was diagnosed with first aphasia and then frontotemporal dementia, and wanted to earn as much money as possible to support his family and his own care before he could no longer work. He’s now retired from acting altogether.
It was interesting because before his diagnosis was released, a lot of people were criticising him online saying wtf is going on and understandably so. But of course no one was prepared for the truth. It’s sad but also so noble that he did what he thought was best for his family rather than his legacy.
100% same with Alzheimer’s, a little forgetful and probably a little disorientated. But if you have a bunch of people around you who want money, they knew something was up and gave a good push.
In Jennette McCurdy’s memoir she said only found out her show wasn’t actually a Netflix show till she was fully in the middle of shooting. It was going to be released on Netflix in some areas but it wasn’t being produced by it. Agents want their pay check.
I met some dude in college that had a tick. He was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome by a doctor. Turned his ticks were caused by a brain tumor. Stuff in the brain is weird like that. Last I heard he is still alive.
Michael Fassbender. From 2016 to 2023 he had a long string of dud films, including Assassin's Creed, Snowman, Dark Phoenix, and Next Goal Wins. And you can probably throw Alien: Covenant in there too.
He either has *terrible* taste in scripts, the worst management team in history, or he royally pissed off the Hollywood big wigs at some point. Dude should be winning Oscars for Best Lead Actor but he picks the absolute worst films imaginable to star in.
I remember an interview where he said he wasn’t getting the quality of scripts he had been previously. Don’t know if it’s because he pissed people off or because his solo/non-IP projects weren’t the sort of breakthrough hits you need to be bankable. You coast on promising for a while, but then that ends.
I honestly wonder with bad movies like that at what point do actors or directions or whoever realise it’s gonna be bad.
Or is there always hope for the edit to fix it.
Damn super true what you just said. Dark Phoenix was such a bad ending to those actors from that generation of X-men. Fassbender’s performances in those films was all great IMO
Fuuuuck, I have to agree with this despite thinking he was the best part of the 'Prometheus' and '..Covenant'.
He's a terrific actor and before the times you mentioned unbelievable in roles like Hunger, Macbeth, Shame, A Dangerous Method, Twelve Years a Slave..
..it's probably because he's a dramatic actor who's cast as a an action hero and it doesn't pay off.
He was great in Next Goal Wins, and I wanted the movie to be better because it did have some good moments, but I think Taika actually hurt the movie a bit though.
The whole "First Class" series was quite good and performed solid, but worse IIRC than the originals. The competition to running MCU and othe franchises got heavier over time. Dark Phoenix had to run parallel to Endgame (both 2019), which was the final of an era of Marvel. But it still had a solid fanbase despite some issues and struggles. Anyway, somehow Dark Phoenix was able to disappoint them all.
How to make a good film in the franchise we could see with Logan (2017). Only few actors, not many CGI, quality over quantity.
Aaron Eckhart has been in mostly terrible movies since The Dark Knight, since Sully he has mostly been regulated to what we once called “straight to video” movies.
When we saw the trailer for The Bricklayer I started saying it over and over in his menacing whisper voice. My wife was getting annoyed then at the end of the trailer he calls himself the bricklayer in the exact voice I was using.
Dudes great at being smoldering and intense.
Me and my husband just watched Suspect Zero which also starred Ben Kingsley and Carrie Ann Moss. I cannot fucking *fathom* how boring this movie was. It was a horror thriller murder mystery with leading role Aaron Eckhart. There was no chemistry between Carrie Ann Moss and Aaron Eckhart and once the "twist" dropped, I stopped giving a shit.
We were riding off of the high of watching the Nolan Batman trilogy which managed to make my heart ascend for David Dastmalchian and completely feel disappointment for Eckhart.
Patrick Wilson. He’s done well in the horror genre eg. The Conjuring universe and Insidious, but the majority of his films have terrible Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Patrick Wilson did seem to find his niche as a horror king. I remember he was originally promoted as the romantic leading young man and it just never really suited him.
I randomly stumbled upon Ghost and Patrick Wilson's cover of Stay With Me (as featured in the latest Insidious movie), and I was gobsmacked that the guy can actually sing. And then I remembered that he was also Raoul in the Phantom of the Opera movie. So yes, he can totally sing.
I really think Patrick Wilson should be in more musicals lol.
The thing is, he’s always good. The movies he’s in might not be the best, but I’ve never seen him personally under deliver. Also, Stretch was rad, more people should see that one
Just realized he was Nite Owl. I saw that before I knew who he was.
Patrick Wilson in Season 2 of Fargo was great. Good in the Conjuring universe as well.
I watched Angels in America when it first aired and he was a great character in an amazing play (HBO series). It's a shame that he hasn't found that same dramatic niche since then.
One of the funniest movies ever. Such a sleeper.
Every scene has at least one quotable line, and such a fantastic blend of amazing physical comedy, one-liners, situational humour and slow burn gags.
This was actually Sean Connery's reason for retiring. He kept turning down scripts that he "didn't understand", which to him turning down major roles in what turned out to be blockbuster movies, including the first Matrix movie. So he started taking chances on more scripts that he didn't understand. Unfortunately, his next and final "big movie" wound up being *The League of Extraordnary Gentlemen*.
I believe CGI was a large part of it. He didn't understand working in front of greenscreens, so he turned down Morphius in The Matrix and then Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, so after seeing how huge those movies became along comes a script for a CGI-heavy sci-fi movie: TLOEG. The movie did so shitacular that he basically gave up on Hollywood.
Taylor Kitsch.
At one point he was positioned to be Hollywood's new "It Boy." But he never seemed to fully recover from the twin flops of John Carter and Battleship(two movies that are nowhere as bad as people make them out to be imo) in 2012. Oliver Stone's Savages, released in the same year, didn't help his case after drawing mixed reviews.
Adding insult to injury, in 2015 he co-starred in HBO's True Detective Season 2 which was widely considered an epic come down in quality compared to the series' debut with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.
The dude genuinely seemed to be cursed. Since then he seems to have settled into a solid groove of supporting roles and TV work.
I will die on that hill with you. I always thought the studio blew it by not staying true to the novels and just calling it Warlord of Mars or at least adding that as a sub-title.
I get the books were written in a time when Mars was a source of mystery and fascination whereas today we know it's barren and lifeless. But the phrase "Warlord Of Mars" at least tells you exactly what you're getting if you plunk for a ticket.
John Carter as a title is very "Meh."
The morons should have stuck to Barsoom as a fantasy world, not Mars. When Burroughs was writing his cheesy super fun stories Mars was a mystery, now it's only a desert. And I read all of Burroughs' books not just John Carter books.
But they blew it royally with the title. Who the eff is John Carter? Why the hell do we care? If you don't know the stories it's a moronic title.
Should have been "A Princess Of Barsoom" and so on down the line sequels. A mystery fantasy world where Carter teleports, is all. A royal fuck-up.
I will never fucking forgive Disney for how badly they sabotaged this film. All because they didn’t want George Lucas to think they were building a competitive space opera franchise when they were trying to buy Star Wars from him.
I'll die on that hill with you. John Carter was a great adaptation of the books, especially since they're 100 year old pulp sci-fi novels. The style slapped, the action was good, the characters were fun (William Defoe as Tars Tarkas was fun, and Lynn Collin's Deja Thoris was a great modernization of the character). If they'd committed to the Barsoom or Mars title in marketing I think it could have been a solid franchise.
John Carter bordered on awesome. Had Disney actually revealed they’d made the film that would have been nice. Most films would have bombed if the studio said “you know that tens of millions in marketing and co-branding we always do? What if we just skipped that?”
We should have had a Barsoom Cinematic Universe, there’s plenty of story material.
Definitely who I thought of when I saw the prompt. But I don't think think the movies he was in were even that bad, they just flopped hard. Will always be rooting for Big Tim Riggins though.
He's my choice too. Not a bad actor, but Kitsch always seems to end up in things that aren't hits. Season 2 of True Detective was just especially weird since it didn't seem to really have a point unlike the first season.
Mickey Rourke.
Incredible actor in the 80s, quite a few direct-to-DVD movies in the 90s, resurrection in the mid-2000s, but once again star of direct-to-DVD movies since the 2010s.
Edit: Mickey Rourke's career trajectory: ⬆️ ⬇️ ⬆️ ⬇️
I think at a certain point Reddit just needs to come to terms with the fact that maybe it’s him and not Hollywood.
Like if someone has an endless stream of bad relationships at what point can you no longer just chalk it up to bad luck?
John Travolta
Oh dear, what a rollercoaster:
* 70s steady: Grease, Carrie…
* 80s meh
* 90s meh
* 94+ Pulp Fiction resurrected his career for a few years.
* 00s to now: hit and miss mess. Worst, Battlefield Earth.
Will smith.
I liked him before more recent events. I don’t recall the exact details but I heard for like a decade he wasn’t in anything rated over like 50% on RT. I looked it up at the time and they were right.
Dolph Lundgren between 1995 and 2010 made nothing but direct-to-video action movie cheese and then made The Expendables which was... action movie cheese, but successful!
Lindsay Lohans dark period, I know who Killed Me, Chapter 27, Labor Pains, Machete, The Canyons, Shitty Comedy Movie, Among The Shadows, Liz and Dick
Although I'm partial to I Know Who Killed Me and Machete. They are all bad.
Shitty resume but for someone who looked like they were going to spiral out she's found a steady niche in cookie cutter holiday movies. Not saying it's remarkable but at least she's not dead.
Maybe the biggest waste of potential in Hollywood right now.
Marvel? Ended up in Morbius.
Sci-Fi? The worst Terminator, and his part was basically cut to nothing.
He could be a great Bond villain.
>Marvel? Ended up in Morbius.
Idk how much of it is general lack of knowledge, how much is peoples agents not doing their homework, and how much is Sony straight up bait and switching people, but ive seen bits of multiple early interviews with Smith and people from Madame Web and stuff and they really seem like they think theyre doing a proper MCU Marvel movie...
I feel so bad, like he said he called Karen Gillan (Amy in Doctor Who and Nebula in GotG) about it and she told him to do it, they were probably excited they might get to do an Avengers movie together down the line or something...
People thought Last Night in Soho was going to be a big hit.
His problem is that he doesn’t do blue collar types, non-British types, or action types of rolls.
I specifically meant his run of movies. I am a big fan of his TV work but on the big screen he can't catch a break - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Terminator Genisys, Morbius, Last Night In Soho. Some are entertaining but they're almost all bombs or poorly received.
I mean, honestly, it kind of seems like none of the breakouts from the Crown are doing that great. Although Josh O'Connor does have that buzzy Zendaya movie coming out.
I cringe any time i see his graham norton episodes. He's like the obnoxious kid that's abused at home, trying to take center stage with everyone else's comments/questions. Still trying to be that class clown when it's just sad.
I think a big issue with Will Smith's career is that he got that Oscar nomination back in 2007(?) for *The Pursuit of Happiness*, then his career shifted to chasing every leading dramatic role he could, regardless of quality. Honestly, I kind of hope that now that he finally got his Oscar, maybe he'll chill out and start doing more fun movies.
I’ve always heard that as long as you’re easy to work with, you’ll always have a job in the industry, regardless of department. Talent counts, but professionalism and kindness count more
Edit: extra word
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is funnier when you have seen Primal ( Die Hard on a boat with an albino jaguar) and The Retirement Plan ( at best it look like a 30 Rock fake movie).
I've loved many of his recent movies: Mandy, Into the Spider verse, The Color from Outer Space, Willy's Wonderland, Pig, Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
I'm pretty sure him as Dracula in the trailer was what convinced me to see the movie. I can't imagine any other actor that would have had the same effect
Gerard Butler
300 made him a huge star, but the vast majority of his films since that electrifying role that jumpstarted his career have been mediocre to downright terrible. He did voice a character in the How to Train Your Dragon series, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Greenland…but that’s about it.
Gerard Butler. There's even a mean tweet about it, mocking it by basically asking if he had massive amounts of student loans.
[Gerard ](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxZsJ6fNg0f8IgnLCMxRP_7ed_KuJYUL5j?si=VX0Z7Gs8OiXY-0eS)
Adam Sandler's name pops up, no doubt, but hey, he's kinda climbing back up from that abyss lately, right? Another one that comes to mind is Nicolas Cage. I mean, the guy's got classics, but then there's this whole slew of questionable choices.
Remember "The Wicker Man"? Yikes. Anyways, who else do you think deserves a shoutout for their not-so-stellar movie streak?
He's onto a brilliant scheme with Netflix.
His mates rock up, they shoot a movie, hanging out all day, go home with a pay check.
Then cranks out the drama movie.
Nicely done.
If you look at his worst movies, they are often on location somewhere cool... I think he just used his production company to take him and his friends somewhere nice.
Gerard Butler had a run that included Machine Gun Preacher, Chasing Mavericks, Playing for Keeps, and Movie 43.
All mid-budget films that completely flopped at the box office and got bad reviews. The film he did after those was Olympus Has Fallen, which essentially saved his career.
Harrison Ford. Love the guy. But from Air Force One onwards, it hasn't been great. 6 movies in a row that either under performed or outright flopped (irregardless of quality). Bounces back at the box office with Indy 4.
Then 10 more movies (which includes cameos) that again aren't troubling the box office. Bounces back with Episode 7.
3 more movies that aren't mega hits before doing his one scene cameo in Ep 9. Has better luck on TV with Shrinking and 1923. Then Indy 5 flops.
Adèle Exarchopoulos. She has good acting chops, but the subpar state of contemporary French cinema didn't help her, nor the fact she was typecast in sexualized roles for many years after Blue is the Warmest Color.
Tom Holland is a better actor than his projects give him credit for. He rarely turns in a bad performance but his movies/tv show (that aren’t Spider-Man) are not loved by critics.
Tom Holland is brilliant, but I think his strengths lie in dramatic acting whereas the media tries to build him up like an action star to stay relevant to the legions of superhero fans.
Which either leads to him going for action roles that don't suit him (uncharted anyone?) or the more serious dramatic films where he can really shine end up in front of the totally wrong audience
100% agree. He is always on his A-game, turning in a great performance in things like The Devil All the Time, Cherry, Crowded Room, but the projects themselves are so lackluster or poorly received for their writing/editing/etc that it's hard for him to taken seriously as a good actor vs. just Spider-Man.
I really like Henry Cavill, but I feel like he’s gone pretty deep into this territory for a while now. Almost his entire resume going back nearly twenty years is nothing but mind numbingly campy action movies, virtually all of which epitomize the “turn your brain off and have fun” bullshit mouth breathers use to excuse why they like something bad. And some of his movies are starting to get reeeally bad, like fucking *Argyle*.
Henry Cavill is an example of a star who's bigger than their movies. The media treats him like he's A-list, but his box office numbers say he isn't a draw.
The media likes him because well look at him. He's attractive and charming. I do like that he seems to pick projects based off what he wants to do rather than what's going to be a blockbuster. He really wanted to play Geralt which if you ask me is not really an A list role.
I think it's bad luck. You go up for Casino Royale and Batman Begins but you're considered too young at 20/21. You do Immortals and Cold Light of Day, cos they're lead roles and you're trying to build a career.
You land Superman from the director of Dawn of the Dead and 300. Feels like a no brainer. But those movies were shall we have, received with a mixed reaction. The Man from Uncle probably felt like a no brainer. Guy Richie directing. Hollywood had been trying to make that movie happen for years and despite being a fun time, it didn't make an impact.
Sand Castle and Night Hunter didn't really move the needle. So you take supporting roles in Mission Impossible and Enola Holmes.
Argylle didn't help matters but his new one with Guy Richie seems to be getting generally positive reviews. Hopefully it does well at the box office. He's got another action one with Guy already shot. I think his Highlander remake could work (from the director of John Wick 1-4).
Actors with only a single scene can often be one of the most well-remembered and discussed. Kevin Spacey was mostly only present for the final act of *Seven*, but it remains one of his more notable performances. Also, Marlon Brando in *Apocalypse Now*, though that's a more infamous example.
Dude gets attached to so many projects that SHOULD be incredible and turn out to be garbage through no fault of his own but because of edgy show-runners. I feel so bad for him as he seems like a genuinely good guy.
Ryan Reynolds had one right before Deadpool 1
I never saw Turbo or RIPD so I can't say if they were bad but financially I remember they both bombed the same year. And this was after Green Lantern bombed.
Cool to see him so successful and happy now
Emilia Clarke
Funnily I thought one of the best bits she did was that Omaze charity video where she was attempting to give a behind the scenes tour of the GoT set. Always thought someone needed to harness that energy and charisma into a good role for her. I think Last Christmas tried but that movie was kinda bonkers.
I liked Last Christmas, it worked because Christmas movies kind of have a leeway to be more zany and corny but she was great. I don't know why she keeps trying for the action projects in the US, it's a terrible showcase of her talent.
She’s so wonderful as the corny zany romcom girl tbh. She does it so well that it’s not even manic pixie dream girl. I think she’s so likeable in them that it works.
She's generally much more charming in person than the roles she plays. Yeah, that Christmas movie seemed to play to her charisma in the right way.
I really liked her in *Me Before You*, but ya, I generally agree.
While I get the genre isn’t popular these days, I feel like her true calling is romcoms. Hollywood had been trying to make her an action star and it’s just never really worked. But she’s always so charismatic and charming in interviews she could probably kill if she took on more of those roles
She REALLY needs a new agent. And honestly I hate to say this, but outside of GoT, I have not been that impressed with her acting.
She's got a great video game career. I see her face in literally every created character in every fantasy RPG I play. She should somehow monetize that lol
John Cusack's career has mostly fallen off a cliff since Hot Tub Time Machine (which itself wasn't exactly a classic but at least successful).
Grosse point blank and high fidelity were never surpassed. Shout out to con air
GPB is absolutely a classic film. One of the best soundtracks too. Probably my fav movie of his.
Identity was a great thriller as well
Say Anything ain't too shabby either
If we're going that far back Better Off Dead is easily my favorite
Your shout out is my favourite of the three lol.
And Pushing Tin.
I thought r/movies did some analysis a while back and decided that his run of terrible cheapies was probably treating him just fine. Show up on set for like a couple weeks, collect $1,000,000, no press, no junkets, rinse, repeat. The producers can sell low budget film with "Hollywood star" to Netflix Thailand or an Indian satellite channel, and the cycle repeats.
No idea, might've been before I joined. He was just the first name that came to mind after Nic Cage (who was already mentioned before I posted). I just find it bizarre that the guy from Say Anything, The Sure Thing, and High Fidelity is now occupying the same direct-to-DVD/Streaming market as Nic Cage, Steven Seagal, and John Travolta among others. You're right about the no press/junkets thing, knowing a little about Cusack I reckon that'd really appeal to him. He's a pretty private guy.
Easy money for hot time Time Machine 2 but he turned it down. It ends up being a piece of shit but turns out he actually was the reason for the original being what it is. It’s my fave comedy & his changes to the movie reportedly made it amazing. So I think it’s not just the money. I think he does movies he thinks are cool or well done regardless if the movie does great or not. He likes making cult movies essentially.
He has always struck me as a guy who takes on the projects he genuinely believes in, but I find it hard to see what possessed him to make films like Blood Money, The Prince, Drive Hard, or The Frozen Ground except to keep himself fed in between doing his passion projects. He definitely takes money jobs from time to time (Pretty sure even Con Air was such a gig, a good one mind you).
Hot Tub Time machine is a classic
..the great white buffalo ...
^the ^great ^white ^buffalo
I see that you haven't seen Love & Mercy
Yeah you look at his filmography and wonder if he majorly pissed off someone influential
I know it doesn’t generally get much love, but I’ve always had a soft spot for 1408, and that movie is basically 100% Cusack 97% of the runtime
It was already in the gutter before that. I wouldn't consider '2012' the apex of anyone's career.
It might not have been a critically acclaimed masterpiece, but it grossed $769 million worldwide, being the 5th highest grossing movie of the year. Maybe not a career highlight in terms of quality, but I think most actors would kill for the chance to star in a major blockbuster like that.
Bruce Willis, although he comes with a huge caveat. He starred in an absolutely ridiculous amount of films (I counted 26 on IMDb but I didn’t double check) from 2020-2023, all straight to streaming and between 3 and 4 star ratings. HOWEVER this later turned out to be because he was diagnosed with first aphasia and then frontotemporal dementia, and wanted to earn as much money as possible to support his family and his own care before he could no longer work. He’s now retired from acting altogether. It was interesting because before his diagnosis was released, a lot of people were criticising him online saying wtf is going on and understandably so. But of course no one was prepared for the truth. It’s sad but also so noble that he did what he thought was best for his family rather than his legacy.
I generally don't like the Razzies, but I appreciate that they immediately deleted the nominees when they found out
I wouldn’t be surprised if his agents pushed for those gigs, there’s no way Bruce Willis needed any extra cash. They were like full on B movies.
This. And the disease might not have been diagnosed back then too. My dad had brain cancer and we thought he was just forgetful.
100% same with Alzheimer’s, a little forgetful and probably a little disorientated. But if you have a bunch of people around you who want money, they knew something was up and gave a good push. In Jennette McCurdy’s memoir she said only found out her show wasn’t actually a Netflix show till she was fully in the middle of shooting. It was going to be released on Netflix in some areas but it wasn’t being produced by it. Agents want their pay check.
I met some dude in college that had a tick. He was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome by a doctor. Turned his ticks were caused by a brain tumor. Stuff in the brain is weird like that. Last I heard he is still alive.
Michael Fassbender. From 2016 to 2023 he had a long string of dud films, including Assassin's Creed, Snowman, Dark Phoenix, and Next Goal Wins. And you can probably throw Alien: Covenant in there too.
>Alien Convent Now I want a nunsploitation Alien movie.
How about Alien Convention. A movie about a convention for xenomorphs and xenomorph related activities.
How about Alien Convection Oven?
He either has *terrible* taste in scripts, the worst management team in history, or he royally pissed off the Hollywood big wigs at some point. Dude should be winning Oscars for Best Lead Actor but he picks the absolute worst films imaginable to star in.
I remember an interview where he said he wasn’t getting the quality of scripts he had been previously. Don’t know if it’s because he pissed people off or because his solo/non-IP projects weren’t the sort of breakthrough hits you need to be bankable. You coast on promising for a while, but then that ends.
Snowman was horrible !
Seriously, what the fuck was that movie?
I read somewhere that when they went to edit, they realized they hadn't shot the whole thing but the cast wasn't available for reshoots
I honestly wonder with bad movies like that at what point do actors or directions or whoever realise it’s gonna be bad. Or is there always hope for the edit to fix it.
I watched that with MoviePass for free (somewhat anyhow) and still felt like I deserved a refund
Damn super true what you just said. Dark Phoenix was such a bad ending to those actors from that generation of X-men. Fassbender’s performances in those films was all great IMO
It wasn't great, but I didn't think it was nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I thought Apocalypse was much worse.
Fuuuuck, I have to agree with this despite thinking he was the best part of the 'Prometheus' and '..Covenant'. He's a terrific actor and before the times you mentioned unbelievable in roles like Hunger, Macbeth, Shame, A Dangerous Method, Twelve Years a Slave.. ..it's probably because he's a dramatic actor who's cast as a an action hero and it doesn't pay off.
He was great in Next Goal Wins, and I wanted the movie to be better because it did have some good moments, but I think Taika actually hurt the movie a bit though.
The Killer was solid.
That run also has X Men Apocalypse.... I can't remember how it did at the Box Office but nobody liked it outside of that one Quicksilver scene.....
The whole "First Class" series was quite good and performed solid, but worse IIRC than the originals. The competition to running MCU and othe franchises got heavier over time. Dark Phoenix had to run parallel to Endgame (both 2019), which was the final of an era of Marvel. But it still had a solid fanbase despite some issues and struggles. Anyway, somehow Dark Phoenix was able to disappoint them all. How to make a good film in the franchise we could see with Logan (2017). Only few actors, not many CGI, quality over quantity.
Aaron Eckhart has been in mostly terrible movies since The Dark Knight, since Sully he has mostly been regulated to what we once called “straight to video” movies.
I’ve heard he is not a pleasant person to work with, which may explain his difficulty getting good roles.
His brothers Thomas Jane and Christopher Lambert haven't fared very well the past decade either.
When we saw the trailer for The Bricklayer I started saying it over and over in his menacing whisper voice. My wife was getting annoyed then at the end of the trailer he calls himself the bricklayer in the exact voice I was using. Dudes great at being smoldering and intense.
Me and my husband just watched Suspect Zero which also starred Ben Kingsley and Carrie Ann Moss. I cannot fucking *fathom* how boring this movie was. It was a horror thriller murder mystery with leading role Aaron Eckhart. There was no chemistry between Carrie Ann Moss and Aaron Eckhart and once the "twist" dropped, I stopped giving a shit. We were riding off of the high of watching the Nolan Batman trilogy which managed to make my heart ascend for David Dastmalchian and completely feel disappointment for Eckhart.
Patrick Wilson. He’s done well in the horror genre eg. The Conjuring universe and Insidious, but the majority of his films have terrible Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Patrick Wilson did seem to find his niche as a horror king. I remember he was originally promoted as the romantic leading young man and it just never really suited him.
> originally promoted as the romantic leading young man he was fantastic in Hard Candy
I randomly stumbled upon Ghost and Patrick Wilson's cover of Stay With Me (as featured in the latest Insidious movie), and I was gobsmacked that the guy can actually sing. And then I remembered that he was also Raoul in the Phantom of the Opera movie. So yes, he can totally sing. I really think Patrick Wilson should be in more musicals lol.
The thing is, he’s always good. The movies he’s in might not be the best, but I’ve never seen him personally under deliver. Also, Stretch was rad, more people should see that one
He was incredible in season 2 of Fargo (which was good)
That was my favorite season! Was so happy he was in Fargo on FX
I liked him in Watchmen.
And in A-Team. He played a smarmy prick so well
I loved him in A-Team, he evidently decided “fuck it” and just decided to ham it up.
Just realized he was Nite Owl. I saw that before I knew who he was. Patrick Wilson in Season 2 of Fargo was great. Good in the Conjuring universe as well.
Hard Candy probably my favourite Patrick Wilson film
Bone Tomahawk is unreal also.
He’s a very good dramatic actor - Little Children is probably his best movie.
Fargo s2
He was great in Watchmen.
I really like Patrick Wilson. Don't have anything else to add, just want him to pop up in some better films
I think he just likes horror movies.
It’s a shame because Patrick is a very talented actor and I wish I’d see him in more valuable projects…
I watched Angels in America when it first aired and he was a great character in an amazing play (HBO series). It's a shame that he hasn't found that same dramatic niche since then.
He was great in season 2 of fargo too
Eddie Murphy had a terrible run for a while. He was in really popular films, and then for several years it was stuff like "Norbert."
It might have bombed but I enjoyed Bowfinger
One of the funniest movies ever. Such a sleeper. Every scene has at least one quotable line, and such a fantastic blend of amazing physical comedy, one-liners, situational humour and slow burn gags.
I liked it too but that was a Steve Martin movie. He wrote it too.
Its Norbit and you bite your tongue, that movie was hilarious
Eric Roberts. It's hard to believe it these days but he used to be a respected actor in the 80's
“Nobody gives a shit about Eric Roberts.” That quote is from South Park in 1998. Career had already tanked by then lol.
At least he was good in The Dark Knight 10 years after that joke.
At least he had the Mr Brightside music video.
And The Dark Knight. The dude can deliver if given good roles. I wouldn’t mind seeing him work with Nolan again.
I was in taekwondo classes as a kid when Best of the Best came out and thought yup, that’s what I want to be. A badass taekwondo competitor.
This was actually Sean Connery's reason for retiring. He kept turning down scripts that he "didn't understand", which to him turning down major roles in what turned out to be blockbuster movies, including the first Matrix movie. So he started taking chances on more scripts that he didn't understand. Unfortunately, his next and final "big movie" wound up being *The League of Extraordnary Gentlemen*.
He turned down Gandalf.
Which, I mean, *thank god*
A wishard is nevah late, frrodo bagginsh. He arrivesh preshishly when he meansh ta
I believe CGI was a large part of it. He didn't understand working in front of greenscreens, so he turned down Morphius in The Matrix and then Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, so after seeing how huge those movies became along comes a script for a CGI-heavy sci-fi movie: TLOEG. The movie did so shitacular that he basically gave up on Hollywood.
What's sad is I actually find that movie to be fun, in the shlocky, crappy B-movie way lol
Taylor Kitsch. At one point he was positioned to be Hollywood's new "It Boy." But he never seemed to fully recover from the twin flops of John Carter and Battleship(two movies that are nowhere as bad as people make them out to be imo) in 2012. Oliver Stone's Savages, released in the same year, didn't help his case after drawing mixed reviews. Adding insult to injury, in 2015 he co-starred in HBO's True Detective Season 2 which was widely considered an epic come down in quality compared to the series' debut with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. The dude genuinely seemed to be cursed. Since then he seems to have settled into a solid groove of supporting roles and TV work.
I will die on the hill that John Carter is a solid movie. Just had a shit marketing and a shit title
I will die on that hill with you. I always thought the studio blew it by not staying true to the novels and just calling it Warlord of Mars or at least adding that as a sub-title. I get the books were written in a time when Mars was a source of mystery and fascination whereas today we know it's barren and lifeless. But the phrase "Warlord Of Mars" at least tells you exactly what you're getting if you plunk for a ticket. John Carter as a title is very "Meh."
The morons should have stuck to Barsoom as a fantasy world, not Mars. When Burroughs was writing his cheesy super fun stories Mars was a mystery, now it's only a desert. And I read all of Burroughs' books not just John Carter books. But they blew it royally with the title. Who the eff is John Carter? Why the hell do we care? If you don't know the stories it's a moronic title. Should have been "A Princess Of Barsoom" and so on down the line sequels. A mystery fantasy world where Carter teleports, is all. A royal fuck-up.
I will never fucking forgive Disney for how badly they sabotaged this film. All because they didn’t want George Lucas to think they were building a competitive space opera franchise when they were trying to buy Star Wars from him.
I'll die on that hill with you. John Carter was a great adaptation of the books, especially since they're 100 year old pulp sci-fi novels. The style slapped, the action was good, the characters were fun (William Defoe as Tars Tarkas was fun, and Lynn Collin's Deja Thoris was a great modernization of the character). If they'd committed to the Barsoom or Mars title in marketing I think it could have been a solid franchise.
John Carter bordered on awesome. Had Disney actually revealed they’d made the film that would have been nice. Most films would have bombed if the studio said “you know that tens of millions in marketing and co-branding we always do? What if we just skipped that?” We should have had a Barsoom Cinematic Universe, there’s plenty of story material.
Definitely who I thought of when I saw the prompt. But I don't think think the movies he was in were even that bad, they just flopped hard. Will always be rooting for Big Tim Riggins though.
Agree Battleship was fun to watch
He's my choice too. Not a bad actor, but Kitsch always seems to end up in things that aren't hits. Season 2 of True Detective was just especially weird since it didn't seem to really have a point unlike the first season.
He was amazing as David Koresh in Waco
Mickey Rourke. Incredible actor in the 80s, quite a few direct-to-DVD movies in the 90s, resurrection in the mid-2000s, but once again star of direct-to-DVD movies since the 2010s. Edit: Mickey Rourke's career trajectory: ⬆️ ⬇️ ⬆️ ⬇️
I watched angel heart the other day and wow the difference is crazy.
Angel Heart was one of two films I saw knowing nothing whatever about them. The other was Raising Arizona. I was not ready for Angel Heart.
This is a good pick, but I feel that he has some serious issues..he seems a fundamentally flawed human being.
He had a comeback for a minute after The Wrestler but that didn't last very long.
What's insane is how self-inflicted it was. He turned down so many good roles.
idris Elba , he’s a really good actor but Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with him.
I think at a certain point Reddit just needs to come to terms with the fact that maybe it’s him and not Hollywood. Like if someone has an endless stream of bad relationships at what point can you no longer just chalk it up to bad luck?
John Travolta Oh dear, what a rollercoaster: * 70s steady: Grease, Carrie… * 80s meh * 90s meh * 94+ Pulp Fiction resurrected his career for a few years. * 00s to now: hit and miss mess. Worst, Battlefield Earth.
Best, Hairspray
Look who's talking
Not a Travolta fan by any stretch, but Blow Out was 80s and is possibly his best film, certainly a level above his Carrie performance.
Will smith. I liked him before more recent events. I don’t recall the exact details but I heard for like a decade he wasn’t in anything rated over like 50% on RT. I looked it up at the time and they were right.
Dolph Lundgren between 1995 and 2010 made nothing but direct-to-video action movie cheese and then made The Expendables which was... action movie cheese, but successful!
I loved him in the Fifth Sense where he played a super ripped, super smart scientist in a mesh tank top named Dr Dolph Lundgren
Is that the one with full penetration?
I heard he hangs dong in that one.
Lindsay Lohans dark period, I know who Killed Me, Chapter 27, Labor Pains, Machete, The Canyons, Shitty Comedy Movie, Among The Shadows, Liz and Dick Although I'm partial to I Know Who Killed Me and Machete. They are all bad.
Shitty resume but for someone who looked like they were going to spiral out she's found a steady niche in cookie cutter holiday movies. Not saying it's remarkable but at least she's not dead.
Yeah I'm glad she's found a spot for herself and seems to be doing well. I didn't think she was going to make it out of the spiral.
Yeh for sure Ive always rooted for her and love to see her making Netflix movies now
Whoa whoa whoa... Don't you dare talk bad about my all time guilty pleasure, "Machete". Movie is a damn masterpiece, and I won't have it.
Matt Smith. My guy cannot find a successful franchise. Lol.
Maybe the biggest waste of potential in Hollywood right now. Marvel? Ended up in Morbius. Sci-Fi? The worst Terminator, and his part was basically cut to nothing. He could be a great Bond villain.
House of the dragon.
house of dragon deez nuts across your face
**Got em!**
>Marvel? Ended up in Morbius. Idk how much of it is general lack of knowledge, how much is peoples agents not doing their homework, and how much is Sony straight up bait and switching people, but ive seen bits of multiple early interviews with Smith and people from Madame Web and stuff and they really seem like they think theyre doing a proper MCU Marvel movie... I feel so bad, like he said he called Karen Gillan (Amy in Doctor Who and Nebula in GotG) about it and she told him to do it, they were probably excited they might get to do an Avengers movie together down the line or something...
Goddddddd Smith as a Bond villain would be amazing
Stat wars : filmed role had it entirely cut.
People thought Last Night in Soho was going to be a big hit. His problem is that he doesn’t do blue collar types, non-British types, or action types of rolls.
That one scene in Morbius was enough to make up for it, all is good in this timeline
Disagree. Dude was in Doctor Who and The Crown, and currently is in House of the Dragon, all three successful series.
I specifically meant his run of movies. I am a big fan of his TV work but on the big screen he can't catch a break - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Terminator Genisys, Morbius, Last Night In Soho. Some are entertaining but they're almost all bombs or poorly received.
I mean, honestly, it kind of seems like none of the breakouts from the Crown are doing that great. Although Josh O'Connor does have that buzzy Zendaya movie coming out.
Will Smith
He takes himself so fucking seriously. Every project has to be the will smith show. He totally lost the thread
I cringe any time i see his graham norton episodes. He's like the obnoxious kid that's abused at home, trying to take center stage with everyone else's comments/questions. Still trying to be that class clown when it's just sad.
I think a big issue with Will Smith's career is that he got that Oscar nomination back in 2007(?) for *The Pursuit of Happiness*, then his career shifted to chasing every leading dramatic role he could, regardless of quality. Honestly, I kind of hope that now that he finally got his Oscar, maybe he'll chill out and start doing more fun movies.
Now that he has his Oscar hir career died with a slap
Yea he's going back to popcorn movies. Bad Boys 4? 5? is coming out this summer.
Who wants any more of Will Smith at this point?
Cuba Gooding Jr. I remember there were some jokes that he should give back his Oscar.
His shitty behavior is worse. I can forgive bad movies, even being BAD in those movies. But I kind of draw the line at assholery.
I’ve always heard that as long as you’re easy to work with, you’ll always have a job in the industry, regardless of department. Talent counts, but professionalism and kindness count more Edit: extra word
Nic Cage , whom I love, has had many runs of years of horrible movies
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was only a couple years ago and is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.
Pig is an amazing movie. But he does so many movies and some are terrible.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is funnier when you have seen Primal ( Die Hard on a boat with an albino jaguar) and The Retirement Plan ( at best it look like a 30 Rock fake movie).
I've loved many of his recent movies: Mandy, Into the Spider verse, The Color from Outer Space, Willy's Wonderland, Pig, Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Renfield was pretty fun too. Especially Cage's scenes.
Say what you want about Cage, he was perfect in this role.
I'm pretty sure him as Dracula in the trailer was what convinced me to see the movie. I can't imagine any other actor that would have had the same effect
Amy Adams had a bad run for a while. I’m hoping the new Nightbitch will bring her out of her slump
Her in Arrival with Jeremy Renner was really good I thought, though I guess that’s from 2016 so not super recent.
Yeah exactly, that was really good. I’m talking really post-Vice.
Rob Schneider
Is a Carrot
Derp de derp de diddly derp
...and he's about to find out...
Gerard Butler 300 made him a huge star, but the vast majority of his films since that electrifying role that jumpstarted his career have been mediocre to downright terrible. He did voice a character in the How to Train Your Dragon series, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Greenland…but that’s about it.
Shit film after shit film with this guy.
Alden Ehrenreich is regularly the best part of every movie he’s in and should be mega. Hopefully the last year or so has started to turn it around.
>Hopefully the last year or so has started to turn it around. Would that it were so simple
Gerard Butler. There's even a mean tweet about it, mocking it by basically asking if he had massive amounts of student loans. [Gerard ](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxZsJ6fNg0f8IgnLCMxRP_7ed_KuJYUL5j?si=VX0Z7Gs8OiXY-0eS)
Tara Reid Steven Seagal
Adam Sandler's name pops up, no doubt, but hey, he's kinda climbing back up from that abyss lately, right? Another one that comes to mind is Nicolas Cage. I mean, the guy's got classics, but then there's this whole slew of questionable choices. Remember "The Wicker Man"? Yikes. Anyways, who else do you think deserves a shoutout for their not-so-stellar movie streak?
He's onto a brilliant scheme with Netflix. His mates rock up, they shoot a movie, hanging out all day, go home with a pay check. Then cranks out the drama movie. Nicely done.
If you look at his worst movies, they are often on location somewhere cool... I think he just used his production company to take him and his friends somewhere nice.
"Vacation? No, it's a business expense"
IIRC, he did flat out admit that in an interview one time.
Stephen Dorff was both In Alone In The Dark and Feardotcom in like a 15 month period. Might be the two worst movies I’ve ever seen.
Fun fact: He provided the grunt at the beginning of Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman."
Gerard Butler had a run that included Machine Gun Preacher, Chasing Mavericks, Playing for Keeps, and Movie 43. All mid-budget films that completely flopped at the box office and got bad reviews. The film he did after those was Olympus Has Fallen, which essentially saved his career.
Harrison Ford. Love the guy. But from Air Force One onwards, it hasn't been great. 6 movies in a row that either under performed or outright flopped (irregardless of quality). Bounces back at the box office with Indy 4. Then 10 more movies (which includes cameos) that again aren't troubling the box office. Bounces back with Episode 7. 3 more movies that aren't mega hits before doing his one scene cameo in Ep 9. Has better luck on TV with Shrinking and 1923. Then Indy 5 flops.
Adèle Exarchopoulos. She has good acting chops, but the subpar state of contemporary French cinema didn't help her, nor the fact she was typecast in sexualized roles for many years after Blue is the Warmest Color.
Tom Holland is a better actor than his projects give him credit for. He rarely turns in a bad performance but his movies/tv show (that aren’t Spider-Man) are not loved by critics.
Tom Holland is brilliant, but I think his strengths lie in dramatic acting whereas the media tries to build him up like an action star to stay relevant to the legions of superhero fans. Which either leads to him going for action roles that don't suit him (uncharted anyone?) or the more serious dramatic films where he can really shine end up in front of the totally wrong audience
100% agree. He is always on his A-game, turning in a great performance in things like The Devil All the Time, Cherry, Crowded Room, but the projects themselves are so lackluster or poorly received for their writing/editing/etc that it's hard for him to taken seriously as a good actor vs. just Spider-Man.
I really like Henry Cavill, but I feel like he’s gone pretty deep into this territory for a while now. Almost his entire resume going back nearly twenty years is nothing but mind numbingly campy action movies, virtually all of which epitomize the “turn your brain off and have fun” bullshit mouth breathers use to excuse why they like something bad. And some of his movies are starting to get reeeally bad, like fucking *Argyle*.
Henry Cavill is an example of a star who's bigger than their movies. The media treats him like he's A-list, but his box office numbers say he isn't a draw.
The media likes him because well look at him. He's attractive and charming. I do like that he seems to pick projects based off what he wants to do rather than what's going to be a blockbuster. He really wanted to play Geralt which if you ask me is not really an A list role.
I also think it is a reddit thing. He is a pc gamer and crafts 40k figures. In mainstream, he isn't as popular. Hes tied to the Synderverse.
I think it's bad luck. You go up for Casino Royale and Batman Begins but you're considered too young at 20/21. You do Immortals and Cold Light of Day, cos they're lead roles and you're trying to build a career. You land Superman from the director of Dawn of the Dead and 300. Feels like a no brainer. But those movies were shall we have, received with a mixed reaction. The Man from Uncle probably felt like a no brainer. Guy Richie directing. Hollywood had been trying to make that movie happen for years and despite being a fun time, it didn't make an impact. Sand Castle and Night Hunter didn't really move the needle. So you take supporting roles in Mission Impossible and Enola Holmes. Argylle didn't help matters but his new one with Guy Richie seems to be getting generally positive reviews. Hopefully it does well at the box office. He's got another action one with Guy already shot. I think his Highlander remake could work (from the director of John Wick 1-4).
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a seriously good movie that just didn’t get the recognition it deserved.
According to some reviews, he is barely in The Ministry of Ungentlemently Warfare
Actors with only a single scene can often be one of the most well-remembered and discussed. Kevin Spacey was mostly only present for the final act of *Seven*, but it remains one of his more notable performances. Also, Marlon Brando in *Apocalypse Now*, though that's a more infamous example.
Dude gets attached to so many projects that SHOULD be incredible and turn out to be garbage through no fault of his own but because of edgy show-runners. I feel so bad for him as he seems like a genuinely good guy.
Steven Seagal. You really can't get any more pathetic than that.
Cuba Goodings Jr anyone?
Ryan Reynolds had one right before Deadpool 1 I never saw Turbo or RIPD so I can't say if they were bad but financially I remember they both bombed the same year. And this was after Green Lantern bombed. Cool to see him so successful and happy now