Celebrity musings

[muckefuck]

• monshu and I were watching Inspector Lynley last night and I was struck by the resemblance between Samuel West and...someone.
  
  "You know, Dances With Wolves."
  "Tom Cruise?"
  "No, the other one."
  ...
  ...
  "Yeah, I know who you mean."
  
  It was a full twelve hours before I sat up in bed and said, "Kevin Costner!"


• In a further fit of Buzzcocks-inspired exploration of the world of British demi-celebrity, I looked up Chris Moyles and discovered that he's got a rep as a parodist. So I tried listening to some of his "brilliant parodies" and they're awful--the lyrics are all tedious variations on "This song sucks and the singer is a twat." He's not fit to comb the calf hair of a man like Bill Bailey, who satirises artists to so lovingly well that he can get them to join in on the joke (at least when they're modest souls like Billy Bragg rather than pompous asses like Bono), or hold the polygonal dice of our own Weird Al. A shame, cause I really wanted to like him--particularly seeing that his outward resemblance to Nick Frost goes at least as far as the nipples.

Comments

[puxill.livejournal.com]

Hàlo.

I'm amazed that you remembered his name, he's one of the most underplaying actors around ... I think Keanu Reeves may have him beat though. Otoh, Costner takes on projects that may be a tad more experimental than those Reeves handles. Ah well.

Never seen Dances with Wolves, Costner's not too bad but I positively can't stand Cruise - even before his most recent marriage.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I call Cruise "Rat Boy" because his features always make me think of a drowned rodent. His actual acting isn't half bad, though, and I would probably have nothing against him if he weren't such an annoyingly overexposed celebrity. (It also doesn't help that the number of gay men who were obsessed with him when he was younger and not so obviously crazy is just sickening.)

[puxill.livejournal.com]

I was impressed with his performance in Minority Report - which I watched for the subject-matter. But not to the point where I would want to see anything else he's done. Mostly, I find him boring. His looks are, well, generically Hollywood - there's nothing there to remember.

[bwillsouth.livejournal.com]

An ancedote my mom once told me:

Apparently, after seeing Dances with Wolves, she thought Costner was a great actor for being able to portray an awkward doofus so effectively. When Robin Hood came out her opinion changed rapidly.

Although I have to disagree with your friend and pick Keanu over Costner. At least when Keanu is wooden it's often pertinent to the role and not distracting really. Example of his wooden acting working well: A Scanner Darkly, where he's playing a man whose lack of identity is a central theme.

Whereas with Costner... Waterworld.

[puxill.livejournal.com]

Under-playing isn't the same as wooden and it's not a bad thing. I think that Reeves under-plays deliberately and effectively. That seems to be a motif for Reeves movie choices, men who are missing some thing about their past or their personality. Johnny Mnemonic, Constantine, Matrix also are primarily self-discovery.

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves could have been sooo much better - if they hadn't cut the Sheriff's role so much.

fwiw, I like Reeves better nor Costner. Otoh, I haven't seen but another three of his movies other than the ones listed.

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves could have been sooo much better - if they hadn't cut the Sheriff's role so much.

And if they'd revealed Azim's affiliation with the Time Patrol. (Thus explaining his anachronistic personal opinions, his access to explosives, and his ability to speak English.)

[ladysophis2k8.livejournal.com]

ha ha ha
who knew the brilliant star of "The Untouchables" would linger on so ephemerally in men's minds.