FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Spoony on October 28, 2008, 12:38:15 PM
-
Here is a Rainy Day Game for everyone to ponder. I call it WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG, and here's how you play...
Go to imdb page of your favorite failure. Someone who's career you were on board with from the start, and this talented young hope could do no wrong. BUT THEN, there was a turning point, and some movie or role on their part caused a cascade of terrible choices, miscalculations, or delusions that sent their career off in the most detestable directions.
You can also use a bands discography. Or an architect whose work has ended in criminal neglect. Or a family album, why not? We'll still learn something. I'll kick this off with
JACK NICHOLSON
One of my favorite actors up until the early 80's. This guy radiates insanity and menace in the right directors hands. Everyone has dud's and low points, sure, but in the 70's this guy was the real thing. The real, scary-ass thing. He brought a very real danger to everything he did. Then his career collapsed under it's own weight in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
In 1983, that film was bigger than Jesus, and Jack had a hit where he would play the character he still loves, the lovable bastard. Sure his character, Garrett Breedlove (?!?! Was this an erotic novel first?) was rough and a goon and unlikable, but Garrett and the audience would discover his humanity together over this 2 hour sleeping pill.
After that, it was Prizzi's Honor after Prizzi's Honor. He learned the power of schmaltz and he stopped acting, in favor of hamming it up in ways that only he thinks is funny, or in the most corny Bucket List summer films. Everything has been Garrett Breedlove since then in one form or another. Sure, there are stabs at the old Jack, but he's forgotten how to do that and it spirals into over-acting. And I see the beginning of the end as Terms of Endearment.
So, FOT's, where did your greatest disappointments go wrong?
-
In honor of their recent work together in Righteous Kill, I'd say DeNiro in 2000 with The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Pacino in 2002 with S1m0ne (though that is probably being generous, could probably go back to Scent of a Woman when he started playing Al Pacino in every role but he's at least made a few good movies since then). Pretty much garbage after that for both.
EDIT: Has this been a show topic before? because it sounds like it would be a good one. Could also do the flip, where did it go right.
-
Eddie Murphy once the 90s hit, especially the fatsuit/kids movie choices. Really I can't think of a single performer who has taken a bigger fall. Looking at his output over the last 15 years is just a murderers row of terrible movies (I'll leave out Bowfinger and Dreamgirls):
-Beverly Hills Cop III
-Vampire in Brooklyn
-Nutty Professor 1 & 2
-Metro
-Dr. Doolittle 1 & 2
-Holy Man
-Life
-Shrek 1-3
-Showtime
-The Adventures Of Pluto Nash
-I Spy
-Daddy Day Care
-The Haunted Mansion
-Norbit
-Meet Dave
-
Jim Varney started going wrong after 1988
Prior to:
Ernest goes to Camp
Hey Vern, It's Ernest
Ernest Saves Christmas
Post:
Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain
Ernest Goes to Jail
Ernest Scared Stupid
Ernest Rides Again
Ernest Goes to School
Slam Dunk Ernest
-
Jim Varney started going wrong after 1988
Prior to:
Ernest goes to Camp
Hey Vern, It's Ernest
Ernest Saves Christmas
Post:
Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain
Ernest Goes to Jail
Ernest Scared Stupid
Ernest Rides Again
Ernest Goes to School
Slam Dunk Ernest
Ernest went to Splash Mountain? I had no idea. What a sellout.
-
Jim Varney started going wrong after 1988
Prior to:
Ernest goes to Camp
Hey Vern, It's Ernest
Ernest Saves Christmas
Post:
Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain
Ernest Goes to Jail
Ernest Scared Stupid
Ernest Rides Again
Ernest Goes to School
Slam Dunk Ernest
Ernest went to Splash Mountain? I had no idea. What a sellout.
That was a short film directed by Kenneth Anger, I believe.
-
TV Movie.
-
Where it went wrong for Mike Myers: The Cat in the fucking Hat.
Granted, he'd done a lot of stupid things beforehand (I hated Shrek and swore off all the sequels). But up until Cat, I still had a lot of good will for the guy.
That good will evaporated as soon as I started seeing pictures and posters like this:
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/davebucket68/Whereitwentwrong.jpg)
The hubris. The HUBRIS. He took one of the most beloved icons of children's literature and turned it into a hideous, nightmarish furry suit.
I looked him up on imdb to see what he's doing to resurrect his career after Love Guru. He's got two vanity projects in production. One is a remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The other one is an "untitled Keith Moon Project". According to imdb, NO OTHER CAST MEMBERS are signed up for either of these things so far. Bad, bad sign.
Also, he's got a bit part in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (that's how it's spelled). He'll be portraying "General Ed Fenech". So maybe that could be ... something.
(Side note on Inglourious Basterds: Eli Roth will portray "Sgt. Donnie Donowitz".
Really? Donnie Donowitz? Come on, QT).
-
According to imdb, NO OTHER CAST MEMBERS are signed up for either of these things so far. Bad, bad sign.
Maybe he's taking a cue from his comic mentor, Eddie Murphy.
(http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ3MDU2NzU4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMzQwOTk2._V1._SX475_SY299_.jpg)
-
my pick is disney movies. easy, i know.
ANYWAY, from the original snow white until the 80's, disney was on the money. although i was born in 1983, the only movies i ever remember watching were prior to my birth decade.
fox and the hound is a toss up, it gets rough until the little mermaid (when it picks up again), but continues until toy story. after toy story, it's been everything pixar has come out with (disney merely distributes).
my theory is that it all went wrong when disney forgot what the business was about.
-
There was a point when I was younger and more impressionable and nothing was funnier than Greg Kinnear on Talk Soup, David Spade on Weekend Update and Craig Kilborn on The Daily Show. I don't need to look at IMDB to chart that all of them stopped being funny/compelling the moment they left their respective shows. Or maybe that style of snark went out of vogue or something.
-
John Cusack: The Grifters.
Never actually saw it, but it marked the end of an era.
-
Oh man, John Cusack is a good one. Before I go to his imdb page, I'm going to say whatever was after Gross Point Blank.
I think Serendipity was when I realized there was a free-fall going on... I'm going to get my researchers on it.
-
I think Disney's downfall has more to do with forgetting why the classics worked. There's nothing timeless about CGI and it was fun to see beloved stories given the Disney treatment. It went downhill when they started relying on computers and new renditions of timeless stories. I'd love to see another hand drawn Walt Disney Classic.
-
Nic Cage. Where did it all go wrong? I'd say The Rock (1996) (even if he made Adaptation. later on). Coming off Leaving Las Vegas, deciding to dabble in action movies, no more need to prove himself as a serious actor... fast forward to 2008, and Bangkok Dangerous, which I watched yesterday: rock bottom.
I think John Cusack is enjoyable in most things he's in.
-
This game can also be coupled to visits to Rotten Tomatoes; they have a new chart feature for an actor's career year by year so you get to watch the freefall. IN GRAPH FORM!
-
Super Furry Animals.
Between Phantom Power and its remix offspring Phantom Phorce.
-
The other one is an "untitled Keith Moon Project"
Myers as Moon? No way. Sam Rockwell please.
-
The other one is an "untitled Keith Moon Project"
Myers as Moon? No way. Sam Rockwell please.
It's just so wrong. It'll be miraculous if this movie is any good at all.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mike-Myers-plays-Keith-Moon-9691.shtml
The Cat in the Hat star has finally signed on to play drummer Keith Moon in a biopic based on "The Who" band-member. The untitled film about the rocker best known as the finest 'drum kit' destroyer in history has been in the works for about ten years.
"(Myers) was so busy co-writing and playing four characters in (Austin Powers) that the project never quite came together. He is eager to make it happen now," a source was quoted as saying.
"The Who" frontman Roger Daltrey will produce along with Nigel Sinclair of Spitfire Pictures, who have been working on the ambitious project on and off for a decade.
Austin Powers star Mike Myers is ready to play one of his heroes, the late Keith Moon, who was as wild offstage as on, earning himself a reputation for trashing hotel rooms, cars, and friends' homes, heaving televisions out of hotel windows and letting off fire extinguishers, blowing up toilets, often throwing furniture out of high windows and destroying the plumbing with firecrackers.
The rock star got injured in an explosion he set during an appearance on American TV - causing guitarist Pete Townshend's hair to catch fire.
Moon died in 1978 at the age of 32 after overdosing on an anti-seizure medication, Heminevrin, taken as part of a program to wean him off alcohol.
"...has been in the works for about ten years ...". You gotta let it go, Mike. Myers is now 10 years older than Moon was at the time of his death. I can see him being believable as Moon in his sad, sad final years. But who wants to see a movie about that? Tell you what, Mike ... get somebody else to play 1960s Keith. You can be washed-up late 1970s Keith.
And Daltrey is producing this thing? Ugh. Maybe Townshend can intervene.
Mike Myers was hilarious as an incomprehensible Ron Wood. But that was just a 3-minute SNL cheap shot. This movie's gonna be a train wreck.
-
Maybe Townshend can intervene.
Why, so he can add some child molestation stuff to the mix? Solondz it up a bit?
-
Solondz it up a bit?
Nice. Doesn't really roll of the tongue but that is SO going into my lexicon.
-
I think that Drew Barrymore basically plateaued with ET.
I saw on IMDB that she is in post production of a dramatic reworking of the documentary Grey Gardens. She is playing little Edie.
This may be the worst thing ever.
-
The other one is an "untitled Keith Moon Project"
Myers as Moon? No way. Sam Rockwell please.
It's just so wrong. It'll be miraculous if this movie is any good at all.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mike-Myers-plays-Keith-Moon-9691.shtml
The Cat in the Hat star has finally signed on to play drummer Keith Moon in a biopic based on "The Who" band-member. The untitled film about the rocker best known as the finest 'drum kit' destroyer in history has been in the works for about ten years.
"(Myers) was so busy co-writing and playing four characters in (Austin Powers) that the project never quite came together. He is eager to make it happen now," a source was quoted as saying.
"The Who" frontman Roger Daltrey will produce along with Nigel Sinclair of Spitfire Pictures, who have been working on the ambitious project on and off for a decade.
Austin Powers star Mike Myers is ready to play one of his heroes, the late Keith Moon, who was as wild offstage as on, earning himself a reputation for trashing hotel rooms, cars, and friends' homes, heaving televisions out of hotel windows and letting off fire extinguishers, blowing up toilets, often throwing furniture out of high windows and destroying the plumbing with firecrackers.
The rock star got injured in an explosion he set during an appearance on American TV - causing guitarist Pete Townshend's hair to catch fire.
Moon died in 1978 at the age of 32 after overdosing on an anti-seizure medication, Heminevrin, taken as part of a program to wean him off alcohol.
"...has been in the works for about ten years ...". You gotta let it go, Mike. Myers is now 10 years older than Moon was at the time of his death. I can see him being believable as Moon in his sad, sad final years. But who wants to see a movie about that? Tell you what, Mike ... get somebody else to play 1960s Keith. You can be washed-up late 1970s Keith.
And Daltrey is producing this thing? Ugh. Maybe Townshend can intervene.
Mike Myers was hilarious as an incomprehensible Ron Wood. But that was just a 3-minute SNL cheap shot. This movie's gonna be a train wreck.
Wait until you see Richard Gere as Kurt Cobain in the film "Nevermind".
-
I think that Drew Barrymore basically plateaued with ET.
I saw on IMDB that she is in post production of a dramatic reworking of the documentary Grey Gardens. She is playing little Edie.
This may be the worst thing ever.
The "cult" phenomenon of Grey Gardens is one of those things that I still don't really understand. These women are deranged, miserable, and sad. If they weren't marginally related to the Kennedy's they'd be living out of a dumpster and nobody would be filming them. I don't know, too many issues. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is like a thing gay guys get more than the rest of us? I guess damaged cabaret and all that. But still... And now this!
-
The "cult" phenomenon of Grey Gardens is one of those things that I still don't really understand. These women are deranged, miserable, and sad. If they weren't marginally related to the Kennedy's they'd be living out of a dumpster and nobody would be filming them. I don't know, too many issues. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is like a thing gay guys get more than the rest of us? I guess damaged cabaret and all that. But still... And now this!
I agree with you about the Kennedy angle.
I just think its a really compelling movie.
I am a slightly femmey which may explain why I like it so much.
-
I think it's a very fine film, excellent and compelling documentary. Its overwhelming cult status is a bit puzzling, I agree with that.
(BTW I'M NOT GAY!!!!!!11)
-
I probably just got turned off by the Todd Oldham extras on the Criterion DVD. He was so "this is really great!" about their bizarre sad sack existence that it colored my opinion of the whole project.
-
Yeah, I can see that. I feel pretty confident about the Maysles' (et al) good/neutral intentions, though.
(As it happens, I just bought a big tome called The Maysles Scrapbook about the Maysles' work throughout the years, for a friend of mine. Heavy on the GAY GARDENS (see what I did there?) phenom, but a beautiful book nevertheless.)
-
I think that Drew Barrymore basically plateaued with ET.
Obviously you've never seen Never Been Kissed.
-
cough WAYNE'S WORLD 2 cough.
-
The other one is an "untitled Keith Moon Project"
Myers as Moon? No way. Sam Rockwell please.
It's just so wrong. It'll be miraculous if this movie is any good at all.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mike-Myers-plays-Keith-Moon-9691.shtml
The Cat in the Hat star has finally signed on to play drummer Keith Moon in a biopic based on "The Who" band-member. The untitled film about the rocker best known as the finest 'drum kit' destroyer in history has been in the works for about ten years.
"(Myers) was so busy co-writing and playing four characters in (Austin Powers) that the project never quite came together. He is eager to make it happen now," a source was quoted as saying.
"The Who" frontman Roger Daltrey will produce along with Nigel Sinclair of Spitfire Pictures, who have been working on the ambitious project on and off for a decade.
Austin Powers star Mike Myers is ready to play one of his heroes, the late Keith Moon, who was as wild offstage as on, earning himself a reputation for trashing hotel rooms, cars, and friends' homes, heaving televisions out of hotel windows and letting off fire extinguishers, blowing up toilets, often throwing furniture out of high windows and destroying the plumbing with firecrackers.
The rock star got injured in an explosion he set during an appearance on American TV - causing guitarist Pete Townshend's hair to catch fire.
Moon died in 1978 at the age of 32 after overdosing on an anti-seizure medication, Heminevrin, taken as part of a program to wean him off alcohol.
"...has been in the works for about ten years ...". You gotta let it go, Mike. Myers is now 10 years older than Moon was at the time of his death. I can see him being believable as Moon in his sad, sad final years. But who wants to see a movie about that? Tell you what, Mike ... get somebody else to play 1960s Keith. You can be washed-up late 1970s Keith.
And Daltrey is producing this thing? Ugh. Maybe Townshend can intervene.
Mike Myers was hilarious as an incomprehensible Ron Wood. But that was just a 3-minute SNL cheap shot. This movie's gonna be a train wreck.
Wait until you see Richard Gere as Kurt Cobain in the film "Nevermind".
WAIT! Whaaaaaauuuuuuut?
-
I think that Drew Barrymore basically plateaued with ET.
Obviously you've never seen Never Been Kissed.
Excellent movie! I liked Drew in Home Fries as well.
-
Joe Pesci
except i can't figure out where it went wrong: Home Alone? Gone Fishin'? Home Alone 2?
-
Joe Pesci
except i can't figure out where it went wrong: Home Alone? Gone Fishin'? Home Alone 2?
Some would say 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag. Some would say Gone Fishin'. But the point of no return for Pesci came a year later.
(http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/3/2/e/d32071aqre7.jpg)
That was 1998. Note that he has no acting credits for a full eight years after this came out. It was doubly sad because it was an attempt to cash in on two past glories: his role in My Cousin Vinny, and his past career in music, which you may remember from his time in Joey Dee & The Starliters and I may remember from the rap over the end credits of The Super.
-
Joe Pesci
except i can't figure out where it went wrong: Home Alone? Gone Fishin'? Home Alone 2?
Some would say 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag. Some would say Gone Fishin'. But the point of no return for Pesci came a year later.
(http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/3/2/e/d32071aqre7.jpg)
That was 1998. Note that he has no acting credits for a full eight years after this came out. It was doubly sad because it was an attempt to cash in on two past glories: his role in My Cousin Vinny, and his past career in music, which you may remember from his time in Joey Dee & The Starliters and I may remember from the rap over the end credits of The Super.
Is that the same suit he wore in My Cousin Vinnie?
-
Oh wait, it's a sequel? I should learn to read before I reply.
-
oh man, I loved my cousin vinny