-Bill Simmons takes a break from educating under privileged children, feeding the poor, and harboring Libyan refugees with his mighty sportswriting pen to express his disappointment that a once in a lifetime talent like Will Smith only makes movies that make money but fail to challenge the actor or his audience. The art of Simmons' editorial is that it conjures up parallels between the talented actor and the sports guy himself; after all, he has used one of the biggest pulpits a writer can have to analyze Rotten Tomato popularity polls and to reveal the secrets behind the NBA's Trade Machine.
-Or, in the words of Drew Magary he's just a "God of Hollywood," which apparently means a writer who can't write anymore.
-Justin Timberlake really is a media mogul.
-The pick-off throw is the most important play in baseball, absolutely, no question.
-Here at LCB we're not sure what the big deal is about Murdoch's press holdings hacking into people's private accounts; we've tried this strategy ourselves but to no avail. I mean, if you don't want the information out there, then don't have an account period, right?
-The thought of the NBA Lockout canceling this year's NBA season is reason enough to ponder what the Pilgrims went through during those first New England winters.
-Oh, and something from the moral bowels of Bethlehem Shoals to make everyone reconsider trite sarcasm (as seen in this post) and a misuse of irony, especially in light of the Casey Anthony trial.
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15 comments:
I actually agreed with Simmons about Ryan Reynolds. His best movie is probably Adventureland. Crappy script or not Ryan Reynolds and action hero just doesn't really fit when you see the movies he's done.
July 7, 2011 at 10:09 PMRuss, I think you're missing the point. No, wait, I know you're missing the point. When you're the lead in a blockbuster film, you're a movie star. It doesn't matter if it flops, you're still a movie star. Now, if you repeatedly star in shitty films, you might not be one for long, but that is beside the point.
July 7, 2011 at 10:46 PMThe only problem I had with the Simmons article on Reynolds was pointed out by the Magary article and that's that Simmons never defined what a movie star is. Other than that, he did a great job indexing Reynolds' movies, which proves he's not been in a lot of great ones. Still, as Mike says, how's he not a movie star?
July 8, 2011 at 2:05 PMThe Will Smith article I didn't get. Period.
Also, as a disclaimer, all of the above links were included b/c I found them either interesting, enlightening, or entertaining. The Shoals article is something I'm still pondering.
July 8, 2011 at 2:08 PMYeah he is a movie star in the same sense as Barry Zito is a baseball star and Eddy Curry is a basketball star.
July 8, 2011 at 3:54 PMNo, those comparisons are def too harsh. Being a movie star has nothing to do with being a good actor. Paul Giamatti is def a better a actor than Reynolds, but he might not even be the bigger star.
July 8, 2011 at 4:18 PMPart of being a movie star is that you are the product of a hype machine.
July 8, 2011 at 4:19 PMYour right Barry Zito did win a Cy Young. By the simple definition of a movie star I can accept that because he's famous, rich, good looking, and a well-known actor. But my definition of a movie star is closer to Simmons otherwise every leading actor in Hollywood is a movie star. Reynolds had one critically acclaimed movie where he was the lead actor is entire career. Not enough for me.
July 8, 2011 at 5:49 PMA movie star has to be a good actor in some movie before they were a movie star or they wouldn't be a movie star.
Is that his definition? Because he says Jamie Foxx isn't a movie star, and I'm pretty sure he fits that definition. He also doesn't think Tobey Maguire is a movie star, but being the face of one of the highest grossing film franchises and starring in several Oscar-worthy and critically acclaimed films should make one a movie star. My issue with Simmons' article is that his definition isn't even consistent, so I don't even know what his definition is.
July 8, 2011 at 6:11 PMThen you look at his list of who is and who isn't a movie star, and it all makes even less sense. How are Ferrell, Galifianakis, and Sandler all stars, but Brolin, Franco, and Rudd aren't?
It doesn't make any sense.
July 8, 2011 at 6:12 PMTotes agree, Bry. Simmons would have been fine had he just listed the true heavy hitters of Hollywood; Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Affleck, Denzel, Hanks, Downey Jr., Will Smith, Depp, Cruise, Bale, Crowe, and Bridges. Once he added Galifianakis and the other comedians, his entire argument fell apart. For Galifianakis to be on a movie star list, it better be a list of the top 75. I can think of at least 50 other actors not named yet who are as much (or more) of a star as Galifianakis.
July 8, 2011 at 7:50 PMIt's almost like he only put people on the list he either liked or couldn't deny their super stardom. And how could you put Galifianakis on there but leave off Bradley Cooper?
I guess the other issue at hand is why do we care so much.
July 8, 2011 at 8:54 PMThe same could be said about why we care about sports when we're so disconnected from the people that play them or think differently of someone when we hear their favorite band is The Baha Men or a similar group/solo artist. However, I care about this subject because I'm glad a bigger cynic than myself finally broke down Simmons work while also ignoring the fact that my caring so much about movie stars is much too depressing to admit and/or face.
July 8, 2011 at 10:44 PM/dick joke
I just want someone to say Paul Rudd is a movie star. There, I said it.
July 8, 2011 at 11:07 PMSorry Bryan my description of a movie star was in response to your claim that being movie star as nothing to do being a good actor, which I disagree with, not what I think Simmons definition is.
July 9, 2011 at 9:20 AMPost a Comment