Jon Voight | SpoutBlog

Journey to the Center of the Earth With 5 Actors Who Shouldn’t Be Famous

By Paul Moore posted 1 year ago

Brendan Fraser will be in two big mother movies this year, Journey to the Center of the Earth (opening Friday) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. He belongs to a curious list of actors in Hollywood who keep showing up in big movies, despite the fact that they’ve never really made good on the promise of becoming good actors.

It goes like this: A young actor, in his/her first or second movie, shows so much promise they’re touted as The Next [insert famous actor name]. “Despite being only 19 years old, Brendan Fraser has exploded on the scene in School Ties blah, blah…” Then, in spite of of a string of movies like Blast From the Past, every single summer these actors show up in another overly hyped movie.

Below are five top call actors that inexplicably keep starring in big movies. In making this list I noticed a couple hallmarks to spot actors who fit the criteria. One, if they weren’t reading lines when we see them onscreen, you get the sense they’d sound dumb. Also, think about roles they’re famous for, then switch out–say–Ben Affleck as oil-driller-turned-astronaut in Armageddon with Brendan Fraser. Would the movie have really changed? At all?

7 Comments

Hollywood, Lists

Kung Fu Dog. Clip of the Day

By Christopher Campbell posted 1 year ago

Back in February, I was almost completely against Kung Fu Panda, the latest from DreamWorks Animation, which opens in theaters tomorrow. And while I’m still not too interested in seeing it, I’ve grown a little more appreciation for Jack Black than I had while writing my review of the trailer. Yeah, he actually made me laugh in that brilliant Tropic Thunder viral video made for the MTV Movie Awards.

Plus, I have to give Kung Fu Panda credit for not being as bad as Karate Dog, a 2004 made-for-TV movie from Bob Clark (A Christmas Story) featuring a talking dog voiced by Chevy Chase and a campy villain played by Oscar-winner Jon Voight. Think it couldn’t be that bad? Check out the fight sequence above. And then check out the trailer, which exposes the ripping off of a classic WB ‘toon (One Froggy Evening) and a classic French play (Cyrano de Bergerac).

Its worst offense, though, is its title. Talk about racism, or at least Orientalism, or simply lazy Hollywood ignorance. Despite being set in Chinatown and having a dog that practices the Chinese martial art of Kung Fu, they went with a title that refers to the Japanese martial art of Karate, which has nothing to do with the movie. But I guess it sounds like The Karate Kid, so it made sense to whomever was in charge.

Kung Fu Panda is looking pretty good all of a sudden. Other videos that make Kung Fu Panda look better than originally thought: this Blockbuster ad; this cute clip featuring one of those confused Kung Fu/Karate Hamster toys; this Kung Fu cow from the movie Kung Pow! Enter the Fist.

3 Comments