22 thoughts on “Today’s Movie Stars”

  1. A couple observations on the photos.

    Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were smokers. Smoking ages your skin differently and more rapidly than non-smoking. You can always tell smokers by their complexion if the stink doesn’t give them away first. Actors then were also thinner as a consequence of smoking, less appetite, less eating, less weight gain. Actors then also did not live in the gym as modern actors do. Finally, the photos are in black and white. Black and white photos make subjects seem more mature and serious.

    The problem I have with period pieces is usually not the acting, but the fact that actors today just cannot look like actors of yesteryear for the reasons stated above.

    1. I just watched “The Guns of Will Sonnett.” Will Sonnett, said to be the best shot in the west, was played by Walter Brennan — who was in his early 70’s and looked it.

      Not to mention being one of the finest character actors ever. He tied Paul Newman’s record for the most Oscars won by a male actor. And he was completely believable as a 70-year-old gunfighter.

    2. Yes, I thought the same thing about smoking’s effect on the skin. I also think that both Grant and Stewart’s lives had something to do with their appearance. By the time they were in their mid-30s, both men had already been through a lot. Grant dropped out of school as a child and Stewart was a highly respected bomber pilot and wing commander in WWII. Stuff like that ages you.

  2. I agree about DeCaprio. I can’t watch one of his films without focusing on the fact that the actor is DeCaprio rather than the character he is attempting to portray. Same problem occurs with Brad Pitt. To provide a counter, I can see a movie with Tom Hanks, recognize that it is Tom Hanks, and still get into the character that Tom Hanks is portraying. See “Catch Me If You Can” to see a difference in abilities.

    I’m commenting though, because the picture of Jimmy Stewart at the link doesn’t do well to portray an adult image. He looks to me like a teenager taking his first puff on a cigar.

    1. He looks to me like a teenager taking his first puff on a cigar.

      If I recall, that was his (the character’s first cigar). Wasn’t it during a meeting with the corrupt banker?

  3. When I first saw the trailer for The Aviator, I found my mind reciting something Frank Burns had once said regarding radar O’Reilly: “I can’t stand that pimply voice.”

    And more recently, when the network honchos announced that Ashton Kutcher would replace Charlie Sheen, I blogged that they’d have to change the name of the show to “Two and One-Eighths Men.”

    Observation: Hollywood is skewing toward boyish actors with boyish voices.

    Armie Hammer (age 24), best known in his role as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, is more masculine and grown-up than either of those guys. So are the Winklevii, and they’re 30.

  4. One of the things I hated about the “Smallville” series was the way everyone in the universe (except the occasional parent) seemed to be in their late teens to early twenties.

    Hardly unique to that show. The current Hollywood meme seems to be that they’re making entertainment for people in that age group who won’t watch shows about anyone older than they are.

    It’s not just Hollywood, either. Look at the latest reboot of DC Comics. Superman and Superboy look like they have about a two-year age difference. (Not to mention the fact they’ve changed Superman from a boy scout into an arrogant superbully. And why the hell does a man with impenetrable skin now have to wear armor?)

    1. Do I need to mention the last Star Trek movie, which should have been titled “Star Trek Kids”?

      On the other end of the scale, we used to have movies like “Alvin York” which had a 40-year-old Gary Cooper playing a draft-age Alvin York. But York wouldn’t let them make the movie with anyone else, and I have never heard anyone complain about Coop’s performance.

    2. And why the hell does a man with impenetrable skin now have to wear armor?

      Just guessing but uparmor for the IEDs?

    3. And why the hell does a man with impenetrable skin now have to wear armor?)

      If you’re old enough to remember the old Superman TV show (or the reruns), it was funny how he stood there letting bullets bounce off his chest but ducked when the bad guy threw the gun at thim.

      1. George Reeves wasn’t afraid of blanks, but if he got hit in the chest by a two-pound gun, it would hurt.

        I just read that the new writer, Grant Morrison, says Superman is a socialist. That explains the bullying part, at least.

        Armor is still a mystery.

        1. I like Superman and all but man are his fights formulaic. He always fights someone, gets knocked through the core of the Earth a dozen times and then remembers, “Oh yea, I have these friggin’ LASER BEAM EYES!” and melts the baddie in a supercritical plasma.

          But yea I agree with you on the armor. I guess when you’re a socialist super hero you need gaudy baubles to show just how F’n awesome you really are. Sorta like Chavez and his parrot or whatever, it just leaves you going; WTF? It reminds me of back during the 80’s ‘Justice League’ cartoon. Why exactly did Superman need a aircraft he could fly in and what was he smoking when he decided to put crazy bendy arms out of the front of it?

          1. And to add insult to injury, the armor only covers his body, leaving his head fully exposed to whatever he’s armored against.

        2. There’s that, but if you empty a revolver on someone and the bullets just bounce off his chest, what good is throwing the gun going to do?

  5. Today’s actors are far more versatile and technically capable than actors of the golden age.

    I can’t let this one pass, either.

    What absolute rubbish.

    A while back, I heard some talking head praising Jeff Bridge’s performance in Fake Grit, saying he did a better job than John Wayne because Wayne was already suffering from lung cancer and couldn’t walk more than a few feet without being winded.

    In reality, John Wayne had already lost a lung at that point and was still performing his own stunts — including jumping the horse over that fence at the end of the film.

    1. On versatility — Walter Brennan played eccentric sidekicks, villians, an aging gunfighter, a Navy Admiral, a (nonevil!) business tycoon, a rural preacher, and more — all believably.

      Can any of today’s pretty boys do that?

  7. My problem with DiCaprio is I look at him and I can only keep seeing him playing that special needs kid in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. I think he pulled that role off a little too convincingly IMHO.

  8. Hmm, generally I don’t like DiCaprio, but I thought he was decent in Inception and quite good in Blood Diamond. Though I did cheer when he finally drowned at the end of Titanic.

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