Tag Archives: Gladiator

DC Cinematic Universe, Movie Lists, Movies, Star Wars

Top 10: Movies Where the Villain Kills the Hero

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Sometimes everything isn’t happily ever after for our heroes.  WatchMojo has put together a list for a great topic for discussion: movies where the villain ends up killing the hero.  The hero’s journey doesn’t always end the way we’d hope (those reeling after this weekend’s Avengers: Infinity War are feeling that).  Sometimes a hero sacrifices themselves to ensure their ultimate goal.  Sometimes a hero’s goal IS their own death.  Sometimes….well, sometimes they bad guys DO win.  It goes without saying that unless you feel like you’ve pretty much seen iconic movies GIANT SPOILER WARNING!  What do you think of WM’s selections?  Off the top of my head, Road to Perdition, Shane, and Logan (which is in a lot of ways an homage to Shane) spring to mind.   I think we can definitely find two better selections than The Wicker Man and Batman vs. Superman (seriously, guys?). What other films do you think should have made this list where the hero didn’t make it to the end credits?Mel Gibson in Braveheart

 

DC Cinematic Universe, Movies, Their 10 Best

Russell Crowe’s 10 Best Movies

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Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe had about as good a five years as any actor has in the late 1990s – 2000s with films like The Insider, LA Confidential, A Beautiful Mind, and Gladiator.  Not only is Crowe a chameleon as a dramatic actor, he’s an outstanding action star, and if the sometimes temperamental star is in the right setting, he has a very sardonic, dry comedic prowess.  He helped kick off the DC Extended Universe, doing a better Jor-El than Marlon Brando (granted it helped that no one ever cared less about a part than Brando did being Jor-El) in Man of Steel, but aside from that and 2016’s The Nice Guys, good parts have been rare for Crowe in the last decade.  I’m not sure if the Australian star has lost his desire, or if he’s burned too many bridges, but when you can light a fire under him, he’s one of the best actors alive, so hopefully the right part will come his way soon. Continue reading Russell Crowe’s 10 Best Movies →

Essay, Movies

Russell Crowe’s Latest 10 Movies vs. Greatest 10 Movies

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russell-crowe
Latest vs. Greatest looks at directors, actors, actresses, screenwriters and composers to assess the state of their career as it stands.  We’ll look back at the latest 10 movies the artist has done, rate them and then average them out to see where they stand today.  We’ll also rank their 10 greatest movies and give them the same treatment to compare what they have been doing to their very best work.  (A quick side-note: if an artist is/has been a regular on a TV show we’ll also grade the seasons individually; artists need 10 projects to qualify).

Russell Crowe, Noah

Roughly ten years ago, if you wanted a prestige actor to anchor your film, you really could do no better than Russell Crowe.  Ten years later, Crowe seems to have lost all passion for acting, mostly sleepwalking woodenly through a series of mediocre films.  It’s not something that you can put your finger on and trace as easily as Johnny Depp’s descent into addictive twitchiness, but the decline is just as steep.  Crowe just seems to have lost the passion to act.  I saw a little of that fire back in Noah and it made me think that possibly the right project could turn things around, but then I watched Winter’s Tale last night and so I’m really trying hard not to let that color my entire article. Continue reading Russell Crowe’s Latest 10 Movies vs. Greatest 10 Movies →

Movies, Review

Movie Review: Pompeii (2014)

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Kit Harrington, Pompeii

It must have sounded like a really good idea.  We’ve got this massive natural disaster, famous throughout the world – THE ERRUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS.  They could see fiery balls of fire raining fire on the fire bestricken citizens of Pompeii.  They could see massive lava flows.  They could visualize overhead shots of he cauldron boiling and bubbling and seething, just waiting to unleash fiery fire balls at unsuspecting Italians.  Continue reading Movie Review: Pompeii (2014) →

Movies

Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Role in Hunger Games to be Completed Digitally

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Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Since the tragic death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of the big questions has been how Hunger Games: Mockingjay would complete his perfomance as Plutarch Heavensbee.  The actor had finished all of his work for the first half of the two-part adaptation, but still had seven days of shooting scheduled for part two at the time of his death.   Continue reading Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Role in Hunger Games to be Completed Digitally →