Worse yet, it wasted the talents of director Michel Gondry, because in a Seth Rogen film, dick jokes always take center stage. The fact that he trashed a potentially viable franchise just shows the power an actor can wield with a couple of successes in the vault.
There oughta be a law. That entitlement, however, came back to bite Weinstein in the butt, big time, with this financial calamity. Unfortunately, Murphy also took on the extra duties of writing and directing this period vehicle that, despite great costumes and sets, wound up being not just ugly and unfunny, but downright misogynistic. Armed with two Oscars for directing and producing The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino convinced the powers-that-be at United Artists that his dormant screenplay about the Johnson County War of was his next masterpiece.
Sandler wrote, produced and does double duty playing L. And why not? After all, it made money. Weep for humanity. After rocking the Hollywood establishment and box office by directing and starring in Easy Rider, Dennis Hopper was welcomed with open arms by studios hell-bent on making some of that counterculture magic happen for them.
Universal wound up being the winner or loser by letting Hopper shoot this long-gestating project in Peru. That was the last they saw of him for a year. The story is a murky, nearly incomprehensible mess about reality vs. The antics that went on during the making of it were the real story. Barbra Streisand bashers might cite Yentl as the most insufferable of her directing efforts, but that was Chinatown compared to this self-indulgent rom-com about a plain Jane English prof who gets a second chance at love.
But the pandering is so shameless and ham-fisted that it borders on compulsive narcissism. What worked beautifully for Babs in Funny Girl , is just sad this time around. This eco-action thriller belongs to a very select group — films that scored a zero on Rotten Tomatoes.
That noble achievement aside, it once again shows what a little clout can do. After all, what could go wrong? It was Seagal kicking ass, he had Michael Caine as a co-star and, hey, it even had a little social message!
The only thing missing is a laugh track. This completely undid all the goodwill generated by Rocky , and sent Sly on a career-long road to cinematic self-involvement. Costner dove back into the genre with this three-hour ordeal about a nomad who becomes a postal carrier among warring factions. Costner also produced and directed this turgid drama that basically ended his incredible run as a box-office draw, something he has yet to recover to this day.
Woody Allen works at a pace that should shame many a young director, turning out virtually a film year. In telling the story of Kleinman Allen , a nebbishy bookkeeper on the run from an angry mob, he failed to engage, spinning out an episodic tale that validated what his detractors had been saying for years — that he was indeed losing his touch.
Luckily, he rebounded the next year with Husbands and Wives, but for a brief moment he reached a nadir with this pale pastiche. And it was all going so well for Guy Ritchie.
Is a vanity project necessarily bad? It probably depends on each particular project. And any vanity project, whether starting a small business knitting scarves or running for president, can actually become a force for good. Meaning happens when you get to work doing what you know.
In the early years of my business, sure, my coaching practice was some form of vanity project…till more and more clients reached out to let me know how I had helped them, and slowly but surely it became a real live business. Because commitment is what will save us. History will spring from that commitment. Commitment is what will change us, and in doing so, change the world. Go read your history and remember that for good or ill, it was made by imperfect men and women refusing to accept the status quo, who thought that things should be different.
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