Thursday, September 06, 2018

Your Turn

Who is the biggest movie star? Do you think movie stars are a dying thing?

66 comments:

Former CNN Anchor Candy Crowley said...

There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't.

Tuesdi said...

I think they are a dying thing. Is Tom Cruise the biggest movie star, now?

Roman Holiday said...

Norma Desmond, of course!

sandybrook said...

The biggest movie star is the star of the current highest grossing comic book franchise. So RDJ, but I think that deal of stars is dying. Clooney carries himself as a big star but his movies generally suck. MattyM doesn't do enough to be it.

Rosie riveter said...

I hope some of them are dying, sooner.

Sara, Making It Work said...

My 12 year old would probably say Robert Downey Jr. I think the Marvel actors are going to be the last group of full on movie stars. In about 10 years, it'll be history.

Now! said...

Yeah, I'd say Tom Cruise too. Partly because he loves being a star and has given up everything else in his life to be a star.

Zebra Seasoning said...

Robert Downey Jr. is who I'd consider to be a movie star now, but even he doesn't reach the same "movie star-ness" of say- Rock Hudson, Gary Cooper, or John Wayne. There's no mystique, thanks to all access all the time. We see RDJ at the shops in his sweatpants. We see Emma Thompson grabbing a cuppa.

The ones that come closest to the feel of old Hollywood movie stars are the ones who aren't followed everywhere, the ones who act and then go live their lives away from the bustling crowd. Then, when they show up for premieres, or award ceremonies, we say "Oh look how glamourous they are!" Not "I saw him at Tesco buying toothpaste yesterday, he's just like me!"

Birdie said...

I feel like Tom Cruise is the biggest name out there. Still. He is first name I associate with when someone reference "movie star". They are definitely dying breed.

Jon said...

Chris Pratt or the Rock.

Now! said...

I couldn't pick Chris Pratt out of a lineup. I still confuse him with Chris Evans and Chris Pine.

Mrs Meat said...

I'd think of Daniel Craig, but only because of Bond.

Otherwise I'm just a teeny smitten with Joel Kinnaman [insert heart eyes emoji]. But he's probably horribly dull. He's never on here coked up to the eyeballs, molesting women and hiring hookers. Despite me once telling him that I presumed that's all he does.

.robert said...

I am just tired of hearing poorly to completely uneducated, drug addled and degenerate people preaching about complex issues of the day, so I hope they go away. Studios can just customize CGI characters for future films.

bleacherbunny said...

Brad Pitt? Hugh Jackman?

gauloise said...

They are all kind of the same and blend into a big blur. The pressure to be normal and risk-free just makes everything so bland. Social Media killed so much, everyone is just in fear of backlash from pearl clutchers.

The age of the big celebrity with a big personality is over in this normcore era.

Youtubers are taking their place, cause they don't GAF.

Moose said...

In terms of box office, it has to be The Rock. But you notice how he manages to almost completely avoid tabloids? I wonder if that detracts from his "movie star" stature.

Flashy Vic said...

Im not sure if movies are dying, but cinema going certainly is.

Spider Rico said...

There are none. Zero. Zilch. There are models and metro-sexual mannequin boys posing as male stars and vapid coke addicted plastic women with zero depth. Key word is depth. You think there's a star today that matches Doris Day? Or Steve McQueen? Give me someone close to McQueen. Or Hackman. Is there a female star close to the beauty and depth of Olivia deHavilland? Don't think so.
The Industry is throwing picture deals at Youtube boy stars. The industry is dead. Deader that dead. Films are dead. There are no films or stars - not anymore.

Farmgirl said...

Meryl Streep

gauloise said...

all the ones I can think of are 35+ years old.

KayeC said...

There is a scene in the movie Mata Hari, where Greta Garbo leaves the room of her lover, writes a note, looks at his Virgin Mary painting and leaves his apartment. She does not say one word, but in that 1-2 minutes, she has more charisma, depth, and talent than anyone acting today. That was a movie star!

Sara, Making It Work said...

Hugh Jackman is a top contender too. If musicals truly make a comeback, he can ride that wave and his name for a long time.

pegd said...

Definitely dying, but mostly by their own doing.

Super Comic Fun Time! said...

I think they're dying. I've thought so for a number of years now.

Tom Cruise is the biggest right now.

I think Angelina Jolie was the last big starlet.

What's her name from The Hunger Games could have been a big starlet but for whatever reason she seems bored. Joy was awful. I was so bored watching this obviously bored actress pretending to care about the invention of a mop.

I think movie studios aren't that interested in American audiences anymore. I may not have noticed but my brain did.

Ham Burglar said...

Jesus Spider Rico, you sound like someone who dropped out after 2 years of film school in the 60s and can't let their mind move past what they learned during that one small period of time. Crawl into the 21st century, there's a whole world out there and some of it is very, very good.

Tricia13 said...

Love her or hate,Julia Roberts still has mega watt star charisma She(to me without me necessarily thinking it’s based on talent)- has true stardust. The camera adores her and she knows how to play the PR Game(and the insider game), which is part of it...
Even though insipid perfume commercials she does are astonishing in that, she just radiates .Thatvsaid,give me Garbo or Natalie Wood anyday.

Men... so so few. I still and will always think John Malkovich is a true movie star(and stage) based on his talent and his mystery which so many lack.
Tom Hanks is one based on talent and commercial appeal.Same with Cruise

Little Miss Sunshine said...

Came to CDaN to check if Enty has any tea on the Op-ed on NYTimes. #whodunnit

ilovesunglasses said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rusty Jones said...

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=tomcruise.htm&sort=date&order=ASC&p=.htm It's the Cruiser, and he will remain king until he goes direct to video.

Spider Rico said...

Ham Burglar -
Spend one minute inside the offices of any studio and they'll tell you that themselves and the pure disdain they have for you, the audience.
They love robbing the public.

There's a whole world out there if you're have the mindset of an infant with zero sense of history.

Spitbite said...

Burt Reynolds. Now there was a movie star.

Kikibunny said...

Keanu reeves...all looks and mystery and money but humble...my mum loved gregory peck and hated the new stars but would always watch keanu...

Sd Auntie said...

Tommy boy is controlled and bows down to that so called religion. Lots of people do not care for him and he is elderly. Brad Pitt, RDJ and Denzel Washington are it. Women are the Queen, Helen Mirren, Anne Hathaway and Emma Stone

Bitchysoisse said...

I think that Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp are both bigger than Tom Cruise imho. All three have had blockbuster franchises but I think Depp and Pitt have had higher quality one-off hits in their early careers (Gilbert Grape, Se7en, Donnie Brasco, Fight Club). However, it may all be a matter of personal taste, ymmv.

Tommy2toes1979 said...

Mr. Movie star is dead. Last star was john candy in uncle buck.

ComeTheApocalypseI'mInCharge said...

I would have offered up Keanu because he is actually a very versatile and successful box office actor, BUT he doesn't 'command' the limelight as a real movie star would.

IanPhlegming said...


Tom Cruise is the last true movie star and he's just hanging on, like a desperate Ethan Hunt dangling from a helicopter. He made it this time, but for how much longer?

Robert Downey, Jr., and Denzel Washington are just below that. Not quite, but almost. All the rest are TV stars in movie roles.

Jennifer Lawrence was the last female movie star, but she lost it. There may never be another.

MichiganMama59 said...

I think they are dying. One of the reasons is half the country tunes out their political rhetoric. Another is they dress and look like slobs, social media tears them apart and the movies suck.

Honestly, I never heard of 80% of the people in these blinds.

Brayson87 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brayson87 said...

+1 Kiki

Definitely Keanu, John Wick could have easily been direct to dvd without him, jeez you could say the same about half his hit movies. To me a true star elevates whatever they're in. Not really impressed by big stars succeeding in big movies.

I think there's a lot more competition to be any kind of star nowadays. In the past, movie stars really didn't need to compete with tv, streaming, or even youtube stars.

ComeTheApocalypseI'mInCharge said...

I'm going to throw Jack Nicholson in there. He's still holding up and could easily resurrect the Joker, Anger Management, Prizzis Honour. And he'll be a playa till he dies.

Freckles said...

Clint, Pitt, Nicholson. Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda. Tommy is a puppet i can't take him seriously

Brayson87 said...

Jane Fonda was real big in Vietnam.

SDJ said...

Well, there are movie stars and there are MOVIE STARS.
Real MOVIE STARS havent really existed since the 60's. MOVIE STARS had that elusive combination of looks, glamour, and the respect and adoration of the masses. We never saw them sweat, or without hair/makeup, heard about their tawdry lives (Taylor/Burton was maybe as seemy as it got) or viewed them as fame whores.
Today, we know every damn thing about everyone. Humans are pretty hard to look up to as STARS.

VRWC said...

Hate that commie bitch. Oddly enough most of her exploits have been scrubbed now and if you check the fact checkers they said she never did all of the stuff she did. There are actual pictures and video.

OKay said...

I don't think it's really about "stars" anymore. People are choosing to see movies based more and more on their premise rather than the Names Above the Title. The biggest movie star changes at any given moment, depending on what we're into at the time.

Lo Key says stop with the censorship already! said...

Tom Cruise? Bitch, please. I will actively avoid anything he's in. He has the range of a wet towel.

Honey Bunny said...

I think alot of you are thinking in terms of just box office. A true movie star can do it all. Have some big awards. Nice to the fans. And not on every internet tabloids to stay relevant.
Denzel Washington
Tilda Swinton
Viola Davis
Gary Oldman

VDOVault said...

I basically do not care about movie stars anymore. I go to interesting to me movies hoping to see some good acting & interesting stories. The people who were movie stars are mostly dead & gone now.

mud said...

i'm going to choose differently.
the three best actors who are still alive would be michael caine, anthony hopkins, and dustin hoffman. i believe michael caine is the best one of the three.
the three best actresses who are still alive are meryl streep, helen mirren, and helena bonham carter. i'm actually going to choose helena bonham carter as the best actress. i chose caine and bonham carter because of their range. they have shown they can play everything from a romantic lead to someone who can scare the shit out of you.
or we can just go with tom cult man cruise.

Anonymous said...

Cate Blanchett has always appeared to me to be like the old movie stars.

Ham Burglar said...

@Spider Rico Go back and read your response, because it makes little sense. Editing is everything.

To say there are no "films or stars" now is nonsense. Have you seen The Florida Project? How about Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson, Tilda Swinton in We Need To Talk About Kevin, JK Simmons in Whiplash, or Brit Marling in Another Earth? There is a lot of schlock that is not worth watching, granted, but to say that the film industry is dead because major studios pander to the box office is to the discredit of today's truly great actors and features. Get over yourself.

memyselfandi said...

This is basically 7 conversations in 1.

The entire industry has evolved so much from the classic origin of the movie star title.

We are so far gone from the days of truly original screenplays. We are inundated with remakes, this show turned into this. This comic turned into that. This movie done in almost complete CGI where you don't even need actors.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of comic book movies. Though I think we've had enough men play Batman and Superman, respectively.

I'm a part of the problem too. With the internet, gossip blogs, celebrity magazines, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, reality shows, v-logs, Snapchat, youtube sensations, etc... there are so many people who have become "celebrities" without much real merit.

I love going to the movie theater, but since I'm a sucker for sites like Enty's, there are quite a few actors and actresses that I used to adore, but finding out so much of how they are in real life ruins the facade and it's hard to see past it enough to respect their work.

For example: Tom Cruise. Haven't spent a dime on something he's been in since he jumped up and down on Oprah's couch. That shit just didn't sit right with me. I didn't find it genuine one bit. Fan. Lost.

However, Tom Hanks is an actor I will watch anything and everything he is in despite the critics just to judge for myself. Same with Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert DeNiro, Hugh Jackman, RDJ, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger was brilliant, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Keanu Reeves, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, James McAvoy, Tom Hardy, Christian Bale...

As far as power house women, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Viola Davis, Sally Fields, Kathy Bates, Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Charlize Theron, Michelle Pfieffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Helen Mirren, Angelina Jolie, Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz. Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and plenty of others are cast in a lot but I don't find them to be exceptional actresses or anything. Certainly not a draw for me to a movie.

GentleBreeze said...

'is' the biggest movie star? The veil has been lifted, but I'd venture Brad Pitt. 'Was'? Some really beautiful performances by Garbo(as mentioned) and Deitrich (The Devil is a Woman). Errol Flynn was gorgeous and talented, but into the young girls.

Paul Saint John said...

There are still plenty of movie stars. Though most actors look like fey toyboys and actresses tend to look like coke whores: great bodies, ugly faces. No, the problem lies in the movie industry itself.
Film making is a dying art form. Series have taken over.

Fifi LaRue said...

Where is Boo Hearne's response???

Aquagirl said...

+1@Anonymous: I still remember exactly what Cate was wearing the first time I saw her at the Oscars. That unforgettable, defining moment, for me, is a major part of being a ‘star.’ She has continued to impress me with her acting skills and red carpet choices. Always has a beautiful, polished, unique look that personifies her. I look at most female stars and think, ‘their stylist chose it’, where as, when I look at Cate, she’s personifying Cate. I was also lucky enough to see her on stage as Blanche DuBois, and her performance just took my breath away.

More Cowbell said...

Movie stars aren't as important as they used to be. Right now, Kim K and Trump are probably the biggest draws in terms of clicks.

Anonymous said...

It depends on your definition of movie star.
When an actress has a "lifestyle website"; and/or sells crappy t shirts for seventy five bucks, as far as I'm concerned, she has stopped being a movie star.
When an actor is more interested in politics and running questionable businesses in other countries, than he is in acting, then as far as I'm concerned, he has stopped being a movie star.

luckythewondercat said...

I agree stars are a dying thing. Thanks to technology we know too much about actors. There is no mystique for most as someone pointed out earlier.

In Old Hollywood they had the same problems celebrities have now but they kept their mouths shut and did the best they could with their lot in life.

Does anyone see a movie because a specific actor or actress is in it anymore?

The special effects are nice but often the scripts are terrible.

Lastly as someone pointed out the divisiveness in politics has affected people's perception of celebrities. The smart ones stay away from sharing their opinions.

Ice Angel said...

I like the Burt Reynolds guess. The world just lost its last great alpha male movie star.

becksterc said...

y'all forgot The Rock. Dwayne Johnson is a huge grosser and just getting warmed up.

Paul Saint John said...

@becksterc

If a man need steroids and plastic surgery to look manmier, he's not an Alpha male but a phony one, like the Rock.

Fifi LaRue said...

Tom Cruise. His movies are insanely popular in Europe.

Unknown said...

Director Steven Spielberg paid tribute to Sean Connery's status in 1989, when he said: "There are only seven genuine movie stars in the world today, and Sean is one of them."

I haven't paid enough attention to movies... and with good reason. So I'm not the best person to evaluate who is hot with the young people right now.

But it stands to reason that any agent in Hollywood will describe their fresh young talent as "a star" without even thinking about it. Remember, this is how they described Pia Zadora when she first burst on the scene ("thanks for the movie, Daddy!").

I would've said diCaprio right after Titanic, and he still seems to have his pick of movies... but I don't think people like him as much.

Tom Cruise is still a big star in Asia, but not in America anymore. Those of us who don't think he's NUTS think he's phoning it in.

As for women, I can't pick one whom I'd actually pay $10-20 million for a film project...

LovelyLady78 said...

Hollywood "stardom" is dying a fast hard death. But the only real movie stars left are Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.

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