It’s official, old buddy

by Thom Yee

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood images courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing

A lot has been made lately of the diminishing value of star power in Hollywood.  Chris Hemsworth, for instance, is a popular actor right now, well-liked, men want to be him and be with him and like that, and yet outside of his Marvel work, movies in which he stars rarely do well, usually underperform, and even fail to achieve their goal of launching new franchises (see:  Blackhat, Men in Black:  International).  Tom Cruise, who, in many respects, could be considered the ultimate movie star working today, rarely has a non-Mission: Impossible movie that’s a full-on hit these days and has even had his own recent failure to launch an intended franchise with the 2017 Mummy remake (remember the Dark Universe)?  Movie stars just aren’t what they used to be, generally adding to a movie’s appeal but rarely getting it done on their own (though to be fair, most of those movies I just mentioned were pretty bad [I thought I was completely lost watching Men in Black:  International because I couldn’t stay awake, but it turns out it was just poorly written]).  There just aren’t that many people in Hollywood who can sell a movie on their name alone.

Quentin Tarantino being the one notable exception. Continue reading →