Russell Crowe

[Ginger]

Sounds like Christian Bale knows the right things to say. A guy who would scream at the top of his lungs at an underling for an extended period of time for being in his eyeline goes in the "spoiled" category to me. But he does seem to have gotten himself in check enough to have stayed out of trouble.

One of Russell's problems is that when he terrorizes someone, he will issue a big long public explanation of why he was right and why the person he terrorized was wrong/incompetent/untalented and therefore deserving of his wrath. He really makes it impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[technicolor]

I'm a big fan of Bale as an actor, but that leaked rant was awful. Particularly since it was aimed at someone who had way less power than him. I do think that didn't derail his career because it wasn't followed by 500 similar stories of on-set antics like with Crowe. And because he owned up to it and apologized.

Since I've always liked him I paid attention during that whole fiasco and how it played out also got him off the hook somewhat IMO. For quite a while it seemed as if he would just ignore it and not comment on it; then leaks started coming out that the DP was extra incompetent and to blame or whatever (pretty obviously studio trying to do damage control badly). And once it looked like that crew member's career would be publicly shredded some more to "protect" Bale, he did a radio interview, apologized and said that none of it was justified and it was all his fault.

[laurenj]

Jun 11, 2020 9:05:25 GMT -4 Margo said:

Seriously, wtf? Here's a quote from the Rotten Tomatoes page for the movie (bolding mine):

Soon, Rachel finds herself and everyone she loves the target of a man who feels invisible and is looking to make one last mark upon the world by teaching her a series of deadly lessons.

They might as well have said "forgotten". What's next, a "psychological thriller" about a young man who feels invisible and therefore decides to stock up on bullets, grabs his AR-15, and heads to the nearby high school?

So....I actually saw this movie yesterday. Mostly because we missed movies and because the seating chart showed that the theater would be almost completely empty, except for us.

And for whatever reason, I happened upon a documentary about American mass shooters and watched both the Aurora movie theater massacre AND the Columbine episode prior to the movie. Both the Aurora shooter and Columbine shooters were so motivated by infamy. The Aurora shooter might have even been more chilling, because he wasn't a depressed teen who couldn't see beyond high school, he was an adult who very methodically decided how to make himself relevant.

Margo's quote above, coupled with freshly seeing the interviews with the Aurora shooter, documents left behind by the Columbine shooter, were top of mind for me as I watched this thing and it was extremely accurate to say this movie was just a terrible idea.

Especially to put Russell Crowe as the lead, because whatever else you can say about him, he actually is a very good actor and has an ability to make his characters weirdly sympathetic. It didn't happen OFTEN in this movie, but there were definite glimmers of "oh shit, I can see people identifying with this guy" and really, why even put that out there in this climate?

Stuff about men getting screwed over in divorce is always a HUGE theme in the grossest of comments sections, men getting screwed over at work/by work, men being ignored by the world at large is just too close to home to too many men who are already on the fringes. And in this case, I think Russell Crowe being so much fatter than his heartthrob Gladiator look adds an "everyman" quality that pairs too closely with the fringe elements who feel ignored by women.

The movie itself was kind of whatever, it's something you've seen before in most ways with the chase scenes and improbable scenarios where he blows up a house and sits in his car gazing at the flames instead of fleeing ahead of the inevitable 911 calls, etc. It was intense and between that and the documentaries I'd watched earlier, I had some truly fucked up dreams, but it was no new ground broken.

[Neurochick]

Aug 19, 2008 9:02:06 GMT -4 laurenj said:

Stuff about men getting screwed over in divorce is always a HUGE theme in the grossest of comments sections, men getting screwed over at work/by work, men being ignored by the world at large is just too close to home to too many men who are already on the fringes. And in this case, I think Russell Crowe being so much fatter than his heartthrob Gladiator look adds an "everyman" quality that pairs too closely with the fringe elements who feel ignored by women.

Russell Crowe hasn't looked like Maximus in....well since 2000.

I have a friend who is in a 12 step program, as am I. We spoke about having men's and women's meetings. He said that the hardest thing for him to is to get men to open up about what's really going on with them. He said men keep all that shit bottled up inside and don't ask for help, and not only do they not ask for help but many people think, "he's a man, he can take it." And that attitude makes a lot of men feel ashamed for feeling "weak."

However, I think it was wrong to make that movie, especially today. And the only reason this movie made any money is because there's nothing else out there and people missed movies. Someone could have made a movie about cockroaches wanting to join the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes with Baby Yoda as their manager and it would have made a zillion dollars.

[Wol]

Aug 24, 2020 15:37:50 GMT -4 Neurochick said:

Someone could have made a movie about cockroaches wanting to join the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes with Baby Yoda as their manager and it would have made a zillion dollars.

I would pay to see this movie. I would watch it 1000x before seeing a remake of Falling Down with a fat incel.

[Deleted]

I think I first "met" Russell in LA Confidential and I was instantly smitten with him... but I fell in love with him in The Gladiator. He was incredibly convincing as Maximus but in retrospect I think Hans Zimmer's music had a lot to do with my love for this movie to be honest. The Gladiator soundtrack is truly breathtaking and makes the movie a classic today. As a side note, I know my very introvert, "I-can't-express-what-I'm-feeling" father loved this movie. He died in 2001 from cancer. We only got to spend four months together from when he was diagnosed until he died. I watched The Gladiator with him shortly after he was diagnosed. We knew he was dying when we watched it together. This movie just hit him. It was for the first time in my life that I saw my father allow himself to be vulnerable in my presence. It was something I will never forget. So, I will forever love this movie and Russell Crowe for bringing it to life. Even though Russell is probably insane, I will always appreciate him.

[Deleted]

Irish telly chat show had a Russell Crowe Storytelling moment tonight. There is no audience and if there was the moments after silence would be the same regardless.

Russell you are not in the same storytelling league as Behan or Harris, tho I do envy that you pint you just pulled.

Though credit where credit is due he has given a shout out to a unique long standing telly tradition here that is The Late Late Toy Show which always gives us some unique wonderful young magic characters