Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson speeds into first place as the highest-grossing actor of the year, leaving Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp standing in the dust. He's worth every penny
Dwayne Johnson is the perfect populist movie star of our times. As a former professional wrestler he has the brute physicality of peak-era Schwarzenegger, combined with a rare lightness of touch. To watch Johnson act is to watch a man having the time of his life. It's infectious. It makes us feel like part of his gang. And, if we're all completely honest, we all want to be part of The Rock's gang.
Admittedly, Johnson only topped the list this year because he has been so prolific. He has appeared in five films in 2013, two of which (Snitch and Empire State) you have never heard of, one of which you've heard about but not seen (Pain & Gain), and two all-out orgiastic operas to fire and twisted metal that were all but impossible to avoid (GI Joe: Retaliation and Fast & Furious 6).
Pound for pound, there's probably no better interviewee on the planet. In contrast with the eye-rolling, monosyllabic actors you usually find at junkets, Johnson prides himself on being sharp, alert, mock-cocky and game for anything. Wrestling taught him the value of a powerful pitch, and this is something he's carried through to his acting career.
To understand why he's awesome, watch him be the best thing in Fast Five, act Bruce Willis and Michael Caine off the screen in GI Joe: Retaliation and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and make a better version of a Nicolas Cage film in Faster. Dwayne Johnson is the whole package. It's why he's been hired by figures as diverse as Will Ferrell, Michael Bay and Disney, and it's why next year's Hercules will only make him bigger. Long may his reign as King of Popcorn continue.
1 - KISS is in the Hall. Where they should've been a long time ago.
2 - Wile E. was hungry, plain and simple, and road runner is apparently the pumpkin pie of the bird world. I love Wile E. I have him tattooed on my arm. To me he's the reminder to never give up on something, even in the face of utter impossibility and possible failure. :)
The Rock is one entertaining SOB, and he's a guy who deserves his success. He works hard, gives his all and from everything I've heard, is a dream to work with on the set. In wrasslin', the guy was raised in the business, but has been giving back since 2002, making other guys look good and going out of his way to be friendly to people he could just as easily ignore.
Every once in a while, the good guy doesn't get the shaft.
The Rock is one entertaining SOB, and he's a guy who deserves his success. He works hard, gives his all and from everything I've heard, is a dream to work with on the set. In wrasslin', the guy was raised in the business, but has been giving back since 2002, making other guys look good and going out of his way to be friendly to people he could just as easily ignore.
Every once in a while, the good guy doesn't get the shaft.
Yeah, he seems like an alright guy. Even though I had liked him for a while at that point, what really made me a fan was his first SNL appearance. I saw in an interview where he said he told the writers he didn't want to do any sketches that made fun of wrestling but was game for anything else they gave him. So they put him in a dress, dressed him up as a bigger version of Chris Kattan's monkey character Mr. Peepers , made him a really dumb Superman, etc., and he was funny in everything, the rare host who could keep up with the cast and was obviously having a ball while doing so.
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
Do you think it is just the spin doctors doing their work or a different business philosophy? Thats not a loaded question, by the way. i've never worked in a "creative" industry and don't know just how cutthroat it is (or isn't).
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
Do you think it is just the spin doctors doing their work or a different business philosophy? Thats not a loaded question, by the way. i've never worked in a "creative" industry and don't know just how cutthroat it is (or isn't).
I think Marvel is a lot more savvy when it comes to their public image, having seen the major missteps DC has made in the last 2 years and has gotten in front of nearly every negative story pretty aggresively. DC let itself get off-message repeatedly. Like with Justice League 3000, the story there is the whole Macguire/Porter switch. It stopped being about the content of the book and became about DC's dirty laundry. If you look at this interview, it has no purpose other than damage control. It doesn't offer anything new for the audience other than to let everyone know that Marvel is still one big happy family, now lets move on.
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
Do you think it is just the spin doctors doing their work or a different business philosophy? Thats not a loaded question, by the way. i've never worked in a "creative" industry and don't know just how cutthroat it is (or isn't).
I think Marvel is a lot more savvy when it comes to their public image, having seen the major missteps DC has made in the last 2 years and has gotten in front of nearly every negative story pretty aggresively. DC let itself get off-message repeatedly. Like with Justice League 3000, the story there is the whole Macguire/Porter switch. It stopped being about the content of the book and became about DC's dirty laundry. If you look at this interview, it has no purpose other than damage control. It doesn't offer anything new for the audience other than to let everyone know that Marvel is still one big happy family, now lets move on.
Well, that's a pretty brilliant strategy. This year I have bought more Marvel than ever before and DC has dropped down to zero.
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
Do you think it is just the spin doctors doing their work or a different business philosophy? Thats not a loaded question, by the way. i've never worked in a "creative" industry and don't know just how cutthroat it is (or isn't).
I think Marvel is a lot more savvy when it comes to their public image, having seen the major missteps DC has made in the last 2 years and has gotten in front of nearly every negative story pretty aggresively. DC let itself get off-message repeatedly. Like with Justice League 3000, the story there is the whole Macguire/Porter switch. It stopped being about the content of the book and became about DC's dirty laundry. If you look at this interview, it has no purpose other than damage control. It doesn't offer anything new for the audience other than to let everyone know that Marvel is still one big happy family, now lets move on.
Well, that's a pretty brilliant strategy. This year I have bought more Marvel than ever before and DC has dropped down to zero.
And I think that is part of it right there-- I know I probably forgive Marvel their blunders more often because, especially in the last four or five years (so this is even pre-New 52) Marvel entertains me more often. I already have better feelings about their brand, and more often expect them to make decisions I like, so I am therefore probably easy for them to spin. Because my baseline relationship with them as a customer is better.
Whereas when DC has a blunder at a time when they are also producing a lot less work I enjoy, and more work that I don't enjoy? That puts me in a position primed to already think of them as messing up. So then I become harder to spin.
I think what I am saying is that, sure, it is important to have good PR.
But PR gets easier when you are doing it for a company that is succeeding at entertaining a lot of people.
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
The thing that makes it work is that Fraction was INVOLVED in the discussion and after-spin. At DC, creators aren't involved until after the fact, usually on their own, and usually when they are looking for work. Say what you will, Marvel knows it is in their interest to keep talent happy.
They are run like a well-run movie studio. DC is run like a high school in a terrible neighborhood.
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
The thing that makes it work is that Fraction was INVOLVED in the discussion and after-spin. At DC, creators aren't involved until after the fact, usually on their own, and usually when they are looking for work. Say what you will, Marvel knows it is in their interest to keep talent happy.
They are run like a well-run movie studio. DC is run like a high school in a terrible neighborhood.
I think that is well-put. Sure, the Alonso/Fraction/Soule interview definitely has a managed feel to it (which is to say, clearly they are trying to put a positive spin on what happened). . . but the fact that they are all still present and still working there, albeit in Fraction's case, on other books, gives it a much different feel than how a lot of the creative changes have ended up getting messaged out about DC books. In many of those cases, you have a spited creator taking to Twitter to talk about what happened to them, because they no longer work there. You know what I mean?
Say what you want about Marvel, their PR spin machine is a beast. First they managed to turn all their cancellations into "organic endings", and after the shake-up on "Inhuman" which is definitely one of the higher profile projects, we get this:
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
Do you think it is just the spin doctors doing their work or a different business philosophy? Thats not a loaded question, by the way. i've never worked in a "creative" industry and don't know just how cutthroat it is (or isn't).
I think Marvel is a lot more savvy when it comes to their public image, having seen the major missteps DC has made in the last 2 years and has gotten in front of nearly every negative story pretty aggresively. DC let itself get off-message repeatedly. Like with Justice League 3000, the story there is the whole Macguire/Porter switch. It stopped being about the content of the book and became about DC's dirty laundry. If you look at this interview, it has no purpose other than damage control. It doesn't offer anything new for the audience other than to let everyone know that Marvel is still one big happy family, now lets move on.
Well, that's a pretty brilliant strategy. This year I have bought more Marvel than ever before and DC has dropped down to zero.
And I think that is part of it right there-- I know I probably forgive Marvel their blunders more often because, especially in the last four or five years (so this is even pre-New 52) Marvel entertains me more often. I already have better feelings about their brand, and more often expect them to make decisions I like, so I am therefore probably easy for them to spin. Because my baseline relationship with them as a customer is better.
Whereas when DC has a blunder at a time when they are also producing a lot less work I enjoy, and more work that I don't enjoy? That puts me in a position primed to already think of them as messing up. So then I become harder to spin.
I think what I am saying is that, sure, it is important to have good PR.
But PR gets easier when you are doing it for a company that is succeeding at entertaining a lot of people.
I think that's a great assessment. I'm in the opposite boat - I'm still picking up some DC (the list continues to grow shorter) but zero marvel - between double shipping and a few specific creators being too involved with the titles that I would be otherwise most interested in, I've completely cut them from my list.
I'm pretty much with @random73 in that I'm getting more Marvel and much, much less DC. Despite the double-shipping, which I would probably appreciate more in the summer only rather than year-round, I find the quality of the stories to be worth the extra expense for the titles I am getting.
I'm pretty much with @random73 in that I'm getting more Marvel and much, much less DC. Despite the double-shipping, which I would probably appreciate more in the summer only rather than year-round, I find the quality of the stories to be worth the extra expense for the titles I am getting.
Thanks man. I honestly wish it weren't the case. I love the DC characters but ever since I decided to only keep the books I was actually enjoying rather than the ones I hoped would get better DC just wasn't making the cut. I kept hearing on this very forum, in fact, to vote with your dollar and not keep paying for stories and titles you aren't enjoying. So, while I want DC to do well I'm not going to subsidize them while they sort it out. When they start writing stories that are entertaining I will happily start picking up their stuff again. Till then. I'm digging Marvel and the smaller publishers.
One regular priced double shipped book means one other title that doesn't fit in my budget (and possible a book from a smaller publisher) that may not make it on my LCS's shelves at all.
One Marvel priced double shipped book is 1.33 other books that I'm going to have to cut.
Add to that the very strong potential of ending up with characters that I want to read being rendered by some of Marvels creators that I don't care for and I remain satisfied to spend most of my dollars with Valiants books, a few Image titles and my few remaining DC books.
So, I come in to work yesterday morning. It's cold, really frakkin, single digit, -20 wind chill cold. I make the comment, "it's time to gut a Tauntaun". Guy looks us from his desk, 29 year old grown-ass man and says,"what's a Tauntaun?". I laugh and give him the Empire reference thinking its early and the dude just isn't awake yet. He says,"is that Star Wars? I've never seen it". :-O What!? Look you can only blame bad parenting for so long at some point you have to take responsibility for your own education. Even if you aren't into sci if geek stuff this is a basic cultural zeitgeist that this kid has NO reference for. It's like never having seen the Godfather for crying out loud.
Okay I'm done ranting now.
I work at a VIDEO GAME COMPANY which is FULL of kids who haven't seen the Star Wars movies, or worse yet, have only seen the prequels. I now see how older employees become the "grumpy old men" of the workplace.
Comments
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson speeds into first place as the highest-grossing actor of the year, leaving Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp standing in the dust. He's worth every penny
http://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/259/road-runner-zip-zip-hooray.html
nuff said.
edit: now I agreed with your agreeing the disagree.....
That's right.
Buzz as Superman by Neal Freaking Adams.
Every once in a while, the good guy doesn't get the shaft.
comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=49859
An interview with Axel Alonso, Matt Fraction and Charles Soule. Meanwhile DC has a websites and timelines dedicated to all its fails.
Whereas when DC has a blunder at a time when they are also producing a lot less work I enjoy, and more work that I don't enjoy? That puts me in a position primed to already think of them as messing up. So then I become harder to spin.
I think what I am saying is that, sure, it is important to have good PR.
But PR gets easier when you are doing it for a company that is succeeding at entertaining a lot of people.
They are run like a well-run movie studio. DC is run like a high school in a terrible neighborhood.
Maybe because my pull list has dwindled so much.
Things To Go Away In 2014
One Marvel priced double shipped book is 1.33 other books that I'm going to have to cut.
Add to that the very strong potential of ending up with characters that I want to read being rendered by some of Marvels creators that I don't care for and I remain satisfied to spend most of my dollars with Valiants books, a few Image titles and my few remaining DC books.
http://deadspin.com/spider-man-fights-batman-and-robin-in-ridiculous-mma-ma-1490312903/@Tom_Ley