Friday, February 29, 2008

30 Under 30...

Or... Why Corporate Entertainment Coverage Sometimes Bugs the S**t Out of Me

So, I'm flipping through EW.com's "30 under 30" special and I'm like oh yeah... bring it on. Love the Tatum. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jamie Bell. Yes and yes. Of courses, doubled. Some love for the under appreciated Elijah Wood, smart move. Why do people forget what a solid actor he is? And then I get to Hayden Christensen and I realize. Oh, yeahhh. This is just yet another sloppily thrown together PR driven list that has no purpose other than to generate content for a website. [not that we all aren't guilty of that on occassion he says sheepishly]

It's just an excuse to show pictures of 30 famous guys. And then I get to Seth Rogen, Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Zac Ephron (?) and all of these newbies --none of whom I have anything against but none of whom have shown any range yet so there's not much you can have for them either. One or two hits and you're the best? What about the people who haven't had any hits but are good actors? Like Victor Razuk. What about people who have been in hits and are good actors? Like Anthony Mackie. What about Eddie Redmayne who has a few pictures coming out and might get famous. What about down on his luck but obviously talented Haley Joel Osment ... just as a reminder of his existence. Supposedly he's making a movie with Max von Sydow this fall. He's not dead. If you're going with looks over talent (as they seem to be in several cases) why not Jesse Bradford? What about Jay Hernand-- oh, he just turned 30, never mind. What is the point of this list? Down with substance-free lists! Give me opinions or critiques ... something. Let's decide what lists are about rather than just listing.

But who cares about 20 year-olds when Hugh Jackman, who is almost 40, is looking like this...
*[src]

Rowwwr, or... um, whatever growling noise wolverines make. Wolverine is only 427 days away. Hold your breath.

UPDATE: And here are the actresses --a similarly haphazard list of famous beauties without talent, young women with lots of talent, and people who just happen to be really famous. Zzzzz.

Just joining us ? ...and totally nostalgic for last Sunday. Check out the big Oscars review
or, if you're "now" driven go to the most recent posts
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Just

26 comments:

RC said...

good call on Haley Joel Osmet & Jesse Bradford.

But Eddie Redmayne...after his "blah" role in The Good Shephard, I can't believe he's in so many prestige projects.

Anonymous said...

do you actually think Tatum has more talent than Seth Rogen, Justin Long, and Jonah Hill. He's a pretty terrible actor

NATHANIEL R said...

I didn't see Good Shephard but I guess I'm curious because he's doing the son to Julianne Moore in Savage Grace and that seems like a juicy role. we'll see. he's also the guy who went all quivery and couldn't shoot cate blanchett in elizabeth 2: full throttle --on account of the swirling camera and heavenly beam of light.

it totally disoriented him!

NATHANIEL R said...

I think Tatum was quite good in A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS and seth rogen and jonah hill --i've only seen them do one kind of role in various apatow projects so i withhold judgments though they're both very funny.

my favorite Seth Rogen role is still freaks & geeks. I love that show so much. but now that i think of it, yes, Seth Rogen is a good actor.

BUT --the point remains: this is obviously a list of "who is most famous right now" and those lists are boring.

we already know who is famous because famous people are known i.e. famous and this sentence is very long and redundant.

as for justin long. thought he was fun in die hard 8 and I love him as the apple in those commercials (though i know other people are sick of him)... but that's all i have to go on. so, no, ...not much there to judge.

The Liz said...

I'm really excited that Paul Dano is getting some recognition. I remember in college my friends and I rented "The Girl Next Door" as a joke and were blown over by how fantastic Dano was in it. And considering that he isn't conventionally attractive, it's even more exciting.

On that note, what about Emil Hirsch? He was amazing in "Lords of Dogtown." Lots of passion and range.

lawyer tony fernando said...

speaking of Juliane Moore, she will be a guest star in Desperate Housewifes for 3 episodes, even the finale as Bree´s young/older/twin? sister. Any thoughts on that Nathaniel?

J.D. said...

Channing Tatum > Seth Rogan, Justin Long, and Jonah Hill.

And that's based solely on Saints!

PAUL DANO!

Anonymous said...

I think Seth Rogen takes more pride in his writing than his acting which he started doing since at least the Undeclared days with Judd Apatow

abstew said...

i stopped reading that list when i got to justin timberlake. if it was a list of great entertainers, yes, put him on it. but as a great actor? who are they trying to fool?
they should have only done 10 and picked the truely great actors under 30: ryan gosling, emile hirsch, james mcavoy, gael garcia bernal, joseph gordon-levitt, jamie bell, etc.

Anonymous said...

oh no....a guest role on "desperate Housewives?" not a good sign....

NATHANIEL R said...

DEFINITELY not a good sign.

oops

Anonymous said...

Have you seen the list for the actresses yet, Nate? I'm quite sure you'll have an aneurysm. J. Hud is on the list, though it does mention her upcoming album.

Calum Reed said...

Tatum was good in Saints but I don't rate him overall. Great to see Shia there. I think he's one of the biggest talents around.

NATHANIEL R said...

well there was no way they would leave Shia out since he's a big hit. And it's all about who is famous ;)

updated with link the actresses too. it's similarly random ... only not. I'm glad they don't call the list 'the 30 most talented' at least. Because then... we'd really have to picket.

NATHANIEL R said...

oh and this list kind of reminds me of the time when they did those "best actors, male and female" lists in the 90s and in their disclaimer they said they were leaving out "pure movie stars" like harrison ford and brad pitt or whatever... but then when they got to the girls they put in Julia Roberts. ARGH. set the rules and stick to them.

who is more of a "pure movie star" than Julia? Or was back then I mean...

Anonymous said...

While it does tilt toward familiar faces, it does also have Jesse Eisenberg, so it's not *all* media sensations...

The thing that most freaked me out was Lee Pace. He's 28? He's a year older than me? Seriously? I thought he was in his mid-30s at least...!

NATHANIEL R said...

i never believe the ages of the stars, personally. I mean normal people lie about it all the time. Why wouldn't the famous who have way more financially riding on being seen as young & beautiful & hip

Anonymous said...

The Alba beeotch is on the actress list. I really hate even calling her an actress, much less being on the best list? Also, Biel? Cyrus? Also, a couple of those tv people I don't even know who they are....and Amanda Bynes? What a joke! I think Alba may even be a better actor than Bynes.

I'm glad they got Page, Wood and Kristen Stewart on the list though!

Anonymous said...

I don't know how it is in the US, but it's not easy for British celebrities to hide their real ages. All the official birth records are publicly available.

Anonymous said...

Putting Paul Dano and James McAvoy next to Hayden Christensen and Justin Timberlake isn't only hurting my feelings, it's kind of...indecent.

NATHANIEL R said...

su you can say that again

I haven't even thought about who is placed up against whom in the actress list... i couldn't even stay there for more than 5 seconds when I saw Jessica Alba listed under "best"

there are so many starlets whose careers will be over the second they're not dewy fresh 25 year olds. You have to have more than a perfect body and pretty face to last in Hollywood. Everyone forgets this --shouldn't some of these people be in acting classes rather than posing for another photoshoot? they need more talent. not more fame --but it's totally true.

oops, someone's suddenly grumpy

*scampers away*

Glenn Dunks said...

Scarlett Johannson is 24. 24. Doesn't it just feel like she's 34 by now? Still her though, but gosh she's been around for a long time.

For some reason I'm sad for Michael Angarano not being on the male list.

Another weird comparison to make between the male/female lists is the photos they've used. Many of the photos for the guys are boring shots from premiers for unspectacular studio stuff, but then look at the photos for the likes of Anna Hathaway and Emily Blunt. BEAUTIFUL. And, well, yeah, it's easy to figure out why.

Also, they describe the Shia-starrer Disturbia as "trippy". Ummm...

Anonymous said...

Redmayne also got great reviews for his work in the London production of Albee's play "The Goat," so while his performances in The Good Shepherd and Elizabeth weren't all that, I'm definitely looking forward to more of him in the future.

Anonymous said...

i disagree about elijah wood being underrated... i find him terribly wooden and emotionless

Anonymous said...

Indecent. There you go, Nathaniel...
I thought better short than overwrought, long, grumpy, "is everybody going mad or what" -ish. So many other things to get upset about...
It does worry me, though.

Anonymous said...

Elijah Wood has always been overrated. He's stiff and fake. He plays every role the same - wide eyed & earnest. Lord of the Rings was his peek, and even that seemed fake. It's all downhill from here. As for Justin Timberlake, please bitch...