Travolta

I was talking with Lance the other day about the new John Travolta movie, Be Cool. It’s the sequel to Get Shorty. Lance said he was excited about seeing the movie. I’ve seen the trailer and commercial (featuring Travolta and Uma Thurman dancing, in a shameless attempt to recall Pulp Fiction) for it and think it looks like a stinker. Who knows, I could be wrong, but after talking with him I tried thinking of the last Travolta movie that I liked. Looking at the Travolta filmography on imdb.com, I noticed that since Brian DePalma’s Blow Out in 1981, he’s only had substantial roles in 2 or 3 good movies (Pulp Fiction, the underrated She’s So Lovely and the overrated Get Shorty). Everything else has been crap.

Posted by chuck at February 25, 2005 12:32 AM

Comments

I thought Primary Colors was a decent movie.

Posted by: Les at February 25, 2005 6:02 AM

your overall point is right on: travolta’s portfolio isn’t exactly mind-blowing.

but i will say that “the thin red line” is one of the finer films i’ve ever seen… certainly one of my favorite movies about war. no other film captured the horror of it like that film.

Posted by: shux at February 25, 2005 11:14 AM

Look who’s talking? Look who’s talking too? Look who’s talking again?

…yeah, the filmography is fairly unimpressive. There’s been some highs etc. but most of it is “Swordfish” and “The Punisher”

What a way to survive. The guy is still coasting off the fumes of Saturday Night Fever and a smile. Pretty impressive.

Posted by: Andy Gorzalski at February 25, 2005 11:38 AM

Raj, Travolta was in The Thin Red Line for about 10 minutes, so i didn’t count it.

Andy, Swordfish and The Punisher?!! You’re kidding, right? Speaking off those movies, notice how similar his way-over-the-top performance is in those two are to his overacting in Face/Off. I saw Face/Off on HBO recently, I had forgotten what a bad movie it is. Travolta is terrible.

Posted by: chuck at February 25, 2005 11:51 AM

Andy, I misread your comment, i thought you were citing those two as some of his highs.

Posted by: chuck at February 25, 2005 12:21 PM

Travolta on Oprah. Circa 1996-97. He says his favorite meal is the traditional turkey dinner. Studio full of women age 27-62 burst into wild applause. Standing ovation.

Brilliant.

He may always produce crap, pap and trash, but I will always like him for being able to produce that type of a reaction. He has something people like and he’s milked it for all it’s worth.

Posted by: Jim at February 25, 2005 1:35 PM

This Travolta topic has the most responses of anything I’ve seen on this blog.

…….The proof is in the pudding.

The guy is magnetic.

and yes, Swordfish and Punisher are gutter-level lows

Posted by: Andy Gorzalski at February 25, 2005 2:19 PM