This is entirely separate & different from the Weasel of the Week, which is for those morally challenged types. The Dunce Caps are for those who left their brains elsewhere when conducting interviews and not letting their brains proofread their thoughts.
Thus, the first Dunce Cap goes to Sylvester Stallone, who, while promoting his new film, "The Expendables" (opening August 13), took occasion to cast blame upon Tim Burton's "Batman" (1989) for the alleged decline of action heroes at the end of the 80's. Huh?
While we know Stallone was never exactly a Rhodes scholar, he forgets that "Batman" falls under a different class of action film, and that, some years later, he'd step into the role of "Judge Dredd", who, like Batman, sprang from the comic books. Of course, "Dredd" didn't exactly make the same kind of cheddar at the box office that Batman has, not even close. And the last "Rambo" movie wasn't a big hit, either, was it? I don't think so.
"The Expendables", with an ensemble cast that includes veterans like Stallone himself, Bruce Willis, & Dolph Lundgren, current favorites Jason Statham & Jet Li, and "outsiders" like Randy Couture & Steve Austin, falls in line with movies like "The A-Team". Maybe Stallone's attempt at poor-mouthing his own genre is his way of drumming up business for "Expendables", but then, given the names mentioned already, the film should sell itself pretty well. Unfortunately, the poor-mouthing approach works best in sports, like college football, for example. Dare we even think that as he's now in his 60's, Stallone is coming across just as "Rocky Balboa" did 4 years ago, punch-drunk?
Now, if Stallone's planning on being in San Diego for Comic-Con International this weekend, after the remarks he's made, he may be asking for trouble. Comics fans are a very sensitive group. They'll remind him about "Judge Dredd", for sure.
The way I heard it, Stallone said that once people like Michael Keaton could get away with wearing "muscle suits," nobody cared for the guys like him who had real muscles. It's still pretty stupid; does he think that people went to his and Schwarzenegger's films just to look at their muscles? So is he punch drunk or is this roid rage? Let history judge.
ReplyDeleteI've already stated my case, Sammy. Stallone is risking whatever chance "The Expendables" has of succeeding at the box office when it opens on August 13 if he sticks to his guns on this.
ReplyDeleteOh, by the way, the word I'm hearing is that Keaton wants to do a sequel to "Beetlejuice", 22 years after the original. Have you heard anything?