The longer John Travolta hangs around, the more I’m becoming convinced that he’s some kind of whack-job like Nic Cage. At least when it comes to the weird choices he makes his hair when it comes to playing certain roles.
Maybe it’s just that he looked so weird in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, following things up with the cue ball look so soon after the fact feels like a weird de-evolution.
I realize that Travolta starred in Old Dogs in between these two films. But it’s not like his hair looked any better in that movie.
Travolta wears one of the most obvious wigs in show business. Not that it really matters. He’s an actor after all. He’s supposed to look different from role to role. I don’t know why it matters to me… except it does.
I think because his wigs look so obvious. Not just in his movies, but in his public appearances. On minute, he’ll have a buzz cut. Then, four months later, he’s miraculously “grown” a full head of hair with crazy bangs in front. You’d think someone with as much money as Travolta would find a better way to make his hairpiece look less obvious.
Anyway, I’ll stop harping on the immaterial. Although I still think Travolta looks like a genie in the stills and trailer for From Paris With Love.
I’d like to see From Paris With Love, but Travolta isn’t the draw for me. Neither is his co-star Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Frankly, I’m not a fan of either actor. But I would see the movie because it’s directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson – the same pair that brought us a surprising kick-ass turn from Liam Neeson in Taken last year.
Clearly, they’re trying to put lightning in a bottle by releasing another rolicking Euro-trash adventure in the same vein as Taken. But John Travolta isn’t Liam Neeson and I have my doubts that he won’t be able to keep from hamming it up on screen.
I think a large part of Taken’s success was how seriously Neeson took the role in the face of the overall cheesiness of the movie. He made you believe in the situations his character inserted himself into, regardless of how ridiculous they were.
But Neeson has that kind of gravity to him. Travolta is light and airy and all about having a quick step – a holdover from his Grease days. I don’t get the sense that his special agent character Charlie Wax is supposed to be altogether mentally, so maybe a little bit of Travolta’s manic tenancies will do his performance justice. I’m just skeptical. That’s all.
Actually, considering that I haven’t left the house aside from work for the last two months, I think I’m saving up karma points so I can cash them in for Shutter Island in a couple of weeks. They’re starting to air commercials for it more regularly and I keep reminding Cami how badly I want to see it. She has no interest. She says I can see it by myself. I don’t care. It looks great – like Scorsese channeling the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock. I can’t wait.
But that’s neither here not there. We can talk more about Shutter Island when the time comes. What about From Paris With Love? Who here is excited to see it? Do you think Pierre Morel and Luc Besson can recapture what they created with Taken? If you plan on seeing the movie this weekend, let us know in the comments below!
STEP 1: Lose the dime-store wig, Uncle Fester. You're not fooling anyone...
Hey...
STEP 2: Add a chunky gold earring that makes you look like Mr. Clean.
STEP 3: Don't forget to grow a goatee. Now you look like the genie from Aladdin.
Badass!
I haven’t had much interest in Travolta since the horror that was Battlefield Earth. I have even less interest in seeing From Paris With Love because of the trailer where they actually have Travolta saying, “Royale with cheese”!
I really enjoyed Taken because of Liam Neeson, but the plot holes still bug me to this day (how can a man kill that many people & not suffer any legal consequences?). So to make a similar plot hole ridden film with an actor whose performance I doubt to begin with is just spelling viewing disaster to me.
Tom, I think you have a hair fetish… 😉
The thing that bugged me about Taken is there were definitely other girls on that ship at the end. Where did they go? But I still really enjoyed the movie.
To be honest, I am a fan of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, although I might just be a fan of his looks. And accent. But anyway, I probably won’t see From Paris With Love, and if I do, I’ll wait for it to come out on DVD.
Has Cami expressed any interest in Valentine’s Day? Do YOU have any interest in Valentine’s Day?
Where did you get Hitchcock from Shutter Island? I always thought it was supposed to be a Kubrick riff?
Kubrick? Hmm. I guess Shutter Island doesn’t look as far off and esoteric to me as Kubrick can sometimes be. I mean, maybe I get a sense of it with DiCaprio’s flashbacks to his dead wife and daughter. But I guess I get the Hitchcock vibe more from the 1950’s period, the presence of authority figures (policemen, mental health practitioners) and the Noir, whodunnit elements.
I think it’s a good look for him. But I may have bias towards that hair style. 😉
Just a heads up, I’d stop paying attention to the Shutter Island trailers. They kinda give the ending away 😛
Amazing looking film nonetheless. As for Paris, I can’t really work up the interest to see it (it’s Travolta, something about him just spooks me off), although since I was a huge fan of Taken and District B13, I’ll see it eventually.
From Paris with Love is going to get killed by Dear John at the box office. The ladies came out in droves for the midnight showing last night, and it’s excellent release timing with it being super bowl weekend.
Hi Tom this is my first reply on your comic . So John Travolta is Wooly Willy now. I still haven’t Seen the Avatar Killer yet probably because we are still in the winter months. Avatar will probably stay strong well into March, yet I could be wrong.
This weekend is almost certainly going to be about “Dear John” and not the Travolta flick. Last night we sold 200 tickets to the midnight of “Dear John” and about 25 to “From Paris…” Which wouldn’t be so bad, except it was 200 tickets sold to drunk women who were convinced that at least 198 of the other women were total bitches (and I would have to add that they were probably correct.) Thank God the movie started before the fights got started in earnest. It looked like we were going to have a bloodbath in the auditorium (and you know how difficult it is to clean entrails off the walls when mixed with mascara!)
Why can’t every movie be a PG rated action flick? So much easier to clean up after, fewer fights, no downside.
If you look at the track listings that have been released you’ll get a feel for what I mean. The trailers also seem to show a architecture/symmetry obsession like in The Shinning too. I’m not thinking much from a story point admittedly.
Why didn’t he do like Carl Reiner’s character Alan Brady planned on the Dick Van Dyke show? He had a series of wigs that he was going to gradually wear that went from full head of hair, down to completely bald.
Are you sure that’s John Travolta and not Dennis Leery in the first picture?
I did end up seeing From Paris this weekend. Even though I loved Taken and I was really hoping for some good to come out of this movie it was mostly John Travolta’s character that killed it for me. Also the story was awful and full of holes. Just this reporters opinion though 😛
But will he be able to grant the first wish of grossing $20 on opening weekend?
The wish is granted. Long live The Sweathogs.