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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   38816 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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But Jack Black is a big star and can't afford to have that kind of baggage.

The guy peaked at the VMA when Sarah Michelle Gellar ripped the one ring from his dick. I don't think he was ever A lister.

I don't think he was ever A lister.

Jack Black is the 37th highest-grossing leading actor of all time. He's top 100 by just about any objective metric. His biggest stuff is voice acting in kids' movies (lead villain in a $1B+ movie last year) so he doesn't have as much face recognition as most of his peers, though.

His biggest stuff is voice acting in kids' movies (lead villain in a $1B+ movie last year) so he doesn't have as much face recognition as most of his peers, though.

I don’t think that’s accurate. I would say he’s every bit as well-known for films like School Of Rock, Nacho Libre, The Holiday, Saving Silverman, and Peter Jackson’s King Kong as he is for his family-film voice acting, even if the latter has certainly made him the most money.

I loved School of Rock more than any animated movie he's ever done, so I want to agree, I just don't see how to justify that with data.

I don't know who Sarah Michelle Gellar is. Jack Black played alongside Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson in Jumanji. And honestly his was the best comedy performance in that movie. Add to that being the star voice actor in a major animated movie (kung-fu-panda) that has grossed over 2$ billion dollars internationally in ticket sales. If those things don't make you an A lister, then I have no clue what does. (by your standards who even is an A-lister other than maybe Tom Cruise?)

f those things don't make you an A lister, then I have no clue what does.

Well someone with a name that could pull audience on the name alone. No one watched Kung fu panda because of jack black. The same way no one watched puss in boots because of antonio banderas. Jack black hasn't been lead man since the mid 2000s. He is solid B lister - always reliable, doesn't attach himself to shitty projects, works very good in ensemble cast, but doesn't have the gravitas to carry a project on his own the same way Jim Carrey did in days of old, or the Rock, Tom Cruise and (maybe)Chris Hemsworth can do now.

I like him a lot and I still can't forgive Tim Shaffer for fucking up Brutal Legend so tremendously with the absurdly idiotic strategy game instead of giving us straight up action adventure, but this wound will never heal.

but doesn't have the gravitas to carry a project on his own the same way Jim Carrey did in days of old

I agree that he’s not a Jim Carrey level comedy star, but he clearly carried films such as School Of Rock and Nacho Libre, as well as the supremely underrated black comedy docudrama Bernie. (And if he’d stayed relatively thin, he could have had more everyman-style leading roles like Shallow Hal.)

Bernie is super underrated. By far Jack Black's best role, IMO.

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