C’mon Hollywood #132

… make John Travolta cool again!
by Sturdy

I can’t say I’ve always been a fan of John Travolta. He was pretty much out of the spotlight when I first got into movies in the 80’s, so I didn’t jump on the Travolta bandwagon until PULP FICTION. The first LOOK WHO’S TALKING was amusing, but not because of him. Talking babies are just funny. After PULP FICTION, Travolta had a string of surprisingly good performances and roles that made me a fan. I still really enjoy PHENOMENON, MICHAEL and others he did in the mid 90’s. But then something happened that makes me scratch my head. He started to make some really bad movies…again.

It would be one thing if he was a young actor and this was something new. Unfortunately, John can’t use that excuse anymore because he’s not a spring chicken. Furthermore, John has already ruined his freakin’ career once in the same exact way he’s ruining it now. In the late 70’s, he was on top of the world with hits like GREASE and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. Then he rattled off a string of stink bombs and it took him almost 15 years just to star in a movie with Kirstie Allie and a talking baby. So why didn’t he learn his lesson?

I really liked Travolta as the bad guy in FACE/OFF and in movies not named PUNISHER.

Don’t blame his decline on BATTLEFIELD EARTH. Sure, the movie went over like a turd in a punchbowl, but that was no excuse for the string of crap movies that he made before and after that. I don’t care about that movie, or his fascination with Scientology. I care about him getting back to making cool movies that are actually enjoyable. One movie typically doesn’t ruin a career unless you never had one to begin with.

Ugggghhh! What was he thinking?

One problem I’ve discovered with John Travolta is that he’s not funny. He can say funny things, but he’s not a funny person. He seems to fail miserably when he tries to do full fledged comedies. I’m thinking about LUCKY NUMBERS and most recently, WILD HOGS among others. Numbers was extremely bad, but there was no excuse for WILD HOGS. It wasn’t just that the movie was terrible, it’s that he was terrible in it. It was like watching a completely different actor. I kept thinking that there’s no way this guy was Vincent Vega.

Vega is still his best character.

So c’mon Travolta, get back to making cool movies. I liked BROKEN ARROW and FACE OFF and other films where’s he’s played the cool, bad-ass character. Even though they had their problems, Travolta was cool as hell in them. I like Travolta as the badass and I want him to get back to those kind of roles. Leave the comedy alone and maybe he should try to challenge himself as an actor with some serious roles. Anything would be better than what we’ve seen from him in the past 7 years or so.