This is Movie Jail, a unique maximum security prison that houses some of the worst writers, directors, actors and producers from Hollywood and beyond. Their crimes? The offenses vary from convict to convict but most of these inmates have contributed negatively to the film world to some capacity and his or her misdeeds have covered a long enough period of time that the authorities had to intervene. In each column a defendant is put on trial, arguments are made, and then it is up to YOU, the jury, to decide if the person is guilty or not guilty of crimes against cinema. Their lives are in your hands, dude.
The Defendant
The Case
The Prosecution: Turbulence, Operation Dumbo Drop, The Son of No One, Wild Hogs, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Street Kings: Motor City, Youth in Revolt, Date Night, All Things Fall Apart, The Entitled
Ladies and gentleman of the jury, Raymond Allen Liotta has a reputation for playing intense, smoldering characters but the prosecution feels that the actor has taken on tough guy roles with similar traits one too many times in his career. It's been twenty-three years since Mr. Liotta was Henry Hill in Goodfellas and since then he has been the go to actor for any movie that needs a mob boss or wise guy. And if he's not playing a member of the criminal underworld Mr. Liotta usually stars as a cop, like in Cop Land or a cop in John Q, or a cop in…well you get the picture. Hell, in the film Identity (SPOILER ALERT) Mr. Liotta played a criminal masquerading as a cop. Even in comedies Mr. Liotta ends up playing a cop or mobster, like in Youth in Revolt and Date Night.
The prosecution believes that Mr. Liotta is in fact too talented to be stuck playing the same character over and over again. At this time the prosecution isn't sure if it's because those are the only scripts Mr. Liotta receives or if he's lazy and/or he's only appearing in the film for a paycheck. The prosecution understands that actors need to pay their bills so films like Operation Dumbo Drop and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale may end up on an actor's filmography, but some of his most recent movies have been real bottom of the barrel stuff such as All Things Fall Apart, The Entitled and The Son of No One. In closing, the prosecution feels Mr. Liotta should spend some time in Movie Jail to re-evaluate his career, especially his decision to appear in an Uwe Boll film.
The Defense: Something Wild, Field of Dreams, Goodfellas, Cop Land, Identity, Narc, Blow, Observe and Report, Killing Them Softly
Ladies and Gentleman, these charges against my client are ridiculous and personally the defense believes that Mr. Liotta work in Goodfellas alone should be enough to keep him out of Movie Jail. Being typecast isn't Mr. Liotta's fault and in his defense the actor has definitely proven that he can take on roles outside of the mob and cop genre. Who can forget him as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams or George Jung's father in Blow? And the prosecution may claim that Mr. Liotta plays the same character too often but there are few actors today that can pull off intense and crazy like my client has in films such as Something Wild or Narc.
Yes, my client tends to play cops and mobsters in his movies but he's not playing the exact same character in every film. Mr. Liotta was fantastic in Observe and Report, which was pretty much a send-up to the cop roles he's had in the past. And in Killing Them Softly (one of his most recent films) although he played a mob boss Mr. Liotta's character was the one receiving the threats and beatings instead of dishing them out, evidence that even though Mr. Liotta might play similar characters in his films he has more than enough talent to make each role he's in unique and different.
The defense would also like to note that at this point most people are aware that Uwe Boll must have a magic charm that hypnotizes and confuses good actors into appearing in the director's films. It happens to the best of them, Burt Reynolds and Ben Kingsley included.
IN CLOSING…
So what is to be done with Raymond Allen Liotta? Is he guilty of playing the same character over and over again or does he just play those type of characters very well? Should Mr. Liotta go to Movie Jail or are there other actors/actresses more worthy of spending time in the slammer? We ask you the jury: is Ray Liotta GUILTY or NOT GUILTY?
As always, share your verdict below in the STRIKE BACK.
*The cases for and against a defendant going to Movie Jail by the author are not necessarily his views and opinions but they are some of the beliefs that one would use to effectively make an argument for both sides. Not quite a devil's advocate but you get the point. Anyways, this is all in fun so don't take it too seriously. We have a separate jail for those people called "Troll Tower" and believe me you do NOT want to go there.
WHAT SAY YOU, GUILTY OR NOT?
LAST WEEK'S VERDICT
The jury had a field day with last week's trial against Charlize Theron, overwhelmingly declaring that the actress was NOT GUILTY of all charges. The jury was confused and angered by the prosecution's decision to bring Miss Theron to court when there are so many other people that belong in Movie Jail. Many members of the jury felt that even if a film starring Miss Theron was bad that the actress still delivered and was usually the best part of the movie, citing films such as Young Adult, Aeon Flux and Snow White and the Huntsman. Also to please the public, the prosecution is now required to submit to a full drug test before he can file charges against any actor or actress.
PREVIOUS VERDICTS
GUILTY Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, Vince Vaughn, Tim Burton, The Farrelly Brothers, Michael Bay, Jessica Alba, Ice Cube, Gerard Butler, Halle Berry, Marlon Wayans, Julia Roberts, M. Night Shyamalan , Katherine Heigl , Cuba Gooding, Jr. , Tyler Perry , Cameron Diaz
NOT GUILTY Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Nic Cage, John Travolta, Oliver Stone, Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, Wes Craven, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Rodriguez, Kristen Stewart, Roland Emmerich, Kevin Costner, Sandra Bullock, Hilary Swank, Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, Kevin Smith, Channing Tatum, Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Anna Faris, Robin Williams, Charlize Theron