Lancemc
Blue Crack Addict
His career is dead.
And Samuel L. Jackson killed him.
Ok, hear me out. There was once a time when robert De Niro would do nothing but spectacular work. There was a reason he was considered the best alive. Personally I'd say this stint was from 1973-1984, from Mean Streets to Once Upon A Time In America.
After that he had a good run of solid roles, and a career ranging from downright awful (Cop Land, Frankenstein) to the mediocre (Backdraft, Cape Fear) to the legendary (Goodfella's, Casino), and everywhere in between. He was still the fucking man, but he was becoming dangerously inconsistent.
Than a bizarre thing happened. He appeared in Jackie Brown. His role as Luis Gara was a peculiar spot for De Niro. He was played a washed-up, no good, worthless shell of the characters he built his career on in the 70's and 80's. And he was wonderful. Tarantino's casting of De Niro in this flick was brutally ironic and beautiful. It's one of my favorite De Niro roles to date. The unfortunate Luis met his maker at the business end of Samuel L. Jackson's 9mm after making a remarkable series of fuck-ups, including a spectacular scene where he kills a bitching Bridget Fonda in the parking lot outside of a shopping center.
But I digress. What I find particularly humorous about this, is that after this ironic role in Jackie Brown, De Niro's career went to shit. All of a sudden he started playing crap roles, appearing in lame mainstream comedies, and accomplishing approxiimately buttkiss as far as quality cinema. Sure, he's had a few decent roles since J.B. (Great Expectations and Ronin were OK for him, but everything else he's done is a damn near-embarassment given his spectacular career. I don't even want to list all the shit he's done in the past 10 years. It's saddening.
It's like he really was Luis Gara, shot dead in a van, a washed-up loser displaced in time. It's almost poetic, isn't it?
And Samuel L. Jackson killed him.
Ok, hear me out. There was once a time when robert De Niro would do nothing but spectacular work. There was a reason he was considered the best alive. Personally I'd say this stint was from 1973-1984, from Mean Streets to Once Upon A Time In America.
After that he had a good run of solid roles, and a career ranging from downright awful (Cop Land, Frankenstein) to the mediocre (Backdraft, Cape Fear) to the legendary (Goodfella's, Casino), and everywhere in between. He was still the fucking man, but he was becoming dangerously inconsistent.
Than a bizarre thing happened. He appeared in Jackie Brown. His role as Luis Gara was a peculiar spot for De Niro. He was played a washed-up, no good, worthless shell of the characters he built his career on in the 70's and 80's. And he was wonderful. Tarantino's casting of De Niro in this flick was brutally ironic and beautiful. It's one of my favorite De Niro roles to date. The unfortunate Luis met his maker at the business end of Samuel L. Jackson's 9mm after making a remarkable series of fuck-ups, including a spectacular scene where he kills a bitching Bridget Fonda in the parking lot outside of a shopping center.
But I digress. What I find particularly humorous about this, is that after this ironic role in Jackie Brown, De Niro's career went to shit. All of a sudden he started playing crap roles, appearing in lame mainstream comedies, and accomplishing approxiimately buttkiss as far as quality cinema. Sure, he's had a few decent roles since J.B. (Great Expectations and Ronin were OK for him, but everything else he's done is a damn near-embarassment given his spectacular career. I don't even want to list all the shit he's done in the past 10 years. It's saddening.
It's like he really was Luis Gara, shot dead in a van, a washed-up loser displaced in time. It's almost poetic, isn't it?
Whatever your opinion of Copland as a film, I think DeNiro was amazing in his role in that film. Personally, I liked Copland, but aside from that, I thought Bobby D. did a great job with his character.
