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Career Watch: Russell Crowe

By Anne Thompson (Subscribe to Anne Thompson's posts), Posted May 20th 2010 4:54PM
Filed under: Features, Columns
Career Watch is a bi-weekly column by veteran film reporter and Moviefone guest-blogger Anne Thompson. Every other week, Thompson will look at the career of a major Hollywood star, analyze the moves they've made thus far and offer career advice on where they could or should head from here. This week: Russell Crowe.

Signature Line: "Are you not entertained?" -- Maximus Decimus Meridius in 'Gladiator.'

Career Peaks: Burly "man's man" Russell Crowe has been entertaining moviegoers since his breakout in the early '90s award-winning Australian films 'Proof' and 'Romper Stomper.' He earned great reviews as a detective wooing Kim Basinger in 1997's 'L.A. Confidential' ($64.6 million domestic), as heroic Captain James Aubrey in 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' ($94 million), and as a muscular yet sensitive Roman general-turned-slave in the Ridley Scott sword-and-sandal epic 'Gladiator,' his highest-grossing film to date ($187 million).
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Career Watch: Gerard Butler

By Anne Thompson (Subscribe to Anne Thompson's posts), Posted May 6th 2010 1:00PM
Filed under: Features, Columns
Career Watch is a bi-weekly column by veteran film reporter and Moviefone guest-blogger Anne Thompson. Every other week, Thompson will look at the career of a major Hollywood star, analyze the moves they've made thus far and offer career advice on where they could or should head from here. This week: Gerard Butler.

Signature Line: "Madness? This is Sparta!"

Career Peaks: In 2006, 37-year-old Scottish journeyman actor Gerard Butler broke out in the role of the muscled warrior King Leonidas in Zack Snyder and Frank Miller's sword-and-sandal battle epic '300,' which grossed $456 million worldwide. While Butler hasn't achieved those heights since, he has delivered two modest hits, which scored better with global audiences of both genders than they did with critics.

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Career Watch: Jim Carrey

By Anne Thompson (Subscribe to Anne Thompson's posts), Posted Apr 22nd 2010 1:30PM
Filed under: Features, Columns
From the start, Canadian Carrey boasted boyish charm, rubber limbs, energy to burn and a nasty streak, all in evidence on TV's 'In Living Color' and 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective' and its sequel, 'When Nature Calls.' Carrey earned $7 million and delivered another surprise hit with the Farrelly brothers' $15-million comedy 'Dumb & Dumber.' After his cackling Riddler in 'Batman Forever,' he scored a controversial first-ever $20-million payday for 'The Cable Guy,' which opened to almost $20 million -- but dropped like a stone, topping out at $102-million worldwide.

That led Carrey to seek studio tentpoles worthy of his asking price, from 'Liar, Liar' ($302.7 worldwide) to 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' ($345 worldwide) and his career peak, 'Bruce Almighty' (485 million worldwide). Unusually, Carrey doesn't like to repeat himself on sequels: 'The Mask,' 'Dumb & Dumber' and 'Bruce Almighty' sequels all went ahead without him.
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Career Watch: Sandra Bullock Wins Oscar, Must Escape Tabloid Hell

By Anne Thompson (Subscribe to Anne Thompson's posts), Posted Apr 7th 2010 6:30PM
Filed under: Features, Columns
Welcome to the first installment of Career Watch, a new bi-weekly column by veteran film reporter and Moviefone guest-blogger Anne Thompson. Every other Wednesday, Thompson will look at the career of a major Hollywood star, analyze the moves they've made thus far and offer career advice on where they could or should head from here. This week: Oscar winner Sandra Bullock.

Signature line: "Don't you dare lie to me." If Sandra Bullock ever used that line from 'The Blind Side' on her rapscallion husband Jesse James, it didn't work. The last year brought the best of times and the worst of times for the hard-working actress, who starred in two hits and one flop and won her first Oscar -- and may have lost her marriage.
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