Are You Not Entertained!?
Well it has only been a year and a half since I started my actor/actress per month movie watching. Clearly I didn’t keep the pace. Last was Emma Stone during January of 2018… before that was Jim Carrey during December 2017…
I spent the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 watching 20 of Russell Crowe’s movies. I decided to watch most of them in chronological order of their release. Here we gooooooo
Did you know Russell Crowe is a New Zealander? His net worth as of 2019 is $95 million. Not too shabby.
I started off this Crowe movie marathon with a 1991 Australian flick called Proof. It was actually a pretty good film about a blind photographer making a friend (Crowe). He received best supporting actor award for Proof from the Australian Film Institute.
Romper Stomper in 1992 (Australian film) is basically about racist skinhead Nazi’s. It reminds me of American History X. Crowe won best actor from the Australian Film Institute for this role.
Silver Brumby in 1993 is a movie about a particular horse and about a man (Crowe) trying to catch the Silver Brumby (horse). If you really like horses, this one is for you.
In 1995, his first role as a FBI detective came in the American movie No Way Back.
Outside of these smaller films, as far as I’m concerned, Russell Crowe launched his career in 1997 with the release of LA Confidential. Sure he actually started acting as a child in 1972, but he didn’t have many well known releases up to this point. Had you heard of the four movies above? Anyways, in LA Confidential he plays police detective Bud White looking to solve some high level crime.
He followed up LA Confidential with another ‘97 release, Breaking Up, which also starred a young and beautiful Selma Hayek. Breaking Up is a rom-com with some okay parts, think ‘97 romcom that brought in only $12k in the box office....yikes! Following these movies in 1997, Crowe then had two big 1999 releases: Mystery, Alaska which is about a hockey team based out of Alaska that plays the New York Rangers, and The Insider which is based on the true story of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) breaking the news that cigarettes are bad for you through reporter Al Pacino. Both solid movies. Then I would say he performed his greatest role in Gladiator, which was released in 2000. If you haven’t seen this movie based on life in Ancient Rome, you need to do that ASAP. Crowe plays Maximus, who is a Roman General turned Gladiator. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Gladiator. I remember watching this movie over and over as a kid with my brother. We would pause the DVD on scenes where gladiators got chopped in half at the waist by chariots and when there was a futuristic Co2 tank in the back of that same chariot. Good times.
In 2001 he plays the famous, and schizophrenic mathematician, John Nash, in A Beautiful Mind, which is my second favorite Crowe movie next to Gladiator.
This was followed up by Cinderella Man in 2005 in which he plays boxer James J. Braddock during the Great Depression. Crowe then plays an outlaw in the western 3:10 to Yuma in 2007. American Gangster also came out in 2007 in which Russell Crowe plays police officer Richie Roberts as he tries to take down drug dealer played by Denzel Washington. Political thriller State of Play was then released in 2009, followed by Robin Hood in 2010.
Also in 2010, Crowe stars in The Next Three Days with Elizabeth Banks. Crowe has to get his wife (Banks) out of jail, in you guessed it, 3 days. Highly suggest this movie for an action thriller. Winter’s Tale came out in 2014, which Crowe plays a demon chasing a thief down who rides a magic horse, woah! Noah, the story of biblical Noah and his ark with Emma Watson, also came out in 2014, Russell plays Noah. The action/comedy, The Nice Guys where Crowe and Ryan Gosling play detectives was released in 2016. Another detective film for him.
The last and latest movie of Russell Crowe’s I watched was The Mummy, the 2017 version. Although it was more of a Tom Cruise movie, but Crowe plays Dr. Henry Jekyll. I still prefer the Brendan Fraiser Mummy though...
At the end of the day, if you want to be entertained, load up Gladiator or A Beautiful Mind, maybe even The Next Three Days.
Did I miss any Russell Crowe classics? Any suggestions on who I should watch next? Might be back to an actress for the next round…
Josh