The question on this episode is: Who is the biggest movie star right now in 2022? Mike takes a look at box office numbers, salaries, social media followings and more to determine who he thinks are the Top 10 most famous movie stars in today’s world! Plus a movie review of Netflix’s The Adam Project starring Ryan Reynolds. And in the trailer park, Mike talks at Deep Water which is a new thriller starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike A k A Mike D.
And today I want to answer the question who is
the biggest movie star in the world right now. I
put together my list, ask you guys online crunch some numbers,
so I'll let you know who I think are in
the top ten as of this year. Speaking to movie stars.
(00:20):
In the movie review, we'll talk about a new movie
from Ryan Reynolds called The Adam Project, which is out
on Netflix. And keep that movie star theme alive because
in the trailer park we're talking about a new movie
with Ben Affleck and out of the Autemus coming out
on Hulu called deep Water. Appreciate you being subscribed and
listening to the podcast. Special shout out to the Monday
Movie crew who listens every single Monday. You guys already
(00:42):
know what it is. It's Monday. Let's talk movies. In
a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,
one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like
never before in a movie podcast, A man with so
much movie knowledge. He's basically like a walking Audi je
who It's classes from the Nationale Podcast Network movie podcast.
(01:09):
We're about to take a look at all the biggest
actors across the land and to find who is the
biggest movie star out there right now. I still think
there is such great power and being a movie star
in a world where there's so many avenues of entertainment,
with TV shows, with TikTok stars, with YouTubers. I still
think there's such a big lasting power with a movie star,
(01:32):
and I think they're able to enter our lives in
a way that kind of makes you feel like a
kid again. Thinking of a big Hollywood actor, it just
feels like something unattainable. Really, what a movie star is
is an actor who is incredibly marketable because they can
sell tickets with their name alone. These are all people
that because their name is at the top as the
(01:53):
leading role, a majority of people would just go see
it based on already knowing their body of work, being
a fan of that person, and just instantly knowing that
if you go into watching a movie by one of
these actors, you're probably in for a pretty good time.
So their faces are recognizable on screen, they have some
really great chemistry with their co stars overall just have
a charming presence to them. Which I think is what
(02:15):
is more important to a movie star than a TV star.
I feel like movie stars are so focused on the
characters to create and the stories they're able to tell,
and I feel like us as viewers, we feel like
we get to know them through their characters, to the
point that we actually think that they are their characters,
because sometimes we don't really know a whole lot about
(02:38):
what these people are like behind closed doors, so we
just kind of know them for what they do and
how they act, and the characters they are, we think
they are that person. But what does it take to
be a movie star? You need some talent, You need
a lot of perseverance. A lot of the actors on
this list have been doing this for a very long time,
so they've been able to put in the hard work.
You need something kind of extraordinary about you, whether it
(03:00):
be a look, the way you take on a role,
just your overall on screen presence, and then you really
need a lot of good luck. And one of the
best quotes I saw that defines what an actor is
and how it's different from being a movie star. The
quote goes, an actor is someone who pretends to be
somebody else. A movie star is somebody who pretends that
(03:23):
that somebody else is them, And I think that tells
it perfectly. When you see a movie star, they are
able to live inside that role sometimes through method act
and do all these things to prepare themselves to fully
be that person and take that role on is a
whole another level then just oh, I'm going on screen
(03:43):
and pretending. And I feel like that kind of talent
is what defines a movie star. So with all that said,
I want to get into this list and for each actor,
I want to talk about what I think their signature
role is their last five movies, to kind of put
a time frame on what they've done recently, how much
their movies have grossed overall, like every single movie their
(04:05):
total combined gross at the box office, what they made
in the last year, how many Instagram followers, and then
the project they have coming out next. Because we're not
talking all time movie stars here just right now. If
you're gonna pull the biggest ten movie stars, who would
they be? That's what this list is. So let's get
in at number ten. I went with Scarlett Johnson, who
(04:27):
I would arguably say that her signature role as Black Widow.
She's done so many movies though, and when I was
talking about range and versatility, like, she has one of
the biggest ranges that of everybody on this list. She
can do dramas, she can do sci fi with her
role as Black Widow that's taking on superhero action movies.
She can do romantic comedies. She can really do it
(04:49):
all and does it all so well. Her last five
movies include Seeing to Black Widow, Jojo Rabbit Marriage Story,
and Avengers The End Game, which is a pretty big
just right there, that's an animated movie, two superhero movies,
and then two Oscar nominated movies. And overall, Scarlett Johansen
(05:09):
her movies have grossed twelve point nine billion dollars. She's
been in so many movies. She's been an actor since
she was a kid, and just last year alone she
made fifty six million dollars. The interesting thing about Scarlett
Johansson and some of the other people on this list,
she has no social media, no Instagram, no Twitter. Maybe
she has secret accounts that she keeps in touch with
(05:31):
friends and family on their Her private life is extremely private.
We get details here and there when she gets married,
when she has kids. She's married to Colin Joast was
married to Ryan Reynolds before him, But all the other
details of her private life, of her day to day life,
we don't really get a glimpse into that. Her next
movie coming out is a movie called Asteroid City, which
(05:52):
is set to release later this year. It's a movie
with Tom Hanks. She is somebody I will always associate
with being an amazing actress. I feel like everybody he
has at least one movie that they love from her.
My favorite one is actually probably one of her most
underrated roles, but she was the voice in her So
at number ten, I'm going with Scarlett Johansson. At number nine,
(06:13):
I'm gonna put Tom Holland, who his signature role would
easily be Spider Man. His last five movies were Uncharted,
Spider Man, No Way Home, Cherry, Chaos Walking, which was
a bit of a flop, and then The Devil All
the Time. In those five movies, I feel like, as
a young of an actor as he is, he's really
already started to show his range from Uncharted being a
(06:36):
leading action star. Of course, everybody loves him as Spider Man.
I think he's really taking that role, refreshed it and
made it what it needs to be right now, and
then you have movies like Devil all the Time and
Cherry which show more of a serious side, more of
just his raw talent. But I think he really has
that versatility, and it's all a matter of the movies
(06:56):
he takes on next after he has done being Spider Man,
and I think he has done a pretty good job
at people not just associating him with that role. I
think with Toby McGuire back in the two thousand's it
was harder for him to get out of that role
and do other movies because those movies were so massive.
But I think with Tom Holland now that he has
(07:18):
done these other projects early on, I think he's been
able to show that he's not just Peter Parker, and
I feel like we will be able to take him
seriously when he is done playing that role. But his
movies have already grown six point two billion dollars, which
it also helps that he's been in a good amount
of the Avengers movies. Last year he made ten million dollars,
(07:40):
which it never fully came out how much he made
for No Way Home, so that's an estimated what he
made last year. I would argue it's probably more than that.
He has sixty four points three million followers on Instagram
and has currently no next movie announced, And I think
I would have rated Tom Holland higher on this list
right now. But when I asked the question on Twitter
(08:01):
and Facebook, I was surprised to see a lot of
people said they had to google who Tom Holland was
to recognize him. So maybe to me he's fully established,
but to other people still a fairly new name. I
think after you google him and see his picture, you
instantly connect him with the movies he's been in. But
just because I did see that from a certain amount
(08:22):
of people, had to rank him a little bit lower,
so I put him at number nine, Tom Holland at
number eight. I'm going with Sandra Bullock. It's harder to
pick a signature role for Sandra Bullock because she has
been in movies for so long. I tend to associate
her with the Mom on the blind Side. I think
that was such a career defining role for Sandra Bullock
(08:43):
that that's where mind mind goes. It's either The blind
Side or Miss Congeniality for me. But her last five
movies include The Unforgivable, Bird Box, Oceans eight. Our brand
is crisis and Gravity. Her movies have grows four point
eight billion dollars at the box office world wide. Just
last year alone, she made twenty million dollars. And she's
(09:03):
another actor who does not have any social media. No
Instagram followers, no Twitter followers. She's completely out of that.
I think she said at one point she will never
take a selfie in her life. And her next movie
coming out is called The Lost City. Why I decided
to put Sandra Bullock at number eight. I love her work.
I think I've loved pretty much every single movie I've
seen Sandra Bullock in. Even her worst movies are still
(09:26):
better than most. And I think it's because she is
Sandra Bullock that I always give her the benefit of
the doubt. And I just love how much of a
rain she has. She's able to do very serious roles.
She's able to do action roles. I mean, Back in
the Day's Speed was one of my favorite movies, but
she also does drama so well. Just from the blind Side.
Her last movie on Netflix, The Unforgivable, I felt was
(09:49):
a silent hit, and then she was in one of
the biggest Netflix movies of all time really kind of
defined and really started to make those movies a thing.
With bird Box, I feel like her name alone is
an instant draw to movie theaters, and she is an
actor who fully embraced the online method of putting out
movies without hesitation, has had such a long career and
(10:12):
is still as relevant as ever putting out great movies.
So at number eight, I'm going with Sandra Bullock at
number seven because he is super hot right now. Everybody's
talking about him, has really elevated himself in the last
four to five years, and it is Robert Pattinson who
is signature role is Edward Cullen from Twilight, and I
(10:33):
think that's what everybody knows him has because those movies
were so big, and now it's weird that people will
still bring that role up when he is playing The Batman,
But that just shows you how one character can stay
with you throughout your entire career, even when you do
a bunch of other great movies in between. I think
now after The Batman, hopefully people will recognize how much
(10:55):
she's evolved since then. But his last five movies include Yes,
The Batman, The Devil, All the Time Tenant waiting for
the Barbarians the King, and I threw an honorable mention
since I have been talking about Batman so long The Lighthouse.
His movies have grows three point eight billion dollars worldwide.
Last year alone, he made three million dollars, and that's
a pretty low rate for him to play the Batman.
(11:18):
And yet another actor who does not have any social media.
He has zero Insto the grand followers. There is like
a Robert Pattinson fan account that has almost a million followers,
but if you follow that one, that is not him,
and he also has no next movie announced. I feel
like Robert Pattinson is highly underrated. I was never the
biggest fan of Twilight when it came out. I watched
(11:39):
the first one in theaters and actually thought it was
a pretty good movie. But I guess since I didn't
really follow along in his journey through those movies, I
never really associated him directly with that character. I think
it was, you know, recently in his career, when he
was doing movies like Good Time in the Lighthouse. I
myself really started to love his movies and started to
watch every single thing he came out with, and when
(12:00):
it was announced that he was going to be the Batman.
I was really excited about it, unlike maybe some other people.
But I think that role has highly elevated where he stands,
and if it weren't for that role, he may have
not have even made this list. But I think now
without a doubt, he's fully established his name. Everybody knows
who he is, and everybody has an opinion on him.
(12:21):
And that's important too, because if someone's going to criticize
a role you decide to take on, that means you're
doing something right. You're such a compelling actor that people
question whether or not you can take this role on.
And then he does those roles, completely nails them and
can just show it to all his haters. So at
number seven, I'm going with Robert Pattinson at number six.
(12:43):
He's been one of everybody's favorite actors for a very
long time now. Another person who has been acting since
they were a kid. It is Leonardo DiCaprio. Again, so
many iconic roles, but I think his signature one, if
I had to say just one, it would be Jack
from Titanic, has last five movies and dud don't look up.
Once upon a time in Hollywood, The Revenant, Wolf of
(13:04):
wall Street, and The Great Gatsby, and there's a pretty
big time difference in some of those movies. I think
now he's kind of back on doing the one movie
a year. He kind of went away silently without anybody
knowing after he won his Oscar and then is really
back now trying different roles. And I think hasn't even
reached the height of his career yet. He's almost had
(13:25):
these different little apexes of his career in the nineties
and the two thousand's and now he's having this whole
different one now in the twenties. But overall, his films
have grows six point six billion dollars worldwide. Last year alone,
he made thirty million dollars. He has fifty two point
six million followers on Instagram, and his next movie coming
(13:45):
out this year is a Martin Scorsese movie called Killers
of the Flower Moon, which looks awesome. He's also doing
a movie that's coming down in a couple of years
where he's playing Theodore Roosevelt. So I think he's being
very particular on what projects he takes on. Now. It's
kind of surprised to see him and don't look up,
but after that movie came out, made a little bit
more sense why he did that kind of role. But
(14:06):
he's been one of my favorite actors for a very
long time now, and he's in that category of somebody
I will watch no matter what they are in, and
not only that, I'll watch whatever they're in and I'll
probably love it. So at number six, going with Leonardo
DiCaprio getting into the top five. Now at number five
going with Tom Hanks. His signature role is without a
(14:30):
doubt for his Gump like that is just his quintessential
iconic role from Tom Hanks. His last five movies, three
of them being Apple TV plus exclusives with Finch, News
of the World, Greyhound, and then before that he did
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood where he portrayed Mr Rogers,
and then Toy Story four, which he returned as Woody
(14:53):
in the final Toy Story film. His movies have gross
nine point one billion dollars world. Last year alone he
brought in fifty million dollars. I think a lot of
that is from those Apple movies. And he has nine
point three million followers on Instagram and his next movie
coming out very soon is Elvis, where he plays Elvis's manager.
(15:15):
And I think for the longest time, Tom Hanks was
the movie star. I mean, he's been the movie star
since the eighties. He is so charming, so charismatic on screen,
and he's somebody who we love all the characters he
does to where he already seems like he's a good
guy in person, but you greatly see that come out
(15:36):
through his characters and through his acting, and not only
one of the most recognizable faces on screen, but his
voice alone, as being the voice on Toy Story. He
can really do it all. So at number five I
went with Tom Hanks, and just above him at number
four I went with Will Smith, who I feel like
just has a few more iconic roles than Tom Hanks somehow,
(15:58):
even though I think his most iconic role is actually
a TV role we all associate with him, being the
Fresh Prince. The first real role I associated with him, though,
was j Freman in Black. His last five movies include
King Richard, Bad Boys for Life, Gemini Man, which was
a bit of a flop, Aladdin, and Bright. His movies
have gross six point five billion dollars worldwide. Last year,
(16:21):
he made forty million dollars. He has fifty nine points
three million Instagram followers, and his next movie is called Emancipation,
coming on Apple TV Plus. And why I think he
ranks above Tom Hanks is because right now Will Smith
is fully embracing social media. And you may say, well,
this is a list of movie stars, why would that
(16:42):
come into effect. I think he has been able to
create such a presence online. He has found a way
to connect with fans unlike some of the other members
on this list, and through that connection, he's able to
tie it back into promoting his movies and looking at
the most recent body of work and his versus Tom Hanks.
Right now, he's really coming off that buzz of having
(17:05):
an Oscar worthy performance in King Richard. Before that, he
was bringing back one of his most beloved franchises, Bad
Boys for Life, took on a very big live action
Disney adaptation and did a really good job in it.
So I think he has this huge personality that he's
able to expand the brand even more online a full
(17:27):
out global superstar, and I think right now he is
just a bigger actor than Tom Hanks. So number four
I feel good about Will Smith. At number three on
the list, I went with Tom Cruise his signature role,
I would say Maverick and Top Gun. His last five
movies include Mission Impossible, Fallout, American Made The Mummy, Jack Reacher,
(17:49):
Never Go Back, and then another Mission Impossible movie, Rogue Nation.
His movies have grows three point four billion dollars worldwide.
Last year he made thirteen million dollars yes, six point
one million followers on Instagram and his next movie coming
out hopefully this year is Top Gun, Maverick and Mission
Impossible seven. He's also working on an untitled movie that
(18:12):
is being shot partly in space. And if you listen
to this podcast for any amount of time, you may
have heard that I'm not the biggest fan of his movies.
I would lean more towards his dramas. I think rain
Man is probably my favorite Tom Cruise movie. I'm excited
to see the new Top Gun movie just because visually
it looks amazing, and also it's just been a movie
(18:33):
that's been teased for a couple of years now that
I just need to see it at this point. But
the part I can respect about Tom Cruise is his
dedication and love for making a big movie, and also
his passion for having his work be displayed on a
big screen, the old school, classic way. I can get
behind that message, and I think that's why these movies
(18:54):
have been delayed for so long, because at the end
of the day, he wants his work to be seen
by the most amount of people as possible. And I
also love the dedication to his work, even though it
seems crazy as times. He's been an actor who really
embraces doing his own stunts, doing things that no other
people have done before, like shooting the movie in space,
(19:17):
flying fighter jets, and sometimes even injuring himself in the process.
And when I racked up the votes on what everybody
said on Twitter and Instagram, he was clearly at the
top of a lot of people's list as well. And also,
like Tom Hanks, he's been starring and putting out iconic
movies since the eighties, and he'll be sixty years old
(19:38):
later this year and really has no sights in slowing down.
So even though I'm not the biggest fan, I can
recognize a movie star when I see one. So at
number three, we're going with Tom Cruise. Now we're at
the top two, and these two actors, we're easily the
one everybody said online it was either this actor or
(19:58):
this actor, so I had to outweigh them accordingly. Both
of these actors. I feel like I've said on different
occasions that I've seen them in so many movies in
the last few years that I'm almost getting tired of them.
But that's also coming from me who watches every big
new movie that comes out, So maybe I'm the only
(20:19):
one feeling that fatigue. But it seems like anytime you
put a slate of new movies coming out in a year,
they're probably in a couple of them. And at number two,
I'm going with Ryan Reynolds. I feel like his signature
role is Deadpool because it feels like he puts so
much of himself in that character. His last five movies
include The Adam Project, which I'll review later, Red Notice,
(20:42):
Free Guy, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, and six Underground, which
is another Netflix movie. Last year, he made twenty million dollars.
His movies have grows three point one billion dollars worldwide.
He has forty one point eight million followers on Instagram,
and his neck movie is a Christmas movie with Will
(21:03):
Ferrell called Spirited, and I think after that he's not
doing any movies for a while, and I really like
Ryan Reynolds. He's a funny, charismatic, good looking guy who
is an easy choice for a leading man. And I
think at any point to where your biggest criticism of
an actor is there in too many movies, that is
a pretty good indication of how big of a movie
(21:25):
star they actually are. He's just an actor person that
everybody loves, also does so much to give back, so
above just being a movie star, He's also seems like
a pretty good guy. I'll get into more how I
feel his evolution has come as an actor when I
review a new movie called The Adam Project. So at
number two we're going with Ryan Reynolds, and at number
(21:46):
one you probably guessed it by now. It is Dwayne
the Rock Johnson, who even more so than Ryan Reynolds,
is literally and everything right now. Although I don't really
think he has a signature role yet in the amount
of mollies he's done, I still don't feel like there's
one I associate with the Rock. I just really know
(22:07):
him as being one of the most famous people in
the world right now, and he's just in every single
movie that comes out. Maybe it's Hobbs from Fast and
the Furious. Maybe it's Maui and Majana, or maybe he
hasn't even done it yet. It could be Black Adam
when it comes out later this year. But his last
five movies include Red Notice, which he also started with
(22:30):
Ryan Reynolds, Jumanji, The Next Level, Hobbs, and Shaw, Skyscraper.
I did like his disaster movie Phase there for a minute.
Between that and Rampage. Last year alone, he made fifty
million dollars. He has three hundred and three million followers
on Instagram. His movies have gross three point five billion
(22:50):
dollars at the pox office. His next movie coming out
is an animated DC movie called League of Pets, and
then later this year he'll be in Black Adam and
Kind Along the same lines of Will Smith. He has
also really used social media to his advantage to really
take his level of movie stardom to a whole another level.
(23:11):
And the thing about the Rock is he has those
three and three million followers, So when he is working
on a project, you know he is working on a
project because he is posting about it as he's filming
and promoting it as he goes along. He really does
a great job at her promoting every single thing he's
a part in and making it seem like the biggest
thing in the world, from a tequila brand to his
(23:32):
energy drink to his under armour line, but really kind
of ramps it up promoting all of his movies. I
don't think I would be as excited for Black Adam
coming out this year if it wasn't for him kind
of documenting some of that process. But I think right
now he is the quintessential movie star. And it's crazy
(23:53):
because I remember him mostly from back in the day.
I was such a fan of wrestling, and I remember
the first time he took on a movie role and
was stepping outside of wrestling. That was a whole new thing,
and he really kind of created that path of being
able to take somebody coming from a profession like that too,
(24:13):
becoming the biggest movie star. And a lot of that
was through making a lot of bad movies. If you
look early in his career, he really didn't have a
hit until really like within the last ten years. But
we kind of forget about all that early on stuff,
and I feel like he has kind of created that
past for other wrestlers turn actors like John Cena, Brock, Lesner, Batista.
(24:36):
But the Rock is so famous in such a big
movie star that I think, out of everybody on this list,
he's maybe the only one that my mom could name
and identify. You could go up to anybody on the
street and they will instantly know who The Rock is
and have seen him in at least one movie. So
I think for all those reasons and more is why
(24:58):
I put The Rock at number or one. I will
do some honorable mentions now, because I know if you've
listened to this entire list, you're like, well, what about
this actor? And the ones I felt that were really
close to making the list, where Ben Affleck, who was
in a really good spot of his career right now,
Mark Wahlberg, who is consistently putting out decent movies. I
(25:19):
would say I did hear an interesting thing he said
the other day. He said, not only is it just
so hard to get a movie made, it's even harder
to make a good movie. And I feel like his
career reflects that. Also close to making the top ten,
where Michael B. Jordan's who was still on the rise
of his career, Denzel Washington, who also made forty million
(25:39):
dollars last year. Daniel Craig, who was the highest paid
actor last year and making a hundred million dollars, Gal
Gado who has that also a really strong last few years.
Jennifer Lawrence, Adam Sandler maybe if I would have been
making this list ten fifteen years ago would have made
a list. And then Brad Pitt, who I just felt
his most recent audio of work really wasn't there. So
(26:02):
that's my list. If there's another actor you think deserve
to make the top ten, you can always send me
an email movie Mike d at gmail dot com or
hit me up on Twitter and Instagram at Mike destro.
Let's get into it now. A spoiler free review of
The Adam Project starring Ryan Reynolds, which is streaming now
(26:23):
on Netflix. Where Ryan Reynolds plays a time traveling fighter
pilot named Adam and he asked to team up with
this twelve year old self on a mission to save
the future. Sounds great, doesn't it. Before I get into
my review of The Adam Project, here's just a little
bit of the trailer. Do you remember this? I mean,
if this is happening to me, it already happened to you,
(26:45):
right unless it works like a multiverse where each revels
and multi verse. My god, we watching you many movies? Soft?
Is it really? Badly? It's not great? Find con get
ready to run. So I have to say it's been
(27:08):
a while since I've watched a movie that made me
feel like a kid again in a way that's different
than any superhero movie or anything like that I've seen recently.
This movie really has some kind of nostalgic vibes. And
while I was watching this movie, it made me kind
of think of there is some kid out there, maybe five, six, seven,
(27:31):
ten years old, who was watching this movie, and in
fifteen twenty years when they have a movie podcast like
I do, this will be a movie they will be
talking about that changed their life as a kid, in
a movie that will probably stay with them for a
very long time. And why I think that is because
this movie incorporates sci fi with the time traveling. It
(27:52):
has the action, but it also has this emotional attachment
that brings them all together. So it reminded me of
watching movies like e t for the first time, movies
like The Goonies, or even like Back to the Future,
all of these quintessential movies that us as movie fans
just have to watch. They're just part of the DNA
(28:12):
that go into making up all your tasted movies, and
I feel like The Adam Project is that new added
movie into that category. So, like I said, this movie
is about Ryan reynolds character is this fighter pilot named Adam.
Crash lands into two coming from the future, and he
lands right outside of his old house. He's injured, needs
(28:36):
to find a way to get back into his ship
and back continuing on to his mission, and that's where
he meets his twelve year old self, who is young
Adam in the movie, played by a new actor named
Walker Scobell, and they have to team up together. He
has to convince him to come with them further into
the past. You also have Jennifer Gardner and Mark Ruffalo
(28:58):
in this movie, which I felt was a cool re
union from thirteen going on thirty. I thought it was
cool seeing Mark Ruffalo and Ryan Reynolds together because they
are both separate in the Marvel universe, Ryan Reynolds being
Deadpool and Mark Ruffalo being the Hulk. Somehow, this is
the first movie they've ever done together, and I just
felt like this movie had all the best elements of
(29:18):
a big Hollywood movie, and it kind of just gives
you that feeling again of watching something fun but done
right to where both kids and adults will enjoy this movie.
And I think it's probably one of the best movies
I've seen in the last three years. And I think
a big part of that is obviously because of Ryan
Reynolds and how I was talking about earlier is I've
(29:40):
kind of felt like he's been playing the same character
over and over, which is a character he does well,
which is a lot of you know himself, But I
feel like in this movie there was a little bit
of that, but it was kind of him showing a
little bit of an evolution in his journey as an actor.
He was kind of known very early in the beginning
of doing all the these comedies. Has now stepped more
(30:02):
into the action and Marvel movies, but I feel like
this is a step further into where this movie also
has a pretty big emotional side to it, and he
has a pretty three D character in this to where
it's not just the funny guy with the one liners
and the pop culture references. There's some actual substance here.
There's a love story here, there's an emotional connection with
(30:25):
him and his younger self, and taken get a step
further with him and his relationship with Mark Ruffalo, who
plays his dad, and Jennifer Gardner, who plays his mom.
I just saw a lot more in Ryan Reynolds that
I had really ever seen before in the movie. And
not that it's a super serious, dark, emotional movie. It's
still a very grounded and fun movie at the core
of it. But it was nice to see that element
(30:47):
here that I really wasn't expecting. I thought it was
gonna be just a straight on sci fi movie. So
I think it does a lot of things well. It
has the drama, The sci fi is really great in this,
the action is great, and then the comedy is just
at the bottom of all that. It's not at the forefront.
It's like the warm fuzz and the glue that kind
of holds it all together. But yeah, I just felt
(31:07):
like this is one of the best things you can
watch on Netflix right now, and I am surprised that
a movie of this scale is rolling out straight to Netflix.
And it's kind of even blending it further now that
to make a big movie like this, you don't have
to put it out in theaters, and I love that.
I think for the first time, I'm really starting to
see how certain movies can just benefit more from having
(31:29):
a Netflix release, and as long as a lot of
people are there watching them, it really has no difference.
I think for the longest times it just felt like, Oh,
only the movies with less production or the movies with
you know, lesser known actors are going to Netflix, therefore
they're not as good a movies. But I feel Netflix
has really made it a point to get some A
(31:49):
list actors, and you also have a new talent here
with Walker Scobell, who plays young Adam in the movie.
He's only thirteen years old. And when I found interesting
about him is he learned to play a younger version
of Ryan Reynold by watching Deadpool, like he was such
a big fan of that movie. Kind of learned how
Ryan Reynolds speaks, his mannerisms and what a younger version
(32:13):
of him would look like, and did it in this
movie and did it really well. So overall I thought
this is a really strong movie for Ryan Reynolds and
a step in the right direction for him. I would
give The Adam Project four out of five spaceships. I
think it's a must watch right now on Netflix. Now
(32:35):
it's time for the part of the podcast where I
break down a movie trailer of the film coming to
you very soon in theaters or streaming online, in a
segment called It's time to head down to Movie miaul
And this week, I want to talk about a movie
coming out on Hulu this Friday. It's stars Ben Affleck
and Anna the Ottomas, called deep Water. It's a thriller romance.
(33:00):
I really don't know exactly what to call this movie.
So many things going on in the trailer, and here's
just a little bit of that. Why is mom so
the frill around other people's I think you love me?
Of course you're not born. Do you think whatever beach
(33:21):
is happy? I hope so so. I hope that gives
you a little bit of sense of what this movie
is about. It is described as a thriller slash erotic thriller.
The movie is about Ben Affleck and under the unmask character.
They are a married couple and he allows her to
(33:42):
have affairs with other guys in hopes of saving their marriage,
and the whole thing takes a twisted turn when all
these people around them start showing up dead, So it's
safe to say it looks like things get pretty messy here.
Interesting thing about this movie and another reason I'm kind
of excited to see this, And it's actually been delayed
(34:02):
for a while now and then was supposed to come
out in theaters back in January, but now it is
seeing the light of day on Hulu this Friday. And
this is the movie that Ben Affleck and Ana Ottamus
met filming back in they sparked dating rumors while they
were making this movie. They sparked dating rumors while they
were making this movie, and then officially came out as
(34:23):
a couple as a result of this, and then they
split in early one, and Ben Affleck went on to
date his former x fiance, Jennifer Lopez. So I feel
like this is a movie that neither of them want
to promote right now because of their past, and I
really haven't seen any promotion. I don't know if it's
for that exact same reason, but I imagine it would
(34:46):
be hard to promote a movie like this with the
subject matter being as steamy and scandalous as it is
to go out and talk about it with your ex.
But this movie also stars Jacob Lordy, who you may
know from Euphoria, and I feel like he is really
an up and coming movie star now. And I'll admit
I really didn't take him that serious as an actor
(35:08):
when I saw him and all the Kissing Booth movies,
But after watching him in Euphoria and saw how much
of a good actor he actually is. Not just being
at all charming good looking dude, he can actually really act.
So I've seen his comedic side in movies, I've seen
his more dramatic side on Euphoria, So now I kind
of want to see how all of that translates into
(35:31):
the big screen. So this is definitely a movie I
want to watch this weekend. If you're into psychological thrillers
or erotic thrillers as they put it, I think this
one looks pretty good. Again. It comes out this Friday,
March eight on Hulu if you want to stream that.
This breaks aedition of movie laws and that is going
(35:52):
to do it for another episode of the podcast here,
And this is the time on every single episode where
I give my listeners shout out out. It's just my
appreciation to you for listening every single week. Being a
part of the movie crew. How do you get a
shout out. The easiest way to get a shout out, though,
is tag me on your Instagram story, whether it be
a picture of your dashboard, a screenshot of my heart
(36:14):
radio app or Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen. I'll
repost those and then give you a shout out on
the next week's episode. And this week I am shouting
out Andrea South who did that. She posted a picture
of her car dashboard listening to last week's ranking of
every single Batman movie and wrote, sometimes I have to
agree to disagree with this man, but I am still
(36:35):
part of the Monday Morning crew nonetheless. And that's what
I always say. You don't have to agree with all
of my movie opinions, and a matter of the fact,
you just won't. And that's the great thing about movies.
We can come on here and debate them and discuss
them online. We can both watch the same movie and
have very different opinions, but the conversation it opens up
is what makes it fun and that's why I do
(36:56):
this podcast. So appreciate you Andrea for that tag in
your Instagram story. Thanks everybody for listening to this week's episode.
Coming out later this week on Thursday will be the
spoiler episode of The Batman my full review with all
the details, every single plot point. I'll get into that
later this week, so we've had a chance to watch
(37:17):
it now and want to hear that spoiler field review
that will be available here on the feed later this week.
Hope you have a great rest of your week. I'll
talk to you next time, and until then, go out
and watch good movies. Later
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike A k A Mike D.
And today I want to answer the question who is
the biggest movie star in the world right now. I
put together my list, ask you guys online crunch some numbers,
so I'll let you know who I think are in
the top ten as of this year. Speaking to movie stars.
(00:20):
In the movie review, we'll talk about a new movie
from Ryan Reynolds called The Adam Project, which is out
on Netflix. And keep that movie star theme alive because
in the trailer park we're talking about a new movie
with Ben Affleck and out of the Autemus coming out
on Hulu called deep Water. Appreciate you being subscribed and
listening to the podcast. Special shout out to the Monday
Movie crew who listens every single Monday. You guys already
(00:42):
know what it is. It's Monday. Let's talk movies. In
a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,
one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like
never before in a movie podcast, A man with so
much movie knowledge. He's basically like a walking Audi je
who It's classes from the Nationale Podcast Network movie podcast.
(01:09):
We're about to take a look at all the biggest
actors across the land and to find who is the
biggest movie star out there right now. I still think
there is such great power and being a movie star
in a world where there's so many avenues of entertainment,
with TV shows, with TikTok stars, with YouTubers. I still
think there's such a big lasting power with a movie star,
(01:32):
and I think they're able to enter our lives in
a way that kind of makes you feel like a
kid again. Thinking of a big Hollywood actor, it just
feels like something unattainable. Really, what a movie star is
is an actor who is incredibly marketable because they can
sell tickets with their name alone. These are all people
that because their name is at the top as the
(01:53):
leading role, a majority of people would just go see
it based on already knowing their body of work, being
a fan of that person, and just instantly knowing that
if you go into watching a movie by one of
these actors, you're probably in for a pretty good time.
So their faces are recognizable on screen, they have some
really great chemistry with their co stars overall just have
a charming presence to them. Which I think is what
(02:15):
is more important to a movie star than a TV star.
I feel like movie stars are so focused on the
characters to create and the stories they're able to tell,
and I feel like us as viewers, we feel like
we get to know them through their characters, to the
point that we actually think that they are their characters,
because sometimes we don't really know a whole lot about
(02:38):
what these people are like behind closed doors, so we
just kind of know them for what they do and
how they act, and the characters they are, we think
they are that person. But what does it take to
be a movie star? You need some talent, You need
a lot of perseverance. A lot of the actors on
this list have been doing this for a very long time,
so they've been able to put in the hard work.
You need something kind of extraordinary about you, whether it
(03:00):
be a look, the way you take on a role,
just your overall on screen presence, and then you really
need a lot of good luck. And one of the
best quotes I saw that defines what an actor is
and how it's different from being a movie star. The
quote goes, an actor is someone who pretends to be
somebody else. A movie star is somebody who pretends that
(03:23):
that somebody else is them, And I think that tells
it perfectly. When you see a movie star, they are
able to live inside that role sometimes through method act
and do all these things to prepare themselves to fully
be that person and take that role on is a
whole another level then just oh, I'm going on screen
(03:43):
and pretending. And I feel like that kind of talent
is what defines a movie star. So with all that said,
I want to get into this list and for each actor,
I want to talk about what I think their signature
role is their last five movies, to kind of put
a time frame on what they've done recently, how much
their movies have grossed overall, like every single movie their
(04:05):
total combined gross at the box office, what they made
in the last year, how many Instagram followers, and then
the project they have coming out next. Because we're not
talking all time movie stars here just right now. If
you're gonna pull the biggest ten movie stars, who would
they be? That's what this list is. So let's get
in at number ten. I went with Scarlett Johnson, who
(04:27):
I would arguably say that her signature role as Black Widow.
She's done so many movies though, and when I was
talking about range and versatility, like, she has one of
the biggest ranges that of everybody on this list. She
can do dramas, she can do sci fi with her
role as Black Widow that's taking on superhero action movies.
She can do romantic comedies. She can really do it
(04:49):
all and does it all so well. Her last five
movies include Seeing to Black Widow, Jojo Rabbit Marriage Story,
and Avengers The End Game, which is a pretty big
just right there, that's an animated movie, two superhero movies,
and then two Oscar nominated movies. And overall, Scarlett Johansen
(05:09):
her movies have grossed twelve point nine billion dollars. She's
been in so many movies. She's been an actor since
she was a kid, and just last year alone she
made fifty six million dollars. The interesting thing about Scarlett
Johansson and some of the other people on this list,
she has no social media, no Instagram, no Twitter. Maybe
she has secret accounts that she keeps in touch with
(05:31):
friends and family on their Her private life is extremely private.
We get details here and there when she gets married,
when she has kids. She's married to Colin Joast was
married to Ryan Reynolds before him, But all the other
details of her private life, of her day to day life,
we don't really get a glimpse into that. Her next
movie coming out is a movie called Asteroid City, which
(05:52):
is set to release later this year. It's a movie
with Tom Hanks. She is somebody I will always associate
with being an amazing actress. I feel like everybody he
has at least one movie that they love from her.
My favorite one is actually probably one of her most
underrated roles, but she was the voice in her So
at number ten, I'm going with Scarlett Johansson. At number nine,
(06:13):
I'm gonna put Tom Holland, who his signature role would
easily be Spider Man. His last five movies were Uncharted,
Spider Man, No Way Home, Cherry, Chaos Walking, which was
a bit of a flop, and then The Devil All
the Time. In those five movies, I feel like, as
a young of an actor as he is, he's really
already started to show his range from Uncharted being a
(06:36):
leading action star. Of course, everybody loves him as Spider Man.
I think he's really taking that role, refreshed it and
made it what it needs to be right now, and
then you have movies like Devil all the Time and
Cherry which show more of a serious side, more of
just his raw talent. But I think he really has
that versatility, and it's all a matter of the movies
(06:56):
he takes on next after he has done being Spider Man,
and I think he has done a pretty good job
at people not just associating him with that role. I
think with Toby McGuire back in the two thousand's it
was harder for him to get out of that role
and do other movies because those movies were so massive.
But I think with Tom Holland now that he has
(07:18):
done these other projects early on, I think he's been
able to show that he's not just Peter Parker, and
I feel like we will be able to take him
seriously when he is done playing that role. But his
movies have already grown six point two billion dollars, which
it also helps that he's been in a good amount
of the Avengers movies. Last year he made ten million dollars,
(07:40):
which it never fully came out how much he made
for No Way Home, so that's an estimated what he
made last year. I would argue it's probably more than that.
He has sixty four points three million followers on Instagram
and has currently no next movie announced, And I think
I would have rated Tom Holland higher on this list
right now. But when I asked the question on Twitter
(08:01):
and Facebook, I was surprised to see a lot of
people said they had to google who Tom Holland was
to recognize him. So maybe to me he's fully established,
but to other people still a fairly new name. I
think after you google him and see his picture, you
instantly connect him with the movies he's been in. But
just because I did see that from a certain amount
(08:22):
of people, had to rank him a little bit lower,
so I put him at number nine, Tom Holland at
number eight. I'm going with Sandra Bullock. It's harder to
pick a signature role for Sandra Bullock because she has
been in movies for so long. I tend to associate
her with the Mom on the blind Side. I think
that was such a career defining role for Sandra Bullock
(08:43):
that that's where mind mind goes. It's either The blind
Side or Miss Congeniality for me. But her last five
movies include The Unforgivable, Bird Box, Oceans eight. Our brand
is crisis and Gravity. Her movies have grows four point
eight billion dollars at the box office world wide. Just
last year alone, she made twenty million dollars. And she's
(09:03):
another actor who does not have any social media. No
Instagram followers, no Twitter followers. She's completely out of that.
I think she said at one point she will never
take a selfie in her life. And her next movie
coming out is called The Lost City. Why I decided
to put Sandra Bullock at number eight. I love her work.
I think I've loved pretty much every single movie I've
seen Sandra Bullock in. Even her worst movies are still
(09:26):
better than most. And I think it's because she is
Sandra Bullock that I always give her the benefit of
the doubt. And I just love how much of a
rain she has. She's able to do very serious roles.
She's able to do action roles. I mean, Back in
the Day's Speed was one of my favorite movies, but
she also does drama so well. Just from the blind Side.
Her last movie on Netflix, The Unforgivable, I felt was
(09:49):
a silent hit, and then she was in one of
the biggest Netflix movies of all time really kind of
defined and really started to make those movies a thing.
With bird Box, I feel like her name alone is
an instant draw to movie theaters, and she is an
actor who fully embraced the online method of putting out
movies without hesitation, has had such a long career and
(10:12):
is still as relevant as ever putting out great movies.
So at number eight, I'm going with Sandra Bullock at
number seven because he is super hot right now. Everybody's
talking about him, has really elevated himself in the last
four to five years, and it is Robert Pattinson who
is signature role is Edward Cullen from Twilight, and I
(10:33):
think that's what everybody knows him has because those movies
were so big, and now it's weird that people will
still bring that role up when he is playing The Batman,
But that just shows you how one character can stay
with you throughout your entire career, even when you do
a bunch of other great movies in between. I think
now after The Batman, hopefully people will recognize how much
(10:55):
she's evolved since then. But his last five movies include Yes,
The Batman, The Devil, All the Time Tenant waiting for
the Barbarians the King, and I threw an honorable mention
since I have been talking about Batman so long The Lighthouse.
His movies have grows three point eight billion dollars worldwide.
Last year alone, he made three million dollars, and that's
a pretty low rate for him to play the Batman.
(11:18):
And yet another actor who does not have any social media.
He has zero Insto the grand followers. There is like
a Robert Pattinson fan account that has almost a million followers,
but if you follow that one, that is not him,
and he also has no next movie announced. I feel
like Robert Pattinson is highly underrated. I was never the
biggest fan of Twilight when it came out. I watched
(11:39):
the first one in theaters and actually thought it was
a pretty good movie. But I guess since I didn't
really follow along in his journey through those movies, I
never really associated him directly with that character. I think
it was, you know, recently in his career, when he
was doing movies like Good Time in the Lighthouse. I
myself really started to love his movies and started to
watch every single thing he came out with, and when
(12:00):
it was announced that he was going to be the Batman.
I was really excited about it, unlike maybe some other people.
But I think that role has highly elevated where he stands,
and if it weren't for that role, he may have
not have even made this list. But I think now
without a doubt, he's fully established his name. Everybody knows
who he is, and everybody has an opinion on him.
(12:21):
And that's important too, because if someone's going to criticize
a role you decide to take on, that means you're
doing something right. You're such a compelling actor that people
question whether or not you can take this role on.
And then he does those roles, completely nails them and
can just show it to all his haters. So at
number seven, I'm going with Robert Pattinson at number six.
(12:43):
He's been one of everybody's favorite actors for a very
long time now. Another person who has been acting since
they were a kid. It is Leonardo DiCaprio. Again, so
many iconic roles, but I think his signature one, if
I had to say just one, it would be Jack
from Titanic, has last five movies and dud don't look up.
Once upon a time in Hollywood, The Revenant, Wolf of
(13:04):
wall Street, and The Great Gatsby, and there's a pretty
big time difference in some of those movies. I think
now he's kind of back on doing the one movie
a year. He kind of went away silently without anybody
knowing after he won his Oscar and then is really
back now trying different roles. And I think hasn't even
reached the height of his career yet. He's almost had
(13:25):
these different little apexes of his career in the nineties
and the two thousand's and now he's having this whole
different one now in the twenties. But overall, his films
have grows six point six billion dollars worldwide. Last year alone,
he made thirty million dollars. He has fifty two point
six million followers on Instagram, and his next movie coming
(13:45):
out this year is a Martin Scorsese movie called Killers
of the Flower Moon, which looks awesome. He's also doing
a movie that's coming down in a couple of years
where he's playing Theodore Roosevelt. So I think he's being
very particular on what projects he takes on. Now. It's
kind of surprised to see him and don't look up,
but after that movie came out, made a little bit
more sense why he did that kind of role. But
(14:06):
he's been one of my favorite actors for a very
long time now, and he's in that category of somebody
I will watch no matter what they are in, and
not only that, I'll watch whatever they're in and I'll
probably love it. So at number six, going with Leonardo
DiCaprio getting into the top five. Now at number five
going with Tom Hanks. His signature role is without a
(14:30):
doubt for his Gump like that is just his quintessential
iconic role from Tom Hanks. His last five movies, three
of them being Apple TV plus exclusives with Finch, News
of the World, Greyhound, and then before that he did
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood where he portrayed Mr Rogers,
and then Toy Story four, which he returned as Woody
(14:53):
in the final Toy Story film. His movies have gross
nine point one billion dollars world. Last year alone he
brought in fifty million dollars. I think a lot of
that is from those Apple movies. And he has nine
point three million followers on Instagram and his next movie
coming out very soon is Elvis, where he plays Elvis's manager.
(15:15):
And I think for the longest time, Tom Hanks was
the movie star. I mean, he's been the movie star
since the eighties. He is so charming, so charismatic on screen,
and he's somebody who we love all the characters he
does to where he already seems like he's a good
guy in person, but you greatly see that come out
(15:36):
through his characters and through his acting, and not only
one of the most recognizable faces on screen, but his
voice alone, as being the voice on Toy Story. He
can really do it all. So at number five I
went with Tom Hanks, and just above him at number
four I went with Will Smith, who I feel like
just has a few more iconic roles than Tom Hanks somehow,
(15:58):
even though I think his most iconic role is actually
a TV role we all associate with him, being the
Fresh Prince. The first real role I associated with him, though,
was j Freman in Black. His last five movies include
King Richard, Bad Boys for Life, Gemini Man, which was
a bit of a flop, Aladdin, and Bright. His movies
have gross six point five billion dollars worldwide. Last year,
(16:21):
he made forty million dollars. He has fifty nine points
three million Instagram followers, and his next movie is called Emancipation,
coming on Apple TV Plus. And why I think he
ranks above Tom Hanks is because right now Will Smith
is fully embracing social media. And you may say, well,
this is a list of movie stars, why would that
(16:42):
come into effect. I think he has been able to
create such a presence online. He has found a way
to connect with fans unlike some of the other members
on this list, and through that connection, he's able to
tie it back into promoting his movies and looking at
the most recent body of work and his versus Tom Hanks.
Right now, he's really coming off that buzz of having
(17:05):
an Oscar worthy performance in King Richard. Before that, he
was bringing back one of his most beloved franchises, Bad
Boys for Life, took on a very big live action
Disney adaptation and did a really good job in it.
So I think he has this huge personality that he's
able to expand the brand even more online a full
(17:27):
out global superstar, and I think right now he is
just a bigger actor than Tom Hanks. So number four
I feel good about Will Smith. At number three on
the list, I went with Tom Cruise his signature role,
I would say Maverick and Top Gun. His last five
movies include Mission Impossible, Fallout, American Made The Mummy, Jack Reacher,
(17:49):
Never Go Back, and then another Mission Impossible movie, Rogue Nation.
His movies have grows three point four billion dollars worldwide.
Last year he made thirteen million dollars yes, six point
one million followers on Instagram and his next movie coming
out hopefully this year is Top Gun, Maverick and Mission
Impossible seven. He's also working on an untitled movie that
(18:12):
is being shot partly in space. And if you listen
to this podcast for any amount of time, you may
have heard that I'm not the biggest fan of his movies.
I would lean more towards his dramas. I think rain
Man is probably my favorite Tom Cruise movie. I'm excited
to see the new Top Gun movie just because visually
it looks amazing, and also it's just been a movie
(18:33):
that's been teased for a couple of years now that
I just need to see it at this point. But
the part I can respect about Tom Cruise is his
dedication and love for making a big movie, and also
his passion for having his work be displayed on a
big screen, the old school, classic way. I can get
behind that message, and I think that's why these movies
(18:54):
have been delayed for so long, because at the end
of the day, he wants his work to be seen
by the most amount of people as possible. And I
also love the dedication to his work, even though it
seems crazy as times. He's been an actor who really
embraces doing his own stunts, doing things that no other
people have done before, like shooting the movie in space,
(19:17):
flying fighter jets, and sometimes even injuring himself in the process.
And when I racked up the votes on what everybody
said on Twitter and Instagram, he was clearly at the
top of a lot of people's list as well. And also,
like Tom Hanks, he's been starring and putting out iconic
movies since the eighties, and he'll be sixty years old
(19:38):
later this year and really has no sights in slowing down.
So even though I'm not the biggest fan, I can
recognize a movie star when I see one. So at
number three, we're going with Tom Cruise. Now we're at
the top two, and these two actors, we're easily the
one everybody said online it was either this actor or
(19:58):
this actor, so I had to outweigh them accordingly. Both
of these actors. I feel like I've said on different
occasions that I've seen them in so many movies in
the last few years that I'm almost getting tired of them.
But that's also coming from me who watches every big
new movie that comes out, So maybe I'm the only
(20:19):
one feeling that fatigue. But it seems like anytime you
put a slate of new movies coming out in a year,
they're probably in a couple of them. And at number two,
I'm going with Ryan Reynolds. I feel like his signature
role is Deadpool because it feels like he puts so
much of himself in that character. His last five movies
include The Adam Project, which I'll review later, Red Notice,
(20:42):
Free Guy, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, and six Underground, which
is another Netflix movie. Last year, he made twenty million dollars.
His movies have grows three point one billion dollars worldwide.
He has forty one point eight million followers on Instagram,
and his neck movie is a Christmas movie with Will
(21:03):
Ferrell called Spirited, and I think after that he's not
doing any movies for a while, and I really like
Ryan Reynolds. He's a funny, charismatic, good looking guy who
is an easy choice for a leading man. And I
think at any point to where your biggest criticism of
an actor is there in too many movies, that is
a pretty good indication of how big of a movie
(21:25):
star they actually are. He's just an actor person that
everybody loves, also does so much to give back, so
above just being a movie star, He's also seems like
a pretty good guy. I'll get into more how I
feel his evolution has come as an actor when I
review a new movie called The Adam Project. So at
number two we're going with Ryan Reynolds, and at number
(21:46):
one you probably guessed it by now. It is Dwayne
the Rock Johnson, who even more so than Ryan Reynolds,
is literally and everything right now. Although I don't really
think he has a signature role yet in the amount
of mollies he's done, I still don't feel like there's
one I associate with the Rock. I just really know
(22:07):
him as being one of the most famous people in
the world right now, and he's just in every single
movie that comes out. Maybe it's Hobbs from Fast and
the Furious. Maybe it's Maui and Majana, or maybe he
hasn't even done it yet. It could be Black Adam
when it comes out later this year. But his last
five movies include Red Notice, which he also started with
(22:30):
Ryan Reynolds, Jumanji, The Next Level, Hobbs, and Shaw, Skyscraper.
I did like his disaster movie Phase there for a minute.
Between that and Rampage. Last year alone, he made fifty
million dollars. He has three hundred and three million followers
on Instagram. His movies have gross three point five billion
(22:50):
dollars at the pox office. His next movie coming out
is an animated DC movie called League of Pets, and
then later this year he'll be in Black Adam and
Kind Along the same lines of Will Smith. He has
also really used social media to his advantage to really
take his level of movie stardom to a whole another level.
(23:11):
And the thing about the Rock is he has those
three and three million followers, So when he is working
on a project, you know he is working on a
project because he is posting about it as he's filming
and promoting it as he goes along. He really does
a great job at her promoting every single thing he's
a part in and making it seem like the biggest
thing in the world, from a tequila brand to his
(23:32):
energy drink to his under armour line, but really kind
of ramps it up promoting all of his movies. I
don't think I would be as excited for Black Adam
coming out this year if it wasn't for him kind
of documenting some of that process. But I think right
now he is the quintessential movie star. And it's crazy
(23:53):
because I remember him mostly from back in the day.
I was such a fan of wrestling, and I remember
the first time he took on a movie role and
was stepping outside of wrestling. That was a whole new thing,
and he really kind of created that path of being
able to take somebody coming from a profession like that too,
(24:13):
becoming the biggest movie star. And a lot of that
was through making a lot of bad movies. If you
look early in his career, he really didn't have a
hit until really like within the last ten years. But
we kind of forget about all that early on stuff,
and I feel like he has kind of created that
past for other wrestlers turn actors like John Cena, Brock, Lesner, Batista.
(24:36):
But the Rock is so famous in such a big
movie star that I think, out of everybody on this list,
he's maybe the only one that my mom could name
and identify. You could go up to anybody on the
street and they will instantly know who The Rock is
and have seen him in at least one movie. So
I think for all those reasons and more is why
(24:58):
I put The Rock at number or one. I will
do some honorable mentions now, because I know if you've
listened to this entire list, you're like, well, what about
this actor? And the ones I felt that were really
close to making the list, where Ben Affleck, who was
in a really good spot of his career right now,
Mark Wahlberg, who is consistently putting out decent movies. I
(25:19):
would say I did hear an interesting thing he said
the other day. He said, not only is it just
so hard to get a movie made, it's even harder
to make a good movie. And I feel like his
career reflects that. Also close to making the top ten,
where Michael B. Jordan's who was still on the rise
of his career, Denzel Washington, who also made forty million
(25:39):
dollars last year. Daniel Craig, who was the highest paid
actor last year and making a hundred million dollars, Gal
Gado who has that also a really strong last few years.
Jennifer Lawrence, Adam Sandler maybe if I would have been
making this list ten fifteen years ago would have made
a list. And then Brad Pitt, who I just felt
his most recent audio of work really wasn't there. So
(26:02):
that's my list. If there's another actor you think deserve
to make the top ten, you can always send me
an email movie Mike d at gmail dot com or
hit me up on Twitter and Instagram at Mike destro.
Let's get into it now. A spoiler free review of
The Adam Project starring Ryan Reynolds, which is streaming now
(26:23):
on Netflix. Where Ryan Reynolds plays a time traveling fighter
pilot named Adam and he asked to team up with
this twelve year old self on a mission to save
the future. Sounds great, doesn't it. Before I get into
my review of The Adam Project, here's just a little
bit of the trailer. Do you remember this? I mean,
if this is happening to me, it already happened to you,
(26:45):
right unless it works like a multiverse where each revels
and multi verse. My god, we watching you many movies? Soft?
Is it really? Badly? It's not great? Find con get
ready to run. So I have to say it's been
(27:08):
a while since I've watched a movie that made me
feel like a kid again in a way that's different
than any superhero movie or anything like that I've seen recently.
This movie really has some kind of nostalgic vibes. And
while I was watching this movie, it made me kind
of think of there is some kid out there, maybe five, six, seven,
(27:31):
ten years old, who was watching this movie, and in
fifteen twenty years when they have a movie podcast like
I do, this will be a movie they will be
talking about that changed their life as a kid, in
a movie that will probably stay with them for a
very long time. And why I think that is because
this movie incorporates sci fi with the time traveling. It
(27:52):
has the action, but it also has this emotional attachment
that brings them all together. So it reminded me of
watching movies like e t for the first time, movies
like The Goonies, or even like Back to the Future,
all of these quintessential movies that us as movie fans
just have to watch. They're just part of the DNA
(28:12):
that go into making up all your tasted movies, and
I feel like The Adam Project is that new added
movie into that category. So, like I said, this movie
is about Ryan reynolds character is this fighter pilot named Adam.
Crash lands into two coming from the future, and he
lands right outside of his old house. He's injured, needs
(28:36):
to find a way to get back into his ship
and back continuing on to his mission, and that's where
he meets his twelve year old self, who is young
Adam in the movie, played by a new actor named
Walker Scobell, and they have to team up together. He
has to convince him to come with them further into
the past. You also have Jennifer Gardner and Mark Ruffalo
(28:58):
in this movie, which I felt was a cool re
union from thirteen going on thirty. I thought it was
cool seeing Mark Ruffalo and Ryan Reynolds together because they
are both separate in the Marvel universe, Ryan Reynolds being
Deadpool and Mark Ruffalo being the Hulk. Somehow, this is
the first movie they've ever done together, and I just
felt like this movie had all the best elements of
(29:18):
a big Hollywood movie, and it kind of just gives
you that feeling again of watching something fun but done
right to where both kids and adults will enjoy this movie.
And I think it's probably one of the best movies
I've seen in the last three years. And I think
a big part of that is obviously because of Ryan
Reynolds and how I was talking about earlier is I've
(29:40):
kind of felt like he's been playing the same character
over and over, which is a character he does well,
which is a lot of you know himself, But I
feel like in this movie there was a little bit
of that, but it was kind of him showing a
little bit of an evolution in his journey as an actor.
He was kind of known very early in the beginning
of doing all the these comedies. Has now stepped more
(30:02):
into the action and Marvel movies, but I feel like
this is a step further into where this movie also
has a pretty big emotional side to it, and he
has a pretty three D character in this to where
it's not just the funny guy with the one liners
and the pop culture references. There's some actual substance here.
There's a love story here, there's an emotional connection with
(30:25):
him and his younger self, and taken get a step
further with him and his relationship with Mark Ruffalo, who
plays his dad, and Jennifer Gardner, who plays his mom.
I just saw a lot more in Ryan Reynolds that
I had really ever seen before in the movie. And
not that it's a super serious, dark, emotional movie. It's
still a very grounded and fun movie at the core
of it. But it was nice to see that element
(30:47):
here that I really wasn't expecting. I thought it was
gonna be just a straight on sci fi movie. So
I think it does a lot of things well. It
has the drama, The sci fi is really great in this,
the action is great, and then the comedy is just
at the bottom of all that. It's not at the forefront.
It's like the warm fuzz and the glue that kind
of holds it all together. But yeah, I just felt
(31:07):
like this is one of the best things you can
watch on Netflix right now, and I am surprised that
a movie of this scale is rolling out straight to Netflix.
And it's kind of even blending it further now that
to make a big movie like this, you don't have
to put it out in theaters, and I love that.
I think for the first time, I'm really starting to
see how certain movies can just benefit more from having
(31:29):
a Netflix release, and as long as a lot of
people are there watching them, it really has no difference.
I think for the longest times it just felt like, Oh,
only the movies with less production or the movies with
you know, lesser known actors are going to Netflix, therefore
they're not as good a movies. But I feel Netflix
has really made it a point to get some A
(31:49):
list actors, and you also have a new talent here
with Walker Scobell, who plays young Adam in the movie.
He's only thirteen years old. And when I found interesting
about him is he learned to play a younger version
of Ryan Reynold by watching Deadpool, like he was such
a big fan of that movie. Kind of learned how
Ryan Reynolds speaks, his mannerisms and what a younger version
(32:13):
of him would look like, and did it in this
movie and did it really well. So overall I thought
this is a really strong movie for Ryan Reynolds and
a step in the right direction for him. I would
give The Adam Project four out of five spaceships. I
think it's a must watch right now on Netflix. Now
(32:35):
it's time for the part of the podcast where I
break down a movie trailer of the film coming to
you very soon in theaters or streaming online, in a
segment called It's time to head down to Movie miaul
And this week, I want to talk about a movie
coming out on Hulu this Friday. It's stars Ben Affleck
and Anna the Ottomas, called deep Water. It's a thriller romance.
(33:00):
I really don't know exactly what to call this movie.
So many things going on in the trailer, and here's
just a little bit of that. Why is mom so
the frill around other people's I think you love me?
Of course you're not born. Do you think whatever beach
(33:21):
is happy? I hope so so. I hope that gives
you a little bit of sense of what this movie
is about. It is described as a thriller slash erotic thriller.
The movie is about Ben Affleck and under the unmask character.
They are a married couple and he allows her to
(33:42):
have affairs with other guys in hopes of saving their marriage,
and the whole thing takes a twisted turn when all
these people around them start showing up dead, So it's
safe to say it looks like things get pretty messy here.
Interesting thing about this movie and another reason I'm kind
of excited to see this, And it's actually been delayed
(34:02):
for a while now and then was supposed to come
out in theaters back in January, but now it is
seeing the light of day on Hulu this Friday. And
this is the movie that Ben Affleck and Ana Ottamus
met filming back in they sparked dating rumors while they
were making this movie. They sparked dating rumors while they
were making this movie, and then officially came out as
(34:23):
a couple as a result of this, and then they
split in early one, and Ben Affleck went on to
date his former x fiance, Jennifer Lopez. So I feel
like this is a movie that neither of them want
to promote right now because of their past, and I
really haven't seen any promotion. I don't know if it's
for that exact same reason, but I imagine it would
(34:46):
be hard to promote a movie like this with the
subject matter being as steamy and scandalous as it is
to go out and talk about it with your ex.
But this movie also stars Jacob Lordy, who you may
know from Euphoria, and I feel like he is really
an up and coming movie star now. And I'll admit
I really didn't take him that serious as an actor
(35:08):
when I saw him and all the Kissing Booth movies,
But after watching him in Euphoria and saw how much
of a good actor he actually is. Not just being
at all charming good looking dude, he can actually really act.
So I've seen his comedic side in movies, I've seen
his more dramatic side on Euphoria, So now I kind
of want to see how all of that translates into
(35:31):
the big screen. So this is definitely a movie I
want to watch this weekend. If you're into psychological thrillers
or erotic thrillers as they put it, I think this
one looks pretty good. Again. It comes out this Friday,
March eight on Hulu if you want to stream that.
This breaks aedition of movie laws and that is going
(35:52):
to do it for another episode of the podcast here,
And this is the time on every single episode where
I give my listeners shout out out. It's just my
appreciation to you for listening every single week. Being a
part of the movie crew. How do you get a
shout out. The easiest way to get a shout out, though,
is tag me on your Instagram story, whether it be
a picture of your dashboard, a screenshot of my heart
(36:14):
radio app or Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen. I'll
repost those and then give you a shout out on
the next week's episode. And this week I am shouting
out Andrea South who did that. She posted a picture
of her car dashboard listening to last week's ranking of
every single Batman movie and wrote, sometimes I have to
agree to disagree with this man, but I am still
(36:35):
part of the Monday Morning crew nonetheless. And that's what
I always say. You don't have to agree with all
of my movie opinions, and a matter of the fact,
you just won't. And that's the great thing about movies.
We can come on here and debate them and discuss
them online. We can both watch the same movie and
have very different opinions, but the conversation it opens up
is what makes it fun and that's why I do
(36:56):
this podcast. So appreciate you Andrea for that tag in
your Instagram story. Thanks everybody for listening to this week's episode.
Coming out later this week on Thursday will be the
spoiler episode of The Batman my full review with all
the details, every single plot point. I'll get into that
later this week, so we've had a chance to watch
(37:17):
it now and want to hear that spoiler field review
that will be available here on the feed later this week.
Hope you have a great rest of your week. I'll
talk to you next time, and until then, go out
and watch good movies. Later
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