Denzel Washington is a Frontrunner

Hellooo Handsom - lose the hat!Denzel Washington is one of the top ten most prolific actors of my life time.  There is a select group of actors who when they are in a movie I am 100% going to see it. 

There used to be a time in my life when I would say that I would see these actor’s movies in the movie theater.  Kids have completely ruined that for me. 

Most of my movie watching is on a 10-12 month lag as I am subject to waiting for the movie to arrive On Demand or even having to wait for it to come on HBO.  Even that scenario has taken a huge hit considering I have to fit my adult television watching time in and around watching episodes of The Backyardigans and re-watching the movie Cars for the one-thousandth and eighty-first time.   That is a story for another day though. 

Back to what I was talking about:   Denzel Washington is in a select group.  He puts out a movie and it gives that movie INSTANT credibility. 

I put the following people in the same category (in no particular order): Will Ferrell (I know he has dropped some real shitty movies on the viewing public but he is still a funny dude), Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise (pre-going off the deep end), Leonardo DiCaprio (Leo!  He holds the key to my heart.), Robert DiNiro (pre getting old and picking crappy roles), Al Pachino (do he and Robert DiNiro have the same agent?),  Sean Connery (when he still did movies), Tom Green (Freddie Got Fingered, he-he, just joking), Mel Gibson (pre Jewish rant) and Denzel. 

I know there are another five other actor’s that could crack that list as well (Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman come to mind) and there are a few directors too (Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Todd Phillips, Frank Darabont, etc.) but the point is, Denzel is in an elite league when it comes to Hollywood. 

Does that give him a hall pass though?

I was listening to Mike and Mike in the morning yesterday and Denzel called in to promote his new movie coming out this weekend. 

He talked briefly about his new movie and how it touches on a true event that happened in Western Pennsylvania (which is kind of cool).  I am sure that Hollywood put its normal crazy ass spin on it and now the train is carrying nuclear weapons and is heading directly for a Children’s Hospital full of sick orphans but the concept seems pretty cool. 

Then the conversation turned to sports.  Mike Greenberg asked Denzel about Derek Jeter’s free agency status and Denzel went on a diatribe about how Derek needs to retire in pinstripes (which should happen).  Then Denzel informed the listening audience about how he is a HUGE Yankees fan.  He listed all of his favorite players, most of which were not the normal suspects.  (I think he named the Yankees bench coach from 1952 as one of his favorites) so obviously Denzel knows sports and most importantly takes pride in knowing his favorite baseball team – The Yankees. 

He was born in New York, which makes this selection justifiable. 

Then the discussion turned to basketball and The Miami Heat.  Denzel informed the listening audience that he was a diehard Lakers fan.  He discussed the offseason moves the Lakers made (Steve Blake and Matt Barnes, etc.) and how no one was talking about them because of the offseason splash the Heat made with LeBron, Wade and Bosh. 

Again, he shows he is knowledgeable about his favorite team.  There is no question about that.

Then at the very end of his segment on the show, Denzel drops this little nugget “How ‘bout them Cowboys?”  He was sarcastic of course.  He then informs the audience that he is a diehard Cowboys fan and that he will support them through thick and thin.

Cowgirl Quota officially used up WHAT? 

Let me get this straight.  Denzel was born in New York, loves the Yankees and even though the Knicks were created before he was born, he loves the Lakers.

On top of that:  The New York Football Giants have been around since – forever I think.  I just read an article about one of the latest translation of ancient hieroglyphics determining that the ancient Egyptians even followed the New York Giants.

Now Denzel is a Cowboys fan too? 

Dude, someone has to call him out on this.  This is a complete fraud.  There is no way you can like the Yankees, The Lakers and the Cowboys and get a free pass.

This is the biggest sporting blasphemy known to mankind.  You are supposed to follow the team of your origin. 

Let me guess Denzel – you favorite college basketball team is the Duke Blue Devils to.  He probably started to like the Lakers in the 80’s and the Cowboys after they won their first Super Bowl.  That is no way to live! 

Man, we may have to start looking to create a new list of prolific actors.  The majority of that list seems to be going completely batty!! 

I mean this was the same guy who started in He Got Game!!!

 

Comments

[Shieldmaiden1196]

I can't speak to the sports issue, but Denzel dropped half a point in my 'must see' list for the completely lame remake of 'The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3'. He's been in some fantastic roles in my lifetime but sadly in this case, he's no Walter Matthau. The whole cast was wasted in a weak script that discarded the best of the old film and replaced it with crappy two-dimensional villains on Red Bull and so many opportunities to call shenanigans I was just waiting for it to be over. But I'll probably see Unstoppable simply because it was filmed near where I live and rarely do you get to say, 'Hey! That's Emporium, PA!" because there's f- ck all up here.

[Siskel]

Denzil deserved an Oscar for Remember the Titans and Training Day. Hell of an actor but I also agree on the bandwagon....it's like Lebron rooting for the Yankees and all the cockroaches who love the Cowboys. Makes no freaking sense when you have no connection to the city or place.

[Vikki]

And Gene Hackman. If he's in it, I'm going to see it. And I'm with you...If it's not on Netflix, I haven't seen it yet, which precludes anything less than 6 months old (which also usually means I know how it ends, since people seem to need to tell me ALL about it!) Great post!