Joe Pesci - The Guy From "Home Alone"...

[madog]

I consider myself a movie buff, and sometimes find myself scoffing at those who think Paul Walker is the greatest actor of our time. Anyway, I'm at my part time job on this ever so slow saturday night wasting my time away flicking through the channels on the TV when I stumble upon "Casino" - not one of my favorite movies of it's genre but a great flick with some great talent nontheless.

One of the girls I work with, who is a few years younger than me, comes inside to clock out from her shift and sees a scene with Pesci and De Niro on the screen. After staring blankly at it for a few moments she responds with, "Oh, that's the guy from 'Home Alone'."

!?!?!?!?!?!???????

BAH!

Now it's probably just because I'm an *******, but I wanted to slap her. Not that I ever would, but a nice little slap across the face would have made me feel better.

It's like seeing Daniel Day Lewis and someone saying, "Oh, I remember him from the, 'I love 1980's' marathon on VH1."


Well, I feel much better now.

 

[Tanglewood]

Well at least she didn't think it was someone else entirely and actually could place the face to another movie.

 

[iTwitch]

Casino was ok but I liked Goodfellas better.

She could have said .... Lethal Weapon 4.

 

[plinden]

I consider myself a movie buff, and sometimes find myself scoffing at those who think Paul Walker is the greatest actor of our time.

Who's Paul Walker? (Ok, I looked up imdb and now know, but seriously, who the fsck is Paul Walker and why would anyone think he's the greatest actor of all time?)

 

[xsedrinam]

Who's Paul Walker? (Ok, I looked up imdb and now know, but seriously, who the fsck is Paul Walker and why would anyone think he's the greatest actor of all time?)

Go ya one further. I searched, looked at the picture(s), and still don't know who he is. But I''m from the "Frankly me dear,....." era.

 

[bousozoku]

Who's Paul Walker? (Ok, I looked up imdb and now know, but seriously, who the fsck is Paul Walker and why would anyone think he's the greatest actor of all time?)

He was that guy from "Meet the Deedles" on the Disney Channel.

A lot of people mistake faces and places.

One day in Target, the people in the Electronics Dept. were discussing Sir Laurence Olivier. The woman didn't know who he was. I doubt when I said Laurence of Arabia that the two men knew that. It's "so 10 minutes ago", right?

 

[redAPPLE]

i don't think this paul walker is even a good actor. never heard of him.

did he do one of the ewoks? if so, then he is good.

 

[Counterfit]

i don't think this paul walker is even a good actor. never heard of him.

did he do one of the ewoks? if so, then he is good.

No, he's the guy in the "The Fast and The Furious" movies. Funny though, he's one of the best actors in the movie.

 

[iTwitch]

Who's Paul Walker? (Ok, I looked up imdb and now know, but seriously, who the fsck is Paul Walker and why would anyone think he's the greatest actor of all time?)

I reconized him from Timeline. Great actor, I think not.

 

[bluebomberman]

One of the girls I work with, who is a few years younger than me, comes inside to clock out from her shift and sees a scene with Pesci and De Niro on the screen. After staring blankly at it for a few moments she responds with, "Oh, that's the guy from 'Home Alone'."

!?!?!?!?!?!???????

BAH!

I guess you're not going on a date with her anytime soon.

 

[SamIchi]

Go rant to people that actually care you elitist bastard

Just kiddin. I'm not a movie buff, but I feel the same way about music. What's wrong with recognizing pesci from Home Alone, that was a good movie.

 

[bousozoku]

Remember the older films, such as from the 1960s backward?

It wasn't necessary that the main actors be so amazing looking, they had to be good actors or the films got laughs unintentionally. Television was the same way.

Now, we get so many poor performances from average to poor actors who get jobs simply because of their physical attributes. Are today's movies anywhere nearly as memorable as 40 or 50 years ago? Will box office blockbusters be remembered for more than their money?

 

[sb58]

i'm kinda like that with music and movies.

i especially hate it when i have "The first cut is the deepest" playing and someone says, "hey isn't that a sheryll crow song?" i wanna punch them in the face. 5 internet points to whoever knows who originally sung it.

 

[Jschultz]

i'm kinda like that with music and movies.

i especially hate it when i have "The first cut is the deepest" playing and someone says, "hey isn't that a sheryll crow song?" i wanna punch them in the face. 5 internet points to whoever knows who originally sung it.

Well, not too many youngsters are Cat Stevens fans you know, lol.

My other favorites- I was getting my hair cut one time, and this 13 yr old chick heard The Eurythmics on the radio, and "sweet dreams" was playing. She was like "what a bitch, can't even write her own songs, has to steal them from Marilyn Manson and Fsck it up!"...\

... to which I nearly peed myself. I can't believe how dumb some of these kids are these days. I could go on and on about bad covers that kids think are originals.

 

[ham_man]

Remember the older films, such as from the 1960s backward?

It wasn't necessary that the main actors be so amazing looking, they had to be good actors or the films got laughs unintentionally. Television was the same way.

Now, we get so many poor performances from average to poor actors who get jobs simply because of their physical attributes. Are today's movies anywhere nearly as memorable as 40 or 50 years ago? Will box office blockbusters be remembered for more than their money?

Guess we'll know in 40 or 50 years...

 

[sb58]

Well, not too many youngsters are Cat Stevens fans you know, lol.

well i'm only 14 and i know

 

[Jschultz]

well i'm only 14 and i know

An exception then. Oddly enough, most 14 year olds come into my store and ask for "the green day album"...to which I say, which one? and I get a blank stare, and the reply "they have something else besides "american idiot"?

 

[SharksFan22]

I was just commenting the other day to a friend about this exact thing. I've been on a bit of a 60s/70s kick lately and had a disc with Sam & Dave, Taj Mahal, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye playing in the car. It's sad that today's kids think that current "R&B" is good music. NOTHING, I mean NOTHING works as well as Marvin Gaye, Barry White, or Al Green. ;-)

I also had an experience when I was a radio DJ in the mid-/late-80s. I used to get phone-in requests for songs and will never forget a caller that wanted to hear the song from that new guy Steve Winwood. I replied "You mean Higher Love" and they said "Yeah, from that new guy!! I love that song!". New guy!??! WTF?!?!? I asked the caller if they'd ever heard of The Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith, or Traffic and they had no idea what I was talking about. It was a sad moment.

EDIT -- However, there was a positive moment recently. Standing in line a few weeks ago at a store, two kids about 13 years old in front of me were wrangling with their iPod headphones with one kid telling the other "You've got to hear this! It's awesome!". The second kid listened and smiled. The first kid then said "I got it from my Dad's collection -- it's from a band called Led Zeppelin!! They're awesome!!". I smiled as my day was now complete.

 

[Blackheart]

For those who don't like Paul Walker, you might try renting Running Scared. I didn't like his performance in F&F either (actually, the only movie I saw with him) but I thought he did a good job in RS -- that, or the extent to which the movie kicked ass overpowered any ****** acting.

 

[SharksFan22]

Remember the older films, such as from the 1960s backward?

It wasn't necessary that the main actors be so amazing looking, they had to be good actors or the films got laughs unintentionally. Television was the same way.

Now, we get so many poor performances from average to poor actors who get jobs simply because of their physical attributes. Are today's movies anywhere nearly as memorable as 40 or 50 years ago? Will box office blockbusters be remembered for more than their money?

I think a lot of that comes from today's instant gratification society. I too watch a lot of older movies mainly because the story lines are better and they're not full of shock value violence, nudity and cursing. Don't get me wrong, I'm a LONG way from a prude, but it's just so tiring to see the same things recycled over and over again.

I caught Alfred Hithcock's "Psycho" the other day (hadn't seen it in a long time) and got chills watching Anthony Perkins' performance. WOW! That first scene where he's having sandwiches with Janet Leigh is stunning. I had forgotten how good it was.

 

[kalisphoenix]

**** I've heard while playing various songs (I'm not making any of this up):

"Pastime Paradise," by Stevie Wonder. "Whoa.... I've never heard this mix before [apparently thinking that it was a strange remix of Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise']"

"Atomic Dog," by George Clinton. "What the hell is this? [I played it because they played 'What's My Name?' by Snoop Dogg]"

My wife has pulled a couple... like when I played the original versions of "Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam," "Lake of Fire," "Where Did You Sleep Last Night? [both the Leadbelly and Mark Lanegan versions]," and "Man Who Sold the World."

I love it when people don't know what year a song is from, either. It's especially confusing when I play stuff like the Silver Apples, the United States of America ("whoa.... they ripped off a Portishead bassline"), the Velvet Underground....

 

[kalisphoenix]

I think a lot of that comes from today's instant gratification society. I too watch a lot of older movies mainly because the story lines are better and they're not full of shock value violence, nudity and cursing. Don't get me wrong, I'm a LONG way from a prude, but it's just so tiring to see the same things recycled over and over again.

I caught Alfred Hithcock's "Psycho" the other day (hadn't seen it in a long time) and got chills watching Anthony Perkins' performance. WOW! That first scene where he's having sandwiches with Janet Leigh is stunning. I had forgotten how good it was.

Goddamned right. Vertigo, Harvey, North by Northwest, Wait Until Dark.... the classic flicks are the best.

I love some indie flicks, but even they are starting to get formulaic and shock-oriented. Witness "TransAmerica," which sounded to me like two guys got drunk, came up with a concept, and decided to make a movie out of it with a lot of pointless **** thrown in for "grit" value.

 

[jeremy.king]

I'm not getting the point.

Considering Home Alone came out 5 years before Casino, why is this so upsetting? Would you rather her say, "Thats the guy from The Death Collector!" or better question: What exactly would be an acceptable movie title for Pesci to be known (besides Goodfellas and Casino)?

 

[jdechko]

I find myself somewhere in the middle of all of this. I probably don't recognize so many older actors, so I probably would have said "Home Alone" for Pesci though I realize that he was in several other movies.

I think I'm far better at original song artists though. I have my dad to thank for that.

A couple of current songs that absolutely piss me off:
Whatever rap song uses the bg music from Crazy Train
Whatever pop song uses the bg music from Tainted Love
Madonna's version of American Pie (not so current, but still pissed me off).

A couple of covers that were really good:
All along the Watchtower by Hendrix (perhaps the best cover ever, unless you're a Dylan fan)
Landslide by the Smashing Pumpkins... I just happen to think it's pretty good.
Cats in the Cradle by GNR

I just hate it how some kids are today with their music. I really wish someone would teach these kids about the history of the music they listen to.

SharksFan22, great story. Love Zeppelin. And Marvin Gaye is the best! I love singing "Let's get it on" to my wife... she just looks at me like I'm weird (and I am).

 

[kalisphoenix]

Considering Home Alone came out 5 years before Casino, why is this so upsetting? Would you rather her say, "Thats the guy from The Death Collector!" or better question: What exactly would be an acceptable movie title for Pesci to be known (besides Goodfellas and Casino)?

My Cousin Vinnie

</sarcasm>