Author Archives: robin
Before They Were Stars: Jack Black Fights a Ninja in a Super 8 Movie
Well, you don’t get much more obscure than this. Apparently, Jack Black made a Super 8 movie in high school which involved him getting into an epic fight scene with a ninja and one of his buddies decided to post … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Jodie Foster in a Small Shots Toy Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXDjKvItjW4 There’s no shortage of commercials out there featuring Jodie Foster during her childhood acting days, but this is one of the most unique. It’s an ad from the early 1970s for Small Shots, a short-lived toy line from Mattel … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: 4-Year Old Bridget Fonda in “Easy Rider”
Given that she was born into such a prominent acting family, it was somewhat inevitable that Bridget Fonda would follow in their footsteps, though she wouldn’t actually start her career until the late 1980s. However, her very first appearance on … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Jonathan Banks in “Airplane!”
You probably all remember this classic sequence from Airplane!: Rex Kramer helps Ted Striker land the doomed airplane on the runway while Lloyd Bridges realizes he picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. But do you recognize the air … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Elle Fanning as a Young Dakota Fanning in “I Am Sam”
Dakota Fanning’s younger sister, Elle Fanning, has built herself a solid acting career in recent years and could potentially surpass her sibling’s fame someday. However, it’s interesting to think that Elle made her screen debut playing a younger version of … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Michael Fassbender in a Guinness Commercial
In 2004, Guinness produced an acclaimed commercial called “The Quarrel”, which featured a man leaving Ireland to swim all the way across the ocean to a pub in New York in order to apologize to his brother. That man just … Continue reading
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Robin’s Underrated Gems: Tigerland (2000)
Last week, we recorded a Shouts From the Back Row podcast about good films from bad directors. My top choice involved the much-maligned Joel Schumacher, who may have directed one of cinema’s great abominations, Batman & Robin, but was also … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: John Cho as “Sale House Man#1” in “American Beauty”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiYEak98h3w Right around the same time John Cho started to garner attention with his role as “MILF Guy#2” in American Pie, he had a much less memorable bit part as “Sale House Man#1” in American Beauty. He pops up at … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Kat Dennings Hosts an Instructional Video on Bed Wetting
Yes, you read that right! In 1999, a young Kat Dennings gave the “scoop on bed wetting” when she co-hosted Sleeping Drier with DDAVP Tablets, an instructional video produced by a pharmaceutical company to promote their anti-bed wetting tablets. Now, I … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Liam Neeson in an Educational Film (with a Handlebar Moustache!)
If you want to watch some rare footage of Liam Neeson when he is the absolute polar opposite of a badass, here it is. Back when he appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show last year, Neeson was surprised with this … Continue reading
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