5 bad movies that happened to good actors


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SALT LAKE CITY — The adaptation of the teen novel, "Beautiful Creatures," lands in theaters this week and the reviews so far are not favorable.

Despite having a cast with solid players like Emma Thompson, Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis critics are calling the film, "boring," "dull" and "pretty darn ridiculous."

This is a bit surprising considering Irons, Thompson and Davis are considered serious actors who are known for roles in films like "The Mission," "The Remains of the Day" and "The Help," respectively. But this reminds us of something, sometimes bad movies happen to good actors.

Here is a list of five bad films that happened to five good actors. There are certainly more, but these came to mind.

Batman & Robin
Batman & Robin

George Clooney - Batman & Robin

Let's just start off with the easy one, shall we?

George Clooney is now Hollywood royalty and it seems like it's impossible for him to make a misstep. Between the Ocean's films and movies like "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "The Descendants," it would almost seem like Clooney is untouchable. But just leave it to media types like me to remind you he was once Batman.

The 1997 film "Batman & Robin" all but killed the caped crusader, thank you Christopher Nolan. The movie is really, really terrible. I'm not even going to get clever to tear it down because it's really just a nightmare.

Let's just be grateful Clooney learned his lesson and say thank you again to Christopher Nolan for making Batman awesome again.

The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet

Christoph Waltz - The Green Hornet

Christoph Waltz is relatively new to Hollywood. He's been an actor in his native Germany for years, but Quentin Tarantino made him famous in the U.S. and most of his performances have been powerful and unforgettable.

He won the Academy Award for his work with Tarantino as Col. Hans Landa and he is nominated again for his role in "Django Unchained."

Between those performances, however, Waltz decided to co-star in the train wreck known as "The Green Hornet."

The movie is not funny, the action is dull and the entire story is just aggravating.

Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West

Will Smith - Wild Wild West

Will Smith started out as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and before we knew it he was a movie star with serious acting chops.

He still makes us laugh in films like "Men in Black," and "Hitch" but he also tugs at our heartstrings in films like "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Ali." Smith can do it all and we love watching him work.

Following huge hits like "Men in Black" and "Independence Day" Smith decided to turn down the role of Neo in "The Matrix" and made "Wild Wild West" instead. Truth is, the less said about that film the better.

Let's just be grateful that he followed it up with roles in films like "Ali" and "I Am Legend."

Jonah Hex
Jonah Hex

Michael Fassbender - Jonah Hex

Michael Fassbender stormed onto the Hollywood stage the last couple of years and has seemed to take over. He's now part of massive franchises like "X-Men" and "Prometheus" and is about to star as the lead in the video game adaptation of "Assassin's Creed."

Fassbender is a scene-stealer and been in some fine films, but my guess is he'd take back his role in "Jonah Hex" if he had the chance.

Suffice it to say there is a reason Hex only has a 12-percent on Rotten Tomatoes and only pulled in $10 million worldwide on a nearly $50 million budget. It's a bad movie in every sense of the word.

It's better to just remember him as a freaking awesome Magneto and move on with your day.

Daniel Day-Lewis - Nine

Daniel Day-Lewis is extremely picky with his roles and utterly dedicated to his characters.

Nine
Nine

He is the force behind films like "The Last of the Mohicans" and "There Will be Blood." He also has two Academy Awards under his belt and could very well snag a third this year for his work in "Lincoln." But even the great Daniel Day-Lewis can make a mistake.

"Nine" was a musical disaster. Hoping to ride on the coattails of the highly successful "Chicago" the drama/musical fell flat on its face and Day-Lewis was along for the ride.

Considering how solid his career is, we'll let this one slide. There's your one free pass Daniel.

Here are a few other honorable mentions of good actors in bad movies.

Steve Martin - The Pink Panther

Al Pacino - Jack and Jill

Julia Roberts - Mirror Mirror

Michael Caine - Jaws: The Revenge

Robert De Niro - The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle

What other movies come to mind when you think of good actors taking on bad movies? Let us know on the comment boards, Facebook or send me an email.

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John Clyde

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