A torrent has been showing up in my list of available eyepatch films available for download lately, and I had been ignoring it until now. But finally I grew curious and looked it up on the IMDB and discovered who its star was, and now it's downloading away in the background.
The star is a guy named Dwayne Johnson. If that name does not exactly ring the bell heard at the end of each round of a mano-a-mano grappling match for you, Dwayne is also known (and revered, by millions) as a guy who goes by the handle, "The Rock." I just *love* The Rock. Dwayne. Whoever. He has a sense of self-mirth that I just find charming. I mean, this is a guy who (as I understand it) was second- generation athlete and grew up to become one of the most famous wrestlers in WWE history. And then he did the big crossover into acting, hoping to become a Big Star. [ For the non-cognoscenti, this is an achievement nigh unto Sarah Palin running for office as President of the United States, winning, and pulling it off. ] Dwayne pulled it off. I just *love* this guy. He's up there in my Cult Actor Hall Of Fame right alongside <genuflect> Bruce Campbell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr4PcOQYFAw Dwayne just *rocks* as an actor, in the same sense that George Clooney *rocks* in the Nespresso ads where he makes fun of his own image. As an official Specimen Of What Humans Could Look Like If They Really Gave A Damn, Dwayne is *ripped*. (Not that noticing this makes me gay or anything...merely that I tried for decades to get *ripped* and failed mightily, and thus admire Those Whose Body Type Allowed Them To Go Where Mine Was Not.) But Dwayne makes *fun* of his own ripped-ness. I mean, in his *first* breakout movie role from TV wrestler to movie hero, Dwayne chose to play a GAY henchman in the followup to "Get Shorty," "Be Cool." That was a *hilarious* and at the same time touching and sensitive acting job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSS8eOPn5Gw Then his artistic choices drew him to "Southland Tales," which is ranked higher in the IMDB-member-generated- list of Best Science Fiction Movies than many of your own favorites. And with reason. In his first role in which he dropped "The Rock" in favor of his real name, I thought he did a creditable job, *at least* as cred- itable as Ahnold's when he went from "Stay Hungry" to "The Terminator." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtp14ikRvxo So bottom line is that I really *like* Dwayne Johnson. He's got My Kinda Attitude. So I really look forward to seeing him star in a film the distributing company describes as "Derek Thompson is 'The Tooth Fairy,' a hard-charging minor league hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngster's hopes, he's sentenced to one week's hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek "can't handle the tooth" bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers' homes...doing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position, he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams." Call me a hopeless romantic, but I kinda suspect that Dwayne might be able to pull this off.
