Amazon Blogs: Armchair Commentary Daily Digest

Check out these Updates from Armchair Commentary for January 6, 2010.

Who the Heck is Sam Worthington? January 6, 2010 There are moments in movies you can actually watch somebody become a star before your eyes. (Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls; Kate Hudson in Almost Famous are two examples for me) People were saying the same thing about Sam Worthington after he stole Terminator Salvation from Christian Bale. So after watching Avatar last night, I did what most people did when they got home (besides post a reaction on my Facebook status). I looked up the movie's star on IMDB. I've been mildly curious about Worthington, who's also starring in this spring's Clash of the Titans remake with Liam Neeson. In Avatar, he's in virtually every scene, and in the midst of a 3-D, special-effects movie experience of a lifetime, he has to do his best not to just blend into visuals, which he succeeds in doing despite the fact that he isn't an obvious choice. As Esquire magazine put it, Worthington's face is "recessive, conflicted, surging with a constant low-level charge of volatility that threatens at any moment to trip either way." In other words, not that movie-star swagger of a Will Smith, but possibly more on the Russell Crowe vibe. Some of his resume highlights: Clash of the Titans (2010): He'll play Perseus in the big-budget remake, with Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Last Night (2010): A Miramax film starring Worthington and Keira Knightley as marrieds who are tempted with infidelity. (Mar. 19) The Debt (2010): A thriller about Mossad agents and a Nazi war criminal. Worthington plays the young version of Ciaran Hinds' character. Avatar (2009): On track to take over The Dark Knight as the second-biggest movie of all time, Worthington plays paraplegic Jake Sully. Terminator Salvation (2009): As Marcus Wright, an amnesiac cyborg on death row. Director McG gave Worthington got the job upon James Cameron's recommendation. Pre-2009, he has scattered small parts in films like The Great Raid and Hart's War, as well as the 2000 Aussie dance flick Bootmen, and Australian television. (Though he started working on Avatar back in 2006). Before that, he was a bricklayer. Watch the interview below with Jay Leno about his break into acting (and the girl who dumped him for it). Do you think Worthington is the real deal? Or just one lucky bastard? What do you think? --Ellen Trailer Park: "Cop Out" January 6, 2010 Cop Out is a new buddy-cop movie directed by Kevin Smith and starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, and Seann William Scott. It opens on February 26. --David read more

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