Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I'm out of the loop

For days now the entertainment sites have been headlining and discussing the engagement of Channing Tatum. And while I know this is going to make me sound old …. Who the hell is Channing Tatum? And why am I supposed to care that he is engaged?

I try to stay up on the Hollywood stuff, I really do. If I don’t watch a show I at least know who is starring in it. I’ll admit to a gap in my teen movie knowledge – especially the movies that are targeted towards boys, but was Step Up – the movie that keeps getting referenced with Channing’s name – in the theater for more than five minutes?

I must really be losing it because I thought Step Up was one of the many war movies I have taken a pass on but it’s really ANOTHER teen movie about dancers getting their big break. I checked it out on IMDB.com and the movie grossed a respectable $65 million or so. Dirty Dancing, the dancer-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks movie for my generation grossed $63 million, but that’s in 1987 dollars. Still, why haven’t I heard of this movie? It’s kind of insulting to no longer be the sought-after demographic.

I really don’t get all the fuss about Channing, though. Step Up seems to be the only successful movie he’s starred in so why all the buzz? According to his IMDB page he’s working on 6 movies in the next two years so maybe that’s it – all the Hollywood people know him and are talking about him. But I really think he is a master at publicity. He’s managed to stay talked about after Step Up in 2006 despite the fact that the only other big movie he appeared in was Stop-Loss. AND he invited several “friends” to Hawaii to witness his getting engaged. That is knowing how to work it.

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