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By John Hartl MSNBC Earlier this year, the Independent Film Channel ran a quiz show in which one of the movie-trivia categories was “Robert De Niro Sells Out.” One of the questions involved his appearance as Fearless Leader in a live-action version of “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.” Alas, it was hardly the only turkey under consideration. Indeed, the list of De Niro bombs has grown daunting. Anyone care to remember “The Fan,” “Backdraft,” “Showtime” or (groan) '15 Minutes' and 'Flawless'? In some of these, he was the central figure, in others part of an ensemble. In none of them did he suggest that he was once widely regarded as one of the best actors in the world. There was a time when a new De Niro movie was an event, and he seemed to earn Academy Awards nominations just for showing up on a set. He won two Oscars, in 1975 and 1981, but it’s been more than a decade since the Academy voters have singled him out for a nomination. The only recent role that has made much of an impression is the threatening father in the cartoonish Ben Stiller comedy, “Meet the Parents.” A sequel, “Meet the Fockers,” in which he’ll be sharing the screen with Stiller, Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, is a December release. More typical are his unsuccessful pairing with Eddie Murphy, “Showtime,” and the Billy Crystal comedy, “Analyze That” (a 2002 followup to their 1999 hit, “Analyze This”). Both were regarded as so bankrupt of ideas that critics wondered if De Niro had read the scripts before he signed on. Clearly, the number of out-and-out wipeouts has reached saturation point. How did this happen? Identified early in his career as the new Brando, De Niro won his first Oscar for “Godfather II,” in which he played the supporting role of young Don Corleone — Brando’s character from the first “Godfather.” He won his second Oscar for going beyond Brando, by undergoing a physical transformation and gaining 50 pounds to play the viciously anti-socia
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