Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Feb 4, 2022 13:50:56 GMT
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 4, 2022 23:07:13 GMT
Greatly acted little monologue from Walter Hill's not-so-good Undisputed (2002), as a jailed former mobster which is key to the prideful way he says the last lines in the clip. Falk is one of my fav actors..... and he has many outstanding perfs, though I think he had a lot more to give. His career always looked to be in a state of up or down. '61-'62 Not only back to back Oscar noms but Emmy noms too (and a win). Why does the rest of the decade look like guest spots and practically background roles? There are some great perfs in there but they're in obscure episodes or b-movies like Machine Gun McCain. Then the '70s, we get the three C's ....Columbo, Cassavetes, Comedy. He excels all over the place until '81 when he suddenly halts. For five years - no movies, no stage, not Lt. What was he doing! He came back pretty strong with Princess Bride, Wings of Desire, and a return to Columbo which carried him from here to eternity. But by then the movies didn't really know what to do with him except where he single-handedly spiced 'em up (Tune in Tomorrow) but you know what... the new century brought a new Falk. He could still charm the arms off you with Columbo (Murder With Too Many Notes) but there's also A Storm in Summer (Emmy nominated, heartbreaking, originally played by Ustinov), and Made, Mamet's Lakeboat, BBC's The Lost World, the Chekhov-inspired Three Days of Rain where Falk is raggedly brilliant (stuck in a repeating pattern of lies, it only deepens his alcoholism), and Undisputed I'd add...... these perfs btwn '00-'02 was a nice little comeback streak that nobody really paid attention to so we will here in this thread.
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Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Feb 17, 2022 15:48:33 GMT
How Lorraine Bracco never won anything for The Sopranos is beyond me. Lost a good deal of her noms to Edie Falco too... not to take away anything from her, but a little appreciation for what Bracco brought to the series would've been neat.
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Feb 17, 2022 22:57:04 GMT
Peter Falk is one of my favorite actors too MattsbyI already mentioned the movie in another thread but I want to give a special shout-out to Adele Haenel. This is a very talented actress who in Portrait of a Lady on Fire gives us a moment that is going right on my list of best-acted close-ups in cinema. Not at the top but it's joined the list.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Mar 19, 2022 18:10:06 GMT
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the DogI think people around here are really sleeping on this performance. I was too until rewatching it and it's an easy mistake to make because narratively he all but disappears by the second half (but not entirely, there's that scene where he mediates on Rose's behalf after the furs incident). But he is so good and so intrinsic in his scenes. The shy sweetness and warmth he brings to his scenes serve as a refreshing antithesis to Phil's put-on machismo but his happiness with Rose is also so crucial to the story Campion is trying to tell. As much as I missed him in the second half, one of his last significant scenes with Rose where they're dancing together on the hill and misty-eyed he expresses "how nice it is not to be alone" is why he got the Oscar nomination. That scene is one of the most important in the whole movie because it's the root of Phil's anger. Phil sees himself as destined to be alone forever. this scene is the one that made Dunst cry when they were filming it, and I teared up too when I watched it a second time. Love how he says that line. Halting but intentional and you can really feel the emotion in his voice but Plemons doesn't overplay it. Everything he does, everything he says is a bit slower and more quiet than everyone else, and he always seems somewhat uncomfortable in this world of rough men. by the way, the funniest part of the film is the scene where George takes like three minutes to awkwardly tell Phil he needs a bath You have to watch it twice to get the full impact of George's role in the story and the necessity of Plemons's presence. It fits snugly in that tradition of minimalist supporting roles that carry a lot of weight (Winningham in Georgia, Holbrook in Into the Wild, Ruffalo in Foxcatcher). It's a richly deserved nomination and one of the best of the year in his field.
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Post by DeepArcher on Mar 19, 2022 18:16:58 GMT
^ Plemons is the best supporting performance in the movie tbh. His nomination probably comes from that one scene - arguably that one line delivery - but it's the best single moment in the film, I think.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on May 2, 2023 1:15:39 GMT
a year later, resurrecting this thread to shout out Herbert Lom playing Napoleon in King Vidor's War and Peace (1956). One of the performances where you scratch your head and wonder why he wasn't nominated. It's a big Hollywood production and an iconic historical figure but the movie was largely overlooked by the Oscars except for noms for the cinematography and costumes (not even art direction amazingly). It certainly has its flaws (Henry Fonda being the most glaringly obvious as the most American-sounding Russian character ever put to screen), but Lom was pitch-perfect as the pint-sized dictator. The most interesting aspect of the film is Napoleon's campaign in the second half concluding with his pyrrhic conquest of a desolate Moscow. His outrage at the Russian trickery is palpable. It's like he can't even comprehend it. He's come all this way, and won, but it feels like a defeat and it ends with him having to leave Moscow and trek all the way back to France with his starving and freezing armies. Lom captures it all perfectly. He packs a lot of punch in small frame. fairly obscure film nowadays, and an even more obscure perf that wasn't nominated for anything anywhere. Lom's only nomination his whole career according to IMDb was a Razzie in the 80s.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 17, 2023 11:32:12 GMT
Udo Kier - in Swan Song (2021) One of my favorite things in acting is to see a performance that you do not "know" how an actor will play it and pull it off - the most boring thing is to see a good, or even "great" actor play a part in exactly the way you thought they would before you see it.........well this is one that you can not possibly "guess" Kier's portrayal.......
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 2, 2023 19:20:28 GMT
Michael Gambon - The Singing Detective (1986)Maybe the greatest thing in the history of TV - certainly in the upper tier- well, if you're in the mood for it at least. Gambon is tremendous and complex here and you watch it just knowing that he would never get this role in a movie - so it HAD to be on the BBC ........and maybe this was the first thing that suggested TV could really be better than the movies. Recommended for fans of noir, British TV landmarks, fans of David Lynch (in a way), great acting.....you know who you are. Just started to give this a rewatch since he passed away........... and .........still awesome..........RIP
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 14, 2023 18:12:29 GMT
Julianne Nicholson in Dream Scenario (2023)I posted Nicolas Cage's great performance today in the "Last Great Performance You Saw" Thread........and while I wouldn't call Nicholson "great" in her small role - small, but pivotal - as his wife she was fascinating: sexual, suspicious, careerist, and in her own way very sad too. I rooted more for this married couple just because she was a part of it...... I have posted before about how Nicholson made her mark to me in Law & Order Criminal Intent a looooooooooooooooooooong time ago.......and I can't think of another actress who is so welcome to see in TV or Movies
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Post by Mattsby on Dec 28, 2023 4:04:34 GMT
Madolyn Smith - Funny Farm (1988) Ebert called this underrated charmer "a small miracle" and I think I know why. Madolyn Smith as the wife is heavenly and hysterical and becomes the miracle of the movie right before your eyes. She's the heart of it, the humor of it... Like the manuscript motel scene... Chevy Chase can set it up, but he becomes the grinning maniac who doesn't deserve her. I never really heard of Madolyn Smith... She only made like five movies and some tv projects.... and only one other leading role (which I've seen before - opposite Malcom McDowell in the TwiZo-ish The Caller). She's good in All Of Me (opposite Steve Martin). What else? Funny Farm is like a highlight reel for her - style, sexiness, thoughtfulness, outright slapstick. You can kinda imagine her taking on some Pfeiffer roles or some of those Geena Davis ones (Thelma Louise, A League of Their Own)..... except she retired right after this movie, after marrying an NHL player... and we've all been in the penalty ever since.
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Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Jan 8, 2024 10:03:51 GMT
Michelle Williams in Showing Up. She's in such a good mode with Kelly. LOVED her reaction to her FATHER's reaction to her work near the end... was it the only time she smiles here?
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