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Post by Mattsby on Jan 12, 2020 18:25:30 GMT
Depardieu as well as Ardant and Luchini - in Colonel Chabert (1994), rewatch. It's been a while, but I've always remembered and loved the moment when Depardieu is holding birds eggs and teases some kids that they could hatch and be dragons. It's a funny little moment and telling - this is a character who's been shelled away from his previous highly esteemed life for so long it's become uncertain - to his wife (Fanny Ardant), to himself - who exactly he's become. Ardant is hardened and deeply bothered, so much so Depardieu feels like a burden for simply existing - he says, "So the dead are wrong to reappear?" Fabrice Luchini as both their attorneys (well then!) plays the part with enthusiastic confidence. Depardieu instills the feeling of someone wronged, someone owed, yet wary and a little lost....
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 13, 2020 19:29:35 GMT
just watched this again. I know we've all already seen it and acknowledged it but it needs to be said again that Barry Keoghan's performance in Sacred Deer is out of this world. Love his posture in this scene. Almost serpentine
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 13, 2020 20:53:03 GMT
Burt Lancaster in Vera Cruz (1954) - rewatch. I go back to this sometimes just to rewatch scenes with Lancaster in a wild and devilish perf. He has hilarious and charismatic moments, like the party scene in the gif above where he's choking on food, stealing drinks, and playfully picking fights. But this is a grinning villain role... halfway disguised as a co-hero next to Gary Cooper only for a while. This watch I realized just how arrogant and twisted he is - why does he fix his hair nicely before beating the girl? And there are moments like with the young hostages where you may think he's bluffing - but looking back, he probably wasn't. It's to Lancaster's credit that he can make someone this cruel so lively and watchable....
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 14, 2020 21:43:22 GMT
Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart, Cary Grant - The Philadelphia Story"He's like Cary Grant" - people often say this and it almost is never true - Grant was unlike just about every major film actor and actors who copy him look really silly by comparison. Here he is utterly Grant without breaking a sweat. Stewart is marvelous here too - tough as nails but open and open-hearted and he plays drunk in the most appealing way. But Hepburn conquers over everyone here - she is not only wildly funny, she seems utterly in control of every emotional detour AND joke and that includes physical comedy. Her theater background really comes out here - the way she twists "Of whom you have many of I'm sure" when the word "friends" comes up is particularly inspired - her line readings are simultaneously sincere, droll and venomous. All eyes are on her naturally (with John Howard too):
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lee
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Post by lee on Jan 15, 2020 15:12:18 GMT
No-shik Park, the guy who plays the retarded kid in memories of murder.
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Post by fiosnasiob on Jan 16, 2020 20:00:18 GMT
Little cutie who breaks my heart everytime. Unforgettable Brigitte Fossey in Jeux Interdits. Georges Poujouly is also brilliant but unlucky to be put against one of the greats child performances on films.
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Post by JangoB on Jan 17, 2020 14:42:17 GMT
Alec Guinness in "Kind Hearts and Coronets" as the D'Ascoynes - the definitive proof of how extraordinary Guinness was. There's a shot in the movie with all of his characters sitting in one room, we're then presented each one of them separately. And it's as if there're different actors on the screen. He plays every character completely differently and manages to give them all an incredible amount of colors even with the tiniest amount of screentime. And on top of that he's being quite hilarious with all of them. One of those times where I can absolutely say that the movie is worth it for the actor alone.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 17, 2020 19:26:51 GMT
Dustin Hoffman & Dennis Farina - Luck (HBO) Been rewatching this. Didn't think much of the show when it came out, still don't - but all the weak subplots are worth wading thru to get to these two guys and their scenes. There's such an understanding and trust between them, and they really create a feeling of a shared history together - a lot of knowing looks and shorthand. There's a humor btwn them and weight too - they know how far they've come, they know what's at stake, they know they've gotten old. They share almost every scene together many of which are them in their PJs, half-asleep talking shit out in their hotel rooms - like The Irishman! Also S/O to actor Richie Coster who usually plays corrupt, intimidating characters, but here is completely affecting, tenderhearted, timid...
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 18, 2020 11:21:15 GMT
Mickey Rourke & Linda Hamilton - Rape and Marriage - The Rideout Case - 1980 TVI have never gotten Mickey Rourke, I figure I always saw him as he was whereas everyone else saw him as who they wanted him to be. I do think he deserved to win for The Wrestler, love his scene in The Pledge etc. - but in the 1980s when he was supposedly a big deal (he wasn't) he was merely unfulfilled potential - some good work in small roles sure (Diner, Body Heat), one great one (Rumble Fish)......big deal. He may have been playing "men" in the 1980s but the "boys" of the 80s put up the better work - not just Sean Penn but several others beat him at it too. But here he is charming, repellent and unpredictably frightening without being (too) self-aware - he may have wished to be Brando, and in this work he is achieving some of the actual Brando effect - not an easy trick. This is the movie star turn he never gave in the movies. Linda Hamilton is aces too - she's too major for TV and she breaks your heart without pandering for your interest at all - her scenes with Rourke have a feature film spontaneity to them. Rip Torn is also quite good in support too - the film however has no real dramatic arc and the good work doesn't amount to much by the end. Things get worse:
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Post by JangoB on Jan 18, 2020 17:54:11 GMT
Robert Duvall in "The Apostle" - what a tour-de-force! Never seen him better. The director sure knew how to get the very best out of him This whole preaching and sermonizing thing is so fascinating to me. I've only encountered stuff like that via American movies as our Orthodox church experience is highly different (although I'm not really a church goer anyway). It seems so American that a religious talk is turned into a whole performance, almost a piece of stage entertainment. And it all has a feeling of phoniness about it...and yet it unites people in such a strangely powerful way that you kinda look past the weirdness of the whole thing. And Duvall's performance encompasses all of those peculiar aspects. It's a movie that doesn't try to convert its viewer or anything but it's a deeply empathetic look at people who do find their solace in communal religious experiences and it's Duvall's performance that truly brings us into the world of the film.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 19, 2020 10:52:34 GMT
Isabelle Huppert - 8 WomenOne of my checklist things for great actors is how many great actors have they acted opposite, how often and what was the result.....you'll find they're the ones we always rank as best ever with the longest careers too - DePac, Streep, Mirren etc. - in English indisputably dominate in this way - but can they change it up too - can they be the lead and act in ensemble work - can they dominate and recede? Well here Huppert is doing all the above and while the whole cast is a complete delight overall she is the scene stealer, at times the whole show, and the sly MVP all at once. Her energy is infectious, her conception of how to play this character is so off the wall comically inspired it's funny itself and her mannerisms - just her facial expressions are so deliriously on-point it's a pleasure to watch her work.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2020 7:55:27 GMT
Just finished watching Angels in America
Is this...is this Pacino's best performance? Holy Christ. The scene where he talks to Wilson (who played an extremely unlikable character really well) at the restaurant with that searing lighting on his face is some of the most intense acting I've ever seen, and that fucking delivery of "I just wanted to finally make Ethel Rosenberg sing!", with that facial expression, I don't even know what to call that. The entire cast was fantastic though. Mary Louise Parker killed me in almost every scene.
I have a few issues with the second half of this thing, but I really need to stew it over. The first half just obliterated me.
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Post by TerryMontana on Jan 20, 2020 7:57:52 GMT
Just finished watching Angels in America Is this...is this Pacino's best performance? Holy Christ. The scene where he talks to Wilson (who played an extremely unlikable character really well) at the restaurant with that searing lighting on his face is some of the most intense acting I've ever seen, and that fucking delivery of "I just wanted to finally make Ethel Rosenberg sing!", with that facial expression, I don't even know what to call that. The entire cast was fantastic though. Mary Louise Parker killed me in almost every scene. I have a few issues with the second half of this thing, but I really need to stew it over. The first half just obliterated me. Pacino's scenes in the hospital are arguably the best acting of his whole career!!
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 20, 2020 8:52:42 GMT
Just finished watching Angels in America Is this...is this Pacino's best performance? I usually rank it 3rd after GF II and DDA (so that's Godlike level to me). His scenes with all the other actors are extraordinarily sharp in their give and take - especially Wright, Streep but also that amazing "I have liver cancer" scene with James Cromwell is that marvelous thing he does of going big and very subtle at the same time - not many have that particular gift.
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Post by JangoB on Jan 20, 2020 18:23:22 GMT
Adèle Haenel in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" - WOW. Her co-star Noémie Merlant is also wonderful but Haenel is simply unbelievable.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 20, 2020 18:55:44 GMT
Geraldine Page - Toys in the Attic (1963) & A Christmas Memory (1966) Double-featured these two. There's a completely different temperature and feeling to these perfs and projects and she's the major perhaps only reason to see them so I'm posting here! Both are active, energetic perfs - Toys she is motivated by a fear and disturbed, scheming quality - whereas Christmas she is innocently excited and very sweet and childish, in fact it's almost like an aperitif for her all-timer Trip to Bountiful perf to come twenty years later. Even though Christmas is only 50min she packs a lot and carries a whole lonely underside to her - there's a heartbreaking moment when she breaks down crying and she says "I'm old.....and funny." She has hilarious scenes though too like when she tries whiskey for the first time and likes it so much she gives a little bowl of it to her dog. Toys, with a hyper-politeness she hides a repression and darker, strained side. Like when she gets a lot of luxurious gifts from Dean Martin, she feels betrayed bc she hasn't organized her mind for it.
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Post by stephen on Jan 20, 2020 20:18:06 GMT
Just finished watching Angels in America Is this...is this Pacino's best performance? Holy Christ. The scene where he talks to Wilson (who played an extremely unlikable character really well) at the restaurant with that searing lighting on his face is some of the most intense acting I've ever seen, and that fucking delivery of "I just wanted to finally make Ethel Rosenberg sing!", with that facial expression, I don't even know what to call that. The entire cast was fantastic though. Mary Louise Parker killed me in almost every scene. I have a few issues with the second half of this thing, but I really need to stew it over. The first half just obliterated me. it's always been Pacino's best performance. Streep's, too.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 21, 2020 10:14:24 GMT
Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Fox and His FriendsIn the 70s several great directors often put themselves in the lead in their oddest, most challenging works - Polanski in The Tenant, Truffaut in The Green Room. Rarely had the director asked so much of himself as Fassbinder does though - he was himself a gifted actor - and here he has a wide palette to play across in tone and manner. At various times naive, arrogant, pathetic, tragic - he himself is giving the performance he often sculpted for females in his movies. The fact that he's playing it this time and its his original script makes this cut even more deeper than much of his other work - which in itself was shattering work anyway. This time the film is functioning as several things all at once: drama, social commentary, political allegory, but especially as an insight into how Fassbinder saw himself and his company of actors, financiers, lovers, hangers-on. Who do you see in the mirror:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 21, 2020 22:04:14 GMT
Bette Davis and Gena Rowlands - Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979) TV film The two greatest US actress ever? Maybe........both are in ace form here - Davis won her Emmy here and you see both actors keen intelligence sparking off and deepening the material. This is a trite screenplay - basically what is called a "disease of the week" movie - they make quietly in some ways, overwhelmingly emotional. Quite recommended if you're a fan of either and if you're a fan of both or acting in general, it's something to see.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 21, 2020 23:05:17 GMT
Val Kilmer in Kiss Kiss Bang BangYes, I know I'm very late to this party. Kilmer is purely magnetic, both in this and Tombstone. Are there any other semi-forgotten great performances he's done because he's always flown under my radar. Where were the accolades for these performances? The Globe and Oscar nods? Unbelievable oversight. Anyways... despite some misgivings of the film itself, I loved every second of Kilmer's performance here which to be fair probably has something to do with the fact that he spends most of the movie mocking Robert Downey Jr. which is a huge mood. All his line readings had me in stitches.
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Post by TerryMontana on Jan 22, 2020 20:47:18 GMT
I didn't love the film but in a movie year full of male duos (Bale-Damon, De Niro-Pacino, Hanks-Rhys, DiCaprio-Pitt, Dafoe-Pattinson, Pryce-Hopkins), these two female leads were extraordinary and the chemistry between them was fantastic. I was not surprised by Haenel but I must admit I hadn't heard of Noemie Merlant before and I was wowed by her.
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Archie
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Eraserhead son or Inland Empire daughter?
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Post by Archie on Jan 23, 2020 22:32:05 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 25, 2020 11:43:12 GMT
Laurence Olivier - Term of Trial (1962)
Olivier, as the baseline GOAT UK actor, is like Brando his US equivalent. They are subjected to much myth and outright falsehoods too. One of them is that either was "surpassed" - which is arguable, but what I don't think holds up, that either was surpassed by anyone remotely close to their own generation. In Olivier's case, the actor who often pops up is to me, on film (the great) James Mason who many often say was less stagy and more suited for the camera. Maybe in some ways, but Olivier had by this time - 1962 - reinvented himself entirely on stage/TV and Film and left Shakespeare behind (a bit) for more contemporary roles - The Entertainer and Bunny Lake Is Missing - and here he is actually playing the James Mason role specifically - a weak, milquetoast teacher broken by circumstances both scholastic and domestic. He is in ace form, particularly suggesting how the order he's imposed on everything cannot be imposed here - and it's terrifying and terrifyingly conveyed. You might think he's merely, predictably great but if you watch it in the pantheon of his full, varied career you'll be far more amazed. Olivier had to be all things at all times and he did that for decades - James Mason just had to be consistently James Mason - and that's not the same thing at all. With Simone Signoret in Term of Trial:
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Post by Viced on Jan 26, 2020 0:11:09 GMT
Christopher Walken in Catch Me if You CanDiCaprio's great here too, but there's just something about Walken in this movie that hits me. What a fucking presence!
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 26, 2020 11:59:02 GMT
What's the best performance of a male alcoholic in the last say 25 years? Well Denzel Washington gave one of his career best performances - and he's a top ~15 or so American star ever AND he got an Oscar nod for it in Flight. But it's not him. How about just this decade and by someone who wrote the part and directed himself - anybody write/direct himself better? Well if you said Bradley Cooper in ASIB - you probably spend too much time thinking about the Oscars, and Cooper got nominated for one too (his 4th acting nod). But it's not him either. There isn't one second of Steve Buscemi in Trees Lounge which he wrote and directed that doesn't ring truer, more real, cut deeper or hurt more and he's never been nodded - so how much do the Oscars "mean" when you look at it like that? It's marvelous work and not only is the character he plays unlikable, he gets more unlikable as the film goes on and he never once goes off his own script as an actor to encourage or pander to your empathy.
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