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Post by Viced on Jul 28, 2020 1:22:31 GMT
Shelley Duvall in The ShiningGave this a long overdue re-watch last night and was blown away by Shelley. Sad and a bit of a wtf how divisive this performance continues to be. I think in the early going of the film she has the same unique down-to-earth charm you see in her Altman films... as well as having a believable bond with her son... and she does all this while being just the right amount of oblivious for her character's actions (or lack of actions) to make sense for the rest of the film. I really think her performance carries Nicholson's and makes it work in some of his more wtf moments. And once the movie really gets moving in the final 40 or so minutes, she gives one of the most realistic feeling depictions of horror that I've seen.
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 29, 2020 4:20:15 GMT
Alan Bates - A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) “Doesn’t there come a point when the jokes start using you?” Disturbing comedy a bit boosted by Medak’s creative direction and the performances, particularly Bates who is like an electric current here - a very quick, swiveling perf, wildly funny, with a goofing that side-steps coping, instead overcompensating for a dangerously veering parental despair. There are also surreal asides where Bates play-acts as a finicky German doctor and then a priest who sings Animal Crackers in My Soup - these are outright scenes of the character’s performative “cover” - but it’s all over the other scenes too. Only when he’s alone with his daughter does he speak softly and normally to her. Finney had played the role on stage, even Broadway in 1968 with a Tony nom; it's a major compliment to say I don't think Finney could've played it better than Bates here. Bates with this, Go Between, The Collection, The Shout, Women in Love (US), and the unbelievably brilliant Butley - he may be the best British actor of the 70s decade. Or, hmm. Sellers, then Bates? Somebody else?
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 29, 2020 7:33:03 GMT
Finney had played the role on stage, even Broadway in 1968 with a Tony nom; it's a major compliment to say I don't think Finney could've played it better than Bates here. Bates with this, Go Between, The Collection, The Shout, Women in Love (US), and the unbelievably brilliant Butley - he may be the best British actor of the 70s decade. Or, hmm. Sellers, then Bates? Somebody else? What is funny about that - funny odd but not literally funny - is how Bates was in many ways dismissed in the 60s as a mere "movie star" by so many and one role can change everything. The 60s UK generation - the deepest actor generation ever - had 2 guys as (very) arguably "the" most talented to some (Bates, Williamson) who were sort of marginalized for being opposites - Bates being merely "pretty" and starry and Williamson for not catching on commercially at all. Finney, O'Toole, Harris, Courtenay, all have early 60s acclaim .......for Williamson he doesn't even start denting film in any way until the later 60s and Bates has to dovetail into something else in the late 60s where he picks up steam with his rival to me anyway - Caine........who everyone must have hated in the early 70s for getting so much credit for being a star specifically AND he is a prettier version of Williamson I mean Caine plays Alfie in 66 ......Bates has Georgy Girl in 66 .......they could have very easily have swapped those roles and if they had ..............well by the early 70s Caine is a much bigger deal and Caine in the second half of the 70s has flops that would have annihilated the careers of Bates or Williamson. Strange how that works out - Bates and Williamson must have really hated Caine who got seemingly every break, got forgiven for things they never would have been forgiven for, got the stardom, got the Oscar nods and wins ......
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 29, 2020 18:12:26 GMT
Finney had played the role on stage, even Broadway in 1968 with a Tony nom; it's a major compliment to say I don't think Finney could've played it better than Bates here. Bates with this, Go Between, The Collection, The Shout, Women in Love (US), and the unbelievably brilliant Butley - he may be the best British actor of the 70s decade. Or, hmm. Sellers, then Bates? Somebody else? What is funny about that - funny odd but not literally funny - is how Bates was in many ways dismissed in the 60s as a mere "movie star" by so many and one role can change everything. The 60s UK generation - the deepest actor generation ever - had 2 guys as (very) arguably "the" most talented to some (Bates, Williamson) who were sort of marginalized for being opposites - Bates being merely "pretty" and starry and Williamson for not catching on commercially at all. Finney, O'Toole, Harris, Courtenay, all have early 60s acclaim .......for Williamson he doesn't even start denting film in any way until the later 60s and Bates has to dovetail into something else in the late 60s where he picks up steam with his rival to me anyway - Caine........who everyone must have hated in the early 70s for getting so much credit for being a star specifically AND he is a prettier version of Williamson I mean Caine plays Alfie in 66 ......Bates has Georgy Girl in 66 .......they could have very easily have swapped those roles and if they had ..............well by the early 70s Caine is a much bigger deal and Caine in the second half of the 70s has flops that would have annihilated the careers of Bates or Williamson. Strange how that works out - Bates and Williamson must have really hated Caine who got seemingly every break, got forgiven for things they never would have been forgiven for, got the stardom, got the Oscar nods and wins ...... Loved reading all this. I've spent a lot of this year trying to catch up on the great Brits (I've watched more Ralph Rich and Bates movies than any other actor). Funny you bring up Caine - I watched Nothing But the Best (1964) after Joe Egg and at first it reminded me of Alfie then it reminded me of A Shock to the System! It's odd Bates didn't do more thrillers around the 70s, I don't think he did any besides I guess The Shout where he's so great - he has a physical heft to him that Caine doesn't really have yet Caine is the one who did so many (absurdly many) war/thriller pics. I haven't seen Georgy Girl or A Kind of Loving - those are coming up for me, and then I have my eye on some others Bates if I can find them - Three Sisters with Olivier (who also directed), Duet for One with Max Von Sydow, Dr M that Chabrol directed though it's rated very low. Should I skip some of these? Any other must see Bates I should check out?
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 29, 2020 18:45:13 GMT
Loved reading all this. I've spent a lot of this year trying to catch up on the great Brits (I've watched more Ralph Rich and Bates movies than any other actor). Funny you bring up Caine - I watched Nothing But the Best (1964) after Joe Egg and at first it reminded me of Alfie then it reminded me of A Shock to the System! It's odd Bates didn't do more thrillers around the 70s, I don't think he did any besides I guess The Shout where he's so great - he has a physical heft to him that Caine doesn't really have yet Caine is the one who did so many (absurdly many) war/thriller pics. I haven't seen Georgy Girl or A Kind of Loving - those are coming up for me, and then I have my eye on some others Bates if I can find them - Three Sisters with Olivier (who also directed), Duet for One with Max Von Sydow, Dr M that Chabrol directed though it's rated very low. Should I skip some of these? Any other must see Bates I should check out? I would recommend Return of the Soldier which is an underrated film with a really great cast - no one ever talks about it and it's small but well played........A Kind of Loving/Georgy Girl will give you second thoughts about marriage and are pivotal to him in the 60s (w/The Fixer etc.)......the others are not "must see" but "An Englishman Abroad" really is - that's a TV production.........it's around the same time as "Soldier" - post 60s stardom/post 70s glow.......but way before his 2nd Tony Award.
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 29, 2020 18:52:59 GMT
Loved reading all this. I've spent a lot of this year trying to catch up on the great Brits (I've watched more Ralph Rich and Bates movies than any other actor). Funny you bring up Caine - I watched Nothing But the Best (1964) after Joe Egg and at first it reminded me of Alfie then it reminded me of A Shock to the System! It's odd Bates didn't do more thrillers around the 70s, I don't think he did any besides I guess The Shout where he's so great - he has a physical heft to him that Caine doesn't really have yet Caine is the one who did so many (absurdly many) war/thriller pics. I haven't seen Georgy Girl or A Kind of Loving - those are coming up for me, and then I have my eye on some others Bates if I can find them - Three Sisters with Olivier (who also directed), Duet for One with Max Von Sydow, Dr M that Chabrol directed though it's rated very low. Should I skip some of these? Any other must see Bates I should check out? I would recommend Return of the Soldier which is an underrated film with a really great cast - no one ever talks about it and it's small but well played........A Kind of Loving/Georgy Girl will give you second thoughts about marriage and are pivotal to him in the 60s (w/The Fixer etc.)......the others are not "must see" but "An Englishman Abroad" really is - that's a TV production.........it's around the same time as "Soldier" - post 60s stardom/post 70s glow.......but way before his 2nd Tony Award. Saw that one and loved it, posted in this thread back in April about it - should be a lot more well known! amazing cast and they all deliver too. Will check out the others soon.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 3, 2020 23:50:28 GMT
Nicolas Cage & Dennis Hopper - Red Rock West (1993)Marvelously twisty and funny modern noir directed by John Dahl when he was king of this sort of thing for a brief period. Cage and Hopper are both in on the joke in how they play this but never stoop to playing it as an actual joke or a parody of noir. From 1989-1993 you had this, After Dark, My Sweet, Mamet's Homicide, The Grifters, One False Move etc......it's enough to cause a sensible man to drink heavily really
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Post by Longtallsally on Aug 4, 2020 20:53:36 GMT
Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress
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Post by Viced on Aug 8, 2020 23:14:05 GMT
sad Steve Buscemi double feature ( Trees Lounge/Ghost World) Re-watched Ghost World last night for the first time in years (didn't like it years ago, kind of love it now) which made me want to re-watch another one of Steve's finest performances today. He's perfect in both of 'em... two depressing characters, but depressing in totally different ways. But he still finds a way to make these guys hilarious, hopeful, and real.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 9, 2020 21:29:45 GMT
Cagney, White Heat. "A storm keeps everybody busy." Also impressed with the mother Margaret Wycherly who's got more bite to her than you think ("His life isn't worth a plug nickel" she says with ice on it).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2020 14:25:07 GMT
Love those frames on Bates! Totally underrated in many ways, but especially as a fox.
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Post by stephen on Aug 10, 2020 19:52:05 GMT
The entire cast of Perry Mason deserve Emmy nominations, and Matthew Rhys, Chris Chalk, Juliet Rylance and Gayle Rankin in particular need gold.
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Drish
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Post by Drish on Aug 11, 2020 14:29:59 GMT
Absolutely in awe of Hugh Dancy and his performance in Hannibal. It's hands down one of my favorite leading men performances. I think he had the most difficult role in the amazing series. He had to be a good natured hero, then show the evilness of the killers in those psychoanalysis he does, then this really fucked up man who just couldn't catch a break and couldn't help but get drawn to Hannibal and destroy his life. As the series progressed, his performance had so much of mystery to as to what is actually in his mind, is he betraying Hannibal or Jack or he just doesn't know himself. This whole confusion is conveyed so wonderfully. The sheer vulnerability he portrayed as Will Graham blew me away. Mads Mikkelsen is fucking fantastic, obviously. But I'll definitely have to say it was Dancy's show for me. And I am in love with him. Really wished he had more good movies/TV shows, some of the same aged British actors who have gotten much more recognition have nothing on him
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Aug 12, 2020 3:27:34 GMT
Peter Sellers - HoffmanI read one review that said Sellers acts the first half of the film almost like a vampire, which I think is pretty spot on. Consumed by lust and desire, but also conveying a certain kind of intellect, entitlement, deep insecurity, and sadness. There's also a great physical aspect to the performance, seen in his skittish demeanor early on where he's so excited about the new, unfamiliar situation he can barely contain himself. The movie itself is uh... something, with a pretty unbelievable ending, but Sellers is the reason to watch it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 12, 2020 16:47:52 GMT
Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe and (especially) Raúl Esparza - "Lady's Man" - Season 8 episode 11 Law & Order: Criminal IntentThis, as far as I can tell, is the last great D'Onofrio episode - there were some good ones later but this one, out of the blue in a shaky season 8 is a throwback stunner. Focusing for once on Kathryn Erbe's past - a talented stage actress (she played the role Olivia Colman plays in The Father opposite Frank Langella) - it keeps her story grounded and believable. Erbe and D'onofrio are in perfect sync (and empathy) - each actor reacts to the other with a marvelous comfort.... but Esparza - an America theater powerhouse - is something to behold here. (More than) Hinting that sexuality can lead to psychosis this piece and portrayal walks a borderline offensive path and Esparza finds wild humor and a scathing hatred here. He's brilliant........and seeing it again for like the 10th time, I still found things to watch in this performance. Esparza laying on the mannerisms, startlingly:
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 13, 2020 1:12:58 GMT
Ian Bannen, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979). Saw this ten years ago and didn't remember it so well, and mostly just went thru to catch Bannen's scenes. There are several very good perfs in here, how come I only ever see praise go to Guinness, who won a BAFTA for his perf but isn't so above everyone (and I'd take Oldman over). The whole thing opens and follows Bannen for a bit, and he's not only a very key character but I thought the most fascinating - I should say I haven't read the books. He's asked right at the beginning, "Which identity do you want to use?" And then we see just how he's used, abused, discarded, with his small-reward Alvis car (his appreciation for it plays sadly if you know how Bannen died in real life). E5 is where Bannen in especially terrific - a lost man inside a military manner. When he talks of his torture ("I hoped I'd go mad. No, they knew how to stop that.") it's heartbreaking. You sense a shortness to him - reeling back and back, he offers just enough of his hurt and confusion to Smiley, and he's aware of how deep that may go in him. "That's what I was doing, obeying orders and forgetting." Other thoughts: the director John Irvin uses a good deal of TTSS in his next project The Dogs of War with Walken, which is underrated btw as is the wonderful Turtle Diary and his muddy, violent Nam pic Hamburger Hill. As for Ian Bannen, if the cinematic house was on fire and I hadda grab two Scots, I think I'd grab Connery and him.
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Post by Viced on Aug 13, 2020 18:19:32 GMT
lonely Gene Hackman double feature ( The Conversation/The Royal Tenenbaums) Lonely might not be the best word to describe Royal Tenenbaum.... but it works. It took him finding out his wife is getting married and getting evicted from his hotel to realize he was lonely... but lonely is lonely. Hackman's two best performances (well... a three-way tie for #1 along with Unforgiven). One character that's brutally depressing and almost never says what he's thinking... and the other that's absolutely hilarious and says every single thing he's thinking. Opposite ends of the loneliness spectrum... same level of brilliance.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 15, 2020 22:51:25 GMT
Carole Bouquet & Gerard Depardieu, The Bridge (1999). They've done eight movies together, most vividly as a flush couple in Blier's brilliant, cerebral Too Beautiful for You from '89. Co-directed quite sensitively by Depardieu who was in a relationship with Bouquet at the time, this plays a bit like a love letter to her gifts as an actress, in a bright and lively perf of an undeterred, approaching-reckless woman of the early '60s who loves the romance of cinema and sees a life for herself outside of provincial conformity; Depardieu is her old fashioned working class husband with a fondness for garden tomatoes; his perf is so richly deep and affecting. Charles Berling is the lover (he comes off too much like a beady-eyed creep, I was #TeamDepardieu all the way). Misses out on a better ending for a softer one, but still an extremely overlooked 7.5/10 movie. It's just as good if not better than most traditional romantic-dramas.
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Post by Viced on Aug 16, 2020 21:16:58 GMT
Russell Crowe in The Loudest VoiceSuch a layered performance... and I'm not just talking about the rolls of fat. He's very scary and slimy as the sexual predator, formidable as the yelling boss, convincing as the political genius and/or nut, and tbh... hilarious with some of the crazy shit he says (in the same "did he really just say that?" way as DJT or your racist uncle). Also has some great, believable moments that help shed light on why Ailes was the way he was (talking about his father, etc.). Perfectly walks the line between a sympathetic portrayal and a mockery too... which doesn't seem easy.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 19, 2020 20:04:40 GMT
Anthony Hopkins - Blunt: The Fourth Man (1987) as Guy Burgess. Supporting role but an enlivening presence, and a rare flamboyant perf from Hopkins. He plays the role smartly, with emphasized charm to soften his pseudo-spy tasks, and there's also a whole undercurrent of alcoholism, which culminates with a staggering remorse during a phone call scene that is one of his finest acting moments. Side note - I'm bad with placing English accents but this is a different-sounding Hopkins, regal yet hoarse. Interesting one-two punch with 84 Charing Cross Rd the same year.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Aug 20, 2020 3:27:00 GMT
Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass (rewatch) I'll always remember this as the film that gave me my Sarsgaard obsession back in my teens. He's so good here as Chuck Lane, the only staff-member at the New Republic circa late 90s with a functional bullshit detector. Stiff, awkward, and unpopular, he's a great foil to Christensen's whiny, overcompensatory (almost sleazy) Stephen Glass because neither of them fit in but deal with it in entirely different ways. Sarsgaard deserved way more props during this period.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 22, 2020 19:05:54 GMT
Karl Malden - A Streetcar Named DesireObviously I could pick the whole cast, but picking Malden here just to talk about how hard this role is: he has to be scared, lonely, believable as someone who works/is friends with Stanley, sensitive but believably so and cruel in a way too - purposefully cruel to Blanche and himself. There's a great sadness to Mitch and you feel it in several ways - even if some of it is elusive. Malden balances all of this beautifully and by the end if you think of it, he has probably lost his chance at happiness too - even if it was an illusion for him as well. A beautifully calibrated (and directed) performance.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 27, 2020 17:55:30 GMT
Brian Cox in Rat in the Skull (1987). Based on the acclaimed 1984 play about the Troubles, Cox won the Olivier for it, brought it to NY’s Public Theater in ’85, and later in the year Brian Dennehy was playing his part in Chicago. This TVM adaptation is insanely obscure; it has ZERO votes on IMDb. Philip Jackson interrogates Gary Oldman about an interrogation-gone-wrong, that he observed, with Cox and a suspected terrorist. The flashback framing device and the whole psychological rut of this reminded me of The Offence. Between the slang and references I was slightly lost, but still gripped by the perfs, especially Cox who is a chilling creature here - an intimidator whose mental prying of the suspect takes a reverse course, and he essentially torments himself, and implodes. “You’re going nowhere….and neither am I.” He gives a lot of dialogue at an unsettling whisper. Oldman, who also shrinks at authority, is pretty good, as is Jackson. TRIVIA: Dennehy was close to playing Lector in Manhunter, but told Mann another actor was honestly better for the part, and insisted he see Cox in this play, and well.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 27, 2020 21:01:04 GMT
Tommy Lee Jones The Executioner's Song (1982) - re-watchMagnificent and precise portrayal - without unnecessary mannerism or false affect - so that every actor move then seems to take on larger and poetic meaning (narcissism, hopelessness, pettiness are revealed in the eyes, posture, hands etc). This is one of the few performances in American TV in the 80s that is worthy of being ranked with the better film performances of the decade too. Jones here plays this part shrewdly in conception too - it's designed as a never ending litany of bad luck - bad luck choices, bad luck jobs, bad luck killings/crimes and he never begs for your sympathy - he's born to die, his life is a waste, and he knows it too.
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Aug 28, 2020 0:14:28 GMT
Tommy Lee Jones The Executioner's Song (1982) - re-watchMagnificent and precise portrayal - without unnecessary mannerism or false affect - so that every actor move then seems to take on larger and poetic meaning (narcissism, hopelessness, pettiness are revealed in the eyes, posture, hands etc). This is one of the few performances in American TV in the 80s that is worthy of being ranked with the better film performances of the decade too. Jones here plays this part shrewdly in conception too - it's designed as a never ending litany of bad luck - bad luck choices, bad luck jobs, bad luck killings/crimes and he never begs for your sympathy - he's born to die, his life is a waste, and he knows it too. It's been a while since I've seen it, but one of the things that struck me about this performance is the way he interacts with those around him, initially acting sort of functional at times even if not quite "normal." And the people around him don't yet see his behavior as indicative of something potentially more dangerous, even when he becomes increasingly more erratic, but the ultimate path the character takes still seems logical and believable as played by TLJ. Impressive balancing act.
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