Javi
Badass
Posts: 1,532
Likes: 1,622
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Post by Javi on Dec 12, 2020 0:37:33 GMT
Jeremy Irons, Moonlighting - Brit playing a Polish guy adjusting to British ways (with a dash of mischief to trick the system). Lots of shades to the perf, and a central ambivalence--tragic sense of duty or traitor? Who or what does this guy answer to? Irons plays him with a cleverness about to turn on itself at any moment: here's a dubious team player who's also unselfish(!) True to Irons' style there's minimal fuss to the performance but there's a nakedness too, which you might not get outside of this and Dead Ringers. One of those cases where the perf is the film: a bright mind, a submissive spirit... one who's only ever half-awake.
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Post by Viced on Dec 12, 2020 1:19:57 GMT
I appreciate what Cannavale did on an individual level, but I just don't think he works in the confines of the season. I think I once likened his performance to introducing a De Palma character into a Scorsese/Coppola project; he's operating on such a different wavelength that I can't really buy him in that world. But I will say, the motherfucker has his moments, especially when he's acting against Ivo Nandi (who is so so so underrated as Joe "the Boss" Masseria). I don't disagree... but like I said, Bobby made it work. But I do think the batshit-ness of his character was actually needed in season 3 to level out the show from the boring AF stuff like Margaret at the hospital and Gillian Darmody's leaky roof. Definitely agreed on Ivo Nandi... he's pitch perfect.
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Post by stephen on Dec 12, 2020 1:26:48 GMT
I appreciate what Cannavale did on an individual level, but I just don't think he works in the confines of the season. I think I once likened his performance to introducing a De Palma character into a Scorsese/Coppola project; he's operating on such a different wavelength that I can't really buy him in that world. But I will say, the motherfucker has his moments, especially when he's acting against Ivo Nandi (who is so so so underrated as Joe "the Boss" Masseria). I don't disagree... but like I said, Bobby made it work. But I do think the batshit-ness of his character was actually needed in season 3 to level out the show from the boring AF stuff like Margaret at the hospital and Gillian Darmody's leaky roof. Definitely agreed on Ivo Nandi... he's pitch perfect. I'm curious -- is this your first time watching the series? I'm gonna be extremely interested in seeing which actors grace your top ten for the series. They really dropped the ball with Margaret in Season 3 (although I do think they recover it somewhat in Season 4), but as great as Gretchen Mol is, Gillian is an artifact that really sticks out like a sore thumb for the rest of her tenure on the show.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 15, 2020 22:49:32 GMT
Sara Paxton - Cheap Thrills (2013)Maybe great is stretching it, but deceptively calm with undertones and alluringly sexual in a way that suggests her brand of madness is tied to her beauty and EVERYBODY wanting her all the time........how's a girl supposed to get turned on anyway? ...........and like the movie itself it's funny, sick and well if not great something to see at least.....
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Post by JangoB on Dec 15, 2020 23:04:45 GMT
I mean, this absolutely great movie is taken for granted on the whole, but Pacino's performance is definitely undervalued too. It's just so utterly heartbreaking. How much the shadow of his sins looms over him, how much he strives towards legitimacy knowing he cannot truly escape what his whole legacy represents, how much he loves his children, how much pain he experiences...That primal scream (you know which one) is beyond haunting. Sort of seems like an undeniable performance to me. And in an undeniable film too. Which a lot of people deny, of course.
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Post by TerryMontana on Dec 16, 2020 6:24:13 GMT
I mean, this absolutely great movie is taken for granted on the whole, but Pacino's performance is definitely undervalued too. It's just so utterly heartbreaking. How much the shadow of his sins looms over him, how much he strives towards legitimacy knowing he cannot truly escape what his whole legacy represents, how much he loves his children, how much pain he experiences...That primal scream (you know which one) is beyond haunting. Sort of seems like an undeniable performance to me. And in an undeniable film too. Which a lot of people deny, of course. In 1990 he got nominated for Dick Tracy, instead...
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 16, 2020 9:41:31 GMT
I mean, this absolutely great movie is taken for granted on the whole, but Pacino's performance is definitely undervalued too. It's just so utterly heartbreaking. How much the shadow of his sins looms over him, how much he strives towards legitimacy knowing he cannot truly escape what his whole legacy represents, how much he loves his children, how much pain he experiences...That primal scream (you know which one) is beyond haunting. Sort of seems like an undeniable performance to me. And in an undeniable film too. Which a lot of people deny, of course. In 1990 he got nominated for Dick Tracy, instead...Pacino in 1990 could have been the first male double Oscar nominee ever too (which he was in 1992) - he was double Golden Globe nodded for both .............But those are the breaks as Pachanga memorably says to him in Carlito's Way ............... It Bees That Way Sometimes Papi........
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Post by JangoB on Dec 16, 2020 9:43:30 GMT
I mean, this absolutely great movie is taken for granted on the whole, but Pacino's performance is definitely undervalued too. It's just so utterly heartbreaking. How much the shadow of his sins looms over him, how much he strives towards legitimacy knowing he cannot truly escape what his whole legacy represents, how much he loves his children, how much pain he experiences...That primal scream (you know which one) is beyond haunting. Sort of seems like an undeniable performance to me. And in an undeniable film too. Which a lot of people deny, of course. In 1990 he got nominated for Dick Tracy, instead... In which he's also terrific
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Post by TerryMontana on Dec 16, 2020 10:56:56 GMT
In 1990 he got nominated for Dick Tracy, instead... In which he's also terrific Imo he was fine in DT but exceptional in GF III. He definitely deserved a nod for this but not that much for playing Big Boy Caprice. Just my two cents.
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Post by Viced on Dec 17, 2020 20:43:25 GMT
Geraldine Page in The Trip to BountifulBen Mankiewicz describing Page's performance in his TCM intro: "Layered, intense, spicy when needed, and contemplative as well. Watching her settle into this role without even saying a word will take your breath away." Yes... well said Ben. He also says it's one of the best performances he's ever seen, which I'd have to agree with. And I'll add earnest and heartbreaking to the list of adjectives. Her desperation seemed so authentic that I wanted to smack the shit out of all the characters that were keeping Carrie away from her damn trip to Bountiful. And she got me a bit misty on more than one occasion (bus station breakdown especially). But I felt robbed of a scene where she visited the graves of her two children though... where the hell was that? Some wonderful moments from John Heard as well... and Rebecca De Mornay was a lovely presence. And Jessie Mae is one of the most evil villains in the history of cinema.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 22, 2020 10:49:38 GMT
Azura Skye - The Swerve (2020)One of the great movie performances I've seen all year (maybe THE best female movie performance) - this is an out of left-field one - by an actress who never registered for me much either. But she knows how to play THIS woman - and every choice she makes is conveyed to us in an escalating series of reveals where what she shows us about this character is eventually as clear as what was initially baffling/complex. She also is boundary pushing in how her sexuality is expressed here - not merely written - but played out by the actress herself in her choices. I criticized Mark Rylance (a lot) this year for an incomplete, facile and overpraised turn imo in Waiting For The Barbarians - playing noble at the expense of the characters ego........ Skye here does the exact opposite - she's detailing and suppressing ego at the risk of the audience understanding it - like in life. If the actress giving this performance was a bigger name........well they'd be flooding her with awards tbh...
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Post by MsMovieStar on Dec 22, 2020 11:09:02 GMT
Azura Skye - The Swerve (2020)One of the great movie performances I've seen all year (maybe THE best female movie performance) - this is an out of left-field one - by an actress who never registered for me much either. But she knows how to play THIS woman - and every choice she makes is conveyed to us in an escalating series of reveals where what she shows us about this character is evetually as clear as what was initially baffling/complex. She also is boundary pushing in how her sexuality is expressed here - not merely written - but played out by the actress herself in her choices. I criticized Mark Rylance (a lot) this year for an incomplete, facile and overpraised turn imo in Waiting For The Barbarians - playing noble at the expense of the characters ego........ Skye here does the exact opposite - she's detailing and suppressing ego at the risk of the audience understanding it - like in life. If the actress giving this performance was a bigger name........well they'd be flooding her with awards tbh...
Oh honey, I'll look out for this. Sadly, it's always the same predictable clique when it comes to award time (Meryl just has to fart and there's Oscar buzz)... and I doubt this actress will have the money to mount her own campaign.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 22, 2020 18:46:24 GMT
Josh O'Connor & Emma Corrin, The Crown S4Season 4 was the Diana and Charles show. TV's most deliciously unhappy couple. Both of these performances feel worlds apart, like the characters, but both are rigorously technical. Where O'Connor's heavily mannered, heavily postured performance brilliantly conveys a deeply insecure and pathetically unhappy and stilted man, Corrin's grounded and unassuming warmth combined with the look and the phenomenal voice/accent work (the best the show's seen since Foy) projects a demure warmth and naivete that incenses her fragile elitist husband while ingratiating the masses everywhere she went. O'Connor and Corrin through their acting create individuals who could not be more incompatibly different and explore the toxicity of that dynamic brilliantly in a way that allows you to see and feel the cracks. The technicality is stunning. Pay attention Emmy voters. Nominate these two.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 22, 2020 18:49:46 GMT
Azura Skye - The Swerve (2020)One of the great movie performances I've seen all year (maybe THE best female movie performance) - this is an out of left-field one - by an actress who never registered for me much either. But she knows how to play THIS woman - and every choice she makes is conveyed to us in an escalating series of reveals where what she shows us about this character is evetually as clear as what was initially baffling/complex. She also is boundary pushing in how her sexuality is expressed here - not merely written - but played out by the actress herself in her choices. I criticized Mark Rylance (a lot) this year for an incomplete, facile and overpraised turn imo in Waiting For The Barbarians - playing noble at the expense of the characters ego........ Skye here does the exact opposite - she's detailing and suppressing ego at the risk of the audience understanding it - like in life. If the actress giving this performance was a bigger name........well they'd be flooding her with awards tbh..Oh honey, I'll look out for this. Sadly, it's always the same predictable clique when it comes to award time (Meryl just has to fart and there's Oscar buzz)... and I doubt this actress will have the money to mount her own campaign. Indeed legend.............her studio - Epic Pictures - clearly in over their heads - has pushed this on social media - knowing they've got something but of course with no chance for this .........it's so sad. This poster you see a lot online but since it's all horror niche people saying this no ones cares anyway (the film is not really horror but is in the same way maybe as Safe with Julianne Moore is or The Babadook). Now people could see the film and rave her right now, but no.............they're too busy catching the actual performances that are in the running to be nodded in the first place so around next summer we should get a lot of "You know what performance people totally missed" articles on it. I think it may be on Amazon Prime btw.......
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Post by MsMovieStar on Dec 22, 2020 20:10:04 GMT
Oh honey, I'll look out for this. Sadly, it's always the same predictable clique when it comes to award time (Meryl just has to fart and there's Oscar buzz)... and I doubt this actress will have the money to mount her own campaign. Indeed legend.............her studio - Epic Pictures - clearly in over their heads - has pushed this on social media - knowing they've got something but of course with no chance for this .........it's so sad. This poster you see a lot online but since it's all horror niche people saying this no ones cares anyway (the film is not really horror but is in the same way maybe as Safe with Julianne Moore is or The Babadook). Now people could see the film and rave her right now, but no.............they're too busy catching the actual performances that are in the running to be nodded in the first place so around next summer we should get a lot of "You know what performance people totally missed" articles on it. I think it may be on Amazon Prime btw....... Oh honey, tell me about it! Several years ago I did a movie called Teen Mom's White Ass which had nowhere near fuss that everyone's now making over Ma Rainey's Black Bottom..
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 25, 2020 0:12:11 GMT
Marlon Brando - The Brave (1997)Doing what it took Al Pacino 50 minutes to do in The Local Stigmatic - Brando here does it in just 1 SCENE (and without that very dodgy accent Al) - giving a great, entirely alternative acting turn all by his merely assuming the role at all. Fascinating, suggestive, improvised (?), intellectual, warm and .............frightening. Brando enters this picture right near the start, in a wheelchair and playing the harmonica - no one used props like Brando and that dovetails into a fascinating speech on facing Death and how it can provide the living courage when it's their time to die by viewing it. This all sounds very off the cuff and invented on the spot and played quite believably and surreal simultaneously. It's twisty and terrifying and given the character's true purpose, to have Johnny Depp's character submit to a snuff film from which he will profit, quite sinister. He's unforgettable and unknowable........and then......he's gone.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 28, 2020 23:58:39 GMT
Pedro Pascal in Wonder Woman 1984Riotously entertaining, bumbling, power-mad 80s pastiche Trump-a-like with a lot to prove and a lot of self-loathing to compensate for. Pascal throws himself into the role with total abandon. The energy and charisma and passion he brought to this role is more than any part in a superhero movie deserves quite frankly. He even gets some dramatic bits to knock out of the park towards the end. He's campy and flamboyant and absurd, but also genuinely affecting in the scenes with his son. It's impossible not to have fun with this performance. High-wire delightful madcap brilliance.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 29, 2020 10:36:01 GMT
Luis Tosar - Sleep Tight Tremendous character on the page and in the execution of it from one of Spain's leading actors and you may have seen him in other things (Mann's Miani Vice). By turns terrifying, compassionate, exuding menace and a deep heavy sadness - this movie is a must see (to me anyway) and he centers it, grounds it and makes it combustible until it all goes haywire. About a girl:
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Post by JangoB on Dec 29, 2020 10:53:28 GMT
Jean Dujardin in "Deerskin" is absolutely hilarious, deranged and oddly fascinating. That combination of childlike purity and madness in his eyes is something else. Sick style, too. 2019 was an astonishing year for the Leading Actor category, and both of Dujardin's turns were wonderful.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 30, 2020 11:12:52 GMT
Leandra Leal - A Wolf At The DoorNot merely a surprising performance but one where you're actively baffled on how to read her character at all BECAUSE of the choices the actress makes. This is a genuine anti-heroine performance - I could talk a lot about how actors "like" to play "anti-heroes" while craving their cake and eating it too - meaning they'll play it too exactly in the middle yet not linked together as a manipulative device over audiences. Leal doesn't do that at all - she's maliciously evil and heartbreaking and fragile in overlapping ways which makes the character and how she navigates the contrast all the more fascinating and true. I could picture Huppert playing this part.....and I don't say that very much. It's just a must see portrayal and if I had seen it earlier, well it would have been in my top 20 actress performances - or higher - of the whole 2010s.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 1, 2021 14:41:26 GMT
Anthony Hopkins - The FatherYou cant really get a better fit of actor and role - all the trademark actor Hopkins "tricks" - his halting speech, his "knowing" what he's going to say sounding smart to him before it does to us.......perfectly match this condition and character. What you couldn't have guessed is how differently he'd play this role than the stage version(s).......there's great energy to his portrayal - mental energy and how after he uses it he collapses with mental fatigue, his body withers. He also finds a gallows humor here and a knowing one - when he tells "the nurse" that she'll get to where he is now.....it's rueful and not the first time he's said it either. When he says he was a tap dancer he sells it too doesn't merely speak it. He plays with people (not unlike Hannibal Lecter eh?) and in effect plays himself and when he wants his Mom it's not just because he's scared .......it is because in the complexity and bi-polar extremes of a child and how they react and in the simple truths of how a child navigates/sees the world. If he was my favorite actor (he's one of them), I'd be going nuts raving about this performance....... so with that in mind....... Javi , prepare to go nuts my friend
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Javi
Badass
Posts: 1,532
Likes: 1,622
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Post by Javi on Jan 1, 2021 16:46:39 GMT
These reviews are like Christmas gifts for a Hopkins fan! Can't wait - though I don't know when I'll actually get to see it...
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Post by Viced on Jan 3, 2021 15:24:20 GMT
Carrie Coon & Jude Law in The NestSean Durkin is obviously a talented director... but I think this film would've faltered under its thin script if not for these two performances. Carrie Coon is finally given a post-Leftovers role worthy of her talent and runs with it. She's somehow able to convey so much without even changing her expression... not sure how that's even possible. And she delivers in plenty of bigger moments as well. Jude Law... this honestly might be one of his best performances ever. His enigmatic ambition is so strangely believable, and something like the scene with his mother tells you so much without actually telling you hardly anything at all. I feel like I'm speaking in riddles here... but it's that kind of movie I guess... lol.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 6, 2021 19:30:25 GMT
Barbara Hershey, The Portrait of a Lady (1996) - Oscar nominated and if the 90s didn't have such a bellyful of all-timer supp perfs I'd call it one of the decade's best. Hershey has ravishing composure here and a darker snakelike orbing to her... That curious darkness evolves into something quite unexpected, and she makes it make sense. She breaks as someone as teasing and scheming and "acting" would. She charms and traps....even herself. Hershey is one of my fav actresses, fascinating and deeply underrated....., idk many others who could be on screen so mischievously cruel, or so tender. Two sides she captures here. But it's more than that, she rarely plays roles the same way... And can pull off a lot more than we know. Try to imagine your fav actresses in the Shy People role.... Seems like most would faceplant.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 8, 2021 20:29:43 GMT
“I get a bit sick of words sometimes, don’t you? Let’s have a game…”The Collection (1976) - Loved it. Dir by Michael Apted, 64 min TV Movie with four very good- great-ish perfs. They're the whole thing so I'm posting in this thread. Almost every line of dialogue is barbed and cooked with undertones of disdain and vitriol and teasing. Would pair well with Pinter's other adaptation Betrayal, a cross-current of sexual envy and reproach, all thru a certain wit and formality. There are constant surprises in character behavior and what goes unsaid, like the nature of the Olivier relationship. It's also quite funny, like the grapefruit juice bit. And so many great lines.... McDowell mocking Olivier says “Those church bells have certainly left their mark on you.” Olivier later belittles McDowell and his deviancy - "A certain kind of slum mind is perfectly alright... in a slum..." and Alan Bates epic diss at his wife Mirren about the guy she may have cheated on him with, he goes “There’s nothing to it - everything back to normal - only difference is I’ve come across a man I can respect." RIP Michael Apted....., bumping this gem which is on Youtube.
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