speeders
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Post by speeders on Jan 9, 2021 2:07:40 GMT
Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn in "Pieces of a Woman".
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Post by dadsburgers on Jan 9, 2021 5:36:01 GMT
Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn in "Pieces of a Woman". I was gonna say the whole ensemble (except Sarah Snook)-- even the sister and brother-in-law did a lot with their screen time
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 9, 2021 22:10:07 GMT
Garance Marillier & Ella Rumpf - Raw (2016/2017)Mentioned this last night in the "Last Film You Saw" thread and how genuinely unwatchable this was in 1 scene - maybe it won't be to you - but I had to look away and I'm like the manliest guy you know (oh shut up). Here playing sisters the movie rides the rail of disturbing and disturbingly erotic - or wrongly erotic. As the sisters these two actresses achieve a beautiful and natural effect through some entirely "unnatural" scenes that could be laughable (but aren't). Marillier is the stunner here with Rumpf in crucial support make this worth seeing - they're just great and very far out there.
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Post by themoviesinner on Jan 16, 2021 16:40:42 GMT
Per Oscarsson - Hunger ( Sult) (1966) - Absolutely fantastic performance in a very tricky role. Oscarsson portrays a character that is suffering from extreme poverty, is starving and his condition just worsens as the film progresses, yet he is also proud and arrogant and doesn't want to reveal his condition to anyone he interacts with. It's a performance both funny and sad, both charming and devastating and it's an incredible portrayal of a man that doesn't lose his humanity despite being on the verge of insanity due to his starvation. Oscarsson won the best actor Palme D'or for this performance in 1966 and deservingly so.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 18, 2021 19:09:52 GMT
Paul Winfield - King (1978) - I know, what a coincidence! Actually been on my to-see list for far too long and figured when better? Lotta perfs here leave their mark - Art Evans, Ossie Davis, Al Freeman Jr, Howard Rollins Jr. It's a lot (4 1/2 hr running time?) and on Youtube but annoyingly broken up into 10 minute blocks. But the length goes away bc it's carried so well by Winfield with enormous presence and charm and heart - he can be so forceful without ever overplaying it and it's a perf consistently turning internal, riding over doubt. "You never get over being frightened, you think you do but it's always there around some corner, waiting for you. You have no control over it." Winfield was so prolific, and important, on tv. Mission Impossible, Horror at 37000 Feet, Roots Next Gen, Angel City, For Us the Living, Go Tell It On the Mountain, Brewster Place, etc. He's very good or very great across these - or at least fun in the early ones - and some are virtually never mentioned anywhere. And how the hell did he lose the Emmy for this??
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Post by isabelaolive on Jan 19, 2021 0:55:04 GMT
Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona in Vagabond (1985)
This was the first film I saw from Agnes Varda and I think it was a good start. A raw film, direct but at the same time sensitive. It is also the first film I watch with Sandrine, an actress that I always see being praised by critics and film buffs and now I understand why. Her performance in this film is that kind of natural and subtle performance that usually many American actors try to deliver but fail. I liked the fact that Varda chose not to make Mona an easy character to sympathize with, the fact that she didn’t settle down and didn’t always accept the help they offered made the character more interesting. Now I intend to watch "La Cérémonie (1995)" with Isabelle Huppert, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the performance that most consider the best performance of Sandrine's career.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 21, 2021 3:27:32 GMT
Joe Pesci - Raging Bull (1980)Seen this a few times but not in a long time and I'm singling out one aspect I've been wrong about. Pesci isn't just really good here - he's great. Pauline Kael's long review (which makes a lot of smart points) says, "It’s Pesci’s picture, if it’s anybody’s" - she explains why. What's odd is that Ebert's review at the time doesn't mention Pesci once, but his later and better review in 1998 claims "Pesci's performance is the counterpoint to De Niro's, and its equal." He's come around like I have on Joe's Joey..... a performance so nuanced and heartbreaking in how aware he is of Jake yet can never figure an escape. Even when he says "No" he knows that won't do. There's a subtle, trying, but failing tone to him around Jake. Take the "You f my wife" scene - he's brotherly, slightly ingratiating, slightly scared, deflective, defensive, and pissed off, or faking rage, but actually fed up. Even his last scene, without much of any dialogue or even eye contact with Jake, Pesci walks and moves crunched-in like he's pushing thru something in the air that's never went away. The movie would be a cinderblock without him.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 22, 2021 11:03:43 GMT
John Malkovich - Of Mice and Men (1992)Amazingly risky performance by Malkovich here that could invite parody but would be wrong if it did - and on the line he walks between a gentleness and a horror - not at just at what he can do but that is done to him, all the time. I always talk about how great he is at playing a sort of all consuming self-hatred - a self-loathing which other American actors - better ones than him even, avoid because they either can't do it or don't know how to incorporate it ........but here he can't play or use that at all - it's outside the characters he usually likes - and outside this one. So he finds all kinds of fascinating other paths to play this very different, seemingly "simple" guy - and it's a very theatrical performance in its smarts and nuances. One of the best touches is how his physical acting can sway from powerful/intimidating to scared/fearful and how his mind and body are never quite in sync........and how he can go from frightened to frightening.
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Post by Viced on Jan 28, 2021 2:05:29 GMT
Diane Lane in Let Him GoShe almost made me cry tbh. Hits very hard emotionally even though it's a low-key performance for the majority of the film... and when she gets some bigger moments to sink her teeth into, that's when she really wrecked me. Overall an incredibly authentic and lived-in performance that elevates the film... and she brought out the best in Costner as well.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 28, 2021 20:17:24 GMT
Emma Booth - Hounds of Love (2016)Remarkable, charismatic and fragile performance that functions as part of a duo - TWO duos - and alone with herself. There is absolutely no need for this performance to be this psychologically astute and if it was not, there's be no reason to see the film. I compared this movie to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Cruising in the "Last Films You Saw" thread and in its ugliness and luridness of concept and it is - except this is a female character who actually drives and holds together the piece - it's a no win role on paper .....until she played it.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 28, 2021 22:33:11 GMT
Fred Gwynne - Pet Sematary (1989) - "What we did was.....a secret thing." Maybe not that great of a perf but lotta great line readings and Gwynne, who I always enjoy, owns and even saves a lot of scenes, adding sad, ginger, guilted touches to his overalled neighbor Jud. I know stephen is a fan of his perf.
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Post by stephen on Jan 28, 2021 22:41:56 GMT
Fred Gwynne - Pet Sematary (1989) - "What we did was.....a secret thing." Maybe not that great of a perf but lotta great line readings and Gwynne, who I always enjoy, owns and even saves a lot of scenes, adding sad, ginger, guilted touches to his overalled neighbor Jud. I know stephen is a fan of his perf. No, I would absolutely call this a great performance. It's showy without overwhelming the film around him (although it's tough for him not to, considering that very little about the actual film is on his level). It immediately fixates him in that role and it's such an easy part to parody and satirize ( South Park has a great bit with his character that it trots out every so often and I love it), but Gwynne's work is nuanced and heartfelt and he exudes gravitas in ways that few people not named Morgan Freeman are able to do so readily. I think what hurts Gwynne's portrayal of Jud overall is something outside of his control: his character's guilt over being party to the Timmy Baterman storyline (wherein the Wendigo, through Baterman, reveals that it knows Jud's sins), his staggering grief at his wife's death, and then the final brutal showdown with the Wendigo (in Gage's body) where it hurts him using Norma in the rawest, most harrowing way possible. I read that chapter sometimes and imagine Gwynne's rage and helplessness and oh, oh, what could have been. Definitely a great performance. Hell, I nominate him. It's just that the film doesn't give him the juice he needs to get him over the line for a win against Bruce Dern (my personal win that year) or Connery.
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 28, 2021 22:54:16 GMT
Fred Gwynne - Pet Sematary (1989) - "What we did was.....a secret thing." Maybe not that great of a perf but lotta great line readings and Gwynne, who I always enjoy, owns and even saves a lot of scenes, adding sad, ginger, guilted touches to his overalled neighbor Jud. I know stephen is a fan of his perf. No, I would absolutely call this a great performance. It's showy without overwhelming the film around him (although it's tough for him not to, considering that very little about the actual film is on his level). It immediately fixates him in that role and it's such an easy part to parody and satirize ( South Park has a great bit with his character that it trots out every so often and I love it), but Gwynne's work is nuanced and heartfelt and he exudes gravitas in ways that few people not named Morgan Freeman are able to do so readily. I think what hurts Gwynne's portrayal of Jud overall is something outside of his control: his character's guilt over being party to the Timmy Baterman storyline (wherein the Wendigo, through Baterman, reveals that it knows Jud's sins), his staggering grief at his wife's death, and then the final brutal showdown with the Wendigo (in Gage's body) where it hurts him using Norma in the rawest, most harrowing way possible. I read that chapter sometimes and imagine Gwynne's rage and helplessness and oh, oh, what could have been. Definitely a great performance. Hell, I nominate him. It's just that the film doesn't give him the juice he needs to get him over the line for a win against Bruce Dern (my personal win that year) or Connery. You know what, you're right. Can I bury my post in the pet sematary so it can come back properly praising Gwynne? He's great. For '89 I love Bruce Dern and Aiello... but my win would go either Ed Harris/Jacknife or Arthur Kennedy/Signs of Life. And yup, Gwynne would make my lineup. I haven't read the book - I was expecting a disaster here tbh but I actually liked the movie just fine. Great opening credits score and sound design throughout, it's creepier than I expected, and Gwynne ups it all.
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Post by stephen on Jan 28, 2021 22:58:59 GMT
No, I would absolutely call this a great performance. It's showy without overwhelming the film around him (although it's tough for him not to, considering that very little about the actual film is on his level). It immediately fixates him in that role and it's such an easy part to parody and satirize ( South Park has a great bit with his character that it trots out every so often and I love it), but Gwynne's work is nuanced and heartfelt and he exudes gravitas in ways that few people not named Morgan Freeman are able to do so readily. I think what hurts Gwynne's portrayal of Jud overall is something outside of his control: his character's guilt over being party to the Timmy Baterman storyline (wherein the Wendigo, through Baterman, reveals that it knows Jud's sins), his staggering grief at his wife's death, and then the final brutal showdown with the Wendigo (in Gage's body) where it hurts him using Norma in the rawest, most harrowing way possible. I read that chapter sometimes and imagine Gwynne's rage and helplessness and oh, oh, what could have been. Definitely a great performance. Hell, I nominate him. It's just that the film doesn't give him the juice he needs to get him over the line for a win against Bruce Dern (my personal win that year) or Connery. You know what, you're right. Can I bury my post in the pet sematary so it can come back properly praising Gwynne? He's great. For '89 I love Bruce Dern and Aiello... but my win would go either Ed Harris/Jacknife or Arthur Kennedy/Signs of Life. And yup, Gwynne would make my lineup. I haven't read the book - I was expecting a disaster here tbh but I actually liked the movie just fine. Great opening credits score and sound design throughout, it's creepier than I expected, and Gwynne ups it all. I absolutely recommend the novel. It's short, it's dirty, it's dark (King's darkest novel, honestly, and it is the one that he thought was too dark to publish, and he almost didn't), and no film adaptation can do it justice. There's a superb audiobook Michael C. Hall does of it that's a fantastic way to spend a weekend listening to, and there are sequences in it that I dare you to listen to with the lights off. I actually think the updated version, toothless at it is, got the casting right for Louis and Rachel. I mean, it's giving them so little to work with, but Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz are giving it 1000%. I just wish there was a time-portal we could use to bring back '89-era Fred Gwynne and do it properly.
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Drish
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Post by Drish on Feb 6, 2021 15:33:27 GMT
I'm so fascinated by this guy and his performance as Gollum. The way he's voiced him, he evokes a tinge of childlike innocence as well as this terrible inhumane villainy of this little creature and it's so masterful. Such a shame he wasn't nominated or wasn't eligible or what not. Hands down one of my favorite characters I've seen anywhere already and is definitely one of the best supporting performances I've seen. An absolute legend.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 7, 2021 20:11:02 GMT
Joel Edgerton - It Comes At Night (2017)I mentioned this a couple days back and wanted to give him a shout out since it's easy to miss but physically in this part he evokes Crowe/Penn/or a less dweeby McGregor with a beard but he is actually better and less mannered here than any of them would be. He's also kind of great in this specific kind of part - where you are not sure how to read him or his intentions like in The Gift. He's aces in how he suggests he's keeping it together but slipping too. The scene here where he "catches" his house guest (sorta) in a lie is beautifully underplayed and subtle in the best sense. The script tips off the audience, the actor doesn't have too.
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Javi
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Post by Javi on Feb 11, 2021 18:50:47 GMT
Michael Murphy, Tanner '88 - A big reason why this all-out satire of democracy works like it does. He plays it so straight he's funny--the epitome of the characterless politician... so earnest that you'd probably vote for him out of pity. He's also funny in situations that seem unscripted or at least partially improvised (they demoralize him). The performance and the series are prescient and clearly influential... the "traditional politician" couldn't survive much longer in the media age. For real.
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 11, 2021 20:59:31 GMT
Michael Murphy, Tanner '88 - A big reason why this all-out satire of democracy works like it does. He plays it so straight he's funny--the epitome of the characterless politician... so earnest that you'd probably vote for him out of pity. He's also funny in situations that seem unscripted or at least partially improvised (they demoralize him). The performance and the series are prescient and clearly influential... the "traditional politician" couldn't survive much longer in the media age. For real.
This seemed to influence practically everything like it that came after it.... and it was a long, daring endeavor. HBO would air the eps just days after some of the footage was shot. That real campaign trail...a great road for Altman to ride with his chuck-the-script style of understated satire. And his casting... Murphy spot on, some major scenes like his John Lennon monologue ("Biden doesn't like the Beatles, he likes jazz!" ) and that final shot that pushes in on horizontal him as if he's Constance Miller falling into a dream. Also liked Daniel Jenkins as Stringer and the smart, hilariously bold Pamela Reed - they're like the motors of the series.
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 12, 2021 22:33:03 GMT
Dustin Hoffman - Death of a Salesman (1985)There’s a shot earlier in the movie of the bedroom window with Willy’s wife sitting on the bed….and as Hoffman moves closer to her you can quickly see his reflection in a background mirror across the room that kinda makes it look like he’s moving further away at the same time. The brilliant Michael Ballhaus (Fassbinder’s go to cinematographer) often made great use of mirrors. And this moment, that I read too much into, made me think of how Hoffman plays Willy. It’s such a lively perf but always touching pain…. he’s so active, stacking and stacking (thinking, babbling, remembering), but always losing. He’s like a sewer conjuring things to drain. There’s amazing physicality too, not just the aging - how he’s always pointing around like a sprinkler, to things no longer there or never there, or why he doesn’t look at his own eyes when he looks in the mirror…. Hoffman makes it so every move matters bc he might at any moment break. Like the masterfully acted glass of milk scene, he doesn’t necessarily need a scene partner, though the rest of the cast is very very good. I was especially floored by the Jon Polito office scene - Hoffman is monumental there. Such stressed, failing charm it’s devastating to see. There’s a moment where it’s like he can’t even hold a smile, he can’t fake it anymore, the smile bounces back…. and he even almost misses the chair when he goes to sit. We get a key, kinda funny, favorite line of mine: “Don’t you have a radio in the car?” “Well yeah but whoever thinks of turning it on?” Tldr: Hoffman arguably the best Willy Loman? I checked out what I could find online - Cobb (’66) is strong and a totally different tempo as Willy, slower and squarely sympathetic. Dennehy (’00) has that size of his that works in its own way, he puts a thunderclap of isolated rage into his. These are major stage guys but personally lack the friction I loved in Hoffman’s. Who comes closest and maybe on the same level - Fredric March (’51) in a great, soul-crushed perf… there’s something in his Willy Loman wild and disturbed, barely reined, lingering, with his eyes wide as if possessed. This is one of the great characters… would’ve loved to have seen PSH. Tldr the tldr: Best perf of ’85.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 14, 2021 11:46:09 GMT
Camille Cottin - Call My Agent! (TV/Netflix)The beguiling middle aged (42 now!) French star of TV's most insightful show - about movies and more - Call My Agent! - Cottin is a tornado of laughs, brains, sex appeal (a former lover calls her a "monster" and a "hyena" in how she devours people ) and twisted/raw emotions bubbling up to the surface. She's always authentically and deceptively funny (and mean!) - and can be stop on a dime poignant too......and marvelously self deprecating - in Season 2 Episode 1 - a childhood schoolmate says to her "you changed your name....... but not your nose" .......and her reaction shot to that comment is just beyond priceless. In 2021 she's in Stillwater and Gucci and when people in the US catch up with this great TV show, well......2021 is her breakthrough year.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 15, 2021 10:50:48 GMT
LaKeith Stanfield - Judas and the Black MessiahAn ugly mirror distortion of whatever he's around - Fred Hampton had a cause and the FBI had a cause too - but William O'Neal is a painfully pathetic funhouse version of both, merely playing at having a cause but serving someone ELSES's purpose - a punchline to his own inevitable ending. When I watched this I thought what a great part this would have been for the young Don Cheadle - that's how good and specific Stanfield is here - shaping this character and never once playing mannered or coasting on whats written but using it - he never asks you to understand or sympathize with a monster of his own creation. He starts this movie off of by conning people out of their cars, pretending to be the FBI and he ends up asking the actual FBI for a car to con people out of much higher stakes. That's a great character arc and Stanfield nails every contrary piece of character bravado and the actuality - from wanting to be a big man, but knowing you're really a small one........ and every horrible detail in between. The man behind the wheel.....but not really:
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Post by wilcinema on Feb 15, 2021 17:47:02 GMT
Peter Mullan in My Name Is JoeIn the hands of another actor, this character would have become a piece of misery porn. With him, Joe becomes funny, dark, romantic, tragic. Every time I watch Mullan I always end up thinking he's one of the most underrated actors of the last couple of decades
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Post by wilcinema on Feb 15, 2021 19:48:57 GMT
Another one I saw last week actually Campbell Scott in Roger DodgerVery tricky role to pull off, because if you go overboard you make the guy insufferable. If you don't go deep enough, it will seem slight. Scott manages to walk that thin line. Even though you know why he speaks like he does, he acts like he does, it's never explicit. For such a vocal performance, it's very interiorized. He could cut his dialog by half, and it would still work. Magnificent performance.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 20:49:54 GMT
I absolutely recommend the novel. It's short, it's dirty, it's dark (King's darkest novel, honestly, and it is the one that he thought was too dark to publish, and he almost didn't), and no film adaptation can do it justice. I know this is a film thread, but this was the darkest book that I've ever read. There were times reading that I stopped because how deep it goes into death. I kept thinking about my Grandmother who passed away recently. But when I finished it, I was less afraid of things because "sometimes dead is better". You go through it in this book never mind the supernatural aspects of it. I second reading it and I will do a reread soon because its my favourite King just ahead of the super creepy 'Salems Lot.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 20:52:49 GMT
Pretty sure I posted this before, but this one right here.
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