Archie
Based
Eraserhead son or Inland Empire daughter?
Posts: 3,684
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Post by Archie on Feb 15, 2021 20:57:15 GMT
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 16, 2021 18:30:29 GMT
Al Freeman Jr - My Sweet Charlie (1970) - “I’ll cook ‘em, if you peel ‘em.”Freeman is one of the strongest actors with the fewest movies, only fifteen or a few more if we include TV Movies like this (though it had a post-broadcast theatrical release). This is a perf that feels like it could stand with any... he's completely commanding, doesn't sugarcoat it for a second, with a deep-seated fear and fury to him, and great smarts that he plays with some teasing humor and pride. This two-hander would make a helluva double ft with the searing Dutchman - were those two his only starring roles on screen? Shot in Texas in '68, it was noted how badly the locals harassed the actors during the shoot. When this was released in Jan '70 on NBC it was huge - across the US almost 50% of TVs during airing were watching this. Pregnant racist teenage runaway Patty Duke from the South meets educated fugitive Freeman from the North (in a role Louis Gosset Jr played on Broadway). Adapted by Link/Levinson, those Columbo creator geniuses... and directed by Lamont Johnson who made daring strides on TV the following year with That Certain Summer (and later, Paul's Case w/ Eric Roberts an underrated one). It gets eight Emmy noms. Patty won (with that famously bizarre acceptance speech; her perf gets better as it goes)..... but a revelatory Freeman, whose competition was Ustinov and Olivier, didn't. Afterward, other than some very good television work (King, Roots) nobody really sees him in the movies until Malcolm X over 20 years later. What the! We really missed out on more from a great talent.
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Post by JangoB on Feb 18, 2021 0:10:42 GMT
I haven't seen "The Lives of Others" in years and although I remembered some moments from the movie, I somehow forgot just how brilliantly moving Ulrich Mühe was in it. One of the truly great eye-based performances to come to mind. A remarkable instance when you actively want the actor to have as little dialogue as possible because his glances are beyond all words.
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Post by Viced on Feb 18, 2021 0:27:01 GMT
Paul Winfield in SounderCicely Tyson and Kevin Hooks were great too... but Winfield hit me the hardest. Certainly one of the best and most powerful fatherly performances I've seen. The look on his face when he was getting driven away to jail... knocked my socks off. Wasn't expecting him to be supporting here, but his presence pretty much looms over the whole film anyway. He felt incredibly authentic to the time period as well.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Feb 19, 2021 21:47:56 GMT
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 21, 2021 11:22:41 GMT
Isabelle Huppert - Call My Agent! (TV/Netflix) - S3, E4 -The GOAT plays herself to riotous and dead on target effect and I loved it even more on a 2nd watch - "The woman doesn't sleep!" and she's "playing Hamlet (no, literally Hamlet........... Scarlett Johansson is Ophelia!)" there are many sly jokes about her persona just in how she's presented here. How she talks to herself - because, we assume, no one else can really keep up with her - how she doesn't suffer fools gladly and in her "death" scene she's shooting here she evokes her Madame Bovary (or is she evoking the Baroness of Elective Affinities?) - because she's done so much that every joke is going to remind you of SOMETHING she's done. Magnifique! No movie role.........or movie set.....or um, car can contain her:
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Post by Longtallsally on Feb 21, 2021 21:47:40 GMT
Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil in La Séparation (1994)
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Post by Viced on Feb 22, 2021 20:56:47 GMT
Damian Lewis in HomelandAbsolute masterclass in intensity, desperation, and internal conflict. For me, only rivaled by Walton Goggins in seasons 5-7 of The Shield when it comes to those departments in television acting. Equally brilliant as the stone-faced enigma and in the HEAVY emotional moments. Also kept you guessing about who Brody really is and what he's really thinking for all three seasons. All-time level stuff.
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Drish
Badass
Posts: 2,018
Likes: 1,753
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Post by Drish on Feb 22, 2021 23:51:38 GMT
Damian Lewis in HomelandAbsolute masterclass in intensity, desperation, and internal conflict. For me, only rivaled by Walton Goggins in seasons 5-7 of The Shield when it comes to those departments in television acting. Equally brilliant as the stone-faced enigma and in the HEAVY emotional moments. Also kept you guessing about who Brody really is and what he's really thinking for all three seasons. All-time level stuff. How's the series as a whole? I'm thinking of starting this but not sure. Either this or Lost.
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Post by Viced on Feb 23, 2021 1:51:00 GMT
How's the series as a whole? I'm thinking of starting this but not sure. Either this or Lost. First two seasons are excellent. The third starts a little slow and wastes too much time on a character that doesn't deserve it, but the quality comes back big time in the second half of the season. Taking a break to catch up on WandaVision now... but then diving back in to the final 5 seasons whether they're up-and-down or not... because Danes and Patinkin (who are also brilliant) deserve it, and because sekula recommended it to me and he loved it all the way through.
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Drish
Badass
Posts: 2,018
Likes: 1,753
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Post by Drish on Feb 23, 2021 2:14:36 GMT
How's the series as a whole? I'm thinking of starting this but not sure. Either this or Lost. First two seasons are excellent. The third starts a little slow and wastes too much time on a character that doesn't deserve it, but the quality comes back big time in the second half of the season. Taking a break to catch up on WandaVision now... but then diving back in to the final 5 seasons whether they're up-and-down or not... because Danes and Patinkin (who are also brilliant) deserve it, and because sekula recommended it to me and he loved it all the way through. Damn I lost contact with sekula I'm really intrigued with the whole concept of Homeland. Might get to it soon then.
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Post by wilcinema on Feb 23, 2021 17:19:26 GMT
Geraldine Page in The Trip To Bountiful
Another role that only a naturally talented actress like Geraldine Page could pull off.
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 23, 2021 18:35:55 GMT
Laurence Olivier - The Entertainer (1960) "I've played in front of them all, y'know." That line, his first in the movie, and this character Archie Rice sort of perfectly ironically calls for and counters the esteemed Olivier. He plays it with great fading verve and evincive desperation. "I wish you'd stop yelling, I can't hear myself shout" he kids, but we know in a way he isn't. His physical look says it all, hair so parted it's like he's beginning to halve, even his gap tooth (really filed down by Olivier) - it's like he's splitting and can only stall the split by the seeming honor of his velocity. I had this thought before he outright says, "See this face? This face can split open with warmth..... But it doesn't matter." Right in the middle of the "angry young man" British new wave, here's a middle aged man who's lost and eludes. Casting here is so key.... in ways they couldn't predict. Even the oddness of Joan Plowright playing her husband's daughter! But also... Alan Bates and Albert Finney (RADA classmates, both in their movie debuts) playing Olivier's sons. One ships off to war for country, the other manages the clowning father, pulling the curtains up to continue him. Outside that, they are also imo the heirs of Olivier's talent - at times meeting and exceeding him. I can't say that about any other Brits (yet).
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 23, 2021 19:31:39 GMT
Laurence Olivier - The Entertainer (1960) "I've played in front of them all, y'know." That line, his first in the movie, and this character Archie Rice sort of perfectly ironically calls for and counters the esteemed Olivier. He plays it with great fading verve and evincive desperation. "I wish you'd stop yelling, I can't hear myself shout" he kids, but we know in a way he isn't. His physical look says it all, hair so parted it's like he's beginning to halve, even his gap tooth (really filed down by Olivier) - it's like he's splitting and can only stall the split by the seeming honor of his velocity. I had this thought before he outright says, "See this face? This face can split open with warmth..... But it doesn't matter." This is one of the great acting pivots in film history I think - and usually it gets lost since his career was so long. When Olivier made this film he had 5 Oscar nominations - 3 for Shakespeare (1 win), 1 for another period piece ( Wuthering Heights) .......it's this role and how he was received that sort of inspired him to try anything and it's after The Entertainer that he starts pushing himself outside of his established reputation. This role and his last 5 nominations were mostly modern (except for Othello (1965)). If you take the best modern Olivier work in this era: The Entertainer, Term of Trial and Bunny Lake Is Missing - some of his best, expansive and incisive work too, he suddenly appeared "modern" and able to be cast too - at the age of 50+ It seems ridiculous to say it "saved his career" but in some ways it actually did.......
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Feb 24, 2021 2:39:37 GMT
yes, Olivier is fantastic in The Entertainer (and he wasn't bad in Spartacus either!) but you know who never gets enough credit for that movie? Roger Livesey, whose successful father character acts as foil to Olivier's desperate and failed prodigal son.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 25, 2021 12:33:54 GMT
Albert Finney - The Playboys (1992)No one plays drunks like Albert Finney but then again, no British actor was better imo on film maybe period anyway. Here in a simple, sweet, love story playing 3rd banana behind Aidan Quinn and Robin Wright - he shakes and jolts the entire piece whenever he's on-screen. As a former alcoholic but still a very much cop - a proud cop - he gives a performance that the the film doesn't deserve and very much can not handle or contain. When he says "I'm not a drinking man" - he means it .......and fears it.......and he wrings every touch of irony and potential tragedy out of such a simple line. In an absolutely throwaway role where you might say - "Why is Finney bothering with this anyway?" he makes it a whole other film in a way about a man whose chance of happiness slips away right before his eyes and who can't stop it. Finney is acting at cross purposes and better purposes than the writer, director and co-stars. It's a terrifying, complex performance and every time he's off-screen you miss seeing him and yet he's so monstrous you hope he doesn't reappear at all.
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 25, 2021 17:39:34 GMT
Love continues for Albert Finney - My Uncle Silas (2001-03) and Karaoke (1996) two series perfs that have taken up my last few nights. Karaoke he plays a whirlwind version of Dennis Potter, there's ache and paranoia and sadness across the perf, and some heavy drinking! I think it peaks early in Ep1 where he's trying to maintain artistic control while mentally losing it (or rather, confusing it). Next 3 eps don't directly focus on him as much, and so, aren't as good. My Uncle Silas he's especially outstanding bc he's in every single scene across 12 episodes. It's a tremendously joyous perf from him, idk if he's ever had such visible fun on screen. He's clearly loving it and so do we. As the knockabout Silas, he charms even the deniers of his charm. It's a pure, good-feeling, and acrobatic perf, with Tom Jones references to boot. No one plays drunks like Albert Finney but then again, no British actor was better imo on film maybe period anyway. This is true and Silas is a featherlight counterpoint to his great and darker portrayals of drunk. Silas never stops drinking ("I never could find any damn use for water" he says lol) and the series actually argues he wouldn't be the same or as winning without it. Imagine that?
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Post by Mattsby on Feb 26, 2021 19:05:21 GMT
Ellie Lambeti - A Matter of Dignity (1958)themoviesinner TerryMontana - fans? One of the best lead actress perfs of the 50s that I've seen. Lambeti 30y/o in A Girl in Black (1956) where she seemed middle aged, a captive of gloom and shame... here, in a BAFTA nominated perf, she seems so much younger, with princess-esque beauty and charm like Audrey Hepburn... and the grace and emotional nuance of Ingrid Bergman. "Why disturb the silence?" she asks. Her lover says "How romantic" but she means something deeper - as she sees the comfort of wealth slipping away. Marriage an opportunity? Family to be saved or marooned? ....Lambeti inherits her family's (and country's?) fear of disgrace. She interestingly contradicts that seriousness with an enchantment and awareness of her lure... So high it is, others only believe her lies. That fateful weight of everything leaves a soul seeking. “You have a lot of admirers. Would you consider selling?” “I’ll count my debts and let you know.”
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Post by themoviesinner on Feb 26, 2021 20:09:41 GMT
Mattsby Ellie Lambeti is heralded here in Greece as the best Greek actresses of all time. She was mostly a theatre actress, though, and her film work is very limited. I've loved all the performances I've seen from her. My favourite is probably A Girl In Black, but her performance in A Matter Of Dignity is also pretty masterful. Glad you've seen some of her work.
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Post by TerryMontana on Feb 26, 2021 22:28:59 GMT
Ellie Lambeti - A Matter of Dignity (1958)themoviesinner TerryMontana - fans? One of the best lead actress perfs of the 50s that I've seen. Lambeti 30y/o in A Girl in Black (1956) where she seemed middle aged, a captive of gloom and shame... here, in a BAFTA nominated perf, she seems so much younger, with princess-esque beauty and charm like Audrey Hepburn... and the grace and emotional nuance of Ingrid Bergman. "Why disturb the silence?" she asks. Her lover says "How romantic" but she means something deeper - as she sees the comfort of wealth slipping away. Marriage an opportunity? Family to be saved or marooned? ....Lambeti inherits her family's (and country's?) fear of disgrace. She interestingly contradicts that seriousness with an enchantment and awareness of her lure... So high it is, others only believe her lies. That fateful weight of everything leaves a soul seeking. “You have a lot of admirers. Would you consider selling?” “I’ll count my debts and let you know.” Didn't think someone in here would be a fan of Lambeti!! A legendary actress of the Greek theatre! Unfortunately I've only seen her in 3-4 films, as she didn't make many movies...
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 27, 2021 12:29:09 GMT
Philippe Noiret - The Old Gun (Le Vieux Fusil) (1975) - Absolutely convincing in a role that should be absolutely preposterous - first of all, how does THIS guy marry Romy Schneider for one thing .........second of all, how does this seeming gentleman - very gentle - morph into something else and make it believable? It's basically JUST because it's Noiret - who is in many ways was an actor whose very presence, his face suggests a ton of life experience so anything is "possible". Noiret was an all-time actor - and like most all-time actors - he can't be summed up by the best roles he played. He isn't "perfect" for the role but the people who are, aren't Philippe Noiret either and that's the whole key - like the very best actors he often transcends "casting" entirely.
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Post by stephen on Feb 27, 2021 15:17:15 GMT
James Urbaniak - Too Old to Die YoungSay what you will about Nicolas Winding Refn's overly indulgent ten-part miniseries, but his casting of comedian James Urbaniak as a monstrous pornographer was a stroke of absolute genius. Refn really is good at coaxing menace out of funny men (i.e. Albert Brooks in Drive), but what Urbaniak does goes above and beyond. This is an insectoid monster in a bolo tie, a soulless beast wearing human skin and cowboy boots.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2021 18:47:39 GMT
Kang-ho Song in A Taxi DriverAs the opportunistic taxi driver who becomes more and more politically conscious, he conveys his character's arc brilliantly and carries the film on his shoulders. Just like the film starts as a comedy and subsequently turns darker, his performance mirrors the change of tone and gradually becomes richer over the course of the film. His monologue when he opens up about his late wife was especially affecting.
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JC/MC
New Member
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Post by JC/MC on Feb 28, 2021 23:15:08 GMT
Frances McDormand and the cast of Nomadland, most notably Swankie and Bob Wells.
“Oh, I see something neat...”
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Mar 3, 2021 3:51:56 GMT
Haysbert & Moore, Far from HeavenI've seen sparks alright. It's remarkable how much feeling these two are able to convey through heavy layers of suburban new England repression and a screenplay that's even more understated than I remembered. The conservative use of dialogue has the effect of heightening the intensity of the violent emotions bubbling beneath exterior discretion. I love the way Haysbert goes all quiet and soft when he whispers over that Bernstein score. "Goodbye, Cathy," his voice breaking ever so slightly. And Moore... "No one would know us there." As close as she can get to a declaration of love but you can read the vulnerability on her face. I love when actors can convey so much under such constraints. The effect is that much more potent.
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