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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 15, 2019 10:14:36 GMT
Kippei Shîna - The Forest of LovePlayed at a level of satirical grotesqueness that you'd think would be hard to sustain for 5 minutes - he somehow sustains it through 2 and 1/2 hours. Warped and sadistic in a black comic funny, and cruel way - I can't imagine a performance that so is indebted to the directors style, serves it and allows the movie to benefit from it. It is beyond villainous into Nic Cage levels of where it is pitched and played.
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Post by Mattsby on Oct 15, 2019 21:16:05 GMT
Pacino; The IrishmanAnother great performance from the king. It's not just that he delivers, it's also how dynamic and surprising he is here, offering anger and stress and a suspicious confidence all over each other at once and so often humorously. There's two major sides to his Hoffa - symbolized by two things: ice cream and a microphone. He's charming and sweet almost like a child, which I didn't expect at all here - and there's two or maybe even three important and memorable ice cream scenes too. It's one of the great defining attachments to the movie. And a microphone - at his union rallies outpouring passion to his supporters, to the press with hubris or else vindictively, and at the court hearings where his integrity is questioned and he's slick/shifty. There's a demanding side to him - again like a kid who needs attention - and there's a proud stubborn side - and there's a defeated side too that Pacino hints to. Notice his eyes - and how he blinks - btwn the moment pictured, a little resentful and watchful, or at a special event later in the movie how he looks at the characters undermining him - against later when he's sort of lost and confused. I predicted before seeing the movie that his perf would be like Donnie Brasco meets City Hall - and that's not too far off. And again, this is sort of classic Pacino - and it's one of his most hilarious perfs - and he filmed this at 78 y/o! That's a lot of fire from a 78y/o. The man is - well, I said it already - a king.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 15, 2019 21:59:03 GMT
Pacino; The IrishmanAnother great performance from the king. It's not just that he delivers, it's also how dynamic and surprising he is here, offering anger and stress and a suspicious confidence all over each other at once and so often humorously. There's two major sides to his Hoffa - symbolized by two things: ice cream and a microphone. He's charming and sweet almost like a child, which I didn't expect at all here - and there's two or maybe even three important and memorable ice cream scenes too. It's one of the great defining attachments to the movie. And a microphone - at his union rallies outpouring passion to his supporters, to the press with hubris or else vindictively, and at the court hearings where his integrity is questioned and he's slick/shifty. There's a demanding side to him - again like a kid who needs attention - and there's a proud stubborn side - and there's a defeated side too that Pacino hints to. Notice his eyes - and how he blinks - btwn the moment pictured, a little resentful and watchful, or at a special event later in the movie how he looks at the characters undermining him - against later when he's sort of lost and confused. I predicted before seeing the movie that his perf would be like Donnie Brasco meets City Hall - and that's not too far off. And again, this is sort of classic Pacino - and it's one of his most hilarious perfs - and he filmed this at 78 y/o! That's a lot of fire from a 78y/o. The man is - well, I said it already - a king. Can't wait to see it - that is now 9 times he's played a real person and this is the 9th time he's triumphed with it......of all the things I praise him for - that may be the most impressive. The second most impressive may be that from 70-79 - the 2010s - he has at least 7 "better than good" film/TV performances .......none of his greatest of all time level rivals in US film history can match that (not Lemmon, Newman, Nicholson, Hackman, Hoffman, or Brando) ........that excludes De Niro who is still active at 76 and chasing it. There's a reason those 2 guys get mentioned all the time
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Post by Mattsby on Oct 15, 2019 22:31:20 GMT
Can't wait to see it - that is now 9 times he's played a real person and this is the 9th time he's triumphed with it......of all the things I praise him for - that may be the most impressive. The second most impressive may be that from 70-79 - the 2010s - he has at least 7 "better than good" film/TV performances .......none of his greatest of all time level rivals in US film history can match that (not Lemmon, Newman, Nicholson, Hackman, Hoffman, or Brando) ........that excludes De Niro who is still active at 76 and chasing it. There's a reason those 2 guys get mentioned all the time He leaves you wanting more too - it's a supporting role for sure which I haven't really mentioned but it's sizable. His batting avg playing real people is amazing and I hope he gives us a few more - when he dares he rarely fails, that's why I daydream what his Dali or Onassis would look like! and it bodes well for The Hunt too (four months away, holyyy) as we've said there's a clear inspiration for that role, for Pacino to dig into - what does he say in interviews? the material on real people gives him "a way in" or something like that. I'd actually put Pac very high on a 2010s best of decade actor list; I wonder if we can count that extended version of OUATIH once that drops...
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 16, 2019 8:27:45 GMT
One of 3 male American actors you can legitimately call the best since Brando without being laughed at (by me at least), Jack Nicholson gives a performance that manages to typify and transcend an Antonioni picture, The Passenger (re-watch). People like to criticize Nicholson for always being "Jack" but he did stretch when he had to and does so here - there is nothing in how he plays this character that makes you doubt his profession, his decisions or his fate. Improves on re-watches and when you realize what a desperate and sadly tragic man this character is - he throws his life away in a moment. It's beautiful work that rewards your patience.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 17, 2019 11:14:39 GMT
John Cassavetes - Marvin & Tige (1983) - re-watch A very cheap, almost TV-ish level project involving Cassavetes as an aging drunk who become a surrogate father figure to a black child, the film is corny in all ways Cassavetes himself transcends. He treats the child as an adult and patterns his vocal delivery in a way that sort of balances the line between straightforwardness and empathy - that cuts internally too. He is great here - he often was as an actor - and in several scenes he flat out breaks your heart rather than the kid, script be damned.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 18, 2019 9:35:51 GMT
Well, certainly the best TV actor going at the moment (by far) - and when he's done he may even rival Olivier in TV (not kidding, look it up, he's only 43) - Benedict Cumberbatch - is at his complex, reptilian best in Brexit. A talky, slightly dull but quite good for what it is HBO film where Cumberbatch completely steals it from his prodigiously gifted co-star Rory Kinnear (quite good) with a characterization almost bursting with details and more than a hint of mad narcissism. He may not get an Emmy nomination for this ........but he'd deserve yet another one.
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Post by TerryMontana on Oct 18, 2019 18:29:47 GMT
Just re-watched the Deer Hunter. I really loved the performances of all the main characters. Even Dzundza and Savage. But the stand-outs are De Niro, Walken and Streep. Even if Walken was the only one who won an Oscar for thes movie, I strongly believe De Niro was the real tour de force here, in one of his best performances ever.
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Post by fiosnasiob on Oct 19, 2019 11:30:08 GMT
Antonio de la Torre - El Reino. Not as great as friends were saying, I sometimes have problem with Antonio de la Torre and it's not really his fault, he's a brillant actor but his tiny body and especially his voice can make it harder for him to sells a character to me. And it's the case here but I won't deny his full commitment to the part.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 20, 2019 10:13:08 GMT
Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson - The Sunset Limited (re-watch)One of the many myths about TV is that movie snobs think big names can just show up and just win an Emmy or get an Emmy nod even - if it was that easy a lot more actors would have Triple Crown victories I guess.......that isn't true (especially now) and this marvelously acted 2 person back and forth is proof. Neither was nodded both could have easily, reasonably won. Tommy Lee Jones is as good here as he's ever been (which is saying a lot), Jackson too and this piece has always deeply moved me - I can't imagine it being played any better and more on target. Every line on Jones' face carries the gravity of a thousand deaths and sorrows, every sigh of exasperation from Jackson carries an uneasy undercurrent of knowing.
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Javi
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Post by Javi on Oct 20, 2019 13:07:21 GMT
Barbara Loden in Wanda - I have Mattsby to thank for this (found out this movie existed through a post of his). A highly individual turn that at times seems like a non-performance but it's definitely not that. A woman who, helplessly at first, willingly later on, becomes a pawn in other people's lives after ruling out her own life as irrelevant. Loden plays her as a complete bystander without the slightest interest in what it might mean to feel alive until she (finally) does, then it's all stripped from her. The movie itself is quite amazing, ingenious and (memorably) barren, though maybe not as observant as it could've been.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 21, 2019 21:19:39 GMT
Dennis Franz - Hill Street Blues episode A Hill Of BeansThe Joe Pesci of his day ......of TV anyway.....who retired early and here was stupendous as Sal Benedetto, a corrupt cop that predates Bad Lieutenant and a character so interesting he could center a show on his own........or a movie.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Oct 22, 2019 0:29:41 GMT
Rewatched The Exorcist III a couple days ago. No one rages like George C. Scott. His outbursts are my favorite thing about cinema. And for that matter, Brad Dourif mounts a compelling case that his is one of the most disturbing and menacing serial killer performances ever.
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Post by stephen on Oct 23, 2019 19:37:35 GMT
In a remarkable resurgence this last decade, Don Johnson tops it all off with a mesmerizing, charming, swaggering turn that shows he is a far deeper talent than we give him credit for. I watched the pilot, then watched it again because I was utterly enthralled with The Don's work here. Not simply a great performance, it rivals some of the very best Lindelof has ever helmed (and when you're in company that includes Coon, Eccleston, Dowd and Theroux, that's a mighty fine circle). And he's done it in one episode.
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Javi
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Post by Javi on Oct 24, 2019 21:31:46 GMT
Watched two Oscar-winning perfs recently: Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII and Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve, both very fine, highly entertaining. Woodward is surprisingly funny (and so is the film).
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Post by DanQuixote on Oct 25, 2019 14:01:12 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 26, 2019 10:18:30 GMT
Willem Dafoe & Robert Pattinson - The LighthouseIn my review of this film in the Movies thread I asked "were these great performances or great sketches in service of a stunt?"........whichever they were, they certainly were deeply committed - rarely will you see one actor, much less TWO as dedicated to selling the thematic points to an audience. That's good because the shifting dynamics of character, situations and emotional hairpin turns could be a catastrophe - to the extent that The Lighthouse works it does so only because of the full throttled intensity of Dafoe & Pattinson - if only one worked, then nothing would work.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 26, 2019 20:41:55 GMT
I'm not sure I would call Eddie Murphy "great" in Dolemite but he's better than just good and he's so good he carries the film on his back and has an outside shot at an Oscar nod even. He'd have a better shot at an Oscar nod if the film wasn't so lightly comedic (and so coincidental) but on the other hand that's what keeps it fun and well-paced. That's all Eddie Murphy and when Murphy has to play slightly heavier - the mirror scene, negotiation scenes or scenes where he's trying to keep it all together, he's believably consistent from the character he's developed. As Dolemite himself would say ...... a star turn, in the best sense......... motherfncker :
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Post by TerryMontana on Oct 26, 2019 22:17:43 GMT
I'm not sure I would call Eddie Murphy "great" in Dolemite but he's better than just good and he's so good he carries the film on his back and has an outside shot at an Oscar nod even. He'd have a better shot at an Oscar nod if the film wasn't so lightly comedic (and so coincidental) but on the other hand that's what keeps it fun and well-paced. That's all Eddie Murphy and when Murphy has to play slightly heavier - the mirror scene, negotiation scenes or scenes where he's trying to keep it all together, he's believably consistent from the character he's developed. As Dolemite himself would say ...... a star turn, in the best sense......... motherfncker : Just saw the movie and I have exactly the same thoughts: Piece of cake for him to deliver all those comedic scenes. He was solid in the dramatic ones also, but these were very few. He carries the whole movie by himself and he is the best Murphy we've seen in years (along with the really underrated Mr. Church which I liked). Very difficult to get a nod. If this was more dramatic and the year less strong, he could stand a chance.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 27, 2019 9:21:05 GMT
Coluche - Tchao Pantin (1983) (re-watch)A sort of modern crime/revenge film starring Coluche - a comic actor in very somber form - in a film by Claude Berri that extracts every ounce of emotion from the slight premise. If anything it reminds you of The Pawnbroker and Coluche who won a Best Actor César Award here is wrenching and unforgettable.
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Post by Mattsby on Oct 28, 2019 2:30:18 GMT
Going back a couple watches, forgot this one...... Mary Maude in The House That Screamed (1969) - there are three arguable leads one of which a very good Lilli Palmer, another is this British actress in her debut perf - one of only a few non-Spanish cast/crew. For a career that spans thirty years she only appeared in seven movies, mostly cheap euro-horrors and one big one w/ a great cast (I've n/s) Scorpio '73. But she never did break out although this was a huge success in Spain and she was very pretty with a sort of piercing presence on screen already; seems she had some bad luck with projects. It's a striking perf, sadistic and manipulative and power-hungry, kinda sexy, but she gets a sequence later in the movie that takes the perf a little deeper, that despite being cruel she has her limits.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 28, 2019 9:43:57 GMT
Darren McGavin - The Night Stalker (1972 TV film)The genre "detective/horror film" never quite works (Angel Heart, Cast A Deadly Spell) though it should work all the time. This terrifically entertaining "reporter/horror film" gets amazing mileage out of what its more famous competitors don't - that the "facts" can't explain the "truth". Only slightly let down by its too frequent jokes, McGavin is rumpled and note perfect as a bumbling reporter who comes across a genuinely frightening vampire creation with a pitch perfect horror name - Janos Skorzeny - in of all places, sunny Las Vegas. By the end, you feel for his Carl Kolchak here - none of the TV sequels get quite to the one of a kind mix of humor, terror, romanticism pulled off in the original TV film.
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 29, 2019 9:01:33 GMT
Charlize Theron - Devil's AdvocateMaybe not the first thing you think about in this (devilishly) entertaining film, but she is so good in this she could have legit been nominated for BSA and I wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with it at all. By turns innocent, sexy as hell, sad, confused, lost she takes a stock supporting role and wrings so much out of it you just knew big things were coming her way. The devil is in the details, with Keanu Reeves below:
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Post by TerryMontana on Oct 29, 2019 20:33:46 GMT
Amazing performance by both of them!!! Two very different people who finally become more than friends. As Hackman says near end "we think alike".
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 29, 2019 21:07:32 GMT
I often say no actor has the amount of good or especially great performances on film/TV as Pacino......well in terms of his best scenes, the fountain scene is definitely one and it's the scene that typifies him when he's really on his game - he's funny and gradually heartbreaking and the first time you see it, it's astonishing ........but every time you see it after you see something new. At one point - and we see the back of Pacino only at first, when we see him again his eyes have changed - after being pulled off the "lion" sculpture by Hackman ("Lion" on the lion) he says something like - "I want to fight her.........I'm not a fighter" whatever he says there exactly (and it may be completely improvised even), is almost beyond performance even to see Hackman is his equal throughout the film, it's an acting triumph for them both in that movie.....
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