Monday 21 September 2015

Alternate Best Actor 1940: Cary Grant in His Girl Friday

Cary Grant did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Walter Burns in His Girl Friday.

His Girl Friday is an entertaining remake of the Front Page about an editor attempting to get their retiring top writer through various schemes around an up coming state execution.

The major change in this version of the story is that the top writer Hildy has been made into a woman played Rosalind Russell, and that she had been formerly married to the editor played by Grant. Naturally she's attempting to get away from town with her fiancee Bruce played by Ralph Bellamy, because who else would that role be played by? I've covered Grant before in the scheming husband with The Awful Truth where he tried to win back Irene Dunne by tripping up Ralph Bellamy in more ways than one. In that film though Grant portrayed these attempts with a certain meekness about them, and that everything he did was a bit haphazard. Grant with Walter Burns takes a different approach as he makes Walter Burns a much more dominating force in the film as the editor from his earliest scene, as he first hears about Hildy's attempt to leave him and the paper behind permanently, something he obviously intends to put a stop to anyway he can.

Cary Grant is terrific in allowing for a bit of his change from the luckless romantic with an attempt at a scheme brewing. Grant here portrays Walter as a man who absolutely knows his plan from the start, and is technically playing the game every second he's on screen. Grant realizes this within his performance with the sort of ease he always has in a romantic comedy sort of role, but here he does adjust it quite nicely to fit the part of Walter. Grant makes Walter far more active in his methods and Grant does have this certain command about him in any scene, as there is always an underlying confidence as though Walter is already quite sure everything is going to go his way before he even starts his plan. Grant's reactions are great here particularly when Hildy first starts to tell Walter about Bruce. Grant is so hilariously cruel actually in his exceedingly sarcastic manner as he hears every detail about her supposed new life that she's quite happy to start. What's so remarkable is that Grant never loses his innate charm even when he technically is doing some rather reprehensible things to service his plan.

The idea of adding the editor and the writer being romantically involved on paper actually is often the cliche of what someone does in order to ruin an original idea. It's what makes His Girl Friday stand out as a remake, besting the Front Page as a film, and finding new ground in the story through this variation. The variation though is made all the better by having Grant and Rosalind Russell as the divorced team. Russell and Grant are wonderful together. Firstly by just how well both have a grasp on the material, in fact I'd actually say Russell perhaps even bests Grant in this regard. Within that though the two have spectacular chemistry together, but what's so special about it is that they really don't exactly have any romantic scenes in this romantic comedy. The closest it comes is a couple of seconds near the end of the film. The two though to create the idea that the two should be together through their non-romantic interactions throughout the film, as Grant and Russell just make it as though Hildy and Walter seem on the wavelength, particularly in the memorable conclusion of the film.

Grant manages to effortlessly work within the somewhat swift pace of the film and particularly its dialogue which often juggles many things at once. Grant never loses step once as he so well realizes Walter's controlling ways of the whole situation. Whether that is putting on all the supposed charm and a sort of repentant attitude when trying win Hildy again in the early scenes of the film before they sort of join forces but then at a moments notice when dealing with one of his men whose help facilitating everything for him Grant switches perfectly to the fairly cutthroat editor whose eyes show he knows exactly what he's doing. Some of my favorite moments though may be the ones that he shares with Bellamy, as Grant makes Walter on even more of an act than usual as what he says and the way he moves feels so genuine even while he simply comes up with one way after another to imprison the poor guy in order to keep him away from Hildy. Grant is incredibly entertaining here as he makes the most of the dialogue absolutely nailing every one liner he has well making the the dialogue flow beautifully. This is splendid work from Grant and one of his best performances within the genre he was so well known for.

106 comments:

ruthiehenshallfan99 said...

I come home from work and see this. What a pleasant surprise! As I expected from this performance! Not quite a five, but very good!

GM said...

He's amazing here. Rosalind Russell is even better.

Anonymous said...

He was amazing for sure. Ratings and thoughts on Rosalind Russell.

Calvin Law said...

I never quite got the acclaim for this particular film, and I do generally like screwball comedies/Grant. He's not bad at all but I'd probably only give him a 4.

Still, great review. Hoping for a Stewart 5.

Luke Higham said...

Calvin: Me Too. :)

Louis: I know this is extremely early to ask, but what's your most anticipated film for 2016. I'll ask for the rest of your top ten, whenever the 2015 reviews are finished.

Luke Higham said...

Everyone: Your most anticipated film for 2016.

I'll be giving 7, in no particular order.

Hail Caesar!
Rogue One
Assassin's Creed
X-Men: Apocalypse
Midnight Special
Triple Nine
Deadpool

Luke Higham said...

Forgot about Silence and that's my #1.

Anonymous said...

Luke: My most anticipated movies of 2016 are Silence and Hail Caesar.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Which 5 years are you looking forward to the most from the bonus rounds.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: And reasons why you chose those years.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: I'll give you mine.
Pre-1927 (Silent Performances)
1971 (Reed, Finch and Sydow)
1973 (Woodward and Sutherland)
1979 (McDowell/Caligula)
2012 (Mikkelsen Hunt/Royal Affair)

And Wiseau Week (Cage and Redmayne)

Anonymous said...

I think that the year I'm really looking forward for bonus rounds is pre-1927. Can't wait to see Louis' reviews for Lon Chaney in Hunchback and Phantom of the Opera.

RatedRStar said...

I cant wait for the Bonus reviews to start I have got my spreadsheet ready the moment Louis says the first year I am ready lol, I still think we dont need most years to be combined I think there will always be 5 contenders, just need to find them =D.

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: I'm glad that Louis' reviewing really interesting performances such as Crowe in Master And Commander, Murray in The Life Aquatic and Connery in The Offence, which should help gain the necessary amount for a full lineup. :)

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: And Louis has alluded to starting off with 2012. :)

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: My bad, it's Pre-1928.

RatedRStar said...

Ye im, I have kinda mixed feelings if im honest about performances that have already been ranked, being reviewed lol.

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: If that's Louis' Choice, I wouldn't argue with him. I actually would like to see a review for Crowe (A Performance that I love), since he might go up to a 5. I understand how you would feel with Murray since he's a 5 already.

With 1972 for example, I can't really see that many possible 4/4.5s apart from Jack Nicholson in The King Of Marvin Gardens, so I completely understand why he would want to review Connery.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Can I have an updated list for the requests, as I would like to predict ratings for them all.

Michael McCarthy said...

The Big Short trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgqG3ITMv1Q

Anyone else think this could sneak up on us in the Oscar race?

Luke Higham said...

Michael: Saw It earlier and am not particularly interested, so only reviews will sway me on this one, (a la The Martian) I'm afraid.

Anonymous said...

Michael: Not that interested on it.

Anonymous said...

Luke: If Louis is going to review Crowe and Murray, then I would like him to review Newman in BC&SK and DDL in The Crucible.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: We're gonna have to let him decide, though I love your choices. :)

Luke Higham said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: In regards to requesting performances though, Louis should make a rule on choosing performances that he hasn't seen yet.

Anonymous said...

Luke: I think that he would be interested in watching the Tracy-Hepburn movies. Never been a big fan of them, though.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: We'll see, but I hardly think he's gonna be that impressed by them.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: He might like a few, couldn't care less about others.

Anonymous said...

Luke: I don't think so either.

Anonymous said...

Luke: Now that I think about it, I believe that Louis won't like Cooper in Man of the West (1958).

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Have you seen the film yet.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous: Saw a little bit of it. Still need to watch all of it though. The film was directed by Anthony Mann. It received mixed reviews when it came out in 1958. At that time, Godard was a film critic and loved the film so much.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Anything's possible with Louis, so I wouldn't worry about it for now.

Anonymous said...

Luke: Apparently, James Stewart wanted to play the lead of the film so much, but never did, because Mann never sent him the script. Stewart felt betrayed because of this and never vowed to work with Mann. The film also stars Lee J. Cobb by the way.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: That might be a concern as Stewart's way better on a whole than Cooper, but I still wouldn't worry about it.

Robert MacFarlane said...

Louis, did you read the Harry Potter books or just watch the movies? If so, were there any characters you liked better in the books?

Louis Morgan said...

I should note that I will probably only do reviews of pre-listed performances I think are capable of taking the win. As I already plan on doing the non-reviewed winners (Jeff Daniels, Malcolm McDowell).

Luke:

Here are the requests for the bonus rounds:

2012:

Mads Mikkelsen - A Royal Affair.
Bradley Whitford - Cabin in the Woods

2011:

Peter Mullan - Tyrannosaur
Jake Gyllenhaal - Source Code
Ralph Fiennes - Coriolanus
Jakub Gierszal - Suicide Room
Michael Smiley - Kill List
Daniel Henshall - Snowtown

2010:

Riz Ahmed - Four Lions

2008:

PSH - Synedoche New York
Nick Cheung - The Beast Stalker

2005:

Tony Leung - Election
Daniel Auteuil - Caché
Ghassan Massoud - Kingdom Of Heaven

2004:

JGL - Mysterious Skin

2001:

Lie Ye - Lan Yu

2000:

Joaquin Phoenix - The Yards

1999:

Lam Suet - The Mission

1998:

Sean Gullette - Pi

1996:

Max von Sydow - Hamsun

1994:

Tom Cruise - Interview With a Vampire

1987:

Roy Cheung - Prison on Fire

1985:

Aleksei Yevgenyevich Kravchenko - Come and See

1979:

Malcolm McDowell - Caligula
Oliver Reed - The Brood

1971:

Oliver Reed - The Devils
Jon Finch - Macbeth

1965:

Kroner - The Shop on the Main Street.

1961:

Murray Melvin - A Taste of Honey

1960:

Karlheinz Böhm - Peeping Tom

1947:

Chieko Nakakita - One Wonderful Sunday

1938:

Charles Laughton - Sidewalks of London

Robert:

Yes I did read the books. Ron without a doubt as Steve Kloves's love affair with Hermione reduced him to basically "bloody ell". I'd also say Hermione as well since she was made into too much of a Mary Sue. Technically Dumbledore since we had to have the weird Goblet of Fire version of him. Peter Pettigrew I suppose since they removed the characters pseudo payoff from the books (although I don't think it was that strong of a payoff there either).

Robert MacFarlane said...

I always liked book Sirius a lot more. There was a more pitiful edge to his isolation at Grimauld Place that the movie totally glosses over to make him a "cool" godfather.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Kravchenko's no longer a request of mine, since I've had fears that you'll react to him the same way as Leaud in The 400 Blows.

I'd still like to see him get a review anyway.

Louis Morgan said...

Robert:

I'd agree. I think his whole character is a rushed aspect of the series as you really don't get enough of him for his exit to be as devastating as it should be. I'd also agree with you there as I feel his introduction is a very weak aspect of the The Prisoner of Azkaban since he goes from mad to completely sane in a matter of seconds, and I highly doubt that was Oldman's choice.

Robert MacFarlane said...

Any of the characters you liked better in the movies than the books?

Luke Higham said...

My Predicted Ratings. I'm going out on a limb with some of these.
2012:
Mads Mikkelsen - A Royal Affair - 4.5
Bradley Whitford - Cabin in the Woods - 4
2011:
Peter Mullan - Tyrannosaur - 5
Jake Gyllenhaal - Source Code - 4
Ralph Fiennes - Coriolanus - 4.5
Jakub Gierszal - Suicide Room - 3.5
Michael Smiley - Kill List - 4.5
Daniel Henshall - Snowtown - 4.5
2010:
Riz Ahmed - Four Lions - 4
2008:
PSH - Synedoche New York - 5
Nick Cheung - The Beast Stalker - 4
2005:
Tony Leung - Election - 4
Daniel Auteuil - Caché - 4.5
Ghassan Massoud - Kingdom Of Heaven - 4.5
2004:
JGL - Mysterious Skin - 4
2001:
Lie Ye - Lan Yu - 3.5
2000:
Joaquin Phoenix - The Yards - 4.5
1999:
Lam Suet - The Mission - 4
1998:
Sean Gullette - Pi - 3.5
1996:
Max von Sydow - Hamsun - 4.5
1994:
Tom Cruise - Interview With a Vampire - 4.5
1987:
Roy Cheung - Prison on Fire - 4
1979:
Malcolm McDowell - Caligula - 4.5 (The film's reprehensible, but McDowell was really good in my opinion)
Oliver Reed - The Brood - 4.5
1971:
Oliver Reed - The Devils - 5
Jon Finch - Macbeth - 5
1965:
Kroner - The Shop on the Main Street. - 4
1961:
Murray Melvin - A Taste of Honey - 4.5
1960:
Karlheinz Böhm - Peeping Tom - 4.5
1947:
Chieko Nakakita - One Wonderful Sunday - 4
1938:
Charles Laughton - Sidewalks of London - 4.5

Louis Morgan said...

Robert:

I'd say most of these are due to the performances:

Dolores Umbridge
Neville Longbottom
Griphook
Garrick Ollivander
David O'Hara's version of Harry (alright that's cheating)

ruthiehenshallfan99 said...

Luke: That's my rating for Laughton as well! If not a 5. Vivien scores very high for me as well!

Robert MacFarlane said...

Eh, David O'Hara counts. I'd say I liked Snape a little more in the movies mostly because of the look on Rickman's face when he kills Dumbledore is weirdly heartbreaking.

Michael McCarthy said...

Didn't I request James Gandolfini in The Mexican at some point?

Calvin Law said...

I believe I have a request for Anthony Quayle in Ice Cold in Alex (1958).

http://actoroscar.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/alternate-best-supporting-actor-2007_56.html?m=1

RatedRStar said...

Francis Ng as well Louis, literally my most recent winning request from like a week ago lol.

RatedRStar said...

Luke: So you think all of my requests will get a 4 or less lol haha thanks very much hehe =D.

Calvin Law said...

The biggest mistake of the series was sidelining Dobby and Kreacher to the extent they were in the films. The former was my favourite character in the books, and I wept for hours at his demise; and worst thing is I actually really liked how they did him on film, Toby Jones' voice and the CGI. Just a shame they completely forgot about him till Deathy Hallows Part I, and kind of nullifying the impact of his demise.

Less said about their wastage of Kreacher's moving little subplot in the books the better.

Completely agree with Robert and Louis about Sirius Black, they completely wasted Oldman and the excellent source material. I would also say the same for Remus Lupin, to an extent. They made great use of him in Azkaban but they could've spent a lot more time on his lovely relationship with Tonks that was completely ignored in the films.

Agree with Louis too about Neville Longbottom, and Ollivander. The more I think about it Lewis really was the best young actor in the whole series by far. And Hurt brought so much to a nothing role, wish he'd been cast as a bigger character actually.

Calvin Law said...

I should say that my favourite adaptations of the HP characters onscreen would be Hagrid/Coltrane, Smith's Professor McGonogall, Branagh's Gilderoy Lockhart, Brendan Gleeson's Moody (no one else could've nailed it like him) and Evanna Lynch + Matthew Lewis. As they fit PERFECTLY with my imagination whilst reading the books. I also liked Rickman, Broadbent, and Walters a great deal.

Calvin Law said...

2012:
Mads Mikkelsen - A Royal Affair - 4.5
Bradley Whitford - Cabin in the Woods - 3.5
2011:
Peter Mullan - Tyrannosaur - 5
Jake Gyllenhaal - Source Code - 4.5
Ralph Fiennes - Coriolanus - 4.5
Jakub Gierszal - Suicide Room - 4
Michael Smiley - Kill List - 5
Daniel Henshall - Snowtown - 4.5
2010:
Riz Ahmed - Four Lions - 4.5
2008:
PSH - Synedoche New York - 4.5
Nick Cheung - The Beast Stalker - 3
2005:
Tony Leung - Election - 4.5
Daniel Auteuil - Caché - 4
Ghassan Massoud - Kingdom Of Heaven - 4.5
2004:
JGL - Mysterious Skin - 4.5
2001:
Lie Ye - Lan Yu - 5
2000:
Joaquin Phoenix - The Yards - 4.5
1999:
Lam Suet - The Mission - 4
1998:
Sean Gullette - Pi - 3.5
1996:
Max von Sydow - Hamsun - 4.5
1994:
Tom Cruise - Interview With a Vampire - 4
1987:
Roy Cheung - Prison on Fire - 3.5
1979:
Malcolm McDowell - Caligula - 4
Oliver Reed - The Brood - 4
1971:
Oliver Reed - The Devils - 5
Jon Finch - Macbeth - 4
1965:
Kroner - The Shop on the Main Street. - 4
1961:
Murray Melvin - A Taste of Honey - 4.5/5, he is great :D
1960:
Karlheinz Böhm - Peeping Tom - 4
1947:
Chieko Nakakita - One Wonderful Sunday - 4
1938:
Charles Laughton - Sidewalks of London - 4.5

Ng: 4.5
Gandolfini: 4.5
Quayle: 4.5

Luke Higham said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: :) Sorry about that, but I was going by Louis' trend of usually giving 4s to your requests, not that I feel that way personally, so I'll up Leung to a 4.5 for Election and Lie Ye to a 4.5 for Lan Yu. :)
I really, really want to put Gierszal up to a 4 or more, but like you said, it's quite possible that he won't like the film.

Calvin: I'm glad your feeling confident about Mikkelsen, Mullan, Smiley, Massoud and Reed. I'm gonna stick to my prediction for McDowell, though I'll go down to a 4.5 for Finch, as the Soliloquies in voiceover, might come across as awkward to Louis.

Luke Higham said...

Calvin: I don't think I should've put Finch at a 5 in the first place.

Robert MacFarlane said...

There is no way in hell Gyllenhaal is getting anything above a 3 for Source Code.

Luke Higham said...

Robert: I like the film well enough, but I somewhat agree with you on Gyllenhaal. I'd give him a 3.5.

Anonymous said...

Louis: Sorry for repeating, but what are your thoughts on Russell?

RatedRStar said...

Luke: Haha I know, Liu Ye was the main one I think will do well, especially since Lan Yu is a character study whereas virtually all the others are thrillers. Jakub Gierzal probably has the best chance of receiving the lowest score out of all my requests so far beating Sam Lees current record lol.

Calvin Law: I have been thinking about Nick Cheung a lot, as it was him who got pretty much all the awards for Beast Stalker but, I am very close to changing it to his co star possibly lol since Cheung is not lead at all and actually has very little screentime.

Louis: We do seem to be slightly apart on our Hong Kong ratings wouldn't you say lol.

RatedRStar said...

Stool Pigeon is the one that has Nick Cheung has the main lead but there is someone else I think comes off a little better in that as well lol.

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: I've been on a run of 4s recently as well, my fortunes should have a turnaround soon enough.

What ratings do you predict for my requests, even if you haven't seen some of them.
Mikkelsen
Mullan
Smiley
Massoud
McDowell
Reed
Finch

RatedRStar said...

Who requested Snowtown? how could you.

Luke:
Mikkelsen (4.5)
Smiley (4)

Havent seen any of the others, I don't really want to watch Caligula if im honest lol.

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: I completely understand, even if McDowell was the sole highlight, I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone, apart from Louis of course. :)

RatedRStar said...

Louis: I will change one of my requests, shouldn't be too difficult for you because it is from the same film

Nick Cheung - Beast Stalker changed to Nicholas Tse - Beast Stalker

I am a little surprised having seen Beast Stalker recently that Cheung received so many awards for it, but Tse received none whatsoever, the HK awards committee obviously knew they had been unfair to Tse so they nominated him 3 times in a row after that lol.

Louis Morgan said...

Michael, Calvin & RatedRStar:

I accidentally copied and pasted an older file, those requests are indeed on record.

Anonymous:

I believe I might have given my thoughts before.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: I know Russell's a 5 an all, but you did say on Grant's last review, that you were holding on giving your thoughts on her.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: I've found no record of you giving thoughts on her either.

Anonymous said...

Luke: It would also be good for Louis to review Mason in Odd Man Out and Stewart and Ryan in The Naked Spur. That's it, if he decides to review them, right?

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Yes. :)

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Ryan might be a possibility, as he was bordering on a 5 to begin with. The least likely to get reviewed out of those three is Stewart, since Louis didn't say the same for him.

Anonymous said...

Luke: What are your top 10 overrated and underrated actors?

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous:
Overrated
These are actors who haven't yet proved to put on a really great performance or have been very inconsistent.
1. Sean Penn
2. George Clooney
3. Jamie Foxx
4. Will Smith
5. Gary Cooper
6. Matt Damon (Might go off the list with The Martian)
7. Johnny Depp (Should go off the list with Black Mass)
8. Gene Kelly
9. Tobey Maguire (Having a hard time thinking whether he's overrated or just about the same)
10. Eddie Redmayne
Underrated
1. Brendan Gleeson
2. Ben Foster
3. Tom Courtenay
4. John Hurt
5. Viggo Mortensen
6. Ben Whishaw
7. Cillian Murphy
8. Sam Rockwell
9. Chiwetel Ejiofor
10. Domhnall Gleeson

Anonymous said...

Luke: Great list. Would you also have a 11-20 list of overrated?

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: I think 10's enough for me personally. I had a quick change of heart with Brando's inclusion, since If I took Depp off the list, it would be a bit hypocritical of me as Depp's had his fair share of really bad performances.

Anonymous said...

Luke: Oh, okay. I wouldn't really call Maguire overrated though.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Can you name any, that you feel are overrated that could replace him.

Anonymous said...

Luke: Spencer Tracy.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: He's my tenth choice then. :) If not for Black Day Of Black Rock, he would've been much higher.

Anonymous said...

Luke: If you had to do a list of top 10 underrated actresses, who would make the list?

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: In No Particular Order
Emily Blunt
Amy Adams
Rooney Mara
Saoirse Ronan
Tilda Swinton
Billie Whitelaw
Isabelle Adjani
Nastassja Kinski
Teresa Wright
Geraldine Page

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: I'll replace Adams and Blunt with Olivia Colman and Emily Watson.

ruthiehenshallfan99 said...

Luke: I loved Gleeson in the Harry Potter movies. Currently, he is my SA winner for 2005. Wright is very underrated and just forgotten in general. It's a shame, because I love her a lot!

Robert MacFarlane said...

I just watched Something Wicked This Way comes, and now I definitely need to request Robards and/or Pryce next time I win.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Have You Seen Anything New Recently.

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Russell - (Alright then. Although the gender switch is already effective in the writing stage Russell helps to ensure it is was a brilliant decision due to her performance. I actually do believe she even best Russell in having such a tight grasp of the material, as she is wonderful every second she's onscreen in the film. She makes the quick jumping so eloquent oddly enough as her timing her is absolutely impeccable. I especially love just the sequence of her alone in the press room as she mesmerizing, while being hilarious, just to see her hold the screen the way she does in this film)

Luke:

Slow West.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Thoughts on the film and ratings and thoughts on the cast.

Robert MacFarlane said...

I hope you liked Slow West more than I did, because I found it tiresome even at 83 minutes.

Luke Higham said...

Robert: Hope he likes Fassbender. :)

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Probably the biggest disappointment of they year for me as I really did not care for it. It looked great visually, but that's all I can say for it. For a film as short as it is, I found it lagged considerably. It reminded me a bit of The Life and Time of Judge Roy Bean in the way it struggled with making its tone work. I found neither its comedic nor dramatic qualities particularly effective. The direction never makes them cohere in a way that say they do in In Bruges for example. (By the way I'd love to see a Martin McDonagh western)

Fassbender - 3.5(He has the right presence for this sort of part, and I'd like to see him play this sort of role again. I do still feel the material and direction held him back. He did the tough guy with a slight heart well, but it felt as though the film never quite let the character live as he should. His transition in particular failed to have an impact simply because Fassbender was given almost no time to depict it.)

Smit-McPhee - 2.5(I did not hate him, as I noticed some dis. Yes his accent is both wonky and inconsistent, but I did not find it too distracting. Past that though I suppose the spirited weakling who's simple values trump all could have been somewhat more remarkable, as well potentially funnier, than the way he portrays them as he's really quite muted for the entire film. Yes his character is suppose to be quiet, but there can be a presence within meekness, he does not accomplish this)

Mendelsohn - 3(I liked his whole set up of the constantly drunk manner he gave his character, which worked, but again the film never let him really do anything with it past just the set up)

McCann - 2.5(Probably one of the things that most annoyed me about the film was that he was completely wasted.)

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Oh well, I'm glad you liked Fassbender, to some degree.

My feelings for the film itself, have gone down considerably on a re-watch.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: A McDonagh western would definitely be awesome. :)

Anonymous said...

Luke & Louis: That would be totally interesting to see, a McDonagh western.

Anonymous said...

Luke & Louis: A horror film by Wes Anderson would also be awesome to see.

Michael Patison said...

100% agree with you on Colman, Luke. I really need to watch Tyrannosaur as she is absolutely astonishing in Broadchurch, which is a brilliant series in its own right and also represents David Tennant's best work (that's saying quite a bit coming from me since I love his incarnation of the Doctor).

Michael McCarthy said...

I actually watched Tyrannosaur for the first time yesterday. Mullan gives very strong work, but Colman is now my actress win for 2011 by a landslide.

Luke Higham said...

Michael Patison: She's a really great actress, IMO. :) Loved her work in Tyrannosaur and she was also great in an episode of Accused (2012), where she played a grieving mother.

Michael McCarthy: I'm having a hard time going with Colman or Swinton, but a re-watch could swing things in favour of either.

Robert MacFarlane said...

Eh, Swinton was good in We Need to Talk About Kevin, but hardly one of her best.

Luke Higham said...

Robert: Haven't seen WNTTAK since it's release, so as I said, a re-watch could swing things in favour of Colman and at the moment, I'll say that she is my favourite.

Luke Higham said...

Robert: *Permanently.

John Smith said...

Rated R Star... Why do you hate Joaquin Phoenix?

Luke Higham said...

John Smith: He doesn't hate Phoenix anymore.

John Smith said...

What happend that made him change his mind, i remember him hating Joquin during the 2012 year for some reason...?

Luke Higham said...

John: I asked him about a year ago, when he upped Phoenix's rating for The Master from a 2.5 to a 5 and he decided not to let his personal feelings get in the way.

John Smith said...

That's great and very mature of him (:

JackiBoyz said...

He hasn't done a rant for quite a while lol.