Thursday 22 September 2016

Alternate Best Actor 1960: Pierre Brasseur in Eyes Without A Face

Pierre Brasseur did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Doctor Génessier in Eyes Without A Face.

Eyes Without a Face is an effective horror film about a surgeon trying to find a new face for his disfigured daughter. 

The last time I saw a film with Pierre Brasseur it was Children of Paradise where he played a charismatic stage actor. I'll admit I did not recognize Brasseur as I began watching this film, not only because of his noticeable physical changes from fifteen years of age, but also the vast difference in performance style. In that earlier film Brasseur was outgoing and purposefully larger than life fitting the grand stage presence of the man he was playing. Here Brasseur gives a far more subdued performance, as he barely raises his voice throughout the film. We first meet the doctor as he is identifying the apparent body of his daughter in the morgue. Brasseur is whisper quiet as he tells the attendants that it is indeed his daughter, and even goes about oddly speaking to another man looking for his daughter. Brasseur still stays reserved though effectively portrays a man above suspicion. It seems like his state is that of someone emotionally distant due to suffering from grief.

After the funeral though we soon discover that his daughter is in fact alive, though still disfigured. Brasseur's performance matches this reveal as a man distant not due to grief, but rather by his obsession. The obsession to find his daughter a new face, which unfortunately turns him into almost a serial killer as he kidnaps other young women in order to replace his daughter's lost face. That opening scene earns a new meaning as the doctor was in fact looking over the body of the woman he actually killed, through surgery, and the other father is actually the one who has lost someone. Brasseur does seem to infuse just the slightest hint of guilt within the doctor's reactions in the scene, though his obsession is enough to keep him from feeling any real sympathy for the poor man. After all the doctor does not cease his attempts to find the face after that failure, continuing on his course to kidnap as many women as needed in order for his daughter to regain what she has lost.

Brasseur is rather chilling in the role by presenting the doctor as being so matter of fact about the procedure. He does not portray any maliciousness on the doctor's part as he goes about disfiguring the women, but rather just a proper surgeon going about his task. Where Brasseur does bring an emotional quality is in his interactions with his daughter. Now here Brasseur is just as chilling as in the operating scenes, even though he portrays these interactions with such a delicate warmth. He presents only honest affection in the doctor, but Brasseur effectively realizes the unnerving quality of that affection by realizing how it has created this narrow mindset in the man. When the daughter notes any objection for his actions, Brasseur presents just a father who firmly believes he is doing what is right for his daughter, who he loves without equivocation. He completely ignores her but Brasseur plays this with a bizarre assurance of a man who knows in his heart what he is doing is right, despite how wrong he clearly is. Now the character of Doctor Génessier ends up being a fairly limited one, as he's Dr. Frankenstein, but unlike Dr. Frakenstein he never even second guesses his devotion to his questionable task. The doctor keeps his set path to the bitter end, and Brasseur delivers a strong performance which brings that disturbing mindset to life.

95 comments:

Robert MacFarlane said...

1. Attenborough
2. Delon
3. Guinness
4. Brasseur
5. Böhm

Robert MacFarlane said...

Louis, did you watch Justice League and Justice League Unlimited? If so, can I have your thoughts on CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller and Jeffrey Combs as the Question?

Louis Morgan said...

Robert:

I've seen a few episodes none with Waller.

Combs - (I did see a couple of the question episodes. I did not know it was the re-animator himself though. I rather loved his Question in which you could basically here the conspiracy mania right in his voice. He brought a really energy to the madness in doing so managed to make it endearing in his own way.)

Deiner said...

@Louis: your thoughts and ratings on the rest of the cast.

Bryan L. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RatedRStar said...

I would love to see the 2 other Children of Paradise stars Barrault and Herrand appear on this blog again

Louis: I actually managed to find a copy of Les Visiteurs Du Soir with Marcel Herrand but its not got subtitles lol such a shame because just watching it he looks really good in it.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: Your thoughts on South Park's "Skank Hunt" episode. I thought it to be infinitely better than the premiere, due to being a more focused piece of satire.

Anonymous said...

Louis: What are your thoughts on the screenplay of To Kill A Mockingbird?

Michael McCarthy said...

1. Richard Attenborough
2. Alain Delon
3. Alec Guinness
4. Pierre Brasseur
5. Karlheinz Böhm

Luke Higham said...

Michael McCarthy: Your ratings for Attenborough, Delon, Guinness and Bohm.

Anonymous said...

1. Attenborough
2. Delon
3. Guinness
4. Brasseur
5. Bohm

Anonymous said...

Anyone here find that 'Family Guy' is annoying, over bearing and extremely offensive when it handles serious matters that they do not have any understanding off.

Robert MacFarlane said...

South Park is even worse at handling them.

Álex Marqués said...

I agree.

Michael McCarthy said...

Even if you don't like South Park, you really can't say it's worse at talking about real issues than Family Guy. Half of the time Family Guy doesn't know what point it's trying to make, the other half its messages are something like "stay in your abusive relationship."

Robert MacFarlane said...

I suppose it's easier for me to ignore Family Guy since it's merely inept. South Park uses its soapbox for what I view as outright poisonous messages, so it's much easier for me to hate it.

Matt Mustin said...

Louis, going off of what you said about the elevator kiss in Drive, what are some of your other favourite shots of all time?

Calvin Law said...

Matt: Good question, I'm wondering if there'll be shots from films Louis doesn't love, but which are amazingly shot.

Anonymous said...

Louis, your thought on Tatsuya Nakadai as an actor and also you top 10 Tatsuya Nakadai performances.

Álex Marqués said...

I just watched Scott Pilgrim vs The World for the first time. Absolutely loved it.

Anonymous said...

Alex: Ratings and thoughts on the cast if you could (:

Calvin Law said...

So I saw Hell or High Water. Very good film, might need a re-watch to fully appreciate it. Three principals are all excellent, though I'd out Foster in supporting.

Louis Morgan said...

Deiner:

Valli - 3(She was just fine in terms of portraying a matching sort of devotion with Brasseur's performance. I never found she stood out too much past that point though.)

Scob - 3.5(As similair performances go I won't say she excels as much as say a John Hurt in the Elephant Man or a Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs. Scob though still conveys the general anguish of her character within her eyes, and makes her actions later on convincing. She's very effective in the brief time we actually see her face as he brings out the discomfort of someone wearing something that does not belong to them.)

Tahmeed:

A better episode to be sure, and I agree it was helped by keeping a narrow focus. I found it pretty funny particularly the buildup in the cabin scene with Cartman, and especially the dramatic final sequence.

Anonymous:

To Kill a Mockingbird's screenplay is an excellent adaptation. It's very intelligent in its choices in terms of what elements it retains, and in terms of creating the proper flow for film. It importantly keeps the balance the right between the misadventures of children involving Boo Radley, their maturation and relationship with Atticus, and Tom Robinson's story. No aspect of the story seems undeserved. It ensures that every element plays its part and the power of the story remains firmly intact.

Matt:

Making love on the Train - The Conformist
Single Soldier in the Jungle - The Thin Red Line
Jesse James in the Steam - The Assassination of Jesse James
The Derrick Burning - There Will Be Blood
The Plane Graveyard - The Best Years of Our Lives
Frank's Introduction - Once Upon a Time in The West
The Boy Emperor and the Gold Canopy - The Last Emperor
Locust - Days of Heaven
The Helicopters over the beach - Apocalypse Now
Lime's introduction - The Third Man
Shadow of a Killer - M
Perry's Rain Tears - In Cold Blood
By the Ocean - Lawrence of Arabia
Night Card Game - Barry Lyndon
Tuco finds the Graveyard - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Varun:

1. The Sword of Doom
2. Harakiri
3. Ran
4. Kagemusha
5. Yojimbo
6. The Human Condition I
7. Sanjuro
8. Kill!
9. The Human Condition II
10. The Face of Another

Nakadai - (I've yet to see a underwhelming performance from Tatsuya Nakadai who is one of the greatest actors alive, and certainly one of the most underrated (in an international sense) of all time. Nakadai's a fascinating performer as he managed to find a more understated method that is particularly notable within Japanese cinema. He's no less captivating than any of his contemporaries in his effortless ability in a vast variety of roles. His mere presence makes me excited to see a film, since Nakadai is always interesting to watch)

Robert MacFarlane said...

Just saw Magnificent Seven. It's good. Denzel, Hawke, and Pratt were all pretty good. Sarsgaard is completely awful. D'Onofrio is WTF.

Anonymous said...

I just rematched '500 Days Of Summer' and I realized that Tom is an asshole.

Anonymous said...

Maybe because I matured more, but I can see why Summer left him. He is not bad guy, he is just not aware of his faults.

Robert MacFarlane said...

That's part of why I love (500) Days of Summer. It deconstructs the idea of an indie romance film. And JGL himself said he played Tom as someone who thinks he's nice but is really an asshole.

Anonymous said...

Louis: What are your thoughts on Jim Cummings' performances as Darkwing Duck and Negaduck?

Anonymous said...

Louis, your top 10 samurai films.

Calvin Law said...

Some of my favourite shots of all-time:

Alleyway stalking in High and Low
Exley raising his badge to incoming cops in L.A. Confidential
Anything from The Thin Red Line
Andy enters Shawshank prison
Opening scene, Fargo

Anonymous said...

Need to watch 'High And Low'

Anonymous said...

Looking over Kurosawa's filmography I have come to the understanding that he is probably the most versatile director of all time.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Some of my favourite shots-
1) Clemenza closing the door in The Godfather
2) Andy Dufresne in the rain in The Shawshank Redemption
3) The tracking shot of the woodcutter in Rashomon
4) The adrenaline shot in Pulp Fiction
5) The "Maa" sequence from Taare Zameen Par
6) Sonny in the car at the end of Dog Day Afternoon (Pacino's reaction is amazing)

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis, what would you call the best scenes in each of these performances:
1) Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon and The Godfather Part II
2) O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia
3) Gable in Gone with the Wind
4) Burton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Seen anything new recently.

Anonymous said...

Louis, what would you say is the best scene in 'Five Easy Pieces'?

Calvin Law said...

Tahmeed: Clemenza closing the door is great, it just was so obvious a choice I didn't think to include it haha

As for those performances if I may chip in,

Pacino - phone call to his wife, although really 'Attica! Attica!', his final reaction shot, phone call to Leon, initial holdup, every moment of his performance is amazing.

O'Toole - Killing the man he saved

Gable - I actually don't think he has one single standout scene, I think they're all equally great, though his first interaction with Leigh is amazing.

Burton - The gun scene

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Calvin: While I do love the gun scene in Virginia Woolf, my favorite scenes of his might actually be a tie between his two monologues-the one where he talks about drinking in his youth and that amazing scene where he goes on the attack against Nick and Honey.

Álex Marqués said...

For Pacino in Godfather II, my favourite moment is probably when his wife tells him the truth about her miscarriage, but there are so many great moments. One of my favourite performances ever...

Álex Marqués said...

Varun: I haven't thought about the ratings to be honest. I enjoyed all of the performances (Winstead was my favourite of the cast), but I'd say it's more of a director's film.

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Cummings - (His Darkwing duck is pitch perfect in terms of developing this definite ego with a certain awkwardness, well managing to be absolutely endearing as well. It's great as he does show the attempt in Darkwing for a partial Batman type of menace, even though he's never fooling anyone. It's great comedic work yet with a genuine heart to it as well. His Negaduck in turn is just a slight twist on that voice, and such a brilliant twist. He's genuinely menacing in his realization of essentially the villain version of Darkwing's voice, and is truly deliciously evil.)

Varun:

1. Rashomon
2. Ran
3. Seven Samurai
4. Harakiri
5. Yojimbo
6. Throne of Blood
7. Sanjuro
8. The Sword of Doom
9. Samurai Rebellion
10. Kill!

Tahmeed:

Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon(Phone call with Leo)

The Godfather Part II - (Kaye tells him about the miscarriage)

O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia - ("They'll come for me")

Gable in Gone with the Wind - (His surprise appearance in the study)

Burton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - (Figuring out what to do with his "son")

Calvin Law said...

Wish Yojimbo was a bit higher but can't complain.

Álex Marqués said...

Everyone: How would you rank this decade's Best Picture winners? (as well as your personal winners)

Calvin Law said...

Alex:

The Artist (5/5)
Birdman (5/5)
Argo (4.5/5)
Twelve Years a Slave (4.5/5)
Spotlight (4.5/5)
The King's Speech (4/5)

Inside Llewyn Davis (5/5)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (5/5)
Carol (5/5)
The Artist (5/5)
True Grit (5/5)
Birdman (5/5)

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Your ratings and thoughts on:
Paths Of Glory
Cross Of Iron
Downfall
Come And See
Macbeth (1971)
The Devils
The Lives Of Others
and Pan's Labyrinth

Luke Higham said...

Louis: And whenever you get the chance to see it, your rating and thoughts on Kingdom Of Heaven.

Anonymous said...

Louis, your favorite scene acting wise in 'Five Easy Pieces'

Giuseppe Fadda said...

Alex:

1. Birdman - 5/5
2. The Artist - 4.5/5
3. 12 Years a Slave - 4.5/5
4. Argo - 4/5
5. Spotlight - 4/5
6. The King's Speech - 3.5/5

My winners:
2010: Inception
2011: Drive
2012: Silver Linings Playbook
2013: Snowpiercer
2014: Mommy
2015: Carol

Robert MacFarlane said...

@Alex:

12 Years a Slave (5)
Spotlight (4.5)
Birdman (4)
The Artist (4)
Argo (2.5)
The King's Speech (2.5)

2010: The Social Network
2011: The Tree of Life
2012: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
2013: Not sure. At the moment, I'll say Before Midnight
2014: A Most Violent Year
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road

Luke Higham said...

Birdman - 5
12 Years A Slave - 5
The Artist - 4.5/5
Spotlight - 4.5
The King's Speech - 4
Argo - 3.5

2010: The Social Network
2011: Drive
2012: The Master
2013: The Wolf Of Wall Street
2014: Birdman
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road

Anonymous said...

Birdman - 5
Spotlight- 4,5
12 Years A Slave- 4,5
The Artist- 4.5
Argo- 4,5
The King's Speech- 3

2010: The Social Network
2011: Drive
2012: The Master
2013: The Wolf Of Wall Street
2014: Birdman
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road

Luke Higham said...

Silence has been given a limited release date on the 23rd of December.

Hell Yeah!. :)

Luke Higham said...

Now can we please have a trailer already.

Gus B. said...

@Alex

12 Years a Slave (5/5)
The Artist (3.5/5)
Argo (3.5/5)
Spotlight (3/5)
The King's Speech (2.5/5)
Birdman (2.5/5)

2010: Mysteries of Lisbon
2011: The Three of Life
2012: The Act of Killing
2013: 12 Years a Slave
2014: Still the Water
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road / Carol

Anonymous said...

Just watched 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf' again and wow... Burton and Taylor are on fire.

Bryan L. said...

Louis: Ratings and thoughts on the rest of the cast of Side Effects? Just read your thoughts on Jude Law in Alternate Best Actor 2013.

Alex:
The King's Speech-3.5 (An ordinary but fine film. Rreally baffled by its Best Director win though.)
The Artist- 4.5 (Very entertaining and well-acted, though I think its BP win may have been helped by a relatively weak group of nominees.)
Argo- 4.5 (Quite good. Very thrilling. I'm content with the win.)
12 Years a Slave- 4.5
Birdman -5
Spotlight-3 (Might get hated on for this, but this movie bored the shit out of me. I've already seen it 3 times to give it a better shot, but I only liked it marginally more than the first time. Surprised this actually won, since the Academy isn't known for awarding subtlety. This wouldn't have made my Top 10 of 2015.

Inception -5
Drive- 5
Argo- 4.5 (Not a huge fan of this year in movies tbh.)
Her - 5
Birdman -5
Mad Max: Fury Road -5

Robert MacFarlane said...

I really don't get the love for Argo at all. Always found it to be aggressively mediocre.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Do you plan on watching Mad Max: Fury Road in Black and White.

Álex Marqués said...

Glad to see someone giving Her the win :D

Anonymous said...

Louis: Rating and thoughts on Will Smith in Shark Tale.

Calvin Law said...

The Magnificent Seven: Decent film, good action, third act was a bit of a letdown and some character developments went nowhere, but I largely liked it.

Washington - 4 (I've liked the last few Denzel 'badass' performances but here he has a much stronger character to work with. He uses his screen presence perfectly for the role and I actually prefer him to Brynner, as he gave gravity and style to moments that didn't necessarily earn them.)

Pratt - 3 (I go a little lower because I feel like he seemed a bit out of place, too modern almost, however he works well enough in this sort of lesser variation on his usual schtick)

Hawke - 3 (solid throughout, didn't quite buy his character development but I thought he did his best with it, and had some good chemistry with Washington and Lee, I kind of wished he and Pratt had switched roles actually)

D'Onfrio - 2 (I didn't hate him like most people on here seem to...but I didn't like him either. D'Onfrio seems to have transitioned into becoming a very mannered, ticcy actor. It works in Daredevil, it doesn't work here.)

Lee - 3 (he's no James Garner, but I thought he handled the stone cold assasin well enough, and some nice chemistry with Hawke to boot.)

Garcia-Rulfo - 2.5 (I actually liked his whole creation of his rougish crook with a heart, I only wish he'd had more to do)

Sensemeier - 2.5 (perfectly fine, but like Garcia-Rulfo had barely anything to do besides stand around and look cool)

Sarsgaard - 2.5 (not terrible, but no Eli Wallach, and frankly I prefer ol' Pete when he's a bit mroe subdued. He's very hammy here which works for some scenes, but lessens the film's ending payoff considerably)

Bennett - 2 (was not convinced at all)

Robert MacFarlane said...

I'm not sure if I hated D'Onofrio so much as I was totally baffled by him.

Bryan L. said...

Calvin: I agree with your ratings, only just switch Denzel's and Pratt's ratings around, and bump Denzel up to a 3.5.

On second thought, I'm bumping Sarsgaard down to a 2.5 from a 3. D'Onofrio seemed like he was wandering off the set of a Coen movie.

Robert MacFarlane said...

I'm still standing by what I said about Sarsgaard. Thought he was embarrassing to watch.

Bryan L. said...

Alex: Believe me, picking my favorite movie of 2013 was not easy at all haha. I came very close to choosing The Wolf of Wall Street actually.

Álex Marqués said...

94dfk1: It's a very strong year.

Calvin Law said...

Inside Llewyn Davis is easily my 2013 choice, but then again it's in my top 10 films of all-time.

Anonymous said...

I saw 'War Dogs'. Really liked it.

Jonah:4

Miles Teller: 3.5

Gus B. said...

Fences trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2m6Jvp0bUw

20th Century Women trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSADYQgDLfI

Thoughts on them?

Robert MacFarlane said...

It looks like Fences might be a tad stagey. 20th Century Woman looks more promising than I thought it would. It's probably the first time I've been excited for an Annette Bening performance.

Louis Morgan said...

Fences trailer looks like it will be like Washington's other efforts as a director, though with maybe just a bit more visual flair.

Varun:

Bobby talks to his father.

Luke:

Noted, and maybe.

94dk1:

Mara - 4(The truth seems to be as long as she's in a leading role, she's good if not great. This performance is not exception to that rule. I like that she avoids the very heavy potential for camp for such a role, which does inflict her co-star to a slight degree, and is ill-fitting to Soderberg's "surprise thriller" tone. Mara cleverly downplay the part portraying the character's manipulations as far more believable in doing so, while still making for a properly effective villain of sorts)

Tatum - (There's nothing wrong with his performance. He's really just there for his stature as a star, to create the twist though.)

Jones - 2(She sort of camps it up a bit, but does not go all the way with it either. Either way what she does, doesn't work, and fails to make an impact in her role that seems juicy enough in terms of conception.)

Dowd - 3(Limited but affecting in just realizing an actual human element to the central murder)

Anonymous:

I believe I covered that in alternate 04 results.

Anonymous said...

Louis: Your cast and director for a 1980's version of Argo.

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Argo directed by Alan J. Pakula:

Tony Mendez: Edward James Olmos
Jack O'Donnell: George C. Scott
Lester Siegel: Don Ameche
John Chambers: Jack Weston
Joe Stafford: Powers Boothe
Ken Taylor: Jerry Orbach

Bryan L. said...

Christopher Nolan's Cloud Atlas

Tom Hardy/Hanks
Guy Pearce/Grant
Christian Bale/Sturgess
Gary Oldman/Weaving
Michael Caine/Broadbent
Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Whishaw

Not a lot of older women or of color in Nolans films now that I realize.

Calvin Law said...

That 80's Argo rules.

94dfk1: Carrie Ann Moss and Harriet Sansom Harris perhaps. I'd never accuse Nolan's films of lack of diversity, but it's true that he's scant older black actresses in his movies, which seems to be the case with many films nowadays. Shame cause if I was a director I'd be using Angela Bassett, Pam Grier, Viola Davis, at every available turn.

Omar Franini said...

Yeasterday i saw Nocturnal Animals on a special screening.
Overall it's a very good movie, with some great performances, great Cinematography and Editing, and I think that each shot is visually perfect.

Adams: She's great in her reactionary scenes of Gyllenhall's book story, but there are also some scenes where she's not so effective, like her confront with the mother and the first meeting with her ex husband (Gyllenhaal). So maybe I'll give her a 4/4,5

Gyllenhaal: 4,5/5 He is the true leading of the movie, he's in both the stories of the movie. He gave a great performance and all of his scenes with Shannon and Taylor-Johnson are phenomenal. I can't say much of his best scenes because I don't want to spoil some parts of the movie.

Shannon: 5 He's the MVP of the movie and his portray of this strange detective is very effective. His chemistry with both Gyllenhaal and Taylor-Johnson are very intense, in particular the final confront with the latter. His a quite flawless performance by him and i think he'll will nominated for it and maybe even win the Academy Award.

Taylor-Johnson: 5 I think the many would give a lower mark to this performance, since someone may think he overacted in most of his scenes, but i think it's great in every single moment of this movie. Moreover I think he was even better of Gyllenhaal in their first and final scene. This is a very intense and so creepy performance.

Linney: 3/3,5 She is in the movie only in one scene, about 5 minutes, in which she confronts with her daughter (Adams), she is quite effective, but i expected more from this scene since the reviews pointed out the strength of this scene.

Fisher: 3 She has only a few scenes in the movie as the novel's wife of Gyllenhaal and she's just fine in them.

Anonymous said...

Louis: What are your thoughts on Richard Moll as Two-Face, Corey Burton as Brainiac and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor?

Anonymous said...

Omar: Are there any films that you would compare to Nocturnal Animals in terms of thriller/suspense/drama?

Omar Franini said...

Anonymous: I think Nocturnal Animals could be compare to so many movies.
The first part of the movie, in which we have Gyllenhaal assaulted by Taylor-Johnson, can be compared to Funny Games.
But the second part with Shannon and Gyllenhaal reminds me True Detective (first season of course) and also Prisoners.
The movie as a whole could be compared to some Lynch movies, such as Mullholland Drive or Blue Velvet (the latter more), mainly because of the style, the atmosphere and mostly the tension of the movie.

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Moll - (His work in the episodes which misuse Two-Face, that being the split personality does not come into anything other than some thematic traps or gimmicks, is good though unfortunately one note as the vicious two-face. That's not his fault though. The episodes that use Two-Face properly, that being we see both Harvey and Two-Face, particularly his first appearance as Two-Face, he's pretty amazing. He brings the right earnestness as Harvey Dent, but with enough nuance to suggest the trouble brewing in the man. His turn on Two-Face in this episode is far more interesting as well as he goes from times a demonic voice that beckons Harvey to his worst instincts to something rawer suggesting the struggle on Two-Face's side as well. It's fantastic work as he captures the two sides and everything in between as well. If they ever do a Long Halloween Animated mini-series, I'd want to see him return.)

Burton - (Love his vocal performance. He's one note technically speaking, but just as he should be for Brianiac. That one note he finds is brilliant though in that he brings the needed artifice, but with just the right touch of a human ego that actually connects to Brianiac's most malevolent qualities. By the way would they make Brianiac a villain in a film already.)

Brown - (What is probably the weakest aspect of Superman the Animated Series for me is Lex Luthor. In that they use the businessman Luthor, which I have never cared for. He comes off as basically just a far less engaging Kingpin type. The series only hurts him all the more through the way he's more often than not just a patsy for a different villain. Having said all that I have nothing against Brown's performance. He's got a great voice that needs to be said and he uses it well. He absolutely makes this Luthor believable, and more commanding than he would have ever been otherwise. Again I just don't like the angle to the character, but I do like Brown's performance.)

Robert MacFarlane said...

Luthor is WAY better in JL and JLU. And frankly so is Brown. Fir me he's definitive Luthor in the same way Hamill is for the Joker for some people.

Matt Mustin said...

Louis: It's interesting you feel that way about Lex Luthor, because businessman Lex is my favourite kind of Lex by far.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Your rating for Richard Gere in Days Of Heaven.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Your top ten animated film scores.

Luke Higham said...

The Lion King's getting a remake.

Anonymous said...

Luke: Ugh...Another unnecessary remake.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: If Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones don't reprise there roles or if they tell the exact same plot all over again, I won't give a flying fuck about it.

I'd much rather have remakes of mediocre to decent films like The Black Cauldron or The Sword in The Stone, yet I'm really looking forward to Beauty And The Beast.

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

3.5

The Lion King is a curious choice for a "live action" remake since there are no human characters, and almost everyone in the original cast is still alive. It will just be another animated film with a different style of animation.

Top Ten Animated Scores:

I'll assume originals only.

1. The Secret of NIMH
2. The Lion King
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Land Before Time
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas
7. Pinocchio
8. UP
9. Bambi
10. Wall-e

Calvin Law said...

So I've re-watched Hell or High Water. I think I'll have to chalk it down as one of those films I genuinely admire a great deal, and which has great aspects and moments, but I don't know if it hits me in the way that the very best films of this sort do. So kind of like this year's Spotlight for me (wouldn't mind it replicating some of that success). I wouldn't say I was left cold, nor was I unimpressed about anything this time round. I still prefer Sicario but that's purely through personal preference. Also, since I realize I've yet to give my thoughts and ratings:

Pine - 4.5 (he really does disappear into the role rather beautifully, and very generously cedes the spotlight to his more exuberant co-star in a compelling fashion. His restrained approach works very well in building up this man who's technically a crook but in essence is just a good man who wants to get on with providing a good life for his family)

Foster - 5 (bumped him up with a re-watch, though I still put him supporting, but just barely. I loved every moment of his usual brand of frentic energy that was darkly humorous. In addition however the fact he managed to also be rather heartwarming in showing his low key love for his brother was quite incredible.)

Bridges - 4.5 (I thought his side of the story was slightly less interesting, though I'll note I admire the daring and innovation in dedicating so much time to it. Bridges reminded me a lot of Tommy Lee Jones in NCFOM here by his genial, wisecracking routine which provided some welcome humour to the film. It's a well done constant and I thought it made his character's last few reactions and actions all the more vivid yet still within character. His final scene with Pine is great.)

Birmingham - 3.5 (nicely handled chemistry with Bridges and their conversations with each other conveyed a strong sense of history without ever feeling force, and you feel the impact of his character's final fate, though I think Bridges is even more essential to that)

Luke Higham said...

Louis: I think you'll like Zimmer's work on The Prince Of Egypt a great deal, whenever you get the chance to see it.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Is your rating for Elliott in The Wings Of The Dove a 4 or a 4.5. Same with Postlethwaite in The Town.

Álex Marqués said...

Luke: I think Postlethewaite was a 4.

Luke Higham said...

Alex: I do recall him saying it but he said he was a 4.5 before that and those that are ahead of him in 2010 supporting are 4.5s.

Anonymous said...

Louis: What are your thoughts on Pryde of the X-Men, the failed pilot episode?

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

4

Anonymous:

It's a fun one shot, but I can see why it did not take off. It's well animated to be sure, something that I'm sure would have been lost in a full series. The voice acting is very broad but enjoyable. I'm glad we got the X-Men, but it's an entertaining curiosity especially that theme song.