Ray McAnally in My Left Foot
Hugh O'Conor in My Left Foot
Bruce Dern in The 'burbs
Rick Ducommun in The 'burbs
Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams
James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams
Fred Gwynne in Pet Sematary
For the prediction Contest:
McAnally for My Left Foot
Dern for The 'burbs
Lancaster for Field of Dreams
93 comments:
Well, I think we all know who's gonna win this one. The question is the order of the others.
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. McAnally
4. Lancaster
5. Gwynne
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. McAnally
4. Gwynne
5. Lancaster
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. Gwynne
4. McAnally
5. Lancaster
1. Connery
2. McAnally
3. Dern
4. Gwynne
5. Lancaster
Also, once again, I express my regrets and apologies at requesting Hurt instead of Woods. Annoying whenever I see a 5 performance that doesn't get a review (i.e. Timothy Spall for Secrets and Lies, Woods in True Believer). Although I stand by giving Hurt a 5.
1. Sean Connery
2. Bruce Dern
3. Ray McAnally
4. Fred Gwynne
5. Burt Lancaster
These are likely to change, I'm gonna try to power watch all of these this weekend.
1. Sean Connery 2. Bruce Dern 3. Ray McAnally 4. Fred Gwynne 5. Burt Lancaster
1. Dern (my win)
2. McAnally (my runner-up)
3. Connery
4. Gwynne
5. Lancaster
Could you do a small write-up for Ducommun, too?
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. McAnally
4. Gwynne
5. Lancaster
Ratings/thoughts on Dianne Wiest in Parenthood? And the cast of Steel Magnolias if you've seen it?
And if you don't mind, your thoughts on:
Faye Dunaway in Barfly
Joan Greenwood in Little Dorrit
Maria Aitken in A Fish Called Wanda
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. McAnally
4. Lancaster
5. Gwynne
1. Connery
2. McAnally
3. Dern
4. Lancaster
5. Gwynne
Louis: Do you plan on watchimg Ex Machina anytime soon.
Also Louis, would definitely recommend watching the extended version of The Abyss at some point in the future. Biehn's performance is given a bit more depth there.
Luke: what's your all-time favourite Shakespeare performance
Calvin: Laurence Olivier in Richard III, although ever so slightly ahead of McKellen.
The rest of my top 5 are Olivier ('48), Jacobi ('96) and Branagh ('96) in Hamlet.
I also love Mason and Gielgud in Julius Caesar, Finch & Annis in Macbeth, the cast of Romeo And Juliet ('68) and Olivier ('44), Branagh and Jacobi ('89) in Henry V.
For Television, my favourite is undoubtedly Ben Whishaw in Richard II followed by Jeremy Irons and Simon Russell Beale in Henry IV and Tom Hiddleston in Henry IV/V.
Calvin: I also liked Pacino and Irons in The Merchant Of Venice.
Ooh, that reminds me, Simon Russell Beale should be considered for 2011/2012 Supporting Bonus Alternates for being the best thing about The Deep Blue Sea.
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. McAnally
4. Lancaster
5. Gwynne
I don't know what to say about Pet Sematary, it could be a complete turd or a masterpiece, I reckon neither.
Calvin & RatedRStar and anyone else: How many female performances, do you think are gonna get 5s from Louis this year. I'm going out on a limb with 7.
Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina and maybe Testament Of Youth or The Danish Girl
Cate Blanchett in Carol
Rooney Mara in Carol
Carey Mulligan in Far From The Madding Crowd or Suffragette
Marion Cotillard in Macbeth
Jessica Chastain in Crimson Peak
I'll put in Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn as a possibility as well, although I don't think it's particularly likely.
Calvin & RatedRStar: I could potentially see this year as an amazing one for women.
Whatever happened to James Earl Jones?
I'd place my money on Vikander in Ex Machina pretty easily.
Robert: For you, is Vikander Lead or Supporting, since I have her right on the border leaning towards Lead.
1)Connery
2)McAnnaly
3)Dern
4)Lancaster
5)Gwyne
Could everyone rank their 5 favorite Game of thrones characters?
Mine are:
1)Tyrion
2)Dany
3)Arya
4)Jon Snow
5)Jaime
Tahmeed:
Male:
1. Tywin
2. Stannis
3. Jaime
4. Tyrion
5. Jon Snow
Hon. High Sparrow
Female:
1. Brienne
2. Arya
3. Margaery
4. Olenna
5. Sansa
Hate Daenaerys with a passion.
Luke: I will go with 6, I am not too confident on Mulligan (Suffragette), Mara and Chastain getting fives, plus another average performance from Meryl Steep which will get her another Oscar nomination.
RatedRStar: What are your 6.
@Luke: Lead, definitely. All three are unambiguously leads.
Luke:Saiorse Ronan might get a 5, but otherwise,I'm not confident about it. I will go with 5, as I'm not sure about Rooney Mara getting a 5 for Carol
Rant Time
Meryl Streep I am sorry, you have been good to great in some films, but most of the time, your just underwhelming, and at times, too much. You are not the best actress ever, your not even top 20, and you can act and pretend like you are surprised when you get Oscar nominations, quality over quantity you old bag of bones.
Everybody can remember your shitty acting job of pretending like you were surprised when you beat Viola Davis for The Help.
Dude, what's the point of even going on that rant?
RatedRStar: Could not agree more haha. =)
Luke:
Marion Cotillard in Macbeth
Cate Blanchett in Carol
Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina
Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl
Alicia Vikander in Testament Of Youth
Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn (she was useless in Grand Budapest but has been good in most other things)
Jennifer Lawrence will never get another 5 if she working with that pissface.
RatedRStar: Fuck me, you're confident about Vikander.
RatedRStar: As of now, do you have any 5s for 2015.
Robert: Because I am right, you of all people should be cheering this lol, she just gets nomination after nomination for average performance after average performance especially in the last ten years, Devil Wears Prada really, I can just see Streep getting yet another passenger nomination for Suffragette in fact I know she will.
OMG I just realised, she could get a double nomination, for Ricki and the Flash (which looks completely clichéd) as well, I just think she is 100 percent overrated.
Also OMG imagine Meryl Steep taking that 5th spot away from a Vikander, or a Cotillard, because if it came to that, she will get in, she is a bigger actress than both of those.
Luke: Emily Blunt maybe, but Sicario looks a bit too standard of a thriller.
I will probably be wrong on Vikander but I am hopeful.
RatedRStar: Del Toro's getting more buzz than Blunt.
Luke: I think Del Toro is a good enough actor so I am sure he could get a third nom, possibly.
Jennifer Lawrence anyone? thoughts on her working with David again.
RatedRStar: Do you have any 5s for 2015.
In regards to Lawrence, another Over The Top mess awaits.
Luke: Vikander, that's it so far, I haven't seen many films, I tend to see them when the season starts.
I cant really remember why people disliked David O Russell, I think Louis mentioned it once, does anybody know, I cant remember what stuff he did (I am at work so I cant really look it up)
RatedRStar: Is that Vikander in Ex Machina.
Well, He put Christopher Nolan in a headlock for trying to steal Jude Law for a film, he got into a fistfight with George Clooney because O. Russell was harassing extras, and just watch his fights with Lily Tomlin on Youtube.
1) Bruce Dern
2) Ray McAnally
3) Sean Connery
4) Burt Lancaster
5) Fred Gwynne
Robert: I agree that JLaw should stop working with David O. Russell. He's just gonna keep casting her in roles that she's probably wrong for that are all about big "show-stealing" scenes that won't really challenge her as an actress.
I don't hate David O. Russell (I'm actually dating his niece) and I think he does well with films with simple, predictable plotlines because his characters are so quirky that he makes films like that standout. That's why I thoroughly enjoyed The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. He shouldn't be directing films like American Hustle, that have complex and intricate stories that are innately worth telling, because he doesn't really care about a movie's plot. In those cases, he makes his actors go needlessly over the top in their constant antics an it becomes far too distracting.
Luke: Great choices. I'll leave mine till a later blog post :)
In terms of female 5's I think Cotillard and Vikander will get 5's each. Don't count out Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years. Also Ronan and Mulligan are strong possibilities.
1. Sean Connery
2. Ray McAnally
3. Bruce Dern
4. Fred Gwynne
5. Burt Lancaster
Michael McCarthy: O'Russell's not a bad director at all, I have a soft spot for The Fighter and think Three Kings is a very entertaining and well-made film. Having said that he does bring out the worst in some actors (Lawrence) but also sometimes the best (Wahlberg, De Niro post-2000).
I would say for the timebeing my all-time favourite Shakespearean performances onscreen/onstage would be:
Paul Scofield in King Lear
Ben Whishaw in Richard II
John Hurt in Henry V
Kenneth Branagh in Hamlet
I need a lot of re-watches though...
I wasn't the one who said that, Michael, RatedRStar did. I also don't hate David O. Russell. In fact I'm probably the only person here who sort of loves i heart huckabees.
Robert MacFlarane: I am a massive fan of Rattigan and the play of the Deep Blue Sea and I agree, Simon Russell Beale is the best thing about that film, which I thought was okay but nothing incredible, Hiddleston and Weisz were alright but I dunno something was missing from it all.
@RatedRStar: You're assuming that I hate her like the rest of you. I don't. I just hated her in two movies and found her underwhelming in a few others. I will go up to bat for her performance in Doubt to my dying say as her finest work. Plus I'm not going to judge either of her performances this year until I actually see them.
I retract, sorry x
Cotillard most likely will be campaigned in supporting, and based on the critics form Cannes, it's a right choice - her screen time may be lethal for her (yet) third nomination if considered as lead.
I don't believe at all on Streep being nominated for Ricki and the Flesh - at the globes maybe, but not oscars. The same for Suffragette (Bonham Carter may get it).
I quite legal Silver Linnings and all performances in it, mainly Lawrence. Hustle is a terrible mistake, Lawrence being the biggest one, btw. So, I personally have mixed feelings for this new one.
Those I think may get from Louis a 5 are:
- Cotillard in Macbeth
- Binoche in Sils Maria
- Vikander in Ex Machina (for me is 4.5, though)
- Vikander in Testament of Youth
- Blanchett in Carol
- Mara in Carol
- Watts in Demolition
- Smith in Lady in The Van
- Tomlin in Grandma
- Jason Leigh in Hateful Eight
Anonymous: Clouds Of Sils Maria is 2014 by Louis's rules.
Totally meant Daniel, sorry.
Yes again I am sorry, usual me being me incident.
Luke: It was Ex Machina
I have put perhaps too much faith in Vikander, although I accidently put faith in Sean Penn in the early 2000s and we all know how that worked out.
Personally I love Meryl Streep and I think she's one of the best actresses ever. I just think she is very versatile and is always convincing. Her work in Sophie's Choice and A Cry in the Dark is among the best ever, and she's been great in many other movies, such as The Bridges of Madison County, August: Osage County, Doubt, Ironweed, Silkwood, Out of Africa, The French Liutenant's Woman, Adaptation, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Deer Hunter, The Iron Lady, The Devil Wears Prada (laugh at me but I think she was great in that as she was hilarious yet she grounded a charactet that was written as a caricature) ... I think she deserves her reputation and is not overrated and I don't really understand the passionate hate some have against her but everyone is entitled to have his own opinion.
@Robert: what are the two performances of Streep you hate? August: Osage County and The Manchurian Candidate right?
Yes, those two.
Oh and my Top 5 characters from GoT.
Male:
1. Jaime
2. Tyrion
3. Davos
4. Jorah
5. Jon Snow
Female:
1. Cersei (I know she's a bitch but I can't help it I just love her)
2. Margaery
3. Daenerys
4. Sansa
5. Arya
Louis: would you consider James Woods to be one of your favourite actors now, based on his entire filmography of his you've seen.
1. Connery
2. Dern
3. McAnally
4. Lancaster
5. Gwynne
That's right about Sils Maria, Luke.
Streep can be great when she is not desperatly trying to get an oscar nod. In this century, the two performances I like the most of her are Devil Wears Prada (one of her best) and Hope Springs - two light comedies not-oscar style. She's pretty nice in Doubt and Adaptation also, but all the rest are just standard work - and I think she's bad in Iron Lady, just an imitation in a terrible film.
Actually I rather liked her in Hope Springs. She was surprisingly generous and unshowy.
Oh damn, A few challengers appear.
Anonymous:
Wiest - 3.5(I thought she was just fine here in doing a slight comedic rendition of the haggard mother trying to raise two problematic kids. I don't think there's anything too notable about, but she certainly fulfills the demands of the role)
Dunaway - (A very good performance as she manages to not fall into the pitfalls of playing a true louse. She could have easily been one note, but Dunaway brings such complexity to the part. Dunaway certainly does not shy away from the less savory elements showing quite clearly the effects of being drunken all the time, as well as the desperation shown through the fact that her drinking controls her life. Dunaway takes it a step further though in that she does bring a life to the character though as there are moments of warmth and humor within her. She also strikes up a unique and rather compelling chemistry with Mickey Rourke)
Greenwood - (The fact that she manages to have an impact in just a couple of scenes in such a ridiculously long film says something. Greenwood does ice cold beautifully and is terrific in her early scenes in creating such a bitter woman. This makes her final scene all the more remarkable, as Greenwood delivers her character's final redemption in a convincing and very powerful fashion. The film really probably should have just been edited down to her and Guinness)
Aitken - 4.5(She's a hilarious shrew. Every one of her expressions carries such little regard and not a hint of love it's just wonderful. She delivers so many of her lines with such incisiveness establishing well her enjoyable disregard for her husbands concerns. I particularly love her confrontation with Otto as she shows one person who seems quite capable of staring him down)
Luke:
I really need to get around to. I'll try to soon.
Calvin:
Well I've always liked Woods a great deal. So yeah he'd at least be in the top 25 I'd say since for me Woods is always watchable even when the film is not.
Aw thanks Louis, a few more good additions :)
Louis: Whenever you do see Ex Machina, can you tell us your thoughts on the film and your ratings and thoughts on Vikander, Gleeson and Isaac in advance.
Luke and anyone else: What sort of role do you think Gleeson will have in the new Star Wars film, I hope he'll interact with Isaac in some capacity as they had great chemistry in Ex Machina.
In fact what are all our predictions for the Star Wars actors, I think:
Boyega, Ridley and Isaac: We know they're the protagonists/young heroes, hopefully they'll nail it as Isaac is a great actor, Boyega is a very good one and though I haven't seen Ridley in anything before I have a good feeling about her.
Adam Driver: the main antagonist, I think he'll be great, quite an underrated actor, the only good thing IMO about Girls.
Serkis: either a secondary antagonist/authority figure, Supreme Leader Snoke seems a bit vague.
Gleeson: I could see him as like a quirky side character, kind of like Lando, I've always thought he just looks like a Jedi though so maybe...
Sydow: I would not actually mind at all if he's playing a wise mentor role as he'd be perfect, but he'd also be great as a villain.
Calvin: in Regards to Gleeson, I've heard rumors that he's playing an Imperial Officer, who has defected from the Rebellion, though, I could see him being an Anti-Hero.
With Sydow, Personally, I'd rather he played the wise Jedi mentor.
Gleeson has already been confirmed to play a Peter Cushing-like role in the movie, which honestly has me more excited than Adam Driver.
In which case, should be very interesting, as well as a potential relationship with Isaac's character :)
Also, hopefully Sydow is a Jedi mentor as you said Luke, can't have everybody being a baddie lol
Louis: You've yet to highlight '89 Lead on the sidebar.
Since I've finally finished watching/rewatching all five of these, I felt like giving my thoughts on them.
My Left Foot-Very strong ensemble cast for one thing. Of course Day-Lewis gives an excellent leading performance but the rest of the main cast is also quite effective. Brenda Fricker does an excellent job of portraying the warmth of the mother but without ever holding back on the exhaustion someone in her position would feel, and most importantly she always conveys why she feels that all of her trouble is worthwhile. McAnally avoids being one-dimensional stoic father by adding a lot of humor, and expressing his consistently growing pride in his son very subtly. O'Conor is very convincing in his physical portrayal, but he also shows in his reactions that Christy is naturally quite intelligent, which sets up Day-Lewis's performance marvelously. Aside from that it's a well-told story that never feels like a pity party for Christy Brown as it highlights the faults of the man as often as his inspirational qualities.
The 'burbs-I found this to be an enjoyable horror comedy that had some subtle satire of generic slasher films that I appreciated. Hanks is good as the average guy skeptic hero of course, his reactions are very well timed and I especially liked his freakout at the end. I quite liked Dern as the over-enthusiastic paramilitary vet. Even though I didn't quite love him, I thought he had lots of rather funny reactions and one-liners. Ducommun I found had some funny moments, but I never found him to be much more than the standard best friend character.
The Last Crusade-It's just as great as ever, and Connery will make a fine win. There's not much else I could say that everyone doesn't already know.
Field of Dreams-I was very surprised at how much I liked this on rewatch. I mean it was unapologetically sentimental pretty much from start to finish but it totally worked for me. It had lots of charm and humor, and I even found Costner rather endearing. Jones and Lancaster both give really strong performances, but I still think Liotta was my favorite. In his first scene alone he conveys in such an understated way the awkwardness but also the fascination of a spirit suddenly finding himself on earth as well as a quiet passion for and knowledge of the game. I think he deserves at least a 4.5 for that scene alone.
Pet Sematary-...wow this was dumb. I was hoping it would have a semi-ironic tone considering its concept and title, but it took itself completely seriously. It's an awkwardly made film with many moments of unintentional hilarity, plenty of which come from Dale Midkiff's lead performance. He's so hilariously devoid of emotion throughout that he becomes a more convincing zombie than any of the actual zombies, but then in his bigger emotional scenes he goes waaaaay over the top. Having said that, Fred Gwynne is genuinely very good in it. He gives a haunting and moving performance of a man who knows much more than he'd really care to that is easily the best thing about the film.
Michael: I agree with you on pretty much all your points save Pet Semetary (which I haven't seen) and Dern (just watched it and I loved him, though I know you liked him as well)
And also I actually like Jones and Liotta just about the same, I give the slight edge to Jones for that speech he makes about people coming to watch baseball. Lancaster though is my win for the year, so he's pretty far ahead.
1. Connery
2. Lancaster
3. McAnally
4. Dern
5. Gwynne
Louis, thoughts & ratings on the rest of the cast of Field of Dreams:
Costner
Madigan
Hoffmann
Busfield
Liotta
Whaley
LaFleur
Scott:
Costner - 3.5(A simple role but well done. He gives the right charm to his character's resilience and passion for his unusual cause. The type I imagine why he got some James Stewart comparisons back in the day, I don't think he's that good, but he is good)
Louis, thoughts/ratings on Binoche/Dench in Chocolat?
Calvin and RatedRStar: Are there any performances from Meryl Streep, that you could see getting a 5 from Louis. As much as I can't stand Streep getting nominated every year, a part of me would still like to see her get a 5.
Luke: River Wild maybe?
Holocaust (telvision miniseries so doesn't really count but she'great in it as is James Woods)
Has he seen The French Lieutenant's Woman? If not very likely, pretty darn great performance there
River Wild yes, a very naturalistic and impactful performance (I'd give her a 4.5 though)
Death Becomes Her, maybe? She's pretty damn funny in that one.
Calvin: He's yet to watch The French Lieutenant's Woman.
Louis: For The Bonus Rounds, Are Carlos (2010) and Scenes From A Marriage eligible.
Robert: I second Death Becomes Her too. Also Bruce Willis is quite the revelation in that.
If we do Wiseau Week, may I suggest Sting in Dune? I know some people find him to be the bright spot of the film, but I thought he was a screeching laughingstock.
Robert: Go ahead, I've only ever seen Sting in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels where he was pretty distracting even in a pretty simple and small role.
Also just started watching House of Cards (the UK version) and it is sublime. Anyone else here seen it?
Scott: Ask again when I review Jones and Lancaster.
Anonymous:
Binoche - 2.5(I don't mind this performance really. It's pretty thin material she has to work with, but I never felt as though she was charming enough to frankly make up for the thin nature of her performance)
Dench - 2.5(Felt this was standard Dench, which for me I find rather uninteresting)
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