Friday 20 October 2017

Alternate Best Actor 1988

And the Nominees Were Not:

John Neville in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Michael Keaton in Clean and Sober

Willem Dafoe in The Last Temptation of Christ

Daniel Day-Lewis in The Unbearable Lightness of Being 

Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

For Prediction Purposes:

Caine out of the Scoundrels

60 comments:

Robert MacFarlane said...

1. Dafoe
2. Keaton
3. Neville
4. Day-Lewis
5. Caine

Anonymous said...

Luke Higham

1. Dafoe
2. Day-Lewis
3. Keaton
4. Neville
5. Caine

Omar Franini said...

1. Dafoe
2. Day-Lewis
3. Keaton
4. Neville
5. Caine

Calvin Law said...

Will do my rankings in a bit.

Saw The Death of Stalin. Bit uneven and some jokes try a bit too hard but it's frequently hilarious, while actually bothering with the historical contexts. Ask for thoughts on any cast members you like.

Tambor: 4
Buscemi: 4
Kurylenko: 3
Palin: 3.5
Beale: Need to think a bit more
Considine: 3.5 (wish he had more screentime)
Riseborough: 3.5
Friend: 2.5
Isaacs: 4
McLoughlin: 3
Whitehouse: 3.5
Aris: 3
Chahidi: 3
Crowley: 3

Anonymous said...

1. Dafoe
2. Keaton
3. Day-Lewis
4. Neville
5. Caine

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

1. Dafoe
2. Day-Lewis
3. Keaton
4. Neville
5. Caine

Luke Higham said...

And I hope Bob Hoskins goes up.

Calvin Law said...

1. Neville
2. Dafoe
3. Keaton
4. Day-Lewis
5. Caine

Luke Higham said...

This could be one of the best lead lineups we've had so far and the only performance apart from the 6 we have that I really want Louis to watch is Brandauer in Hanussen.

Maciej said...

1.Dafoe
2.Day-Lewis
3.Neville
4.Keaton
5.Caine

Bryan L. said...

1. Dafoe
2. Day-Lewis
3. Neville
4. Caine
5. Keaton

Giuseppe Fadda said...

1. Neville
2. Day-Lewis
3. Dafoe
4. Caine
5. Keaton

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Akira, I'm having a hard time finding a site that has the movie with English subtitles.

Robert MacFarlane said...

Anonymous: It's on Hulu, I just watched it last month.

Anonymous said...

Louis: Your top 10 Art Carney, Maggie Smith and Stephen Lang acting moments

Robson Nakazato said...

5 - Caine
4 - Neville
3 - Keaton
2 - Day-Lewis
1 - Dafoe

Unknown said...

1 - Dafoe
2 - Keaton
3 - Neville
4 - Day-Lewis
5 - Caine

Charles H said...

Hoskins is no doubt getting the upgrade. And this whole line is excellent.

1. Dafoe
2. Day-Lewis
3. Keaton
4. Neville
5. Caine

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Films To Watch
Grave Of The Fireflies
My Neighbour Totoro
Akira (A Landmark year for Anime Films)
A Short Film About Love (This is a feature-length film)
Landscape In The Mist
Frantic
Hanussen (Klaus Maria Brandauer)
The Vanishing
Salaam Bombay!
The Milagro Beanfield War
Crossing Delancey
Buster (Phil Collins/Great Train Robbery)
Camille Claudel (Isabelle Adjani)
The Accused
Gorillas In The Mist
Evil Angels/A Cry In The Dark
Working Girl
Time Of The Gypsies
Sound And Fury
Damnation (Bela Tarr)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (Postlethwaite for Supporting)
High Hopes (Mike Leigh)
Gunbuster
Dominik And Eugene
Clara's Heart
A World Apart (Barbara Hershey)
Madame Sousatzka (Shirley MacLaine)
On The Silver Globe
Tequila Sunrise (Mel Gibson)
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
Wife Of An Important Man
Heathers
Story Of Women (Isabelle Huppert)
Chocolat
Another Woman (Woody Allen)
The Tracker (Kristofferson)
Beaches (Bette Midler)
The Dressmaker
The Bear

Matt Mustin said...

1. Dafoe
2. Keaton
3. Day-Lewis
4. Neville
5. Caine

Luke Higham said...

Charles: Yeah, I think 1st to 4th could all get 5s.

Henry W said...

Guys, what is your rating of Mark Ruffalo in You Can Count on Me by Kenneth Lonergan and what makes this performance so good/bad?

Psifonian said...

1. Neville (my runner-up)
2. Day-Lewis
3. Keaton
4. Dafoe
5. Caine

Also, I'm gonna cash in one of my picks and insist on a Thomas Jane review for "1922." If Tim Blake Nelson and Tom Hardy in "The Revenant" had a child and raised him on Flannery O'Connor, this would be the end result.

Robert MacFarlane said...

Henry W: I'd give him a 3.5 or a 4. He has some awkward moments, but he and Linney great chemistry, and his last scene is pretty damn nice.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: My requests are-
Shahid Kapoor in Haider (2014 Lead)
Atul Kulkarni in Rang de Basanti (2006 Supporting)

RatedRStar said...

1. Neville
2. Dafoe
3. Keaton
4. Day-Lewis
5. Caine

Matt Mustin said...

Psifonian: I'm reading King's novella right now and it's such an interesting character, I'm glad Jane does it justice.

Anonymous said...

Louis: Your thoughts on Lisa's First Word, Bart Gets an F and The Principal and the Pauper.

GM said...

1. Neville
2. Day-Lewis
3. Keaton
4. Dafoe
5. Caine

JackiBoyz said...

1. Neville
2. Dafoe
3. Day-Lewis
4. Keaton
5. Caine

Luke Higham said...

1. Dafoe
2. Neville
3. Day-Lewis
4. Keaton
5. Caine

Charles H said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
moviefilm said...

1) Dafoe
2) Day-Lewis
3) Keaton
4) Neville
5) Caine

Anonymous said...

Louis: Your thoughts on the Hitler assassination scene in Inglorious Basterds.

John Smith said...

1.Dafoe
2.Keaton
3.Day-Lewis
4.Neville
5.Caine

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

1. Dafoe 
2. Neville 
3. Day-Lewis
4. Keaton
5. Caine

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Seen any other 2017 films.

Calvin Law said...

Louis: thoughts on the opening to Part 15 of The Return, especially Ed + Norma + Otis Redding.

Bryan L. said...

Anyone else feel that Val Kilmer and Brad Pitt are part of different generations when it comes to actors despite only four (4) years separating them in age?

Luke Higham said...

94dfk1: In a minor sense, perhaps. Their careers started 3 years apart and Kilmer had his best work in the early 90s and Pitt in the Late 2000s to 2011.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: What are top ten biggest missed opportunities of the 1970s, 80s, 90s, 2000s and 10s.

Luke Higham said...

*What are your top ten biggest

Matt Mustin said...

Louis: What's your thoughts on Julie Kavner's voice work on The Simpsons?

Anonymous said...

Matt: Here's his thoughts:

Kavner - (Her voices are as Marge, her mother and her sisters, and though all similair she does make them distinctive. As with Castellaneta there is often the times where she simply serves the purpose of being funny, and delivers those moments well. Again though often there is asked for more, in the best episodes, and she always delivered then particularly in the flashback episodes.)

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Once these bonus rounds are done, could you post Leading Actress and Supporting Actress overall rankings for each year.

Michael McCarthy said...

1. Willem Dafoe (The more I think about this film and performance the more I really love them)
2. Michael Keaton
3. John Neville
4. Michael Caine
5. Daniel Day-Lewis

Also I saw Marshall yesterday. The film is pretty standard and predictable but Boseman, Gad and Brown are all quite strong.

Luke Higham said...

Michael: Your ratings for Dafoe, Keaton, Neville, Caine and Day-Lewis.

Michael McCarthy said...

Dafoe: 5
Keaton: 5
Neville: 4.5/5
Caine: 4.5
Day-Lewis: 4.5

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Carney:

1. The morgue - Harry and Tonto
2. Ira gets the upper hand - The Late Show
3. "Here a dance you should know" - The Honeymooners
4. Turning down his son's offer - Harry and Tonto
5. Chef of the future - The Honeymooners
6. Visiting his daughter - Harry and Tonto
7. Solving it all - The Late Show
8. Meeting his old flame - Harry and Tonto
9. Captain Video - The Honeymooners
10. Opening - The Late Show

Smith:

1. Assassin - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
2. Wrong encouragements - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
3. First Class - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
4. Awards loss - California Suite
5. Mussolini fan - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
6. Romantic rejections - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
7. Acid tongue at dinner - Gosford Park
8. Must be assassinated - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
9. Evil son - Richard III
10. Propaganda - Oh! What a Lovely War

Lang:

1. "You are the first brigade" - Gods and Generals
2. Death - Gods and Generals
3. "I have no division" - Gettysburg
4. First Battle - Gods and Generals
5. Horse without a rider - Gettysburg
6. "In Heaven" - Gods and Generals
7. A chance for action - Gettysburg
8. Black flag - Gods and Generals
9. "Goodbye blackbird" - Public Enemies
10. No man's land - Gods and Generals

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Lisa's First Word - (An example of a truly great Simpsons episode with plenty of hilarious moments in there "Hello Joe", evil clown bed, Bart's imagined baby, while having fun with the eighties setting per the episode through the numerous references, however the episode actually manages something emotional without ever messing with the overall comedic tone. In that it is genuinely moving with both the ending, and in the realization of Bart's jealously then later his appreciation of Lisa.)

Bart Gets an F - (As common in season 2 this is more dramedy than comedy, but it works as such. There are definitely funny moments I have particular affection for the snow day even interrupting the constitutional convention. Overall though the focus is on Bart's struggle which is actually rather poignant in its depiction of a the real vulnerability of a kid who can't seem to make himself work. It takes away the joke of the underachiever, and proud of it, and does so effectively.)

The Principal and the Pauper - (I think I've covered this before, but to reiterate. This was more than anything a strong indicator of bad things to come where the writers would drop any grounding in reality for cheap unimpressive story lines. Having even listened to the commentary to the episode even it appears the writer somehow failed to understand why someone would be taken aback by having someone they knew not be who they claimed to be, which suggests why this episode was a failure. To top it all off it's also just not a very funny episode, and just is generally sloppy such as how they write into the Simpsons into the central conflict is very weakly handled.)

Anonymous:

If we're talking about that moment among the finale it's a funny bit of sheer exploitation by Tarantino, and enjoyably so in that regard. I would say though the other side of that scene holds the greater impact for me.

Calvin:

Oh I love everything about that opening from first the sort of reformed Nadine okay, but the highlight is Norma and Ed, supplemented by sheer perfection in terms the song choice. This is Lynch at his very best, proving his ability to craft such a genuinely heartwarming moment a la Straight Story/The Elephant Man, even if he's known best for his darker work. It is such a satisfying and downright beautiful moment granting such a fitting resolution to that central romance of the original series. It's made all the better really by that tease at first with "and a cyanide pill" making when the two do embrace all the sweeter.

Luke:

Well finally went and watched Book of Henry for some reason. Gotta round out that worst of the year list I guess.

Yes I will in regards to the rankings.

For specification do you mean missed opportunities in terms of films that had the potential to be great and weren't, or proposed films that were never made?

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Either of.

Luke Higham said...

And your thoughts on Book Of Henry and your thoughts on the cast.

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Perhaps the most misguided film since Collateral Beauty, though it's more tolerable than that film strangely enough, though yes it's also awful in a rather mind boggling way. The fact that this was Colin Trevorrow's dream project suggests he's got some weird dreams. Anyway he didn't the write the film but his whimsical choices as a director only makes it all the stranger as a film.

Now I was thinking An Average Little Man is kind of like the film in terms of the severity of its tonal switch, however that film is well written and directed, this one is not. The flow of the story is so awkward I think, in part, is because the film doesn't treat any of its switches as though it's something substantial it sort of does them all within the initial tone set by Trevorrow making so you say "I guess this is happening now". Where as An Average Little Man let you know that something severe has happened, but again this film is awful at script level even with Trevorrow's failures. There are moments that just simply a baffling in themselves, written by a robot who is trying to understand humanity I think. It has so many wonderfully horrible moments in there my two favorites though are Jacob Tremblay going "I think Henry wants us to murder a man", and Naomi Watts's figuring out that Henry was only a child as this major last act revelation, "yeah no duh lady".

Lieberher - 3.5(Now here is why I can say this is better than collateral Beauty as everything isn't horrible about the film. Lieberher here for example surprisingly is able to at least make something believable within his ridiculous character, and has some genuinely good moments within his own performance. I would say though this is because he chooses almost to ignore the film at a certain level just manages to make Henry convincing at least as a kid, while kind ignoring the idea of the kid who develops his own plan for a murder. Lieberher's performance isn't as such a kid, which is a good thing.)

Tremblay - 3(Again he's fine because again ignoring the film it seems in a way since he just makes for a convincing kid, and would be moving in a different film. This film's methods kind of prevent any real emotion.)

Pace - 3(Again blissfully unaware that he's in a terrible film and he's pretty decent in just giving the right emotional weight to his moments as the sincere doctor.)

Watts - 1.5(Now she seems to know the film she's in, and that's the problem. For no lack of trying she tries to be in the twee "smart kid movie", the harrowing drama, and the let's kill a man plot while playing a fundamentally ridiculous character on her own. She embraces the ridiculousness though in the worst of ways, and becomes ridiculous in her own performance. I mean sure she has those moments in the third act in particular where she seems to say "this is stupid" with her performance, but in turn makes her own performance seem just as misguided. Again she tries very hard it seems and it all results in one spectacular failure.)

Norris - 2(He also seems to know the movie he's in, and just seems embarrassed the whole time.)

I'll start with the 70's then:

1. The Masque of Black Death - Kurosawa
2. Catch-22
3. Red Harvest - Bertolucci
4. Ronnie Rocket
5. The Bounty - David Lean
6. Superman II directed by Richard Donner
7. The Exorcist II
8. Star Trek The Motion Picture (
9. Soylent Green (Make everything outside of Robinson equal to him)
10. Death Wish (More than decent, but Lumet/Lemmon could've been great)

Mitchell Murray said...

As an ardent fan I have to admit its disappointing seeing Naomi Watts stoop so low currently. I'm not sure she's given a single strong performance since "The Impossible".

Matt Mustin said...

Mitchell Murray: Birdman.

Matt Mustin said...

Mitchell Murray: Also I've heard she's pretty great on Twin Peaks.

Luke Higham said...

Mitchell: She was quite great in Birdman and her work in Twin Peaks is brilliant by all accounts.

Mitchell Murray said...

Correction. Strong leading performance.

Unknown said...

1-Keaton
2-Neville
3-Dafoe
4-Day-Lewis
5-Caine

BRAZINTERMA said...

1. Dafoe
2. Neville
3. Day-Lewis
4. Keaton
5. Caine