5. Lou Castel in Fists in the Pocket - Castel fails to become a Brandonian sociopath instead just comes off a general creep that leaves his character a very repetitive figure.
Best Scene: Seizure
4. Zbigniew Cybulski in The Saragossa Manuscript - Cybulski, this time not going for a James Dean cool, is an entertaining enough straight man for the truly mad film around him properly processing both the comical and horrifying events he witnesses.
Best Scene: First meeting the princesses.
3. Charlton Heston in Major Dundee - Heston grants his usual bravado and commanding presence that he subverts somewhat here in portraying perhaps a certain weakness and desperation that slowly reveals itself within the ego.
Best Scene: Recovering from his wound.
2. Jozef Kroner in The Shop on Main Street - Kroner gives a powerful portrayal that slowly reveals an average man for all his faults, but also his qualities through his relationship with a deaf Jewish shop owner facing persecution.
Best Scene: Waiting inside during the deportation.
1. Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight - Welles gives one of the all time great Shakespearean performances through his complete embodiment of Sir John Falstaff in all his grandeur, and all his foolishness.
Best Scene: The battle.
Updated Overall
Next Year: 1965 Supporting
28 comments:
Louis: Ratings And Thoughts on the other leading performances you've seen.
Your Female Top Tens with ratings and other 4+ honourable mentions
Your 1965 winners.
Harris
Shaw
Douglas
Rains, Heston and Pleasence
Absolutely deserved line-up win for Welles
Louis: The movie would've still needed a better script, but who would you have cast instead of Cruise and Mastrantonio in The Color of Money?
Oh and who would you have chosen as director of The Killer Inside Me?
Matt: I kind of agree with you on Tran. Her performance hasn't stuck with me at all.
Louis: Have you settled on Stamp as your winner.
Louis, what are your thoughts on the cinematography of The Conformist?
I’m really sad you didn’t like Castel, but I’m thrilled you liked Pitagora. I thought she was absolutely splendid.
Louis: your thoughts on Denis O'Dea in The Fallen Idol and Odd Man Out?
And Robert Beatty.
Louis: Your rating for John Hurt in Snowpiercer.
Saw The Greatest Showman. It could have been worse I guess, but also didn't need to be made at all.
Jackman - 3 (as far as passion projects go this is fairly modest work as the nice man who wants to entertain everyone, and he delivers a great deal of energy in the numbers. Having said that he can't get past how simplistic his role is)
Efron - 3 (same as Jackman, lively bit of work in a paper-thin role, does well with the numbers)
Zendaya - 3 (good chemistry with Efron and I'd say the scenes between them are the best in the film)
Williams - 2.5 (virtually nothing to do of any consequence, she's fine and has decent chemistry with Jackman. That's it.)
Ferguson - 2 (terribly conceived role to begin with, never found her particularly convincing and her lip syncing wasn't very good)
Settle - 3 (she delivers in her number, although I have to say I preferred it out of the context of the film a lot more.)
Everyone else is okay but can't get past how either simplistic or problematic their roles are.
Damn I really liked Castel.
My one supporting actor pick is Dirk Bogarde in Darling.
Louis: your thoughts on the Mom & Dad trailer feat. Nicolas Cage.
My problems with Jackman’s performance in The Greatest Showman are not due to his acting per se but rather due to the utterly messy writing of the character of Burnam. Ferguson was okay for me and I thought she did what she could with a terribly conceived part. Efron and Zendaya were the most genuine, interesting part of the film and I wish the movie was about them honestly.
*Barnum
In the past few days, I've seen Molly's Game, I, Tonya, and Bright. I'm pretty indifferent to the first, I really loved the second, and the third...was hysterical honestly. I mean technically there were a lot of socially problematic elements but it was so ludicrous I couldn't help but be entertained.
Michael: would you agree Elba stole the show from Chastain?
Michael McCarthy: ratings and thoughts on I, Tonya? I really loved that movie and both Robbie and Janney are terrific, even though the latter disappear a bit in the second half of the movie; i also really liked Paul Hauser, he was so funny and entertaining.
Louis: Your Screenplay winners for 1971.
And 1985.
Louis: Your top 10 Tom Courtenay acting moments.
Luke: Eh. I thought Chastain and Elba were pretty equal. I will give props to Elba for bringing some genuine warmth and passion into the 5 minute long "Stop being a dick" monologue that Sorkin is contractually obligated to put in all of his scripts.
Robbie: 5
Stan: 4.5
Janney: 5
Hauser: 4
Nicholson: 3.5
I'll go into thoughts later, because I really was a big fan of this one and I want to wait until I have more time.
Michael: It was Calvin who asked about Chastain and Elba.
I see, my bad.
Calvin: Same thing I said to Luke.
I watched Downsizing and I, Tonya.
Luke:
Mifune - 4.5(Big surprise I like a Toshiro Mifune performance. Anyway though this is very interesting turn from him and if the film gave just a bit more focus to his character I think there was potential for a truly great performance from him. As it is it is a very good performance here. In part we get the stoic samurai badass but only in part. Mifune actually rather brilliantly subverts that here bringing more a desperation and petulance here that sets this character apart from his other samurai warriors. In this one Mifune successfully shows the discontent in the man who struggles with his heritage and his place in society in frankly a less confident way than usual. Mifune's terrific in bringing more a vulnerability than expected here and I only wish he had been given even more time to explore this element of his work.)
Wayne - 4(Pretty strong work from Wayne here in actually giving a far less confident military character than is usually the case for him. He certainly projects a definite strength to him however he brings a greater somberness here so effectively suggesting the years of the conflict and the losses over the years weighing on him. I found his chemistry with Patricia Neal was particularly good here as he brings some of that Quiet Man vulnerability here that makes the relationship a particularly affecting one.)
Brook - 3.5(His performance is purposefully straight forward against his female co-star but his performance works almost as this hapless comic straight man. He basically has the right type of timing through his portrayal of his Simon as basically a rock within the madness that develops around him though this rock seems almost silly in itself when it doesn't seem to alter around everything that changes in his environment.)
von Sydow - 3.5(von Sydow goes for the constrictive otherworldly approach and I wouldn't say is nearly as effective as Robert Powell would be taking a similair approach. Not that von Sydow is bad at all he's just fairly one note, however he handles that one note pretty well bringing the right calm yet powerful passion needed. It is never anything too remarkable in that regard but he's definitely good. There is some variation at times, mostly Gethsemane which is a very good scene for von Sydow, as his the entirety of the crucifixion sequence.)
Heston - 3(This film is interesting in its attempt to portray a more Braveheart sort of medieval time. Heston perhaps could go further with this role though, however his presence certainly does do much of the work here. He does go a bit further in this case though in offering just a bit of depth towards his titular character.)
Mastroianni - 3(Feels like an autopilot performance for him. There are other times where he's far more charming or at least far more interesting. This feels just like his greatest hits as Lothario which is something worthwhile but only take him so far.)
Crawford - 3(He's decent as the over enthusiastic naive Englishman type but he's also kind of one note in this. His one note quality though is entertaining enough to carry him through the film though. It is easy to see how a Tom Courtenay though could have knocked a role like this out of the park.)
Constantine - 3(Does hard boiled well enough and at least made the film slightly more tolerable. That's not saying too much as it successfully gave me what I'll have to call the Godard headache from now on. Still didn't make up to much for the film but at least delivered in sort of the gruffness of his character.)
Peppard - 2.5(He's completely overshadowed by his co-stars especially good old Tom Courtenay. He's decent enough though as his excessively straight forward spy. He does his job, but Peppard isn't that charming or dynamic performer on his own.)
Douglas - 2.5(Overshadowed by Richard Harris here, and just isn't all that great here. He's perfectly serviceable in the role but that's all I can say about it which is unfortunate as usually Douglas can bring a bit more in part.)
Belmondo - 2(There's only so much I can take of his clowning around and that's called very little. That combined with Goddard's method only increases my headache all the more. The blase style of Belmondo and Goddard combined is a bit too much and here takes away anything that possibly could have been gained from this story. It is lifeless due to his choice to seem so above it all the whole time even as the body count builds and builds. It just never feels worthwhile since Belmondo barely seems to care, and Goddard seems to encourage that.)
O'Toole - 2(This performance frankly feels like what one would think of a bad parody of a Peter O'Toole performance. It takes all the risky aspects that often work in favor of his turns and makes them go the other way. In that O'Toole feels very overwrought and frankly ridiculous here. He plays into the melodrama at every turn and he flounders badly throughout.)
Burton - 2(A pretty horrendous secondary performance for the year. This is autopilot Burton. I'll admit he could be worse but this is not a good a performance by him. He always seems mildly bored at best but to be fair he's in an awful film. He's hardly the worst part of it.)
Director: David Lean - Doctor Zhivago
Production Design: Doctor Zhivago
Sound Editing: Thunderball
Sound Mixing: Doctor Zhivago
Score: For a Few Dollars More
Editing: The Hill
Visual Effects: Thunderball
Costume Design: Chimes at Midnight
Cinematography: Doctor Zhivago
Makeup and Hairstyling: Red Beard
Song: "What's New Pussycat" - What's New Pussycat
Original Screenplay: Red Beard
Adapted Screenplay: The Hill
Actress:
1. Elizabeth Hartman - A Patch of Blue
2. Samantha Eggar - The Collector
3. Julie Christie - Doctor Zhivago
4. Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music
5. Hana Brejchova - Loves a Blonde - 4
6. Catherine Deneuve - Repulsion - 4
7. Carol Lynley - Bunny Lake is Missing
8. Rita Tushingham - The Knack - 3.5
9. Natalie Wood - Inside Daisy Clover - 3
10. Julie Christie - Darling - 2.5
Supporting Actress:
1. Simone Signoret - Ship of Fools
2. Silvia Pinal - Simon of the Desert
3. Paola Pitagora - Fists in the Pocket
4. Shelley Winters - A Patch of Blue
5. Claire Bloom - The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
6. Kyoko Kagawa - Red Beard
7. Ida Kaminska - The Shop on Main Street
8. Geraldine Chaplin - Doctor Zhivago
9. Maggie Smith - Othello
10. Joyce Redman - Othello
Hurt's a four.
71:
Adapted: A Clockwork Orange
Original: Dirty Harry
85:
Adapted: Ran
Original: Back to the Future
Bryan:
Theoretically they both could have worked given Cruise gave many good performances in the eighties, and Mastrantonio is very good in the Abyss. It is just one of the many aspects of the film where it seemed like Scorsese was taking a nap. I will say though actually take Forest Whitaker's character and team him up with Newman, as he's the best part of the film outside of Fast Eddie. Direct alternative though for Cruise would be Robert Downey Jr, and Jennifer Jason Leigh for Mastrantonio's role.
Maybe David Cronenberg, though maybe not due to his recent output, or Andrew Dominick for the Killer Inside Me.
Tahmeed:
Completely settled, no, it is technically still between the top four.
You'll find Courtenay's in bonus 35's results.
Calvin:
The Fallen Idol - (He's effective in the role as he offers a the right bit of sympathy in his exasperation showing the inspector cares about the two people even as he is annoyed by their attempts to trick him.)
Odd Man Out - (One again as the inspector and this time given a role with even more gravity behind it. Again he does well in creating the right warmth within the determination though this time amplifying it a bit in conveying the right sense of knowledge of similair tragedies in the man's mind as he attempts to warn Kathleen.)
Beatty - (I actually wished he had stayed around a little longer within the film as I find his performance rather moving by making his concerns for the couple within his scenes rather moving. In just a few scenes he effectively establishes the friendship with Mason's Johnnie well in just a few scenes, and makes an impact despite his brief performance.)
I don't know it looks like watching it will be a little........Cagey. I apologize. Looks like its Cage letting loose which can be fun on its own however doesn't look like it's doing much with a silly premise, though that premise could work.
Matt:
I find the film a bit of a tedious bore, but boy if it isn't absolutely a wonder to look at. Every scene is worthy of a painting with how impeccably each frame is crafted. The lighting and the composition of every sequence is immaculate. Although the film doesn't do enough with it in my mind it creates such palatable atmosphere. It is a brilliant spectacle as it has this fascinating combination of this vibrancy within the colors chosen for the scenes yet a purposeful coldness through the way they are naturally lit.
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