4. Charles Bronson in Hard Times - Bronson fulfills the tough guy needs of the role, yet once again reveals his greater talent to exhibit a more powerful emotional side subtly within his portrayal of a man in desperate circumstances.
Best Scene: Before the first fight.
3. Robert Mitchum in Farewell, My Lovely - Mitchum elevates his entire film, despite being too old for the part, he captures the style of the genre so effectively through his earnest yet intelligent approach towards the material.
Best Scene: Waking up next to a corpse.
2. Maxim Munzuk in Dersu Uzala - Munzuk gives a wonderfully idiosyncratic turn that captures both the history of hardship as a man of the wilderness, but also an optimistic spirit that defines the man's success within it.
Best Scene: Death of a tiger.
1. Richard Dreyfuss in Inserts - Richard Dreyfuss gives one of his best performances that uses his unique presence well to create a very particular state of a man completely spent by life at such a young age.
Best Scene: Boy wonder directs the first time.
Updated Overall
Next Year: 1975 Supporting, Note: I decided to move Ugo Tognazzi's review over to supporting. I have also seen In Celebration and Smile, and consider both to be ensemble films.
41 comments:
Pszoniak - The Promised Land
Dern - Smile
Bates/Cox - In Celebration
My Friends Cast
Holy Grail Cast
Dreyfuss - Jaws - Bonus
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on the rest of the lead performances.
Your female top 10 tens with ratingz and other 4+ honourable mentions.
And your 1975 winners.
And if you're not reviewing Pszoniak then Oliver Reed in Tommy.
Any chance Jack got an upgrade for The Passenger?
Michael Palin - Monty Python and the Holy Grail (I think he's just as funny in this as he is in Life of Brian)
Brian Cox - In Celebration
Bruce Dern - Smile
Oliver Reed - Tommy
Ugo Tognazzi - My Friends
Louis: Have you seen Mirror yet and if you've seen The Naked Civil Servant, could I have your rating and thoughts on John Hurt.
Louis: Lastly, have you re-watched The Man In The Glass Booth.
Louis: your thoughts on this 2010s cast for Dracula a la Coppola style, directed by Jennifer Kent or Robert Eggers? (or feel free to make another mention)
Count Dracula/Vlad: Dan Stevens
Mina: Florence Pugh
Van Helsing: Ralph Ineson
Jonathan Harker: Nicholas Hoult
Seward: Alfie Allen
Holmwood: Sam Claflin
Morris: Michael Angarano
Lucy: Lucy Boynton
Renfield: Simon Pegg
Louis: Your thoughts on Robert Krasker, Jack Cardiff and Joseph Ruttenberg as cinematographers.
Louis: Thoughts on Sholay a a film, and your ratings and thoughts on the cast
Pszoniak - The Promised Land
Dern - Smile
Bates/Cox - In Celebration
Tognazzi - My Friends
Holy Grail Cast
Of course Dreyfuss as well, included or in a bonus review.
Probably a long shot, but I hope you upgrade Vitali for Barry Lyndon. He's my runner-up to Shaw.
I also seem to be in a minority here of thinking Barry Lyndon is a an absolute masterpiece and that it benefits from O'Neal being a living prop.
Louis: Have you also watched Bergman's The Magic Flute and Salo, 120 Days Of Sodom.
Louis: One last thing, I personally would like 1987 Lead to come after this instead of 1980. You've got 6 slots locked in if you include Rourke and O'Quinn. I desperately want you to review Manesse (Au Revoir Les Enfants), Grant (Withnail And I) and Kinski (Cobra Verde). I don't mind who you choose for the final slot whether it's between Ed Harris in Walker (Though I can't think of a time he's ever risen well above a bad/mediocre film), Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead II or Steve Martin in Roxanne though it wouldn't surprise me if Robert requested Martin.
Halfway through Maniac. The series is growing on me, and Hill and Stone are both remarkable.
Calvin: How would you describe the series?
Louis: What are your thoughts on Ann Margret in Tommy? you know mine already lol.
Michael Palin - Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Brian Cox - In Celebration
Oliver Reed - Tommy
Bruce Dern - Smile
Ugo Tognazzi - My Friends
And your rating for Margret.
Louis: Could you put The Servant back into 1963, I discovered that it was shown in London in November of that year and was Bafta nominated in 1964. My apologies for making you switch it.
Louis: It was shown at London's Warner Theatre.
Louis: Your top ten Nikolaj Coster-Waldau acting moments.
Michael Palin and Graham Chapman- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Brian Cox- In Celebration
Ugo Tognazzi- My Friends
Richard Dreyfuss- Jaws
Tahmeed: I'm pretty sure all but maybe one of those are all GOT.
I saw one of his performances recently in a film called A Second Chance in a rather atypical cop role. He gives a very strong performance (4/4.5) that could've been something truly great under Vinterberg's direction.
Luke: That'd be something to do, have a look at every film release date and see if its right lol.
Amjad Khan-Sholay
Shashi Kapoor-Deewar
Björn Gustaffson-Hallo Baby
RatedRStar: I've been doing that for awhile now just to make sure that everything is in line with Louis' Theatrical release rule. And The Servant was a rare mistake on my part.
I should probably check the BAFTAS from 1948 to 1999, because some British films just seem to be in the wrong year and haven't had that problem with other countries.
Louis: I imagine you going from watching Deep Red to watching Once is Not Enough how would that turn out lol?
Mel Gibson's remaking The Wild Bunch.
Luke: Yeah, I think that sounds awesome, I'm sorry.
Yeah that does seem like a good fit, even though Gibson's always gonna be hard to root for.
Like hell I’ll ever pay to see Mel Gibson direct a Peckinpah remake. Screw that noise.
I'd say Gibson is a perfect fit to direct a remake of a western.
Yeah I can see that generating a lot of controversy. I wonder if he’s going to star in it as well.
Pike: Gibson/Kurt Russell
Dutch: Ray Liotta
Deke: Hugo Weaving
Sykes: John Goodman
Lyle and Tector: Walton Goggins and David O’Hara
Angel: Michael Mando
Robert: Even as someone who wholeheartedly loves "Hacksaw Ridge", I can't say I blame you with this one.
On another note, actually, I just watched "Mandy" today. It was brutal and bloody and bonkers but I have to say, I enjoyed every minute of it. Its about as subtle as a dumb truck, whether as a revenge story or an anti-religion piece, but its certainly a striking technical achievement with some decent emotional undercurrents supporting that style. Furthermore I think Andrea Riseborough and Linus Roache are both very good in their respective roles.
I saw A Simple Favor, which I didn't dislike, but didn't do much for me outside of a few elements. Specifically the costume designs and Blake Lively's happily sociopathic performance.
I actually thought Lively's performance was horribly miscalculated, even more so than Kendrick.
I rather liked how she didn’t even try to hide how horrible the character was. Not necessarily believable, but I found it to be pretty entertaining.
Luke:
Hackman (Bite the Bullet) - 4.5(Great work from him, and one of the best years for a single performer in terms of their own output with one outstanding and two very strong leading turns. This one is mostly built upon presence. A presence that he realizes so naturally of this man built by his experiences in the west that Hackman portrays so effortlessly. There is nearly this spirituality towards the character's convictions within his treatment of the animals. Hackman makes this so very potent and powerful as this simple given of a man who is most at peace in just tending to animals, and even treats the race only as natural camaraderie between the man and his horse. It is an often silent performance yet he makes a strong impact that carries the film. There is one monologue though, where his character recounts the battle of San Juan Hill, and it is one of the best acted moments of Hackman's career. He is simply amazing in realizing such a haunting recounting of the even filled with such complicated emotions that is gripping for every word he speaks.)
Connery - 4(Fine work in really Connery just giving the full force of his charisma. That is all that is honestly needed as he makes an impact mostly being just bringing such a larger than life presence to the film.)
Lemmon - 4(This is a less powerful rendition of what he did with Save the Tiger. This performance isn't as honest, or as haunting, but it is still good work. Part of the reason is it is Neil Simon comedic, and Lemmon is good with both sides but Dramatic Lemmon is Lemmon at his best. He's good in finding a tone for his character though, and some of his purely dramatic moments are still quite notable. His comedic though is a little more typical, but still fine comedic form for him.)
Hemmings - 3.5(Just a fine sort of observant lead turn from him. This is even more so than his most famous performance, as he's just the average wrong man, though the film never makes too much of that idea. He's mostly there just to investigate and he does this with the right charisma to make an impact even though his character is relatively simple.)
Keats - 3.5(His performance is enjoyable enough as it stands in realizing the film's slightly humorous style. What is more important though is his effective realization of the character's Americanization. This shift is handled quickly within the film but Keats still pulls off the two sides well even though we don't really get a gradual transition.)
Olbrychski - 3.5(Overall the film itself I find more one I could admire the technique of the director, than really was I gripped by the story. This is in part the leading turn here, which has a tricky role of a mostly amoral character who gets more amoral along the way. This is a difficult part to pull off. He's not bad in his portrayal of the character at any point, however he doesn't have the screen presence or charisma to sort of take that extra step in order to bring the audience within his questionable morals.)
Wayne - 3(Fine Wayne performance, though him being a cop does seem a little weird for some reason. Nothing special but he's more than fine here.)
Dharmendra/Bachchan - 3(Both are charismatic enough, though I don't find either quite goes further than that in terms of making their singular roles as great sort of action heroes. They both do well enough throughout though, particularly in terms of matching the Bollywood style tonal changes.)
Caine - 3(Standard Caine, though fine standard Caine. Bring his charisma, and occasionally sells the dramatic moments when needed. Both he and Poitier though are terribly overshadowed by a co-star though.)
Lanoux - 2.5(I found him utterly overshadowed by his co-star and honestly a little bland at times. He's not at all terrible, but as a film defined by the romance I was hoping for a bit more spark on his end.)
Poitier - 2.5(His accent isn't great, and Poitier doesn't really utilize his charisma much here which is unfortunate. He also doesn't really feed towards a truly impressive dramatic turn either though leaving his performance a touch inert at times.)
Douglas - 2.5(He's not awful, but boy did I feel sorry for him the whole time. He tries, but can't overcome the complete trash he's in.)
Daltry - 1.5(What the heck is this? Okay he's finish once he sings but before that..........that's some face he makes.)
Caan - 1 (The Killer Elite)(He nears frankly towards Wiseau territory because his performance occasionally becomes hilarious by how little he seems to care at every point. He phones in everything HARD, and it becomes truly perplexing watching him throughout the film. It is such a bizarre performance as he makes getting shot seem like a blase thing to happen.)
I've seen the Mirror, note my to ten of 1974.
Hurt - 4.5(Hurt is quite great here, and the film itself is largely just a showcase for him. That's more than fine as Hurt so naturally realizes the very particular style of Crisp. Hurt's terrific though as he manages to find this certain balance in the role between a callous disregard, and a deeper emotional quality within his work. He presents the honesty of the man's way of presenting himself, but also within that this certain fear in it. He slowly reveals in his work a palatable sadness that ends up defining the character's experience that ends up being rather moving. Hurt does though so well by making this desperation within the character such a subtle aspect of such a flamboyant character on the whole. It's great work and I'd say his courtroom deposition scene is one of Hurt's very best.)
Need to still re-watch Man int he Glass Booth, especially since I've never re-watched it with the full context of the character.
I saw The Magic Flute about 20 years ago. Thought it was good then, but it isn't all that fresh in my memory.
I'm not in any rush to watch Salo.
Lead:
1. Glenda Jackson - Hedda - 5
2. Anne Bancroft - The Prisoner of Second Avenue - 4.5
3. Isabelle Adjani - The Story of Adele H.
4. Marie-Christine Barrault - Cousin Cousine - 4
5. Carol Kane - Hester Street - 4
6. Karen Black - Day of the Locust - 3.5
7. Ann Margret - Tommy - 3.5
8. Katherine Hepburn - Rooster Cogburn
9. Susan Sarandon - Rocky Horror Picture Show
Supporting Actress:
1. Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
2. Rachel Roberts - Picnic at Hanging Rock - 5
3. Veronica Cartwright - Inserts
4. Geraldine Chaplin - Nashville
5. Ronee Blakley - Nashville
6. Faye Dunaway - Three Days of the Condor
7. Marisa Berenson - Barry Lyndon
8. Barbara Feldon - Smile - 4
9. Lee Grant - Shampoo
10. Shirley Stoler - Seven Beauties
Ahh and Cary Grant was so excited about making the top ten.
Gibson doing Peckinpah? The most violent movie of all time then.
(I do have to admit Gibson would be impeccably cast as Pike.)
Michael:
He's a 4.5.
Calvin:
Great cast, particularly Stevens as the count, I'd actually say maybe Panos Cosmatos for director based on Mandy.
Anonymous:
Let me get you those on the next post.
Tahmeed:
I thought it was a fine adventure film as they go, however I'll admit the Bollywood pacing style particularly in regards to tonal shifts prevented me from loving it. It certainly has some impressive sequences though those shifts to absurdist comedy occasionally did take a little bit from the overall film for me.
Coster-Waldau:
1. Jamie's Confession
2. Making a deal with Tywin for Tyrion
3. A Dragon
4. Roose trolls Jamie
5. Making a "deal" with Locke
6. Threatening Edmure
7. Caitlin visits Jamie
8. Sending Brienne Off to find the Starks
9. The Mad King's Last Words
10. Deciding to rescue Brienne
RatedRStar:
I will say Margret's performance fits right into the madness that is Tommy, (a madness I have mixed feelings about) though through that is one of the strangest performances nominated for best actress. Her performance goes for it all the way, and some of the time I thought she kind of found some strange insanity that worked, other times maybe it was a little too much. I'd say a certain co-star kept the control a little better, but I'd say I did like her performance.
Well I didn't watch them in that order, but they're a proper double feature. One featuring such brutal scenes of torture from start to finish. The other is a pretty good horror mystery film.
The script itself doesn’t offer any other options than for her to play her as an open sociopath, and frankly I thought she did it with a casualness that could have been stylized in a bad way.
I found the obviousness of her performance pretty grating after about 3 minutes.
Also, has anyone seen this video yet? I found the central performance oddly hypnotic actually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL0cT-Yi1SU
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