5. Ugo Tognazzi in My Friends - Tognazzi gives a wonderful endearing turn that creates the right dynamic with the titular friends while also creating a undercurrent of pathos within the man.
Best Scene: Death bed of a friend.
4. Bruce Dern in Smile - Dern gives a hilarious yet also somehow moving portrayal of a man who has devised his own form of the American dream that he uses to live life by.
Best Scene: Talking to his friend in prison.
3. Alan Bates in In Celebration - Bates, along with all his co-stars, gives a terrific turn portraying so effectively the desperation in his portrait of a son struggling to find a way to reveal his discontent with his life and family at a reunion.
Best Scene: Can't sleep.
2. Nicol Williamson in The Wilby Conspiracy - Williamson steals his film wholesale through his dynamic and domineering portrayal of a cunning villainy fighting passionately for what he believes in.
Best Scene: Revealing the conspiracy.
1. Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws - Dreyfuss, as with his two main co-stars, gives a great performance that compliments them wonderfully through his off-beat energy while also effectively realizing his own place within the dramatic elements of the film.
Best Scene: Indianapolis reaction.
Updated Overall
Next Year: 1987 lead
35 comments:
Louis: Please review Gaspard Manesse (Au Revoir Les Enfants), Richard E. Grant (Withnail And I) and Klaus Kinski (Cobra Verde).
Louis: And ratings and thoughts on the rest of your 3.5s and 4s.
Ratings and thoughts on any Female Performances with a 4 or higher.
Ratings and thoughts on Woody Allen and David Carradine.
I'm happy to see Schell go up. :)
Steve Martin - Roxanne
Joe Mantegna - House Of Games
Terry O'Quinn - The Stepfather
Richard E. Grant - Withnail And I
Martin Short - Innerspace
Separate
Christian Bale - Empire of the Sun
Cary Elwes - The Princess Bride
I wrote this on the last post just before the ranking, but I'll repeat it anyways.
Saw "Halloween" today.
It's honestly a very decent slasher film, but it never struck me as anything more than that. Green doesn't try to reinvent the genre, nor does he avoid any of the tropes Carpenter so famously pioneered. It's flawed and straightforward, and doesn't hold a candle to the original, yet all things considered, its much better than it could've been.
Green shows a clear respect for the first film, obviously, but he also shows an understanding of what made Michael Myers scary to begin with - his lack of dimension. Myers is, for all intents and purposes, pure evil, and Green acknowledges that in his simple yet effective approach to the character. His ambiguity and relentlessness are Myer's strongest aspects as a villain, and the sequels that attempted to add reason to his actions never succeeded in capturing the same effect. I'll also say I didn't want anyone to die in the film necessarily, or at least, there wasn't any character I found especially annoying; Stereotypical, maybe, but not grating.
And in the end, it helped immensely that I believed in Laurie Strode, and Curtis's performance. She doesn't phone this one in at all, and does a very good job at showing the history of the character. The rest of the acting is variable, though I must say I'm not as critical of Greer as a few people on this site. She's rather off at the start, admittedly, but I thought she did make up for it during the final act.
RatedRStar: Do you consider Downey Jr. Supporting.
If so then,
Bale
Manesse
Grant
Kinski
Short
Rourke (Angel Heart)
O'Quinn
Elwes
Martin
Mantegna
Luke: I had forgotten about Downey, I haven't seen his film so I dont know, 1987 is pretty stacked anyway with there being a lot of winning requests.
Louis: I thought that might be the case. I’ve actually had trouble finding subbed versions that way even, but I’m sure if I’m persistent I’ll find one.
Also I’m surprised A Star Is Born isn’t on your top 10 list, I saw it about a week ago and it’s staying power has been downright impeccable for me.
Louis: your thoughts on tony dalton in better call saul
Michael: if you already have the file for My Friends i could give you the link for the subtitles.
Has anyone already seen Beatiful Boy? I saw it today and i thought the movie was really bad; the editing was a mess, the soundtrack distracting and the movie overall not well written (with all due respect for the Sheff’s story), as for the cast, here’s the ratings:
Carell: 3
Chalamet: 2,5
Tierney: 3
Ryan: 2,5
I also saw If Beale Street Could Talk today and i can’t express how much i loved it, from the sensational score to the beautiful cinematography. The cast was overall terrific, both Kiki Layne and Stephan James should be nominated. As for the ratings:
Layne: 5
James: 5
King: 4,5
Henry: 4/4,5 (best one scene wonder of the year)
Paris, Domingo, Beach and Ellis: 3,5
Definitely Richard E. Grant in Withnail. No more perfect time to watch him in that than now. Also, your thoughts on the casts of your two most recent viewings, Louis?
Omar: your thoughts on Carell, Chalamet, Layne, James and King?
Strange to see good ol' Harry Dean Stanton ranked so low.
Louis: Your thoughts on the cinematography of Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs.
Calvin:
I should note that i really wanted to like Beautiful Boy, but the first half was unwatchable in my opinion and i was close to leave the theatre.
The second half of the movie was better but nothing exceptional.
One of the main problems of the film was Chalamet’s performance, he was very inconsistent, during his “Oscar clips” scenes was way too flashy and mannered, he had one great scene in the second half, but that’s not enough to save his performance.
As for Carell, he was ok overall, some of his line delivery in the firsts scene reminded me of Michael Scott (which is not a good sign), and, as Chalamet, his work was inconsistent, he was totally fine in his more subtle scenes but in his “baity” scenes he went over the top and i thought he wasn’t believable.
As for Beale Street, Layne and James had such a poignant and lovely chemistry. Every glance, every touch, every dialogue between Tish (Layne) and Fonny (James) was so beautiful, so real, so full of love, and this was accentuated by the stunning direction form Jenkins and the Wong Kar-wai-esque cinematography.
King was amazing, her work was very subtle and she had natural maternalism towards Layne’s character. In the second half of the movie she was simply terrific, but I can’t say much because it’s a pivotal scene and i don’t want to spoil anything.
For five
Gaspard Manesse - Au Revoir Les Enfant
Richard E. Grant - Withnail And I
Klaus Kinski - Cobra Verde
Mickey Rourke - Angel Heart
Terry O'Quinn - The Stepfather
And of course the requests
Christian Bale - Empire of the Sun
Cary Elwes - The Princess Bride
Martin Short - Inner Space
Omar: Damn, thats disappointing to hear about "Beautiful Boy", especially about Carell's performance. He looked very promising from the trailer as its the exact kind of role he excels in.. I just hope I'll have a better reaction, I suppose.
Kamal Hassan-Nayakan
Anil Kapoor-Mr India
Ed Harris-Walker
Omar: Are your subs in like a script format or can they be imposed on a video file? Because I know of a version that can be streamed without downloading.
I saw Venom btw.
Hardy:4
Riz Ahmed:1 (Was really dissatisfied with his performance, especially considering his what he has brought to other roles)
Williams-2.5-3
Gaspard Manesse, Au revoir, les enfants
Robert Downey Jr., Less Than Zero
Richard E. Grant, Withnail and I
Shashi Kapoor, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
Albert Finney, Orphans
Klaus Kinski, Cobra Verde
Joe Mategna, House of Games
James Caan, Gardens of Stone
Steve Martin, Roxanne
Terry O'Quinn, The Stepfather
Richard Dreyfuss, Tin Men
Danny DeVito, Tin Men
Nick Nolte, Weeds
Michael J. Fox, The Secret of My Success
Timothy Hutton, Made in Heaven
Louis: Do you think Marlon Brando would've been a good fit for these 2010s film roles?
Sebastian Wilder
Whitey Bulger
Tanner Howard
And Montgomery Clift in these?
Agent K
Lou Bloom
Toby Howard
If Downey Jr. is Lead, then I'd leave out Mantegna since he's already been reviewed for a David Mamet film.
Robert: Is Downey Jr. Lead or Supporting for Less Than Zero.
Downey is Supporting.
Luke
Calvin: Thanks.
Louis: Your thoughts on the direction, soundtrack and screenplay of the original Halloween
Everyone's thoughts on the Gotham nominations?
Some categories do disappoint me a bit, but overall it looks good, I think.
Louis: Your rating and thoughts on Don Johnson in A Boy And His Dog & Diane Keaton in Love And Death.
Luke:
Guard & Jarratt - 4(Both give rather brilliantly haunted performances in their scenes together. I like how they differ in the way that Guard portrays this intensity of unease of trying to find what happened to the girls. He brings this powerful uncertainty that illustrates the central loss so effectively. Jarratt is also very good in portraying this slow descent towards this state himself, though more low key overall, portraying how both men are scarred by the experience of interacting with the rock.)
Eyre - 3.5(He delivers an appropriate performance that doesn't quite match what Jackson is doing yet still offers a certain side of incisiveness with the character's callousness.)
Robards - 3.5(A good bit of straight forward work from Robards in just bringing this sort of very blase dictatorial evil playing the part as though he really is just a bored small town mayor, though committing acts far more heinous.)
Stewart - 3.5(Interesting to see the young Stewart, especially since he barely looks differently today. Stewart though is good in his role though bringing a bit of charm along with perhaps just a slight sense of haplessness within the world of the film.)
Allen - 4(A particularly good example of the Woody Allen performance as he gives himself an especially wide opportunity to show off his comedic timing, more so than usual. I actually think his sort of basic Allen performance works just a bit better in pure comedy like this.)
Carradine - 1.5(Yeah not Carradine's finest hour. He doesn't quite phone it in as much as the guy ranked below him, but he just seems bored throughout the film.)
Johnson - 4(Johnson gives a very atypical post-apocalyptic lead given he plays the part pretty literally as a horny teenager. This works though for the material and Johnson captures this certain darkly comic off-beat energy through this approach.)
Michael:
Well no version of that story has made a top ten of mine. Just like 37, and 54, I liked it but didn't love it. Not that I had any "Major" problems with it, just there are aspects fundamental to the original story that keep me from caring for any version beyond a certain point. Again not that I dislike any of the versions I've seen, I just don't love them.
Anonymous:
Although there hasn't been much of him so far, I have to admit he's made a nice impression so far. I was a bit surprised given that it is indeed another Salamanca and he could've been another tired retread, yet he managed to find his own space that isn't Tuco, nor the Cousins nor Hector. Dalton does a terrific job though in bringing his own approach as this sort smiling devil who switches from a welcoming smile to a chilling death stare with such chilling effect. I look forward to see what he does next season.
Calvin:
Affleck - (It's another fine performance from him as he certainly excels at playing a sad sack. This is a less extreme sad sack than his last performance, and he does well to differentiate as this sort of general boredom with his job. I like then the spark of life he slowly brings to his work in just a few key reactionary moments that believably shows the way the case invigorates him. It's a good performance that works particularly well as this reflection against everything Redford is doing.)
Spacek - (Truly luminous work from her, and I was just happy to see her have a substantial role in any film. Spacek is mostly there to strike up chemistry with Redford, and be charming. These things she does extremely well in both cases bringing such a natural warmth to every one of her scenes.)
Glover & Waits - (Both are good as the other old timer bank robbers. Waits has far more to do, though I wish we had gotten more of Waits though I think that is always the case with him. Waits though brings his one of a kind energy out once again, and is just so filled with character in every moment he is onscreen. He makes the most out of his short little monologues, and honestly my biggest complaint for the film would be we never check in with him again after a certain point.)
Erivo - (I should note that I believe everyone to be supporting since everyone is as important for the majority of the film. I'll be brief as not to spoil the film. Erivo though I thought effectively captured this soulfulness within her performance. This is without being overbearing and being particularly good in building sort of the tension through her own performance throughout. This as this wholly human reaction throughout without any false fronts in her work. Her earnestness is what makes her performance work so well in my eyes, best realized in her singing turns which delivers both vocally, and emotionally.)
Johnson - (I felt she overplayed it just a touch in her early moments, and I almost feel that perhaps some of her flashback scenes might have been excised. She though manages to still in the end give an appropriately dynamic turn. This being in terms of her realization of this particularly violent determination, as well as empathy in her reactions towards her sister.)
Hamm - (Entertaining)
Spaeney - (She's decent enough in being essentially this mentally broken inappropriate groupie of sorts. She doesn't quite leave as much of an impression though as I think was possible with the part.)
Hemsworth - (He's fun to be sure, but yet again he's best with some sort of comic element to anchor his performance. He doesn't have that much of one, and where he falls short is completely owning the scene in the way his character should. He doesn't pull that off, and that is with a rather glorious entrance granted to him by Goddard's direction. The part needed someone completely oozing with this charisma. I actually think Chris Pine doing a combination of his Karos from Stretch, and his Prince Charming would've been perfect.)
Gaspard Manesse in Au revoir les enfants
Bill Paxton in Near Dark
Leslie Cheung in A Chinese Ghost Story
Robert Downey Jr. in Less Than Zero
Richard E. Grant in Withnail and I
Steve Martin in Roxanne
Joe Mantegna in House Of Games
Woody Allen in Radio Days
Klaus Kinski in Cobra Verde
Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride
Saw Galveston, not worth watching really, but Foster is well worth saving.
Anonymous:
Stanton sadly has nothing to do even by his standards, he still makes "a" impact still, but I wish he had Ireland's role.
Manhunter features Mann/Spinotti with their focus on natural lighting, though this includes artificial light but only if naturally part of a setting. It is one of their most impressive collaborations in this regard with the darkness being well suited to the grisly material. Again this is not an excuse to disregard color, in fact the color Spinotti does capture or utilize is particularly impressive in creating such a distinct mood within the film. This is further amplified by the downright brilliant framing and composition of the shots. The idea of a bent mind is captured in such an unassuming yet powerful way through the extreme wide yet low angles they work with to create such dynamic shots throughout.
Silence of the Lambs features Tak Fujimoto's best work with Demme, one where their ideas seem most natural and effectively realized. This with the frequent extreme closeups which often could feel a touch awkward in their other collaborations. Here they not only feel far more natural, but they are also amplified much more by the lighting of these moments that create far more mood and intensity with the film. This is simply along with strong striking work throughout that is sort of general pristine of the time, but with the right tips into more overt style at the right times.
Bryan:
Sebastian - (No, Brando never excelled with the lightweight. As Richard Harris noted, he was never a great comic.)
Bulger - (Possibly I could see later Brando doing it. Much like Depp it would be a matter of tempering his indulgences both in performance and his own personal concern with the role.)
Tanner - (Young Brando most definitely could have captured this intensity needed for him, and it is interesting that he never really played a supporting role like this.)
K - (I'll assume you mean Officer K, as Agent K would be a little different. Officer K though would be a perfect fit for Clift's internalized style.)
Bloom - (Again yes, yes, yes, as Clift's intensity as the exact sort needed for the role, of that madness just within the eyes.)
Toby - (I could also see this as Clift could certainly play the average man as well. He is less a natural fit for this role, but I could definitely see him pulling it off.)
Anonymous:
Carpenter's direction is the greatest aspect of the original film. In that it created the modern slasher, but what was mostly forgotten in the sequels was two things. One being to do it in an artistic fashion, but also remember it is thriller as well. Carpenter accomplishes both of these fashioning such palatable mood throughout the film making such a strong use of such subtle moments of quietude along with more overt horror. He allows moments to be mundane and in turn they are some of the most horrifying such as just the disappearing Michael or him slowly stalking Laurie as she tries to get into the house. Carpenter's touches throughout craft a far more dynamic horror having those moments light Michael admiring his "art piece" or the opening shot. Nothing is for granted creating a far more potent film than all of its successors in or out of the series.
The score is a masterwork of cinematic minimalism on Carpenter's part. It is such simple yet downright brilliant work that so simply evokes dread with such small touches. Every part being just repetition with the overlays of equally simple chords. This is beyond the main theme as the entire score creates this powerful unease through this approach. I especially love in addition the in the closet theme that is simple even for this score yet so effective in raising the tension of that scene.
Now the screenplay isn't great, in fact it mostly just gets the job done. To be fair though it establishes the needed structure for the film, and effectively does that. It did establish the basic structure for so many slasher films to come. The best thing the screenplay does is not get in the way of the direction. Its treatment of Michael in these simple terms helps the film not get bogged down with nonsense explanations. It reduces them down just to Loomis, who I will say could have also been nonsense as well if not for Pleasence's brilliant performance.
I can give you the link for the subtitles (a text file) if you already have the file video.
Post a Comment