Best Scene: Final fight with wife.
4. Kamel El Basha in The Insult - Although slightly limited by the narrative El Basha finds nuance and humanity beyond the symbol the screenplay sometimes forces him into.
Best Scene: The apology.
3. Vladimir Brichta in Bingo: The King of the Mornings - Brichta goes all in bringing an intense and dynamic energy even if the film doesn't always give him the best path to take.
Best Scene: Removing the makeup.
2. Jamie Bell in Films Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Bell has one of the least interesting parts in this lineup making him all the more impressive through the nuance he consistently finds throughout.
Best Scene: Final goodbye.
1. Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really There - Good predictions Ytrewq, Jonathan, Marcus, A, Luke, Anonymous, Tim, Matt, John Smith, Robert, Razor, RatedRStar, Calvin,Tahmeed, Emi, Shaggy & Harris. Phoenix gives an understated yet intensely powerful portrayal of a man defined by violence in a very particular way.
Best Scene: The water.
Next: 2017 Supporting
Note: I will be updating other rankings later as I want to re-watch a few films first.
67 comments:
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on the rest of the lead performances.
Your Female Lead and Supporting top 25s with ratings and other 4+ honourable mentions.
Eric Tsang - Mad World
Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Mom
Mark Rylance - Dunkirk
Koji Yakusho - The Third Murder
Tommy Flanagan - The Ballad Of Lefty Brown
My request is George C. Scott in Petulia.
Louis: With 28 Years Later releasing soon, I think now is the appropriate time to request Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later.
Louis: A little late, but your updated thoughts on Geena Davis in The Fly?
i would like to request a review for Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense please
My request is Paul Giamatti in Lady in the Water (two Shyamalan requests in a row haha)
Louis, your updated top ten Joaquin Phoenix performances?
I'm gonna save my requests for when I'm 100% certain I want a performance reviewed right now. The ones I requested a few months ago are really the "must haves". (Not being hyperbolic when I say I could see Heard in Chilly Scenes of Winter taking your 1979 win even with how stacked that year was. Absolutely insane commitment to playing the worst guy you ever met at a party once.)
Louis: My request from my Alternate Best Actor 2024 prediction is Takeshi Kaneshiro in Fallen Angels (1995 Lead)
So Sebastian Stan in I, Tonya got moved to supporting?
I'm kind of in a similar boat to Robert. I'm actually more or less done with requesting for any of the remaining bonus rounds. I'm going back to prior years to request performances with definite 5 potential. I've heard about much greatness from Scott in Petulia.
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy in Their Finest.
My request is Hiroyuki Sanada in Round About Midnight (1999 Lead).
As for 2017 Supporting, Yakusho is a must.
Think I'll wait a bit further before I make any requests. I don't want to use them up too quickly, ecspecially considering I have several performances in mind at the moment.
Anonymous: That's a very risky request, I hope it pays off.
It's completely unrelated to anything here and this doesn't affect anybody in these comments aside from me, but the results of the presidential election here in Poland just came in.
I live in a country full of morons.
Harris: Eh. What’s the worst that could happen?
Omfg Yes. Kar waist best film imo and takeshi is anazing
My request is Roland Hedlund in Ådalen 31
Louis: Pacino said in an interview that by watching the original Scarface, he felt the need to imitate Muni's performance.
Think that's the reason why he's only a 4 for you? Of course, their accents are different, with Pacino trying a Cuban accent and Muni an Italian one.
I think he mean intensity instead of accent
Robert: Would you go as far to say that Louis will call Malmsjö's performance in Fanny and Alexander an all-time great one.
Luke: No clue, but I definitely would qualify it as, at the very least, the best supporting performance of the 80's.
Luke:
Dickinson - (Dickinson makes much out of an overly bare bones script by just being authentic every step of the way. There’s no moment that you don’t believe him as this guy struggling with his sexuality in a highly specific place. Dickinson has essentially the right ease in creating this state of a low key frustration that he plays effectively in even when the man is embracing his sexuality there is a secretive manner in Dickinson’s performance. He always reinforces this sense of the man hiding within himself even when being open. Creating the innate tension within his own performance as someone who can act casual, but is never exactly casual within himself at any point. Dickinson artfully creates this tension so naturally even if I don’t think the film has him do anything with it in a particularly interesting way.)
Gere - (He manages to not play into his usual presence enough in playing the note of the minor power player. Gere very much emphasizes the type more than anything of the nebbish man with a small grin and just enough aptitude in his methods at his more modest level. Gere is believable as the man who obviously has been doing this for many years and presents even his less moral actions as just the dogged nature of the man. As the film progresses, Gere is effectively his fixer in a small yard, and plays well the progression of the unease as he takes on too much. It doesn’t amount beyond a certain point due to the writing but Gere is good here.)
Ashkenazi - (His performance is of two notes by virtue of the piece, the first note being that of extreme grief and the intense reaction towards dealing with that grief, which then becomes something more unexpected. Ashkenazi delivers on that intensity in showing essentially a man lost to his emotions and without hope going to that extreme even after fates change. The next sequence he’s in Ashkenazi is the opposite believably as the man now settled in his regrets and grief. It is still there and clearly haunting him but there is the natural sense of perspective.)
Haji & Kuosmanen - (Both are very much working within the specific expected wavelength of Kaurismäki lead which is with this specific combination of a distance but also this kind low key charm about them at the same time. Given this time is split between them it becomes even more exact between them but it does work in their particular way.)
Guonason - (Borg is a bit too vague within the scheme of the film for him to really come up with anything too dynamic. Guonason does deliver a stoic presence and is good in his bit of warmth in the scene where he actually encourages McEnroe. But on the whole there is just too little give within the character that Guonason never moves above just fine.)
Teller - (Teller is consistently okay in this role. The trauma is there, the distress, the intensity is all there enough, but at the same time he never really pulls you in or makes you deeply invested in his character’s journey. He’s not bad really but he’s also just kind of there in a way that makes you never feel the emotions as powerfully as it should be.)
Pearce - (Falls into an over the top Pearce villain performance for me. If someone had gone full Mitchum maybe the film would’ve come together but Pearce very much feels like “I’m evil” the whole time, never giving the false faces one should have to get into people’s trust or to contrast against his vicious moments of violence. Rather Pearce just plays into the same approach consistently and never becomes consistently interesting.)
Sul - (It would be interesting to see him in a movie that I actually consider good. Sul though nicely makes what he can out of a tired role. Bringing the needed menace combined with charisma with the career criminal that you can easily see the appeal of but also see as that turns to see the vicious man beneath it all. Sul delivers on that duplicity quite well even if the film never pushes him in all that interesting of directions.)
Im - (He has some okay moments of playing the too cool prisoners who catches the eye of the seasoned criminal. Sadly though those are mixed in with too many moments of portraying his extreme emotions which he goes into just yelling at the top of his lung and playing into just an absurd mania that leaves him a bit too ridiculous much of the time.)
A:
I don’t have any major thought changes just appreciated what I mentioned before all the more particularly her chemistry with Goldblum.
Anonymous:
1. The Master
2. You Were Never Really Here
3. The Immigrant
4. Inherent Vice
5. The Yards
6. Her
7. C’Mon C’Mon
8. Two Lovers
9. Beau is Afraid
10. The Sisters Brothers
8000’s:
No. I wrote a whole review of why I gave him that rating.
Louis: Thoughts on Bill Pullman and Woody Harrelson.
RIP Jonathan Joss
RIP Jonathan Joss. Horrible.
Hello Louis!
Tell us from the year 2017 which are your Top 10 with ranking of:
- Song
- Score
- Poster
- Editing
- Screenplays (adapted and original)
- Cast
- Blockbuster Films
Louis: A friend and I are making the 2024 Best of Film video. Do you have a private email or social media to send the video?
RIP Jonathan Joss, fucking heartbreaking.
RIP Jonathan Joss.
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on the cast of Mountainhead and Friendship.
RIP Jonathan Joss
Anonymous:
Harrelson - (As actors playing themselves go Harrelson isn't all that inspired. It isn’t just a bit but it isn’t anything particularly revelatory either. Harrelson pokes fun at himself enough and brings just enough nuance to not be the aforementioned bit. He doesn’t do anything particularly inspired past that and this is one where it does feel that the one take seems to keep Harrelson from kind of risking too much in his approach. Keeping everything pretty small maybe to a fault, though he is perfectly fine.)
Pullman - (Kind of doing his version of what Richard Jenkins did in Bone Tomahawk. While he’s not quite as good as Jenkins, as you do see Pullman in the performance whereas Jenkins somehow rid himself entirely of himself with that performance. Pullman though does bring a definite conviction in creating the mannerisms of the western old timer. And he’s largely successful in taking what could be an over the top approach and makes you believe Lefty. But really his best moments are when he pushes emotionally the envelope past the mannerisms in showing the certain degree of pathos to what he’s revenging and pride in living up to his promises where Pullman is at his most effective.)
Brazinterma:
You can send it to oscareview@yahoo.com the blog email.
Anonymous:
Carell - 2.5(He thankfully tempers some of his Carell excesses and doesn’t do any of the shtick stuff he sometimes pulls. But, common among the cast, the ultra specific language sounds a bit stiff from him here and even more so there’s kind of lacking presence at what is meant to be the sort of vet “sage” investor. Maybe that’s a subversion but it doesn't work as a subversion so who cares. Carell’s performance lacks the needed nuance to really make us care at any level, even as an alas poor villain type of way, but more so you don’t really believe the tension that should be evident under the “why” his character is doing everything he’s doing.)
Smith - 2.5(Basically “shit eating grin” and that’s about it. There’s a bit of nuance here and there that Smith isn’t terrible with, but in the end the writing of his character is so limited that in the end it becomes a pretty repetitive note. And like Carell I don’t really believe his sell of the lingo.)
Youssef - 2.5(He really has the most tech bro lines and he doesn’t really sell them any better than anyone else. In fact he becomes quite annoying at times unfortunately and just is stuck in that routine for much of it. He gets a little better towards the end by getting to sell some genuine emotion but it is too little too late.)
Schwartzman - 3.5(Well unexpected MVP just like The Last Showgirl, so maybe Schwartzman just best when he’s not in a particularly good film…anyway. Schwartzman I thought was the best in terms of making it seem like this was any sort of an actual person. Find some genuine emotional moments and at least make you understand his character beyond the most basic point. Schwartzman brought me into his character at least slightly, doesn’t save the movie or make it truly something special, but I believed him beyond the type at the very least. Any of the moments where I got invested at all were from him, so kudos even if he’s somewhat amplified by the lackluster nature of his co-stars.)
Robinson - (It’s a bad performance but it is a performance that knows it’s bad..but that doesn’t make it good. Robinson is basically not giving a performance you’d expect in any film and that is the whole joke as he acts terribly and ridiculously in every situation. He’s atrocious which is the point, but only works if you actually laugh at the bit, which I did not.)
Rudd - (He delivers as far as he can as the idealized friend type in just seeming outgoing as much as he can be. Rudd sets up what he needs to in that sense, even though I don’t think the film has him go anywhere terribly interesting with it.)
Mara - (Not sure if she knows what to do with this part or her non-chemistry with Robinson, something that is clearly the point. But either way she seems a little lost here, maybe that’s the point but again didn’t work all that well for me either.)
Grazer - (He’s serviceable enough here as standard son performance but doesn't add up to much either.)
Louis: Could you make time for a re-watch of Logan, curious about how it holds up for you.
RIP Jonathan Joss. Tragic.
Louis, thoughts on the trailer for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey?
Louis: could you watch these 2017 movies when you have time?
-A Gentle Creature
-Western
-Zama
-My Happy Family
-Hounds of Love
Your thoughts on these two trailers?
Sound of Falling: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkhSvk-BM1Y
Sirat: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_HvwhOY63Ig&pp=ygUNU2lyYXQgdHJhaWxlcg%3D%3D
Both movies were among my favourites from Cannes. And speaking of, I can’t wait to read your thoughts on Eddington…
Louis: Could you watch:
The Big Bad Fox And Other Tales
Happy End
The Party
And Memoir Of A Murderer
Would also recommend Marjorie Prime, Lois Smith is terrific.
Anonymous: He's already seen it. Jon Hamm is in the supporting ranking.
Louis, your thoughts on Rhea Seehorn in Invincible and Shirley MacLaine in Only Murders?
Louis: Your thoughts on the direction of Raw.
Louis: Your #6-#10 for Director in 2017.
My requests are:
Tom Courtenay - Otley
Robert Duvall - Tomorrow
Louis, thoughts on the new Wicked Trailer?
Louis: Your thoughts on the South Park movie scene where Kenny takes off his hood and says goodbye to his friends?
Louis: Your thoughts on Larry Hankin's performance in Breaking Bad?
Regarding the Phoenician Scheme, Anderson continues his trend as a diorama maker stuck in empty formalism and dogmatic deadpan. There is theoretically even a potential emotional story as the moral daughter and amoral father rub off on each other to some sort of balance between the two, but it is lost through that enforced detachment that loses any humanity. Instead of genuine drama it is all turned into bits, which I’ll give minor credit in that a few of them are amusing, in various pretty set ups, though even these are losing their luster just by how samey and specific they’re becoming. I mean the fact that you’d never guess Anderson switched to Delbonnel speaks to just how aggressively specific Anderson’s style is at this point.
del Toro - 3.5
Threapleton - 3
Cera - 3.5
Ahmed - 3
Hanks - 3
Cranston - 3
Amalric - 3
Ayoade - 3
Wright - 3
Johansson - 2.5
Cumberbatch - 3
Friend - 2.5
Davis - 3
Anyone else, including Dafoe, Abraham and Murray I'd describe as "in the movie".
When you have enough time and bandwidth to do so, could you give your thoughts on the cast?
Tahmeed:
Sure.
Harris:
Well it certainly looks like it is directed by Kogonada. Which sadly I have synced to his specific rhythm with his other two films, and it appears that may be the situation again given this appears like those, albeit with a touch more mainstream style to it. But we’ll see. Looks well shot though at the very least though Farrell and Robbie looked fine here, it is wholly their chemistry, or lack thereof, that may make things, which one can only fully tell in the actual film.
Omar:
I’ll try my best.
From the trailer I can only obviously get the intense mood and the cinematography. Both which look rather impressive from that snippet at the very least.
Similar sentiments with Sirat which visually also looks impressive with an intense mood, though from the trailer with a more essential hook, which always at least intrigued with such a starting point as a method for discovery.
Yes and Eddington…oh boy so EXCITED for that one…
Luke:
Tried watching Memoir already, eh just quit part way in, maybe just wasn't in the mood for the “heroic” serial killer, but wasn’t particularly impressed with the section of the others. I’ll try to watch the others.
Harris:
Seehorn I did not recognize which is a good sign of a vocal performance as I just believed the character instead, a character that could’ve been pretty silly with the wrong vocal performance but Seehorn brought a modest quality mixed with an innate emotional depth that was rather affecting even for her relatively brief performance.
MacLaine seemed a bit of a wasted opportunity, as she’s perfectly fine in playing a certain enigmatic note of letting onto something but not everything. But she doesn’t really have this great impact at any point. She’s more so just wholly fine in the part and doesn’t really give her anything too remarkable to do.
Shaggy:
As note previously, I wanted to do some re-watches first before making other potential adjustments.
J96:
Looks like a continuation of the previous film, having no idea about the second half of the musical, sure I guess was my reaction to most things, which is perfectly fine I suppose. As nothing here made me go this will be extraordinary, but looked like I’ll likely enjoy it relative to how much I enjoyed the first film.
8000’s:
A genuinely emotional scene that is in part designed as a “big reveal” but works more so in allowing the character to have a heartfelt goodbye that goes beyond what was the standard use of his death in the show.
Harris:
Del Toro - (Don’t mind seeing him in a lead role and there is something slightly interesting about the sort of 50’s businessman demeanor that he employs that is definitely something new from him as an actor. But, the Anderson contrast leads his performance to mostly hit the same beats with the at least slightly comedic measure, which is slightly amusing at times but also gets terribly repetitive at the same time. You never feel the emotional journey, which I will say is more so on Anderson who clearly directs his actors a certain way at this point.)
Threapleton - (The rave breakouts I can’t quite agree with given it just a deadpan that I think does wholly serviceably but not in some especially inspired way either. There’s very little below the surface say like how there is with Paltrown in Tenenbaums for the most part. She has a moment here or there but it doesn’t amount to much.)
Cera - (The most amusing of the bit mostly because he gets to just fully be a bit and there really isn’t any further expectation upon him other than the bit. Getting to play the over the top nebbish scientist and spoiler alert the over the top cool guy. Both bits are amusing enough just by his over the top manner that fits Anderson’s style, but this isn’t that amazing on the whole either.)
Everyone else is either a little forgettable or fine for their brief bit in an extremely constrained way. I will say Wright did not get to talk enough here….which I also just realized that Anderson failed to use him for any of the Dahl adaptations…he should’ve narrated every single one.
So, I watched "Lilo and Sitch" last night, and it falls into the "just fine" catagory for me. The best part of the experience was me going to the theatre, for the first time in years, and sharing that with my girlfriend of almost two months. (Side note: She's from Mexico originally and is trying to teach me more Spanish - with mixed results).
With many of these live action adaptions, there's always an element of remaining faithful enough to the original story to please it's fans, while adding enough new material to set it apart. I will say "Lilo and Stitch" is mostly okay in this. I think some differences in editing, the same style of humour and personalities of some (but not all) characters do carry through. What it lacked for me, though, was the gut punch element of the first film's emotional scenes, whereas here they came across as a lot more orchestrated. And some of the changes they did make to certain characters I really didn't agree with. I still didn't mind watching it, but the first film is still far better I think.
Sanders - The most consistent aspect of the remake, in terms of matching the original's spirit.
Kealoha - Hard to truly assess right now, but I don't know if she 100% worked for me. I would still prefer Chase's original performance, I think.
Agudong - Some scenes she's not that good in. In most others, though, she's fine, and she does capture that older sister energy very well.
Vance - Does what he can, but dividing Cobra's original part with Carrere's character didn't do him any good. Also couldn't help but wonder why they didn't get Ving Rhames to reprise the part (scheduling conflict with Mission Impossible, maybe?)
Carrere - Pretty much fine. Not much to say, other than its cool seeing her in a high profile film again.
Magnussen - Mostly one note, but I didn't mind the note too much.
Galifianakis - Honestly, the film's handling of Jumba is my biggest problem with the remake. Having him take Gantu's place as the main villain was a rough transition, because it felt so at odd's with Jumba's original personality. He's antagonistic in the original, sure, but in a rather harmless and hilarious way. But even than, Galifianakis didn't help things since 1) He's not that similar to Stiers, 2) He's not that funny here, and 3) He's not remotely threatening even in a vocal performance.
Louis: In the more recent years of following awards seasons, what trends have you observed in the winners, i.e. Best Picture and the acting categories? This can be in terms of subject matter, characters, etc.
I find it fascinating in the Supporting Actor race that after awarding just villainous characters from 2007-2009, only 4* winners since can be described as playing villains (or close): Simmons, Rockwell, Downey Jr. and Culkin*.
* Mostly because the more I think about A Real Pain, it's amusing that Benji is described as so likable when he's far from it.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize Robby Benson was my favorite performance on Severance this year. It’s been a few months and I still think about how viscerally upsetting he was to watch.
Tahmeed:
Best Pictures have to "matter" in that there needs to be some kind of issue it is addressing. The ending is also key, and not about catharsis but it needs to be something that most mention when talking about the film, though I'll concede Nomadland is an exception to this. Although even shorter trend is the switch back to best picture means a lot of wins with a more unified passion push than seemed to be the case with CODA or Nomadland.
Actor: Except Richard Williams (which Will Smith decided to take on the role himself instead), all recent actor winners are depictions of men going through severe trials mental/physical or both.
Actress: All actually are about a woman trying to break the societal expectation of them in some way.
Supporting: Uhhhhh....
I'll agree Benji villain obviously. And one of the things the film needed was at least someone who couldn't stand his shtick.
Robert:
I'd love to see him get nominated, or even win, guest actor in a drama series.
Louis: They kinda had someone like that with the tour guide he yells at, but even then they turn that into "Thank you for teaching me to be better" and I was like FUCK!
Louis: Your thoughts on the rain sequence in Parasite?
Louis: Your thoughts on the voice of Suzanne Pleshette.
Louis: Thoughts on these 2017 double features I've come up with?
Darkest Hour/Lincoln
Dunkirk/The Longest Day
Phantom Thread/Rebecca
Three Billboards/Mother (2009)
I finally saw MI 8, I liked it and found it more satisfying than Dead Reckoning.
I confess that after the screening, out of nowhere I got really excited about Judy, without an official title, by Iñárritu. If it continues in the same vein as Birdman, I believe that Cruise will finally give a great performance worthy of a 5.
Matt:
Which is followed by what might be the even worse moment for me “bye David”.
Tahmeed:
Excellent example of showing rather than telling of the discrepancy of how the rain looks so beautiful out the rich family window but is flooding the home of the poor. But also great just in the way Bong depicts that slow walking descent to the poor section of town. And I love the moment of the family arriving because each of their reactions are different, and in those differences you see the greatness of real character, as it all just makes sense in how each reaction to their situation, with the highlight being the smoking just above the water line in the cramped space being such a perfect realization of the most isolated attempt at joy in such circumstances.
8000’s:
Super sultry in such an easy way that makes it extra sultry.
Harris:
Lincoln was my second choice for Darkest Hour as a leader facing a specific troubled time film.
Dunkirk fits with Longest Day specificity and scope.
Rebecca makes sense as a certain kind of haunting and manipulation though of course very different with thread.
And Mother is atypical but makes sense as atypical revenge of sorts.
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