I hope Knightley improves for you on this rewatch of Pride and Prejudice as well. I know you don't like her generally, but I always felt like she was the perfect Lizzie. She doesn't make her as austere as the miniseries, she makes her act her actual age.
Tahmeed: Oh that explains it. It's been ages since I saw the film so I remembered him as Supporting. (I was the Anonymous user, I just forgot to enter my name.)
Harris: It was bound to happen, the ratings have dropped year after year that they had to make a change to keep the ceremony at least somewhat relevant to the casual viewer.
Luke: I feel even then, YouTube's going to charge a fair bit for it. I just hope we don't get a repeat of Hulu crashing during the Best Actress/Best Picture announcement if the ceremony runs over time.
Louis: What are the most prominent examples of "bad scenes" in otherwise very good-to-great acting performances that knock those performances down for you, i.e. "What's in the Box?" for Pitt in Se7en.
That scene is why Pitt is a 4 for me instead of 4.5. It would've been a masterful scene for him, Spacey and Freeman, but the inclusion of that massive "Oh God, OH GOOOOOD" in place of just silence almost ruins it all.
Ya know, I used to be one of the people who hated the box thing, but I watched it again a couple years ago and it's really nowhere near as bad I remembered, and it actually does fit the whole arc of what Pitt (and Fincher, honestly) is trying to do with that character.
Louis: Similiar to my question about Burt Reynolds from a few weeks ago, which present roles do you think would've been a good fit for Mickey Rourke, assuming that he would've become easier to work with after The Wrestler?
So, personally I think "The Box" scene is just absolutely perfection. I fail to see any fatal flaw with Pitt's acting. Maybe 1-2 line deliveries of his were flat, but the pain that his eyes showed in that scene plus "tell me she's alright!!!!" are enough to overcome those issues for me. I think this is the movie, where Brad Pitt is slowly figuring out "acting". Prior to that, he is either under acting or over acting.
I'm sure there are others but I'm just having trouble recollecting them at the moment.
Luke:
Worst:
Angelina Jolie - Alexander Ray Romano - Welcome to Mooseport Wayne Robson/Reagan Pasternak/John Rothman - Welcome to Mooseport Marlon Wayans - The Ladykillers Lucy Punch - Being Julia
Bening - 2.5(The character is so much a “type” to begin with as written that I don’t think she exactly begins at a good starting point. Having said that she plays very much into that type so strictly that basically it is a bit like Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway, but she’s not trying to be funny…nor is she. She ends up being just this type without the nuance for some real dramatic effect of someone dealing with being pushed beyond by so many, nor does she find actual comedy within her performance either being within an unsuccessful grey area. Honestly aspects of this performance were far better realized by her in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.)
Saunders - 4(Brings kind of a certain self-help guru though where the phoniness of it is purposefully worn with a bit of a precise callousness. Her performance has a directness that works quite effectively by creating a bridge between bringing that Shrek modern flavor to it, but with a genuine kind of intensity through it. Creating a particular ease in the villainy yet one where it is convincing particularly in terms of basically subverting the very notion of the fairy godmother so bluntly.)
Zhang - (At a certain point I do think the action of the character feels designed to make the plot happen rather than something that feels genuine, but even making those overly melodramatic if not just illogical character choices, doesn’t get in the way of appreciating Zhang’s performance. She just is a magnetic performer here and makes the most of the very physical nature of the character. Bringing just a dynamic quality not only in every quiet facial reaction but every movement she carries something with. She is actively compelling every moment we have at her, even within the less interesting aspects of the plot Zhang’s performance just has a charisma that makes it easy to watch her through every step of it. As even in the final moments, Zhang absolutely sells them with absolute conviction even if I didn’t fully believe them.)
Khumalo - (Brings an important contrast within the hardship by creating a convincing sense of optimism even within the difficult life of the character. Her performance makes that the center and does so in a way that never feels naive, rather the innate nature of her character. As she brings nuance within that but also nuance within the moments of reacting to her hardships. In each she offers a convincing complexity within the life of the character that I think in lesser hands could’ve become overly symbolic.)
Hall - (Manages to find just the right tone which I’d argue that even the Coens struggled with this time around. Hall though seems to know exactly what the film needs in her portrayal where she brings a certain dogmatic directness which has a comedic value to, but with just enough grace to emphasize where the character is coming from is from her genuine values. She very carefully manages to amplify without overplaying the part either. Finding a remarkable balance between the qualities of the role of never being too much, but still elevating her moments rather consistently. Even though the film as a whole did not work for me, she did.)
Delpy - (Obviously great chemistry with Hawke once again, and she’s particularly effective in kind of unwrapping her character from where we see her as almost just intrigued by her connection to the now burgeoning writer to more so discovering what had made them connect so profoundly as younger people. Delpy’s performance finds a remarkable charm in playing around with the notion of maturity and immaturity within the reflection, such as the way she is able to deliver her “oh I didn’t come” so blithely however convincingly as someone looking back, but then slowly build towards obviously it being all more than a memory. Leading towards her song sequence, which combines the times of the character by bringing a playful youth, but with a more earnest reflection which we see leading towards genuine love.)
Tatou - (Tatou’s performance is largely reactionary, but reactionary in a way that does work. Where she very much embodies every story that she comes across throughout the film, and brings an emotional honesty along with the certain grace within her character who contrasts Cotillard especially.)
Judd - (For the role that becomes overly simplistic at a certain point I will say I found there to be an honesty in her performance consistently. Finding ways to bring some truth to the overly glossy manner of the piece and consistently keeps some real humanity within the flash and overly cliched moments.)
Kekilli - (Kind of has to go from one overly big emotion to another due to the strange structure of the piece, but I will say, unlike her GOT work which I wasn’t overly impressed by for the most part, I thought she did deliver fairly effectively with these different intense swings, even if maybe they didn’t add up to as much as I would’ve liked.)
Cotillard - (The most captivating part of the film albeit for just a few minutes of screentime. Cotillard though brings a natural ethereal quality to be expected though with this particularly dynamic conviction where in her early scenes she almost seems like a ghostly vengeance. This however is in stark contrast to her later scene where in the end she just is the murderer in jail awaiting her trial. Cotillard beautifully realizes the story against the reality essentially, as in this scene playing so modestly of now just seeing the woman broken by her loss, particularly when she finally reads her far too late message, and captures so powerfully the poignancy in her realization. As I love that she doesn’t play it as horror rather just a “of course” as though recognizing that fate simply will be cruel to her, while still emphasizing the sense of love beneath it all.)
Barclay - (Matches Macfadyen’s performance quite artfully in bringing a consistent authenticity in bringing such a believable emotional strain as we uncover essentially the truth of what is really going on. Her work is moving by reinforcing just the wear of it all as it progresses and finding nuance in it, that while her character suffers much, that isn’t all there is to her work as she finds the hope within the suffering quite notably.)
Fanning - (This is the one time, where as an adult or child, where her presence fully worked for me, and the sort of degree of self-consciousness of her performance actually came to life. And a big reason why is just finding the chemistry with Washington which genuinely works and the sense of warmth between them just builds so naturally. Fanning in this instance doesn’t feel like she’s doing too much, instead finding just the needed sense of just excitement and connection of the little girl finding someone who seems to actually care.)
Not sure the sudden clicking thing worked entirely for me but could always be an in-context sort of thing. Despite Black Bag in Koepp I don’t trust, whereas I know Spielberg will do his thing, and it seems like he is in terms of the general tension from the trailer, but the script finding a new angle into Alien Contact/Invasion is essential, and from this looks like it could go either way.
Lucas:
Yes but out of the top 20.
Luke:
Powell - 2.5(I think he’s fine in some of the action scenes, where Powell does have that ability to bring stakes within a scene through his performance. Unfortunately he struggles with setting up the emotional stakes of the performance. Honestly he’s nearly terrible in the early scenes where he has no chemistry with his onscreen wife, and every line delivery attempting to sell himself as the hero who cares, Powell just comes off as putting on every bit of the emotion. Not a moment being the earnest guy does Powell seem convincing and his passion for good just seems like the most obvious “I’m angry” acting. Powell can be good but attempting to fully replicate a Tom Cruise style presence does not work for him in the least if this is any indication.)
Brolin - 3.5(I don’t think this is the most surprising performance from him in any way, but I think he delivered on the basic necessary combination between an authoritarian manner, with the right combination of smarmy showmanship, where his real thrill is the potential ratings boost. As Brolin performances go he’s been better, but he delivers to the basic requirements of the role albeit just that.)
Domingo - 3.5(He’s having fun and does elevate what he can. I particularly liked his last scene where Domingo sold his comedic note quite effortlessly while telling a bit about his character within the moment. Otherwise he’s having the right accentuation of the action with just enough of an over the top energy to be selling to the crowd constantly. Of course I ‘d say he’s also a bit underutilized as the host, and he’s almost always just for a quick bit before being cut away from.)
Louis: A 1995 book about Japanese cinema notes that when he shot Rashomon, Miyagawa used 32mm, 40mm, 50mm and 75mm lenses.
A book from the same author notes that Miyagawa's idea of how the movie should look is that it should have no grays. He also even used a light meter for the forest scenes.
He also had branches and leaves all in a baseball net and to ensure that the shadows of leaves fell on the actors' faces, he adjusted the positioning with long bamboo posts.
Staunton - (Actually quite a bit different from what I was expecting from her performance where honestly I was thinking this was going to be some firebrand type of performance. Rather Staunton plays it very convincingly as someone who doesn’t know she’s an activist essentially in any way shape or form, and is almost accidentally as such. It is powerful work then realizing the specific state of the woman with a secret she’s deeply passionate about on a fundamental level, yet also deeply quiet about in how she lives her day to day. Staunton in a way brings a similar presence to when we see her scenes of being part of the family, her day job, or her after day job so to speak. Staunton creates such a remarkable nuance within the character making you truly understand the history of the woman, from moments she does give some history which Staunton makes the most of but more so just her interactions with those around her. Where there is a specific cheeriness she brings with this sense of intention and even purpose behind it but as such a naturalistic style per the working class mother of the period. She makes you truly understand her specific stability so when the turn in the film happens you can see the intensity of how her world is shifted through it. Where Staunton is wonderful is the way she presents this crack in reality where every bit of emotion feels so raw and real by the contrast and showing the extreme of her reality suddenly no longer being what it was. Staunton is captivating every second she is onscreen in the progression of the situation where you see her so expressive in herself before beginning to slowly almost collapse within own body as her spirit is pulled out of her almost.)
Moreno - (Her performance is the film because while the actual film I don’t think makes anything truly revelatory in the realization of a drug mule scenario, what Moreno does is elevate every moment by giving a wholly tangible and captivating performance every second of screentime she has. It is one of those performances that elevates every moment because she makes you believe every moment through the character with a striking charisma within her work. She carries it artfully bringing a combination of a dogged conviction but also is as natural in conveying the degree of vulnerability as she attempts to make her way through the dodgy situation she’s in best she can. Moreno is able to grant an emotional honesty to every moment that brings you into them even if as written they sometimes can be a bit rote. Moreno’s work though never is finding nuance in every moment and giving a far more complete portrayal of the woman choosing to go through this situation than the film provides on a writing level.)
Jolie - (It is such an over the top performance where she just manages to overplay every notion there is to play with the character. As she essentially performs it as though she was playing a witch in more so a completely mythical production, even if that were the case she would still be too much. As she plays the whole thing with this excessive and obvious “I’m devious” and just repeatedly emphasizing that same note with such a ridiculous degree of overacting every bit of it.)
Harris:
Zeta-Jones - 2.5(Eh I think she borders on being the worst part of the film, as I found her fairly over the top in her early scenes, but slightly okay in her later scenes. As very much coming off as too shallow, but never quite making you fully believe her character as an actual tangible person. Even as her character calms down, I found just that she stopped going needlessly big, without a real sense of honest emotion behind it, made her work more, but the whole pseudo-romantic aspect of the film I found to be the weakest part of it.)
The Terminal’s direction very much is Spielberg just showing off his slickness in terms of his visual sense, use of music and editing. There’s just a particular ease he has about going through the progression of a screenplay that is far less ambitious than most Spielberg films. Spielberg shows what good direction can do because he does keep the film very light on its feet and it would be easy to get sucked into too much stereotyping or really over the top villainy moments involving Tucci’s character. Spielberg keeps a progression going instead, focusing on whenever he can find momentum in the plot progression and interaction, and only stopping with the moments that will actually serve something on a bit of a more nuanced level. While still far from his best film, or his best work as a director, you do see what deftness he has, particularly with this screenplay which is going for a Capra tone. Spielberg is one of the few who can pull off that kind of earnestness and he does.
It’s screenplay on the other hand I don’t think is any great work, though a great starting point to use with the pseudo true story it is dealing with. But from there it becomes the eccentric hero versus the establishment, with the help of colorful characters, and the establishment, as written, being a fairly over the top egocentric villain. With every progression with the other characters being pretty simple and light, with a singular definition, whether that is the romance, the guy with the past, or even the aforementioned literally flighty potential romance. It isn’t poorly done but genuine complications there are not. There’s enough charm that can be mined in there, even though something like the war, or even our protagonist's reason for wanting to go New York are really simplistic. Having said all that, there is enough charm in the well worn scenario, again Spielberg’s direction being key to making it come to life, because again you have say the Robert Zemeckis version, of the then state of Zemeckis and the film degrades severely.
Lucas:
Lawson - 2(A lame role to begin with, but I really didn’t think her performance brought anything to it to elevate. Again no chemistry with Powell, but more than that there’s just her performance just seems to emphasize the whole going through the motions aspect of the character to begin with. There’s no sense of life going on whatsoever and just feels like someone saying the required lines and that’s it. Failing to create genuine stakes or urgency.)
Pace - 2.5(Pretty standard “I’m the final boss” performance. There was maybe room for something more in his final speech in emphasizing the awareness of the cog in the machine aspect, but Pace really doesn’t do all that much with it.)
Cera - 2(I mean hideously miscast as some sort of survivalist nut to begin with, and while I’ve been liking Cera a bit more as of late, this performance did nothing for me. His worst scenes are his trying to sell the backstory of the character where every line delivery feels phony as all hell. But even when he switches to this crazed mania, Cera really doesn’t know how to be comedic while still selling the essential drama behind the character.)
Ezra - 3(Better than Cera at least in that I found him at least tonally consistent even if I didn’t think he really came to life in the way the film seemed to want him to.)
Jones - 3(Seems overqualified for the role honestly, but I’ll give her credit in that I didn’t hate everything she did in what is an extremely thankless role. Rather, she managed not to overdo the spoiled rich woman bit and therefore when coming down to some understanding she made it believable enough.)
Macy & O’Brian - (Both are fine but seem horribly wasted.)
Dickinson - 1(Woof found everything she did atrocious. Doesn’t work as funny nor does it work as purposefully grating even. Just feels like someone acting in the most obnoxious way possible.)
Tybalt:
I have not.
Ytrewq:
Costello - Seven Psychopaths (The role he would’ve played anyways if he had been less of himself, and honestly could have seen him as Chief Willoughby as well.) Joe - You Were Never Really Here Dock O’Reilly - Bad Times At the El Royale King Aurvandill - The Northman
A weird version in general but Owen doesn't help matters for me. He very much plays into "angry Scrooge" as a very hard note with no nuance, and honestly I always prefer if Scrooge is played as an intelligent one rather than a dumb one. Owen though heavily plays just as the fussy man who hates everything and you don't get an internal sense of the broken man within it like you do with the best portrayals of the character. The transformation is just as thin, without the nuance of gradual changes and realizations. Rather he's just as one note of playing it joyful instead. His version just isn't very dynamic on either side of it.
Louis: What are your ratings and thoughts on Takeshi Kaneshiro in House of Flying Daggers, Miranda Otto in In My Father's Den and Emmanuelle Devos in Kings and Queen?
Louis: I know that your problems with The Life of Chuck extend beyond unnatural sounding narration, but who would you cast instead of Nick Offerman to sell the mood of the film more properly?
I definitely think Clooney will rank higher than Sandler. I think a lot of folks praising Sandler are just impressed that he’s not doing his usual shtick, but I didn’t feel like there was a lot there. I feel like David Krumholtz could have made something a lot more interesting out of that character.
Sandler’s the only part I sort of liked. The only parts I found engaging were his. I actually think the movie would have been better if his character was the protagonist and Jay was the second banana.
I refuse to comment on any Scorsese film news unless it is about the film starting its shooting.
8000’s:
Yes Miyagawa’s technique was indeed impressive and the comments on the relationship with Kurosawa go with most things heard about the intensity of the man.
Anonymous:
Stone - (One can pretty much take it for granted at this point, however she’s great again at bringing such a dominant presence and in this instance basically being in a battle with her co-star in a particular kind of battle of wits. Where Stone brings even a force as the corporate head where she sells the phony smile and the intensity of her “goodwill” as her starting point before being thrown into the situation. Where I think Stone balances the tone most effectively in terms of playing the character at different levels of her situation in her conversations with Plemons, and in a way playing with the audience's expectation. As she goes from seeming the fully possible victim wholly convincingly, to patronizing in her own way where there is even a bit of menace within that, to playing the manipulator, to the horrified party and making it all look easy and more importantly cohesive particularly in her switching compared to her co-star and his specificity of his drive. Leading eventually towards the end bits, where I’ll just say Stone found a different way to be great, where she goes from this particularly dangerous type of commanding at one point then switching to this calm kind of curious compassion.)
Delbis - (Manages to be quite moving by in a way not being anything like his co-stars and finding the purity of his innocence in every step of the way. Creating a moving portrayal of truly being caught in the middle, where there is that sincerity within his urgency that is particularly heartbreaking because he creates such a believable sense of somehow who is just confused and looking for some kind of pathway.)
Halkias - (One of those bad performances that works anyways, where all his lines deliveries are weird and he seems kind of out of the film, yet it kind of works regardless.)
Grande - (Her performance successfully I think continued from the original, as she shifts towards the dramatic with a combination of a sort of hopeless attempt at believing the lies she’s selling with just the right degree of nuance between her optimism pushing out the thoughts, and genuine shame at being part of it. Grande manages to make it quite natural which is quite the trick given the extreme shifts that go on through the fairly disjointed nature of the narrative. Grande though creates a consistent honesty within her performance and the moments where I found the film most effective were her just performing because she always brought as much as she could whether it was a song, a speech or just a reaction. Even the few bits of comedy she does get this time around, she does excel with even though that isn’t the focus, such as in her reactions towards Dorothy or where we get a bit of a return of the bratty Glinda. In every scene, no matter how forced, I never found her even slightly forced so it was quite impressive.)
Erivo - (Her performance I do think has the struggle of trying to sell the “wicked” last acts which the film doesn’t present exactly as lies so it’s a little strange and Erivo does struggle a bit, however I don’t think she falls on her face. The rest of the time though she does absolutely as much as she can to sell the material, and like Grande the emotions and moments that work, largely work just because her performance is that convincing in itself. Even when working with the fairly repetitive moments of basically “we don’t believe you”, Erivo I found managed to never feel repetition herself despite definitely dealing with repetitious material. Selling her songs consistently and finding whatever she can in the material.)
Bailey - (I think he’s fine even if he is sabotaged twice over, first he needs to downplay any charisma from the first film, and the second what happens with him is so ridiculously rushed he barely even gets to act it. I still thought he was able to keep his head up within those painful confines albeit just.)
Slater - (I think there was potential for more as he does bring some nice intensity in his later scenes but they do absolutely nothing with him or that intensity. So kind of an interesting start that goes nowhere.)
Bode - (Probably was too generous with my initial rating, though I’ll say the writing she is dealing with is absolutely horrendous, as she goes from evil to innocent in every scene she’s in without any particular logic to it, building up to the accidentally comical ending scene. She can’t make any sense of it and does not succeed in any notion, though the writing and direction are leading her out to dry.)
Yeoh - (Still sings terrible but she’s bad beyond that. As she half-measures camps it up, which either go all the way or don’t go at all. So instead her performance is just this awkward sort of attempt at villainy where she neither is menacing nor entertaining, a bad combo in every possible way.)
Goldblum - (Those who hate his performance, I totally get as he’s purely Goldbluming it the whole way through in a role that probably should’ve been played with a bit more character in mind. Having said that, I didn’t mind the laziness of it.)
Kaneshiro - (Not as charming as his best work though he has a degree of charisma but I do feel he is a bit overshadowed by Zhang. He’s fine otherwise although the film struggles through its strange plot situations, where the character just feels a little inconsistent rather than do you feel a real sense of every change on a character level. I’ll admit writing wise it is quite difficult to make the through line but at the same time Kaneshiro doesn’t quite make it regardless.)
Otto - 2.5(I didn’t much out of her performance honestly, found her just kind of there for the majority of the film until her big scene, where I thought she was a little overcooked because I didn’t really feel she built up till that moment effectively beforehand.)
Devos - 3(Wholly fine but she never makes her section particularly compelling. And one can point some finger that you might say she could be more charismatic, she could be, or more dynamic, she could be, but the part itself I didn’t find terribly interesting and I didn’t think she elevated it at any point despite the general functionality of her work.)
Luke:
De Niro - 2(Half of it was the performance I was worried he might give in The Irishman, which thankfully he did not, where he just seems tired and bored as he rambles off similar lines to lines he’d done before. We get no real sense of the “good” half rather his whole “goodness” is he just is kind of “eh” about everything, even if his own attempted assassination. His other half feels like they wanted Pesci but couldn’t get him, so instead De Niro attempts a Pesci, which it’s a shame this is the side with the horrible makeup because De Niro is more awake as the hair tempered guy, but he’s sabotaged by having to act through such ridiculous makeup he can’t overcome. You get glimpses of something that might work, but sadly it’s a futuristic effort.)
Ytrewq:
Maybe Bruce Greenwood would’ve made it sound a bit less unnatural.
RIP James Ransone. I forgot to pay condolences to Rob Reiner and Michele Singer here, but ohh boy..... of all the celebrity deaths this year, this succession of Reiner and Ransone hurts the worst personally. Ransone was too fucking young, and it really breaks my heart when someone this young dies in despair. Heartbreaking.
Gambon - (He doesn’t look anything like LBJ and in terms of creating some kind of accurate portrayal of him in a physical sense this is not it. Having said that, Gambon other than his southern accent isn’t really trying for that kind of performance. Rather what he is doing instead is portraying a man like LBJ in such a situation, where he does have the needed powerful presence of someone used to knowing how to spread his power around while certainly having a precise passion for what he is fighting for with also the power of persuasion in certain moments. Gambon is convincing as such, and even more so is quite effective in the moments of portraying the emotional strain of the job when it comes to Vietnam particularly in conveying the personal pressure and even more so the intense frustration at the consistency of everyone else putting any blame back on him. Gambon creates an emotional through line of the man attempting to keep it together but the wear of the job just increases at every turn.)
Sutherland - (Brings the expected Sutherland smoothness of exposition in particular though what he’s particularly good at in this is in a way portraying the man least conflicted. Portraying instead this kind of academic manner of a man who perhaps too much enjoys his sort of advisor detachment. As Sutherland portrays the flip flopping of the character not with great emotional strain rather this detached kind of academic curiosity of someone merely maneuvering from one position to another without really an active sense of what every decision he’s making actually means.)
Baldwin - (One of his best performances honestly where his specific presence really works well to McNamara where he has this precision of personality in the early scenes of the man impressing on his expertise with a degree of sensitivity but a greater confidence in what he thinks is his particular skill as a strategic thinker. Baldwin’s effective then in quietly breaking this down as the results don’t match the theory, and just showing the quiet emotional turmoil. Something that also takes away that confidence towards a subtle desperation of a man who simply doesn’t know despite his earlier confidence.)
McGill - (It is very much that Bruce McGill performance, which no disrespect you cast McGill in these types of roles for a reason, as an excellent use of that Bruce McGill performance as the lone dissent, McGill’s general authority figure presence works well as the constant voice of reason, with our hindsight, but McGill bringing a genuine passion within that dissent, particularly in his actually quietly moving moments where he reacts to Clifford wavering away from his position.)
Frain - (Like Sutherland’s work though in less scenes, in initially bringing this overly confident attitude that wanes from scene to scene, where there builds this increasingly intense desperation of someone wanting to separate himself from any wrongdoing he can.)
Forrest - (Theoretically a more functional role of the man just giving thoughts and dealing with order. Forrest though does a lot with every subtle reaction he brings to these moments, creating a sense of the internal mind of the man taking in every choice even if verbally he keeps a very official manner.)
Hall - (Essentially used as a representative of different states of the political brass to the situation, from fully on the Johnson train, to concerns, to against it, and Hall brings that strong presence of his to present it.)
Expectedly looks great, and glad to see we're essentially going to get to see Nolan going full on with the mystical creatures, as Polyphemus looked quite striking even from that brief glimpse, looking very much forward to what Nolan does with Scylla and Charybdis especially.
1. Wild Horse Nine - (It's McDonagh I need not say anything else.) 2. The Odyssey - (Every looks promising so far and the type of story that has so much potential for Nolan to go all in visually.) 3. Digger - (Dramatic Cruise is enough but teamed with Inarritu this could be, or at least hopefully will be something special.) 4. Dune Part III - (Potentially the trickiest to pull off but will be interested to see Villeneuve does with it.) 5. Project Hail Mary - (I mean the trailer looked promising and I'll take Gosling in a lead role) 6. Narnia: The Magician's Nephew (Interested to see what Gerwig does with this one.) 7. Werwulf - (Obviously still want to see it but would be higher if it was Pattinson, Hoult or one of the Skarsgard's in the lead). 8. Flowervale Street - (Not much to go on but seems interesting.) 9. Disclosure Day - (Wasn't blown away by the trailer, but still will obviously see Spielberg back in blockbuster mode.) 10. The Adventures of Cliff Booth - (Fincher doing Tarantino is intriguing enough alone.)
Lucas:
Silverstone - (I liked that she gave a straightforward humanity actually to her character giving I think the right degree of potentially empathy to Plemons's character, before we know too much, in her brief scene to show the right simplicity of just seemingly the victim.)
Marcus:
Marty Supreme is obviously the biggest one but I'll be trying to watch some docs and other international films in particular as well.
Harris:
One of the great bits honestly, from the concept, to the song itself with the overly pathos driven Ferrell song to Jack Black's comebacks, to then just the literal threats at the nominees particularly the one to Gosling, and the great capper of Reilly coming in with his great singing advice to leading to the newfound hope of taking less than comedic roles with "there's not a laugh in it" as one of the projects particularly hilarious. Honestly a "how to do an Oscar bit".
103 comments:
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on Annette Being in Being Julia and Jennifer Saunders in Shrek 2.
Thoughts on the rest of the Female Performances
1. Heard
2. Gielgud
3. Nakadai
4. Biswas
5. Macfadyen
Overall ranking predictions
Heard - 5th
Gielgud - 3rd
Nakadai - 5th
Biswas - 2nd
Macfadyen - 7th
I've only seen Nakadai and Macfadyen; excited to check the rest of these out.
1. Heard
2. Nakadai
3. Biswas
4. Macfayden
5. Gielgud
Thoughts on the Disclosure Day trailer?
Louis, ratings and thoughts on the cast of Sirat.
Louis: would you still give a 4 to Corinna Harfouch and Juliane Köhler in Downfall, and where would you rank them if that's the case?
I'll just say that I think Gielgud's performance is a masterclass but you really have to vibe with what the film is doing.
1. Heard
2. Nakadai
3. Macfadyen
4. Biswas
5. Gielgud
1.Heard
2.Gielgud
3.Nakadai
4.Biswas
5.Macfayden
I hope Knightley improves for you on this rewatch of Pride and Prejudice as well. I know you don't like her generally, but I always felt like she was the perfect Lizzie. She doesn't make her as austere as the miniseries, she makes her act her actual age.
1. Heard
2. Nakadai
3. Macfadyen
4. Biswas
5. Gielgud
1. Heard
2. Nakadai
3. Biswas
4. Macfadyen
5. Gielgud
5º John Gielgud
4º Matthew Macfadyen
3º Chhabi Biswas
2º John Heard
1º Tatsuya Nakadai
1. Heard
2. Nakadai
3. Biswas
4. Macfayden
5. Gielgud
1. Nakadai
2. Biswas
3. Gielgud
4. Heard
5. Macfadyen
Probably, everyone is getting a 5 here?
1. Heard
2. Nakadai
3. Gielgud
4. Biswas
5. Macfadyen
1. Biswas
2. Heard
3. Nakadai
4. Macfadyen
5. Gielgud
Great lineup.
1. Heard
2. Gielgud
3. Nakadai
4. Macfadyen
5. Biswas
Gonna change mine a little.
1. Heard
2. Biswas
3. Nakadai
4. Macfadyen
5. Gielgud
1. Heard
2. Biswas
3. Nakadai
4. Macfadyen
5. Gielgud
1. Heard
2. Biswas
3. Nakadai
4. Macfadyen
5. Gielgud
*checks 2005 supporting actor ranking* Wow, Macfadyen isn't even on the overall? And Sutherland's only #42? Goddamn.
Anonymous: Macfadyen's #20 on the Lead overall for Pride and Prejudice, which I've always felt was low even with the strength of the year.
Would love a Sutherland upgrade too, he's my win that year.
to everybody here: If you didn't like the last two Avatar movies, this next one is not gonna sway you.
If you liked them, like me, it sadly might ...
Robert: Have you decided on your recommendation.
Tahmeed: Oh that explains it. It's been ages since I saw the film so I remembered him as Supporting. (I was the Anonymous user, I just forgot to enter my name.)
Louis and everyone else: What are your thoughts on the Oscars moving to YouTube starting 2029?
Harris: It was bound to happen, the ratings have dropped year after year that they had to make a change to keep the ceremony at least somewhat relevant to the casual viewer.
Luke: I feel even then, YouTube's going to charge a fair bit for it. I just hope we don't get a repeat of Hulu crashing during the Best Actress/Best Picture announcement if the ceremony runs over time.
Luke: I guess the 1991 filming of Into the Woods? It's on Youtube.
1. Biswas
2. Heard
3. Nakadai
4. Macfadyen
5. Gielgud
Louis: What are the most prominent examples of "bad scenes" in otherwise very good-to-great acting performances that knock those performances down for you, i.e. "What's in the Box?" for Pitt in Se7en.
Marcus: He still gave Pitt a 4.5 for Seven so I don't think that scene affected him too much.
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on Powell, Brolin and Domingo in The Running Man.
That scene is why Pitt is a 4 for me instead of 4.5. It would've been a masterful scene for him, Spacey and Freeman, but the inclusion of that massive "Oh God, OH GOOOOOD" in place of just silence almost ruins it all.
Ya know, I used to be one of the people who hated the box thing, but I watched it again a couple years ago and it's really nowhere near as bad I remembered, and it actually does fit the whole arc of what Pitt (and Fincher, honestly) is trying to do with that character.
Louis: Could you add my request Vincent Price in The Abominable Dr. Phibes to the requests page.
Louis: Your thoughts on 'Heavenly Puss' from Tom and Jerry?
Louis: Similiar to my question about Burt Reynolds from a few weeks ago, which present roles do you think would've been a good fit for Mickey Rourke, assuming that he would've become easier to work with after The Wrestler?
Louis: As soon as you see The Odyssey trailer/prologue, can I have your ten most anticipated films of 2026 and your thoughts on each.
So, personally I think "The Box" scene is just absolutely perfection. I fail to see any fatal flaw with Pitt's acting. Maybe 1-2 line deliveries of his were flat, but the pain that his eyes showed in that scene plus "tell me she's alright!!!!" are enough to overcome those issues for me. I think this is the movie, where Brad Pitt is slowly figuring out "acting". Prior to that, he is either under acting or over acting.
I've never really been bothered with Pitt's performance in the ending.
Marcus:
Costner’s opening “Oh no” - JFK
I'm sure there are others but I'm just having trouble recollecting them at the moment.
Luke:
Worst:
Angelina Jolie - Alexander
Ray Romano - Welcome to Mooseport
Wayne Robson/Reagan Pasternak/John Rothman - Welcome to Mooseport
Marlon Wayans - The Ladykillers
Lucy Punch - Being Julia
Bening - 2.5(The character is so much a “type” to begin with as written that I don’t think she exactly begins at a good starting point. Having said that she plays very much into that type so strictly that basically it is a bit like Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway, but she’s not trying to be funny…nor is she. She ends up being just this type without the nuance for some real dramatic effect of someone dealing with being pushed beyond by so many, nor does she find actual comedy within her performance either being within an unsuccessful grey area. Honestly aspects of this performance were far better realized by her in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.)
Saunders - 4(Brings kind of a certain self-help guru though where the phoniness of it is purposefully worn with a bit of a precise callousness. Her performance has a directness that works quite effectively by creating a bridge between bringing that Shrek modern flavor to it, but with a genuine kind of intensity through it. Creating a particular ease in the villainy yet one where it is convincing particularly in terms of basically subverting the very notion of the fairy godmother so bluntly.)
Zhang - (At a certain point I do think the action of the character feels designed to make the plot happen rather than something that feels genuine, but even making those overly melodramatic if not just illogical character choices, doesn’t get in the way of appreciating Zhang’s performance. She just is a magnetic performer here and makes the most of the very physical nature of the character. Bringing just a dynamic quality not only in every quiet facial reaction but every movement she carries something with. She is actively compelling every moment we have at her, even within the less interesting aspects of the plot Zhang’s performance just has a charisma that makes it easy to watch her through every step of it. As even in the final moments, Zhang absolutely sells them with absolute conviction even if I didn’t fully believe them.)
Khumalo - (Brings an important contrast within the hardship by creating a convincing sense of optimism even within the difficult life of the character. Her performance makes that the center and does so in a way that never feels naive, rather the innate nature of her character. As she brings nuance within that but also nuance within the moments of reacting to her hardships. In each she offers a convincing complexity within the life of the character that I think in lesser hands could’ve become overly symbolic.)
Hall - (Manages to find just the right tone which I’d argue that even the Coens struggled with this time around. Hall though seems to know exactly what the film needs in her portrayal where she brings a certain dogmatic directness which has a comedic value to, but with just enough grace to emphasize where the character is coming from is from her genuine values. She very carefully manages to amplify without overplaying the part either. Finding a remarkable balance between the qualities of the role of never being too much, but still elevating her moments rather consistently. Even though the film as a whole did not work for me, she did.)
Delpy - (Obviously great chemistry with Hawke once again, and she’s particularly effective in kind of unwrapping her character from where we see her as almost just intrigued by her connection to the now burgeoning writer to more so discovering what had made them connect so profoundly as younger people. Delpy’s performance finds a remarkable charm in playing around with the notion of maturity and immaturity within the reflection, such as the way she is able to deliver her “oh I didn’t come” so blithely however convincingly as someone looking back, but then slowly build towards obviously it being all more than a memory. Leading towards her song sequence, which combines the times of the character by bringing a playful youth, but with a more earnest reflection which we see leading towards genuine love.)
Tatou - (Tatou’s performance is largely reactionary, but reactionary in a way that does work. Where she very much embodies every story that she comes across throughout the film, and brings an emotional honesty along with the certain grace within her character who contrasts Cotillard especially.)
Judd - (For the role that becomes overly simplistic at a certain point I will say I found there to be an honesty in her performance consistently. Finding ways to bring some truth to the overly glossy manner of the piece and consistently keeps some real humanity within the flash and overly cliched moments.)
Kekilli - (Kind of has to go from one overly big emotion to another due to the strange structure of the piece, but I will say, unlike her GOT work which I wasn’t overly impressed by for the most part, I thought she did deliver fairly effectively with these different intense swings, even if maybe they didn’t add up to as much as I would’ve liked.)
Cotillard - (The most captivating part of the film albeit for just a few minutes of screentime. Cotillard though brings a natural ethereal quality to be expected though with this particularly dynamic conviction where in her early scenes she almost seems like a ghostly vengeance. This however is in stark contrast to her later scene where in the end she just is the murderer in jail awaiting her trial. Cotillard beautifully realizes the story against the reality essentially, as in this scene playing so modestly of now just seeing the woman broken by her loss, particularly when she finally reads her far too late message, and captures so powerfully the poignancy in her realization. As I love that she doesn’t play it as horror rather just a “of course” as though recognizing that fate simply will be cruel to her, while still emphasizing the sense of love beneath it all.)
Barclay - (Matches Macfadyen’s performance quite artfully in bringing a consistent authenticity in bringing such a believable emotional strain as we uncover essentially the truth of what is really going on. Her work is moving by reinforcing just the wear of it all as it progresses and finding nuance in it, that while her character suffers much, that isn’t all there is to her work as she finds the hope within the suffering quite notably.)
Fanning - (This is the one time, where as an adult or child, where her presence fully worked for me, and the sort of degree of self-consciousness of her performance actually came to life. And a big reason why is just finding the chemistry with Washington which genuinely works and the sense of warmth between them just builds so naturally. Fanning in this instance doesn’t feel like she’s doing too much, instead finding just the needed sense of just excitement and connection of the little girl finding someone who seems to actually care.)
Anonymous:
Saving Lopez.
Harris:
Not sure the sudden clicking thing worked entirely for me but could always be an in-context sort of thing. Despite Black Bag in Koepp I don’t trust, whereas I know Spielberg will do his thing, and it seems like he is in terms of the general tension from the trailer, but the script finding a new angle into Alien Contact/Invasion is essential, and from this looks like it could go either way.
Lucas:
Yes but out of the top 20.
Luke:
Powell - 2.5(I think he’s fine in some of the action scenes, where Powell does have that ability to bring stakes within a scene through his performance. Unfortunately he struggles with setting up the emotional stakes of the performance. Honestly he’s nearly terrible in the early scenes where he has no chemistry with his onscreen wife, and every line delivery attempting to sell himself as the hero who cares, Powell just comes off as putting on every bit of the emotion. Not a moment being the earnest guy does Powell seem convincing and his passion for good just seems like the most obvious “I’m angry” acting. Powell can be good but attempting to fully replicate a Tom Cruise style presence does not work for him in the least if this is any indication.)
Brolin - 3.5(I don’t think this is the most surprising performance from him in any way, but I think he delivered on the basic necessary combination between an authoritarian manner, with the right combination of smarmy showmanship, where his real thrill is the potential ratings boost. As Brolin performances go he’s been better, but he delivers to the basic requirements of the role albeit just that.)
Domingo - 3.5(He’s having fun and does elevate what he can. I particularly liked his last scene where Domingo sold his comedic note quite effortlessly while telling a bit about his character within the moment. Otherwise he’s having the right accentuation of the action with just enough of an over the top energy to be selling to the crowd constantly. Of course I ‘d say he’s also a bit underutilized as the host, and he’s almost always just for a quick bit before being cut away from.)
Louis: Are you saving thoughts on Staunton and Moreno.
Rating and thoughts on Jolie in Alexander.
Louis: Thoughts on Zeta-Jones in The Terminal, and the film's direction and screenplay?
Louis: What are your ratings and thoughts on the rest of the cast of The Running Man?
Louis: Since Robert was asking about them earlier, have you rewatched A.I. and/or The Piano since reviewing Law and Neill?
Louis: What are your thoughts on Reginald Owen as Scrooge?
To my fellow commenters who have seen The Pitt, who do you think will be Louis's pick for MVP of S1?
Harris: Probably Wyle.
Louis: A 1995 book about Japanese cinema notes that when he shot Rashomon, Miyagawa used 32mm, 40mm, 50mm and 75mm lenses.
A book from the same author notes that Miyagawa's idea of how the movie should look is that it should have no grays. He also even used a light meter for the forest scenes.
He also had branches and leaves all in a baseball net and to ensure that the shadows of leaves fell on the actors' faces, he adjusted the positioning with long bamboo posts.
Luke:
Somehow my brain skipped both.
Staunton - (Actually quite a bit different from what I was expecting from her performance where honestly I was thinking this was going to be some firebrand type of performance. Rather Staunton plays it very convincingly as someone who doesn’t know she’s an activist essentially in any way shape or form, and is almost accidentally as such. It is powerful work then realizing the specific state of the woman with a secret she’s deeply passionate about on a fundamental level, yet also deeply quiet about in how she lives her day to day. Staunton in a way brings a similar presence to when we see her scenes of being part of the family, her day job, or her after day job so to speak. Staunton creates such a remarkable nuance within the character making you truly understand the history of the woman, from moments she does give some history which Staunton makes the most of but more so just her interactions with those around her. Where there is a specific cheeriness she brings with this sense of intention and even purpose behind it but as such a naturalistic style per the working class mother of the period. She makes you truly understand her specific stability so when the turn in the film happens you can see the intensity of how her world is shifted through it. Where Staunton is wonderful is the way she presents this crack in reality where every bit of emotion feels so raw and real by the contrast and showing the extreme of her reality suddenly no longer being what it was. Staunton is captivating every second she is onscreen in the progression of the situation where you see her so expressive in herself before beginning to slowly almost collapse within own body as her spirit is pulled out of her almost.)
Moreno - (Her performance is the film because while the actual film I don’t think makes anything truly revelatory in the realization of a drug mule scenario, what Moreno does is elevate every moment by giving a wholly tangible and captivating performance every second of screentime she has. It is one of those performances that elevates every moment because she makes you believe every moment through the character with a striking charisma within her work. She carries it artfully bringing a combination of a dogged conviction but also is as natural in conveying the degree of vulnerability as she attempts to make her way through the dodgy situation she’s in best she can. Moreno is able to grant an emotional honesty to every moment that brings you into them even if as written they sometimes can be a bit rote. Moreno’s work though never is finding nuance in every moment and giving a far more complete portrayal of the woman choosing to go through this situation than the film provides on a writing level.)
Jolie - (It is such an over the top performance where she just manages to overplay every notion there is to play with the character. As she essentially performs it as though she was playing a witch in more so a completely mythical production, even if that were the case she would still be too much. As she plays the whole thing with this excessive and obvious “I’m devious” and just repeatedly emphasizing that same note with such a ridiculous degree of overacting every bit of it.)
Harris:
Zeta-Jones - 2.5(Eh I think she borders on being the worst part of the film, as I found her fairly over the top in her early scenes, but slightly okay in her later scenes. As very much coming off as too shallow, but never quite making you fully believe her character as an actual tangible person. Even as her character calms down, I found just that she stopped going needlessly big, without a real sense of honest emotion behind it, made her work more, but the whole pseudo-romantic aspect of the film I found to be the weakest part of it.)
The Terminal’s direction very much is Spielberg just showing off his slickness in terms of his visual sense, use of music and editing. There’s just a particular ease he has about going through the progression of a screenplay that is far less ambitious than most Spielberg films. Spielberg shows what good direction can do because he does keep the film very light on its feet and it would be easy to get sucked into too much stereotyping or really over the top villainy moments involving Tucci’s character. Spielberg keeps a progression going instead, focusing on whenever he can find momentum in the plot progression and interaction, and only stopping with the moments that will actually serve something on a bit of a more nuanced level. While still far from his best film, or his best work as a director, you do see what deftness he has, particularly with this screenplay which is going for a Capra tone. Spielberg is one of the few who can pull off that kind of earnestness and he does.
It’s screenplay on the other hand I don’t think is any great work, though a great starting point to use with the pseudo true story it is dealing with. But from there it becomes the eccentric hero versus the establishment, with the help of colorful characters, and the establishment, as written, being a fairly over the top egocentric villain. With every progression with the other characters being pretty simple and light, with a singular definition, whether that is the romance, the guy with the past, or even the aforementioned literally flighty potential romance. It isn’t poorly done but genuine complications there are not. There’s enough charm that can be mined in there, even though something like the war, or even our protagonist's reason for wanting to go New York are really simplistic. Having said all that, there is enough charm in the well worn scenario, again Spielberg’s direction being key to making it come to life, because again you have say the Robert Zemeckis version, of the then state of Zemeckis and the film degrades severely.
Lucas:
Lawson - 2(A lame role to begin with, but I really didn’t think her performance brought anything to it to elevate. Again no chemistry with Powell, but more than that there’s just her performance just seems to emphasize the whole going through the motions aspect of the character to begin with. There’s no sense of life going on whatsoever and just feels like someone saying the required lines and that’s it. Failing to create genuine stakes or urgency.)
Pace - 2.5(Pretty standard “I’m the final boss” performance. There was maybe room for something more in his final speech in emphasizing the awareness of the cog in the machine aspect, but Pace really doesn’t do all that much with it.)
Cera - 2(I mean hideously miscast as some sort of survivalist nut to begin with, and while I’ve been liking Cera a bit more as of late, this performance did nothing for me. His worst scenes are his trying to sell the backstory of the character where every line delivery feels phony as all hell. But even when he switches to this crazed mania, Cera really doesn’t know how to be comedic while still selling the essential drama behind the character.)
Ezra - 3(Better than Cera at least in that I found him at least tonally consistent even if I didn’t think he really came to life in the way the film seemed to want him to.)
Jones - 3(Seems overqualified for the role honestly, but I’ll give her credit in that I didn’t hate everything she did in what is an extremely thankless role. Rather, she managed not to overdo the spoiled rich woman bit and therefore when coming down to some understanding she made it believable enough.)
Macy & O’Brian - (Both are fine but seem horribly wasted.)
Dickinson - 1(Woof found everything she did atrocious. Doesn’t work as funny nor does it work as purposefully grating even. Just feels like someone acting in the most obnoxious way possible.)
Tybalt:
I have not.
Ytrewq:
Costello - Seven Psychopaths (The role he would’ve played anyways if he had been less of himself, and honestly could have seen him as Chief Willoughby as well.)
Joe - You Were Never Really Here
Dock O’Reilly - Bad Times At the El Royale
King Aurvandill - The Northman
Matt:
A weird version in general but Owen doesn't help matters for me. He very much plays into "angry Scrooge" as a very hard note with no nuance, and honestly I always prefer if Scrooge is played as an intelligent one rather than a dumb one. Owen though heavily plays just as the fussy man who hates everything and you don't get an internal sense of the broken man within it like you do with the best portrayals of the character. The transformation is just as thin, without the nuance of gradual changes and realizations. Rather he's just as one note of playing it joyful instead. His version just isn't very dynamic on either side of it.
Louis: Oh, also thoughts on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxCXyhRMz00&t
Louis: Thoughts on Mads Mikkelsen cast in Scorsese's next film.
Louis: Thoughts on the casts of Bugonia and Wicked: For Good.
Louis: What are your ratings and thoughts on Takeshi Kaneshiro in House of Flying Daggers, Miranda Otto in In My Father's Den and Emmanuelle Devos in Kings and Queen?
Louis: Rating and thoughts on De Niro in The Alto Knights.
Matt: Your ratings for Close and Laurie in 101 Dalmatians.
Luke: 3.5 for both, I guess
Luke: What ratings do you predict for Clooney and Sandler in Jay Kelly?
Harris: 2.5 for Clooney and 3.5/4 for Sandler.
Louis: I know that your problems with The Life of Chuck extend beyond unnatural sounding narration, but who would you cast instead of Nick Offerman to sell the mood of the film more properly?
I definitely think Clooney will rank higher than Sandler. I think a lot of folks praising Sandler are just impressed that he’s not doing his usual shtick, but I didn’t feel like there was a lot there. I feel like David Krumholtz could have made something a lot more interesting out of that character.
Sandler’s the only part I sort of liked. The only parts I found engaging were his. I actually think the movie would have been better if his character was the protagonist and Jay was the second banana.
Luke:
I refuse to comment on any Scorsese film news unless it is about the film starting its shooting.
8000’s:
Yes Miyagawa’s technique was indeed impressive and the comments on the relationship with Kurosawa go with most things heard about the intensity of the man.
Anonymous:
Stone - (One can pretty much take it for granted at this point, however she’s great again at bringing such a dominant presence and in this instance basically being in a battle with her co-star in a particular kind of battle of wits. Where Stone brings even a force as the corporate head where she sells the phony smile and the intensity of her “goodwill” as her starting point before being thrown into the situation. Where I think Stone balances the tone most effectively in terms of playing the character at different levels of her situation in her conversations with Plemons, and in a way playing with the audience's expectation. As she goes from seeming the fully possible victim wholly convincingly, to patronizing in her own way where there is even a bit of menace within that, to playing the manipulator, to the horrified party and making it all look easy and more importantly cohesive particularly in her switching compared to her co-star and his specificity of his drive. Leading eventually towards the end bits, where I’ll just say Stone found a different way to be great, where she goes from this particularly dangerous type of commanding at one point then switching to this calm kind of curious compassion.)
Delbis - (Manages to be quite moving by in a way not being anything like his co-stars and finding the purity of his innocence in every step of the way. Creating a moving portrayal of truly being caught in the middle, where there is that sincerity within his urgency that is particularly heartbreaking because he creates such a believable sense of somehow who is just confused and looking for some kind of pathway.)
Halkias - (One of those bad performances that works anyways, where all his lines deliveries are weird and he seems kind of out of the film, yet it kind of works regardless.)
Grande - (Her performance successfully I think continued from the original, as she shifts towards the dramatic with a combination of a sort of hopeless attempt at believing the lies she’s selling with just the right degree of nuance between her optimism pushing out the thoughts, and genuine shame at being part of it. Grande manages to make it quite natural which is quite the trick given the extreme shifts that go on through the fairly disjointed nature of the narrative. Grande though creates a consistent honesty within her performance and the moments where I found the film most effective were her just performing because she always brought as much as she could whether it was a song, a speech or just a reaction. Even the few bits of comedy she does get this time around, she does excel with even though that isn’t the focus, such as in her reactions towards Dorothy or where we get a bit of a return of the bratty Glinda. In every scene, no matter how forced, I never found her even slightly forced so it was quite impressive.)
Erivo - (Her performance I do think has the struggle of trying to sell the “wicked” last acts which the film doesn’t present exactly as lies so it’s a little strange and Erivo does struggle a bit, however I don’t think she falls on her face. The rest of the time though she does absolutely as much as she can to sell the material, and like Grande the emotions and moments that work, largely work just because her performance is that convincing in itself. Even when working with the fairly repetitive moments of basically “we don’t believe you”, Erivo I found managed to never feel repetition herself despite definitely dealing with repetitious material. Selling her songs consistently and finding whatever she can in the material.)
Bailey - (I think he’s fine even if he is sabotaged twice over, first he needs to downplay any charisma from the first film, and the second what happens with him is so ridiculously rushed he barely even gets to act it. I still thought he was able to keep his head up within those painful confines albeit just.)
Slater - (I think there was potential for more as he does bring some nice intensity in his later scenes but they do absolutely nothing with him or that intensity. So kind of an interesting start that goes nowhere.)
Bode - (Probably was too generous with my initial rating, though I’ll say the writing she is dealing with is absolutely horrendous, as she goes from evil to innocent in every scene she’s in without any particular logic to it, building up to the accidentally comical ending scene. She can’t make any sense of it and does not succeed in any notion, though the writing and direction are leading her out to dry.)
Yeoh - (Still sings terrible but she’s bad beyond that. As she half-measures camps it up, which either go all the way or don’t go at all. So instead her performance is just this awkward sort of attempt at villainy where she neither is menacing nor entertaining, a bad combo in every possible way.)
Goldblum - (Those who hate his performance, I totally get as he’s purely Goldbluming it the whole way through in a role that probably should’ve been played with a bit more character in mind. Having said that, I didn’t mind the laziness of it.)
Lucas:
Kaneshiro - (Not as charming as his best work though he has a degree of charisma but I do feel he is a bit overshadowed by Zhang. He’s fine otherwise although the film struggles through its strange plot situations, where the character just feels a little inconsistent rather than do you feel a real sense of every change on a character level. I’ll admit writing wise it is quite difficult to make the through line but at the same time Kaneshiro doesn’t quite make it regardless.)
Otto - 2.5(I didn’t much out of her performance honestly, found her just kind of there for the majority of the film until her big scene, where I thought she was a little overcooked because I didn’t really feel she built up till that moment effectively beforehand.)
Devos - 3(Wholly fine but she never makes her section particularly compelling. And one can point some finger that you might say she could be more charismatic, she could be, or more dynamic, she could be, but the part itself I didn’t find terribly interesting and I didn’t think she elevated it at any point despite the general functionality of her work.)
Luke:
De Niro - 2(Half of it was the performance I was worried he might give in The Irishman, which thankfully he did not, where he just seems tired and bored as he rambles off similar lines to lines he’d done before. We get no real sense of the “good” half rather his whole “goodness” is he just is kind of “eh” about everything, even if his own attempted assassination. His other half feels like they wanted Pesci but couldn’t get him, so instead De Niro attempts a Pesci, which it’s a shame this is the side with the horrible makeup because De Niro is more awake as the hair tempered guy, but he’s sabotaged by having to act through such ridiculous makeup he can’t overcome. You get glimpses of something that might work, but sadly it’s a futuristic effort.)
Ytrewq:
Maybe Bruce Greenwood would’ve made it sound a bit less unnatural.
Path to War:
Gambon - 4
Sutherland - 4
Baldwin - 4
McGill - 4
Frain - 3.5
Huffman - 2
Forrest - 3.5
Aylward - 3
Hall - 3.5
Sinise - 3
Skerritt - 3
Louis: Thoughts on Gambon, Sutherland, Baldwin, McGill, Frain, Forrest and Hall.
I haven't seen Jay Kelly but I'm getting a little annoyed at the people I see acting like Sandler is somehow way overdue for a nomination or whatever.
.
RIP James Ransone. Way too young.
RIP James Ransone
RIP James Ransone
Rest In Peace James Ransone. My Goodness.
RIP James Ransone. I forgot to pay condolences to Rob Reiner and Michele Singer here, but ohh boy..... of all the celebrity deaths this year, this succession of Reiner and Ransone hurts the worst personally. Ransone was too fucking young, and it really breaks my heart when someone this young dies in despair. Heartbreaking.
RIP James Ransone
RIP James Ransone. Yeah, really tragic.
RIP James Ransone, far too young and heartbreaking especially given all that he went through.
RIP James Ransone.
R.I.P. James Ransone
RIP James Ransone. I should consider recommending Louis The Wire next year.
RIP James Ransone.
Louis, thoughts on the Odyssey trailer.
Hoyte van Hoytema's doing some great work as always, from the look of it.
RIP James Ransone tragic
Luke:
Gambon - (He doesn’t look anything like LBJ and in terms of creating some kind of accurate portrayal of him in a physical sense this is not it. Having said that, Gambon other than his southern accent isn’t really trying for that kind of performance. Rather what he is doing instead is portraying a man like LBJ in such a situation, where he does have the needed powerful presence of someone used to knowing how to spread his power around while certainly having a precise passion for what he is fighting for with also the power of persuasion in certain moments. Gambon is convincing as such, and even more so is quite effective in the moments of portraying the emotional strain of the job when it comes to Vietnam particularly in conveying the personal pressure and even more so the intense frustration at the consistency of everyone else putting any blame back on him. Gambon creates an emotional through line of the man attempting to keep it together but the wear of the job just increases at every turn.)
Sutherland - (Brings the expected Sutherland smoothness of exposition in particular though what he’s particularly good at in this is in a way portraying the man least conflicted. Portraying instead this kind of academic manner of a man who perhaps too much enjoys his sort of advisor detachment. As Sutherland portrays the flip flopping of the character not with great emotional strain rather this detached kind of academic curiosity of someone merely maneuvering from one position to another without really an active sense of what every decision he’s making actually means.)
Baldwin - (One of his best performances honestly where his specific presence really works well to McNamara where he has this precision of personality in the early scenes of the man impressing on his expertise with a degree of sensitivity but a greater confidence in what he thinks is his particular skill as a strategic thinker. Baldwin’s effective then in quietly breaking this down as the results don’t match the theory, and just showing the quiet emotional turmoil. Something that also takes away that confidence towards a subtle desperation of a man who simply doesn’t know despite his earlier confidence.)
McGill - (It is very much that Bruce McGill performance, which no disrespect you cast McGill in these types of roles for a reason, as an excellent use of that Bruce McGill performance as the lone dissent, McGill’s general authority figure presence works well as the constant voice of reason, with our hindsight, but McGill bringing a genuine passion within that dissent, particularly in his actually quietly moving moments where he reacts to Clifford wavering away from his position.)
Frain - (Like Sutherland’s work though in less scenes, in initially bringing this overly confident attitude that wanes from scene to scene, where there builds this increasingly intense desperation of someone wanting to separate himself from any wrongdoing he can.)
Forrest - (Theoretically a more functional role of the man just giving thoughts and dealing with order. Forrest though does a lot with every subtle reaction he brings to these moments, creating a sense of the internal mind of the man taking in every choice even if verbally he keeps a very official manner.)
Hall - (Essentially used as a representative of different states of the political brass to the situation, from fully on the Johnson train, to concerns, to against it, and Hall brings that strong presence of his to present it.)
Jonathan:
Expectedly looks great, and glad to see we're essentially going to get to see Nolan going full on with the mystical creatures, as Polyphemus looked quite striking even from that brief glimpse, looking very much forward to what Nolan does with Scylla and Charybdis especially.
Louis: Your 10 most anticipated films of 2026 and your reasons why.
Louis: What are your thoughts on Alicia Silverstone in Bugonia?
Louis: If you don't mind, could I get a list of films you need to see before you feel like you can post your top 10 for the year?
Marcus: He'll probably post it after Marty Supreme.
Louis: Your thoughts on this priceless musical number from Reilly, Black, and Ferrell at the Oscars? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5JAPkvnyso
Luke:
1. Wild Horse Nine - (It's McDonagh I need not say anything else.)
2. The Odyssey - (Every looks promising so far and the type of story that has so much potential for Nolan to go all in visually.)
3. Digger - (Dramatic Cruise is enough but teamed with Inarritu this could be, or at least hopefully will be something special.)
4. Dune Part III - (Potentially the trickiest to pull off but will be interested to see Villeneuve does with it.)
5. Project Hail Mary - (I mean the trailer looked promising and I'll take Gosling in a lead role)
6. Narnia: The Magician's Nephew (Interested to see what Gerwig does with this one.)
7. Werwulf - (Obviously still want to see it but would be higher if it was Pattinson, Hoult or one of the Skarsgard's in the lead).
8. Flowervale Street - (Not much to go on but seems interesting.)
9. Disclosure Day - (Wasn't blown away by the trailer, but still will obviously see Spielberg back in blockbuster mode.)
10. The Adventures of Cliff Booth - (Fincher doing Tarantino is intriguing enough alone.)
Lucas:
Silverstone - (I liked that she gave a straightforward humanity actually to her character giving I think the right degree of potentially empathy to Plemons's character, before we know too much, in her brief scene to show the right simplicity of just seemingly the victim.)
Marcus:
Marty Supreme is obviously the biggest one but I'll be trying to watch some docs and other international films in particular as well.
Harris:
One of the great bits honestly, from the concept, to the song itself with the overly pathos driven Ferrell song to Jack Black's comebacks, to then just the literal threats at the nominees particularly the one to Gosling, and the great capper of Reilly coming in with his great singing advice to leading to the newfound hope of taking less than comedic roles with "there's not a laugh in it" as one of the projects particularly hilarious. Honestly a "how to do an Oscar bit".
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