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Great film performances that don't get mentioned enough

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_dementia said:
I really love this.

yet I still haven't seen the film :/
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Actually, the Alec Baldwin part is usually mentioned. What typically gets unmentioned is the overall ridiculous acting power and talent on display from the cast of Hollywood veterans. Jack Lemmon probably takes the cake, with Pacino right behind him. The scene were he cusses out Kevin Spacey is absolutely epic in its viciousness.
 
neorej said:
Paul Bettany in A Knight's Tale
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Hey yeah! That could have been an absolute throwaway role, but he made it into something.

"In Greece.... he spent a year in silence.... just to better understand the sound... of a whisper?"

blame space said:
Paul Giamatti in American Splendor
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Thread winnar.

Truant said:
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Say what you want about the movie, he was perfectly cast and absolutely nailed it, down to the face that he sounds different without the mask.
 
^You, my friend are my hero.

I totally agree that Almost Famous has so many good actors who are perfectly cast in it. It's one of my favorite films of the decade too.

Also I agree with all the Jackie Earl Haley love for his role as Rorschach. Flawless.
 
I'm stunned t how much wild win and correctness is blessing this thread. Well done.
 
I'm sorry, but this many posts without a single mention of Djimon Hounsou's role in Blood Diamond is an epic fail.

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I'm not saying you people have to like the movie (because I know most of GAF hates it), but this mans performance was perfect. From the rage in his face in the battle sequence close to the end to the butt-ass-naked screaming in a jail cell. Perfection.
 
mark ruffalo in pretty much everything he's ever done.

particularly ZODIAC, though. everyone in ZODIAC was unbelievable.


also, big ups to the folks who mentioned joseph gordon-levitt. BRICK, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, etc. the dude is a phenom. my dream film project would be a movie starring both joseph gordon-levitt and ryan gosling.
 
beelzebozo said:
mark ruffalo in pretty much everything he's ever done.

particularly ZODIAC, though. everyone in ZODIAC was unbelievable.


also, big ups to the folks who mentioned joseph gordon-levitt. BRICK, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, etc. the dude is a phenom. my dream film project would be a movie starring both joseph gordon-levitt and ryan gosling.
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I was introduced to brick a few years ago by a friend and since then this guy has been one of my favorite actors, he shines in everything he's in. He was great in Brick, The Lookout, and most of all probably, Mysterious Skin, just based on how difficult a role like that is to take. I also thought he was great in 500 days of summer. I hope people catch on and he can start getting some bigger roles.
 
Solstice said:
I'm sorry, but this many posts without a single mention of Djimon Hounsou's role in Blood Diamond is an epic fail.

I'm not saying you people have to like the movie (because I know most of GAF hates it), but this mans performance was perfect. From the rage in his face in the battle sequence close to the end to the butt-ass-naked screaming in a jail cell. Perfection.
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Guess what, the reason it isn't mentioned is because it doesn't fit the threads criteria.
 
Like to add in somebody who I think has gone under the radar after bursting onto the scene

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Ed Norton in AHX, just a ridiculously powerful performance. He was also great in fight club and primal fear... but for w/e reason, lately he hasn't done so well. Isn't he on hiatus right now?
 
msdstc said:
Like to add in somebody who I think has gone under the radar after bursting onto the scene

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Ed Norton in AHX, just a ridiculously powerful performance. He was also great in fight club and primal fear... but for w/e reason, lately he hasn't done so well. Isn't he on hiatus right now?
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He has that Avengers movie to look forward to staring in.

To me at least, this film and Fight Club are what he's known for. He's great in 25th Hour too.
 
JGS said:
He has that Avengers movie to look forward to staring in.

To me at least, this film and Fight Club are what he's known for. He's great in 25th Hour too.
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He was great as the Leper King, Smoochy, and Larry Flint's Lawyer.
 
devilhawk said:
He was great as the Leper King, Smoochy, and Larry Flint's Lawyer.
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Ed Norton is one of the great ones all around. The only thing I truly despised that he was in (That I can think of right now) is Hulk and he was the best part of that.
 
I'll have to steal the choices of John Goodman in The Big Lebowski and Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon.
I'll add:

Bill Murray in Broken Flowers and Branden Gleesen in The Proposition.
 
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IMHO, Harold Perrineau was the glue that held that mess of a movie together (yes, even better than Leo himself). Honestly, this man is good in most any scene he's in. He practically made me an Oz fan. Why he doesn't have an Oscar or an Emmy right now vexes me..
 
I like how this list of "under-rated performances that don't get mentioned enough" is mostly a recap of the IMDB Top 250 movies. Quick, someone forgot to mention Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redeption! He never gets enough credit.
 
Solo said:
Actually, I believe he went from German (opening with his men) to French (start of convo with the farmer) to English (middle of convo with farmer) to French (end of convo) to German (entering the restaurant) to French (speaking to Shoshanna) to German (in the bar after the shootout, and the start of the premiere) to Italian (meeting Aldo) to German (interrogating Bridget) and finally to English (convo with Aldo and conditional surrender) :lol

But this isnt a good candidate for this thread. Its a new film and the performance is mentioned all the time. Hell, hes going to win an Oscar for it. Underrated performances dont win big awards.
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When he said Nazi Captain, I assume he means the guy who Shoshanna is brought to the restaurant to meet about changing the venue of the cinema. But I could be wrong.
 
border said:
I like how this list of "under-rated performances that don't get mentioned enough" is mostly a recap of the IMDB Top 250 movies. Quick, someone forgot to mention Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redeption! He never gets enough credit.
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Thread started off okay.
 
Solstice said:
Really? I would love you you to clarify this.
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Djimon Hounsou is mentioned in just about every thread. It's getting annoying at this point. We get it, the guy is awesome. Can we move on to less mainstream actors for now?
 
Krowley said:
Not sure if it really qualifies, but it feels under-appreciated to me...

Val Kilmer in Tombstone.
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Everyone appreciates Val Kilmer in Tombstone. Who is underappreciated is Dennis Quaid playing the same role in Wyatt Earp. He did everything but contract tuberculosis for the role!

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I don't understand why people are putting forth Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning performances here. It's the most prestigious award in the film industry, so these people have been recognized.

Bill Murray in Lost In Translation absolutely should have won, but he won many other awards (including all of the other major ones outside of the Oscar) and still got the nod from the Academy. His performance was also widely hailed by critics.
 
a couple from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN:

garrett dillahunt as deputy wendell ("whoaaaa-hoaaa differences," "that's very linear, sheriff"). he's also excellent in ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES. actually, i really like this guy. i need to see THE ROAD.

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gene jones as the gas station attendant. watching him devolve from that folksy bullshit he tosses at chigur to being extremely unsettled is one of the most convincing parts of the film.

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Michael Keaton in Multiplicity

Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War

Steve Zahn in Rescue Dawn

Sam Elliot in EVERYTHING.
 
beelzebozo said:
a couple from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN:

garrett dillahunt as deputy wendell ("whoaaaa-hoaaa differences," "that's very linear, sheriff"). he's also excellent in ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES. actually, i really like this guy. i need to see THE ROAD.

vqslz9.jpg



gene jones as the gas station attendant. watching him devolve from that folksy bullshit he tosses at chigur to being extremely unsettled is one of the most convincing parts of the film.

hx7zme.jpg
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In the same vein as this, the French actor who played the farmer in Inglourious Basterds, Denis Menochet.

Christoph Waltz gets and deserves much of the praise, but the scene would have not worked without the other part of the duo. Every time I watch that scene I'm more impressed with his subtly powerful performance.

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i love that guy. what's even better is that he looks capable of pummeling waltz into smithereens, or hacking him to pieces with that axe. but the way things pan out perfectly sets up the film's dedication to the power of language and cunning, not brute force.

supoib!
 
beelzebozo said:
i love that guy. what's even better is that he looks capable of pummeling waltz into smithereens, or hacking him to pieces with that axe. but the way things pan out perfectly sets up the film's dedication to the power of language and cunning, not brute force.

supoib!
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Yup. And that one part where the farmer gets up to get his pipe-smoking box was a beautiful red herring, since he goes behind Landa to get to it. You think at first, for just a second, "wait, is he actually gonna try something?" But you quickly remember that his family is outside with the other Nazis.
 
border said:
I like how this list of "under-rated performances that don't get mentioned enough" is mostly a recap of the IMDB Top 250 movies. Quick, someone forgot to mention Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redeption! He never gets enough credit.
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It's not a list of underrated movies with underrated performances. I took it to mean performances that were great (They could have even been acknowledged as great at the time) but not talked about regardless of how great the movie is.
 
beelzebozo said:
plus, woo, good for you, it's so fun to pick on other people's choices in a thread. thread police go!
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But seriously, a lot of people talk about Murray in Lost in Translation. Don't think that one fits the thread at all. He's referenced pretty frequently when discussing the great performances of the 00s, as well as when talking about the biggest Oscar snubs.

Or maybe it's just because I talk about that performance a lot. :)
 
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