Top 8 Performances of the 1990s!!

Wait, Pigsnie, are you aware that A Fistful of Dollars (1964) Clint Eastwood's first starring role, is a remake of Yojimbo? Funny if you didn't know that, that you mentioned that Yojimbo looks like an American Western. Apparently, Sergio Leone thought so too . Well, not exactly an AMERICAN western, an Italian western with an American actor. Close enough.

In any case, Yojimbo was the original. The first remake was A Fistful of Dollars, and the second remake (which I haven't seen, but I've heard is horrible) is Last Man Standing.

[Edited by Matt on 08-29-2001]

Pigsnie is my brother, I am PigsnieLite, hahaha. Yeah, I know about Fistful of Dollars but RyanP seemed to be implying that Yojimbo was a remake of an even earlier Western & I disagreed with that. Youre right, YOJIMBO is the Original!!!!! And Ive seen that Bruce willis thingie, what crap! Thats what that movie should be called, a thingie!

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Book. It's based on a book by Dashiell Hammett (a man my great-grandmother swore we were related to) called 'Red Harvest'. Hammett was an American. Therefore, it took an American to write what the movie was based on.

Well, if the story started in America, it went to Japan, then to Italy and back to the US again. Interesting.

Sorry PigsnieLite, I knew there were two of you here, but didn't read closely enough and mistook you. It's 4:00 AM where I am, and too damn late for me to still be mentally alert. So, I'm off to bed before I screw up again .

Oh, ok, Matt, good night. Its mornin here in London but I just talked to Pigsnie on the phone & then he mentioned Red harvest which Id never heard of. Sorry, RyanP, I thought you were sayin that Yojimbo was a ripoff of some other movie. Maybe I should get a copy of Red harvest to see how much of the plot Kurosawa used, Im awfully curious about things like that.
Like I just reread the Circus of Dr Lao just becuz I recently saw the movie version starrin Tony Randall -The 7 Faces of Dr Lao. And the movie wasnt half bad even though the fish dragon effect was a bit Reptilicus.

Here's Mine (in no order!):

Robert De Niro (Awakenings, Goodfellas, Casino, Flawless, Cape Fear, The Fan, Heat, This Boys' Life, Heat)

Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, Seven, Usual Suspects, LA Confidential)

Edward Norton (American History X, Primal Fear, Fight Club, The People Vs. Larry Flint)

Morgan Freeman (Shawshank Redemption, Seven, Amistad, Unforgiven)

Tom Cruise (A Few Good Men, Eyes Wide Shut, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Interview with the Vampire)

Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman, Glengarry Glen Ross, Dick Tracey, Heat, Any Given Sunday, The Devil's Advocate, The Insider)

Phillip Seymor Hoffman (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Happiness, Flawless)

William H. Macey (A Civil Action, Magnolia, Fargo, Boogie Nights, Pleasantville)

and

Johnny Depp (Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Donnie Brosco, Don Juan Demarco)

Female that come to mind:

Julianne Moore (Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Hannibal, The Big Lebowski, Short Cuts, The End of the Affair)

Jodie Foster (Contact, Silence of the Lambs, Nell, The Accused)

Winona Ryder (Little Women, The Age of the Innocence, Dracula, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands)

Renee Zellwegger (Jerry Maguire, Bridget Jones' Diary, Nurse Beddy)

Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction, Sweet and Lowdown, Gatacca, Les Miserables, Batman & Robin (just kidding )

Frances McDormand (Fargo, Almost Famous, Short Cuts, Primal Fear, Wonder Boys, Mississippi Burning)

Soffia Coppola (j/k )

Best Directors of the 90's:

Joel Coen (big lebowski, fargo, barton fink, miller's crossing)

Quentin Tarantino (pulp fiction, reservoir dogs, jackie brown)

Martin Scorsese (goodfellas, cape fear, casino, kundun, bringing out the dead)

Steven Spielburg (jurassic park, schindler's list, saving private ryan, amistad)

David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Game)

Paul Thomas Anderson (Sydney, Boogie Nights, Magnolia)

Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma)

also Frank Daronbont, made two films, but both were excellent (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile)

I hope this is a decent list. A good way to kill 20 minutes on my part, LOL

I forgot Tom Hanks! Probably the best one (The Green Mile, Cast Away, Big, Appollo 13, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Sleepless in Seattle, You Got Mail).

Actually Darabont made two movies with the same basis pretty much. That's like Gus Van Sant. He made two movies with a Good Will Hunting presence in Finding Forrest Gump...thats what we call it at work

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LOL, "finding forrest gump"

yeah, and I hear Daronbont's new film called "Majestic"(?) is set in prison as well (I think it stars Jim Carrey)

I agree with Kevin Spacey (my fav actor) and Ed Norton. Both of them are always excellent.

Tom Hanks is good too. You usually don't think about him being so good because he does alot of romantic comedy type things. But then there is Forrest Gump and Philidelphia.

I like Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt though.

Braveheart is my all time favorite movie. Mel both directed and starred in that. I also think The Patriot shoulda gotten more attention. He does some excellent acting in it. The plot to the patriot isn't all that special, what pulls it off is the acting, cinematography, directing, and scenery/costumes.

Brad Pitt is also an excellent actor who people too often think of as just a pretty face. He was excellent in 12 Monkeys when he didn't have such a pretty face. He was also good in Interview with the Vampire, when again he wasn't so pretty. I guess he's kinda like Johnny Depp like that. People don't realize that he can actually act and write him off as a pretty boy.

Another one you're forgetting is Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets.

You also have to recognize Haley Joel Osment in 6th Sense. For being so young he is so talented. Especially when you look at little whatshisname in Phantom Menace.

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Sorry to go back to the Yojimbo dispute, but I'm suprised that no-one mentioned that Miller's Crossing is a hommage to Kurasawa's samurai classic. I prefer Sanjuro, the denoument has to be seen to be believed...

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SPOILERZZZ!!!

YUP, that was a great ending all right, woohooo!!! Swordfights in the west last a long time but a swordfight in Japan -- WOW, if you are really any good as a samurai, it would only take 2 seconds to kill your enemy & if your enemy was just as good as you, youd both KNOW to strike at the same time.

But YOJIMBO is still my favorite, teehee.

BTW, RyanP, I found a copy of Red harvest in the library & if Kurosawa got anythin from this book, it is only the bare bones plot (town in the grip of 2 gangs) & not much else.

Ps. Never seen Millers crossing.

Actually, I've never read Red Harvest, so I couldn't tell you. I was going on what other's have said (that the book was the basis for the movie) and written.

I assume at some point, there was an acknoledgement of some sort made.

Well, readin the book some more, I can see where Kurosawa pinched an idea or 2 but the movie & the book is sooo different, I dont know if you can even use a credit of Based on the book by Dashell Hamet. In fact if Id come across this book I wouldnt even think it had anythin to do with YOJIMBO. Maybe the credit should read, Pinched from a couple of pages by Dashell Hamet, hahaha!! But thanks for alertin me, RyanP.

That was an easy part. A nice excuse to overact - what actor doesn't want it? I feel the same way about Pacino in Scent of a Woman, and Hoffman in Rain Man...Sure, they're fine, but they got parts where they're required to overact, which is any actor's dream. Easy, easy parts. I'm not saying all roles where the actor is blind, a drunk, or mentally unstable are easy to play (Nic Cage in Leaving Las Vegas and Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot come to mind), but actors are given too much credit for these roles, when they don't bring anything to them.

A performance like Morgan Freeman's in the Shawshank Redemption is incredible, because of how subtle it is. It's much easier to overact than to let the magic happen before you.

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I disagree. If you're required to be an outrageous character, then you're not OVER-acting. They're told to act a certain way, and they do...therefore, they've done it well. I don't think most other actors could have done as well as Nicholson. Now, part of it involves simply playing a well-written part...but that happens with everyone; it's inevitable.

I think Nicholson was great with his uncomfortable looks and neurotic behavior. Was he absolutly amazing? No, I wouldn't say so...but he was very, very good. Oh, and Pacino deserves any award they can throw at him for Scent of a Woman, if only as reward for keeping his eyes looking blank the whole time...all while trying to act out a character. I couldn't keep my eyes like that just being myself.

So you like Anthony H in Remains of the Day, Stevo? Pigsnie thought it is H's best role, better even than Lecter. And he says there isnt any other actor on earth who could play that butler. Not even Morgan.

Maybe overacting isn't the term, but it's an excuse to be neurotic and uncomfortable, which is easy. Nearly any halfway talented actor can deliver insults, avoid sidewalk cracks, and be a generally rude and nasty person without much effort. I can do those things, and I'm not even an actor. The best parts of Nicholson's performance were in the restaurant scenes with Helen Hunt, because he finally canned the whole neurotic thing and actually did something heartfelt. Speaking of Helen Hunt, isn't she fantastic?? I think she's wonderful, she deserved that oscar.

PS, Plite I like Sir Anthony in everything he does. What a terrific actor.

Everything? ::cough::INSTINCT!::cough::

Yeah, Helen Hunt was great...although I think some of her lines were poorly written. There are a few in that movie that seem far too fabricated. And yes, I agree: the scene where they talk over dinner is probably the best in the entire movie.

Kasundeit, TWT. You were coughin.

And that wasnt Anthony in INSTINCT. That was Rodolfus Hopkins, his evil cousin who was born in a south american banana plantation. Rodolfus also appeard in FreeJack, Bewhahaaa !!!!