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Why are you surprised? You haven't heard me talk about him before?



I have to return some videotapes.
Why are you surprised? You haven't heard me talk about him before?
I dont remember you ever saying that you liked him. Just seems like a weird director for you to like compared to the others you love.



I don't know a great deal about the film and have little interest.



That movie scared the heck out of me as a married guy. I think Reeves is very underrated too; he may not be a great actor, but he's been in a lot of real good movies.



Love & Mercy (Bill Pohlad, 2015)



I just watched it again, and liked it even more this time around. For whatever flaws it has I feel like the strengths far outweigh them. I'm no Brian Wilson but, as a schizophrenic musician, the relatability I feel with this movie is obviously incredible.

I think what I love most about the film is the very gentle portrayal of people with mental illness. I realize 80's Brian Wilson was overmedicated which made him loopy, but you see with earlier Wilson too that he has a very gentle way about him, a great humility. This is a very good representation of people with mental illness. I also love how, despite the shifting narrative it all flows very nicely between the two stories. I never felt like the drama with one story was being cut off. It just felt like part of the same movie. I realize some people feel differently, but that's my own impression.

Of course, it would be remiss not to mention that as great as the drama is, the breaks to show the music production process were fascinating and poignant in the film. That might be because I am interested in that stuff, but what's great about those bits is that they never missed the chance to stay relevant to the story.

Alas, it's very sad to me to see Dano not get even a nom for his performance in this film. He really went for it and succeeded in his portrayal. Even Cusack gave a wonderful performance deserving of an award.

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So I was talking to Sean and I realized, I think Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves is my favorite female performance of all-time. She's absolutely stunning in it. And obviously, David Thewlis in Naked is my favorite male performance.

Thing is, I tried coming up with two top ten performances lists, one of males and one for females, and quickly came up short. I will need to do some thinking. So to anyone who reads this thread, this post, I ask - what are some of your favorite performances? Maybe give me some recs to check out, or remind me of performances I have forgotten about.




I have to return some videotapes.
So I was talking to Sean and I realized, I think Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves is my favorite female performance of all-time. She's absolutely stunning in it. And obviously, David Thewlis in Naked is my favorite male performance.

Thing is, I tried coming up with two top ten performances lists, one of males and one for females, and quickly came up short. I will need to do some thinking. So to anyone who reads this thread, this post, I ask - what are some of your favorite performances? Maybe give me some recs to check out, or remind me of performances I have forgotten about.

What happened to your love for Take Shelter? You had it as your favorite movie for a while and now it seems like you never seem to talk about. So do what your stupid title says and discuss it!




Well, I actually had Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain in Take Shelter as two on both lists. Then I had to stop because I couldn't think of any more!



Just based off my top 100 rated IMDb films these are some of my favourite performances:

Male

Jacques Tati (PlayTime)
Jack Nicholson (Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown)
Keith Carradine (Nashville)
Elliott Gould (The Long Goodbye)
John Wayne (Stagecoach, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, The Searchers)
Marlon Brando (The Godfather)
Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight)
Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights)
Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca, In A Lonely Place)
Henry Fonda (Young Mr. Lincoln, My Darling Clementine)
Buster Keaton (Sherlock Jr., The General)
Charlie Chaplin (Anything)
Cary Grant (His Girl Friday, North by Northwest)
Al Pacino (The Godfather + Part II)
Anthony Perkins (Psycho)
Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski)
Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)
James Stewart (Vertigo, Rear Window, It's a Wonderful Life)
Gene Kelly (Singin' in the Rain)

Female

Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights)
Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me)
Anne Bancroft (7 Women)
Dorothy Malone (Written on the Wind)
Anna Karina (Vivre Sa Vie, Pierrot Le Fou)
Kim Novak (Vertigo)
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Gave my some good ideas. For Bogie, though, I'd pick Treasure of Sierra Madre.



That one, too, and with actors like James Stewart, there's so many films so I stopped listing them. I'll try and think of some underrated performances for you sometime, but it's hard when you don't have anything to keep track in the same way we do films themselves.



Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977) -


The best thing science fiction can do is inspire wonder about the universe, and this film does that in spades. That's part of why I love it so much. Yeah, maybe it's flawed in some ways... I guess. But I don't feel those flaws. It doesn't feel overlong to me, or silly ever. Easily my favorite Spielberg film regardless, because it inspires and brings back a youthful wonder in me, as intended.

The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952) -
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When I watched this, from the get-go thought 'this must have inspired Spielberg's films'. In researching it and talking to some people on here about it, my speculation was confirmed - Spielberg is a big Ford fan! And it makes sense. Both are amazing at their craft but both focus more on simple storytelling then having showy style. The Quiet Man is a work of a great auteur but is one that also seeks to be more than anything a feel-good film. And it's a damn good one.

Holes (Andrew Davis, 2003) -


Don't underestimate this film - it's wonderful storytelling. Full of twists, turns, and a whole history to it as well. Louis Sachar must have put a lot of thought into it and it shows. Everything ties together so well that I am able to appreciate this with nostalgic eyes as well as with my more refined, developed eyes.

From Dusk 'till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez, 1996) -


Kind of spoilers ahead. I'm not sure if this movie is successful or not in what it's trying to do. The 90 degree turn halfway through is jarring as it is meant to be, but it begs the question: can you turn a gritty, realistic crime drama into an over the top vampire bloodbath flick halfway through? I'm not sure what the answer is. What I do know is that I have a lot of fun watching this film, and I think above all else that was the intent.

Hail, Caesar! (The Coen brothers, 2016) -
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It is just refreshing to see a comedy made nowadays that so understands the language of cinema, and is so willing to subvert your expectations. It has flaws no doubt, but when they don't apply to me - for example, one criticism I've found people saying is that nothing was at stake so it wasn't engaging, and yet I was engaged the whole time - they don't really matter to me. I'm eager to watch and rewatch some Coen Brothers films.



I think From Dusk Til Dawn is awesome right up to the point when vampires appear, but it's a fun movie regardless.

Nice to see you think highly of The Quiet Man, a definite contender for my 50's list.