Acting performances that surprised you

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All of the actors in the Social Network.

Funny story: before watching Pulp Fiction, I had only seen Samuel L. Jackson in those terrible Star Wars prequels and some action films. My opinion of him as a mediocre and overused token black guy #4 changed overnight.

I have tried to watch The Social Network 3 times and dozed off every time.



"I smell sex and candy here" - Marcy Playground
Cohen as Time in Alice 2.

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"I may be rancid butter, but I'm on your side of the bread."
E. K. Hornbeck



Cohen as Time in Alice 2.

Funny, in that photo he reminds me of the poor bloke the Sultan uses as a speaking clock in Münchhausen .



Yeah, Winter's Bone is Lawrence's best. I was kind of surprised to look over her work. The only other movie I really like from her is American Hustle and that one I'm only so-so about.

I think she's done with X-Men (which she always seemed happier to be rid of) and seems to be moving towards more serious, challenging stuff.
Maybe the point is that her X-Men role should have been more serious and challenging? It's not as though the potential isn't there. Michael Fassbender's had some really good stuff to play, but I think his best work was in First Class.

I feel like her style downplays the drama a bit. I mean, I watched the trailer for Passengers and got no sense of peril from her at all.



Still haven't seen Mulholland Drive, but no argument that Naomi Watts is awesome.
Yeah, and then there's the acting .



This might just do nobody any good.
Haven't seen either but I'm hearing Janelle Monáe is really good in both Hidden Figures and Moonlight.

I'll probably check out the latter before the former.



Brad Pitt in Kalifornia. I have never seen him do another role like this, such a horrible character and such a gritty and dark film.


Jim Carrey - Man on the Moon/Eternal Sunshine. Jim Carrey has always been a comedy actor to me but these films prove he is a phenomenal serious actor as well. Find a video of Andy Kaufman, then watch Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman in Man On The Moon and you can barely tell which is which.


Leonardo DiCaprio - Man In The Iron Mask.
Impressive to play 2 different characters in the same movie, who look identical (and infact keep swapping outfits!) and convincingly portray them so differently. I fully hate that douchebag king.



This might just do nobody any good.
Pitt's got a neat record with eccentric or heightened characters. Fight Club, obviously, or the quietly menacing and depressive Jesse James. He goes off the rails in 12 Monkeys. Inglourious Basrerds, too.





Forest Whitaker in The Experiment

Great performances from great actors usually don't surprise me, but this case was different, this movie is what made me realize how good Forest is
I've never even heard of this movie.



Jim Carrey - Man on the Moon/Eternal Sunshine. Jim Carrey has always been a comedy actor to me but these films prove he is a phenomenal serious actor as well. Find a video of Andy Kaufman, then watch Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman in Man On The Moon and you can barely tell which is which.

This just might be the best performance of an actor playing another actor EVER...Jim Carrey's performance in this movie is postively spooky and how he didn't get an Oscar nomination is beyond me.



Most recently, Kidman in The Paperboy.

Wow, this shot alone makes me want to see this movie, which I've never even heard of...it might have a shot at replacing To Die For as my favorite Kidman performance.