The obvious choice here is Daniel Day Lewis. The guy's transformations are just otherworldly. A bit of Lincoln came on the other night and my girlfriend commented that he was so good that his routine excellence was getting boring.
Most recently I was blown away by Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables. Insanely difficult song, sung live with no dubbing or cuts, and she KILLS it emotionally. She earned that Oscar.
Also Vincent Donofrio. One HELL of an actor who I feel doesn't get enough attention and has a tendency to also make me do a double take because he's so damn good.
Definitely another vote for Mr.D'Onofrio. He is one of my favourite actors. His role as Robert Goren in Law & Order: Criminal intent is simply amazing to watch, especially in the later seasons. His roles in Full metal jacket, Men in black and The cell also show his versatility as an actor.
I'm very surprised this scene hasn't been mentioned by name yet (though his character is a huge part of what made this movie as good as it was).
Gary Oldman's "One Minute Past" scene in Leon the Professional.
Of course, I'd be remiss for not including these two scenes of him from the same movie, including one with a child Natalie Portman, back when she could act, apparently.
Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind. What? I was godsmack seeing and hearing him acting as a serious actor and not being the comedic character he has always played in the past.
In reflection of Amy Adams? ?meh? performance of proto-Lois Lane, I?ve learned to appreciate Margot Kidder?s portrayal of Lois Lane. She?s one of the few ?superhero love interest? characters that I actually like, and is one of the reasons why Superman 2 is one of my favourite superhero films.
Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. Seriously, don?t underestimate how much acting it takes to play a drunk guy for almost an entire film. Anyone who says Cage can?t act, or over-acts, probably hasn?t seen this film.
Brad Pitt in Fight Club. I just love Tyler Durden as a character, and I love Pitt playing Durden that well. Sometimes, I think the guy?s a little underrated.
Jack Nicholson and Jodie Foster in?pretty much everything they do. They?re probably my favourite actor and actress respectively.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach in Watchmen. Even though I didn?t like the film as a whole, I?ve gotta commend Zack Snyder?s casting ? it was great across the board, apart for maybe Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias ? and I now can?t think of anyone else who could play that role as well as him. He even looks the part too!
Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. 'Nuff said.
And you really can?t underestimate how far Leonard DiCaprio has come from his ?pretty boy? days in the 90s, transforming into a golden actor in his own right.
TheRightToArmBears said:
The first thing that I can think of is Colin Firth in A Single Man, pretty much the whole way through he acts the fuck out of that film. It's pretty awesome considering I've only ever seen him act before in pretty stiff period dramas or shitty rom-coms.
Shit, I just saw that yesterday and was about to say that. Yeah, he really pulled off a great performance in that film. I honestly almost teared up when
he suddenly had a heart attack and died at the end, with that fade-to-white.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach in Watchmen. Even though I didn?t like the film as a whole, I?ve gotta commend Zack Snyder?s casting ? it was great across the board, apart for maybe Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias ? and I now can?t think of anyone else who could play that role as well as him. He even looks the part too!
You should see him in Little Children, where he plays a convicted child molester who served his time in prison and is both harassed and feared as he returns to his neighborhood. What's great about it is that on one hand he is definitely a creep and a bit of a psychopath, but at the same time you see him struggle to keep clean and start a new life while everyone around him hates and harasses him in a way that makes you feel sorry for him anyway.
Not many can pull off such a conflicted and conflicting character, and Haley is amazing.
Oh, and while we're talking about Alan Moore Comic Adaptions, Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta is perhaps my favorite Comic-Book-Character Performance of all time, even though [or perhaps because] you never see his face wich is mostly hidden behind a static, grinning mask and he still manages to put an impressive amount of emotion and character into his performance.
And while he has been mentioned, he hasn't been mentioned enough: Michael Shannon!
He's currently my favorite Actor around and i pretty much like him in everything he does (yes, including Pearl Harbor and Man of Steel, despite the quality of those too...although i was kinda sad that he didn't get to "ham it up" more in latter).
But perhaps his greatest performance yet is in "Take Shelter" as a mild-mannered blue collar dad who starts to have visions of an apocalyptic disaster and slowly goes insane...not in the "murderous psychopath" kind of way, but the heart-breaking "angry and scared and broken and confused" kind of way, wich all pours out in one scene at a community gathering for wich alone he'd deserved to win all of the awards that year.
Robert Di Nero in Mary Shelly's Frankenstien - wow, just wow. Your emotions really do sway throughout the entire film and he has you loving him one minute, hating him the next, fearing him another, then wanting to protect him the other! Superb and the hut scene is gut-wrenching.
They alternate the roles of Frankenstein and the Creature on different night which is impressive in itself, but because of the themes of the story it really adds to it.
BloatedGuppy said:
The obvious choice here is Daniel Day Lewis. The guy's transformations are just otherworldly. A bit of Lincoln came on the other night and my girlfriend commented that he was so good that his routine excellence was getting boring.
Beat me to it. I was going to say There Will Be Blood and Day-Lewis, though Paul Dano is fantastic in that film as well. The Milkshake bit is the scene that everyone remembers (and it is a great scene), but the performances of the two of them ramping up throughout the film are what makes the ending so effective.
Though I think my favourite scene in that film is where Day-Lewis reminisces with his brother about 'hating most people'. It's a tonal diversion from the rest, but still manages to explore the film's themes thoroughly in about 3 minutes in spite of that.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach in Watchmen. Even though I didn?t like the film as a whole, I?ve gotta commend Zack Snyder?s casting ? it was great across the board, apart for maybe Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias ? and I now can?t think of anyone else who could play that role as well as him. He even looks the part too!
You should see him in Little Children, where he plays a convicted child molester who served his time in prison and is both harassed and feared as he returns to his neighborhood. What's great about it is that on one hand he is definitely a creep and a bit of a psychopath, but at the same time you see him struggle to keep clean and start a new life while everyone around him hates and harasses him in a way that makes you feel sorry for him anyway.
Not many can pull off such a conflicted and conflicting character, and Haley is amazing.
Oh, and while we're talking about Alan Moore Comic Adaptions, Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta is perhaps my favorite Comic-Book-Character Performance of all time, even though [or perhaps because] you never see his face wich is mostly hidden behind a static, grinning mask and he still manages to put an impressive amount of emotion and character into his performance.
Yeah, I've been meaning to watch Little Children, both featuring Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson, who played Nite Owl II. And indeed, I loved Hugo Weaving's performance as V too. I haven't read the comic book, and despite numerous people saying it wasn't faithful enough to the source material, part of the reason why I liked the film was Weaving's V.
The moment I realized Gary Oldman had been Zorg in The Fifth Element, Gordon in Batman, the creepiest Dracula ever in -- crap, what is the director's name? -- anyway, the corrupt policeman in The Professional, and lots of others. Each unique, each well done. The man's got range.
Too bad he pretty much never makes it to the end of the movie..
OT: Watching The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) in some of his more dramatic work can be surprising. The dude's ripped and does action/comedy pretty consistently, but he has way more chops than I expected.
Oh, and I forgot to mention Malcolm McDowell's performance as Alex in A Clockwork Orange. It's funny how I found myself feeling sympathy for such a sadistic bastard.
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