Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Yes, I know that nowadays everyone knows Hopkins, knows he’s awesome, and he owns every movie he’s in. But back in 1990, when I was a high school senior, I (and most of America, I’ll wager) had never heard of him. I went to the movie because it looked like a neat little thriller; I never expected that the real power of the movie would come from someone who wasn’t even the villain that the protagonist was hunting.
I came out of the theater just dumbstruck by how great his performance was. But, as I recall, I was also a little bummed, because it was February, and I remember thinking, “This movie won’t be eligible for Oscars until next year, and by then it will have been forgotten. Travesty!” Thankfully, I was wrong.
I think people who think “Death Proof” is better than “Planet Terror” are film nerds/snobs who saw a completely different movie than I did. I saw 3 very uninteresting characters talking for about 45 minutes, ocasionally interrupted by an interesting character. Then five minutes of an actual movie that you’d show in front of an audience. Then 30 minutes of 4 uninteresting characters talking but this time NOT interrupted by the interesting character so this conversation is even MORE boring than the first one. Then we get about ten minutes action that is just Tarantino’s treatise on how REAL stunts are more exciting that CGI stunts. He’s right! But the 75 minutes of utter fucking bullshit makes it pretty unwatchable to me.
I have no clue what movie the people who liked “Death Proof” saw.
“Planet Terror” is fun, schlocky and at times non-sensical and has fun stylized dialogue.
Also if you check the Grindhouse thread here on the Dope, I think you’ll see a few Death Proof fans but I think overall people agree that Planet Terror was a better movie.
Have you seen Magic? A young Anthony Hopkins plays a (disturbed) ventriloquist/magician. It is before your time, but I remember it as a fine performance from Anthony Hopkins.
Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes in “A Face in the Crowd”. Outwardly a genial entertainer/pitchman/emcee, underneath a meglomaniacal, sociopathic monster. Great movie overall and should surprise those who only associate Griffith with his T.V. roles as Sheriff Andy Taylor in the "Andy Griffith Show’, or Matlock, or his commercials for Ritz crackers.
Marilyn Monroe in “Don’t Bother to Knock”. Very believable as a disturbed hotel babysitter just out of a mental hospital.
Richard Widmark in “The Bedford Incident”. Good actor in just about every role I’ve ever seen him in, but this one impressed me more somehow.
Ever see her in the 1992 TV movie Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story playing the title role? Wow! Btw, Park Overstreet played her girlfriend who turned her in.
Many of the ones I would have listed have already been mentioned.
It’s taken a bit of thought to come up with Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers since the last thing of his I remembered before that was Easy Rider or Apocalypse Now! even though I can see at IMDB that he was quite active in movies I saw after Hoosiers. My expectations, if any, were to see an extension of the kooky drugged-out hippie or some redo of his bad boy image from as early as Rebel Without A Cause.
I would have to say Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain” (and not just because I give BBM as the answer to any movie question ). I had seen him in “A Knight’s Tale” and in “The Patriot” (and possibly others), and I thought he was kinda cute, but didn’t catch my eye with his acting in particular. When I re-watch scenes with close-ups of his face in BBM, I have to watch it multiple times to catch all the things he’s doing (watch it once just looking at his eyes, watch it again looking at his mouth). I can see why people say it was a boring movie with nothing going on, because he gave such an exquisitely subtle performance. If you don’t pay attention, you will miss almost all of the nuances. It blows my mind that he says he’s just playing at acting, and will quit when he gets bored with it.
And Jennifer Lopez. She is a much, much better actress than she is a singer.
“I… am not… an animal… (Slurp!!!) I… am a human… BEING!”
In the early eighties he was huge in the “Elephant Man” Hopkins played the Doctor who worked with the Elephant Dude. Please correct me if I’m wrong, somebody. But I think Hopkins was big looooong before baked beans and wine.
It makes me wonder how much of performances are the actor, and how much are the director? We’ve mentioned a couple of people here who have given mediocre performances and brilliant perfomances - the actor is the same, but the director changes.
I’ll have to say that you’re wrong. Hopkins pre-SotL was just another English actor who’d been in some modest arthouse hits (Elephant, Charing Cross), but never really came close to anything resembling a large commercial success and certainly didn’t do anything to critically distinguish himself on a large-scale level (though obviously, he’d had good performances). Perhaps his most visible part was his Bligh to Gibson’s Fletcher Christian, or the lead son in The Lion in Winter (back in the 60s), but he essentially took both the industry and the critical community by storm with his Lecter (which was his first Oscar nod in his mid-50s).
I’d say one that really knocked me over was Charlton Heston as the Player King in Branagh’s Hamlet. He’d done Shakespeare before (though I’d never seen any of it), so I was used to his sword & sandal or rought & tumble epic modes (with some camp Sci-Fi thrown in). But he may turn in the best performance in that film; for such a small role, he completely dominates and leaves an impression even hours later (when the film’s still running).
Anthony Hopkins in The World’s Fastest Indian was a big shock for me to see him playing a man whose just so charming that everybody he meets wants to lend a helping hand. Usually he’s playing someone who is reserved and has a lot of secrets. The overall likeability I got from that movie surprised me as well.
I agree that Jennifer Lopez is much better at acting than singing, at least she was in the early part of her movie career. She was great in Out of Sight and Angel Eyes. I wish she’d crawl back to her first agent and beg him/her to get her back on track.
). I had seen him in “A Knight’s Tale” and in “The Patriot” (and possibly others), and I thought he was kinda cute, but didn’t catch my eye with his acting in particular. When I re-watch scenes with close-ups of his face in BBM, I have to watch it multiple times to catch all the things he’s doing (watch it once just looking at his eyes, watch it again looking at his mouth). I can see why people say it was a boring movie with nothing going on, because he gave such an exquisitely subtle performance. If you don’t pay attention, you will miss almost all of the nuances. It blows my mind that he says he’s just playing at acting, and will quit when he gets bored with it.