He’s also good in “The Lookout”
Good one! I had almost forgotten that movie but you’re right about Pitt. He was pretty good in Snatch too.
Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta. I really, really liked what he did in the Matrix movies, so much so that I ended up practically rooting for the guy to kick as much as possible. He was so damn evil that I just loved it.
But for someone to have to work solely with their body language and voice inflection to bring to life a masked character seems daunting to me. He made a relatively simple character seem much more complex. Weaving left me absolutely spellbound.
I also had grudgingly admit that Leonardo DiCaprio did a spectacular job in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Steve Carrell thoroughly impressed me in Little Miss Sunshine.
As an aside, Carrell seriously needs to find the creepiest, nastiest Hannibal Lector-type role and knock it out of the park. There is something about him, a kind of intensity that occasionally appears, that makes me think he could give an unforgettable villain performance.
I thought she delivered in The Cell as well.
Alec Guiness in The Ladykillers. I knew he was supposed to be a really good actor, but had only seen him in Star Wars and thought Obi Wan type characters was what he mostly played. I was expecting to like Peter Sellers, but then I saw the movie and barely noticed him. Alec Guiness was brilliant, eccentric, and charming in a way I didn’t expect.
Either that or The Man in the Moon.
The SciFi channel showed Merlin on Easter Sunday. (Of course, I’ve been in love with Sam Neill since Riley, Ace of Spies.)
But Martin Short amazed me as “Frick.” Funny, at times–the conscious anachronisms that he & Queen Mab (Miranda Richardson) played with echoed the T E White’s Merlin. But he was also quite touching.
Another word for Val Kilmer. He’s not my “type” at all. But he floored me as Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
Of course, I’ve known that Johnny Depp was excellent for years–but he retains the power to surprise. Moody art-film weirdo? Swashbuckling star of big-bucks Disney flicks? Painfully repressed writer in Neverland? He can do it all.
I already knew what Ritter was capable of after seeing the TV movie Unnatural Causes , which also introduced me to the wonderful Alfre Woodard, but I concur. Ritter’s Vaughan reminded me of an an understated Jack Tripper. You know, without the bumbling, stumbling and one liners. Not that I ever watched that lame ass sitcom. Nope, not me. Uh uh.
I can go back to the early 70’s for Sir Tony and made for TV movies. I had a crush on him way back then and he certainly was not a nobody.
Ritter was great in Bad Santa as well.
She’s from Extremadura (say, Georgia), moved to Madrid with Intent to Act at age 13, worked very hard to ditch her accent.
When she heard they’d thought of her for the Andalusian (say, ‘bamian) girl’s role in La Niña de Tus Ojos but had discarded her because they thought she “couldn’t do the Southern accent,” she called Trueba and left his ears ringin’. In a perfectly authentic Southern accent. Heck, it’s her natural one!
She did a movie in Italian and one of the things that Italian critics lauded her for was her Italian. Which she didn’t speak at all before getting the job.
I think a lot of her problem with English is finding a good director and a good speech trainer.
I don’t think Depp really “acts” in PotC as much as he “lets loose,” but in Chocolat he was just perfect. The only time he goes over-the-top in that movie is a moment where it’s absolutely warranted.
Sharon Stone, Lindsay Lohan, and Demi Moore in Bobby. I would not have expected any of them to be good.
My husband suggests Kim Basinger in “Final Analysis.” To paraphrase his words, she won an Oscar later, but up to that point she had only played blonde bombshells.
Where did she grow up? I’m curious because I’ve spent several days in Extremadura. IMDB and Wikipedia both say she was born in Madrid and imply that she grew up there as well.
I certainly agree that her performance in *Volver *was wonderful.
Nobody mentioned *Sean Penn * yet?
Thought he was great in **I am Sam ** but not completely unexpected after his performance (not expected) in Carlito’s Way.
Grew up in Extremadura. The physical birth may have taken place in Madrid (from what I’ve heard her say in interviews, it’s not the case, she defines herself as extremeña), in which case and until the recent change in registry law she’s registered as a Madrid birth… but that doesn’t mean she’s “from” Madrid, only that her Mom happened to be there. I know many people who haven’t set foot in their birthplaces since they were months old.
La Paz was the reference hospital for a lot of the country for many years, people would go there to be born and die from provinces around same as people in my own part of the country went to be born and die in Pamplona. There’s decades when not a single Navarrese birth was registered outside Pamplona and Tudela, nto a single death from illness outside Pamplona, but many of those only go to Pamplona “to be born, pay taxes or die.”
Any time I hear John Lithgow or Jason Alexander sing. Neither of them have a speaking voice that gives a hint of their singing abilities.
Val Kilmer in Tombstone - amazing!
Wendy Raquel Robinson in Ringmaster - I expected a character similar to her TV sitcom HS principal and was amazed at her skill in playing a jealous hootchie.
Patrick Swaze in Too Wong Fu…Newmar - After just a few moments I forgot about all the other movies and fell in love with the character he played. Special mention to Wesley Snipes, John Leguzamo and Stockard Channing.
Sean Penn blew me away in Mystic River. I knew he was good but this was jaw dropping good.
Whoopie and Oprah in The Color Purple.
Gwenyth Paltrow in Proof. I had no idea she could act that well. And with such an emotionally complex role.
And another mention for Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights. Totally unexpected for me at that time knowing him mostly as a pop singer and brother of one of the NKOTB.
Oh one more. Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire. He gets a bad rap as an actor I think because he’s such a putz, but I think that was a stellar performance, and I think he’s a great actor in general.
The Rock surprised me.He can actually carry an adventure movie. Better than Arnold.