Jason Statham in Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. I know, I know, now he’s a household name ; but back then he was… pretty much his character in that movie - a street con-man with rugged good looks, who had never acted a day in his life. For that matter, Vinnie Jones was just an asshole footballer back then as well, and he fucking crushed his role.
Sting in the movie Dune. Not so good movie, great performance.
Cool, I did not realize that this was THAT Vinnie Jones.
Hugh Millais had an impressive turn as a hired killer in McCabe and Mrs. Miller. As far as I remember, this was his only scene in the movie and he nailed it. Millais did other roles for Robert Altman films, but this was his first role and is chilling (partly due to Beatty’s acting against him).
I thought he was also good in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Be Kind Rewind
I think an obvious recent one is Lady Gaga in A Star is Born.
Also Howie Long in Broken Arrow. He was so memorable, they named the sound effect of him falling off the train the “Howie Scream”, even though it’s been around since the 80s.
No love for HCJr in Independence Day?
Dave Bautista gave an excellent, understated performance, playing against type, in Blade Runner 2049.
Indeed he was. It wasn’t the best movie ever made but I thought he was an excellent Ford Prefect
Consider Tatum O’Neal. Fantastic performance in Paper Moon. I don’t recall she did anything else worthwhile.
He wasn’t quite as good in “The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine,” but I enjoy the film a great deal.
Tom Petty was great as the voice of Lucky in the later seasons of “King of the Hill.”
By the time that came out he was as much a full time actor as anything, only making the occasional wrestling appearances. I think Stephen Amell has made more in ring appearances in the last couple years than Dave.
Ewen Montagu, the British spymaster who orchestrated the Operation MINCEMEAT deception during WWII, had a cameo in the movie based on the story, The Man Who Never Was.
According to Wikipedia, he played “a Royal Air Force air vice-marshal who has doubts about the feasibility of the proposed plan. It was described by Ben Macintyre in Operation Mincemeat as a ‘surreal’ moment when the real Montagu addressed his fictional persona, played by [Clifton] Webb.”
This was the one I was coming in to mention. By objective measures she had a solid Hollywood career, all personal turmoil aside. Scored several roles in which she was reasonably decent( Bad News Bears )to pretty mediocre( International Velvet, what an utter snooze-fest )and she certainly got enough work to make a living.
But she killed it at age nine and thoroughly deserved her Oscar. She never got within sniffing distance of that kind of performance again.
And he was married for a while to Grossanne Barrf, as MAD dubbed her.
I agree about Mos Def’s brilliant performance in “Something the Lord Made.”
Matthew McConaghey was also excellent in “We Are Marshall.”
I was discussing Harold Russell with a friend of mine a while ago, and over the course of the conversation I discovered that he’s buried in a small town west of Boston that I travel through on occasion. Today was one of those occasions. It was a nice day and I had some free time, so I decided to see if I could find his grave. Took a bit of searching, but I did find it. It’s a fairly simple family plot; nothing to even hint at his place in movie history.
Seconded. This was an outstanding performance.
Just looked that up. I don’t get up to that area as often as I used to but next time I do I’ll try to stop by there. An unassuming plot for an unassuming man who was quite heroic. He wasn’t so much a war hero, his courage was in showing himself to the world without his hands and how he compensated and continued with his life. That wasn’t the kind of thing seen in movies at the time. His special Oscar was created and awarded because the Academy didn’t think he could win one based on his performance. There were probably sympathy votes for him but I think plenty of Academy members recognized that it actually was a great performance.
You might want to drop me a line if you do. It’s a small cemetery, but I walked around the whole thing twice before I found his plot. There’s not much contrast, so the lettering on the marker doesn’t stand out very well. I could tell you which section to look in.
Or you could be like me; I found it rather peaceful and introspective to try and find it myself.
I think I’ll check with you first. I can’t walk all around a cemetery twice, I’m going to need a Robot Leg soon.