Yeah, I thought Kick-Ass was great all around. The cursing, bloodthirsty, pint-sized killing machine Hit-Girl was certainly a highlight, but not the only one.
Are you disputing that she carried it, or that the movie was, um, problematic? It was a terrible adaptation, inserting fantasy elements that were missing from the comic and changing the theme from "Don’t try this at home " to “That’s so crazy it just might work!”
The little girl was great, though.
Vampire’s Kiss. Nicholas Cage was simply great. The movie was also salvaged by Jennifer Beals’ hotness.
I think Malkovich has always been admirably up front about the way he picks roles- he’ll do a bad Jerry Bruckheimer action move, earn enough money to do theater at Steppenwolf for a year or to do an arty movie in France, and then do another crappy action role to pay the bills.
Daniel Day Lewis in Gang of New York
The live action Scooby Doo and its sequel were both very bad movies. Linda Cardellini as Velma, however, was inspired.
But that’s not all, Matthew Lillard was the living embodiment of Shaggy. In fact, he was so good as Shaggy, that he continues to portray the character in the cartoons being made now. Those movies would have been far worse without him in it.
Henry Fonda was indispensable in 12 Angry Men. To be fair, there were good character actor performances as well, but none of them good enough to make this film the classic that it is.
A young Edward Norton is the only reason Primal Fear and American History X are notable whatsoever .
The anaconda in Snakes on a Plane. I loved it when it ate the small yiping dog.
Nope, you’re not the only one.
Maybe not a mediocre movie overall but Brian Cox as Lecktor stole the show in Manhunter for me, way before the later screen incarnations, specially as I found the lead character played by William Petersen a bit bland and mostly unengaging.
While I agree on being disappointed by the sequel, the original was pretty darn good.
Let me think:
Torgo in Manos: Hands of fate, obviously.
Not a bad movie, but Dennis Hopper crazy stare certainly helped Blue Velvet reach a whole new level of awesomeness.
Um… oh, yeah: Gary Oldman in Lost in Space.
Susan Sarandon automatically elevates anything she’s in: Thelma and Lousie, The Client, Stepmom…
Iron Man would be half the movie it was with anybody but Robert Downey jr. making a drunken socialite relatable.
Monster would be an unspectacular movie of the week were it not for Charlize Theron. I find the movie problematic in a lot of ways, but she absolutely embodies that role - one of the all-time great performances. (I like Christina Ricci in the movie too, but she’s nowhere near Theron’s level there.)
I thought that Gone Baby, Gone was a pretty mediocre move excepting for Casey Affleck’s performance.
I think someone hasn’t seen Piper Perabo in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
This was what I came in to mention. He was badass.
Sean Connery in pretty much anything. Although *League of Extraordinary Gentlemen *(his last movie) was so bad even he couldn’t save it. Oh, and Robin and Marion was actually good all the way through.
Connery’s whole career has entailed being the best thing about otherwise awful movies. Hey, take him out of Goldfinger and you’re left with kind of a mess. His entire oeuvre is a bit like that…
Graham Green in Thunderheart.
Graham Green in Maverick.
Another vote for Gary Oldman in Lost in Space. He doesn’t play your typical Gary Olman-style villain. He plays Doctor Smith! In one scene, Doctor Smith and Major West are bickering, and if you close your eyes, you can visualize the original actors doing the scene, because Oldman and LeBlanc both have the voices down pat.
Jeremy Northam as Wigram in Enigma. I remember reading once that there was some discussion of pursuing his character into another movie, but it didn’t pan out.