We’ve all probably gotten into an argument with a friend or coworker over a particular actor’s film and we said something to the effect of “yeah but he was MUCH better in that…”. Sometimes a particular actor you don’t really care for will be in a movie that you just love, and then when its over you just go back to hating the rest of his films.
My favorite Kurt Russell movie is a small little TV movie called Big Trouble in Little China. I know the Thing is awesome, and many remember Kurt as Snake Plissken in Escape from New York, but something about that little TV movie with the weird martial arts and the evil weather characters with hats just spoke to little old7 year old Yog Sosoth before I became untold vigintillions of years old. Maybe because he did most of his best work in the 80’s, this little movie about some made-up Chinese legend became THE Kurt Russell movie for me. I love this movie so much that its weird that I don’t really like Kurt Russell at all. When I was a kid I saw him basically kidnap and brainwash Goldie Hawn in Overboard and disliked him ever since (I should clarify that I disliked his character’s actions, not his acting), ironic since they are actually in a relationship
Other stars that did their work in the 90’s are much more predictable in terms of favorites. Favorite Stallone movie: Rocky IV (but I saw it on TV much later). Favorite Schwartzenegger movie: T2 with Predator as a close second. Bruce Willis: Die Hard (also saw on TV in the 90’s)
I will continue to affirm, and I don’t care what anyone says, that the best Michael Keaton movie ever made was not the Batman films but Beetlejuice. Same thing for Geena Davis, Wynona Ryder, and Alec Baldwin though I suppose they aren’t the actual star of the film. It will never be topped!!
One weird entry I suppose would be Nicolas Cage. I don’t care about his Oscar and I don’t care about his other B-movies he’s made since. But he was totally excellent in Kick Ass. Fitting for a guy who named his kid after Superman and dresses like Batman in the movie
I assume thast you’re being facetious here with the “small TV movie” thing. Primitive as it may look now, this was a big-budget state-of-the-art movie when it came out.
(For years I wondered what the Chinese symbol made of lightning signified when the Lightning Lord met his demise. You can’t even see it on some TV prints, because it’s off to the side. Now, with the wonders of Wikipedia and IMDb, I know that it’s the Chinese character for “Carpenter”, a joke by the director, I assume.)
It was a small movie for me! I saw it much later I think. The first time it was on TV, I had to go to bed before it was finished. Luckily they played it again within a week I think. It kicks so much ass I always watch it when its on
I cannot stand Liam Neeson. I don’t know why, but even his voice (which, objectively speaking, is a beautiful, mellifluous voice) makes me cringe. That said, I got all the way through *Love, Actually *before I remembered I hate his work.
Bruce Willis’s best leading man role is 12 Monkeys. Otherwise I can’t think of any other movies starring Bruce Willis that I would go out of my way to watch or re-watch.
I liked Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer, but the other movies I’ve seen with him in a major role leave me cold. Punchdrunk Love at least had an unconventional story but I had difficulties relating to his character.
Tim Allen’s character in Galaxy Quest is a perfect parody of the over-the-hill blowhard actor living on past glory. I can’t help but imagine that he might be like that in real life. You would have to pay me to see any of his other movies (I’m not counting his voice work in the Toy Story series.)
Will Smith - I will always bring up that he was absolutely pitch-perfect in Six Degrees Of Separation when he’s getting trashed by someone who just saw his latest annoying piece of shit blockbuster.
Assuming it’s favorite roles of a certain actor, I like Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen. He was in a lot of wonderful roles in his time, but I think he nailed Charlie Alnott the best of any. And he was funny! In fact, he was so funny that I compare this performance to some of Walter Matthau’s best roles. It’s a shame he didn’t do more comedy - he had the mug and the timing for it.
<major hijack/coniption fit> Big Trouble In Little China (also my fave Kurt Russel movie and easily in my top 25 of all time - so sue me) was made for TV?!? I don’t think so, although I can’t fault YogSosoth for thinking this.
It may have hit cable very soon after its theatrical run due to its miserable performance in the box office, but I can attest that it was a feature film - I remember being bummed that I couldn’t see it in the theater that summer (but I’ve seen it about 50 times since). In fact, it was the movie that turned John Carpenter off the Hollywood system, since Fox released it only 2 weeks before their own damn blockbuster hype machine, Aliens, with little to no publicity. :rolleyes: If they’d have pushed BTILC by a couple months, box office would have been much better, and no one would be under the impression that it was a made-for-TV movie.
<end hijack/shitfit>
Ok, per the OP:
[ul]
[li]Can’t stand Adam Sandler outside of SNL, but I loved him in Punch Drunk Love (ok, Happy Gilmore and parts of Little Nicky are guilty pleasure).[/li][li]I’m not a fan of most Kevin Costner movies, but I love all his sports movies - Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Tin Cup, For Love of the Game.[/li][li]Can’t really tolerate Jim Carrey much, but I really liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.[/li][li]I’m ambivalent about most Tom Cruise movies (even Top Gun), but I loved him in War of the Worlds, and Collateral.[/li][li]I actively dislike William Hurt (I don’t know why - one of those things) but I loved him in A History of Violence.[/li][li]I loathe Andie MacDowell (again, I have no idea why) but I find her perfectly lovely in Groundhog Day.[/li][/ul]
My favorite performances by a select list of actors (not necessarily their best movies, just their best performances, in my opinion):
Humphrey Bogart -*** The Caine Mutiny ***(the movie itself wasn’t great, but Bogart was brilliant as both the scary Queeg and the pathetic Queeg)
Nicolas Cage - It Could Happen to You (Perhaps I give this movie too much credit, simply because it was the first time I’d ever seen Cage playing an ordinary man convincingly and charmingly).
Jim Carrey - ***Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ***
Robert DeNiro - The King of Comedy
Clint Eastwood - ***Gran Torino ***(he’s made many movies I’ve liked better, but this was his persoanl best acting job)
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Almost Famous (considering how much I hated the real Lester Bangs, I give Hoffman a ton of credit for making the guy as interesting and likable as possible)
Anthony Hopkins - ***The Remains of the Day ***(it’s hard to play a man who rarely reveals his feelings, but Hopkins conveyed a world of emotion with just his eyes in numerous scenes)
Michael Keaton - Night Shift. No role he’s played since was anywhere as memorable as Billy Blaze
Paul Newman - Nobody’s Fool
Kurt Russell - Miracle (he was a great Herb Brooks)
Nicolas Cage - Adaptation
William H. Macy - Fargo
Tom Cruise - Magnolia
Al Pacino - Glengarry Glen Ross
Jack Lemmon - The Apartment
Diane Keaton - Annie Hall
When it comes to John Wayne, for me his best was The Shootist. I thought the Duke’s performance was outstanding and outside the box for him, a tough guy made vulnerable by cancer.
The only Nicholas Cage movie I ever liked was Leaving Las Vegas. He was a totally convincing drunk.
I’m a huge Anthony Hopkins fan and he never impressed me more than in Nixon. Granted, he looks nothing like Tricky Dick, but he got the mannerisms and voice down and after a few minutes, he had me believing the illusion. A very close second is his portrayal of Hitler in The Bunker.
I also really like Peter Sellers. While he was in many great movies and was a genius playing multiple roles, I think Being There was his greatest.
I’ve got to agree that Clint Easwood was at his absolute best in Gran Torino.
John Wayne – She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Wayne was pissed he didn’t get an Oscar nomination for this, and he was right to be.
Boris Karloff – Targets, playing a washed-up old horror actor.
Abbot and Costello – The Time of Their Lives. Costello, especially. The two were mad at each other, so had very few scenes together, but Costello was a touching comic hero.
Pete Postlethwait – Brassed Off
Brian Aherne was in a 1938 screwballer called Merrily We Live, as a famous writer traveling simply who is mistaken for a tramp and hired by a rich family. So of course it’s always unfairly compared to *My Man Godfrey. * But Aherne, being Irish, always seemed generous and bemused, while Wiiliam Powell, as debonaire as he was, always remained a grouchy Missourian.