Movie Thread (All forms)

[mikita's helmet]

I think DDL has shown his versatility as an actor and that's why I love him so much and probably why he gets the praise he does. Can't really say any of his performances are ever alike or he ever plays cliche characters over and over again until he became a household name like many hollywood actors do. He has been in bad films but I think the 5-6 films he is best known for is acting at it's best despite if one actually liked the over all film or not. 5-6 positive memorable performances in an actors career is a great resume.

Which 5-6 films/roles do you speak of?

 

[the canadian dream]

Which 5-6 films/roles do you speak of?

Well it's going to be personal tastes a lot of it as these things often are. But if I made my own list of the characters he portraid on film this would be it. In no particular order accept newest to oldest. Keep in mind I'm not judging the overall film just his performances in them. I would also acknowledge supporting rolls he has done but there are not a whole lot of them which kind of says a lot (he had a little screen time in Ghandi which I forgot until I saw a youtube clip..he did well but not really a spectacular amount of screen time). This list is not including Lincoln where I could add it as he was still good just over-hyped.



1) There Will Be Blood - Daniel Plainview

2) Gangs Of New York - Bill The Butcher

3) In The Name Of The Father - Gerry Conlin

4) The Last Of The Mohicans - Hawkeye

5) My Left Foot - Christy Brown



Im bias remember because I love the guy. Not saying anyone has to like these performances but I certainly have every time I watch them.



I know people either love or hate There Will Be Blood and his performance and that's fine I could see why it's a love or hate film as it's slow moving but I think DDL carried those slow moments by at least making Plainview character interesting to watch because he detailed the character unlike anything I have ever seen on screen. I could go through a list of reasons why I think it was an amazing performance myself but Im tired of making lists!!! Simply put he just lured me into the character of Daniel Plainview and how incredibly complex the character was. Its one of those rolls where you forget you are watching an actor act and that is what it should always be about. Its not DDL on screen it's Daniel Plainview...and by god is that man dark.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28BXqQWqYJU[/media]



The Last Of The Mohicans was actually a really different roll for him. He wasn't even my favorite character in that film and I didn't really love the film overall but I thought he played Hawkeye differently than any other actor would have. He could have really over-acted that one and made it an over the top action adventure character but he didn't. He kept it subtle and I appreciated that. Im not posting a clip for this because i cant find a good one on youtube.



Gangs Of New York, while the film had massive dull moments in it at no time when DDL was on the screen was this the case. He actually saved the film single handed. One of the best antagonist characters in film history in my opinion and the entire film should have focussed on his Bill The Butcher character. I can go on and on about his performance in the film. If I were a film acting teacher I would show every scene he was in. Everyone else in the film suffered because DDL was that damn good.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdhxL9r9hkg[/media]



In The Name Of The Father is a hard roll for any actor to pull off. I'll admit he got a little help acting along side Pete Postlethwaite as Guiseppe. But that was one of the reasons that made it so great (besides the entire film because its awesome!!). I think those two had amazing chemistry together and they sold the father and son friction throughout the film so well. You got to be good to share screen time with Pete Postlethwaite. A lot of other reasons I loved DDL in it but I will save them. Very important film also and important films desire top of the notch acting and actors who take the story passionately and want to tell it not just win oscars.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwvjZXfHUbY[/media]



My Left Foot is simply a legendary performance. Every time we see a film made now based on a true life story of a handicap person the actor playing the main roll is always ripping off DDL's portrayal as Christy Brown. Watch the clip and try to ignore the idiot who put the subtitles in because it ruins the mazing scene.



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz8KTaU8D_A[/media]

 

[mikita's helmet]

Wow, you did quite a post. It's been so long since I saw MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE and his Oscar film, But I don't remember anything memorable about them. Can't remember if I saw IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, so I don't know what that says about that. I liked DDL in GONY, but I prefer de Niro over Leonardo as Scorcese's leading man, so films like GONY, meh. He was otay in POCAHANTAS. I haven't seen THERE WILL BE BLOOD, though I picked up th blu-ray for $8.00 US quite a whlie back (not a big fan of PT "Barnum" Anderson, wants to be Robert Altman, so bad).



Again, really quite a post, TCD (I'm impressed). I'll have to go back and look at some of his films and get back to ya (though it's currently hard to do with 20 month son running around). Anyway, sometimes I get irrational, or suspect, when someone, in music for example, gets annointed like U2 or RADIOHEAD, later, as the greatest band in the world, when I feel as Gertrude Stein said once, "there's no there, there."



just my two cents.



RE: MY BIG LEFT TOE & OSCAR



If you want to win one (vs. "... and the Oscar goes to") a man should play a disabled person, a woman a prostitute. If the disabled person is a real person so much the better.



How to Win an Oscar

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16932374



Play a Hooker and win an Oscar

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/20/movies/play-a-hooker-and-win-an-oscar.html

 

[nana]

Yes, I meant Keckley - thank you for the recommendations.

 

[MassHavoc]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Don't forget The Boxer. The trailer is a little cheesy, but you have to remember it's a 1997 trailer. And you have to know the history of the context which isn't hard. Plus it is the same director as In the Name of the Father. Plus it's a shitty Youtube video.



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0OL60CD9-Q[/youtube]

 

[the canadian dream]

Ohhh shit yah. I always forget about The Boxer. Damn rights.



Honestly that's a great resume he has for being in the industry so long yet not a huge filmography and he isn't even close to being done. Besides a couple films I think one of his other strong traits is he knows how to pick scripts and he doesn't burn himself out by doing 3 films a bloody year. Maybe some credit has to be given to his agents as well on that?



I have been thinking of my top 5 modern actors list and I can't really finish it because there are so many actors I love so much. It's a fight for 1st btw DDL and Jeff Bridges at this point though. If they could make a hybrid of both then I think the oscars would just be renamed the Daniel Day Bridges award.

 

[phranchk]

Jeff Bridges? That's an interesting one. Not saying he's a bad, just don't see his name mentioned often amongst persons favorites.

 

[the canadian dream]

Jeff Bridges? That's an interesting one. Not saying he's a bad, just don't see his name mentioned often amongst persons favorites.

Oh yah I love him. There is something down to earth about him also that I just love. Kind of guy you could probably have a fun conversation with and he doesn't seem to take himself very serious. He's become better with age also. How much did I love him in Crazy Heart? He was sooo great. Everyone loves Big Labowski and I thought he was incredible in the remake of True Grit. Wish he never showed up in the new Tron though but a guy needs to get paid lol. One of my favorite rolls he played which is under-estimated was in The Fisher King. Love the guy. He can do the dramatics and the comedy so well. The roll in fisher King was the roll that made me stand up and pay attention to him.

 

[phranchk]

Oh yah I love him. There is something down to earth about him also that I just love. Kind of guy you could probably have a fun conversation with and he doesn't seem to take himself very serious. He's become better with age also. How much did I love him in Crazy Heart? He was sooo great. Everyone loves Big Labowski and I thought he was incredible in the remake of True Grit. Wish he never showed up in the new Tron though but a guy needs to get paid lol. One of my favorite rolls he played which is under-estimated was in The Fisher King. Love the guy. He can do the dramatics and the comedy so well. The roll in fisher King was the roll that made me stand up and pay attention to him.

Not everyone. Don't hate it, but it never reached that same level of love as a lot of people I know. I only thought it was mediocre.

 

[the canadian dream]

Not everyone. Don't hate it, but it never reached that same level of love as a lot of people I know. I only thought it was mediocre.

See now that is interesting!!!

 

[Ton]

I liked Jeff Bridges in the new Tron... call me a geek but I liked the movie too. It wasn't amazing, but I was satisfied with the result. I hope they do a sequel.

 

[MassHavoc]

It's funny you say that because I was just going to type (before I read your comment) that the problem with Jeff Bridges is that for ever Tron, there is a Tron Legacy.... For every Big Lebowski, there is a Stick it... for every True Grit, there is a Surf's up... For every crazy heart there is k-pax. I don't hate him as an actor, I think he's had some amazing roles, but unlike DDL he is a working actor, in that he doesn't say no. I'm ok with that really as he's been in some amazing films. I just don't think I'd put him in my top 5. Plus for me, as I'm sure with most folks, there has to be a top five all time and a top 5 right now.

 

[mikita's helmet]

but unlike DDL, [JB] is a working actor, in that he doesn't say no.

So JB's not up in that rareified thespian air that DDL inhabits and imbues, tut, tut..

 

[MassHavoc]

So JB's not up in that rareified thespian air that DDL inhabits and imbues, tut, tut..

I mean... in some ways... no. Not to the extent that DDL is. It's well documented how much he studies, works and get's into a charecter. He is a method actor probably to the extreme. I believe for there will be blood he transformed himself into the charecter and stayed in charecter most of the time. Even spend months before shooting becoming him. Same with Gangs of new york.

 

[mikita's helmet]

I mean... in some ways... no. Not to the extent that DDL is. It's well documented how much he studies, works and get's into a charecter. He is a method actor probably to the extreme. I believe for there will be blood he transformed himself into the charecter and stayed in charecter most of the time. Even spend months before shooting becoming him. Same with Gangs of new york.

I can't remember who it was, maybe Anthony Hopkins, but he found method actors to be a pain in the ass (for example DDL having to addressed as "Mr. President" at all times on the set of his most recent film). I guess whatever works for ya...

 

[MassHavoc]

I can't remember who it was, maybe Anthony Hopkins, but he found method actors to be a pain in the ass (for example DDL having to addressed as "Mr. President" at all times on the set of his most recent film). I guess whatever works for ya...

What does being a pain in the ass have to do with being a worse actor. I love Anthony Hopkins, but that's just his opinion, and it doesn't mean he was talking about DDL or all method actors. Especially cause it was more in the context about award season and how he hates folks who kiss ass to get an award. He thinkgs that critics give too much weight to people who immerse themselves in roles like this is what I take from it.

 

[nana]

Some interesting stuff here:



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000358/bio

 

[mikita's helmet]

What does being a pain in the ass have to do with being a worse actor. I love Anthony Hopkins, but that's just his opinion, and it doesn't mean he was talking about DDL or all method actors. Especially cause it was more in the context about award season and how he hates folks who kiss ass to get an award. He thinkgs that critics give too much weight to people who immerse themselves in roles like this is what I take from it.

His Dudeness may be a method actor for all I know - though,I doubt it - but they're not any fun to be around on the set and they make life miserable for all involved. If you can make a great movie without all that pretentious psychological immerse yourself into the character stuff, and having to be catered to and pampered, so much the better fo all involved, that's what I take from it. (I don't where your unbolded stuff came from????)



EDIT: If you're talking about this link here:



http://now.msn.com/a...ng-in-interview



Hopkins was talking about two different things, method actors and ass-kissing-for-an-Oscar actors, not that the two are, always, mutually exclusive.



BTW, when Hopkins is asked in the article "if he stayed in character as Hitchcock in between scenes, you could almost hear him bristle. 'I think that's a lot of crap,' he said, calling actors who do 'a pain in the ass,' " I believe he is talking about if not "all", than, at the least, method actors in general.



http://www.cracked.c...-method-actors/

 

[MassHavoc]

The fact is this every actor has a process and all of them are pampered and hard to work with. This happens to be his process and it's made him one of the best actors of his generation with some of the most memorable charectors I've ever seen. It could absolutely make him a better actor, and you could just as easily put a different actor in that role and have it flop. I don't think anyone could have done Bill the Butcher like him.

 

[mikita's helmet]

This happens to be his process and it's made him one of the best actors of his generation with some of the most memorable charectors I've ever seen.

That's your opinion that he's one of the best actors of his generation, and it might even be the general concensus, but he's still meh, to me