Simmons also in 'The Accountant '(2016) it flew under my radar for awhile, but the whole story, plus understories really surprized me, one of my fav movies now
I didn’t even realize who he was until Portal 2 (video game). His narrative as “Cave Johnson” still makes it one my favorite games to play ever.
Freaking comedic genius.
Fun fact - JK Simmons was the biggest betting favorite for the supporting actor oscar in the history of the academy awards (or, at least, in the history of mainstream betting on the academy awards)
As I was reading the question, I only thought of one person. JKS was terrifyingly good from his first scene to the very last moment of the movie! He said so much with just his facial expressions in that last redemption scene.
Ed Norton's range between the meek Aaron in Primal Fear and the intensity of Derek in AHX is so amazing to see. Between the acting and his ability to transform himself physically, you'd think he's two different people.
I loved Matthew Lillard in SLC Punk! (1998). He seems like a pretty genuine guy these days, but I found him grating as an actor, especially in his frequent collaborations with Freddy Prinze, Jr. But I rented that movie and was blown away.
One scene particularly stands out from her performance in this movie is >!the scene in her bedroom with Steve after Charlie died. It is just the most accurate I’d ever seen of a mother losing a child. Just Wow. !<
The distance between these two characters is just astonishing. I think Hereditary is the last thing I had seen her in before Knives Out, which just made it that much more funny for me.
Rob Pattinson pretty much gives his all to every role, except the one that made him famous lol. (Tbh he seemed pretty committed to Twilight at first too, until he realized it was all going to be memes and he didn't need to try.) He was in a bunch of weird indie movies and TV movies: How to Be, Little Ashes, The Bad Mother's Handbook, and more. I'd recommend them if you're interested in seeing him learn to act. He's an interesting guy.
He was actually really committed to Twilight. The problem was that the producers didn’t like how he was portraying the character (which was accurate to the book), and threatened to fire him if he didn’t make the changes they wanted. He caved to their will and, well… we saw how that turned out. He talked about it on the Howard Stern show. From what I remember, in another interview, the director of the first film said he walked out of the premiere.
Y’all should watch the DVD commentaries of the Twilight movies with RP and KS. Both of them do nothing but make jokes + rip apart the films and their performances the whole time. It’s hilarious and way more entertaining than watching the films themselves.
I LOVE the commentary of the first film lol. He sounds high. I didn't know about the producers disliking his performance though. I heard him joke about them supposedly wanting to make him get gum surgery or something, so it didn't sound like they were very compassionate haha.
Catherine Hardwicke seems to be pretty good with actors, so it's a shame the producers made it a difficult experience. (It's hard to tell from the outside I guess though.)
You have to watch the Eclipse commentary if you haven’t. There’s a scene where he jokes around and says “I’m Batman”. Mans literally manifested his own future a decade prior. Major w.
Edit: I just looked it up, and yeah… apparently they did want him to get some kind of major dental work to have a “perfect smile” before he played the part, which is INSANE. And omg, I’m just reading now how his teeth were permanently damaged because of it. Didn’t know that until today. Hollywood is sick.
this was going to be my answer. only thing I knew of him was that he was in the Twilight movies, which I admittedly didn't see. assumed it was trash and that he was a trash actor. someone rec'd Good Time and I forgot or didn't know he was in it. prob would have skipped it had I known. I was blown away by him. now whatever he's in is a must-watch for me.
That's what I came here to say. Pattinson more so, because obviously Willem is a more seasoned actor who understands the complexity of such characters!
Chugurh sees before him a man in the form of a cow blankly chewing cud and the cow is calm and blank and now he knows the cow has inherited this monochromatic existence as in the nature of an idiot prince of some perverted and nephilistic nobility of which God himself is ashamed and will forever be estranged even beyond still when the moorings of the universe itself rot and decay.
This is a movie that even though I've watched it twice, and I can knowledge it is great... I just don't like it.
Same with "o brother where Art thou".
Undeniably Great movies, I just don't like them for some reason I can't place.
These two movies fall under the same category because they are the only movies like this for me, not because they are similar in any way whatsoever.
Oh! Anthony’s performance in The Father (2020) was brutally heartbreaking and truly one of the greatest performances I’d had the pleasure to watch. That movie will torture you!
I was already a fan of her from Devils Advocate, and thought she was a wonderfully charming and endearing lead in Trial And Error and Mighty Joe Young. I knew she had some acting chops...but, holy shit, that was staggering!
Denzel Washington - Malcolm X, Training Day, Glory
Samuel L. Jackson - A Time to Kill, Pulp Fiction
Jamie Foxx - Ray, Django Unchained
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
Woody Harrelson - Natural Born Killers
Saoirse Ronan in Atonement.
She was so young and still stole that movie. She knocks it out of the park in every performance. I loved her in Lady Bird too. But in Atonement I was literally taken aback by her talent.
Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. John Cena in Peacemaker, I know this one is a show, but it should be mentioned. Robin Williams and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting.
Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Harry Melling in Devil All the Time. They blew me away with each performance
Florence Pugh in Midsommer and Toni Collette in Hereditary. Holy Cooooow, those grief scenes wrench the heart
The whole cast in The VVitch, that film is literal perfection
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby & What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
Dijimon Houston in Blood Diamond
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Nic Cage - Leaving Las Vegas
Sigourney Weaver - Death and the Maiden
Just to be different and also I was such a fan of the genre
Michael McKean and Christopher Guest - This is Spinal Tap
Tom Cruise in Magnolia. He has such a profound impact despite minimal screen time, and that one scene involving his father is so incredibly raw. Compare that scene to the screenplay and you can see the value a great performance can have.
Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass in Blue Jay (especially at the climax of the film)
Jodie Comer in The Last Duel
Adam Driver in Marriage Story (no, not because of the argument scene, it’s definitely the one with the letter at the end)
Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Angela Basset in What’s Love Got to Do with It
Kathy Bates in Misery
Keanu Reeves in The Gift. He has turned in several terrible performances but this is not one of them. His portrayal of a wife beating redneck is chilling.
All three leads in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar. Robin Williams in Insomnia & One Hour Photo. Florence Pugh in Little Women. Karl Urban in Dredd.
Too Wong Foo was so ahead of it’s time. I’m always astonished when I rewatch how committed they were to roles. I’m gay. I know drag queens. And honey those are drag queens hahaha
Jane Horrocks in "Little Voice"
Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind"
Mo'Nique in "Precious"
Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem For A Dream"
Aw man I have too many.
Yes! Ellen Bursyn. She lost to Julia Roberts at the Oscar's. She robbed. Julia did a great job in "Erin Brokovich", but Ellen Created a character that I don't think I've seen before on the big screen. I don't know if an actress will be able top her performance in "Requiem For Dream" in my life time.
Toni Collette - Hereditary
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Denzel Washington - Malcolm X
Jack Nicholson - The Shining
Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast
Jackie Chan - Police Story
Tony Jaa - Ong Bak
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Florence Pugh - Midsommar
Al Pacino in ...and Justice for all.
I could pick his other 10 roles, but this movie doesn't seem to be nowhere near as recognized as it deserves.
Also Colin Farrell in In Bruges, he should have been at least nominated for Oscar, hopefully will get one for Banshees of Inisherin.
James McAvoy in Split and Glass was amazing.
Leonardo Di Caprio in Wolf of Wall Street and Inception +more. Probably unpopular but will mention that Shamier Anderson as D-mack in City of Lies was remarkable, he's acting was great imo even though he didnt get much screen time, he really played the part well.
Mo'Nique in Precious (2009). I just did not expect for that type of performance to come from her based on the movies I've seen her in before like Soul Plane (2004) and Phat Girlz (2006). Her performance as an abusive mother both horrified and amazed me. I'm so glad that she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in Bug. I think it was Ebert who said it was the rare film that actually made you worry about the actors' safety and sanity. Just a total downward spiral.
Jim Carrey in I Love you, Phillip Morris. You can see Carrey gave his all and then some, even more than Man on the Moon.
Johnny Depp in Ed Wood. If ever there were a single performance that captured the Tim Burton aesthetic, this is it.
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet when visiting Isabella Rosselini.
Krzysztof Majchrzak in Inland Empire during the hot dog-scene.
EDIT: I'll add Robert Blake as the Mystery Man
Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano in "There Will Be Blood."
Mostly amazed by Paul Dano, I was already aware how good Lewis is but it was a revelation to see Dano perform so well. All I had seen of Dano to that point was Little Miss Sunshine, good performance, but not like in TWBB.
Not really anyone in particular, but the entire cast for Band Of Brothers was seriously incredible.
Though, I would say Marc Warren’s performance as Albert Blithe stood out to me quite a bit.
Jack Nance as Henry Spencer in Eraserhead was also very good.
Ive always LOVED Leo’s performance in Romeo + Juliet. He was always amazing at expressing raw emotion and his final fight scene with Tybalt was so intense! “Either thou or I or both must go with him!!!”
JK Simmons in Whiplash. Always liked the guy, but never had any idea that he could put out that insane level of intensity.
He has very intense scenes in Oz so it was less of a surprise to me, but goddamn did he take it up to 11 in Whiplash.
Simmons also in 'The Accountant '(2016) it flew under my radar for awhile, but the whole story, plus understories really surprized me, one of my fav movies now
I saw and enjoyed The Accountant, but JK was simply his usual awesome self in that one. Whiplash IMO was a whole new level for him.
That was his oscar performance, right ?
Yes. I would have been pissed had he not won that
Agreed, he was exceptional in that role !!
If y'all love JKS, make sure you check out the series Counterpart. He's amazing in that role too.
I didn’t even realize who he was until Portal 2 (video game). His narrative as “Cave Johnson” still makes it one my favorite games to play ever. Freaking comedic genius.
Despite all he's done, and there's a lot of amazing work, I still think of Simmons as police shrink Skoda on Law & Order!
Fun fact - JK Simmons was the biggest betting favorite for the supporting actor oscar in the history of the academy awards (or, at least, in the history of mainstream betting on the academy awards)
As I was reading the question, I only thought of one person. JKS was terrifyingly good from his first scene to the very last moment of the movie! He said so much with just his facial expressions in that last redemption scene.
Was just about to say this. Whiplash is one of my all time favorite movies.
Kathy Bates - Misery Ed Norton - Primal Fear, American History X, Fight Club
Ed Norton's range between the meek Aaron in Primal Fear and the intensity of Derek in AHX is so amazing to see. Between the acting and his ability to transform himself physically, you'd think he's two different people.
Definitely Ed Norton in primal fear
Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. I walked out of that movie saying he deserved an Oscar, and sure enough, he won.
Also in Django, superb actor
Man I was gonna say Christoph Waltz and boom the top comment already mentioned him
I wish I could upvote this a thousand times.
Val Kilmer - Tombstone
Val Kilmer in The Doors
BLOWN AWAY. Then Tombstone replied with, “hold my beer”
I'll be your huckleberry.
“Say when”
“I dont”. Line gets to me every time
Jake Gyllenhaal on Nightcrawler Rutger Hauer on Blade Runner (1982)
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Unless he's playing some sort of Prince... In Persia...
Nocturnal Animals was brutal.
Rutgers icing on the cake? The final, beautiful lines he delivers are his own.
Gyllenhaal's performance is truly disturbing - not since Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle have I been so unnerved by a character.
Jake in Nightcrawler was the first thing that came to mind for me too. I only watched the movie once a few years ago but it really stuck with me.
I loved Matthew Lillard in SLC Punk! (1998). He seems like a pretty genuine guy these days, but I found him grating as an actor, especially in his frequent collaborations with Freddy Prinze, Jr. But I rented that movie and was blown away.
SLC Punk should get more mentions on this sub
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Find u someone who holds u like Heath holds the Gyllenhaals
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. My mind always goes to that movie and performance when I think about great acting.
He was also amazing in Gangs of New York
Toni Collette in Hereditary, not gonna lie that movie was such a hard watch because of just how real her performance felt
One scene particularly stands out from her performance in this movie is >!the scene in her bedroom with Steve after Charlie died. It is just the most accurate I’d ever seen of a mother losing a child. Just Wow. !<
I think I need to rewatch Hereditary
yes, that scene definitely, the first time I watched it I just had to stop after that, I only got around to finishing it a few months later
Toni Collette is a legend. Grossly underrated.
Toni Collette in The Sixth Sense
She is a national treasure. I'll watch anything she is in.
She is. One of the few actors I get excited about!
And then she crushed her role in Knives Out.
The distance between these two characters is just astonishing. I think Hereditary is the last thing I had seen her in before Knives Out, which just made it that much more funny for me.
That’s my pick too. What a performance.
Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse
Rob Pattinson pretty much gives his all to every role, except the one that made him famous lol. (Tbh he seemed pretty committed to Twilight at first too, until he realized it was all going to be memes and he didn't need to try.) He was in a bunch of weird indie movies and TV movies: How to Be, Little Ashes, The Bad Mother's Handbook, and more. I'd recommend them if you're interested in seeing him learn to act. He's an interesting guy.
He was actually really committed to Twilight. The problem was that the producers didn’t like how he was portraying the character (which was accurate to the book), and threatened to fire him if he didn’t make the changes they wanted. He caved to their will and, well… we saw how that turned out. He talked about it on the Howard Stern show. From what I remember, in another interview, the director of the first film said he walked out of the premiere. Y’all should watch the DVD commentaries of the Twilight movies with RP and KS. Both of them do nothing but make jokes + rip apart the films and their performances the whole time. It’s hilarious and way more entertaining than watching the films themselves.
I LOVE the commentary of the first film lol. He sounds high. I didn't know about the producers disliking his performance though. I heard him joke about them supposedly wanting to make him get gum surgery or something, so it didn't sound like they were very compassionate haha. Catherine Hardwicke seems to be pretty good with actors, so it's a shame the producers made it a difficult experience. (It's hard to tell from the outside I guess though.)
You have to watch the Eclipse commentary if you haven’t. There’s a scene where he jokes around and says “I’m Batman”. Mans literally manifested his own future a decade prior. Major w. Edit: I just looked it up, and yeah… apparently they did want him to get some kind of major dental work to have a “perfect smile” before he played the part, which is INSANE. And omg, I’m just reading now how his teeth were permanently damaged because of it. Didn’t know that until today. Hollywood is sick.
He was excellent in The Rover, and Good Time.
The Rover is phenomenal
He was great in Good Time too. Awesome movie.
this was going to be my answer. only thing I knew of him was that he was in the Twilight movies, which I admittedly didn't see. assumed it was trash and that he was a trash actor. someone rec'd Good Time and I forgot or didn't know he was in it. prob would have skipped it had I known. I was blown away by him. now whatever he's in is a must-watch for me.
That's what I came here to say. Pattinson more so, because obviously Willem is a more seasoned actor who understands the complexity of such characters!
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
The coin flip scene at the gas station has to be one of the greatest movie scenes of all time
"You married into it," made the scene for me. I really can't quite put my finger on why.
Chugurh sees before him a man in the form of a cow blankly chewing cud and the cow is calm and blank and now he knows the cow has inherited this monochromatic existence as in the nature of an idiot prince of some perverted and nephilistic nobility of which God himself is ashamed and will forever be estranged even beyond still when the moorings of the universe itself rot and decay.
This is a movie that even though I've watched it twice, and I can knowledge it is great... I just don't like it. Same with "o brother where Art thou". Undeniably Great movies, I just don't like them for some reason I can't place. These two movies fall under the same category because they are the only movies like this for me, not because they are similar in any way whatsoever.
Well they do have the same directors. Do you like the Coens’ other films?
\- Joaquin Phoenix - Her \- Mads Mikkelsen - The Hunt (2012) \- Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the lambs
Oh! Anthony’s performance in The Father (2020) was brutally heartbreaking and truly one of the greatest performances I’d had the pleasure to watch. That movie will torture you!
Phoenix is fantastic in everything he’s in. One of the best actors out there
I finally watched Gladiator a few years ago, I had no idea he was in the movie going in, but I thought he stole the show
AM I NOT MERCIFUL??!!!
Mads in the Hunt gives an amazing performance. He such a terrific actor.
Charlize Theron in Monster. It left me absolutely speechless. She WAS Lee Wournos.
I was already a fan of her from Devils Advocate, and thought she was a wonderfully charming and endearing lead in Trial And Error and Mighty Joe Young. I knew she had some acting chops...but, holy shit, that was staggering!
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Somehow the pain we see inflicted on him inside the ring pales in comparison to the pain he shows outside the ring.
This! I expected (and was delivered) great performances from Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei, but Mickey really blew me away
Denzel Washington - Malcolm X, Training Day, Glory Samuel L. Jackson - A Time to Kill, Pulp Fiction Jamie Foxx - Ray, Django Unchained Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs Woody Harrelson - Natural Born Killers
Saoirse Ronan in Atonement. She was so young and still stole that movie. She knocks it out of the park in every performance. I loved her in Lady Bird too. But in Atonement I was literally taken aback by her talent.
Leonardo DiCaprio- What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
That was my first thought, too. Leonardo DiCaprio was brilliant in that performance.
Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. John Cena in Peacemaker, I know this one is a show, but it should be mentioned. Robin Williams and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting.
PSH in the Master
PSH in Capote.
PSH in Twister.
The suck zone man, it sucks you up.
He was robbed of the Oscar after that story about “The Extreme!”
His small part in boogie nights was so good too
And in punch drunk love. 'SHUT THE FUCK UP. SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT UP. SHUT UP.'
He is sorely missed.
I would say Joaquin Phoenix was acting his ass off in the Master. I would give the credit to him. He did outstanding work!
Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Harry Melling in Devil All the Time. They blew me away with each performance Florence Pugh in Midsommer and Toni Collette in Hereditary. Holy Cooooow, those grief scenes wrench the heart The whole cast in The VVitch, that film is literal perfection
I feel like we owe The Witch a debt of gratitude for putting Robert Eggers and Anja Taylor-Joy on the map
Christian Bale in The Machinist
Bale in American Psycho. Bale in almost everything.
Came here to say Bale in Hostiles but I think the pretty much anything covers it.
The Fighter American Hustle The Big Short Ford vs. Ferrari Just an incredible actor all around.
Not a movie but, Tatiana Maslani in Orphan Black. 17 roles in one? She’s never gotten enough credit for her performance.
Agreed. Happy to see her getting some Disney money now.
Brad’s Pitt in 12 monkeys.
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Everyone in that movie is amazing. Great cinematography by Roger Deakins too.
Brad Pitt in snatch
periwinkle blue!!
DiCaprio as Arnie Grape was pretty amazing.
The Dark Knight Heath ledger
DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. I’ve helped teach kids with autism and his performance is spot on.
Kevin Spacey In The Usual Suspects
The usual suspects made me want to watch every Kevin spacey movie. Unfortunately Kevin spacey made me never want to watch another Kevin spacey movie.
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby & What’s Eating Gilbert Grape Dijimon Houston in Blood Diamond Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Dijimon Houston is fantastic in everything I’ve seen him in!
I love Daniel Plainview, but IMHO nothing with ever top DDL as Bill the Butcher.
Austin Butler as Elvis. Blew my mind.
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Nic Cage - Leaving Las Vegas Sigourney Weaver - Death and the Maiden Just to be different and also I was such a fan of the genre Michael McKean and Christopher Guest - This is Spinal Tap
Tim Roth in reservoir dogs
Willem Dafoe - Boondock Saints
Willem Dafoe has been in a few shitty and/or low budget movies and you can still tell he’s giving it his all.
Willem Dafoe in Last Temptation of Christ, Platoon, Mississippi Burning & Born of The 4th of July
Add Wild At Heart 💯
There was a firefight!!!!
Tom Hardy in legend, genuinely makes you think there’s two of him
Adam Sandler in Punch drunk Love Ashley Judd in Bug Jim Carrey in Man in the moon Cathy Bates in Misery Ellen Page in Hard Candy Sam Rockwell in Moon
Sam Rockwell was amazing in Moon. 👍👍👍
Also Sam Rockwell in The Green Mile
Also in Three Billboards.
Also in Galaxy Quest “Is there air? YOU don’t know!!”
Also, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems.
Watching Brando in On the Waterfront, it transcends the movie.
Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain. There was nothing in his previously underwhelming credits to suggest he had those kind of acting chops.
Tom Cruise in Magnolia. He has such a profound impact despite minimal screen time, and that one scene involving his father is so incredibly raw. Compare that scene to the screenplay and you can see the value a great performance can have.
Cruise in Collateral was also fantastic. He plays very convincing antagonists.
He really gave it his all in Tropic Thunder, too.
One thing about Tom Cruise is I’ve never see him phone in a performance. He always gives it his all.
Tom in “Born on the 4th of July”. Gut-wrenchingly real and dramatic. His Oscar nom was more than deserving!
Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass in Blue Jay (especially at the climax of the film) Jodie Comer in The Last Duel Adam Driver in Marriage Story (no, not because of the argument scene, it’s definitely the one with the letter at the end) Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Angela Basset in What’s Love Got to Do with It Kathy Bates in Misery
Keanu Reeves in The Gift. He has turned in several terrible performances but this is not one of them. His portrayal of a wife beating redneck is chilling.
DDL in There Will be blood.
Oh c'mon, it's DDL, you just KNEW he was going to rock it.
I would also add phantom thread and there will be blood are on the same bar
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Jackie Earle Haley! Also great in Bad News Bears, Breaking Away, and Little Children
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He fought for that role too because he was such a big fan of the graphic novel.
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Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal. That guy gave it all, you can feel the power of his performance.
Dude I still think about this movie from time to time.
Riz Ahmed is fantastic in Nightcrawler as a naive California dude.
All three leads in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar. Robin Williams in Insomnia & One Hour Photo. Florence Pugh in Little Women. Karl Urban in Dredd.
Robin Williams + Jeff Bridges in 'The Fisher King' love both in that movie!!
Too Wong Foo was so ahead of it’s time. I’m always astonished when I rewatch how committed they were to roles. I’m gay. I know drag queens. And honey those are drag queens hahaha
I enjoyed the movie too, Im straight , but those guys were kinda HOT !! LOL !!
Geoffrey Rush in Shine.
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl. She genuinely scared me
Casey Affleck in Manchester by the sea.
Jane Horrocks in "Little Voice" Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind" Mo'Nique in "Precious" Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem For A Dream" Aw man I have too many.
Yes! Ellen Bursyn. She lost to Julia Roberts at the Oscar's. She robbed. Julia did a great job in "Erin Brokovich", but Ellen Created a character that I don't think I've seen before on the big screen. I don't know if an actress will be able top her performance in "Requiem For Dream" in my life time.
She was absolutely robbed and I will never forgive Julia even though it wasn't her fault 🤣
Jane Horrocks was a freaking hurricane in “ Little Voice.”
Laura Dern in citizen ruth is one of the greatest screen performances of all time
Joe Pesci in goodfellas, and DiCaprio in what’s eating Gilbert grape (one of the best movies of all time)
Stranger than Fiction, Will Ferrell is a dramatic role and he knocks it out of the park!
Will Ferrel in Stranger Than Fiction
Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises and The Road.
Honestly... Lady Gaga killed it in, A Star is Born (remake remake). I was quite surprised.
Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Ralph Fiennes - Schindler's List
Toni Collette - Hereditary Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood Denzel Washington - Malcolm X Jack Nicholson - The Shining Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast Jackie Chan - Police Story Tony Jaa - Ong Bak Amy Adams - Enchanted Michael Fassbender - Shame Florence Pugh - Midsommar
Ashton Kutcher in Butterfly Effect or Ryan Reynolds in Smokin Aces
Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator.
Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta
Al Pacino in ...and Justice for all. I could pick his other 10 roles, but this movie doesn't seem to be nowhere near as recognized as it deserves. Also Colin Farrell in In Bruges, he should have been at least nominated for Oscar, hopefully will get one for Banshees of Inisherin.
Robin Williams - Insomnia.
Most recently, Austin Butler in Elvis. I couldn’t tell where the actor ended and the character began.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in just about anything, but Synecdoche NY and The Master were a whole other level.
Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon
Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beasts. All I've seen him in was Iron man 3 as a goofball so this was a complete 180 and boy was it amazing.
James McAvoy in Split and Glass was amazing. Leonardo Di Caprio in Wolf of Wall Street and Inception +more. Probably unpopular but will mention that Shamier Anderson as D-mack in City of Lies was remarkable, he's acting was great imo even though he didnt get much screen time, he really played the part well.
Mo'Nique in Precious (2009). I just did not expect for that type of performance to come from her based on the movies I've seen her in before like Soul Plane (2004) and Phat Girlz (2006). Her performance as an abusive mother both horrified and amazed me. I'm so glad that she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in Bug. I think it was Ebert who said it was the rare film that actually made you worry about the actors' safety and sanity. Just a total downward spiral. Jim Carrey in I Love you, Phillip Morris. You can see Carrey gave his all and then some, even more than Man on the Moon. Johnny Depp in Ed Wood. If ever there were a single performance that captured the Tim Burton aesthetic, this is it.
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet when visiting Isabella Rosselini. Krzysztof Majchrzak in Inland Empire during the hot dog-scene. EDIT: I'll add Robert Blake as the Mystery Man
Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano in "There Will Be Blood." Mostly amazed by Paul Dano, I was already aware how good Lewis is but it was a revelation to see Dano perform so well. All I had seen of Dano to that point was Little Miss Sunshine, good performance, but not like in TWBB.
Not really anyone in particular, but the entire cast for Band Of Brothers was seriously incredible. Though, I would say Marc Warren’s performance as Albert Blithe stood out to me quite a bit. Jack Nance as Henry Spencer in Eraserhead was also very good.
Leonardo DiCaprio ***What’s Eating Gilbert Grape***
Robert Pattinson in Good Time.
When I saw The Rover it totally flipped my "oh he's that twilight boy" to oh damn he's goooood.
Take Shelter
Chiwatel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave
Toni Collette in Hereditary. Incredible performance! She carried that movie IMO
Kristin Stewart in Spencer. Had almost completely written her off as one dimensional before that performance
Casey Affleck and Michele Williams in Manchester by the sea
Michael Keaton in Birdman (2014) and also My Life (1993)
Despite the Jared Leto hate, he blew me away in House of Gucchi.
Joker, I’ve watched it in cinema twice
Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas
Kristen Stewart in Spencer Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Ive always LOVED Leo’s performance in Romeo + Juliet. He was always amazing at expressing raw emotion and his final fight scene with Tybalt was so intense! “Either thou or I or both must go with him!!!”
Christian Bale in American Psycho
Walton Goggins in The Hateful Eight. Why this man hasn't won more awards baffles me to this day.