Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Breakthrough Performances
Yet another of the lost posts, recovered thanks to the Yahoo! caches. This one about breakthrough performances. I'd go to the trouble of putting all the links and formatting back in... but I dowanna. So if you care enough to read our rambling on this subject (??!?), read the following plain text:
Film critics always talk about “breakthrough roles,” the performances that turn unknown actors into household names or that reveal hidden talent in actors who’s careers had previously been unremarkable. We got on that topic the other night, and like any devoted geeks, we couldn’t wait to compile our own top ten lists. We don’t claim that our lists are definitive, and some actors we name may have been old news by the time they “broke through” for us. And we limited ourselves to movies released since 1985… we’d feel a little silly naming, for instance, Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, considering that she was well known by the time either of us were old enough to even see that film. Anyway, there’s the standards we limited ourselves to. Here’s our lists:
We started to put code in so that the movie names above link to the imdb page dedicated to the film... but that would take a long time, and if you don't know how to go to imdb and look up a movie by now, get off the internet. You're wasting all of our bandwidth.
On Edward Norton in Primal Fear:
D: “The performance blew me away. It was the best thing about the movie, and it was good enough for me to recommend an otherwise mediocre film. The twist at the end literally left me with my jaw hung open.”
W: “I went to see Primal Fear because it looked like the most tolerable of the crappy movies playing that week. I had no idea what it was about, all I knew was that Richard Gere was in it. I didn’t know who Edward Norton was, but his performance left me awe-struck. I left the theater exhilarated. After this film, I followed his career.”
On Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple:
D: What the hell happened to Whoopi Goldberg? Her performance in The Color Purple promised a brilliant, amazing career to follow. If an actor’s job is to convey emotion, she does the job in this movie as well as anyone could have done it. She’s so good in that movie that, while watching it, I feel like I understand what it’s like to be an abused black woman at the turn of the last century. Wow. Every time I see that movie, she still brings me to tears. And now she’s advertising Slim Fast? WTF??
W: I stayed away from The Color Purple until last year. A, I don’t like Spielberg, and B, what does a girl from Long Island have in common with southern black women 100 years ago? But Darrell begged me to watch it, and this movie is amazing. Whoopi Goldberg is astonishing in this movie. It makes me so mad when I know that an actor can act this well and they end up just wasting their talent. It’s a shame that she followed up this national treasure of a movie with films like Eddie, The Associate, and Made in America. I’d write more, but I’m getting angry thinking about it!
Honorable Mentions
Other break-through performances (break-throughs to us, anyway) that are memorable:
Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple
River Phoenix in Stand By Me
Jack Black in High Fidelity
Juliette Lewis in Cape Fear
Eric Bana in Black Hawk Down
Joaquin Phoenix in To Die For
Amanda Plummer in The Fisher King
Dwight Yoakam in Sling Blade
Natasha Lyonne in Everyone Says I Love You
Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It
Gary Sinise in Of Mice And Men
Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Secrets & Lies
Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You
Helena Bonham Carter in A Room With A View
As usual, your comments are welcome and encouraged. Think we're full of it? Tell us! ¶ 4:21 PM
Yet another of the lost posts, recovered thanks to the Yahoo! caches. This one about breakthrough performances. I'd go to the trouble of putting all the links and formatting back in... but I dowanna. So if you care enough to read our rambling on this subject (??!?), read the following plain text:
Film critics always talk about “breakthrough roles,” the performances that turn unknown actors into household names or that reveal hidden talent in actors who’s careers had previously been unremarkable. We got on that topic the other night, and like any devoted geeks, we couldn’t wait to compile our own top ten lists. We don’t claim that our lists are definitive, and some actors we name may have been old news by the time they “broke through” for us. And we limited ourselves to movies released since 1985… we’d feel a little silly naming, for instance, Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, considering that she was well known by the time either of us were old enough to even see that film. Anyway, there’s the standards we limited ourselves to. Here’s our lists:
Darrell's List 10) Jaimz Woolvett “The Kid” Unforgiven 09) Michael Rapaport “Remy” Higher Learning 08) Kathy Bates “Annie Wilkes” Misery 07) Paul Giamatti “Harvey Pekar” American Splendor 06) Haley Joel Osment “Cole” The Sixth Sense 05) Ralph Fiennes “Amon Goeth” Schindler’s List 04) David Thewlis “Johnny” Naked 03) Leonardo DiCaprio “Arnie Grape” What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? 02) Edward Norton “Aaron Stampler” Primal Fear 01) Whoopi Goldberg “Miss Celie” The Color Purple | Wendy's List 10) Benicio Del Toro “Fenster” The Usual Suspects 09) Natalie Portman “Mathilda” Leon (The Professional) 08) Mira Sorvino “Linda Ash” Mighty Aphrodite 07) Audrey Tautou “Amelie” Amelie 06) Marisa Tomei “Mona Lisa Vito” My Cousin Vinny 05) Toni Collette “Muriel Heslop” Muriel’s Wedding 04) Hilary Swank “Brandon Teena/Teena Brandon” Boy’s Don’t Cry 03) Geoffrey Rush “David Helfgott” Shine 02) Whoopi Goldberg “Miss Celie” The Color Purple 01) Edward Norton “Aaron Stampler” Primal Fear |
We started to put code in so that the movie names above link to the imdb page dedicated to the film... but that would take a long time, and if you don't know how to go to imdb and look up a movie by now, get off the internet. You're wasting all of our bandwidth.
On Edward Norton in Primal Fear:
D: “The performance blew me away. It was the best thing about the movie, and it was good enough for me to recommend an otherwise mediocre film. The twist at the end literally left me with my jaw hung open.”
W: “I went to see Primal Fear because it looked like the most tolerable of the crappy movies playing that week. I had no idea what it was about, all I knew was that Richard Gere was in it. I didn’t know who Edward Norton was, but his performance left me awe-struck. I left the theater exhilarated. After this film, I followed his career.”
On Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple:
D: What the hell happened to Whoopi Goldberg? Her performance in The Color Purple promised a brilliant, amazing career to follow. If an actor’s job is to convey emotion, she does the job in this movie as well as anyone could have done it. She’s so good in that movie that, while watching it, I feel like I understand what it’s like to be an abused black woman at the turn of the last century. Wow. Every time I see that movie, she still brings me to tears. And now she’s advertising Slim Fast? WTF??
W: I stayed away from The Color Purple until last year. A, I don’t like Spielberg, and B, what does a girl from Long Island have in common with southern black women 100 years ago? But Darrell begged me to watch it, and this movie is amazing. Whoopi Goldberg is astonishing in this movie. It makes me so mad when I know that an actor can act this well and they end up just wasting their talent. It’s a shame that she followed up this national treasure of a movie with films like Eddie, The Associate, and Made in America. I’d write more, but I’m getting angry thinking about it!
Honorable Mentions
Other break-through performances (break-throughs to us, anyway) that are memorable:
Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple
River Phoenix in Stand By Me
Jack Black in High Fidelity
Juliette Lewis in Cape Fear
Eric Bana in Black Hawk Down
Joaquin Phoenix in To Die For
Amanda Plummer in The Fisher King
Dwight Yoakam in Sling Blade
Natasha Lyonne in Everyone Says I Love You
Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It
Gary Sinise in Of Mice And Men
Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Secrets & Lies
Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You
Helena Bonham Carter in A Room With A View
As usual, your comments are welcome and encouraged. Think we're full of it? Tell us! ¶ 4:21 PM
