Top 10 Male Performances of ALL TIME

This is harder than it sounds...  So many incredible performances over the years, how can you pick just 10?   Well, over a couple of reds and much deliberation Guy and I have created our top 10. 

Let us know what you think and if we missed one that you reckon deserves a spot.

These 10 are in no particular order.


Daniel Day-Lewis - The Butcher
From the movie 'Gangs of New York'.   The Butcher is one of our favourite characters ever.  Every second he is on screen he just captures your attention. 


Heath Ledger - The Joker
From the movie 'The Dark Knight'.   R.I.P Heath, such a shame.  He was only getting better and better and it's painfully ironic that his dark and disturbed Joker seemed to take him over the edge in his own personal life.  Such an incredible interpretation of the character though...Jack Nicholson WHO?  Nah that's not fair, Nicholson's Joker was damn good as well in a completely different way.


Christian Bale - Dicky Eklund
From the movie 'The Fighter'.  This character blew us away.. how can this be Christian Bale?  We have seen him drop the weight before in 'The Machinist' but this wasn't just weight it was a complete transformation.  He must have got himself hooked on crack for real as nobody can act THAT well can they?  Watch him even in the background of shots, he never breaks character for a second.  Incredible.


Russell Crowe - John Nash
From the movie 'A Beautiful Mind'.   People have a lot of different opinions about Crowe but you cannot deny his performance here.  God damn, that speech at the end...


Al Pacino -Tony Montana
From the movie 'Scarface'.   There is damn good reason why this performance would probably show up in every top 10 list in the world.  Pacino is always good but this still remains his absolute standout in our opinion.  "Revenga!!!"


Geoffrey Rush - David Helfgott
From the movie 'Shine'.   To be honest we are not huge fans of the film... find it quite slow especially in the last couple of acts.  But regardless of the movie as a whole Rush is brilliant playing Helfgott.


Christoph Waltz - Colonel Hans Landa
From the movie 'Inglorious Basterds'.  What a character!!  He is simply incredible for the entire film however the standout is the scene in farm house while he interrogates the farmer. You wouldn't f$%k with him.


Dustin Hoffman - Raymond Babbitt
From the movie 'Rain Man'.  There are a number of great performances over the years of actors playing 'special needs' characters.  Leo should get an honourable mention for "What's eating Gilbert Grape" and of course Tom Hanks in 'Forest Gump'.  But we feel Hoffman is the stand out here.


Daniel Day-Lewis - Daniel Plainview
From the movie 'There Will Be Blood'.  It's hard not to put D.D.L for ALL his characters.  Daniel Plainview is just another transformation for him,  completely unique compared to other roles such as the Butcher and more recently Lincoln.  What an incredible performance and movie.


Denzel Washington - Alonzo Harris
From the movie 'Training Day'.   Again another brilliant actor with many stand out performances.  The reason we chose Training Day though is he simply dominates every scene.  Perfect casting putting the mild Ethan Hawke next to him though, works so well.



Honourable Mentions

A lot of damn good performances made it close but we could only pick 10.  These ones nearly made it though...

Robin Williams - Both for Aladdin (voice over) and Dead Poets Society
Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs
Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
Sam Rockwell - Green Mile
Eric Bana - Chopper
Mel Gibson - Brave heart
Andy Serkis - Lord of the rings (Gollum)
Tom Hanks - Forest Gump
Ed Norton - Primal Fear + American History X
Johnny Depp - Pirates of a Carribean
Leo DiCaprio - Basketball Diaries
Micky Rourke - The Wrestler
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Forest Whittaker - The last king of Scotland.




Now.. to start working on the top 10 female performances...

The Last Of Us

I know this is supposed to be a MOVIE review blog but I just have to write a bit about the new PS3 game from Naughty Dog - The Last of Us.

Naughty Dog are the legends responsible for the Uncharted series which are really good fun well made games.   They seem to nail the perfect combination of story, characters, game play and beautifully detailed graphics which make for a really immersive experience, almost like playing through a movie.

As a lover of all things post apocalyptic and zombie related you could imagine my excitement when they announced they were turning their attentions to 'The Last of Us'.   Once I got my hands on it I couldn't stop playing... the game creates an atmosphere that begins with the start screen right through to the moment you switch it off and are left sitting in front of the T.V thinking "What do I do now?".

They have taken everything good about the Uncharted engine and game play and added more on top.   I won't give too much away but the opening act is simply incredible as you experience the world spiraling into chaos and then we go 20 years further on where the real journey begins.

The game just gets everything right.   The story is so engaging and the character development is brilliant.  They obviously put a lot of time and money into really good voice acting and audio work to make the experience as realistic as possible.

The pacing is perfect - an absolute balance of story, action, tension and relief.  The level design is very clever also, often feeling quite open world when in fact it's quite linear - leading you a certain way with always the option to go explore and extra area or two for some supplies... and believe me you will need them.  Unlike other games you are rarely over supplied and even a few bullets or a home made 'shiv' can be the difference of passing an area or not. 

There is a very simplistic crafting system based on basic supplies you will find in your travels.  A pair of scissors, a bottle of alcohol or some sticky tape for example.    What works better than a steel pipe?  I know, lets sticky tape some scissors to the end!   You won't believe how satisfying the melee combat is... the hits feel hard and the blood will splatter.. a LOT  (it's R rated).

If you're a bit of a gamer and have access to a PS3 I highly recommend giving The Last Of Us a go.  It's such an enjoyable ride and I honestly cannot fault it in anyway. 


10/10

A whole bunch!

Work has been overly busy leaving little time for writing reviews but I have watched a few movies lately so thought I would do a quick post.


Phantom

Russian Submarine drama with Ed Harris and David Duchovny amongst other familiar faces.  Quite a low budget film but was very enjoyable right through.  At first I was a little surprised with all the American accents playing Russian naval roles without even trying to do an accent but when you think how poor their accents might be it was probably a good thing.

7/10
IMDB Info



Trance

Danny Boyle's new one.  Was quite an interesting story about hypnosis  but unfortunately was watching quite late after a few wines so fell asleep before the end.   I don't feel inclined to watch the ending so not a great sign.  Never really grabbed my attention.
Won't rate this as it's fair not having seen it all.

IMDB Info



42

Movie about Jackie Robinson who was the first African American to play in the white baseball league.  Very strong story supported by solid performances all round and in particular by Harrison Ford -  I may be bias tho ;)

What an amazing guy Jackie must be in real life with such inner strength to achieve what he did in such racist times.   A very inspiring journey.   My only criticism would be a few scenes felt drawn out slightly and the just over 2 hour run-time could have been reduced without taking anything away from the film.


7/10
IMDB Info







Dead Man Down

This was pretty damn good.  Colin Farrel playing a Bulgarian American who crosses paths with Noomi Rapace, a car accident victim seeking revenge.   It's a solid drama with some great action throughout but what I enjoyed the most was the relationship between the two.  Also loved her Mum, what a classic.

8/10
IMDB Info



Evil Dead - 2013

I love the originals even if they are a bit b-grade these days.   Although this was a solid attempt at a remake it just didn't hit the spot for me.   Great over the top gore and a decent attempt to expand slightly on the basic story however I was just left wanting more.  Could have been the shocking acting.   Scrap this and watch Cabin in the Woods instead.

5/10
IMDB Info


Fast and Furious 6

I know you have to take these movies with a grain of salt.. but things are getting out of hand.  These guys are breaking new ground in unrealistic action which is quite entertaining if you can ignore that voice in your head screaming "Bullshit!"

There's only one thing left to say about this movie... "Longest Runway Ever!"

6/10
IMDB Info


I think that's about it for now.   Guy and I have been working hard on our top 10 male character performances of all time.   Will upload later this weekend - it was tough but we managed to get it down to 10.

Movie 43

OMFG this movie actually exists. It is an actual thing that is a part of our wondrous universe. You can actually sit down and watch it. WTF...

Movie 43 is the most unlikely film experience I can imagine. I wish, I wish, I wish I was in the room when the filmmakers got the following actors on board to be a part of such a ridiculous film: Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Anna Farris, Stephen Merchant, Dennis Quaid, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Richard Gere, Elizabeth Banks to mention just a few. How? How did they get those people involved? How did they make Hugh Jackman have a set of testicles on his neck?!? How did they make Anna Farris want to get pooped on? How did they make Halle Berry get her (fake) tit out and make guacamole by smashing it into the avocado? How?!?! HOW?!?!

The filmmakers for this movie must be the best smooth talkers that have ever existed. I mean, think of all the amazing scripts and ideas flying around Hollywood and at the end of the day an exec in a studio somewhere said "sure here is $20 million to go make this film, it sounds great!" I’m gobsmacked. I think 10 or 15 years ago I would have died laughing at this film, sheerly for its crude and disgusting humour and how far it goes. I can imagine myself grinning and chuckling under my breath the whole way through, and talking about it at lunch at school, but the 30 something version of me just found it to be so insanely silly I couldn’t get past that to enjoy it.

The plot, just quickly, is that an older brother wants to get spyware on a younger brothers laptop and needs to come up with a plan to get him off it long enough to install it. He comes up with the idea that a banned movie called Movie 43 exists on the net somewhere. He then cons his younger brother to use his own laptop to find it and runs off with his younger brothers laptop to lookup porn in the toilet in the hope of installing spyware on it. Or something. Then every 'banned' movie with a title like Movie 43 is found by the younger brother and watched by him and you as the real audience. Each 'banned' movie is a skit involving the actors above doing insane things... and your mouth will be open, your eyebrows raised and your head spinning as they play out infront of you.

It’s pretty much up there as one of the worst movies ever made, but if you want to see a set of balls on Hugh Jackmans throat or Halle Berry blow the candles out on a blind boy’s birthday cake, or a naked fembot that plays music from her vagina then check it out for sure. Otherwise, you aren't really missing anything.

SCORE: 2/10

IMDB Info for Movie 43

The Lone Ranger

So The Lone Ranger is a bit of a weird movie. It has huge stars in Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, is built on a known brand, has a mega budget, is directed by Gore Verbinski (who also directed Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy) and made by Disney. You would think this would be a no brainer.

First off let me say that normally I dont really think about nor worry about how much violence or dark idea's are in a film. I quite like a good horror as you know and feel the dark sway to the comic book movies of late has been really great, but, when I go in to see a Disney movie that is a western starring Johnny Depp I'm expecting some fun, upbeat and humourous action mixed with a good story line. In fact I would go so far as to think that this movie would be destined more for young'uns and just checking found that this was actually M15+ (thankfully) and not PG13 as I originally thought it was.

The film is violent! For example, in the first third of the movie the bad guy of the film played by William Fichtner turns out to be a cannibal that eats the hearts of his victims. Halfway through the movie there is the complete destruction and genocide of an American Indian boys tribe and then in the last act a gattling gun mows down Indian Apache's as they ride on some white people. Its fairly obvious that the studio decided, in its typical way, that just because everything at the moment is 'dark' this needed to be aswell. This totally destroyed the film and for once I kind of wish they had just delivered the PG13 fun version of the film, which is different from what I normally say, but maybe I'm wrong sometimes.

If the movie was 45mins shorter, cut out all of the really dark violence of the bad guys, had a lot more Depp and Hammer humour and cut out the awesome but utterly over the top 45 minute train action adventure set piece that finishes the movie, I think I would be raving about this film as much as I did with the first Pirates movie. You can see the amazing film in amongst the crap and that makes it all the worse when you sit there watching the mess it ended up being unfold on the screen infront of you. Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp do share a real on screen chemistry and I wish that had been the focus of the movie. All of the evilness portrayed overshadows the 'Hero' of the movie and throwing money into expensive and over the top scenes that are unnecessary doesn't fix the other problems.

So do I recommend seeing the film? Well, yes, it certainly isnt the worst movie Ive ever seen. Its just an over ambitious, over budgeted, over edited mess of a blockbuster thats far too long. Go and see it at least once but dont expect to see the fun and adventure of a Pirates movie. Instead expect some very dark themes, quite a bit of violence, some very silly behaviour topped with a great bit of acting from the two main leads.

SCORE: 6/10

IMDB Info for The Lone Ranger

Stoker

WHAT THE?!

What a crazy film.  Very unique and beautiful yet pretty damn weird really.  But it worked!

This is Chan-wook Park's first go at an English language film with a Hollywood budget.  I'd like to draw comparisons with Stoker and his other films but to be honest I've only ever seen one of his films - Oldboy... which was pretty damn decent I might add.

Cinematography was very nicely done and I especially liked some of the transitions between shots.  One in particular going from a comb going through hair merging into a paddock of wheat & grass was really well done. 

Could fault the acting all round really although no real stand outs.  Nicole Kidman seems to play this type of role almost too well now, reminded me a bit of The Others.   I'm not too familiar with Matthew Goode who plays the central male role but he did well getting his creep on.

Definitely not your typical horror/thriller.  Apart from a few mildly tense scenes there are no 'scares' as such - it is more of an interesting journey watching the story unravel.  It definitely feels like a couple of styles combined but I can't put my finger on the two movies to compare to... sorry not being very helpful!  If you're not big on overly violent and scary horrors but don't mind a strange but interesting story with a bit here and there this might be the one for you.

7/10

IMDB Info