10 best performances in Quentin Tarantino's films

I recently rewatched almost all of Tarantino's films - other than Death Proof because seeing it once was enough - and I decided to finally rank my favorite performances in his films. It wasn't easy and a lot of great ones - like Lucy Liu's O-Ren Ishii - didn't make the cut - but it was also lots of fun to go back and appreciate that amazing work. So here we go:

Sam Rockwell's performance in "Jesse James" is some kind of a miracle

"There is this thing Sam Rockwell does...." is something that you can say about his every performance. How hilariously his eyes widen when he is displeased as someone is singing terribly during audition in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind or when his kid walks in the bedroom killing any hope of him getting to have sex with his wife in Poltergeist. The stutter, which actually happened accidentally in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. His occasionally high pitched voice he uses with such funny effect, for example in Frost/Nixon as shocked and appalled he quotes what Nixon just said "Daddy, you're the finest man I know?!". The way he grabs women by their clothes and pulls them into a kiss (Laggies/Welcome to Collinwood).  Or how he jumps down a small flight of stairs in Matchstick Men.

And the dancing. Always the dancing.

Top 10 performances in Christopher Nolan's movies

Christopher Nolan's movies have given us a lot of wonderful things - exceptional sequences, wonderful cinematography, fantastic music. But most of all they have given us wonderful performances, often times the very best from the talented actors who appeared in Nolan's film's. Here's my list of the 10 best of them.

Ed Harris' performances: 1992 - 2001

It's finally time for the second out of four of my posts about all the performances of the great Ed Harris. Last month I wrote, among others, about his big screen debut, first leading role, first performance in major Oscar race contender and his great work in Glengarry Glen Ross (which was last movie featured in last post) (years: 1978 - 1992)

Now it's an even more exciting - and most successful - time in his career to focus on - his first, second and third Oscar nomination, his most well known role to date and a whole variety of characters he portrayed - from politicians and cops through psychopaths and generals to priests and alcoholic painters. There is nothing this man can't do.

Logan. Our Wolverine.

The strong, silent type. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do.

I always loved Tony Soparno's rants about the archetype of a true man. Someone who simply does the things an honorable man should do, no matter what. Someone who has his own, unspoken code and follows it.

And I can't help but think that Tony Soprano would have loved Logan.

We spent so many years with Logan but not until James Mangold's magnificent film which I have not been able to stop thinking for almost two months now, did we really get to see him in all of his glory. In all of his strong, silent type glory. The ultimate hero, but the hero who feels so very human. In Logan you could take his claws away and it wouldn't change much. In Logan we get to see a hero which is not made extraordinary because of his powers, his claws, or the adamantium covering his bones. We get to see that it is something else that made him so very special.

Ed Harris' performances: 1978 - 1992

Ed Harris has been giving us wonderful performances in films and television for more than 40 years. It kills me that most of them go unnoticed, in spite of him being a familiar face to so many movie fans because of his appearances in films like The Hours, Truman Show, A Beautiful Mind or Apollo 13. That's why, as I am getting close to having seen all of his movies, I decided to write about each and every single one of his performances he gave since his movie debut (excluding his voice performances). It was not always easy to find those films, sometimes I only had youtube or video ripped from VHS to go by, but somehow I managed to find them all.

I will focus on his roles since his feature film debut but also include the ones in TV movies and TV series. That's altogether - in 39 years - 76 performances and that's not including his stage work.

In this first (out of 4) post I will look at the years 1978 - 1992 and 20 performances Ed Harris gave during that time from his very first role on the big screen that was just one minute long through him playing medieval performers, astronauts, abusive husbands, ordinary guys meeting underwater aliens and frustrated working men.

We need to talk about Harrison Ford in "Witness"

OK I'm fairly certain that yesterday I've seen the most beautiful thing ever.

Are you ready to meet Amazing Amy? + 5 essential performances by Rosamund Pike

The first reviews for Gone Girl arrived. Here's what the critics are saying about Rosamund Pike's performance as Amy - my most anticipated performance of the year:

Performances I Love - Morgan Freeman in Se7en (+ few words about John Doe and the box)

When people talk about Morgan Freeman nowadays they tend to talk about how his laziness is almost up there on the levels of tardiness depicted by Johnny Depp's recent professional behaviour which is quite frankly embarrassing to witness. They talk how he stumbled from the set of Transcendence right to the set of Lucy without so much noticing the difference, or at least so it looks judging by the quality of his performances and the level of interest he seems to have in the projects. And when people talk of David Fincher's Se7en they always, always sing praises for Kevin Spacey, hailing his John Doe as one of the most memorable cinematic killers and nominating his performance left and right, completely ignoring everyone else who is in this movie. Let's break these two patterns, shall we?

10 favorite female characters

Since I haven't been watching many films lately, I figured I'll spend some time appreciating my favorite ladies in movies and TV to give you all something to enjoy here on the blog...

Spin-off blogathon

I've never hosted a blogathon - I never seemed to have an idea for it. And then while making one of my lists last week and asking people about its subject on twitter I thought - hey, let's turn that into a blogathon.

The list I was making was a list of characters that were on screen for few short scenes but you would like to see a whole movie about them. Someone so mysterious, fascinating and charismatic that you wish they had more scenes in original film and you just couldn't get enough of them.

Dissecting the McConaissance

Ah, happy times. I can finally call Matthew McConaughey an Oscar winning actor. And his road to that point as well as to the acclaim and respect among movie critics and fans was quite an interesting one.

Matthew was just a young kid, who wanted to become a lawyer, when he was discovered in a bar - Richard Linklater offered him a role in Dazed and Confused, now a cult classic movie. From that point while there were roles in some pretty bad films - McConaughey actually stared in Texas Chainsaw Massacre flick, which is at least really entertaining, there was also a lot of high profiles roles like his work in A Time to Kill, Contact and Amistad. It was the first one that made him a star.

And then in 2001 came the Wedding Planner - amusing and charming movie, where Matthew stared as every woman's dream (enter the angry feminists who will yell at me now) - handsome pediatrician who repeatedly saves the protagonist. The film was successful and that caused McConaughey to star in several more romantic comedies - How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - 2003, opposite Kate Hudson, Failure to Launch, 2006, opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, Fool's Gold, 2008, opposite Kate Hudson and Ghost of Girlfriend's Past, 2009 opposite Jennifer Garner.

Making the Case for: George Clooney in Gravity

I usually try to stay open minded when it comes to other people's opinions on movies. No, wait. That's not it. I try to, however, remember that everyone is entitled to have different taste than me. Movies are different, people are different. As many people, as many reactions to certain films. That said, occasionally I hear opinions so shockingly wrong I just roll my eyes.

Performances I Love: Stephen Dillane in The Hours

Dearest, I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel I can't go through another one of these terrible times and I shant recover this time. I begin to hear voices and can't concentrate so I am doing what seems to be the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I know that I am spoiling your life and without me you could work and you will, I know. You see I can't even write this properly. What I want to say is that I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. Everything is gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. Virginia 
- Virgina Woolf's suicide letter to her husband Leonard.

The SONSOFBITCHES snubbed/Performances I Love: Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd

In the week that will most likely end with Anne Hathaway winning undeserved Oscar for Les Mis, I'm reminded of female performance in musical that was actually snubbed by the dearest Academy - Helena Bonham Carter's splendid work as Mrs. Lovett in Tim Burton's last great picture - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Though both Johnny Depp and Carter were nominated for Golden Globes that year,  it was only Depp who won the Globe and received Academy Award nomination. Furthermore Carter was snubbed by both SAG and BAFTA, which is astonishing since she is one of their most well known and revered English Roses.

Performances I Love: Natalie Portman in Cold Mountain

 If I had my way they'd take metal altogether out of this world. Every blade, every gun. 

While I don't consider Natalie Portman to be an especially gifted actress, occasionally she is capable of giving wonderful performances. She truly shined in Closer and thanks to perfect casting and incredible support from the director Darren Aronofsky, she created mesmerizing work in Black Swan. One of the performances of hers I especially adore is her heartbreaking work in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain.

Performances I Love: Isabelle Adjani in Possession

I can't exist by myself because I'm afraid of myself, because I'm the maker of my own evil.

Possession is a very difficult movie to get through - disturbing, bizarre and all in all hard to watch. It shows the destruction of marriage using many creepy plot devices, strange metaphors and often borders on horror movie, with all the examples of body horror that happen here. But it's all worth it because of Isabelle Adjani's performance in the film. I have yet to see The Story of Adele H. which features what is frequently called one of the best portrayals of madness in movies and it's also provided by Adjani, but for me, her work in Possession is absolutely hypnotizing.

Performances I Love Special: My 10 favorite performances

(countdown to Cinematic Corner's first birthday - 1 day)

Performances I Love: Laura Linney in Mystic River

Today I'm launching new feature - Performances I Love. There are many times when when I love a movie it's because of the certain performances or characters that for some reason stayed with me. It's also true for bad and average films - sometimes they feature acting so good in even only few scenes, mostly because of one particular actor, that it redeems the whole movie. Whatever the quality of the film, good or bad, the performances of highest quality can be found everywhere. And many of such amazing roles are often times underrated and overlooked.

The first performance I love which I like to show cast is also my entry for ruth's genius blogathon - Small Roles, Big Performances. It's Laura Linney's work in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River where she stared as Sean Penn's character's wife -  Annabeth Markum.