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| | While I m in a blogging mood figured I ll unveil another movie list. For those who missed my Top 30 Movies of all time I encourage you to go back to November s entries and check it out. For today s list I want to do top roles. And I m not talking about Oscar nomination emotive tear jerking roles... screw that. I m talking about bad ass roles that really enthrall or stand out. Roles that can make a bad movie bearable or make a good movie great... or roles that provide so much quote fodder that the character becomes almost deified with coolness. Here s my list roughly in descending order with some annotation this time:
Jeffrey Goines, Brad Pitt - 12 Monkeys
Hands down the greatest single screen performance ever. Seriously. Jeffrey s rants were genius. Pure genius. You really need to watch this film several times to catch all of Brad s brilliance in this one as he throws bons mots out at you at a machine gun pace... each one dancing upon that fine line between utter lunacy and profound insight.
Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt - Fight Club
Another incredible performance and character. Jeffrey Goines + a social angst + nihilism = Tyler Durden. Wow. "How can you know anything about yourself if you've never been in a fight?"
Agent Paul Smecker, Willem Dafoe - Boondock Saints
Another brilliantly written character so over the top you can t help but love him. Willem is a fantastic actor but he really out did himself on this one.
Gunnery Sgt Hartman, Lee Ermy - Full Metal Jacket
The undisputed Heavyweight champion of quotable roles. I mean the guy made the movie.
Jules Winnfield, Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction
Another wonderful quotable role. The dialogs with Jules and Vincent were just pure genius. The consumate bad-ass (or should I say Badass Motherfucker) turned messianic figure? It doesn t get any better than that.
Rosencrantz and Guildnestern, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth - Rosencrantz and Guildnestern are Dead
Talk about a dynamic duo. The interplay of these two characters is amazing. I ve seen stage performances of the play, but nothing will ever compare to the amazing job these two did.
Thulsa Doom, James Earl Jones - Conan the Barbarian
"They shall all drown in lakes of blood." Yeah. Damn right. Talk about the ultimate bad guy. Doesn t get any more evil yet mesmerizing than Thulsa Doom.
Hunter S. Thompson/Raoul Duke, Johnny Depp - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Johnny Depp did an amazing job in a difficult role. He delivered the most absurd of dialog with impeccable skill. Lots of great lines in this one too... "We can't stop here. This is bat country." Makes me laugh just typing it.
The Player, Richard Dreyfus - Rosencrantz and Guildnestern are Dead
Another sublime performance in a difficult role. Did I mention this is an awesome movie?
Doc Holiday, Val Kilmner - Tombstone
Say what you will about Val but he really shined in this one. He steals every scene he s in. Brilliant.
Mickey O'Neal, Brad Pitt - Snatch
Pikey speak. That s all I gotta say. Pikey speak.
Leonard Shelby, Guy Pearce - Memento
Talk about an insane role to have to tackle... and Guy pulled it off without a glitch... now that is impressive.
Gen. John Buford, Sam Elliot - Gettysburg
OK, to be honest this really could be any role Sam Elliot has ever played. The man could play Liberace and make him bad ass! Hell- he was kick ass in Roadhouse... a Patrick Swayze film... Patrick Swayze! This role just stands out in my mind as the archetypical Sam Elliot role... "This is good ground!"
Mr. Pink, Steve Buscemi - Reservoir Dogs
Ok, we all love Steve Buscemi. How can you not? He gets the best roles and cameos and always stands out. This is the role that started it all... the tipping rant? Beautiful.
Walter Sobchak, John Goodman - The Big Lebowski
Speaking of Steve Buscemi the interaction between Donnie and Walter... priceless. "Donnie, you're like a child who wonders into the middle of a movie."
Sidney Mussburger, Paul Newman - The Hudsucker Proxy
The perfect embodiment of the machiavellian business tycoon. Played flawlessly.
Stephen, David O'Hara - Braveheart
I ll never understand why this guy wasn t propelled into stardom following the success of Braveheart... another character that really stole every scene he was in... outshining Mel Gibson for God s sake! "The Almighty tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're fucked."
Well, that s it. Again, I m sure I m missing some good ones but that s what I came up with. Obviously there s a lot of cross over with my Top 30 films list. Can you recognize my Brad Pitt fixation? Yeah. Brad.
-b |
| 12/5/2002 1:00:51 PM Brad, the love of your life | | Ever think about turning gay??? | | 12/5/2002 1:43:58 PM No... | At least not now. Friggin Jennifer Anniston...
-b | | 12/6/2002 2:59:49 PM Sam! | Was the man in "We Were Soldiers!" It was a better role than what he did in "Gettysburg"
-- Wanderer | | 12/6/2002 3:03:14 PM Agreed | Sam did really kick ass in We Were Soldiers. I really enjoyed the film in general too... but both the role and the film haven t made my lists mainly because I ve only really seen the movie once. Once I see it a couple times on DVD I m sure both the movie and Sam will make my respective lists of glory.
-b | | 12/9/2002 9:48:29 AM Gay | He must be gay, there s not a single woman in his list of top acting roles!
-tgm | | 12/10/2002 9:49:13 AM Woman roles? C mon | Hey, I thought long and hard about a woman for my list. There really aren t any striking women roles that I could come up with. It just doesn t happen. The closest I could muster was Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter which didn t even threaten to break my top 20.
I challenge anyone to name a stirring female role. And I ll note anyone who tries to mention any Julia Roberts roles will be censored and banned from my blog forever... seriously.
-b | | 1/22/2003 2:26:13 PM Missed another one | Another glaring oversight has come to mind (along with Agent Smith from the Matrix): Bruce Campbell as Ash from the Evil Dead series... yeah.
-b | | 11/14/2003 1:04:49 AM | | I wonder if it's too late for this but.. Umm... Jodi Foster? In just about anything? You honestly think they would have made three other movies about Dr. Lector if not for the FAN FRICKEN TASTIC testion between him and Ms. Foster? Her role made that movie just as much as Hoppkins did. And wtf? Where's Hopkins? |
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