Performances That Were Better Than The Film

[Cosimo]

Just Saw The Quiet American and although i thoroughly enjoyed Caine's subtle performance, i thought the film in general lacked atmosphere and for the most part,pace.It made me think of other standout performances that were much better than the films themselves.

Nick Nolte-Q and A
Ralph Fiennes-Strange Days and Red Dragon
Tom Hanks-Cast Away
Angelina Jolie-Tomb Raider
Brad Pitt/Juliet Lewis-Kalifornia
John Travolta-Primary Colours
Ian Mcklennan-Apt Pupil
Daniel Day Lewis-The Boxer
Joaquin Phoenix-Gladiator
Bill Pullman-Zero Effect

[sleekproductions]

Ralph Fiennes-Strange Days and Red Dragon
(DISAGREE)
Tom Hanks-Cast Away
(DISAGREE)
John Travolta-Primary Colours
(DISAGREE)
Joaquin Phoenix-Gladiator
(DISAGREE)


The one that stands out most in my mind is Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver.

[Annie Hall]

Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator good call! I thought the performances in that movie were incredible...but the movie overall was...eh...

Christian Bale in most anything he does (I haven't seen American Psycho!...don't...hurt me...)

Robery Downey Jr. in Chaplin.

[blankpage]

Well personally I thought that Denzel Washington's performance was better then Training Day. The movie was ok, but I though Denzel was great in it. He saved the movie.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by La Motta
It made me think of other standout performances that were much better than the films themselves.

Angelina Jolie-Tomb Raider


Damn, I'm glad someone else noticed this. She was fine in all the action sequences, suggested a depth of character and intellect for the character that went beyond what was written in the script, and pulled off a totally flawless (to my Yankee Anglophille ears) accent.

She's never less than interesting in anything she does.

[iamjack]

This is going to sound weird, but Billy Zane in The Phantom. Have you seen it? Don't. But take my word for it, he was unusually good for such a fuckwit movie. I mean, Treat Williams was the fuckin bad guy.

[POLYDISTORTION]

robin williams - one hour photo
edward norton - primal fear
kathleen turner - peggy sue got married
denzel washington - the hurricane
jeff bridges - starman

[Jerk Shapiro]

Yeah, Tom Hank's performance was better than Cast Away. Oscar-worthy, and it was still a good movie.

[Bassgod]

ed norton- death to smoochy

[malcolm1980]

Denzel Washington, The Hurricane - The film would've just been a sappy made-for-TV movie/after-school special without his performance.

Haley Joel Osment, Pay It Forward

[Hannibal21]

Haley Joel Osment - A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Willem
Dafoe - The English Patient (the movie sucked ass!)

Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia

Jake Gyllenhaal - Bubble Boy

Tom Hanks - Cast Away

[Tom Samborski]

Haley Joel Osment- A.I
Samuel.L.Jackson- Unbreakable

[charliebobo]

Denzel Washington- The Hurricane(6.5/10) is an excellent choice

Others:
Dustin Hoffman- Rain Man (movie:5.5/10)
Al Pacino- Scent Of A Woman (6/10)
Tom Hanks- Cast Away (6/10)
Noah Taylor- Shine (I didn't like Geoffrey Rush's performance that much) (6.5/10)
Jim Carrey- Man On the Moon (7/10)
Robert DeNiro- Taxi Driver (6/10)

[flowrchild]

The very first movie that came to mind was In The Bedroom. Outstanding performances, but the movie itself wasn't the sum of its parts.

[BadCoverVersion]

Robert Carlyle - The Beach
Jason Lee & Timothy Spall - Vanilla Sky
Christian Bale & John Hurt - All the Little Animals
Nicole Kidman - Eyes Wide Shut
Christopher Eccleston - Gone in 60 Seconds
Danny Dyer - Human Traffic

[NumberMSO52]

Originally posted by iamjack
This is going to sound weird, but Billy Zane in The Phantom. Have you seen it? Don't. But take my word for it, he was unusually good for such a fuckwit movie. I mean, Treat Williams was the fuckin bad guy.

I agree with you, this movie remains a sort of guilty pleasure for me. I also have to agree with Tom Hanks in Cast Away. others include...

Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe - Spider Man
Liev Schreiber - Phantoms and Sum of all Fears (very underrated actor)

[Jasonite]

Harrison Ford & Brad Pitt in Devil's Own...

Laurence Olivier in Othello...

Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman and Bill Pullman in Malice...

Haley Joel in AI is a good choice...



Those are the ones I can think of.

[notchreturns]

Gary Oldman was amazing in Sid and Nancy, too bad the film wasn't...

The same can be said for:
Guy Pearce and Memento
Jack Nicholson and The Pledge
Ray Liotta and Sly Stallone in Copland

[Zed]

A couple more:

Tom Hanks in Cast Away (Great performance, regular movie).

The entire cast of "In the Bedroom" (Great acting jobs, specially on Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei but the movie really sucks).

[Cosimo]

Originally posted by notchreturns

The same can be said for:
Guy Pearce and Memento
Jack Nicholson and The Pledge
Ray Liotta and Sly Stallone in Copland [/B]

I thought all those performances especially Nicholson's in The Pledge were fantastic but i also thought the quality of those films matched the performances.Im glade Liotta is finally getting the recognition he deserves.I thought his portrayal of George Yung's dad in Blow was one of the most convincing and sensitive character's of that year.Cant wait to check out NARC!


Willem Dafoe-Spiderman(Good,not great)
George C Scott-Hardcore
James Woods-The Virgin Suicide's
Gene Hackman-Heist