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Movies that changed your opinion of an actor


For me it is Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine. I didn't want anything to do with that guy, nothing he made was good. I believe The Office was on, but I never liked it (like the British one.) LMS is so good, and he's so good in it, he totally won me over

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Tatum Channing in Foxcatcher
Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting

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Bruce willis in tears of the sun.

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Martha Marcy May Marlene
I've only seen one other of her movies but I thought Elizabeth Olsen was great in this movie.
She really surprised me with this role.

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That movie is great, makes me sad when I see her as Scarlet Witch in Marvel movies because she's wasted and so is the character

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Great movie and great soundtrack.

It's really sad that people who do have talent don't get the opportunities to display it.
She went for the money and I get that. People have to eat.
Not her fault. Not enough roles out there.
Let's just keep making remakes and rebooting movies that weren't that good to begin with.

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Yeah well, occasionally a remake or boot can be good or even great. If I have to endure 10 Ghost in the Shells to get one Dredd I'll do it for the good of the world. Doesn't erase the originals

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I've yet to see too many remakes that I've liked better.
Maybe never.

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Have you seen Dredd? I love it. It's obviously in the minority, as I said, but at least I know it's possible

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I haven't seen Dredd.
Not exactly in my wheelhouse.

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It's great, action sci fi, I quite liked Judge Dredd too but I am a softy for Stallone

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I can only watch so many dramas and classic epics and political thrillers, I spent years doing only that and recently have been trying to push more into action and comedies (the least accesible genre for me)

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Oh boy, now it begins.
For me Stallone is one who is past his prime.
More name than substance.
I've had many the debate about this.

I'm almost done with most action.
I do comedy but only stupid mindless comedy.

This is the End
Zack and Miri
Forgetting Sara Marshall

Things like that.
Then I'll watch Rashomon or 8 1/2.


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Mrs Robinson you're trying to seduce me

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All I can tell you is that Jesus loves you more than you will know .

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Stallone is definitely past his prime now, but there's a bunch of stuff even into the 90s that I like. Arnold was always my guy growing up for action, and I still watch Conan the Barbarian more regularly than almost anything, but I've been exploring trashy action stars a lot lately, Van Damme, Segal, Dolph Lundgren etc. There's something refreshing about the people who really aren't the best

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Hollywood is full of people who really aren't the best.
It should be easy for you.

I made a promise to myself years ago I was done watching movies
just to watch them.
I used to watch almost everything.
Now I'm very selective in what I watch.

I'd rather watch Truffaut for the 5th time than ....well, almost anything new.

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For me it's very mood dependent. I like to have both crap and gold onhand, that way if I specifically don't want my full attention drawn to the TV I can put something on that's throwaway. For example, when cleaning my apartment, I will be far too distracted with a movie that I know I love or requires a close read, nothing gets done. But mindless chores without any background color I am bound to fizzle out on too. It all has to do with managing my productivity, and with how much attention I can alot. I get very engrossed with certain things

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And with my personal life being shite right now I'm into easy escapism, not so much scholarly art stuff. That was my life for quite some time, so I've seen a lot of great movies, but I find certain shabby films have their place

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I hear ya.
I'm watching Rock Hudson and Doris Day as I type this.
So I definitely hear you.

The only time my TV is on is when I'm sitting down.
Other than that it's music. I probably listen to more music than watching movies.

I also know the older I get the less escapism I want.
Time is short and don't want to waste time on that.
For me getting captivated in Wings of Desire once again is more fullfilling
than watching The Expendables.

We all have our guilty pleasures when it comes to movies and
they definitely have their place.

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I should for the record state that even though I like all those guys, I think I've seen the Expendables once and didn't like it very much. I'm more into them when they were at the top of their game, Sly is a bit sad now

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Duly noted.

I never gave Expendables a chance so you may be ahead of the game.

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Note bene: Dolph may not be a lot as an actor, although he MADE The Expendables and was the only good part of Johnny Neumonic, BUT, and I speak as a major gym rat, he has always been 100 percent natural and juice-free, and a very sincere student of the martial arts. In this regard, he is like Mathiass Hues from The Netherlands, whose films you might also enjoy. Their films may be trashy, but these two gentlemen and athletes are anything but.

I love Arnold and Sly, but they used anabolic steroids; also, pretty obviously, Jason Mamoa and Dwayne Johnson. I've known guys who died from juicing. A terrible example to give impressionable
young men and women.

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Yep and I think Dolph also has a master's in chemical engineering or something, he's great for many many reasons

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another one I watched recently and she was very good - didn't help her career at all.

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No it didn't .
Mostly because people don't want to see this.
They want to watch batman beating up spiderman or whatever it is they do.

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Martin Landau in Ed Wood

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I love Ed Wood! He is so great in that movie, although I don't think recall having any negative opinions about him before that

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All the F bombs was impressive.

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I'll add another, I never thought Sharon Stone was very good until I saw Casino, now I love her

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If we can expand this discussion to include TV as well as cinema: I've never disliked Nicole Kidman. To Die For is in my video library because it is a super-GREAT dark comedy. I enjoyed her in Bewitched, The Others and Practical
Magic, but more for the script (and the nostalgia of Bewitched) than for she as an actress. Her role on the HBO series, Big Little Lies, though, completely won me over, especially her scenes as an abused wife with her husband, Perry, also amazingly acted by Alexander Skarsgard; in particular, her/their scenes with their psychotherapist. First, let me say that Skarsgard (Eric Northman from True Blood, of all places) did absolutely yoeman work in those scenes, and one could say that he provided Kidman with a platform from which she could launch. She evoked such a combination of vulnerability, strength, innocence and enlightenment that I am forever won over by Nicole Kidman. My sole question is: why the HELL were you married to Tom Cruise?

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Please do include TV, I love Alexander Skarsgard! And his old man Stellan, and Kidman, I love To Die For, but have never seen any Big Little Lies, this is now at the top of my list

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Pete, BLL won five Emmys:

Best Limited Series

Best Actress in a Limited Series (Kidman)

Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series (Skarsgard)

Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series (Laura Dern; the depth of talent on this project was beyond impressive)

Best Directing on a Limited TV Series

Watch it On Demand. The music on the soundtrack alone makes the experience worthwhile.

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Yeah definitely gonna watch this like tomorrow, gotta sleep, thanks for chats

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Not a movie, but Veep changed my view of Julia Louise Dreyfus. I was amazed that she made me completely forget Elaine from Seinfeld.

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Were you not a fan of Elaine or just impressed with her versatility?

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I liked Elaine, I just didn't think anyone from Seinfeld could overcome the typecasting created by that show. I thought Veep would be "Elaine playing a politician" but it definitely wasn't.

Very impressed with her. I think the only other one who could possibly overcome their Seinfeld character would be Jason Alexander, since I know he's a true actor, but I haven't seen him in anything after that show. He's done some theater, I'm pretty sure about that.

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He's big into theater and activism for various things, but I would really like him to have a regular show, I miss him. For fun check out his commercial for McDonalds McDLT from 80s, love it

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Yes I caught the McDLT commercial a few weeks ago. Commented that it looks like he considered himself the next Steve Guttenberg!

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Haha. It brings a smile to my face just thinking about that video, and McDonald's did that for me, who would've thought

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OJ Simpson in Naked Gun.

To think he was considered for The Terminator and yet had such comedic timing.

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He definitely has some acting chops, supposedly going to be in an upcoming film now that he's loose

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Loose?

Was he contained in some way Pete?

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Um in Prison for armed robbery and kidnapping (that part pretty trumped up) for 9 years

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And even though he didn't serve time in prison for it, there's that double murder he committed

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So it's aguable he's still a prisoner of his own conscience, but he seems more like a psychopath without one. But man he sure could play that sport game huh

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I didn't know any of that!

AND he played a sports game too?

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Yep sports game alright, you should get out more juror 8

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I thought he was just an actor that was pigeonholed into the role of Nordberg.

I best look him up!

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Yeah most don't know much about him, one of those rare gem actors (and sport game players) very few people have heard of. He hasn't gotten a lot of media coverage

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I only know him because of his brilliant comedic timing across from Leslie Nielsen.

I thought he could be the next Bill Cosby but he just disappeared after the Naked Gun films.

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It might be hard to find info about him, but good luck

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Thanks Pete!

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You're welcome

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Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love and later in Funny People

Tom Cruise in Magnolia

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Jessica Alba in The Killer Inside Me

Jennifer Aniston in Derailed

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