ysbreker

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I think Zooey Deschannel is a terrible actress, but the writing and directing made this film work. And work WELL.

She writes 3 minute pop songs for cotton (the fabric of our lives™) now, SHE DOESN'T NEED THIS STINKIN' ACTING CAREER.

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She writes 3 minute pop songs for cotton (the fabric of our lives™) now, SHE DOESN'T NEED THIS STINKIN' ACTING CAREER.

I actually think Zooey Deschanel a pretty good singer. Her album with M. Ward (She & Him volume 1, it's on spotify!) is solid, pleasant, folky alt-Americana.

Can't say I think she's a good actress but, damn, those eyes.

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I actually think Zooey Deschanel a pretty good singer. Her album with M. Ward (She & Him volume 1, it's on spotify!) is solid, pleasant, folky alt-Americana.

Can't say I think she's a good actress but, damn, those eyes.

Yeah, I think I've actually had a little bit of a celebrity crush on her since the Hitchhiker's Guide movie.

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I did enjoy The Prestige, but I fear even that is now tarnished for me. He's just too smug!

How about The Machinist?

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Or even better, Equilibrium, a role that actually fits his acting talent

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How about The Machinist?

I really liked The Machinist, although I suspect that's as much for the cinematography as Bale's portrayal of the central character. I think he's excellent as an abusive dismissed military nut-case in Harsh Times, however. Really good, intimate story (again) with some good twists which he evokes well on-screen IMO.

I can't recall a recent bad film - prior Terminator Salvation, obviously - for Bale, thinking about it. But that film was just a horrible mess from start to finish. I don't think it's fair that some of the coverage has suggested Bale was the main problem. It was a pretty crap idea for a film in the first place, which no amount of on-set tinkering by anyone involved was clearly able to rectify. Just a mess--it happens.

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I really don't like him in either Batman, i find with him he tends to be in good films but he feels the same in everyone, I never really feel he brings much emotion (that's not really the word that I'm looking for but short of using moxie, which I usually use when I want to say something like je ne se quois. Actually no moxie will do) He never brings any moxie to his roles.

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I really liked The Machinist, although I suspect that's as much for the cinematography as Bale's portrayal of the central character.

I agree on both counts. Also, bringing it back to the spoilers thing, I saw The Machinist in the cinema without having a clue what it was. It's probably the most pure introduction I've ever had to a film, and it paid off. The problem is that to repeat that experience I basically need other people to dictate my film-going habits for me.

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I really don't like him in either Batman, i find with him he tends to be in good films but he feels the same in everyone

Most leading men are like that. Robert DeNiro, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson...

The two modern leading men I can think of who aren't that way are Johnny Depp and (believe it or not) Brad Pitt (12 Monkeys, Fight Club, Snatch, Benjamin Button...)

I'm sure there are more guys in that group, but I don't watch that many movies these days.

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Blah blah blah Brad Pitt (12 Monkeys, Fight Club, Snatch, Benjamin Button...)
And you mustn't forget Burn After Reading, in which he morphs into the most shallow and unsexy and pathetic version of himself, and it is done almost entirely through powerful, subtle acting (rather than, say, prosthetics and makeup and narrative).
I'm sure there are more guys in that group, but I don't watch that many movies these days.
Gary Oldman is the greatest example of what you're describing in existence. It took me a good five years and the dawn of the age of imdb to notice him as a single actor rather than a series of amazing independent performances (he is Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg from the Fifth Element, he was Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula, he was Sirius Black in Harry Potter and Jim Gordon in the Batman movies, and he always delivers).

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The two modern leading men I can think of who aren't that way are Johnny Depp and (believe it or not) Brad Pitt (12 Monkeys, Fight Club, Snatch, Benjamin Button...)

Don't forget Steven Seagal (who will also be in Machete).

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The two modern leading men I can think of who aren't that way are Johnny Depp and (believe it or not) Brad Pitt (12 Monkeys, Fight Club, Snatch, Benjamin Button...)

It's exactly this phenomenon that contributed to my dislike of Public Enemies. Casting Bale alongside Depp is just mean :P

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Philip Seymour-Hoffman and Daniel Day-Lewis are two leading men who basically play different characters, all perfectly.

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Al Pacino is the worst offender of playing himself I can think of, but he at least he has charisma, unlike Bale.

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Call, I've got a four of a kind: Christopher Walken (although his attitude changes a lot, it's still quite often the same guy)

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Call, I've got a four of a kind: Christopher Walken (although his attitude changes a lot, it's still quite often the same guy)

This is more true as of late than it was in his early career. People let him act then, nowadays he is a celebrity cameo.

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Got tickets to see my favourite Terry Gilliam picture tonight, Brazil. Never seen it on the big screen so very excited. His new one is out in October in the UK, looks like it could be a return to form. Any Gilliam fans on here?

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Got tickets to see my favourite Terry Gilliam picture tonight, Brazil. Never seen it on the big screen so very excited. His new one is out in October in the UK, looks like it could be a return to form. Any Gilliam fans on here?

On the big screen?! Where?!

I'm a fan of most of his movies and own the rest anyway, but I haven't been keeping too much track of him as of late. Still waiting for his next movie to make it to the US.

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In London at the BFI - they are doing a season of his films.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/

Ah, not my area at all. For about two weeks in Houston it was playing at the River Oaks theatre about 4 years ago but I managed to miss it.

They could have replayed it since then but I don't keep up with their showings.

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