Actors worth following, part 5

This list continues from part 4.

Gary Oldman

Oldman really disappears into his characters. The one time where I felt his character didn’t work well was Zorg in The Fifth Element.

  • Masterpieces
    • Batman Begins
    • Immortal Beloved
    • Léon: The Professional
  • Great movies
    • The Dark Knight
    • Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
  • Good movies
    • The Dark Knight Rises
    • The Fifth Element
    • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
    • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  • Worth watching once
    • Air Force One
    • Bram Stoker’s Dracula
    • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (+3 more in the series)

Sam Rockwell

I’m guessing I first become aware of Rockwell with Galaxy Quest, in which he (among others) is brilliant. He’s very funny, and if you want to see that he’s a great actor watch Moon.

  • Masterpieces
    • Galaxy Quest
    • The Green Mile
  • Great movies
    • Charlie’s Angels
    • Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
    • Conviction
    • Everybody’s Fine
    • Laggies
    • Matchstick Men
    • Mr. Right
    • The Way Way Back
  • Good movies
    • Iron Man 2
    • Moon
  • Not-so-great movie
    • The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Maggie Smith

I likely first became aware of Smith with Sister Act. As with Judi Dench, I haven’t seen any of the movies she made as a young woman.

  • Masterpiece
    • Gosford Park
  • Great movies
    • Becoming Jane
    • The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
    • Keeping Mum
    • The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
    • Sister Act
  • Worth watching once
    • Harry Potter and the Philsopher’s Stone (+7 more in the series)
    • Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

Tilda Swinton

It’s possible I first became aware of Swinton in Possible Worlds. No matter what movie she’s in you can be sure her character will be utterly unique. Swinton disappears into her roles — in Snowpiercer you can’t even tell it’s her. She seems like a person so interesting you’d like to meet her.

  • Masterpieces
    • Adaptation.
    • Broken Flowers
    • Moonrise Kingdom
  • Great movies
    • The Grand Budapest Hotel
    • Snowpiercer
    • Thumbsucker
  • Good movies
    • Orlando
    • Possible Worlds
  • Mediocre movies
    • Constantine
    • Only Lovers Left Alive

Audrey Tautou

Tautou burst on the scene, at least to North American audiences, in Amélie. Most of her movies are French movies, which tend to be different than North American movies in an interesting way.

  • Masterpiece
    • Amélie
  • Great movies
    • Chinese Puzzle
    • Dirty Pretty Things
    • The Da Vinci Code
    • A Very Long Engagement
  • Good movies
    • Beautiful Lies
    • He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not
    • Priceless

Charlize Theron

Theron’s ability to depict rage is one of the main reasons for watching Snow White and the Huntsman. She also outshone the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road.

  • Masterpieces
    • The Italian Job
    • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Great movies
    • Dark Places
    • Hancock
    • In the Valley of Elah
    • Snow White and the Huntsman
    • Sweet November
  • Good movie
    • Prometheus
  • Worth watching once
    • Aeon Flux

Denzel Washington

Washington starred in the TV show St. Elsewhere before making the jump to movies. He directed Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters.

  • Masterpiece
    • Inside Man
  • Great movies
    • The Equalizer
    • Flight
    • The Great Debaters
    • Man on Fire
    • Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
    • Unstoppable
  • Good movies
    • Deja Vu
    • Safe House

Sigourney Weaver

Weaver burst on the scene in the science fiction classic Alien. She’s identified with that series of 4 films, but she’s also made her mark in many other varied movies. She made a brilliant foray into TV with the miniseries Political Animals in which she played the US Secretary of State.

  • Masterpieces
    • Aliens
    • Dave
    • Political Animals (TV miniseries)
  • Great movies
    • Alien: Resurrection
    • Copycat
    • Gorillas in the Mist
    • The Ice Storm
    • Snow Cake
    • Vantage Point
    • The Village
  • Good movies
    • Alien
    • Alien3
    • Ghostbusters
    • Ghostbusters II
    • The Girl in the Park
    • Working Girl
  • Worth watching once on the big screen in 3D
    • Avatar

Robin Williams

Williams was one of the funniest people ever. He starred in the TV show Mork and Mindy. He usually made comedies but demonstrated he could be equally great at drama in movies like Insomnia.

  • Masterpieces
    • Awakenings
    • Dead Poets Society
    • The Fisher King
    • Good Will Hunting
  • Great movies
    • Aladdin
    • The Birdcage
    • Dead Again
    • Good Morning, Vietnam
    • Insomnia
    • Man of the Year
    • Mrs. Doubtfire
    • World’s Greatest Dad
  • Good movie
    • Bicentennial Man
  • Mediocre movies
    • Night at the Museum
    • Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
  • Bad movies
    • Jumanji
    • Popeye

Bruce Willis

Willis starred in the TV show Moonlighting. He’s starred in a fair number of action and science fiction movies — he’s even starred in 2 time travel movies, both of which are brilliant. He also starred in the 2 best M. Night Shyamalan movies.

  • Masterpieces
    • Looper
    • Moonrise Kingdom
    • The Sixth Sense
    • Twelve Monkeys
    • Unbreakable
  • Great movies
    • 16 Blocks
    • Death Becomes Her
    • RED
    • RED 2
  • Good movies
    • The Fifth Element
    • Surrogates
  • Great but violent
    • Die Hard
  • Mediocre movie
    • Armageddon

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 11th, 2016 at 9:36 pm and is filed under My thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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