Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #93 - Raul Julia in Addams Family Values

"You'll meet someone. Someone very special. Someone who won't press charges."


Some actors are instantly likable. Raul Julia is one such performer. His great charm, oddly enough, was never better utilized than in the Addams Family films. While the first movie is well done, and Julia does a great job recreating the role first made famous in cartoons and on TV, it is Addams Family Values that contains Julia's best work as Gomez Addams.

What works best about Raul Julia's Gomez is how Julia plays it with hardly any irony. Yes he's having fun, but he also invests a real character in what started as a sketch by Charles Addams. The operatic bombast, the deep passion he has for Morticia, the sorrow he feels for losing his brother to the evil Debbie...Raul Julia makes it all feel honest. It's just a very funny and winning role that I believe will holdup and remain relatively timeless.

Best Scene:

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #94 - Anjelica Houston in The Witches

"You may remove your shoes! You may remove your wigs!"



Some performances stand out in one's memory more for the impression they gave than any one moment. The Witches is one of the few children's films I remember being frightened by when I was young. Images and ideas stick out in my mind: the woman in the painting, the room full of witches, and most of all: Houston's Miss Eva Ernst (also known as the Grand High Witch).

I have not seen The Witches in a long time but Houston's performance is impossible to forget. Like another famous cinematic portrayal of a witch, Houston seemed to revel in being able to play someone so joyfully evil. She's one of the greatest villains you will ever see in a kids film because you really believed she was ready, willing, and able to harm any child she came across. It is hard to make an audience believe that kind of maliciousness and Houston sells it perfectly.

I don't know what I would think of Houston's performance if I was to watch The Witches right now. I don't really care - the fact that it has stuck with me all these years means she accomplished exactly what she set out to do: captivate and terrify and child who watched the film.

Best Scene: When she first addresses the witch convention:

"Witches of England... You are a disgrace! Miserable witches... You are good-for-nothing worms! Everywhere I look, I see the repulsive sight of hundreds, thousands of revolting little children..."

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #95 - Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting

"Look - you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you."



Yeah, I know. I know. Ben Affleck? How could he have given one of the 100 Best performances of all time? Well, remember - this isn't a list of the best performances. These are the 100 roles that made the biggest impression on me. And Affleck's portrayal of Will Hunting's best friend Chuckie Sullivan has always stood as one the best "friend" roles of all time.

I touched on this when I wrote about Stallone's performance as Rocky but one thing we must ask ourselves when analyzing a performance is how much we tend to penalize an actor when we feel like they're "playing themselves". While that might not ever be a fair thing to say, (we don't know the actor so how can we judge, I do think that Affleck felt very...comfortable playing Chuckie. I'll leave it at that.

What makes Affleck's work in Good Will Hunting stand out is that he happy to be what each scene needs him to be whether its funny, supportive, or combative. Throughout the film Ben Affleck's Chuckie is always believable - even in what is his best scene in the movie (absurd though it may be) - and the perfect foil for Matt Damon's more fantastical Will.

Best Scene:

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #96 - Christopher Guest in Waiting For Guffman

"It's a Zen thing, like how many babies fit in a tire."


Waiting For Guffman is one of the funnier movies of the 1990's but part of the reason I would put the film's best performance, Christopher Guest as Corky St. Clair, on my list is that it's not just funny but also surprisingly truthful. Yeah, Corky is a very exaggerated character, but people like him do exist in places like New York and Los Angeles. I mean theater people by the way - what did you think I meant? Guest perfectly captures and caricatures that persona.

Guest is also, quite shockingly, almost touching in the moments when Corky is emotionally hurt. Whether it is when he is fired, or when he is waiting for Guffman to arrive, Guest is what makes the film feel like it is an actual documentary capturing real people.

Waiting for Guffman is still the best of the Christopher Guest films and a large reason for that is Guest himself has never been better (Yes, even in Spinal Tap).

Best Scene:

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #97 - Bette Davis in The Little Foxes

"I hope you die!, I hope you die soon! I'll be waiting for you to die!"



One thing I really like about Bette Davis is I don't think she cared if people liked her characters. Katherine Hepburn, as great as she is, always seems to have played someone the audience is supposed to love. Davis, who must have been aware of her screen presence, wasn't afraid to play a bitch; and while I haven't seen every Bette Davis film it is hard to imagine she ever played a bigger one than Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes.

Regina is a woman who is willing to use every member of her family (her brothers, her husband, and even her daughter) to get what she wants. While the movie never pretends that we should actually like Regina, we can't but have fun whenever she's on screen. The way she dominates over her prating brothers, and her sickly husband, is always entertaining if not admirable.

Then there is the classic scene near the end of the film. A scene in which Davis says no words but which is one of the most chilling scenes I've ever seen in a movie.

This is an under appreciated film, which feels quite modern in many ways, and I feel that it contains Davis' second best performance. That's still better than pretty much anybody else's very best.

Best Scene: WARNING - THIS IS FROM THE END OF THE FILM. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DON'T WANT IT SPOILED!

Henry Saw: Law Abiding Citizen

Entertaining but heavily flawed...


Law Abiding Citizen is one of those movies that should come out in February when you are suffering from Oscar Movie fatigue. It's really stupid and filled with plot-holes but it's fun in an absent minded way. Law Abiding Citizen (LAC from here on) is a mix of the Saw series with Fracture (the movie with Ryan Gosling and Antony Hopkins).

The plot focuses on a man who, ten years after his wife and daughter are brutally murdered, returns to extract justice from the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case against their killers. His vengeance threatens not only the man who allowed mercy to supersede justice, but also the system and the city that made it so.

For the first 45 minutes LAC is a damn entertaining movie. Jamie Foxx plays the D.A. who made a deal with the killers and gives a somewhat one-note performance but he's fine for what the movie is trying to be. Gerald Butler plays the man out for revenge and he makes for a very compelling anti-hero initially. While the plot gets overly elaborate pretty early on, I was still able to suspend my disbelief, and was right there with Butler's character.

It is after (SPOILERS AHEAD) Butler gets revenge on the two killers that the movie begins to go down hill. His character becomes a Joker-esque villain as he is able to kill multiple city officials despite the fact that he never gets close to them (he is stuck in a jail cell). The rest of the movie becomes more about figuring out how he is doing it than following through on their themes of how the justice system let's people down. There is kind of a twist about 3/4 of the way in that is just ridiculous and really hurt what credibility the film had left.

This is very, very far from being a good film but I did enjoy it. I would not call this an action film, it's much more of a "thriller", but it does have some fun kill scenes. Butler seems to enjoy hamming it up a bit as a killer who has everything planned out perfectly and I'd be lying if I said I didn't sympathize with some of his character's points about the justice system. Foxx is just an actor I can't ever get behind but he doesn't hurt the film, the absurd plot does that, and the rest of the cast is filled with recognizable and solid performers.

I do not recommend you go see Law Abiding Citizen but it is a perfectly decent Hotel or cable movie. Don't go in expecting anything great (I'm not really worried about you doing that) and you should be sufficiently entertained. It's just a pity the film takes such a bad left-turn because this could have been a much better film had the screenwriters come up with a better third act.

Grade: C+

Best Scene: How Butler gets revenge on the judge...

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #98 - Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train

"I admire people who do things."


The first of many villains to appear on the countdown, and more specifically, the first of several Hitchcock villains. We already saw that Antony Perkins almost made it for his role in Psycho but Robert Walker is the first of the Master of Suspense's antagonists to appear on the Top 100.

Robert Walker plays Bruno Antony who meets a tennis player named Guy Haines on a train. After a little...flirtation...Bruno tells Guy they should swap murders: Bruno will kill Guy's bitchy ex-wife if Guy kills Bruno's overbearing father. Wires get crossed and Bruno thinks that Guy is okay with the plan. Bruno stalks and murders Guy's Ex and then starts pressuring Guy to fulfill his end of the deal.

There is a lot going on in Strangers on a Train and in Robert Walker's performance. Bruno is a very fleshed out character. He's aggressive but somewhat subservient around Guy. Charming but hateful around women. He's a mama's boy who hates his father but he also doesn't seem to have any respect for his mother. Then there is the whole homosexual undertone to the role that Walker cleverly underplays. It is never too loud, and never goes into parody, and adds to the menace of the part. I'm not saying that homosexuals are menacing, but the way Bruno is clearly attracted to Guy, and hates the women around him, makes Bruno seem more dangerous than if he was just a random psychopath.

Bruno is one of the classic film villains of all time. I was surprised that I found some Hitchcock creations that ranked ahead of Bruno but that shouldn't take anything away from Robert Walker's performance. He has a certain joie de vivre, and decisiveness in his choices, that you can't help but admire Bruno. Walker somehow plays a man, who despite all the evidence provided in the film, that you would be kind of curious to meet on a train.

Best Scene: The first scene between Guy and Bruno on the train.

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #99 - Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain

"You didn't go up there to fish!"


Michelle Williams' performance of Alma, the wife of a man trying to hide his homosexual desires from his spouse, brings up two ideas that will come up again and again on this list. The first is that I'm always impressed when someone who is able to match up with someone giving an all-time performance. We will be getting to Heath Ledger's role as Ennis much later in the countdown but the fact that Williams is able to match up with him in their scenes together is very impressive.

Cary Grant, when introducing Jimmy Stewart who was receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture, said he was once filming a scene with Stewart and was so amazed by Stewart's acting that he completely froze up and forgot his lines. For Williams to not be completely blown off the screen by Ledger is an accomplishment in and of itself. For her to shine in her own right is a real achievement.

The other feature of this performance that will be a recurring idea in this list is that Williams has one scene in the film that is so outstanding that she had to be on the list. While Williams is great in the rest of the film, the moment where she finally confronts Ennis with how much she knew is just devastating, and demands recognition. The way she can't really look at him, and can barely get the words out, is so true to life and upsetting that it stands as one of the very best scenes in a fantastic film.

Alan Arkin says that the best performance he has ever seen was given by Steven Hill in Running On Empty. Hill is in one scene, he plays the father of a woman who has been on the run from the FBI for over a decade, but Arkin felt that Hill is so strong in this one sequence that it stood out to him as the performance he most admired. While Arkin is slightly over praising District Attorney Adam Schiff's performance (he is good though) he is right that one amazing scene can be enough to rank as one of the great performances of all time. Williams is great in Brokeback, but it is the scene described above that gets her on this list.

Best Scene: When Alma finally confronts Ennis with how much she knew

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: #100 - Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

"Excuse me. May I go to the bathroom first?"


One of the hardest things about composing this list was thinking about how one rates a great comedian along side something like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront or Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda. It seems to me that giving a classic comedic performance could be much more challenging than a dramatic role. On the other hand, comedic performances are far less likely to inspire awe or true admiration in the viewer. We appreciate a great comedic performance but we don't really treasure them. Occasionally, after some time has passed, critics allow certain comedic roles into their pantheon. Charlie Chaplin as The Little Tramp, Buster Keaton in The General, Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Peter Sellers in Dr. Stranglove...but aside from Chaplin none of these roles are ever talked about with the same amount of respect as a Robert De Niro or Bette Davis might garner for playing someone with a terminal illness.

So, as I said, it is quite hard to compare one great role against another. It is especially hard when you are looking at Mike Myers versus Sean Penn. So for this list I just went with my gut. Which ever role more impressed me or stuck with me is the one I went with; I didn't try to over analyze. I'll admit that once you enter my Top 50 the roles are generally more "serious". Perhaps I'm as guilty as any critic, or Academy Award voter, of not appreciating comedic acting enough. The only thing that I would say is that dramatic roles are able to bring out more emotions, and touch the audience, in a way that comedic roles just can't.

All that out of the way - let's start the countdown by honoring one of the greatest comedians of the last 30 years in what is his funniest role: Steve Martin as Freddy Benson in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

And while Martin is pretty funny as a sleazy con man who enters into a competition with Michael Caine, what gets Martin's performance into this Top 100 is when he pretends to be Caine's retarded brother Ruprecht.

Playing perfectly off Caine's dignified and refined manner, Martin just cuts loose as Ruprecht and clearly had a great time taking on the persona (an important part of being great in a role, it seems to me, is enjoying the job). It's not a profound role, heck it is probably rather offensive to people who care about that kind of thing, but it is really damn funny.

Best Scene:

PITAOE's SUMMER MOVIE AWARDS

Last year we called these the "Blockbuster" awards because we waited until the November release of Quantum of Solace (that worked out well...). With no big movies left this year except Twilight 2, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes (two of which don't come out until December), I thought we would do this right and keep it only to the movies released between March (the start of the summer movie season ever since 300) and August.


So we did this the same way as last year. I drafted a list of nominees and sent them out to Ben and Sam. Individually we picked our winners and if any film got 2 votes it was the automatic winner. When we had three different answers I decided to give my vote the most weight as I saw the most movies this summer out of the three of us. Now on to the winners...or in this case the losers:

And the nominees for Worst Film are:

1. Funny People

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Terminator Salvation

4. Year One

5. Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen

6. Bruno


And the winner is:



YEAR ONE

One of two movies this year I walked out of. Just a deplorable film. A bad comedy is one of the more painful ways to spend 90 minutes. A truly awful comedy is torture. It would be hard to find a more irritating pairing than Jack Black and Michael Cera but I thought that appearances from people like Paul Rudd and Hank Azaria might save this movie from being as bad as it looked. Nope.

Runner Up: Transformers 2 - Really, really bad...and racist...but not the agonizing experience that Year One was.


And the nominees for Most Unintentionally Funny Moment are:

1. The sex scene in Watchmen

2. Christian Bale's yelling in Terminator Salvation (and remembering the infamous "We are DONE professionally" rant)

3. The big twist in Orphan


And the winner is:



THE TWIST IN ORPHAN

It really was....something else. Two words: Saarne Institute.

Runner Up: The sex scene in Watchmen


And the nominees for Most Disappointing film are:

1. Watchmen

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Terminator Salvation

4. Public Enemies

5. Bruno


And the winner is:



X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

This was the first case of all three of us having different answers. Sam said Watchmen...but I wonder how high his expectations could really have been? I said Public Enemies, which I wanted to be great and it was merely good, but at least it was good. Ben voted for X-Men Origins: Wolverine which I decided should be the winner as it was voted the film we at PITAOE were most excited for at last year's PITAOE Blockbuster awards.

Runner-Up: Watchmen


And the nominees for the Most Surprisingly Good movie are:

1. In the Loop

2. Star Trek

3. The Hangover

4. District 9

5. Inglourious Basterds


And the winner is:



STAR TREK

This is the first winner in which all three of us agreed. We all assumed J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek to continue the grand tradition of all things Star Trek by being utterly terrible. Our expectations could not have been lower. We were wrong. The new Star Trek was a very fun film and the best of the summer's action movies.

Runner Up: In the Loop


And the nominees for best Action Scene in a film this summer are:

1. The opening fight between The Comedian and his mystery assailant in Watchmen

2. The second fight between Wolverine and Sabertooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Christian Bale versus a familiar face in Terminator Salvation

4. The big finale action sequence in Up

5. The space sky diving scene in Star Trek

6. The fight in the forest in Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen

7. The shootout in the cabin in Public Enemies

8. Cobra's invasion of the G.I. Joe Headquarters in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

9. The battle suit fight in District 9

10. Getting the Horcrux in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


And the winner is:



TERMINATOR SALVATION

What a weak batch. Ugh. Sam voted for District 9. Ben voted for Terminator. I decided to side with Ben on this one as I thought the action in District 9 was the weakest part of that film. I honestly thought the Horcrux scene in Harry Potter 6 and the Space Jump in Star Trek were the most visually impressive action scenes this summer but I had a lot of fun with the Terminator Salvation scene (really the only fun scene in the whole film).

Runner-Up: District 9


And the nominees for Best Scene in a summer film are:

1. The Dr. Manhattan on Mars sequence in Watchmen

2. The opening montage in Up

3. The talking goat in Drag Me To Hell

4. The first bomb in The Hurt Locker

5. The "Reality vs. Expectation" scene in (500) Days of Summer

6. The opening interrogation scene in Inglourious Basterds

7. Wikus Van De Merwe serving aliens with eviction notices in District 9

8. Peter Capaldi versus James Gandolfini in In the Loop

9. Melvin Purvis chasing Pretty Boy Floyd in Public Enemies

10. Zach Gallifinakas interacting with the baby in The Hangover


And the winner is:



IN THE LOOP

This is a really good collection of scenes. The fact that the scenes in Up, Inglourious Basterds, and The Hurt Locker were not voted for by any of us shows just how solid this list is as those scenes are all spectacularly done. Ben voted for (500) Days of Summer but I had to go with Sam and agree that the little dialogue scene between Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini in In the Loop was the most fun sequence of the summer.

Runner Up: The very clever and honest "Reality vs. Expectation" scene in (500) Days of Summer


And the nominees for Funniest Movie of the summer are:

1. The Hangover

2. In the Loop

3. (500) Days of Summer

4. Observe and Report

5. I Love You, Man

6. Up


And the winner is:



IN THE LOOP

Contains what could be the best swearing I've ever seen in a film. But this film is more than a filthy mouth...it's also a very sharp and biting political comedy. It was close between this and The Hangover for me, but both Sam and Ben voted for In the Loop, and I have no problem with it getting the award for funniest movie of the Summer and, most likely, of all of 2009.

Runner-Up: The Hangover


And the nominees for Best Smaller Film of the summer are:

1. Drag Me To Hell

2. Moon

3. In the Loop

4. (500) Days of Summer

5. The Hurt Locker

6. District 9


And the winner is:



THE HURT LOCKER

Here's one where I decided to pull rank. Sam voted for In the Loop but having just given it the "Funniest Film" award I thought we've thoroughly recognized that film's brilliance. Ben voted for (500) Days of Summer. It was his favorite film of the summer, and everyone should check out his review of the movie, but I felt strongly that it was not the best smaller film of the summer. I think I'm the only one of the three of us to have seen The Hurt Locker and I feel that if Ben and Sam had been able to watch it they might feel the same as me. It is the best film ever made about the Iraq War, it is the best war film made since Black Hawk Down, and it should be nominated for Best Picture come next February.

Runners Up: In the Loop and (500) Days of Summer


And the nominees for Best Blockbuster Movie of the summer are:

1. Up

2. Star Trek

3. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

4. Inglourious Basterds

5. Public Enemies


And the winner is:



INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Just a very strong effort from Tarantino. Boosted by Christoph Waltz's great performance, a healthy sense of humor from Brad Pitt, and an air of cool from Mélanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds was one of the most fun films of the summer and had some of the best shots in any film this decade.

Runner-Up: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. This was Sam's vote and it certainly was a solid film. It was a strong set-up to what should be a very exciting conclusion to the series. Speaking of which...


And finally, the nominees for the most Anticipated Films of 2010 are:

1. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - With...guess who...Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

2. Prince of Persia - Video Game adaptation starring the very Persian looking Jake Gyllenhaal

3. Clash of the Titans - A remake of the 1981 film

4. Shutter Island - The delayed Martin Scorsese thriller

5. Kick-Ass - An adaptation of Mark Millar's brutally "realistic" look at becoming a teenage superhero.

6. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood - Starring Russel Crowe

7. Iron Man 2 - With Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow and Don Cheadle as War Machine

8. The A-Team - Now with Less Mr. T but more Liam Neeson

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One - Where will they decide to break up the story to divide it into two films?

10. Toy Story 3 - Andy has left for college...what happens to his toys?

11. Inception - Christopher Nolan's follow up to The Dark Knight

12. Wall Street 2 - Gordon Gekko is back

13. Jonah Hex - A western based on DC Comics' anti-hero.

And the winner is:



IRON MAN 2

The best film of the summer of 2008 leads to the most anticipated film of 2010. Iron Man 2 has a lot going for it, and a lot riding on it, and we can only hope that Jon Favreau and the gang don't let us down like X-Men Origins: Wolverine did this year. Casting Mickey Rourke was...a bad start.


The rest our Top Ten most anticipated films:

2. Inception

3. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

4. Kick-Ass

5. Shutter Island

6. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood

7. Clash of the Titans

8. Toy Story 3

9. Jonah Hex

10. The A-Team



Hope you liked this look back at the best and worst of the summer of 2009. It was, overall, a much weaker summer than 2008. Still, there were some definite gems, and a few smaller films that I know I'll be revisiting again and again. Let's just hope that next year is a little bit stronger when it comes to the big and fun summer genre films. Or that Avatar and Sherlock Holmes aren't as wanky as they look...

Ben Saw: Zombieland

Now that's more like it.....



Although I didn't intend it, this actually serves as a nice addendum to my 'Jennifer's Body' review of a couple weeks ago. This was the review where I used the word 'fun' approximately 837 times, which would have been excessive had that movie not needed an infusion of it so badly.

Enter 'Zombieland', another pop culture savvy, teen monster movie written by a (or, in this case, a pair of) Hollywood enfants terrible, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Unlike Diablo Cody, however, these two knew exactly what kind of movie they were making.

.....well, more or less exactly. So the plot's pretty simple: zombie apocalypse has occurred, Jesse Eisenberg's neurotic Columbus (all the characters get hometown-inspired noms de guerre) is a survivor who's trying to get home from college. He meets Woody Harrelson's bad-ass Tallahassee and they decide to travel together. These two meet con-artists sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and after some mistrust, the four head off to California because........because......look their motivation to do this is really stupid but it's the zombie apocalypse and what else were they going to do? So now it's road trip time and the movie gets curiously zombie-free as we get some half-baked character development, an amusing cameo that you've surely read about, manufactured tension and, finally, the action-packed climax. Everything gets wrapped up in a fairly neat bow and the movie ends (although clearly the creators see room for a sequel).

If my description above didn't make it abundantly clear, 'Zombieland' is insubstantial. Characters are always clean and presentable, gas is easy to come by, the narrator (Columbus) is weirdly omniscient at times, ammunition is usually plentiful, electricity still works, etc. Character development is trite and minimalist for the men; Eisenerg's the only one with something like an arc and it can be described as 'stop being such a wuss'. The women (or 'females' given Breslin's age) are basically there as plot devices and deliverers of punchlines. Outside of one or two key exceptions, the rest of your cast is a bunch of zombies. And that's great! The best 'character' is the goofy world 'Zombieland' creates and the movie's creators are clearly aware of this; delivering everything I've mentioned with a wink.

Look, this movie isn't art and it's not trying to be. What it wants to be is ...wait for it....FUN and it's largely successful at that. In this context, fun is: inappropriate Deliverance jokes, zombies killed with gardening shears, self-aware pop culture references, zombies killed with toilet seats, an obsession with Twinkies, zombies killed by nuns, mocking fatties, clown zombies killed with over-sized mallets. You get the picture. It begins with a burst of madcap energy and tons of comic ideas (sight gags, good lines and the rest) that are mostly funny, including a shot that, although played for comedy, actually made Henry jump which is something I haven't seen in years. Despite that, it's really not trying to be scary, just periodically startling in between the jokes and physical comedy.

The movie has plenty of flaws, but most of them are forgivable in light of the movie's lack of ambition. The direction has flashes of comedic inspiration but is mostly pretty staid and the acting is nothing to write home about: Stone borders on bad, but is saved by being so game for all the silliness; Breslin is fine, but she is given too little to do in the part; Eisenberg is better than I expected taking nothing away from the movie in most scenes, but I think of him as a slightly less irritating Michael Cera so I set a low bar. Woody Harrelson is the standout (such as it is), channeling a bit of Bruce Campbell in to a role that absolutely demanded it and so he's the real acting attraction in this movie (along with that cameo).

The script is well-written when it's hitting its stride, often settling for semi-sincere schmaltz in the other scenes but the big flaw is that the movie slows down dramatically for what seemed like 50% of its runtime as it tries to develop the characters and inexplicably denies us zombie madness for most of that period. After this limp middle section everything returns to form for the end: a climactic (and utterly contrived) battle at an amusement park. This is one of Harrelson's moments to shine and the movie has built up more than enough goodwill up to this point that I was happy to forgive the attempts at dramatic flourish.

'Happy to forgive' is what I'd say about most of 'Zombieland's' flaws actually and that's the key point. This movie knows it's an insubstantial niche movie and revels in it, having fun and making jokes where a movie like 'Jennifer's Body' tried to be scary and ham-handedly dodge classification. If you're willing to go in on the movie's own terms then see 'Zombieland', it's a good time at the movies.

Grade: B

Best Scene: Tallahassee gets to cut loose at the amusement park. Three words: zombie roller-coaster battle.

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: The Ones That Didn't Make It - Part Six

The sixth and final listing of some roles that nearly made my Top 100 Favorite Performances




58. Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton



Best Scene: The final confrontation with George Clooney


59. Audrey Tautou as Amélie Poulain in Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain



Best Scene: When Amélie helps a blind man across the street.


60. Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers in Sling Blade



A performance that teeters on being a stunt but Thornton makes it feel authentic and makes Childers seem like a real person and not just a funny voice and a doofy face.

Best Scene: The final scene with J.T. Walsh in the asylum.


61. Spencer Tracy as Chief Judge Dan Haywood in Judgment at Nuremberg



This is partially a matter of great casting but Tracy is really strong as Judge Haywood who isn't sure what to think of Germans following World War 2. Very few actors could have brought the same integrity and decency to the role.

Best Scene: Talking to Marlene Dietrich about how much her character knew about the Camps.


62. Erich von Stroheim as Capt. von Rauffenstein in La Grande Illusion



In what is one of the most honored films ever made it is von Stroheim who most stands out. He plays a German officer who due to being severely injured in combat has been placed at the head of a POW camp during the first World War. Capt. von Rauffenstein is a fascinating character who feels a closer bond with one of the captured French officers than any fellow German soldier. Many of the film's themes, such as the death of the European aristocracy or the random tragedy of war, are best communicated through von Rauffenstein. Without von Stroheim, who spoke three different languages and wore a constricting neck brace for the part, La Grande Illusion would not be nearly the classic that it is. American audiences are more likely to recognize von Stroheim from his role in Sunset Boulevard but it is this part, to which he brings so much dignity, that he should be most remembered for.

Best Scene: His conversation in the church with Captain de Boeldieu about what the war will do to the aristocracy.


63. John Wayne as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers



John Wayne might have won the Oscar for True Grit but it is his performance in The Searchers that is universally thought of as his best. While it might seem like Wayne is playing the same role he always played, Ethan Edwards is a much darker and complex character than the ones found in Rio Bravo or Stagecoach. Other than his determination there is very little to like about Edwards. He is a racist, slightly mad, and probably had an affair with his brother's wife. Edwards' expression of "That'll be the day" became famous (mostly due to Buddy Holly) but rarely is it ever said by Wayne without a hint of malice. Wayne is not a performer whose act has aged very well; but this performance has.

Best Scene: The look he shares with Dorothy Jordan early in the film that tells you everything you need to know about their relationship.


64. Tom Wilkinson as Dr. Matt Fowler in In The Bedroom



A heartbreaking performance of a father who must deal with the death of a son and his grieving wife (played by an almost equally as good Sissy Spacek). Wilkinson has some issues with the New England accent, which might be what kept him out of the Top 100, but this is still a role and a film worth seeking out.


65. Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind



Like Cate Blanchett Winslet is one of the best working actresses but it was nearly as difficult to identify one role that stood out. Winslet was strong in Revolutionary Road but her best part, and her personal favorite for what it is worth, is as the quirky (but not overly so) Clementine in Eternal Sunshine.

Best Scene: Her final scene with Jim Carrey as they decide what to do about their relationship.



And those are all the roles that were considered for the Top 100 but did not quite make it in. The real countdown will begin soon...

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: The Ones That Didn't Make It - Part Five

Part Five of my listing of the performances that were considered for a spot in my Top 100 but did not make the varsity...



51. Winona Ryder as Veronica in Heathers



Best Scene: I've always liked the sight of Veronica writing furiously while wearing a monocle...


52. Michael Shannon as John Givings in Revolutionary Road



One of the very top performances of the last five years and had Heath Ledger never existed I believe Shannon would have deserved the award for Best Supporting Actor. Shannon perfectly plays the most interesting character from Yates' novel.

Best Scene: His final scene with Frank and April.


53. Max Schreck as Graf Orlok in Nosferatu



A performance so good they made a whole film hypothesizing that Schreck was actually a vampire. He really is that creepy.

Best Scene:

Or you could always just watch the whole film for free here


54. Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky



One could say that Stallone is just playing himself here but that doesn't negate the fact that this underdog story only works because of Stallone's performance.

Best Scene: When he convinces Mickey to be his trainer.


55. Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada



I must confess that I've not seen Sophie's Choice so that won't be appearing on this countdown. I'll go with this turn, the one that most sticks out for me, as an example that Streep can really play any kind of role. She really is an amazing actress and deserves to be acknowledged as such.

Best Scene: When she tells Andy about her upcoming divorce.


56. Wes Studi as Magua in The Last of the Mohicans



Something about the villain of The Last of the Mohicans stood out to me. Especially the scene towards the end where he tries to convince Alice Munro not to kill herself.

Best Scene: That aforementioned little hand gesture, and the look of pained confusion on his face, as he tries to pull Alice back from the edge.


57. Susan Sarandon as Michaela Odone in Lorenzo's Oil.



Best Scene: Convincing the doctor to give the "Oil" a chance.


Check back soon for Part Six...

Henry Saw: Bronson

A movie about England's "most famous prisoner": Charles Bronson



No not the American actor who died six years ago. Michael Gordon Peterson, who was born December 6th 1952 and took the name Charles Bronson when he was a bare-knuckle boxer, is famous in the United Kingdom for having spent nearly his entire life in solitary confinement. The film Bronson, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, is a unique biopic that blends historical recreations, fictional inventions, and stage set monologues to tell the story of Charlie Bronson's life.

The film's greatest strength is Tom Hardy's performance as Charles Bronson. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it a tour de force, it is a ferocious performance, and Hardy is able to bring the right amount of rage and humor that the part calls for. Hardy especially shines during the monologue sections where he shows he has a real showman's flair.

Everyone else in the movie is fine but the movie belongs to Hardy and its title character. This is a very focused movie but I am not sure what it is trying to accomplish. While we get some insight into Bronson's personality, and the film looks at the possibility that he should be in a mental hospital instead of a prison, the film leaves very little to chew on. In short, I'm not sure why this movie was made except that it has an interesting protagonist.

Refn does show a real ability to frame an interesting shot. The film is energetic without being annoying, darkly shot without being impenetrable, and each scene has a certain style that keeps the film entertaining. If he stumbles at all it is towards the end when Bronson terrorizes his art teacher. It feels repetitive, and lacks the cleverness of prior scenes, and leaves the film on kind of a flat note.

It would be easy to compare this film to Chopper (a film about Australia's most "renowned" prisoner) but that film had a real narrative and a lot more to say about fame. Bronson is more of a one man show interspersed with disturbing but random scenes of Bronson in (and briefly out of) prison. This is the film's greatest flaw: there was no reason for it to be made. Some have objected to the fact that it "glorifies" a career criminal but this isn't fair; Bronson hardly admires Charles Bronson. No the move deserves to be criticized for not having anything to say about Charles Bronson. It's not that every movie needs to have a message, character studies can be valuable nonpartisan examinations, but they should have some sense of purpose. Whether it is simply to entertain, educate, dazzle, or move...a film needs to have something it is trying to accomplish. Other than providing Hardy with a vehicle to show his acting chops, and Refn an outlet for some standout sequences, Bronson is a pointless endeavor.

I kind of liked this movie, and I'm definitely going to look for Hardy and Refn's future projects from now on, but Bronson is done with too much skill to forgive the fact that the film has nothing to offer but Hardy and Refn's work. I understand that I'm saying that the direction is strong, and the lead performance is fantastic, but I'm still not giving a Bronson rave review. Unfortunately, a movie is a sum of its parts, and even though Hardy and Refn are pretty big pieces, Bronson doesn't quite add up.

Grade B

Best Scene: When Tom Hardy plays both Bronson and an administrator in one scene...

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All-Time: The Ones That Didn't Make It - Part Four

Continuing the pre-countdown acknowledgments...



38. James McAvoy as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland



It is an underrated challenge to play off of someone giving a legendary performance. We'll get to Forest Whitaker later in the actual countdown but I was very impressed by McAvoy's performance as a young Scottish doctor who is sucked in by Idi Amin's charm.

Best Scene: When he deals with a dying animal


39. Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane in Batman Begins



In a movie filled with great actors Cillian Murphy stole the show as the Scarecrow. With the hammy acting from Tom Wilkinson, and the bored performance from Liam Neeson, Batman Begins needed a compelling villain. Murphy is the most interesting character in the whole film and brings a really nice menace to the picture.

Best Scene:


40. Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop



Best Scene: When Foley poses as a delivery boy to get into a fancy restaurant.


41. Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List



Fantastic performance that holds the film together. The only thing keeping him from being Top 100 material is that awful scene at the end where Schindler is feeling guilt over those he did not save.

Best Scene: The opening sequence in which we see Schindler trying to win over the Nazi elite.


42. Clive Owen as Larry in Closer



Mostly because of the best scene in the film:




43. Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride



Dueling with Cary Elwes, bantering with Andre the Giant, and fighting Christopher Guest, Patinkin does it all as vengeance fueled Inigo Montoya.

Best Scene: Starts at 0:15 of this clip -


44. Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Milk



"I KNOW YOU'RE ANGRY! I'M ANGRY!" I was surprised how good Sean Penn was in the role of an optimistic and generally good humored man. While Penn is great, and especially shines when giving one of Milk's speeches, I can't say it is a performance that really stuck with me. Still, it is good enough to warrant a mention.

Best Scene: Confronting State Senator John Briggs in a public forum.


45. Antony Perkins as Norman Bates in Psycho



Best Scene: The final scene...in which he doesn't say a word.


46. Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle in Batman Returns



Best Scene: Her first fight with Batman.


47. Guy Pearce as Ed Exley in L.A. Confidential



Best Scene: The interrogation scene.


48. Brad Pitt as Mickey in Snatch



I was trying to remember if there was one Brad Pitt role that stood out for me. As it turns out the role which most stood out for me was Pitt's turn as a Pikey in Snatch. I'm not sure if he got the accent exactly right, I've never met a "Pikey", but it certainly works for the movie.

Best Scene:


49. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard



Best Scene: When Hans tells the FBI his demands.


50. Tim Roth as Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy



Best Scene: How he deals with his impending responsibilities of being a father...