Good Movies thanks to Casting | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Good Movies thanks to Casting

Uncle Buck. John Candy is hysterically funny in that movie.
 
8893 said:
I disagree. I can't see anyone else playing Nicholson's role in The Shining; although his courtroom scene in A Few Good Men is legendary, I think Cruise was terrific (and I'm not a huge Cruise fan), and Kiefer Sutherland was excellent and essential, too. Hell, Dawson and Markinson were great.
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I though most of A Few Good Men wasn't all that good, boring even. But Nicholson in the court room saved the entire film.
 
HuskyHawk said:
I believe that he's the guy who landed the largest Great White ever caught on a rod and reel, off of Montauk.
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I was 9 years old at the time, and remember going to Montauk Marine Basin to see them unload the shark from the boat. I found a news report from that day on YouTube, and there I was in the front row. Holy Spartacus I was an ugly kid . . .
 
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Waquoit said:
I though most of A Few Good Men wasn't all that good, boring even. But Nicholson in the court room saved the entire film.
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Downhill from here.


I thought Kevin Pollack was fantastic in A Few Good Men and his role is still probably a little underappreciated. He is a lawyer in the military and does his job because he made a commitment, but not necessarily because he likes it (defense vs. prosecution). Nothing exemplifies this more than the exchange with Galloway after she nearly tanked the trial the 1st time.

"Lt. Weinberg: They beat up on a weakling; that's all they did. The rest is just smokefilled coffee-house crap. They tortured and tormented a weaker kid. They didn't like him. So, they killed him. And why? Because he couldn't run very fast."

10 jelly beans says this is the general attitude most "moral" defense attorneys have about their clients.

I also love Pollack's dry sense of humor.
 
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Excalibur said:
I was 9 years old at the time, and remember going to Montauk Marine Basin to see them unload the shark from the boat. I found a news report that day on YouTube, and there I was in the front row. Holy Spartacus I was an ugly kid . . .
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POST!!!!
 
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Dogdeacon said:
The key to the Penny Lane role was that she was obviously acting, overhyping everything that wasn't necessarily real to keep the party going + she was very pretty (you have to get that... why do you think she was on the damn poster?!) & innocent looking so we all bought it (lynchpin is we could all feel the William Miller aspirational crush). Every single movie role since proves BOTH that she's not a good actress and it was perfect casting
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I guess I missed that. Even if she is meant to represent the daft ingenue, no way someome that naive lands the rock star. She gets passed around by the road crew. (No the poker game doesn't make up for it.)

Still didn't like her performance.
 
SubbaBub said:
I guess I missed that. Even if she is meant to represent the daft ingenue, no way someome that naive lands the rock star. She gets passed around by the road crew. (No the poker game doesn't make up for it.)
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That was one of the most realistic parts of the movie.
 
Husky25 said:
Anyone can shine next to Jason Lee. Eric Roberts is the UConn Women's Basketball Team of bad acting and Jason Lee might be distant, but he is #2 in the coaches poll.

Beautiful Girls was a standup double, but there is no way it could have been better (and probably much worse) without Timothy Hutton, Noah Emmerich, Natalie Portman, Matt Dillon, and especially Michael Rappaport ("Alcoholic high school buddy s-hi-t for brains") Though it was obvious that most of the actors were older than the 28-ish age frame for which they were cast (10th year high school reunion) and Rosie O'Donnell acted like my mother, who was approaching 50 at the time. Her role could have been filled by a Janeane Garofalo type, but that would have further type-cast her in her Truth About Cats and Dogs and Bye, Bye Love roles. It also would have necessitated a change to the Andera character. I don't normally have a high opinion of Uma Thurman in the looks department, who was also in Truth About Cats and Dogs, but she pulls off the working-class 9 nicely and Annabeth Gish is every bit the "good solid seven and a half" as Willie describes her. The personalities written for these two characters make the actresses more attractive than their looks alone.
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I like Jason Lee for what he is, so I will disagree with your characterization of him.

Beautiful Girls is better than a stand up double, and that movie could have spiraled badly in the hands of lesser actors. The scenes with Timothy Hutton and Natalie Portman in particular could have ended up very weird without those two. It was one of those movies where you just have to believe the actors are who they say they are, because the ages are all over the place. Once you do that, the movie is really, really good. The only one I didn't like in the movie was Mira Sorvino. She was a little too beautiful and glamorous looking for the character, and she is a mediocre actress.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Beautiful Girls is better than a stand up double, and that movie could have spiraled badly in the hands of lesser actors. ... The only one I didn't like in the movie was Mira Sorvino. She was a little too beautiful and glamorous looking for the character...
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I don't think it got much love, Academy-wise. Then again, the Academy (was)is tainted and the movie didn't really find a niche. It was a romantic comedy, but focused on the guys. Chick flicks normally utilize shallow male characters to reinforce a prevailing attitude and advance the female lead(s). I used the "stand-up double" metaphor because it could range from, ball-coming-into-the-cutoff-man on the low end, to runner-could-have-gone-for-third-but-not-worth-the-risk."

Regarding the Bold: Lauren Holly. I loved late-90s Lauren Holly.
 
That's another good casting of otherwise bad actor; Eric Roberts in the Pope of Greenwich Village. He is obviously a beyond dumb, annoying, bound for trouble idiot that you'd only tolerate if he was related. Mickey Rourke's character is charismatic, seemingly smart and wonderful ONLY in comparison to Robert's trainwreck. "CHAAAHHLIE they took my Tumm, CHAAALLIEEEEE "
 
Had to double check the thread to see it was mentioned, but surprisingly no: Heath Ledger's Joker.

Dark Knight would've grossed hundreds of millions anyway, but I doubt it would've been a "good/great" movie w/o Ledger. He totally smoked Nicholson's cartoonish performance of same in the earlier non-Nolan version. And who had any idea Ledger was capable of that (although it possibly helped lead to his demise). It would've been easy to cast a more well-known actor in the role. However, in the entire superhero genre, I can't think of a better performance by any significant villain.
 
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8893 said:
I disagree. I can't see anyone else playing Nicholson's role in The Shining; although his courtroom scene in A Few Good Men is legendary, I think Cruise was terrific (and I'm not a huge Cruise fan), and Kiefer Sutherland was excellent and essential, too. Hell, Dawson and Markinson were great.
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I believe the guy who played Dawson was just a member of the crew. It was an amazing performance.
 
CL82 said:
I believe the guy who played Dawson was just a member of the crew. It was an amazing performance.
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But he killed it in Little Big League.
 
Dogdeacon said:
That's another good casting of otherwise bad actor; Eric Roberts in the Pope of Greenwich Village. He is obviously a beyond dumb, annoying, bound for trouble idiot that you'd only tolerate if he was related. Mickey Rourke's character is charismatic, seemingly smart and wonderful ONLY in comparison to Robert's trainwreck. "CHAAAHHLIE they took my Tumm, CHAAALLIEEEEE "
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Great call and GREAT movie. Eric fanstastic in that.

"Chaloootz"
 
Waquoit said:
I though most of A Few Good Men wasn't all that good, boring even. But Nicholson in the court room saved the entire film.
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Yeah, totally disagree here; but that is likely due in large part to the fact that I am a trial lawyer and I really love so many parts leading up to that scene because they resonate with me. And I generally hate most legal movies and legal shows because they are so unrealistic. Not that AFGM is a model of accuracy--not by a long shot--but the essence of a lot of it is very similar to a lot of the peaks and valleys over the life of a case. None moreso than the scene where Cruise is holding the bat while walking past his closet when he gets the epiphany about Santiago's clothes not being packed. That's probably my favorite scene in the movie.
 
Three that come to mind that had great casting.

1) Laura....Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb.
2) The Right Stuff...Ed Harris, Sam Shepherd, Jeff Goldblum, Dennis Quaid, Barbara Hershey, Donald Moffat as LBJ was classic.
3) Body Heat...William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Ted Danson, Mickey Rourke, Richard Crenna.
 
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Husky25 said:
I don't think it got much love, Academy-wise. Then again, the Academy (was)is tainted and the movie didn't really find a niche. It was a romantic comedy, but focused on the guys. Chick flicks normally utilize shallow male characters to reinforce a prevailing attitude and advance the female lead(s). I used the "stand-up double" metaphor because it could range from, ball-coming-into-the-cutoff-man on the low end, to runner-could-have-gone-for-third-but-not-worth-the-risk."

Regarding the Bold: Lauren Holly. I loved late-90s Lauren Holly.
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Lauren Holly was perfect for that role, but her character was another one where you just had to look past some of the plot holes around age. Her daughter was almost too old for someone going to their 10 year reunion. The writers could have avoided this problem by simply making it a 15 year reunion. Actually, the whole movie would have made more sense if they had simply changed a few lines of dialogue to make it a 15 year reunion.

Edit: I wonder if the movie was written for a 15 year reunion, but the plotline between Portman and Hutton became super creepy if he is 33 instead of 28, so they made it a 10 year.
 
huskyrob1 said:
Three that come to mind that had great casting.

1) Laura....Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb.
2) The Right Stuff...Ed Harris, Sam Shepherd, Jeff Goldblum, Dennis Quaid, Barbara Hershey, Donald Moffat as LBJ was classic.
3) Body Heat...William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Ted Danson, Mickey Rourke, Richard Crenna.
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Body Heat does not hold up IMO, I loved Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue (great casting of her & Cage!), but I found the allegedly steaming sultry scenes in that movie way forced/overacted/slow and not at all sexy. Neither Turner nor Hurt were as seductive as they were trying to make them IMO.
Ed Harris in Right Stuff IS John Glenn - the lung capacity Ping-Pong balls scene is my favorite.
 
Just thought of another one here. Whether you like the movies or not, Johnie Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is almost entirely responsible for the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Just thought of another one here. Whether you like the movies or not, Johnie Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is almost entirely responsible for the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
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I admit to never actually finishing any of them, but I'm thinking if Russell Brand took over the role on any of the sequels, the franchise might not miss a beat.

Now, as far as who could play Captain Teague (Sparrow's father), there was truly only one option...
 
storrsroars said:
I admit to never actually finishing any of them, but I'm thinking if Russell Brand took over the role on any of the sequels, the franchise might not miss a beat.

Now, as far as who could play Captain Teague (Sparrow's father), there was truly only one option...
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Well since Depp was channeling that guy when he decided how to play the role, he caused that to be the case.
 
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ZooCougar said:
Dr. Strange
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It was a good one. Dr. House goes through Batman Begins training and becomes a superhero of sorts.

Benedict Cumberbatch has reliably become one of my favorite actors, as much as that surprises me.
Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Star Trek into Darkness, even a decent Billy Bulger in Black Mass.
 
HuskyHawk said:
It was a good one. Dr. House goes through Batman Begins training and becomes a superhero of sorts.

Benedict Cumberbatch has reliably become one of my favorite actors, as much as that surprises me.
Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Star Trek into Darkness, even a decent Billy Bulger in Black Mass.
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I think cumberbatch is all over the place. Liked him in Imitation Game. He was OK in Star Trek but he was filling the biggest shoes in Science fiction history after Darth Vader. I liked Black Mass, but it is hard to fake a Boston accent, and he couldn't do it.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
I think cumberbatch is all over the place. Liked him in Imitation Game. He was OK in Star Trek but he was filling the biggest shoes in Science fiction history after Darth Vader. I liked Black Mass, but it is hard to fake a Boston accent, and he couldn't do it.
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Yeah, he didn’t nail the accent. But he got Billy’s mannerisms down. He’s great in Sherlock and was a perfect Dr. Strange.
 
8893 said:
And I generally hate most legal movies and legal shows because they are so unrealistic.
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@8893, How does The Verdict hold up from your perspective?
 
Waquoit said:
@8893, How does The Verdict hold up from your perspective?
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Good question. I liked it when it came out but I don't think I've seen it since. I will try to check it out again. Thanks for the reminder; I remember thinking it was a very good movie, but I hadn't been to law school yet, much less practiced, so I didn't have that perspective.
 
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