Best Acting Performance You've Ever Seen

[Dirty Schwein]

The Rock in everything he’s ever been in, it’s incredible how much depth he can give in a performance and doubly impressive how he manages to step out of the shadow of Dwayne Johnson despite looking just like him, would have been so easy to be typecast.

Thing with the rock is, his characters never have any flaws:

Bay watch cop: sorry man I got you fired
Rock: it's all good bro, on the bay, we're all family

Vin Diesel: sorry I crashed into you on purpose and nearly killed you
Rock: it's all good bro, things happen, nurses need jobs, you gave them a hard day's work. We're family.

Man: sorry I shot your mom dead.
Rock: it's all good bro, she's in a better place. We're all family.

FFS

 

[Rado_N]

Kevin Bacon in Sleepers - brilliantly acted and for an actor with a wide range, from Tremors to A Few Good Men, this was a standout, I truly hated him.

Forgot all about that movie, it's fecking brilliant with a number of really excellent performances.

 

[Paxi]

I think there's a few established top class performaces like Heath ledger in dark knight and Jack Nicholson in cuckoo's nest.

Also, Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the lambs.
Kevin spacey in the usual suspects.

That movie is ruined now. And American Beauty.

 

[Lyricist]

oh and obviously Nicolas Cage - The Wicker Man

 

[Moby]

Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds.

Always liked you.

 

[Ian Reus]

Forgot all about that movie, it's fecking brilliant with a number of really excellent performances.

I presume you aren't talking about Tremors?

 

[Moby]

Jack Nicholson in 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'.

Very close to perfection, that.

 

[Paxi]

John Cazale in all his films. Especially Dog Day Afternoon. Peter Sellers in Strangelove. Nicholson in Shining and Cuckoo's nest. Bale in American Psycho.

Pacino in Godfather and De Niro in Raging Bull and Taxi Driver.

Excellent call. Was just about to say John Cazale in the Deer Hunter. Christopher Walken as well. Really amazing performances.

 

[Redplane]

The most consistently excellent actor around at the moment for me is Cillian Murphy....not seen a bad performance....so

Cillian Murphy 28 days later...a stunning film debut.

And another actor with an amazing level is Stephen Rea. The journey taken by his character in crying game is amazing, particularly given the climate around the troubles and different sexuality

Stephen Rea - The crying game

That's why I thought his (Cillian Murphy) fairly limited role in Dunkirk was such an odd role for him to take. Honestly feel they could have gone with a lesser known or less capable actor and it would have had the same impact imho. The Peeky Blinders character and also Scarecrow in the Bale Batman movies are masterfully acted imho.

 

[Paxi]

Ralph Fiennes, Schindlers List

Fantastic. Love that movie.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

James Woods in Salvador.

 

[Paxi]

Di Caprio was great in Blood Diamond, to able to pull of a South African accent and do it well was amazing. It was very bling bang!

Yes! I thought his South African accent was top notch.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Also, in Vampires.

 

[Redplane]

Blood Diamond in general is still one of the most criminally underrated movies of all time imho. The whole thing is just an engaging experience.

 

[Paxi]

Alexey Serebryakov in Leviathan.

 

[swooshboy]

Fantastic. Love that movie.

I'm always reminded of Ricky Gervais's joke about that movie - completely wrong but anyway...

I think Schindler's List is a fantastic film. And I didn't watch it at the cinema actually. I got it out on video, about a year later - by mistake - 'cause I'd never heard of it and I was in Blockbuster sort of late one night. I was a bit drunk, and I thought it was a porn film. No, 'cause I saw 18 certificate, top shelf. I thought, oh, black and white - dodgy home movie, German sounding - they're the best, and what swung it was that quote on the back from Barry Norman: "Have a box of Kleenex ready". Rubbish, I used about two. There was a shower scene.

 

[Rado_N]

I presume you aren't talking about Tremors?

Sleepers.

 

[Ian Reus]

Sleepers.

Of course. Some line up in that. Or there was back then.

 

[Paxi]

I'm always reminded of Ricky Gervais's joke about that movie - completely wrong but anyway...

That is undoubtedly wrong. He must have got some heat for making that joke.

 

[HTG]

Blood Diamond in general is still one of the most criminally underrated movies of all time imho. The whole thing is just an engaging experience.

I think it’s pretty overrated. Solid movie that lacks any subtlety or new message. I’d say it’s an above average movie, that is lucky enough to have found a huge audience, mainly due to the hype and fandom surrounding Di Caprio.

 

[Moby]

De Niro in Taxi Driver or Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption for me.

 

[a_devil_inside]

Kathy Bates - Misery
Edward Norton - Fight Club, 25th Hour
Ryan Reynolds - Amityville Horror
Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast
Marilyn Burns - Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Genuinely looked terrified.
Robert Englund - any Nightmare On Elm Street, he plays the role perfectly.

Honourable mention to Jim Carrey too in his comedy roles like Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber, Mask etc.

On a lighter note Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder was brilliant.

Him and Tom Cruise were great in this.

 

[Ian Reus]

De Niro in Taxi Driver or Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption for me.

Most of his lines were off camera.

 

[Mojo_]

Reservoir Dogs, the whole cast.

 

[Redplane]

I think it’s pretty overrated. Solid movie that lacks any subtlety or new message. I’d say it’s an above average movie, that is lucky enough to have found a huge audience, mainly due to the hype and fandom surrounding Di Caprio.

Guess I hate movies with subtlety then. Also- for me personally Di Caprio was probably the least important reason why I liked it. Hounsou's portrayal was the more important and striking one.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

Some that haven't been said... I think.

Jack O'Connell in Starred up
Sly in Rocky as a series
Channing Tatum - Foxcatcher
Nic Cage in Bad Lieutenant
Stephen Graham in This Is England
Shia Lebouf in A Guide To Recognising Your Saints

 

[esmufc07]

Bryan Cranston as Walter White

Filmwise I'm not too sure. A few off the top of my head

Daniel Day Lewis - Gangs of New York was superb.
Edward Norton - American History X
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

 

[Sally Cinnamon]

Chris Bauer as Frank Sobotka was superb.

 

[RedFish]

Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds.

Great shout. He was fecking excellent in Django too I thought.

 

[Rado_N]

Great shout. He was fecking excellent in Django too I thought.

He was great in Django for sure but his performance in Inglorious was peerless.

The scene in the restaurant where he's talking to the girl and puts out his cigarette in the yolk of his egg, he makes your skin crawl, and obviously the opening scene as well, with the fountain pen.

He really became that character.

 

[RedFish]

Keanu Reeves in Point Break.

 

[Moby]

He was great in Django for sure but his performance in Inglorious was peerless.

The scene in the restaurant where he's talking to the girl and puts out his cigarette in the yolk of his egg, he makes your skin crawl, and obviously the opening scene as well, with the fountain pen.

He really became that character.

That movie from start to end is perfection, at least for me.

 

[BAMSOLA]

Steve Carrell - Foxcatcher. An actor I previously couldn't stand the sight of on screen with his stupid gurning face, playing a role that was completely believable and actually had me sitting in the cinema on edge every time he was on screen. A complete transformation.

Casey Affleck - The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford
Martin sheen - Apocalypse Now

 

[2cents]

Blood Diamond in general is still one of the most criminally underrated movies of all time imho. The whole thing is just an engaging experience.

Thought it was pretty bad - white savior, cringy dialogue, standard 'Africa' tropes, ridiculous ending.

 

[RedFish]

Bjork in Dancer in the Dark was quite something

 

[Cheesy]

Robert Carlyle's so good at being terrifying in Trainspotting it makes Hitler only the second most evil character he's played.

 

[Arruda]

Sleepers.

Love that movie. I got to know Donovan because a song of him plays somewhere in the movie. Took me some time to find out what it was.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

Casey Affleck in Manchester By The Sea
Jack Nicholson in The Shining

 

[Rado_N]

That movie from start to end is perfection, at least for me.

Agreed, builds tension magnificently.

 

[Rado_N]

Robert Carlyle's so good at being terrifying in Trainspotting it makes Hitler only the second most evil character he's played.

Did you ever see the episode of Cracker he did?