most surprising performances

[EShy]

following the miscastings thread (http://forums.dvdfile.com/interactiv...d.php?p=570886)
I was thinking about casting choices that seemed wrong but came out surprsingly good
I have two recent movies that I've seen that surprised me"

Ashton Kutcher in "The Butterfly Effect", I think if it was someone else the movie might have been more successful, I didn't see it in the theatre because of him (not another stupid ashton movie...) , but he gave a good performance

Jim Carrey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", not that I think he is a bad actor, I really liked him in Man on the Moon, but in this kind of movie I didn't expect someone like him, he didn't do one silly annoying thing throughout this movie.

both this movies are in my favorites of the year so far...

[tazer floyd]

Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love comes to mind. I've never been a fan of his work (in fact, I'd say I hate all the movies he makes), but he really did an amazing job here.

Also, Jim Carrey in The Truman Show was a welcome change of pace from his usual ass-talking, stupid rubber-faced roles.

[SharpShooter5]

Kurt russell in Tombstone

back when the movie first came out i thought there was no way he could pull off wyatt earp, but i was surprised when he was great in the film

[Maximum Jonah]

Bruce Willis in "Unbreakable", and Robin Williams in "One Hour Photo".

Both tremendous yet powerfully subtle performances.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July. I consider it Cruise's best performance, playing the character of Ron Kovic from a teenager with braces to a balding, paralyzed Vietnam War vet.

[Chaddoli]

Tom Cruise in Magnolia, one of the all-time great performances.

Macauly Culkin in Party Monster, a twisted and bizaar performance.

[cherno]

I was immensly impressed with Kate Hudson in Almost Famous.
Can't say that I went into it thinking she was a bad choice, as I had honestly never noticed her in anything.

[SilentBob]

Chicago cast and Moulin Rouge cast All well known actors and actresses (Renne, Zeta-Jones, Gere, McGregor and Kidman) but WOW! They could all sing and dance their own numbers. Zeta Jones was probably the most impressive out of the 2 casts and would love to see her do another musical movie.

[Meloosh]

Sharon Stone - Casino
Marlon Wayons - Requiem for a Dream
Tom Cruise - Magnolia
Mark Wahlberg - The Yards
Emilio Estevez - Repo Man
Nicholas Cage - Adaptation (I had given up on him long ago)
Jackie Gleason - The Hustler
Cameron Diaz- Vanilla Sky
Charlie Sheen - Wall Street
John Travolta - Pulp Fiction
Halle Berry - Monster's Ball
Marilyn Monroe - The Misfits

[manicsounds]

Frank Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate

now there was a surprise, even to this day.

[Chunkblower]

The obvious: Charlize Theron in Monster

[Keith]

Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction..absolutely floored me the first time I saw it.

[deltau922]

Lawrence Taylor in Any Given Sunday (I'm not kidding)

[scoot95]

I say Tom Arnold in True Lies........I was sick of hearing about him at the time with Rosanne and all, but he was absolutely hilarious

[AnonomusBob15]

Originally Posted by Chaddoli

Tom Cruise in Magnolia, one of the all-time great performances.

Macauly Culkin in Party Monster, a twisted and bizaar performance.

I agree with both of these.

Brad Pitt in Fight Club. I had read the book and never would have thought he'd nail it perfectly.

Mark Walhberg in Boogie Nights and Three Kings.

[nitin]

jack nicholson - about schmidt - nicholson's a gun actor but this was so un-jack like it was amazing.

nic cage - adaptation - after crap like snake eyes, gone in 60 seconds etc, I'd forgottenhe could actually act

michael keaton - best batman (well till Bale takes over anyway) and who would have evr thought that

gina gershon - bound - very good in this whichwa surprising because I hadnt really seen her act much in anything else

mark wahlberg - three kings and boogie nights (even though he was really playing himself here)

matt damon - bourne identity - similar to michael keaton

eric bana - chopper - for those that dont know, bana was a standup comic. For him to go from that to Chopper was unthinkable.

martin landau - ed wood - one of the most brilliant performances ever and completely out of nowehere

george clooney - o brother where art thou - who kne clooney had souch great comic timing

uma thurman - kill bill - ultimate kick ass woman which is so un-thurman

tom cruise - magnolia - probably the only time he really acts

halle berry - monster's ball - has made far too much crap before and after to really expect it

naomi watts - mulholland drive - naomi who was what everyone was thiniking till they saw the film. Now she is one of the better actresses around

nicole kidman - moulin rouge - the beginning of the new nicole, made too much crap before this to not really show any talent

adrien brody - the pianist - again it was adrian who? until after this film

natalie portman - leon - best performance and that when she was 12ish

adam sandler - puch drunk love - a good turn from sandler, unheard of

tobey maguire - spiderman - nailed it like keaton

hugh jackman - x-men and x2 - nailed it like maguire and keaton, seemed only fit for romantic comedies befoe these films

I was surprised at...

Busta Rhymes - Narc

[Chaddoli]

Nicole Kidman - Dogville - I am so amazed by what she allowed madman von Trier to do to her in this film.

Jennifer Anisten - The Good Girl - Who knew she could act??? The subtle, depressed performance was absolutely brilliant.

Jim Carey - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Carey as an introvert??? One of the most bold and daring perfomances of all time.

Tom Hanks - The Ladykillers - A weird, over-the-top job by Hanks thats hilarious! Not a fantastic movie, but Hanks amazed me.

Denzel Washington - Training Day - Never knew DW could play baaaad.

Ethan Hawke - Tape - First of all: I LOVE this movie, and it is incredibly underrated. The Hawke, who mostly plays an aw-shucks good guy with a heart of gold (see Training Day), plays a manic, amoral, "dick." He is fascinating to watch.

[Meloosh]

Originally Posted by Chaddoli

Jennifer Aniston - The Good Girl - Who knew she could act??? The subtle, depressed performance was absolutely brilliant.

I second that one as well, and also nominate Nicole Kidman in To Die For.

[venetian blinds]

matt damon - the talented mr. ripley

alec baldwin- miami blues

mathew broderick - glory (maybe not great, but a lot better than i thought he'd be at that role)

[J Greer]

Sylvester Stalone in Copland. Stalone's best preformance since Rocky (1976)

[Lex M]

Originally Posted by Meloosh

Halle Berry -Monster's Ball

Eh.....

I know a few people in this thread have mentioned this performance, so I'm not just singling out the 'loosh. But even though I'm actually OK with with bubblegum-movie Halle, I think she overreaches a bit in MONSTER'S BALL. She was more convincing playing unglamorous a decade earlier in JUNGLE FEVER than she was with her histrionics in MB, particular in THE SCENE:

My son....he so fat. So fat. He eats candy. He's so fat, he eats a gumball. Big gumball. Big FAT gumball. GUM. BALL. GUMBALL. Big fat gumball! FAT! FAT GUMBALL! BIG FAT, HIDING HIS CANDY....GUMBALL! GUMBALL! GUMBALLLLLLLLLLL! Wanna have sex?

[Meloosh]

Originally Posted by Lex M

Eh.....

her histrionics in MB, particular in THE SCENE:

For TRUE histriononics:
http://forums.dvdfile.com/interactiv...ad.php?t=46078

[WraithGTS]

I thought Val Kilmer was great as Jim Morrison in the Doors .

Peace

[biglyle]

John Travolta - Pulp Fiction - John was as cool as they come in this, especially after he was considered "done" by many.

John Goodman - The Big Lebowski - Definately not the John Goodman of Rosanne fame.

Brad Pitt - Kalifornia - The best performance of his career

Meg Ryan - In the Cut - The biggest bush in the history of cinema

Robin Williams - 1 Hour Photo - This aint no Mork and Mindy re-run

Kate Hudson - Almost Famous - Mesmorizing. Made me fall in love with her. She will never top this performance.

The entire cast of the Sopranos - The perfect show.

[Feslmogh #2]

Jim Carey - Man on the Moon

[AnonomusBob15]

Originally Posted by venetian blinds

matt damon - the talented mr. ripley

I thought Matt Damon's performance was great. I love the whole movie, but particularly him because I have never cared for anything else he has done and he just blew me away.

[El Lancito]

Remember when George Clooney seemed lame? He couldn't say anything without shaking his head. Nowadays, I'll pretty much see anything with him in it. I think that it was Three Kings that turned it around for him.

[Dr. Shrinker]

Originally Posted by Keith

Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction..absolutely floored me the first time I saw it.

Great performance, but you consider that surprising? Didn't you think she was good in The Big Chill, Garp, and The Natural, all of which came before FA?

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by El Lancito

Remember when George Clooney seemed lame? He couldn't say anything without shaking his head. Nowadays, I'll pretty much see anything with him in it. I think that it was Three Kings that turned it around for him.

It was Out Of Sight for me. I agree that, with very few post-1998 exceptions (The Perfect Storm, Solaris), Clooney is one of a handful of actors who I will watch in just about anything.

[scottfs]

My first thought was Tom Arnold in True Lies, but someone beat me to the punch.

My second was Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. Talk about a great performance that came out of nowhere, and it still amazes 30-some years later.

[Maximum Jonah]

I was watching "John Carpenter's 'In The Mouth Of Madness'" last night, and was amazed once again at Sam Neill's portrayal of John Trent.

A person who is sane, yet faced with the insanity that is taking over the world, and trying to hold on to some sort of grounding. Yet, throughout the movie, you are aware that the harder he tries, the more insane he is becoming. Only when he allows this transferrance, does he realize the horror of what has happened, and who he really is.

Sam Neill owns this performance, and this movie, making it a great watch.

[Keith]

Originally posted by Dr. Shrinker
Great performance, but you consider that surprising? Didn't you think she was good in The Big Chill, Garp, and The Natural, all of which came before FA?

Definitely..she was great in those roles. My "surprise" was the incredibly in your face sultry/sexy element she brought to the table in Fatal Attraction. It's just nothing I expected from her and sort of blindsided me on my 1st viewing.

[El Lancito]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

It was Out Of Sight for me. I agree that, with very few post-1998 exceptions (The Perfect Storm, Solaris), Clooney is one of a handful of actors who I will watch in just about anything.

I probably would have said that one too, but I just remembered that I saw Three Kings first. Out of Sight was a rental (I now own it) for me. Excellent flick.

Even the movies you mentioned, neither of which interest me, aren't anywhere near as offensive as Batman and Robin though. For the most part, he seems to choose quality stuff.

[EShy]

Originally Posted by biglyle

Brad Pitt - Kalifornia - The best performance of his career

that was a great one, I thought his performance in 12 Monkeys was his best, it was definetly the best for bruce willis

[venetian blinds]

Thought of another brad pitt performance that surprised me.

Johnny Suede.

[Rittster]

Rock Hudson--Seconds

Fred MacMurray--Double Indemnity

Lightweight actors in heavyweight roles. Both guys knock it out of the park.

[AnonomusBob15]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

It was Out Of Sight for me. I agree that, with very few post-1998 exceptions (The Perfect Storm, Solaris), Clooney is one of a handful of actors who I will watch in just about anything.

I love Clooney and I think Solaris is one of his better performances. One of the only serious roles he has taken. All in all, over the past six years, he has become one of my favorite actors and will see anything he is in.

[EShy]

I guess Clooney and Brad Pitt "suffered" from the same problem, they became big because of their looks, I actually own most of their movies