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Perfect Runs

post #1 of 143
9/15/11 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 

I was having a conversation with a chewer on Facebook and we started to talk about the sad state of Lance Henriksen's career and how he had sort of sunk into the genuine worst of the worst genre stuff. Then I started thinking about actors who have had perfect runs, haven't appeared in a bad film, and the only person who sprung to mind for me was John Cazale who due to his tragic early death only appeared in five films; THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART II, THE CONVERSATION, DOG DAY AFTERNOON and THE DEER HUNTER.

 

So is there anyone I'm missing, anyone you think has had a perfect run of films. They don't have to match up to Cazale appearing in five of the greatest films of all time, but it'd be interesting to see if any actor has been able to appear in nothing but well received movies.

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post #2 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:10pm

I feel like this can only be a depressing exercise.  The best case is to talk about the worst wastes of great talent, because otherwise it's just going to be promising careers cut short by early death.

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post #3 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:21pm
Thread Starter 

Philip Seymour-Hoffman is an interesting one, post 1998 he has a pretty much spotless record (depending on your opinion of Along Came Polly), pre 1998 he's in Patch Adams, When A Man Loves A Woman, Twister, and The Getaway

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post #4 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:24pm
Maria Falconetti. One film, one classic.

I don't know that you'd find any reasonably long-lived actor who hasn't been in a piece of shit or two, but an interesting exercise might be to see how long a perfect run a given actor can manage before the streak is broken.
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post #5 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:25pm

And just what is wrong with Twister, hmm??

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post #6 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackyShimSham View Post

And just what is wrong with Twister, hmm??



It has malicous, growling, Tornadoes. I've got a soft spot for it, but it's a terrible piece of movie-making and Hoffman is flat out bad in it.

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post #7 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:31pm
This might be giving PSH's performance in Mission Impossible III a little more credit than it deserves. He seemed thoroughly bored in it, and contemptuous of the material, not that I can blame him.
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post #8 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:32pm

James Dean

images.jpg

3 films. 3 classics.

 

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post #9 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post

This might be giving PSH's performance in Mission Impossible III a little more credit than it deserves. He seemed thoroughly bored in it, and contemptuous of the material, not that I can blame him.


Now this is why I started the thread, because I think the aloof tone that Hoffman has in Mission Impossible III kind of sells the villain. The off hand way he threatens Cruise is probably the only time a villain has felt particularly effective on those films.

 

Nice choice Art.

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post #10 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:43pm

Diana Ross. A singer at her career peak takes bold risks & ends up with 3 genre classics.

 

Lady Sings The Blues

 

Mahogany

 

The Wiz

 

 

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post #11 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:45pm

I can't think of any actors (outside of Dean), but...I enjoyed Cars and A Bug's Life, so right up until they dropped Cars Le Deuce, Pixar had a perfect run of releases.

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post #12 of 143
9/15/11 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 

Madeline Khan has a pretty great run

 

Blazing Saddles -> Young Frankenstein -> At Long Last -> The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother -> High Anxiety -> The Cheap Detective -> The Muppet Movie -> Simon -> Wholly Moses (?) -> History of the World Pt.1 -> Yellow Beard -> City Heat (?) -> Clue

 

I've not seen City Heat or Wholly Moses, but that's a pretty goddamn consistent run in my view.

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post #13 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:04pm

I'm trying to think of anything out-and-out bad George Clooney's done post-Batman and Robin, and I'm coming up with nada.

For sanity's sake, we're gonna leave out the 20 seconds he's in the two Spy Kids films.

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post #14 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:19pm

My parents recently saw Twister.  They kept asking me if PSH was Jack Black (who they saw in School of Rock), and kept doubting me when I said it wasn't him.

 

His aloofness definitely made for the MI series' best villain.  Better than a constantly screaming and crying Dougray Scott, at least.

 

As for this thread:  Daniel Day Lewis?  I haven't seen Nine though.

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post #15 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:23pm
Thread Starter 

Never see Nine, ever. It is terrible, and I say this as someone who is goofy in love with Chicago. In actuality it might be worth it just for Daniel Day-Lewis playing Daniel Plainview growling a song about how awesome Italian cinema is in the opening fifteen minutes.

 

 


Edited by Spike Marshall - 9/15/11 at 6:33pm
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post #16 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:32pm

I hated Nine as well, although it did inspire me to rewatch 8 1/2.

 

While not perfect, Harrison Ford had an exceptional run starting with:

 

Empire Strikes Back

Blade Runner

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Return of the Jedi

Temple of Doom

Witness

The Mosquito Coast

Frantic

and, if we're feeling generous: Working Girl and Last Crusade.

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post #17 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:36pm

If this topic could be extended to include directors, James Cameron's 30 year run is unmatched:

 

The Terminator

Aliens

The Abyss

T2

True Lies

Titanic

Avatar

 

Pretty damn amazing.

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post #18 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Decade View Post

If this topic could be extended to include directors, James Cameron's 30 year run is unmatched:

 

The Terminator

Aliens

The Abyss

T2

True Lies

Titanic

Avatar

 

Pretty damn amazing.

 

I think you're being INCREDIBLY forgiving to at least three of those. The hilarious thing is that those three are probably different from person to person.
 

 

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post #19 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:45pm

For Cameron, you'd have to base that list off of the fact that there are no outright embarrassments in terms of financial success and relative quality.  But still... I agree that it's quite a run.

 

If you're gonna do directors... c'mon, Kubrick!

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post #20 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:46pm

If we're bringing directors into this, Kubrick wins that shit hands down. Haven't seen anything prior to The Killing, but that's an 11 film, 45 year streak, there.

 

EDIT: Or, what nooj said, the fast bastard.

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post #21 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah Kubrick wins this shit, even Spartacus is kind of brilliant.

 

I'd argue that Malick has got a flawless run thus far, but I know that people really don't like THIN RED LINE or NEW WORLD.

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post #22 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:50pm

Renn knows of my speed!

 

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post #23 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:52pm
Thread Starter 

Kurosawa from 1943 to 1985 made 27 films. Of these 27 you could only really class The Idiot as an out and out failure, and I still love that film despite it's shortcomings, and everything elses runs from merely great (Sanshiro Sugata) to transcedental (Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Rashomon, Ran)

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post #24 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:52pm

Malick was the first guy that came to mind but, man, I've seen Thin Red Line a half dozen times & that dog just won't hunt. 

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post #25 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:56pm

Personally, I think the Coen Bros destroy them all. 

 

Almost every single one is a classic.  And even the worst ones are still legitimately good films.  The one that is considered the worst is probably Ladyfingers, but I still liked it a lot.  Tom Hanks was great in it.  The only one I personally didn't connect with that much was A Serious Man.  Really liked Intolerable Cruelty, and also flat out loved Hudsucker Proxy, I think those are considered the lesser films, because the rest are pretty much classics.  But its just an incredible run of films.

 

Blood Simple Joel            
1987 Raising Arizona            
1990 Miller's Crossing            
991 Barton Fink 3   1      
1994 The Hudsucker Proxy            
1996 Fargo 7 2 4   6 1
1998 The Big Lebowski            
2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2   2 1 5  
2001 The Man Who Wasn't There 1   3   1 1
2003 Intolerable Cruelty            
2004 The Ladykillers Joel & Ethan            
2007 No Country for Old Men 8 4 4 2 9 3
2008 Burn After Reading     2   3  
2009 A Serious Man 2   1   1  
2010

True Grit

 

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post #26 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:56pm

Spielberg, Duh!

 

Duel

Sugarland Express

Jaws

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1941

Raiders of the Lost Ark

ET

(Poltergeist)

1941 is the only turkey in that lot, and even it has some good points (John Williams score, Belushi, Christopher Lee, that guy with the dummy....)

 

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post #27 of 143
9/15/11 at 6:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nabster View Post

Personally, I think the Coen Bro destroy them all.  Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, and True Grit.

 

Almost every single one is a classic.  And even the worst ones are still good films.  The worst one I'd say is Ladyfingers, but I still liked it.  The other one that I was colder on than the rest was a Serious Man.  Just an incredible run of films.

 

Blood Simple Joel            
1987 Raising Arizona            
1990 Miller's Crossing            
991 Barton Fink 3   1      
1994 The Hudsucker Proxy            
1996 Fargo 7 2 4   6 1
1998 The Big Lebowski            
2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2   2 1 5  
2001 The Man Who Wasn't There 1   3   1 1
2003 Intolerable Cruelty            
2004 The Ladykillers Joel & Ethan            
2007 No Country for Old Men 8 4 4 2 9 3
2008 Burn After Reading     2   3  
2009 A Serious Man 2   1   1  
2010

True Grit

 

 

Yeah but Intolerable Cruelty, I know it has it's defenders, and The Ladykillers ends that streak dead. But yeah, they are my favourite, most consistent directors. When I was describing True Grit to someone I referred to it as being 'merely great'. It's an 8/10 movie for me which puts it near the bottom end of my own personal canon.
 

 

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post #28 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:00pm

Scorsese had a damn fine 20+ year run

 

1973 Mean Streets

1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

1976 Taxi Driver

1977 New York, New York

1978 The Last Waltz (documentary)

1980 Raging Bull
1983 The King of Comedy

1985 After Hours

1986 The Color of Money

1988 The Last Temptation of Christ

1989 New York Stories (segment "Life Lessons")

1990 Goodfellas

1991 Cape Fear

1993 The Age of Innocence

1995 Casino

 

Kundun, Bringing Out The Dead, & Gangs Of New York are fascinating but pretty heavily flawed, so I consider '95 to be the cutoff year for Marty's ridiculous run of classics & near-classics.

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post #29 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:01pm
Thread Starter 

No, bad Art Decade, we do not use the terms 'New York, New York' and great in the same sentence.

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post #30 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post

Madeline Khan has a pretty great run

 

Blazing Saddles -> Young Frankenstein -> At Long Last -> The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother -> High Anxiety -> The Cheap Detective -> The Muppet Movie -> Simon -> Wholly Moses (?) -> History of the World Pt.1 -> Yellow Beard -> City Heat (?) -> Clue

 

I've not seen City Heat or Wholly Moses, but that's a pretty goddamn consistent run in my view.


Don't you leave out What's Up, Doc? and Paper Moon
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post #31 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:03pm
Thread Starter 

I hadn't seen those, which is why I tried not to comment.

 

In terms of actors. What about Leo Dicaprio? He seems to have a knack for attaching himself to great projects, and being great in them.

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post #32 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:11pm

Spielberg Part II:


Saving Private Ryan

AI

Minority Report

Catch me if you Can

War of the Worlds

Munich

 

Again out of this period there is only one dud : The Terminal.

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post #33 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post



 

Yeah but Intolerable Cruelty, I know it has it's defenders, and The Ladykillers ends that streak dead. But yeah, they are my favorite, most consistent directors. When I was describing True Grit to someone I referred to it as being 'merely great'. It's an 8/10 movie for me which puts it near the bottom end of my own personal canon.
 

 




Yea Ladyfingers is probably the worst; its really not up to their standards, but I thought it was kinda funny, and Hanks was great in it.  It didn't have any subtlety, and the humor didn't have the off-beat quality you'd expect from a Coens film.  It felt like they were trying to do something more mainstream.  Its pretty much the only Coen Bros film I'd never watch again, but I don't qualify it as a bad film, just decent. 

 

I'd also put Intolerable Cruelty in the bottom half, but I actually liked it quite a lot.  I've only seen it once, but I did enjoy it.

 

And I just flat out loved True Grit.  I thought it was an amazing film.  I liked how it ended up being a celebration of Westerns rather than a cynical deconstruction.  But even in celebrating westerns they examined the genre.  It was weird and funny, and it ended up being exhilarating as well.  The photography was just magnificent in the theaters.  And the Haily Stanfield gave a funny and heart warming performance, I loved it.  The tone of the film was more light hearted and playful, I was expected another one of their hard boiled crime epics set in the western world, but I was pleasantly surprised.   

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post #34 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post

No, bad Art Decade, we do not use the terms 'New York, New York' and great in the same sentence.

 

1941 is beautifully directed NON-entertainment. The second half of Full Metal Jacket doesn't work. New York, New York is a well crafted but miserable viewing experience. It's your thread, Spike, so either we cut directors out of the conversation altogether or we can overlook these minor bumps in the road. I'll abide either way.

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post #35 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:38pm

What's the worst thing Paul Greengrass has done?

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post #36 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:42pm

Darren Aronofsky. So far. so great:

 

Pi
Requiem for a Dream
The Fountain
The Wrestler
Black Swan
 

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post #37 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:45pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Schwartz View Post

What's the worst thing Paul Greengrass has done?



 

Theory of Flight. And even that only stoops as low as saccharine.

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post #38 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:49pm

Budd Boetticher had a helluva 1950's. SEVEN MEN FROM NOW thru to COMANCHE STATION is a fantastic run of brilliant B's.

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post #39 of 143
9/15/11 at 7:56pm

Hal Ashby's 1970s run is stunning:

 

1971 Harold and Maude
1973 The Last Detail
1975 Shampoo
1976 Bound for Glory
1978 Coming Home
1979 Being There
 

Just one era-defining classic after the other.

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post #40 of 143
9/15/11 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schwartz View Post

What's the worst thing Paul Greengrass has done?



Pass on Watchmen?

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post #41 of 143
9/15/11 at 8:34pm

I don't believe Greengrass passed on Watchmen. Paramount had cold feet and killed his version.

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post #42 of 143
9/15/11 at 8:34pm

There's a lot of 'good' and 'really good' on these lists, but in terms of perfection, I'll take Coppola's four film run in the 70's: Godfather, The Conversation, Godfather II and Apocalypse Now. All done in a row. Most everything he's done since I'll reserve comment on.

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post #43 of 143
9/15/11 at 8:56pm

Bruce Lee.

Peter Weir from 'The Last Wave' on.  I have some issues with 'Green Card' and 'Dead Poet's Society', but they aren't BAD.

Ginger Lynn in the 80s had a perfect run of 69 films.  yes.

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post #44 of 143
9/15/11 at 9:17pm

It might also be useful to distinguish between an actor being in a run of great flicks, and an actor being consistently great in a mix of great/good/passable/shitty flicks.

 

And then if a perfect run of great films is broken by a piece of shit, sometimes it's not the actor's fault it was shitty or even that he was shitty in it; sometimes he might've been directed to be shitty. I always think of Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones. Great actor, certainly capable of subtle villainy (he first came to my attention on Murder One), completely unwatchable in that, and I really have to blame Peter Jackson for that.

 

A perfect run or even an unusually lengthy run of great films may be luck as much as anything else.

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post #45 of 143
9/15/11 at 9:19pm

'Hard Times'

'The Driver'

'The Warriors'

'The Long Riders'

'Southern Comfort'

'48 Hours'

'Streets of Fire'

'Brewster's Millions'

'Crossroads'

'Extreme Fucking Prejudice'

 

Ladies and Gentlemen...Walter Hill.  It may not be perfect ('Brewster's Millions' and 'Crossroads' are good...) but fuck it.  'Extreme Prejudice' redeems all sins.

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post #46 of 143
9/15/11 at 10:31pm

Woody Allen. 1969-1980 is the first wave, consisting of Allen's most famous classics (even Interiors, which is actually pretty damn great, though really depressing).

      
1969    Take the Money and Run
1971     Bananas
1972     Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
1973     Sleeper
1975     Love and Death
1977     Annie Hall
1978     Interiors
1979     Manhattan
1980     Stardust Memories


1982-1990 is the second wave, which consists primarily of Mia Farrow dramedies. September & Another Woman are forgettable curios but aren't bad in a way that disrupts the run leading up to Allen's dramatic masterpiece Crimes & Misdemeanors.

 

1982     A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
1983     Zelig
1984     Broadway Danny Rose
1985     The Purple Rose of Cairo
1986     Hannah and Her Sisters
1987     Radio Days
1987     September
1988     Another Woman
1989     Crimes and Misdemeanors
1990     Alice

 

Shadows & Fog is the cutoff because it's genuinely bad & it's from there that the quality of Allen's films became consistently inconsistent.

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post #47 of 143
9/15/11 at 11:05pm

I'd say Tom Cruise had a nice long run from "Taps" and ending at "Mission Impossible 2".   The guy just knows how to pick his projects.  

 

And Meryl Streep had an amazing run in the 70's, 80's and 90's.   Her output in the 2000's and the 10's haven't been as strong but I attribute that to her just taking roles because they look like fun. 

 

As for directors, Paul Thomas Anderson hasn't made a stinker yet.

 

As for a perfect run of horrible performances, the prize goes to Madonna.   The best movie she was in was where she played herself (Truth or Dare).   The rest?   Pure garbage.

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post #48 of 143
9/15/11 at 11:38pm

edit-- redundant hal ashby admiration


Edited by Hammerhead - 9/15/11 at 11:53pm
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post #49 of 143
9/15/11 at 11:42pm
Quote:

Originally Posted by dynamotv View Post

 

As for a perfect run of horrible performances, the prize goes to Madonna.   The best movie she was in was where she played herself (Truth or Dare).   The rest?   Pure garbage.


A League of Their Own and Desperately Seeking Susan were pure garbage?

 

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post #50 of 143
9/15/11 at 11:54pm

Art, I gotta disagree on Shadows and Fog. If nothing else, it's beautifully shot (a la John Ford's The Informer) and has a great late Donald Pleasence performance. I'd keep counting through Husbands and Wives, with Manhattan Murder Mystery being the first really obvious 'filler' film.

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