Great casts, but one doesn't belong

tombstone is dead on, how about episode 2, hayden.
and gettysburg....why why martin sheen.

Re: Great casts, but one doesn't belong

How could you forget Frank Stallone?

The Usual Suspects

Stephen Baldwin

Branagh's "Much Ado ABout Nothing" ...with Keanu Reeves. And I'm no Keanu hater. I like him in plenty of roles, that fit him.

I'm a sucker for this movie (and selfishly wish Branagh stayed in a Shakespeare rut), but he's a toenail clipping in the ice cream bowl.

The only reason Voight stands out is because of an atrocious hairpiece.

Hardly a bad performance, though.

Hey now, he's not that bad in it.

Sin City - Michael Madsen. He's a kickass actor usually and fits right in with the movie's cast on paper, but for some reason he just had to be crap in this flick.

I've always thought he rocks here, from the great cancerous makeup to the laid-back mumbling dialogue (IIRC Mann says Nate is patterned after Eddie Bunker).

I've watched this with friends who were pissed off they couldn't understand what he was saying, but they were all pretty much won over with his final sign-off to McCauley: "So, so long brother. You take it easy. You're home free." Also his retort to McCauley's chuckles as they peruse Hanna's personnel file: "Funny as a heart attack, man."

Don't have a problem with any of the cast of Heat...As for The Insider, I've always found Diane Venora's performance a little grating. I know she's supposed to be a one-dimensional, materialistic bitch...just annoying. Crowe, Pacino, and Plummer more than make up for it, though.

And Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio really kills The Abyss for me.

Anjelica Huston...... The Life Aquatic

I really loved this movie and think that like Andersons other work age will serve it well, but she was so wooden yet bitchy she just ruined the whole quirkiness of the movie, she was 50 times better in RT.

Stephen Baldwin may not "fit" given his stature as an actor versus his cast mates, but he more than holds his own in the film. I think its more an example of an actor really surprising you with one outstanding performance that's pretty out of character. The little things he did with that performance (the line-up, the sexual quiver as he begins to execute Kobayashi, "Oswald was a fag"), sorry, this was not a bad performance at all.

Ditto for Jon Voight. Nate is one cool dude. And I agree with Subotai (on all things with "Heat" honestly), he had some great lines and a laid back quality I loved. "You have the time?" I always loved how cool he played it. I mean, the guy is an accomplice to the biggest crime of the day, the police are looking for them all over, and he just casually helps them out of town without freaking out in the least.

To add my nominations though:

Sofia Coppola in "The Godfather Part III"- Yeah, an easy one, but its so glaring. I actually love the film, but Coppola screwed this one up big.

Peter O'Toole in "Troy"- Most of the cast was so good, and then the guy I was counting on and most excited to see acting again turned in the most wide-eyed, over-the-top, half-drunk performance I've seen. Terrible.

BATMAN BEGINS

Christian Bale (ooh!)
Gary Oldman (ahh!)
Michael Caine (ooh!)
Liam Neeson (ah...you get the drift!)
Tom Wilkinson
Morgan Freeman
Cillian Murphy
Ken Wantanabe
Rutger Hauer

and.....


Katie Holmes!?!

Now she may shock and awe us with an amazing performance, but Joey Potter is seriously out of place in this cast list of brilliant veterans, and outstanding young talents like Murphy and Bale. I felt the same thing about her in WONDER BOYS.

Michael Douglas (ooh!)
Robert Downey jr (ahh!)
Frances Mcdormand
Tobey Maguire

and....

Katie Holmes!?!

She was barely competent as usual, but pretty much forgettable wallpaper. She brought nothing to the role (except her ever present Joey Potter pout), whereas a more talented actress from the same age range like Thora Birch might have made her role more a lot more memorable and distinctive. That fact that Douglas, Downey jr, Mcdormand and Maguire were acting their a$$es off, only highlighted her mediocrity.

George Clooney's brief appearance in The Thin Red Line was like having my teeth cleaned with a rasp. And I like the guy.

Name an actress of her age with the stature to actually seem "among equals" with the cast you just named. Sorry, Thora Birch may be attractive to some, but she's not going to be hopping into the sack with Batman. Yeah, maybe Scarlett Johansen or Natalie Portman have a little more prestige, but the character is older than them. I don't think its a leap of the imagination to cast Katie Holmes as the young hottie. She's the damsel in distress love interest. At least they avoided "Spider-Man" and cast someone hot.

And I almost mentioned Clooney and "The Thin Red Line" too, but I just don't think its his fault. They way Malick hacked his own film to pieces, almost everyone feels tacked on and out of place. Clooney doesn't suck, he just has a really weird intro at a really odd time. I remember reading that he actually filmed a lot more (like everyone) including a scene in which he got killed during an attack. I'd be so interested in seeing a really really long cut of the movie with everyone's footage added back in.

At first Keanu's performance in the devil's advocate really ticked me off because I loved pacino's satan (I'm a big Al fan regardless of how over the top people think he is) After watching the flick a bunch of times i have learned to laugh at Keanu and his on again off again southern accent.

The cast of oceans eleven and twelve and then,.... Julia Roberts I hate her so i guess I'm biased, but i think she is the most overated, untalented, UGLY movie stars ever. I honestly thought she was the worst part about Erin Brokovich. When she won that Oscar I almost shit a squirrel.

I don't feel it was his fault either. Malick cast the wrong man.

Stew: I wouldn't cast Thora Birch for BATMAN BEGINS either. But Birch would have been a more than suitable replacement in WONDER BOYS.

Honestly, I don't see the physical age differnce between Holmes, Portman and Johansson that you do. They're all capable of playing pretty much in the same age range (late teens to mid-twenties at best). Portman has already convincingly played adult in CLOSER. And with her deep, husky, smoking voice, I'd argue that Johansson would be the most convincing at playing "older" out of the three actresses. Holmes may be the oldest of the 3, but it's not that obvious in her looks, and her demeanour screams teenage "girly". So yeah, Portman and Johansson would look less out of place in that cast. And their both hot enough to screw Batman.

I think we’ve all become de-sensitized to his ubiquity.

Tarantino in Pulp Fiction.

Annette Bening in Bugsy.

Julia Roberts in Closer.

And I know I'm gonna get killed for this, but here it is:
Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross.
I know there are many who revere the late Mr. Lemmon, but I have never been one of
them. It's not that I think he was untalented, I just never cared for his style. I think
everyone knows what I mean: that stuttering, stammering way he had of delivering
his lines. He used it in all his movies that I recall, and it really grated on my nerves in
Glengarry, which otherwise has maybe my favorite cast ever. For that matter, I'd
throw in Lemmon in JFK as well. Sorry, everyone.

Before I even clicked on this thread I was thinking Priestly in TOMBSTONE. That film may be the best collection of charcter actors ever and then he pops up. It's not like I can't stand the guy, but he does not fit at all.

I guess I'll go with Margaret Cho in FACE OFF. It's not that she's all that terrible in her small part but the fact that I had to see her at all is a blemish on an otherwise perfect film.

Oh, and Voight was great in HEAT. Probably my favorite role of his.

I'm with you on this one. He's a very bad actor, and frankly, the whole sequence suffers not just from him, but because IMO its so much less interesting than everything that's come before it feels like a huge letdown. While there are nuggets of goodness in the last two chapters, its no longer perfection. Butch riding off on the motorcycle was the high point.

Um, I don't really get this one. Not only does she give a pretty great performance, but in the spirit of this thread, Warren Beatty himself is no master thespian who dwarfs the meager skills of Annette Bening. I think they're about the same. Pretty good actors who can be great with good material. I thought they both did well here.

Again, she's not quite the film geek favorite that Owen and Portman are, but she's in the same league, and frankly, pretty good in the movie. And for all the "horse face" online insults, I think she looks the best she has in years.

Nope, can't get with you here either. One of the things I love about "JFK" (and there are many, it being in my top 5 of all time) is how well Stone makes all of the actors fit. I mean, consider that virtually every character in the film is recognizable from some other famous film/TV show, and yet they all fit with their roles. Hell, even John Candy comes off perfectly. Any one of them could easily have been overbearing, but they all fit into the larger story. Along with "Heat", one of the perfect examples of ensemble cast.

Stole my first pick.