The Oscars 2013: Actors and Actresses

Tonight the winners of the 85th Annual Academy Awards will be announced. Having previously written about my guesses (and hopes) for the Screenplay and Director-awards, I will now focus on 4 of the other big ones. Namely the awards for best male and female lead actor/actress, and the ones for the best supporting roles.

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook

Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables

Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Denzel Washington - Flight

All five performances nominated were top-class, although Daniel Day-Lewis is considered the big favorite, with Joaquin Phoenix maybe the most likely candidate if the 2-time winner (My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood) is snubbed. Daniel Day-Lewis´ performance in Lincoln is basically perfect. As a member of the audience you almost find it hard to believe that Day-Lewis has never met the real Lincoln for research. His mannerism, speech and voice is supposedly spot on, a fact that doesn´t surprise anyone who´s followed the career of the 55 year-old actor. 

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a masterful performance in The Master, well helped by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Their scenes together are truly wonderful, especially their first scene together doing a "session" in the boat. Phoenix has had a short break from acting, but the 3-time Academy Awards-nominee really delivers in his "comeback". His posture, his attitude, his craziness... all very disturbing, yet intriguing. I consider Joaquin the most likely contender to Day-Lewis for the award.

Hugh Jackman is nominated for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in the classic story by Victor Hugo, Les Misérables. Tom Hooper directed the 2012-version of the story, and Jackman is impressive as the troubled man struggling to keep himself and his "daughter" safe from his past. His singing might not be good enough for a top-class stage-version of the story, but he does a very good job at it nevertheless. And his acting is top notch, although I do struggle to see how he can be considered above the previously mentioned nominees. Either way, it is a well deserved nomination for the Australian. 

Bradley Cooper is another first time nominee, for his portrayal of Pat in Silver Linings Playbook. Arguably his best performance so far in his career, Bradley delivers a great deal of humor and hurt to his character. His character struggles with a bi-polar disorder, and after a stint at a mental institution he is brought home to his parents by his mother. Determined to get well and win back his ex-wife, he challenges himself in many areas, but is continuously challenged by his illness. Great job by "the guy from Hangover", and hopefully we´ll see more of this Bradley Cooper in the years to come. His co-stars (Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) are also wonderful, and the chemistry between them are pretty much perfect.

Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington has won 2 Academy Awards (Training Day, Glory) and is nominated for the 6th time this year. In Flight he plays an airline pilot who masterfully lands a flight destined for a crash-landing, saving many lives. However, he is still put under investigation due to the fact that there are rumours of him having been under the influence while doing so. Denzel Washington is no stranger to dramatic roles, and he is very believable (though not as likable as he usually is) in his role. His scenes with John Goodman are good comic relief, and his Kelly Reilly are both sad, tragic and at times tough to watch. I personally think he was better in Training Day (for which he won), and I do think the competition this year is a little too good for him to win it this year.

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva - Amour

Quvenzhane Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts - The Impossible

Jessica Chastain is very good in Zero Dark Thirty, but is very good enough? I doubt it. Jessica Chastain is a great actress, but I do feel she has to be considered an outsider this year. I have a feeling we´ll see her again amongst the nominees in years to come, however. Chastain reminds me of Cate Blanchett, and that is a compliment. This is her second nomination, as she was also nominated last year for her supporting role in The Help. 

Naomi Watts is also nominated for the second time, having previously been nominated for her leading role in 21 Grams. This year, she plays Maria, the wife and mother of three, in The Impossible. Definitely a great contender for the award, her performance is a powerful one. As the desperate mother looking for her two kids and husband after the tsunami strikes Thailand, she is solid from start to finish. As the tsunami strikes, she is pretty banged up, but her perseverance is second to none. To me, Watts delivers one of her best performances to date, which is saying a lot. 

Jennifer Lawrence has had a couple of great years, and is nominated for the second time in three years. Only 22 years old, Jennifer is definitely one of the brightest stars in her generation, and she is rightfully nominated for her job in Silver Linings Playbook. Her character, Tiffany, is struggling after her husbands death, with mischievous and erratic behaviour. Jennifer is both great at comedic timing, and very believable in her dramatic parts of the movie. You definitely feel for the girl, despite (or maybe because) of her craziness. A definite outsider to the award, having already won numerous awards her part in the movie (Golden Globe included). 

Quvenzhané Wallis is the youngest person ever nominated for a best actress Academy Award, and is also the first nominee ever born in the 21st century. I did love her performance in Beast of the Southern Wild. It´s a very honest portrayal of a young girl facing her fears. She plays with a certain grit about her, and is definitely one to watch in the coming years. I wouldn´t be surprised if she wins tonight, though I do think she has to be considered an outsider, as I believe the biggest favorite is...

Quvanzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild

Emmanuelle Riva. Wow. Riva was born in 1927, two years prior to the first annual Academy Awards, and her performance in Amour is simply breathtaking. Anne and her husband live together, but after she suffers a stroke, she is left partly paralyzed and stuck in a wheel-chair. Riva is amazing, and it´s almost hard to believe that she is just acting. I wasn´t completely sold on the movie as a whole, but I do consider Riva the favorite for the award for best leading role. It would no doubt be a fully deserved gesture for the woman who actually turn 86 years today. Would be one helluva Birthday....

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin - Argo

Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master

Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

A very open category, with strong contenders all around. Christoph Waltz is thriving under Quentin Tarantino, and his Dr. King Schulz in Django Unchained is a brilliant character. One does however see a lot of Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds) in the role, much due to his dialogue. Nonetheless, Waltz is once again marvelous, and could just as well land his second Oscar tonight.

Robert De Niro is back! In Silver Linings Playbook we can see the De Niro we have missed for the last decade. Although his part has a lot of comedy to it, it´s in the dramatic parts of the movie De Niro really shines. The fight in the attic and his talk with Pat (Bradley Cooper) on the side of his bed is very touching and heartbreaking. More of this again, please.

Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant in The Master. He has a certain aura, Seymour Hoffman, and it really shines through in this movie. His scenes with Phoenix is, as previously stated, pure class. As the charismatic leader of "The Cause", Philip Seymour Hoffman is probably, together with Waltz, the candidates with the most screen-time out of the nominees. And I consider him one of the big favorites, and a win would definitely not be undeserved for the 4 times nominated actor (1 win: Capote).

Alan Arkin is an amazing actor, and in Argo he is pure class as Lester Siegel. His scenes with John Goodman are at times hilarious, and you can´t help but love Arkin´s character in the movie. I do however think that his chances are a bit slim due to his screen time. Arkin has four nominations to his name, and his only win so far was in 2007 for Little Miss Sunshine.

Tommy Lee Jones is a one-time winner and four-time nominee at the Academy Awards. In Lincoln he plays Thaddeus Stevens, and he does a great job playing the politician hoping to better the slaves of the African-Americans. His scenes at the hearings are some of the highlights of the movies. 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams - The Master

Sally Field - Lincoln

Anne Hathaway - Les Miserablés

Helen Hunt - The Sessions

Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook

Helen Hunt strikes me as the odd one out in this category. She was good, no doubt, but was she really that good? The Sessions was a good movie, with a stellar perfomance by John Hawkes, but I do think Helen Hunt will have to be content with being amongst the nominees tonight. 

Amy Adams, however, strikes me as one of the big favorites in this category. She is scary in The Master, as the wife of Philip Seymour Hoffman´s character. Her character seems to be in total control of her husband, as shown in a quite disturbing scene with him in the toilet. Amy Adams is a wonderful actress, and maybe four times is lucky for her? She has previously been nominated for her supporting roles in The Fighter, Doubt (also co-starring Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Junebug. 

Sally Field was determined to land the role in Lincoln as Abraham Lincoln´s wife, Mary Todd. She got it, and with her track-record at the Oscars, she is setup for a win. She has won both of the times she has previously been nominated. However, I wasn´t completely convinced by her portrayal, though I won´t argue a nomination can´t be defended. 

Jacki Weaver was amazing in Silver Linings Playbook. I really loved her part, and her facial expressions speaks volumes in a couple of the scenes. Especially in the dance-sequence, she really gives a lot to the scene only by her quirky smile. She also shows off her comic talent in a few of the scenes, especially when talking to Robert De Niro and Jennifer Lawrence. I´d love to see her win it, although I do think she might have to be content with the nomination. 

Anne Hathaway is nominated for the second time, this time for her portrayal of Fantine in Les Miserablés. Critics say that she is overacting, but I think she does a great job, and that her acting is spot on for the character she is playing. Her song-talent has been showed off at the Oscars before (while Hugh Jackman was hosting), and she really holds her own in the movie. She didn´t have too much screen time, but no doubt she won the nomination for the scene where she performs "I Dreamed a Dream".

I consider Amy Adams and Anne Hathaway as the favorites, with Jacki Weaver an outsider. 

Only hours to go now. Enjoy the Oscars, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Oscar Thoughts: Screenplay and Director

With the Academy Awards only about two weeks away, here are some of my thoughts on a few of the nominees. In this post I´ll focus on three of awards, namely the following:

Best Director

Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Michael Haneke - Amour



Best Adapted Screenplay

Argo - Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Lucy Altibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi - David Magee
Lincoln - Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell


Best Original Screenplay


Amour - Michael Haneke
Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino
Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal
Flight - John Gatins

Best Director

This years nominees for Best Director are for the most part very well-known names in the movie-industry. Steven Spielberg, one feels, has been around since the real Abraham Lincoln was the President of the U.S., and both Michael Haneke and Ang Lee have been household names for a long time. David O. Russell has also been producing and directing since the 90´s, but before his critically acclaimed The Fighter (Oscar-nominated in 2011) he´s probably best known for Three Kings (1999).
Benh Zeitlin however, has never directed a feature film before, and his Beasts of the Southern Wild is an outsider for this years 85th annual Academy Awards.


What do I think? Speaking of the directors, I´ll say that for me Ang Lee, Spielberg and Zeitlin are the favorites. I had high hopes for Amour, but I was left disappointed overall by the movie. It had its moments, but this was not Haneke´s best work (however, Emmanuelle Riva made the movie one to watch anyway). The story has potential, but to me too much emphasis was put on making half the scenes twice as long as they needed to be for the point to be made.


Lincoln is, to me, a more challenging film to direct then Amour, and Spielberg does an excellent job. Where Haneke relies on the challenges of capturing the audience with scenes from within one apartment, Spielberg has the disadvantage/advantage of a much more varied scenery in telling his story. Some of the scenes are beautiful, as one of the scenes showing Lincoln riding a horse through the battlefields in the aftermath of the civil war. Ang Lee did a brilliant job making Life of Pi, and even though I wasn´t completely sold on the movie itself, the directing was masterful. That CGI-tiger was cute as hell! The scenes with rough weather was also made very believable for the most part.


When it comes to Zeitlin´s Beasts of the Southern Wild, it´s impossible not to give the guy credit for directing a film with the cast he did. We´re talking about actors of very little or no experience at all, and they all did an amazing job. A lot has been said about 9-year old Quvenzhané Wallis, (and I´ll get back to that when I´ll discuss other categories in a later post), but I really enjoyed the other cast-members as well. A lot of great scenes, and a very beautiful movie, despite a few aspects that I didn´t really love (giant hogs...). David O. Russell did a great job on Silver Linings Playbook as well, though I feel this is more the kind of movie that can win for Screenplay, not director.

Trailers for the movies:

Amour



Lincoln



Life of Pi



Silver Linings Playbook



Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Adapted Screenplay

The five nominees for Best adapted screenplay are all strong contenders, with Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi and Lincoln all seeming like movies that could win. David O. Russell wrote the screenplay for Silver Linings Playbook, a movie I´ve watched three times already, and I think he does a brilliant job with the timing of the humour in the movie. To me this movie and Beasts of the Southern Wild, co-written by the director Bein Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar, stands out as the two "roses" of the bunch. 

Life of Pi is wonderfully adapted to screenplay by David Magee, and let´s face it... making that story "filmable" was never going to be an easy thing to do. But if Ang Lee managed to do it (and he did), the assist for that goal should definitely go to David Magee. Now for the two movies based on real life events, Argo (written by Chris Terrio) and Lincoln (written by Tony Kushner). While the former is a sharp, to-the-point screenplay on the plan to save hostages life in a very hostile Iran in the 70s, the latter takes on the period of Lincoln´s presidency related to the abolishment of slavery. I think Argo might be a favorite here, and I personally wouldn´t cringe if Argo or Silver Linings Playbook won the award. I´d say Argo and Beasts of the Southern Wild might be the two nominees I probably think will win it, though.

Argo

Best Original Screenplay

As I´ve said earlier, Amour (Michael Haneke wrote the screenplay as well)  didn´t really impress me much. I won´t say that maybe it was due to high expectations. It just wasn´t a great movie, I thought. The theme of the movie is interesting, but I didn´t feel the story was that great... and at times, not very believable either. Flight, written by John Gatins,  gave us a Denzel Washington doing what he does best. Act his ass off. And he was great. Again. It also brought us another memorable performance by the ridicilously cool John Goodman. The story is also intriguing, and it has it´s twists and turns (cue Family Guy scene with Stewie talking about Brian´s novel). The opening 30 minutes is actually amazing. I loved it. I truly did. It´s an outsider, but I do think it will fall short of one of the movies I consider the favorite nominees, namely Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino) and Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal). 

Django Unchained is about as Tarantino as you can get. The dialogue, the scenery, the characters. I´ll never forget the scene where the blood of a man gunned down on a horse hits those white flowers. It reminded me of the fighting-scene in the snow in Kill Bill Vol. 1. And it is beautiful. Zero Dark Thirty has received a lot of criticism for it´s torture scenes, but the screenplay is nevertheless still probably one of the better of the nominees. Still, I´d go Django Unchained in this category. 

The last nominee, Moonrise Kingdom written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, is a cute movie, and very classic Wes Anderson. However, I find the movie in its whole a bit... too much Anderson. It all gets a bit... meeh. Had the Oscars gone all Golden Globe and put the movie as a "Comedy or Musical", then maybe, but I wouldn´t hold this screenplay over any of the other nominees.. Don´t get me wrong. I did enjoy the movie, but I still think Wes Anderson tries a little bit to much to create cheesy, funny shit. And too much cheese is never good. Never. 

Moonrise Kingdom

Flight

Django Unchained

Zero Dark Thirty

January Kids

42 years ago today, Doug E. Doug was born. Born in Brooklyn, many people still connect him to Jamaica after portraying the character Sanka in the 90´s comedy "Cool Runnings". The character Irv in the same movie was played by the late John Candy, whom many of us watch every Christmas as Gus Polinski in Home Alone. The part he played in Home Alone was inspired by his character in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", and his scene about forgetting his son at a funeral home was improvised. Here´s a little tribute to a few of those born in the first week of the year:



Another actor who also turns 42 today is Jeremy Renner, whose breakthrough came in Kathryn Bigalow´s "The Hurt Locker". A late bloomer, that movie catapulted him into the limelight in Hollywood. Here´s a memorable scene from "The Town":




On January the 5th, 1931, Robert Duvall was born. Duvall has been in numerous great movies such as Apocolypse Now, Falling Down and the Godfather Trilogy. (Diane Keaton, who played Kay in the latter, was also born on January 5th). One of my favorite scenes with the man is from Part II of the trilogy, in a wonderful scene together with the late Michael V. Gazzo (Frankie Pentangeli):



Fun fact about Robert Duvall: When The Godfather was released in March of 1972, a young girl named Luciana Pedraza was about 2 months old. She was born on the same date in 1972, and yes... she is now his wife.


As an avid fan of Martin Scorsese, one has to mention another child of January, Thelma Schoonmaker. The three times Oscar-winning editor has cut some of the finest movies of the last 4 decades, including Raging Bull, Goodfellas and The Departed, as well as personal favorites such as Bringing out the Dead, Gangs of New York and The King of Comedy.

From "The King of Comedy":




Speaking of Martin Scorsese, as in a couple of his movies, here´s his mother taking part in one of the Schoonmaker-edited movies, Goodfellas:




Happy Birthday, guys and gal!

MTV - they used to show music...

It´s been forever since the last time I updated this blog, but hopefully it´ll kick back into gear these next few days/weeks. Anyway, here´s a short little trip down memory lane to when MTV showed music videos (and I taped them on VHS)... Have a nice Weekend:


Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy



Everlast - What It´s Like



Semisonic - Closing Time



White Town - Your Woman



The Cranberries - Zombie



Fugees - Fu-Gee-La



Da Brat - Sittin´ On Top Of The World



TQ - Bye, Bye Baby





Memory lane is one of my favorite lanes. True story.

Underrated actors: Titus Welliver

A while back I was watching the Pilot of the new Tv-Series "Touch", and as Titus Welliver's character appeared, I realized this is an actor I really appreciate, although I've never really thought about it much. Here's a man who's appeared in numerous movies and tv-shows, but never really been the star of the movie (please correct me if I'm wrong).



Although never having a huge lead role, I'm always amazed by his intensity, and often find myself loving the characters he plays. Just a few days later, I was watching an old episode of X-Files (well, they're all old by now, but a really, really old one) and there he was again. So here's a list of a few movies/tv-shows he's appeared in that I'd recommend taking a look at. I emphasize that this post is about underrated actors, so my recommandations are solely based on the actors parts in the movies/tv-shows:

Titus Welliver


as Randall Meade in "Touch"

Appeared in two of the episodes, and has been one of the highlights of the show for me so far. Still too early for me to make a verdict of the show on a whole, but love his scenes in it.

as Jimmy O'Phelan in "Sons of Anarchy"



As one of the Irish bad guys in the FX hit show Sons of Anarchy, Titus has probably pissed off a lot of people, but still gotta love the part.

as Officer Jake Lowery in "Brooklyn South"


The first show I can remember him from, this cop-drama from... you guessed it, Brooklyn, was cancelled after one show. Still one of my fave cop shows, though.

as Doug Spinney in "The X-Files: Darkness Falls (Episode 1.19)"



Poor special effects aside, a very good episode of X-Files. One of those episodes I still remembered bits and pieces from still many, many years after watching it for the first time.

Besides these few examples, he's also taken part in a lot of quality stuff, such as "Gone Baby Gone", "The Town", episodes of "Third Watch" and "Life"... He also played the character of Redneck in Bar in the 1990 movie Navy Seals... right.

As a little bonus, here's a clip where Titus is having some fun with Kevin Pollak:



Hopefully this'll be the first of more posts on underrated actors. Stay tuned

Oscar-nominations a few days away...

As the nominations for this years Oscars are drawing closer, here's a look at some of the movies and tv-shows that were in the spotlight at the Golden Globes. Obviously some of those films/actors/actresses will also be among the favorites for nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards.

First of all, Morgan Freeman won the Cecil B. DeMille award, an honorary award given out for outstanding achievement in the entertainment-industry. The man with a voice which will make you believe just about anything he says joins other acclaimed entertainers such as last years winner Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Sinatra.

Movies:

The Descendants, starring George Clooney and Shailene Woodley, won the award for the Best Motion Picture (Drama), ahead of movies such as Moneyball, The Help and The Ides of March.




In the category Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) the winner was The Artist, which beat competition from Bridesmaids, 50/50, Midnight in Paris and My Week with Marilyn.



Actors/Actresses:

As actresses go, Meryl Streep is one of the best, and it was no surprise that she took home the award for best actress in a motion picture drama for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Iron Lady. She beat one of my personal favorites Glenn Close (nominated for Albert Nobbs), as well as Rooney Mara, Viola Davies and Tilda Swinton. In the award for best actress in a motion picture musical or comedy another favorite of mine, Michelle Williams, won the award for her role in My Week with Marilyn. The other nominees were Jodie Foster, Charlize Theron, Kristen Wiig (!) and Kate Winslet.

George Clooney won the award for best actor in a drama for his performance in The Descendants. He beat the competition from Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender. For his role in The Artist, Jean Dujardin won the award for best actor in a comedy or musical, beating Brendan Gleeson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling (nominated in both categories drama and musical/comedy this year) and Owen Wilson.

The Iranian movie A Seperation (Original title: Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) won the award for Best Foreign Language Film, whereas Martin Scorsese took home the award for Best Director (Hugo).



The awards for best supporting actor and actress went to Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help), respectively. Woody Allen won the award for Best Screenplay (Midnight in Paris).


TV:

The competition was very strong for this years award for Best Television Series (Drama), with shows like Boardwalk Empire, Homeland and Game of Thrones. Homeland, starring Damian Lewis and Claire Danes, won the award, and the latter also won the award for Best Actress in a Television Series (Drama). Well-deserved, I might add, as her portrayal of Carrie Mathison was an amazing performance from a talented, and still young, actress. Or is that just me becoming older talking? Kelsey Grammer won the award for Best Actor in a Television Series (Drama) for his character in Boss, beating Damian Lewis, Jeremy Irons, Steve Buscemi and Bryan Cranston.

One of my personal favorites, Modern Family, won the award for Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical), and although I'd like to see Ty Burrell win the award every year for his portrayal of Phil Dunphy, the awards for best actor/actress in this category went to Laura Dern (Enlightened) and Matt Leblanc (Episodes).

Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, which is funny, because the name of the award is basically longer then the man himself.


On Tuesday the nominations for the Academy Awards will be released, and I'll be back with an update as soon as I can following that event.

Characters

Movies and tv-shows need a lot working for them in order to become something to remember. A good story, funny moments, shocking moments, twists are just some of the different ingredients that can make us remember a certain movie, tv-show (or even just one specific tv-episode). Very often, though, the characters can make or break a movie or tv-show. From Robert De Niro's portrayal of the young Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, through George Wendt's Norm in Cheers and all the way to Colin Firth's oscar-winning role in The King's Speech, characters have amazed us.

Characters can be intriguing in many ways; their complexity, their mannerism, simplicity, actions, figure of speech, dialogue etc. Very often the "bad guys" have taken the limelight, understandably so considering they are often equipped with both a complexity challenging the viewer's own morality as well as dark humour, witty dialogue and other intriguing qualities.

We all have our favorites, and I have many. Here are some of mine (with emphasis on some), and feel free to hit me up with yours!


Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II - played by Robert De Niro



Portraying the young Vito Corleone after Marlon Brando had immortalized the role in The Godfather Part I was always going to be a differcult task. Robert De Niro nailed it. Vito Corleone was one of thos quiet gangsters, whom did everything for his family. Never lost it, and always seemed to have the answer. His revenge in Italy on the mafioso who killed his father and brother is an amazing scene.

Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in Gangs of New York - played by Daniel Day-Lewis

Never before has anyone sounded as cool as he did saying "Whoopsy-daisy". The character is well-written, well-acted... it's amazing to see The Butcher's different moods, especially in the scene where he sits talking to Amsterdam (DiCaprio) wrapped in an American flag

Amélie in Amélie - played by Audrey Tautou



Great heart, charming and the scene where she guides the blind man is as beautiful as a film-scene can be.

Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso - played by Philippe Noiret



Who wouldn't like to have this guy as an extra grandfather? A friend of mine suggested I dressed up as Alfredo for Halloween.. maybe one day I will.

Lars in Lars and the Real Girl - played by Ryan Gosling

Socially inept, this character is both tragic and hilarious. The comic aspect of his character is very well written, though, which makes this movie a very touching depiction of the life of a person deeply challenged on how to interact with the outside world. The "flower-throwing"-scene is one of the funniest scenes I've seen, with just about all the elements of it's comedy spot on.

Omar Little in The Wire - played by Michael K. Williams



One of the best characters in a tv-show, Omar Little was the homosexual gangster strolling around the hood armed with a shotgun and a love for whistling. How's that for a twist on the stereotypical tv-gangster?

Josh Lyman in The West Wing - played by Bradley Whitford

Together with other amazing characters from the show (Toby Ziegler, Leo McGarry and C.J. Cregg), Josh Lyman made this tv-show one of the best tv-shows ever. I've never been a fan of quick dialogue, but these characters made it work.

Phil Dunphy in Modern Family - played by Ty Burrell



One of the funniest characters in a sitcom these days, Phil is the dad who tries a little bit too hard to be the cool dad. Funny on so many levels. His lines are incredible, but Ty Burrell has to be given a lot of credit cause his delivery is brilliant.

Javier Rodriguez in Traffic - played by Benicio Del Toro

Breakthrough performance for Benicio Del Toro, and not without a reason. Javier is one of the most likable characters in this movie, add to that the amusing scene in the pool. Don Cheadle's character is also a great one in Traffic.

Mario Ruoppolo in Il Postino - played by Massimo Troisi



This rather slow character is introduced to us through a conversation with his father where he takes the term "beat around the bush" to a new level. The simplicity of his mind is both funny and beautiful. Troisi died just after finishing the movie, having gone against the doctor's advice on not shooting the film.

Sydney Fife in I Love You, Man - played by Jason Segel

The axe-man to Peter Klaven's bass-slapping in the movie that defined bromance. Sydney's lines, appearance and behaviour is all great fun, although one might not want the dude to spring a surprise-speech at your Wedding...

Chuck in Forgetting Sarah Marshall - played by Paul Rudd



Although a very small role, this character is funny in all off his scenes as the surf-instructor with a "slight" drug-problem. "You sound like you're from LAN-DAAAN!"



As mentioned, these are just a few of my favorites, and there are plenty of others I could have included, such as a few characters from tv-shows like The Shield, Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Mad Men, Six Feet Under as well as from the movies...

How about you? Agree/disagree? Any favorites of your own?