Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Giving up is unforgivable. ~Joe Biden

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

So many bastards, so little time.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

When we show up, we win.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool – Actors You Would Watch In Anything

Medium Cool – Actors You Would Watch In Anything

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Medium Cool is here once a week on Sundays at 7pm Eastern to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.

We wanted to call the series Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In, but decided that was a bit too long, so we settled on Medium Cool.

We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.

Remember: Medium Cool is on Sundays at 7 pm.

My “treadmill shows” this month have been Season 2 of The Lincoln Lawyer and then Season 2 of The Diplomat.  I was browsing on Netflix and Prime the other night and spotted Cross.  I always liked the books, so when I finished The Diplomat a couple of minutes ago (the ending, wow!) I started Cross for my remaining 10 minutes on the treadmill.

In the opening scene, I thought “is that Hardison from Leverage?”  I started to be even more sure in the opening interrogation scene, and as soon as I hopped off the treadmill I googled.  Sure enough!  I love the actor who played Hardison – and if he’s playing the lead in Cross, I must not be the only one!

I am super excited about Cross.

Aldis Hodge probably didn’t jump right from Leverage to Cross.  What has he been in that I missed?  No, I’m not asking anyone to Google for me, but I figure you guys will know.

Who would you watch in anything?  Even if the premise seemed really lame or was a genre isn’t usually your thing?  Cross looks like it might be too creepy and violent for me, but I am going to give it a try because it’s Aldis Hodge.

Note, one day later.  I laughed out loud in the first episode of Cross (which does indeed have a creepy bad guy) when his female boss says “F me in the A” in a restaurant when she doesn’t like the answer Cross gives to her question.  I immediately knew what she was saying, but is that common shorthand for that phrase?  Or is that just her?

What actors would you watch in just about anything?   Any up-and-comers in the acting profession that we might all like to know about?

Please don’t just list names – or just list films or shows.  Tell us about the actor, what you like about them, what you like about the shows they have been in.

*I miss Steeplejack so much.  I think he would have liked this show.  And this Medium Cool post.  Steep loved knowing all the stars who were guest-starring in the various hit shows over the years, and he always knew the names of all the actors, even the character actors who weren’t big stars.  I’m more like, “you know – the guy who played Hardison on Leverage.”

Note: for those new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.

 

Reader Interactions

192Comments

  3. 3.

    raven

    Sterling Hayden.  Great in so many films including The Godfather, Johnny Guitar, Dr Strangelove, The Killing and The Last Command.

  6. 6.

    Hildebrand

    I will watch Toby Jones, from playing villains in both Doctor Who and Marvel movies to his great turn in both Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office and the Detectorists, in anything.  One of the best character actors working right now.

  7. 7.

    Chetan Murthy

    John Malkovich.  Since his turn in _The Glass Menagerie_.  In anything.  I saw him recently in _Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes_ and he was brilliant.

  8. 8.

    Joy in FL

    I’m leaning toward Ted Danson. I loved his character in The Good Place, and I’m looking forward to starting his new show  A Man on the Inside on Netflix. At this point, I would watch him in anything; I would at least try it. I liked his character Michael, and The Good Place, in general because they were funny enough and they also gave me things to think about. I need both humor and meaning, and he seems like an actor who does that well.

    Brett Goldstein also is someone I would be interested to see in various roles. I loved his character in Ted Lasso. When I saw him in Shrinking (Apple TV also), I was in awe at what a different character he inhabited. The same human person, but two utterly different people in the roles he played. I love seeing actors do that.

  9. 9.

    Chetan Murthy

    Nicola Walker.  She was great in MI-5, again in Unforgotten, and now in Annika.  She’s done other stuff, that I haven’t gotten around to watching.

  10. 10.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Like above, old school, Cary Grant.

    Contemporary: Sam Rockwell, Amy Irving, Anna Kendrick.

  12. 12.

    Phylllis

    Colin Firth. He can go from kind/funny/awkward to is this guy weirdly creepy or is it just me without losing the audience. Bill Nighy is another favorite–he gnaws the scenery like a beaver on steroids in Love Actually, then absolutely slays you in Their Finest and Living.

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    Please don’t just list names – or just list films or shows. Tell us about the actor, what you like about them, what you like about the shows they have been in.

    Make an effort! -Al Murray

  17. 17.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Nicholas galitzine, a new young character actor, quite nuanced, interesting range

    and recently, Simon Baker

    kate winslet, Emma Thompson, Laurence fishburne,  jeremy irons, Ben Kingsley,

    Helen mirren, though I sometimes bail part way,

    Frances mcdormand. Fargo. Ms pettigrew lives for a day ( that’s the one I rewatched in French and spanish)
    Joan cuzak.
    character actors
    Maybe Keanu

    andrew Scott for sure absolutely, he’s quite amazing

    Ralph Fiennes, Juliet binoche.

    I’ve probably seem half of Sandra bullocks movies, the proposal, but a bunch of others

    you can google any of these and get some movie clips as a taster, see if any of it appeals.

  19. 19.

    Craig

    I’ll watch Paul Newman in anything. The connection he has to the characters and the actors around him is so tangible. His charisma is just off the charts even for a certified Movie Star. I started off with his work with George Roy Hill, so I was spoiled right away. The effortless banter between him and Redford as Butch and Sundance, and Gondorf and Hooker in The Sting had me sucked in completely as a child. His Reggie Dunlap is not a good guy in Slapshot for most of the film, but Newman plays it like he is, cause Reg believes he’s good. Reg finally figures out that he’s been an ass and goes back to Old Time Hockey, like Ned Braden has been telling him.

  20. 20.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Starfish (she/her): Oh Buscemi in anything, eh?  I remember him as Gordon Pratt in Homicide: Life on the Streets.  He was -amazing- in that role.  I didn’t even know who he was back then, but since them ….. well, he’s been in everything.  Mink in Miller’s Crossing.  Donnie in Big Lebowski.  Probably a million other roles that I’ve seen him in, but those are the three that jump out.

  22. 22.

    Ihop

    So, watch network, the three and four musketeers, miller’s crossing, key largo and born yesterday.

  25. 25.

    Phylllis

    @Craig: Have you seen The Last Movie Stars? It’s a six-part documentary on HBO/Max about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. It’s a warts and all portrait, particularly of Paul.

  26. 26.

    Trivia Man

    Much yo my surprise, Jennifer Anniston. Not necessarily because of her role, but she seems to make movies I really like. If she is in it ill give it a chance. From Office Space and Iron Giant to Office Christmas Party.

    Also in that last, movie Jason Bateman is in movies  like, his Bad Words was a surprise hit for me,

  27. 27.

    piratedan

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: ditto on Kendrick, I liken her to the Tom Hanks of her generation.  Also a fan of Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the types of roles that they take, challenging roles with nuance.  Emma Stone and Amy Adams got some chops too.  On the male side, I’m not sure that there are as many dudes who can break free of the stereotypical roles that garnered them fame, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the one I like the best in the generation post Denzel.  Idris Alba is always riveting.

  28. 28.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    Changing it a bit to actor/director

    Paul Giamatti in a Alexander Payne film
    Jimmy Stewart /Hitchcock
    Cary Grant / Hitchcock
    Philip Seymour Hoffman RIP / PTA

  30. 30.

    tobie

    I’m deep into Korean shows right now and have become enchanted with the actor Lee Sun-kyon who plays inward, inexpressive if not silent characters but somehow manages through small gestures to convey the whole weight and feel of their existence. He stars in the series “My Mister” on Netflix and the movie “Helpless” on Prime. I’m looking for an early film of his entitled “Paju.” Unfortunately, he committed suicide a few years ago so the pained face on the screen may have been quite real.

  32. 32.

    Phylllis

    @Chetan Murthy: One of my favorites is Mystery Train. When he shows up, your first thought is ‘yep, this is exactly the kind of movie I’d expect to see Steve Buscemi in’.

  34. 34.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Gloria DryGarden: also Gael Garcia Bernal. I saw him in a movie w Kate Hudson, and Joan cuzak. He impressed me, not sure why.

    He’s got a movie about Pablo Neruda that I need to find.

  36. 36.

    narya

    Meryl Streep—she absolutely inhabits every character, from Deer Hunter on. And I agree about Paul Newman: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof w Liz Taylor; Long Hot Summer with Joanne; The Hustler; Nobody’s Fool; the other one by Robert Benson (Starlight?).

  37. 37.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Andrew Scott does this half hour monologue play called the seawall, I ran into it on YouTube. He takes your heart on a ride.

  38. 38.

    Bex

    OT Biden will pardon his son Hunter.  Thanks Joe.  Those charges were bogus from the start.  I’m sick of Republican bullshit even though we’ll see much more of it in the coming years.

  39. 39.

    piratedan

    @Gloria DryGarden: no, I haven’t seen that one as of yet, was introduced to him via The Wire and Luther.  Then saw him in one of the Guy Ritchie films (RocknRolla) and he was solidly brilliant in that (but then again, I LIKE Guy Ritchie films).

  42. 42.

    piratedan

    @Bex: Rest assured, the Media will be sure to both sides the ever loving shit out of this… Biden went back on his word!  He lied to us!

    completely context free

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    One of those “ask me again tomorrow and it’ll be completely different choices” questions. Gonna strictly limit myself to one of each sex in each just created category.

    Contemporary:
    Daniel Day-Lewis
    Helen Mirren

    Historical:
    John Garfield
    Jean Arthur

    Golden Age:
    George Arliss
    Marie Dressler

    Timeless:
    Charles Laughton
    Katharine Hepburn

    Second Bananas:
    Charles Coburn
    Elsa Lanchester

  49. 49.

    persistentillusion

    @WaterGirl: Bad Samaritan, Camping, Darkwater Fell, finally You,Me and Him.  In Camping, nobody was having any fun, in You, Me and Him nobody cared.

  50. 50.

    Leto

    @WaterGirl: Shrinking is about a psychologist whose wife is killed by a drunk driver, and the aftermath of that. It’s comedy but it’s also heart touching and thoughtful. It has an amazing cast, and I say just watch it.

  53. 53.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Nicholas Galitzine is an up and comer, with an interesting range. He did The Idea of You, Red White and Royal Blue, on prime, and Mary and George on Netflix. The first two are rom com, with some depth, nuance and personal resonance. Mary and George is historical, in the time of King James who was a very busy man.

    I like what he does with a character, and how he makes me tap into deep feelings inside. He’s got an extra spark, it’s not just the heartthrob sensitive roles he’s played.

    It’s that extra light that I love watching with Andrew Scott.

    Sometimes it’s a character I love, in a movie or a show  (example Simon Baker, “the mentalist”, I only have short clips, darn it). sometimes it’s their light. Like Keanu, yes he’s pretty, and a good guy in real life, but also, he has a light burning bright.

    No one’s mentioned him yet, but most anything w Anthony Hopkins ..

  56. 56.

    Leto

    OT but 60 Minutes A segment is about the reopening of Notre Dame. Absolutely stunning. Ok, back to the topic at hand.

  57. 57.

    persistentillusion

    @Starfish (she/her):

    I adored Broadchurch and watched enough that I can’t watch anymore.  I memorized it.  Dark, but realistic.  We live, as we have all noticed, in a terrible world.

  60. 60.

    Lynn Dee

    García Bernal is always wonderful. He and his long-time friend and fellow actor, Diego Luna, have a mini-series out — the first hulu series in Spanish, I think (with English subtitles) — called La Máquina that is supposed to be very good.

    And I’m going to go with everyone over the age of ___ (eight, maybe? ten?) will understand what “f me in the a” means even if they’ve never heard anyone actually say it before. It is funny, though, to get that discreet use of initials mixed with that anatomical specificity in the same turn of phrase!

  62. 62.

    TBone

    Everyone in the Huston family because wow, and all of the Barrymore clan except for the new talk show.  Range!

  63. 63.

    karen marie

    @Bex: Thank you for this OT!  I’m really glad Biden did this, and that it covers any and all possible crimes between January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.

    Fuck Republicans with very large and sharp sticks.

    On topic:  Idris Elba.  I would watch him read the phone book if I could.  He’s so fine.   Oooh.

  67. 67.

    Starfish (she/her)

    @WaterGirl: I was living in Baltimore at the time, and everyone asked everyone in Baltimore “Have you watched The Wire?”

    I think Laura Lippman, David Simon’s wife, lived a couple of blocks from where I lived. I think they had both been journalists for The Baltimore Sun at one time.

  69. 69.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Lynn Dee: I’ll have to get Hulu. I don’t have time for all this. But my Spanish might be up to it. He’s delicious..and intriguing, earthy. His body is like coiled resilience.

  70. 70.

    Just look at that parking lot

    I’ll watch any movie with the late Warren Oats in it. He was great at playing characters that were off kilter, rough around the edges, but also a bit vulnerable and full of bull shit.

    Watch him in Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter and Two Lane Blacktop, Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Ride the High Country and two Peter Fonda movies, The Hired Hand and 92 In the Shade.

    Most people remember him in Strips as Sgt Hulka. He’s scenes are the best things going for that movie.

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    @CliosFanBoy: Those are two of mine as well.

    Roger Allam

    Richard Armitage

    Samantha Bond

    I know we’re not supposed to list, but

    Colin Firth (not Kingsman, though)

  74. 74.

    RevRick

    Mark Rylance — The Bridge of Spies, Wolf Hall.
    Derek Jacobi — I, Claudius
    Keri Russell — The Americans, The Diplomat
    Diana Rigg — The Avengers (she was hawt)
    Jennifer Lawrence

  75. 75.

    gwangung

    Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh always elevate the material they’re in, even the schlocky Hong Kong action movies that were being churned out by the month.Maggie was lucky enough to get into the prestige films that elevated her career In the Mood for Love, Irma Vep, etc)., but Michelle had the gravitas and talent to get there, but was wasted by the Hollywood Studios. They were in one potboiler together (The Heroic Trio) which is an acknowledged action classic.

    (There’s also the obvious physical reasons, but, that’s more on the male heterosexual side…)

  76. 76.

    mali muso

    @zhena gogolia: yes, Richard Armitage!!! That dark smolder but with a side of self deprecating humor. I need to schedule a rewatch of North and South for my winter hibernation.

  77. 77.

    Splitting Image

    James Garner is a guy I will always watch. Support Your Local Sheriff and The Rockford Files are both classics. He was in a lot of Westerns and was practically the anti-John Wayne. A great example of non-toxic masculinity. He was also an Oklahoma leftist, back when there was such a thing.

    Peter Falk. Columbo is a no-brainer, but he was also terrific in The Great Race and The Princess Bride. He inhabited every character and had a voice you could happily listen to reading the phone book.

    Michael Hordern is in dozens of terrific movies, including A Christmas Carol (with Alistair Sim), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Missionary, and Anne of a Thousand Days. A character actor who could do literally everything.

    Michael Palin is, in my opinion, the most versatile of the Python actors. Aside from the Python movies, he was also in Brazil, A Fish Called Wanda, and his numerous travelogues. You have to admire a guy who could play eight or nine different characters in one movie and give them all a different look and vibe.

    Marty Feldman died much too young and had too short of a career, but he was terrific in At Last the 1948 Show, Young Frankenstein, and The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. I think he’s best known for having those weird looking eyes, but he had great comic timing and was a terrific writer. He improvised some of the best bits in Young Frankenstein, for example. (“What hump?”)

    Gene Wilder’s peak career overlaps Feldman’s, but I’ll add Blazing Saddles, The Producers, Bonnie and Clyde, and Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex, in which Gene has an affair with a sheep. I don’t think anyone but him could have pulled it off. One of the all-time great straight men.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    We just finished season 2 of The Diplomat last night. The acting lineup there is stellar. New fave is Rory Kinnear, whom I wasn’t familiar with before. I’m now waiting eagerly for the new season, wondering who’s going to play Allison Janney’s husband.

    Rufus Sewell is always commanding.

  79. 79.

    Craig

    @WaterGirl: Broadchurch was the first place I saw Olivia Colman. I’d watch her in anything. She can anything. Her sloppy dressed, wicked smart, crushingly driven Intel agent in The Night Manager is so on it. The way she just waltzes into The Bear and owns shit

  80. 80.

    zhena gogolia

    @mali muso: He is the greatest romantic hero ever in North and South. It’s such a stunning performance. He’s so great with Sinéad Cusack in that.

  81. 81.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Quaker in a Basement: Helena Bonham Carter

    Bill Nighy

    I like them too. I might Google to find some movies with one of them, both interesting to watch.

    Also Christopher wolken, though I understand he mostly doesn’t develop his characters, and is just himself, delivering his lines. I like his dry sardonic tone in things.

  85. 85.

    Josie

    I loved watching Alan Rickman. He could be either sexy or disgusting or anything in between. And that voice. Oh, that voice….

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @Craig:

    Broadchurch was the first place I saw Olivia Colman.

    I’d watch her in anything.

    She can do anything.

    Her sloppy dressed, wicked smart, crushingly driven Intel agent in The Night Manager is so on it.

    Yes to all of the above.  Love her.

  87. 87.

    Chris

    Richard Dean Anderson.  Got to know him from Stargate SG-1, later went back and saw all of MacGyver on reruns.  And then I saw his Western series that only lasted one season, Legend, where he co-starred with John DeLancie.  It’s not great exactly, but it’s good zany steampunk fun, and it kind of rewards having seen his two more famous shows.  The character is basically Jack O’Neill by inclination (sarcastic curmudgeon), but constantly forced by circumstances to put on a MacGyver like persona (virtuous do-gooder).

    Speaking of zany steampunk Westerns, Bruce Campbell’s The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was a more successful attempt in that vein that aired around the same time.  And Bruce Campbell is another guy I’ll watch in pretty much anything.

  88. 88.

    Craig

    @gwangung: Totally agree. I’d also watch Tony Leung in anything. He and Maggie Cheung in In The Mood for Love are gorgeous together. Such amazing performances. His relationship with Leslie Cheung in Happy Together is also a out of the park performance.

  89. 89.

    Nix Besser

    @Splitting Image: That is a tremendous list.

    Loved Garner as Rockford and as Hendley, the scrounger, in The Great Escape.

    Hordern: “Everybody ought to have a maid…”

    Palin in A Private Function with a great ensemble cast.

  91. 91.

    Josie

    @mali muso: ​
     I just finished watching North and South for the first time and totally agree with you. I had seen him in the Hobbit movies and recognized those smoldering eyes.

  92. 92.

    Suzanne

    @Gloria DryGarden: Harvey Keitel was in The Piano, Woody Harrelson played Larry Flynt and was nominated for an Academy Award for it. Was also in True Detective with Matthew McConaughey, and I don’t think either of them have ever been better. He was in the Hunger Games movies, and he absolutely elevated those films.

  94. 94.

    Craig

    @Nix Besser: Garner is fantastic in the previously mentioned Twilight as an old cop buddy of Newman’s Private Eye character. It’s a truly great thriller.

  98. 98.

    Yet Another Haldane

    I used to think that I’d watch Ruth Wilson in anything, on the strength of her performances in His Dark Materials and Luther.  She might be the only person who could get me to yell at the screen, “Run, Idris!  Run, while you still can!”

    But after the first few episodes of The Affair, it’s time to admit that I was wrong.  Her performance is fine!  But the storyline depends on fractally bad decision-making, by multiple characters, multiple times per episode.  I could roll with it for a few episodes, but it gets exhausting.

    Still looking forward to The Woman in the Wall, though.

  99. 99.

    Chris

    @Splitting Image:

    I just started The Rockford Files, and I just want to second this.  James Garner makes everything good.  I remember when my roommate put on The Notebook, something I hadn’t had the slightest interest in in fifteen years, and I was like… damn it, why didn’t anybody ever tell me Garner was in this?

  100. 100.

    Aziz, light!

    @Joy in FL: In A Man on the Inside, Ted Danson brings delivers both humor and meaning in good measure. I will be looking forward to season two.

    Others:

    Patrick Stewart, and not just cuz I’m a trekkie.

    Mark Rylance. An exceptional talent in Bridge of Spies and The BFG.

    Korean actress Park Eun-bin in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and a very different but just as appealing role in an earlier show, Hello My Twenties, both on Netflix.

  101. 101.

    narya

    Oh: and Viggo Mortenson. He’s done some really interesting movies. He can pick and choose, so he can make those selections.

  102. 102.

    Jean

    Michael Kitchen in Foyle’s War. Love his understated deliveries and facial expressions.
    Bill Nighy in anything. Just watched Joy, and he was excellent as the surgeon.
    Ted Danson was excellent in The Man on the Inside.  His acting brought both humor and sympathy together, Moving.

  105. 105.

    banditqueen

    Olivia Colman, Bruno Ganz, Toshiro Mifune, Jamie Lee Curtis, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Peter Sellers… There are more but these names came to me in just a few seconds.

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    @Chris: I will have to try Stargate SG-1 and Legend.  What was legend about?  I saw a show called Legend but I googled the actor and I don’t think the Legend I saw was the one you are talking about.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    Am I going to have to start putting this line in large print and bold? :-)

    Note: for those new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.

  109. 109.

    Phein64

    @WaterGirl: I’m a fan of David Tennant, but “Inside Man” became quickly unwatchable as the premise was unbelievable.  “The Quatermass Experiment” was also not great.

    I will watch anything with:

    Derek Jacobi, starting with “The Day of the Jackal,” “The Odessa File” and “I, Claudius” and continuing through whatever he’s doing today.  His characters are always so well realized.

    Jean Simmons, from “Great Expectations” to “The Big Country” to “Spartacus” to whatever.  I’ll watch just to see her part, and then bug out.

    Peter Capaldi:  “Local Hero,” “Lair of the White Worm”, “Prime Suspect,” all great performances, and then his performances as Malcolm Tucker and the Doctor.  Always an edge.

    Janelle Monae:  Her characters always seem like someone you would want to know.

    Kurt Russell:  Saw him at an old-time movie palace in “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” back in fifth grade.  He made Charles Whitman kinda relatable, and of course, Snake Plissken.

    Jodie Foster:  Except “Nell.”   I’m not watching that again.

  110. 110.

    sab

    @Baud: So much so for me.

    Every time Dobby does something funny and happy I think Steep would have liked to read that.

    Everytime I figure out a computer issue I think Steep told me how to fix that.

    Every time we have a spat on line in a thread I think Steep would have moved in and calmed that.

  111. 111.

    Chris

    @WaterGirl:

    RDA’s character is a pulp writer who ends up posing as a folk hero (from his novels), backed by a Nikola Tesla expy (John DeLancie’s character) whose gizmos usually end up getting him through the adventure.

    Like I said, it’s very silly (there’s a reason it only lasted one season), but I enjoyed it.

    Stargate SG-1, though, I pretty much unreservedly recommend, at least for anyone who likes sci-fi.  The spin-off Stargate: Atlantis (no Richard Dean Anderson) too.  You can and IMO should skip the other spin-off, Stargate: Universe.

  112. 112.

    Chetan Murthy

    @gwangung: Tony Leung!  I saw him in In The Mood For Love, and then in Infernal Affairs.  Just amazing, that guy.  I’d watch him in anything.

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    @Phein64:

    I’m a fan of David Tennant, but “Inside Man” became quickly unwatchable as the premise was unbelievable

    I had to google Inside Man because I just watched The Inside Man and Tennant wasn’t in that.

    Oh my god, Inside Man.  I think it was something like 4 episodes, and I had to stop watching after 2 of them. It was unbearable.

  114. 114.

    Craig

    @WaterGirl: his dad Roy was a badass. He played Veruca’s dad in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Planchet in Lester’s The Three Musketeers. I love the scene where he’s helping steal food from the poor tavern keeper. A stellar performance.

  115. 115.

    Phylllis

    @WaterGirl: One of those terrific British character actors who elevates everything he’s in. He’s the lead in The Bank of Dave, available on Netflix & based on a true story of a local businessman who attempts to open his own bank. It’s a great good guy wins in the end story.

  116. 116.

    Pauline

    Rufus Sewell- I swoon over him in whatever he happens to be in but he was magnificent as Lord M in Victoria. The man was made for period costuming. I recently watched Middlemarch which was made in 1994 and he was so young!

    I recently got Netflix, so now I have to watch the Diplomat.

  117. 117.

    scav

    One I’ve not seen mentioned.  Anton Lesser.  Many will recognize him from Endeavour, but he sneaks himself in.  And I adore his voice.

  118. 118.

    Craig

    @WaterGirl: I didn’t like that show. Sucks too, because Inside Man the Clive Owen heist movie is one of Spike Lee’s best films. Clive Owen is super solid. Children of Men he’s just horrified and incredibly driven to get this thing done. Monsieur Spade, where he plays Hammet’s Sam Spade retired in the French country is really good. It took a whole episode, but they really reeled me in and it pays off and excellent little mystery.

  120. 120.

    Craig

    @scav: oh hell yeah. Creepy as hell in GOT, and spot on perfect as a Imperial secret police/intelligence agent in Andor. Exceptional actor.

  123. 123.

    lahke

    @raven: Johnny Guitar was the bomb–one of the weirdest psycho-sexual movies I’ve ever seen.  Totally belonged to the women –the fact that Joan Crawford had slept with Mercedes McCambridge’s real-life husband meant that the hate she expressed to Crawford’s character was palpable.

  124. 124.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Craig: I felt that about the UK version of Wallander with Branagh.  I remember watching the first episode, and I thought: wowsers, the scenery is so great I’d watch it just for that!  I thought the Swedish version was better overall, but you can’t beat the UK version for the beyooteful cinematography.

  125. 125.

    Chris

    Non-lead actors:

    Ricardo Montalban.  Going back and watching classic sixties and seventies shows, one of the inevitable things to look forward to is The Ricardo Montalban Episode.  The character is never that special, just another villain of the week, but Montalban’s acting always makes him memorable.  Star Trek is what everyone remembers him from, but I think my favorite appearance of his was actually Columbo.  His entire persona is just the perfect counterpart to Columbo’s schlubby, disheveled… Columbo-ness.

    Bruce McGill.  Another guy that I originally knew from MacGyver, but he’s showed up in a zillion TV shows and movies since, almost always in a supporting role, but he always does a good job with it.  Other than MacGyver, I think the biggest role he’s had was on Rizzoli & Isles.  Older folks may remember him as D-Day from Animal House.

    Vinnie Jones.  When you want a big loud angry working-class Englishman, accept no substitutes.  It’s funny, I was reading Lord of the Rings last year and realized that for all that orcs are criticized for racial stereotyping, the stereotype that really jumps off the page when you’re reading isn’t anything foreign or nonwhite: it’s “cockney.”  And then I realized that if you truly wanted an orc that was as faithful to what Tolkien was imagining as possible, the best thing you could do by far is hand the job to Vinnie Jones and just stand back.

  132. 132.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Samara Weaving (The Babysitter, To Die For, Picnic At Hanging Rock)

    Emma Stone can pretty much do no wrong, incredibly good at weird comedy (okay, we’ll pretend La La Land never happened…).

    Mia Goth- modern queen of horror films (Pearl, X, Maxine, Infinity Pool)

  133. 133.

    kalakal

    So many already been put up that I agree with especially Grant, Mason, and Garner.

    Jack Lemmon I’d watch in anything, he had a fine range and could play almost anything and I’ll always love him as Professor Fate with Peter Falk as Max.

    Gary Oldman, made his name playing psychos eg Stansfield in Leon but can do so much more.

    Two English ones, both sadly dead, that were in a zillion TV shows and films but probably aren’t well known here

    Geoffrey Palmer, the master of dead pan comedy but could do seious stuff as well. Wonderful with Judy Dench in You must remember this. 

    Leonard Rossiter a great stage actor who became famous for tv comedy, espescially The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. A master of dry delivery.

    Richard Attenborough – could play anything from jolly avuncular to the most chilling psychos you’ll ever see ( Brighton Rock, 10 Rillington Place) 

    John Hurt, first saw him as Caligula in I, Claudius. Improved anything he was in

  134. 134.

    raven

    @kalakal:Nil by Mouth is a 1997 drama film portraying a family in South East London. It was Gary Oldman’s debut as a writer and director, and was produced by Oldman, Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson. It stars Ray Winstone as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie, played by Kathy Burke. The score was composed by Eric Clapton. Oldman dedicated the movie to his father.

     

    Brutal movie

  135. 135.

    Craig

    Faye Dunaway. Amazing. Bonnie Parker, bad girl gone bad. Chinatown, Mrs. Mulwray one of the most fleshed out tragic characters in cinema. Network, absolutely terrifying, her crazy energy just leaps off the screen and basically destroys the world we live in. 3 Days of the Condor, she dials it way back and plays it small, scared, smart, and then being smart helps sort out the protagonists problems. Barfly, hot drunk lady. When I saw that she was 46 and I was 17 and she was utterly fascinating to me. Of course I’d already fallen in love with her as The Countess deWinter in The Three Musketeers, so that tracks. The Thomas Crown Affair, gorgeous performance.

  136. 136.

    Chris

    Aldis Hodge probably didn’t jump right from Leverage to Cross.  What has he been in that I missed?  No, I’m not asking anyone to Google for me, but I figure you guys will know.

    Between Leverage and Alex Cross, the biggest thing I’ve seen him in is Underground, a series about people escaping slavery on the eve of the Civil War.  He also had a role on Turn, a spy show set in the American Revolution, but I’ve only seen a few episodes of that.

    Wanna know something cool, though?  Ever watch Die Hard With A Vengeance?  Remember Samuel L. Jackson’s two kid nephews in that movie?  Aldis Hodge played one of them.  Couldn’t have been any older than ten.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    @Chris:

    Aldis Hodge played one of them.  Couldn’t have been any older than ten.

    I have never seen the movie, but that’s a cool story.  i would love to see what he looked like at ten!

    edit: I googled.  I wouldn’t have recognized him as Aldis Hodge in the photo from when he was ten.

  140. 140.

    Jacel

    @Splitting Image: You include some of my favorites. Peter Falk is amazing in “The In Laws” paired with Alan Arkin (another name signaling a film probably worth watching). I like Gene Wilder a lot, but it felt like movies he directed while in a starring role had him playing the same sort of character each time, but with anyone else directing his presentation of the character in that film was distinctive. Don’t miss Wilder in “The Frisco Kid”.

  141. 141.

    Craig

    @raven: Oldman is amazing. Nil by Mouth is super hard. I might watch it again sometime. His role in Slow Horses is pretty awesome. His character is just fucking with people most of the time, because he’s smarter than everyone else and sandbagging them as a helpless drunk. Oldman just loves the role.

  143. 143.

    stinger

    Alan Rickman and Derek Jacobi. Rickman made the only watchable scenes in Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I forget which reviewer said Rickman seemed to be acting in a different movie — and a much better one.

    Ever Carradine. She guests in several episodes in the later seasons of Major Crimes, who abandoned her teenaged son and uses drugs, alcohol, and people. Really watchable.

    Mark Bonner. Good guy in World on Fire, bad(?) guy in Guilt, both available through PBS Passport.

    Jacob Derwig, in the Dutch drama The Blood Pact. I never did figure out if he was 100% bad, or 80% bad and 20% serious about reforming but unlucky. Just a fabulous acting job. Also on PBS Passport, maybe Prime too.

  144. 144.

    billcinsd

    @WaterGirl: Carter and Nighy are both relatively famous — Carter was in A Room With A View and Howard’s End, several Shakespeare movies and was Bellatrix LeStrange in some Harry Potter movies. She had an affair with Kenneth Branagh while they filmed Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and had a long relationship with Tim Burton.

     

    Nighy was in Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The Constant Gardener, Pirates of the Caribbean, played Startibartfast in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and was in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as Rufus Scrimgeour

  146. 146.

    lahke

    @tobie:  Yes, I was going to name Lee Sung Kyun too.  His suicide was just a year ago–he was hounded by the media and the cops with a drug accusation that most folks think was bogus (he passed all the drug tests, the person accusing him was trying to also blackmail him, etc.)  When someone is accused the investigation is supposed to stay private until charges are filed, but Lee’s info was leaked repeatedly, so that he had to run a press gantlet whenever he was called in for interviews by the cops.  Because drugs are a big f’ing deal in South Korea, he was cut from projects, including the show he was filming at the time.  Found unresponsive in a car after an 11-hour interrogation, death deemed a suicide.

    Lee was famous internationally for Parasite, but My Mister is what he should be known for– my all-time favorite TV show.  It’s just the story of a middle-aged middle manager trying to do the right thing, and it’s superb.  He’s so human, is i think the best way to put it.

    In case you want to watch this (and I highly recommend it) don’t go for the dubbed version.  Lee Sung Kyun’s bass-baritone voice is very distinctive and becomes a plot driver once his phone is tapped.   In case you want to watch this (and I highly recommend it) don’t go for the dubbed version.  Lee Sung Kyun’s bass-baritone voice is very distinctive and becomes a plot driver once his phone is tapped.

    I also want to call out his co-star, played by the singer IU under her real name Lee Ji-Eun.  Young woman scraping by, using fraud if needed to survive, who comes to respect her boss and doesn’t know what to do with her feelings.  She plays a completely different (as in I didn’t even recognize her) character in the Hotel Del Luna, an immortal condemned to run a hotel for the recently dead, who need some recuperation time before moving on to their afterlife.  For just a little taste of IU, watch her video for the song Love Wins All, where she’s a mute woman confronting the end of civilization.  It’s a mini-movie, and she and her co-star (the singer V of BTS) so a great job on the acting.

    Another great female actress in K-dramas is Kim Tae Ri, and I’ll just name one show, Twenty-five Twenty-One (that’s not a year, it’s the ages of the two leads).  This thirty-year old actress very successfully plays a teenager, starting at age 14, with well-realized body language–she’s coltish and awkward initially, and slowly grows into herself as she competes for the Olympics as a saber fencer (which Kim had to learn also).

    Finally, want to mention Lee Jae Wook.  His first role was a coked-up hacker in Memories of the Alhambra (a really good techno-thriller), but he’s also appeared as an earnest and very competent civil servant (When the Weather is Fine), a soap actor (and all his roles, including an evil twin) in Search WWW, and a swordsman/mage in Alchemy of Souls.  The fact that he’s one of the most gorgeous guys on the planet is an extra bonus.  Here’s an interview:

    https://youtu.be/tFxLzEiVatw?si=LzMEDe5sRY2oU7Ls

  147. 147.

    prostratedragon

    @narya:
    Don’t forget Hud, also graced with Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas, and Brandon De Wilde.

    Funny thing though, I admire good and great acting, enough that there’s only a handful of names that I don’t recognize in this post, but the cast is not usually a selling point for me. I’m more likely to take a chance based on the director.

  151. 151.

    Craig

    @kalakal: that’s a great adaptation, great movie. I got in trouble with a snooty professor in a Literature and Film class once cause he was talking about Shakespeare adaptations and after he went through a bunch he opened it up to the class and I suggested Strange Brew. He was appalled. But I had to defend it as an adaptation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, with Bob and Doug McKenzie as the title characters, and the setting as the Elsinore Brewery. He had never thought of this and was so pissed that every time he tried to press me I could break it down for him and he was embarrassed in his class. Fun day. Hated me.

  152. 152.

    Steve in the ATL

    Wesley Snipes

    Steven Seagal

    Billy Ray Cyrus

    ETA: dang it—meant to post this under my “Omnes” sock puppet account

  153. 153.

    lahke

    Hi, Watergirl:

    My short comments are coming through, but not my long one–is it hung up for moderation?  It was a reply to tobie (comment #30).

    Thanks.

  154. 154.

    Craig

    @billcinsd: Nighy is in a wacky little film Blow Dry with Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, and Josh Hartnett about two rivals in a huge British hairdresser contest. Hilarious. He’s also great in a political/ newspaper BBC miniseries State of Play that became a terrible Russell Crowe movie.

  155. 155.

    Gloria DryGarden

    There’s an incredible movie with Alan Rickman and sigourney Weaver, called Snow Cakes, I think. I watched it in canopy. The character acting is stunning. What Alan can do with silence and a few words never falls to knock my socks off. It’s a quiet movie about an autistic adult woman and a man who befriends her. Highly recommend.

  158. 158.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Gloria DryGarden: has anyone looked up some of the movies with Viggo Mortensen? I scoured my library catalog for his movies, found one takes place in Algeria, he speaks Arabic and French. He’s got something new out, a Western. Im waiting to watch Green Book, he seems good in that, though it’s more about the story and his relationship with mahershala Ali s character.

    I just google an actor, list their movies, see what I can find available.

    Brilliant thread, because I usually find movies because I want to watch an actor, I Google them, and get lots of sweet leads and surprises.

    Bill nighy btw has a small part in Emma, with Anya Taylor Joy. He’s great, funny in that

  162. 162.

    SFAW

    Yaphet Kotto: I loved watching him since he was the Messiah (Night Gallery episode), and he was great in Homicide. Midnight Run was pretty good, too.
    Giancarlo Esposito: everything I’ve seen him do, from playing Buggin Out forward, has been pretty good. It’s funny (to me) that he was so over-the-top as Buggin Out, and so quiet (at least in the scenes I’ve seen) as bad guys like Gus Fring.
    Gary Oldman: the breadth of characters/types he plays is pretty wild. Always does a good job.
    Toshiro Mifune (or Mifune Toshiro, for purists): not just for his various samurai flicks, although those are what first drew me to him. [Seven Samurai remains my favorite film.]
    A bunch more, but I’m trying to pretend I have an actual life, so …

  164. 164.

    Craig

    @SFAW: Yaphet Kotto, so great with Harry Dean Stanton as the voices of The People in Alien. I’d previously only known him as Mr. Big in Live and Let Die. Always a commanding presence.

  166. 166.

    Czar Chasm

    Walter Goggins.  Any fella that has a career of playing:

    A corrupt cop on an “elite” squad,

    A complicated drug kingpin in rural Kentucky,

    A transgender hooker, and

    An aging, singing televangelist,

    is a national treasure.

  167. 167.

    Chris

    @SFAW:

    [Seven Samurai remains my favorite film.]

    I want to see that, especially since the American remake is one of my favorite Westerns of all time, but every time I consider it I’m daunted by the fact that it’s three and a half damn hours long.  (In a foreign language, because I don’t do dubbing).

  169. 169.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @mali muso: yes! I want to see that! The clips are adorable. YouTube has some dance rehearsal clips in a gym prepping a dance with Camilla cabello. Wearing ordinary clothes.
    Was it too campy? I love the song he does with all the ball gowned ladies, what a man, and a second song, mashed up. and that gospel choir version of somebody to love.

    he’s good even in his first movie, “ the beat beneath my feet” utterly charming nerdy teen boy who wants to play guitar…his first three movies are on YouTube or Kanopy.

  170. 170.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NotMax: thanks, i was going to go find that thread. Were there other worthwhile deals?

    There’s one show per streaming service that I’m super hot to see. I can’t have it all, I don’t think.

    i want to see Brie Larson in lessons in chemistry, on Apple TV. Have just seen clips. Tons of things on Netflix and prime. And something on paramount plus. I don’t know who carries  the old series the mentalist.  Good grief.

  171. 171.

    SFAW

    @Chris: ​
     
    Well, you could learn Japanese.
    More seriously: it’s a great film. Yes, it’s a little long — the first time I saw it in a theater, there was an intermission — but it’s worth it. I have the “Criterion Collection” version. {I hear there’s also a BFI version.] The subtitles require a little extra effort, it’s true, but overall, as I said, it’s worth it.
    I’ve watched it probably 10 times, never get bored by it.
    [The Magnificent Seven, both versions, is based on it, but they pale in comparison. OK, the original one does; I haven’t seen the recent version with Denzel et al.]

  172. 172.

    Torrey

    Late to the party, as always, but I notice that the vast majority of actors mentioned are male. Is that a function of who we think of as important or of the more limited types of roles available to women–even very talented women–or of the fact that women communicating emotion isn’t culturally considered to be anything special, while men communicating emotion is noteworthy? Just wondering.

    And I’d watch Vanessa Redgrave in anything because I have never watched actual Vanessa Redgrave in anything. That’s because every time I think I’m going to watch what will surely be a tour de force of acting by Vanessa Redgrave, she gives the audience about 5 nanoseconds to think that you’re about to watch Vanessa Redgrave, and then Ms. Redgrave vanishes and whatever character she’s playing shows up, and that’s where you are from then until the end of the movie or play. That’s why.
    Also Nikola Walker: one gets the impression every line she speaks is just one she thought up at the moment. She is like Spencer Tracy in making acting look like not acting at all.
    Rufus Sewell for much the same reason as Nikola Walker. He’s had some very strange characters to play, with some very strange (and often stilted) lines, and he somehow manages to make those characters sound perfectly natural.
    Sir Alec Guinness for the same reason as Vanessa Redgrave.

  173. 173.

    S Cerevisiae

    A hundred comments in and nobody has mentioned Gene Hackman. The thread is probably dead but I had to give him some props.

  174. 174.

    Craig

    @S Cerevisiae: he’s in Twilight. Powerhouse performance late in his career. He started late. He’s oldish in Bonnie and Clyde. He’s great in the sneaky great The Firm. Stellar cast and Sydney Pollack gets a real performance out of early Tom Cruise.

  175. 175.

    Seanly

    I like Aldis Hodge. He’s had some bit parts in a few films like one of the Tom Cruise Reacher movies.

    My wife & I enjoyed Cross. The series allowed there to be characterization missing from the 2 or 3 Cross films over the years. There were also some good twists that I didn’t see coming. Decent performances all around.

  176. 176.

    NotMax

    @Gloria DryGarden

    On the low price end, Apple TV+ free for 3 months. Others listed in the Black Friday deal thread.

    If you don’t mind subtitles, MHz Choice at a 40% savings for a one-time annual charge. Lots and lots of good foreign fare. (They do all the subtitling in-house.)

    Without going to look it up, I think The Mentalistmay be on Hulu.

  178. 178.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NotMax: i am not finding free three months Apple TV+, unless I buy an iPad. I have some older refurbished ones, I don’t think it will count.

    i searched the mentalist, it’s on prime, and Roku, and not on Hulu, it says.

    I’ll keep checking

  180. 180.

    anastasio beaverhausen

    I’m not sure anyone besides my late brother Steeplejack would know this one, but how about Margaret Rutherford?  We would watch, and later, rewatch those awful 60s black and white English countryside murder mysteries, and howl! Oh, and there might have been alcohol involved.  Good times.

  181. 181.

    Nancy

    Since Watergirl asked for details; Nicola Walker in Last Tango played a flawed, wounded character who lashed out in pain  and punished herself with self-destructive choices. She was defensive and prickly and was the  center of any scene she was in.

  187. 187.

    les

    @S Cerevisiae: Way way late, I know, but…yeah, Hackman is up w/my favorite male actors. His character in Enemy of the State is an all time favorite. Grumpy ex-spy with low blood sugar and a cat-what’s not to love?

  189. 189.

    Bevstersf

    Aldis Hodge plays Boston DA Decourcy Ward on the wonderful City on a Hill, as a frienemy of corrupt FBI guy Kevin Bacon. A Showtime production I think. So, so good.

  192. 192.

    jhwbiz

    Tea Leoni – first noticed on tv “Naked Truth”

    Timothy Oliphant – probably saw lots of bit pieces before “Deadwood” and “Justified”

    Giancarlo Esposito – first recognized him as a regular in early Spike Lee, then more up to Breaking Bad. Intense.

    Rose Byrne – I think first saw her in Damages, and then it took off from there. Drama and comedy.

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