10 Most Memorable Performances Of Hte Decade

[ChampakDas]

Daniel Day, Depp, and late ledger you are few of the terrific actors that Hollywood ever produced.


[b]Bill the Butcher / Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis)[/b]
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DDL’s two notable performances from this decade are back-to-back probably the most interesting performances of the decade. The two characters from [i]Gangs of New York [/i]and [i]There Will Be Blood[/i], respectively, have a couple things in common. They both are disconnected from other humans, they both are sinister and cool, and both men sport wicked mustaches. Hands down, no one rocks a mustache better than Daniel Day Lewis and that would be enough to get him on this list alone (not really, but it does help).
[b]Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale)[/b]
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2000′s [i]American Psycho[/i] put the [i]Newsies[/i] actor on the fast track to stardom as an adult. His performance has held up over time because it’s hilarious (a quality that people don’t give Bale enough credit for is his sense of humor when he’s called to do it), chilling as hell, and so much fun. To think this role almost went to a fresh-off-of-[i]Titanic[/i] Leonardo DiCaprio seems ludicrous once we saw Bale in this role (of course at the time we didn’t know DiCaprio was going to blossom into a truly exceptional actor). [i]Psycho[/i] also served as Bale’s perfect audition tape to play Bruce Wayne. When we heard that the casting for [i]Batman Begins[/i] had essentially come down to Bale and Joshua Jackson (God, can you imagine?), [i]American Psycho[/i] was the difference maker.

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[b]Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell)[/b]
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Hands down one of the most memorable comedic performances of the decade came from Will Ferrell in [i]Anchorman[/i]. His Burgundy was a character that everybody was quoting within days and is still quoted 5 years later. Ferrell hit every note right as Burgundy, something he’s been struggling to do (consistently) with all his original creations since. Ron Burgundy will be remembered two decades from now the same way we remember Clark Grizwald and Ferris Bueller today. Ferrell has had some very funny performances this decade (Frank the Tank is almost as defining as Burgundy), but his performance, plus the fact that he helped create the character on paper, put Anchorman above anything else the comedian has done.
[b]Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder)[/b]
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You may not agree with me here, but this just seems to make sense to me. Name a performance that made more waves than [i]Napoleon Dynamite[/i] did. Maybe it’s because I was in college at the time and people were clinging to that movie as if they were the ones who had “discovered” it (kind of like how most people were with the movie Swingers in the 90′s – it instantly became the movie you felt like you needed to tell people to see). This movie was everywhere for a long time. Now maybe it hasn’t held up as strongly as some of the other performances on this list, but if you mention it, everyone you talk to about it will have an opinion about it. That is what I call memorable or defining.

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[b]Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks)[/b]
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[i]Cast Away[/i] isn’t exactly a great movie, but the fact that Tom Hanks absolutely crushes it coupled with it’s ALWAYS being on basic cable makes this a performance you can’t forget. Hanks is absolutely stellar in [i]Cast Away[/i], making a movie where he’s the only person on screen for over an hour a testament to how great he is. I wrote recently about how Hanks has cooled off and stopped challenging himself, but maybe he just peaked with Cast Away. And you know what…that’s ok. If Hanks stopped acting today he’d still be remembered as our generation’s Jimmy Stewart.
[b]Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp)[/b]
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He seemed to lose steam with the sequels, but Depp’s performance in the first [i]Pirates of the Caribbean [/i]movie is just too fun to not include here. His mixture of Keith Richards and Pepe Le Pew along with the fact that his performance was visibly making Disney nervous and the terrific dialogue and fun action of the first [i]Pirates[/i] script led to the creation of a truly original and fun to watch action star. Depp showed that he could carry a big blockbuster movie and still challenge himself as an actor.
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[b]Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron)[/b]
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This may go slightly against my second criteria (and maybe my fourth criteria), but [i]Monster[/i] wasn’t really a biopic in the sense that it was just telling the story of someone we knew. Theron was still given some leeway to create an original character and she did a remarkable job. She didn’t only change her physical appearance for the film, she showcased an entirely different level of talent that nobody knew she had. The movie itself is not that memorable which might hurt my claim that Theron’s performance will be remembered ten years from now, but it ought to be (if that matters).
[b]Amelie (Audrey Tautou)[/b]
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As far as females go, this was probably my favorite performance by an actress of the decade. Amelie is such a fun character and the film itself is so re-watchable and enchanting, and Tautou deserves all the credit for that. She seems to have the whole package for this movie. She’s funny, independent, has an untamable quality that only historically great actresses like Katherine Hepburn possess, and I look in her eyes that just makes you smile. People will be watching Amelie for years and will fall head over heels for Tautou every time.

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[b]Randy “the Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke)[/b]
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Will people remember[i] The Wrestler[/i] in 10 years? I don’t know. But it seems like it would be unfair if they didn’t. What Rourke does in [i]The Wrestler[/i] is mesmerizing. I saw the movie three times in theaters just to take in his performance (also because for one reason or another I wasn’t able to actually finish it until the third viewing) and it’s just great. Physically demanding, vulnerable, and really very lovable, pretty much everything you could ask for in a tremendous performance and it’s there in spades with Rourke’s portrayal.
[b]The Joker (Heath Ledger)[/b]
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I almost went with his Ennis Del Mar from [i]Brokeback Mountain[/i], but there’s no doubt in my mind that Heath Ledger’s Joker from [i]The Dark Knight[/i] will be the performance of the decade. Granted, we’ll never know for sure if this performance would’ve been as memorable if Ledger were alive today, but that really has nothing to do with it. In ten years people won’t remember as easily as we do that Ledger died before the movie was released. That won’t stop them from loving every moment he’s on screen and waiting with baited breath for the next moment or monologue that the Joker gives. I watched this again recently and it’s just as great as the first time. Ledger is everything you want in a villain and has set the bar so high for comic book movies (or any kind of suspense thriller) that I wonder if it will be topped. Ledger’s performance essentially wiped out Javier Bardem’s peformance from the year before in [i]No Country for Old Men[/i] from this Top Ten list. Let’s stop wondering about what could’ve been or what may have influenced us when we saw The Dark Knight — instead let’s just relish that one man did something that exceeded every expectation we all could’ve had and he’ll be remembered for generations because of it.

[jbourne]

Joker Rawks
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[HAPPYLESS]

gp

[Vaampire]

jack sparow rockss.

[pikki]

[img]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9pugtRhdI1remcdno1_400.gif[/img] RIP

[ChampakDas]

versatile, insouciant, show stealer he is.
[quote name='Vaampire' timestamp='1346648406' post='1302422312']
jack sparow rockss.
[/quote]