tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450543349448165337.post675799889857919394..comments2023-02-27T12:58:29.826-05:00Comments on Unpublished For a Reason: My Favorite Underrated ActorsHannah Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00849529277859991156noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450543349448165337.post-55438014697364161982014-03-13T02:35:40.591-04:002014-03-13T02:35:40.591-04:00To me, the main thing that makes Eisenberg feel ve...To me, the main thing that makes Eisenberg feel very different from Cera to me is that Eisenberg always projects a certain cockiness, while Cera ALWAYS seems insecure and uncertain. Even in Zombieland, where he played a sort of self-deprecating character, it still had a geekcentric arrogance to it. I always get the sense that his characters, while acknowledging their weaknesses, think very highly of their own intelligence. (Making him a BRILLIANT choice for characters like Mark Zuckerberg and Lex Luthor.) I haven't seen Adventureland yet, but it's been on my list for forever.<br /><br />If you're looking for a good dramatic performance from Lemmon, I highly recommend Glengarry Glen Ross. It has a terrific ensemble cast in general, but Lemmon's character is the one I remember most.<br /><br />Ah, I had somehow forgotten about Eyes Wide Shut. You're right, even though I didn't care for the movie as a whole, Cruise was wonderful in that. I think I agree with you that we wouldn't necessarily gel as real-life friends, but I think he deserves a lot more respect as an actor than he gets from the rest of America.Hannah Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849529277859991156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450543349448165337.post-42765943928591702702014-03-13T02:17:09.768-04:002014-03-13T02:17:09.768-04:00I was in the pro-Eisenberg-as-Luthor camp the mome...I was in the pro-Eisenberg-as-Luthor camp the moment I heard that news. It's one of the few things I've heard so far about that movie that interests me. I think as long as the material they give him is even halfway decent, he'll prove to be the greatest screen Luthor yet.<br /><br />I liked and respected - but didn't quite love - <i>The Social Network</i>, and his performance had a lot to do with that. I loved <i>Zombieland</i>, including his misfit Columbus and his chemistry with the others. He was really the glue of that cast (though I did get a kick watching Woodie Harrelson interact with Abigail Breslin). I think the Cera conflations are really just due to that one role, which admittedly did feel like a typical Cera character, but to insist that they're somehow "the same guy" is absurd.<br /><br />I'd throw out <i>Adventureland</i> as another solid performance of his. Kristen Stewart almost seems awake and engaged in her scenes with him, and that's saying something!<br /><br />Jack Lemmon is a guy whose work I've been meaning to explore for ages but for one reason or another, I just haven't gotten far yet. I have, of course, seen most of his collaborations with Walter Matthau (<i>Grumpy Old Men</i>, <i>The Odd Couple</i> and their sequels, and <i>Out to Sea</i>), plus <i>My Fellow Americans</i>. My appreciation for his work in <i>The Odd Couple</i> increased significantly when I came back to it in 2012, in light of similarities between his character's experiences and my own.<br /><br />Tom Cruise is that one guy who stands in the middle of the Venn diagram between people I'm pretty sure I would dislike if I actually knew for real, but whose work somehow wins me over more often than not. About a week ago, I stayed up and did a marathon of all four <i>Mission: Impossible</i> movies, which reminded me how fun he is to watch. For my money, his finest performance is in <i>Eyes Wide Shut</i>, which we've discussed elsewhere.<br /><br />I'll have to think on my picks.Travis S. McClainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15774869483357940473noreply@blogger.com