I just saw "Collateral" with Tom Cruise. Not a good movie, not a bad movie. If not for a superb performance by Jamie Foxx I would not have sat through the whole movie. The problem is Tom Cruise. The cure would of been to cast Gary Oldman as the lead and make his character darker and more believable. Anyone out there think this is a good idea?

Yes, I think it's a good idea, but I actually thought that was one of Cruise's better performances, although I agree with you that Jamie Foxx is tremendous in that film.

I love Gary Oldman, but I'm not sure I want him to play the character as eccentrically as he did in "Leon the Professioal" or "True Romance". He was good in those, but pretty much over the top. To me, Oldman IS Sid Vicious! That was pure brilliance, and Chloe Webb (whatever happened to her?) IS Nancy Spungeon. That's my thoughts anyway.

I realize its been about 11 months since this thread was posted, but it's unusually slow for a Monday. I am an Oldman fan myself. One role I particualarly love him in is as Beethoven in Immortal Beloved. I sometimes think of him in the same vein as Christopher Walken in that they seem to bring a certain tinge of weirdness to many of their characters even if the character is not overtly weird.

Gary has had a diverse acting career making him one of the more versatile actors currently making movies. While I haven't followed him that closely, I remember him in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992); The Professional (1994); The Fifth Element (1997); Air Force One (1997); Lost in Space (1998); and most recently Batman Begins (2005).

Gary Oldman due to the movies that I remembered played some of the most memorable villians I've seen. His Fifth Element portrayal was over the top with weird comic antics. In the Professional he was one really unique and brilliantly nasty dude. With Batman Begins, Mr. Oldman breaks out of this evil mode to portray one of the most decent characters in the movie which is a great character move to avoid being type-cast. His ability to wrap himself into memorable bad characters and also present himself as a believeable average guy with heart sets him apart from many well-known actors.

Tabuno-that last sentence represents my feelings on Gary Oldman perfectly! Well said!

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Originally posted by PRG:
I sometimes think of him in the same vein as Christopher Walken in that they seem to bring a certain tinge of weirdness to many of their characters even if the character is not overtly weird.

I agree. Willem Dafoe is another actor that comes to mind when it comes to brilliant quirkiness. The Boondock Saints is one of my favorite Dafoe movies. Steve Buscemi comes close, but he doesn’t have the same stage presence as the other three do.

I understand that this thread is devoted to gary but as two other posters have mentioned Christopher Walken, an actor that I've wanted to discuss for awhile, I thought I add to their comments regarding Mr. Walken. Mr. Walken has to his credit about 77 movies and has established himself as a prolific acting, much of his work coming just in this last decade and he still keeps involving himself in more and more of them.

I can't say that I have seen even close to a majority of his movies, the ones I remember include many memorable performances - he never quite goes over the edge, but often comes near it. My most vivid memories of Mr. Walken in strong stand out performances include:

Dead Zone (1983) that made Stephen King a household name and put Mr. Walken in a not to be forgotten climatic ending of an unusual sci-fi/horror thriller at the time.

Brainstorm (1983) one of my favorite movies starring Mr. Walken and the late Natalie Wood in her last movie before her mysterious drowning and was in fact completed only after her death. This sci fi classic, often overlooked, made virtual reality a sharply and auditorily clear and real as possible that has yet to be rivalled to date. Another strong and haunting starring role for Mr. Walken.

Blast from the Past (1998). An average sci-fi/time travel comedy that presents Mr. Walken an opportunity to be a bit odd again in a humorous way, to play against type.

The are a number of other movies I've seen, but these are the first real impressions I remember clearly. His characterizations have been zany and unique. He has a style all his own. Nobody else can quite capture the Walken method of acting.

There were three actors who came of age in Britain at about the same time, Oldman, Tim Roth and the underrated Ray Winstone. Both Oldman & Roth had career boosts in Alan Clarke's films, which for the most part were not distributed in the U.S.

Oldman's career seems to have slowed down, which is unfortunate because he is one of our finest actors. I know there are or were off the screen issues of living hard so that may have something to do with Oldman's disappearing act. And people may not remember this but he was married to Uma Thurman for about a minute.

Oldman also directed a terrific film called NIL BY MOUTH, which starred Ray Winstone (who also, not coincidentally no doubt starred in Tim Roth's sole directorial effort THE WAR ZONE).

One of Oldman's better roles, not mentioned on this thread, is his performance playing a Senator in THE CONTENDER from '00. That film is real underrated.

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ChrisFromAstoria posted:

One of Oldman's better roles, not mentioned on this thread, is his performance playing a Senator in THE CONTENDER from '00. That film is real underrated.

I'm glad you mentioned this movie. I agree with you.