Surprise Performances

[Ham n Cheese]

ITT we post actors who surprised us with good acting, typically not known for it.

Stallone - Cop Land (started well, did lots of mindless action flicks, then reminded us all he had talent)
Adam Sandler - Punch Drunk Love
Jamie Foxx - Ray (showed signs in Ali)
John Travolta - Pulp Fiction
Keanu Reeves - Speed (awesomely bad movie, not a great performance, but when I heard it was Ted Logan playing the lead I never expected this)
Jim Carrey - Eternal Sunshine (not his first serious role, but I thought he was amazing in this, much credit to Charlie Kaufman though)
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland (I thought he was really good, sort of a redeeming role after starting well, going to the shitter, etc - too bad his career as an actor is pretty much dead now)
Tom Cruise - Vanilla Sky (showed talent in many movies in the past, but was blown away by this movie, which is essentially just people talking most of the time, really have to credit the acting in roles like that).
Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking (Spicoli!)

[Khrine]

David Schwimmer in Duane Hopwood. I caught the last hour or so of this the other day on HBO or Showtime and he impressed me. Then again, maybe my standards for Ross are a little low.

[Algol Devilstar]

Predator, in Predator - it was a breakthrough role.

[Taivek]

Justin Timberlake actually isnt that bad. I figured he would be almost impossible to watch in Alpha dog and Black snake moan but I thought he did a good job.

[brekk]

Originally Posted by Taivek

Justin Timberlake actually isnt that bad. I figured he would be almost impossible to watch in Alpha dog and Black snake moan but I thought he did a good job.

Yeah I'd say he definately has a future in film. I thought he was excellent in Alpha Dog, and from his times on SNL he's shown some solid comedic timing.

Will Smith - Always a good lead for action roles requiring a little humor. Ali, and Pursuit of Happyness showed his potential as a more serious actor.
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls

[Ironhawk]

I may need to get off his cock cuz I say it in every damn Movie thread, but...

Adam Sandler - Reign Over Me
Milla Jovovich - Fifth Element (She was still 'just a model.' So surprised me back then. Her character wasn't really that tough, but meh, fuckoff.)
Matt Damon - Bourne Identity (I remember being skeptical about him as an action movie character)

[Needless]

I agree on Alpha Dog for sure. I expected little but was highly Impressed.

Tom Cruise - Last samurai, normally i find hes a fucking nutjob and sucks at acting but i liked him in the last samurai fo shizzle.

i only wanted to mention alpha dog as well though =p

[homsar]

I was accidentally logged on taiveks account 8/ Anyways besides justin Timberlake.

Mos Def is very good for going from hiphop to acting.

James van der beek was amazing in Rules of attraction.

[Tea on tuesday]

Vin Diesel - Find Me Guilty is the one that sticks out the most. It wasn't an amazing performance...but holy shit acting chops!

[Burkex]

Originally Posted by Ham n Cheese

ITT we post actors who surprised us with good acting, typically not known for it.

Stallone - Cop Land (started well, did lots of mindless action flicks, then reminded us all he had talent)
Adam Sandler - Punch Drunk Love
Jamie Foxx - Ray (showed signs in Ali)
John Travolta - Pulp Fiction
Keanu Reeves - Speed (awesomely bad movie, not a great performance, but when I heard it was Ted Logan playing the lead I never expected this)
Jim Carrey - Eternal Sunshine (not his first serious role, but I thought he was amazing in this, much credit to Charlie Kaufman though)
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland (I thought he was really good, sort of a redeeming role after starting well, going to the shitter, etc - too bad his career as an actor is pretty much dead now)
Tom Cruise - Vanilla Sky (showed talent in many movies in the past, but was blown away by this movie, which is essentially just people talking most of the time, really have to credit the acting in roles like that).
Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking (Spicoli!)

I am gonna argue some of these, (I hope that is okay):

-Sandler's best acting imo was in Reign Over Me that really surprised me how great he was in that, he should have been nominated for awards for that role.
-Ben Affleck as a director in Gone Baby Gone was the most surprising thing I have ever seen him do, that movie was fantastic, one of the years best.
-Keanu Reeves was amazing in a movie called The Gift. I think that was his best acting role. He played a wife beater and was really convincing.
-Tom Cruise surprised me in Collateral, I thought he was really great in that as the hitman. He played it really cold and lifeless. He was also amazing in Born on the 4th of July.
-Sean Penn blew my mind in I am Sam and Mystic River, those were his best two acting performances imo.



Ok now I will add to the list:

-Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone and that Jessie James movie was also very surprising.
-Matt Dillon in Crash was a pretty surprising role. He was very good in that movie, usually he plays a dumbass char in some comedy or just acts poorly.
-Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption and Mystic River surprised me how great of an actor he was. Before these two movies I didn't even consider him a really good actor at all. He blew my mind in Shawshank.
-Charlize Theron was just a pretty face and played small roles as the pretty chick but when she played in Monster she was fantastic. That was one of the most surprising roles in a long time. I never would have guessed she could play a character like that.
-Tom Hanks. For years he played in some pretty dumbass movies like the Burbs or Joe vs The Volcano. He had some good performances such as Big and A League of their Own but when he did Philadelphia and Forrest Gump I think he blew peoples minds on how great an actor he really was. Before these movies he really only played in dumb comedy roles like Turner and Hooch and even his good performances in Big and A League of their Own were comedic performances. He never really did anything serious up until he did Philadelphia and then he suprised everyone.

[homsar]

I don't see why Tom Cruise doesnt get credit. He did an awsome job acting and didnt just play tom cruise in these movies. Almost all his movies are great but "Tom Cruise" Sells just like "DeNiro". People just like seeing that character.


All these were great performances

Born on the 4th of July
Interview with the Vampire
Vanilla Sky
Collateral
The Last Samurai
Magnolia

[Ham n Cheese]

The thing about your list Burkex is that by the time they made those movies, their acting no longer surprised me, I knew Sandler & Penn had really good range by that time. I saw they could all act very well in those movies I saw really. Haven't seen Gone Baby Gone though.

Agree Homsar

[Awanka]

Ben Foster 3:10 to Yuma

[Lowk]

Big Boi from Outcast in "Who's Your Caddy?"
Jennifer Garner in "Elektra"
Scott Baio in "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2"
Geena Davis in "Cutthroat Island"
Sylvester Stallone in "STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT"

Not buying it? ok then how bout these...

John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction"
Kitty Pride i mean Ellen Page in "Hard Candy"
Val Kilmer in "The Doors"
Up Until this point the guy's notable films were Top Gun,Real Genius,Willow and Top Secret!. After i seen "The Doors" he became one of my favorite actors in many movies for years after.
Matthew Modine in "Full Metal Jacket"


-edit godammit Ham i just re-read your post and noticed Travolta on your list and feel the need to add one to mine now so...

Jennifer Connelly in "Requiem for a Dream"

[Astrocreep]

Burkex, you are forgetting one of Hanks best movies. it was called Nothing in Common, made in 1986. his father (played by jackie gleason) just divorced from his mom who left him and hanks has to deal with both mom and dad's situation and take on his own problems. its a very serious movie and it came out before big and A League. That movie had me crying my ass off when i saw it on cable 20 years ago.
Tom Hanks
Lets also not forget his serious role in Mazes N Monsters (1982) as a mildly crazy DnD addict.