Forgotten Great Film Performances

Catherine O’Hara, ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and ‘Home Alone’ Star, Dies at 71 Catherine O'Hara, a legendary Hollywood actor known for her roles in 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' has died. She was 71.

Fuck. She was a legend of Canadian film and tv. variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Goodnight to the brilliant and beloved Catherine O’Hara, whose presence brought so much joy to our screens. Here she is giving one of her scene-stealing performances as Gail, the Mister Softee vendor, in Martin Scorsese's AFTER HOURS (1985). ❤️

Kate Hudson as Darcy Rhone in the film Something Borrowed.

Kate Hudson - 📽️ Something Borrowed (Luke Greenfield, 2011)

Hudson remixes her How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days manic comedy here, this time for a romcom villain role of sorts with a tiny bit of heart. Hudson is often capable of being great in a lesser movie and this is one such instance.

#filmsky

Rose Byrne as Lori sits forcing a smile in the film The Meddler.

Rose Byrne - 📽️ The Meddler (Lorene Scafaria, 2016)

As the screenwriter daughter of overbearing protagonist Susan Sarandon, Byrne is so deft hopping comedy and drama as each scene demands. Her consistency guarantees more interesting roles to come forever, and she lands every single joke in anything.

Congrats to Kylie Minogue’s daughter, Rose Byrne, on her Oscar nomination

the entire timeline has spoken with one voice. and they're saying "Delroy Lindo"

Roger Allers, the co-director of ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Open Season’, has sadly passed away at the age of 76.

He also directed The Prophet, the Oscar-nominated The Little Matchgirl, was a storyboard artist on The Little Mermaid, Head of Story on Beauty and the Beast and more.

Eva Mendes as Kay M. in the film Holy Motors.

Eva Mendes - 📽️ Holy Motors (Leos Carax, 2012)

I miss Mendes acting, but at least she got to shine in a film this good, as the kidnapped model. Carax’s surrealist masterpiece has nothing but perfect performances from the likes of Édith Scob, Kylie Minogue, Michel Piccoli, and the great Denis Lavant.

Roger Allam as Arnold Royalton holds a bouquet and stands in front of a purple private plane in the film Speed Racer.

Roger Allam - 📽️ Speed Racer (Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 2008)

The always underappreciated Allam (V for Vendetta, The Queen) manages to be a cartoon villain come to life in the Wachowskis’ pretty delightful bomb turned cult movie. Few play pompous entitlement quite so naturally and entertainingly.

Lili Taylor as Corey Flood plays guitar and sings in the film Say Anything…

Lili Taylor - 📽️ Say Anything… (Cameron Crowe, 1989)

This would be less of an enduring classic without such a funny supporting character as Taylor’s Corey. She has attitude for days, and an endless trove of songs about her ex (Loren Dean). Taylor can deliver any barb so satisfyingly.

P.S. Joe lies!

Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung sits in a chair behind Keira Knightley as Sabrina Sprielrein in the film A Dangerous Method. Both face forward in the same direction.

Keira Knightley - 📽️ A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, 2012)

Knightley’s leading role is one of her best performances. As psychiatric hospital patient Sabrina, her interactions with Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) are the kink-infused highlights of the picture.

Charles Durning as Henry Larson and Robert Downey Jr. as Tommy Larson in the film Home for the Holidays.

Charles Durning - 📽️ Home for the Holidays (Jodie Foster, 1995)

Foster stacked the cast of her Thanksgiving family ensemble film. None of them is as fun as king character actor Durning, who gets all the best lines as the tired patriarch. He also gets a love triangle and climactic emotional speech.

Little Children. And the film is great.

Either The Family Stone or Avengers: Endgame.

Six Degrees of Separation.

With Glenda Jackson in Rose.

Farewell to John Cunningham.

We lost a true king today. Rest in peace to the great Marcus Gilbert, aka Lord Arthur from Army of Darkness.

Evening viewing recommendation? Watch Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles's blistering sci-fi thriller BACURAU (2019) — an audacious, furiously entertaining model of genre art as a vehicle for political resistance.

David Tomlinson as George Banks squints from his foyer in the film Mary Poppins.

David Tomlinson - 📽️ Mary Poppins (Robert Stevenson, 1965)

People know the performance, but Tomlinson’s name deserves to be as known for it as his co-stars. George Banks has the film’s biggest emotional arc, and for such a grump initially, his inner child payoff is so riveting and cathartic. 🪁

Rachel McAdams as Amy Stone smirks in the film The Family Stone.

Rachel McAdams - 📽️ The Family Stone (Thomas Bezucha, 2005)

Released 20 years ago today. Everyone who watches this unhinged comedy seems to mainly agree on McAdams. Amy is the most fun for being simultaneously the heart, the laughs, the attitude, and the best scene partner to the great Diane Keaton.

Miguel Ferrer as Bob Morton lifts a finger in the film RoboCop.

Miguel Ferrer - 📽️ RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)

This is essentially the greatest cheesy sci-fi ensemble of character actors ever assembled: Kurtwood Smith, Ray Wise, Ronny Cox, Paul McCrane, Dan O’Herlihy… Best in show for me is Ferrer as the ladder-climbing, coked-out Bob Morton, a decoy subplot.

Willem Dafoe as John LeTour sits in the back of a car in the film Light Sleeper.

Willem Dafoe - 📽️ Light Sleeper (Paul Schrader, 1992)

The stylish neo-noir casts Schrader muse Dafoe in the lead as a New York City drug dealer facing a midlife crisis. His conflicted, absorbing performance anchors a strong film opposite Susan Sarandon, Dana Delany, Victor Garber, and Sam Rockwell.

Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas in the film The Fifth Element.

Bruce Willis - 📽️ The Fifth Element (Luc Besson, 1997)

Sure, it’s a hit modern classic. Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, and Chris Tucker distract a lot memorably with their flashy and loud performances. But Korben Dallas deserves credit as one of Willis’ most gripping roles, selling the bizarre world.

Toshiro Mifune as Detective Murakimi in the film Stray Dog.

Toshiro Mifune - 📽️ Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

It’s hard to call anything from the legendary actor-director collaboration forgotten. But Stray Dog gets too little credit as a contender for their very best. It’s a sweaty heatwave mystery with a riveting Mifune spiraling into consumed obsession.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi was released ten years ago on this day. Chuck Hogan wrote the screenplay based on Mitchell Zuckoff's 2014 non-fiction book.

The film also stars John Krasinski, David Costabile, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Payman Maadi, and Toby Stephens.

James Badge Dale as Tyrone S. Woods and Saif Braik as Roadblock Militiaman in the film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

James Badge Dale - 📽️ 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (Michael Bay, 2016)

“You’re in my world now.”

Dale played the late Tyrone Woods in this film—which contends as the best, grittiest, and most coherent in Bay’s oeuvre. The movie works because you buy his innate gravitas and authority.

Holt McCallany as Jerry Manning, A.K.A. The Beast, peers through bars in a prison yard in the film Shot Caller.

Holt McCallany - 📽️ Shot Caller (Ric Roman Waugh, 2017)

Waugh’s best films (Felon, Snitch) never seem to get credit in their time. McCallany always rules, but as Aryan Brotherhood shot caller The Beast, he steals the movie in a scant few scenes. It’s sheer presence sizing up Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Nicole Kidman as Grace Stewart covers her mouth in the film The Others.

Nicole Kidman - 📽️ The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001)

Big at the time and discussed too little since, The Others holds up even better than I recalled. It’s also a peak showcase for Kidman doing movie star shit, a wartime drama smuggled inside a horror movie, as she spars with Fionnula Flanagan.

Dorothy Malone as Acme Bookstore proprietress in the film The Big Sleep.

Dorothy Malone - 📽️ The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)

This scene is legendary in its way for many, but still in the spirit of this account. It might be the smallest role to steal a great, classic film. Her unnamed clerk’s instant steamy flirtation with Humphrey Bogart must be seen to be believed.

*Howard, fuck

Brendan Fraser as Clayton Boone works in a garden in the film Gods and Monsters.

Brendan Fraser - 📽️ Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon, 1998)

It’s a simple task: hold your own opposite Ian McKellen as he gives perhaps the performance of the 1990s. McKellen was rightly celebrated, but there were too few shouts for Fraser as essentially the insecure, stoic POV of this great film.