“Carnage” (4 / 5 stars) - which opened at Harkins Camelview 5 on Dec. 30 - is an actor-lover’s movie. Starring Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Jodie Foster, this comedy/drama from Roman Polanski works like a four-person play as the aforementioned thespians play concerned parents who attempt to sort out a dispute between their respective sons.
Waltz, Winslet, Reilly, and Foster delve into their individual characters, and bring out four very different quirks, views and highly opinionated personas to the screen.
Purposely caustic at times and running about 79 minutes, this movie won’t suit everyone’s tastes, but I appreciate watching great actors exercising their gifts of performance, and enjoyed this picture. (LINK to my full review).
Since I recently experienced Waltz, Winslet, Reilly, and Foster in “Carnage”, I thought it would be fun to look back at four classic films starring these terrific actors.
“Contact” (1997) 4 / 5 stars - Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a most determined human being.
Losing both her parents by age nine, she overcomes the odds by perusing her academic interests in astronomy, and winds up graduating from M.I.T.
Rather than delving in more grounded science, she spends her life’s work looking for signs of extraterrestrial life.
As a scientist, Eleanor rattles off statistics - like there are 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone - while theoretically jousting with a famed theologian played by Matthew McConaughey.
Foster is perfectly cast as Eleanor.
She offers a fierceness and determination which really jumps off the screen in this wonderful tribute of a film to Carl Sagan.
“Inglourious Basterds” (2009) 4.5 / 5 stars - Christoph Waltz gives a mesmerizing performance with his portrayal of a brilliant, but sadistic Nazi officer, Col. Hans Landa, in Quentin Tarantino’s highly entertaining and wildly violent WWII picture.
We are introduced to - and learn to fear - Col. Landa in the opening scene in 1941 Nazi-occupied France when he confronts a farmer protecting a Jewish family.
Landa - who fluently speaks German, French, English, and Italian with the ease of a linguistic savant - fiendishly finds the answers to baffling questions.
He's the smartest person in the room, but also the most threatening.
Waltz is completely unforgettable.
“Little Children” (2006) 5 / 5 stars - Even though Helen Miren won the Best Actress Oscar for “The Queen”, I thought Kate Winslet - in Todd Field’s highly fascinating - and sometimes very unsettling - suburban drama - gave a better performance.
Winslet plays an unhappy mom and wife living out the “American dream”, but wishing she could wake up from it.
In a brave, open and grounded performance, Winslet's character chooses to make forbidden choices, but “there’s something beautiful and even heroic” about it.
Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley and Jennifer Connelly co-star in this film which earned three Oscar nominations, and I think it’s one of the best movies of the last decade. (LINK to my full review).
“Terri” (2011) 4 / 5 stars - You know how they say your high school years are the best years of your life?
Not in my case.
For me, high school was a torturous time of angst and uncertainty, and - outside of my close friends - I’d love it erased from memory.
I could have used an assistant principal like Mr. Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly) to help guide me through the minefield of grades 9-12.
Mr. Fitzgerald supports a troubled loner, Terri (Jacob Wysocki), by not blasting him into an eternity of detention, but instead becomes his friend.
Reilly brings his unique comic touch to Fitzgerald, as his character bares his soul and gives his weathered perspectives.
Anchoring this little gem of a picture, Reilly deserves a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
"Contact", "Inglourious Basterds"and "Terri" are available on DVD and Blu-ray, and "Little Children" is available on DVD.
Jeff Mitchell is on Twitter: @MitchFilmCritic
