With a special edition of Gattaca and the flop remake of Sleuth both out on DVD today, I thought we'd take a look back at the career of Jude Law. He's still a staple of the gossip set but his star seems to be flickering weirdly and not so very brightly these past two years. I hope there's a resurgence of respect for his talent and another impressive role soon. I can dream...
Ten Best Jude Law Performances
10. I've yet to rent Breaking & Entering (2006) which was barely and poorly distributed at the tail end of a busy film year (I hate when they do that) and the other major Law lead that I missed was Enemy at the Gates (2001). So this spot stays open for the time being.
09. Wilde (1997) He's played more than his share of callow pretty boys but this is where it essentially began as Oscar Wilde's unfaithful manipulative lover "Bosie" in the minor biopic. Stephen Fry played the witty playwright.08. Closer (2004) All three of his co-stars (Natalie Portman, Clive Owen and Julia Roberts) received more praise but in a film full of selfish players, he's the most unlikeable so even if his performance had been as mesmerizing as Clive's (it wasn't) as against-type as Julia's (definitely not) or as fresh as Natalie's (how could it be?) he would've been ignored. But it's still incisive character-serving work. Even if you do want Clive Owen to beat the crap out of him whenever they're both onscreen.
07. Road to Perdition (2002) Sam Mendes' follow up to the Oscar-winning American Beauty gave Jude one of his rare opportunities to de-glam. That's something usually reserved for actresses but since he's as pretty as any of them, he got to ugly down to play the sadistic photographer. It was a surprising character and an unnerving diversion in his star trajectory (and he probably needs to do something equally head turning again soon).06. Alfie (2004) A remake that's much better than it gets credit for being (with a delicious parade of underused and talented actresses including TFE favorites Marisa Tomei and Jane Krakowski) probably because it's difficult for people to feel much sympathy for the devil when he looks like Jude Law and his playboy luck starts running out.
05. Cold Mountain (2003) His second Oscar nomination and without question the best performance in a crowded uneven film. Renée Zellweger serves her statue-seizing role with an entire ham, not just a side. Jude meanwhile merely acts the hell out of Inman but goes so internal that it's quietly devastating. Natalie Portman proves a worthy scene partner and they did right by each other the following year in Closer, too. Can we get a third pairing, please?
04. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Some cinephiles swear by this odd Spielberg/Kubrick mash-up but I think it's a botch --albeit a botch with several masterful elements. One of them is Jude Law as "Gigolo Joe" a robot built for pleasure. Spielberg isn't the sort of director who has a sure hand with erotic elements (consider the unintentionally funny sex stuff in Munich and that's just one example) or perhaps he just isn't that interested in them. He doesn't make as much of this witty committed supporting turn as an adult-driven auteur (like say Kubrick himself) might have but Jude still makes the very most of his material. He's in the mood for love(ing this role)03. Gattaca (1997) This thinking person's sci-fi drama was my first exposure to the British beauty. He and Uma play genetically perfect human specimens. Good casting, right? He's mesmerizing and bitter, having lost his perfection in an accident, and completely steals the show from Ethan Hawke (flawed specimen). I haven't seen it in years but I'd love to hear from anyone who has recently. Does it hold up?
02. I Heart Huckabees (2004) He's my choice for Best Supporting Actor of 2004, just barely ahead of Mark Wahlberg in the same film, they're both superb in sneaky multi-layered comic roles. I'm sure this movie's fan base will only continue to grow as it ages. More Huckabees posts here, because I heart it.
01. The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr Ripley (1999) The title character may have been complex enough to require multiple adjectives but it was Jude Law (as Dickie Greenleaf) and not Matt Damon (as Mr Ripley) who owned the film. It could have been as accurately titled The Cocksure Selfish Sexual Mean Outgoing Carefree Seductive Musical Privileged Beautiful Glowing Amoral Temperamental Passionate Charismatic Mr Greenleaf. It was the film that rightly made Law a major star and delivered him his first Oscar nomination. "Dickie Greenleaf" was an indelible creation and will be forever fused to notions of who Jude Law is as a movie star and celebrity, for better and worse. He richly deserved the Oscar which would instead go to Michael Caine. In a bizarre twist worthy of Hollyweird, Jude has become a reinterpreter of Caine's work, recreating two of his roles already in Alfie (2004) and Sleuth (2007).I'm ready for a comeback. Here's hoping Jude has got at least one more Dickie in him.
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66 comments:
"Here's hoping Jude has got at least one more Dickie in him."
That was on purpose, right? I'm not just a pervert?
Watch Breaking and Entering - it's quite an underrated gem.
@ ja
yes you'r a pervert.
Gattaca was on TV just a week ago in Europe and Law's performance does hold up. He really steals the show, he makes the most of his part which isn't even that showy. He should have been Oscar nominated. But then I thought he should have been for A.I. and I Heart Huckabees as well.
I also think A.I. was something of a botch. Spielberg trying to do a Kubrick impression.... odd. But out of everything in that movie, Jude Law's final words stick with me.
"I am. I was."
as hard as he tried to be ugly in perdition it just ain't possible
Hi, Nathaniel!
Ok, so I'll pass you my e-mail:
tudosei@hotmail.com or
bolodearroz@gmail.com
Thanks for your help! \o/
PS- As you might have noticed, I don't speak english, so excuse me for possible grammar errors =)
PS 2- I think that Jude Law was perfect in Closer. He was also great in The Aviator.
Breaking and Entering was one of the worst films of 2006 and I thought Jude's performance there was Razzie-worthy. I seriously doubt it has anything to do in a list with his mesmerizing performances in Cold Mt, I Heart Huckabees, The Talented Mr Ripley and AI
I'm glad you seem to be (almost maybe) as big a fan of his performance in Alfie as I am. 'Cuz that is one perfect star turn if I ever saw one.
Though in a weird case of AMPAS actually getting things right, I think his best performances are the two for which he was Oscar-nommed (Ripley and Mountain).
Jude Law is a bit of a problem. He's had many opportunities to shine and he's blown a lot of them.
I think he needs to pick his projects more carefully. I agree that two of his best performances were in Ripley and Cold Mountain. I liked him in Alfie and even in that awful film The Holiday. I also think he was decent in Closer. But he hasn't grown enough as an actor and you begin to wonder if he ever will. Sleuth was a big misstep, though I don't think you can blame it on Law.
I wish he'd do stage work again. I still remember him running around naked on stage in Indiscretions on Broadway. Very alive and sexy.
Oh, I forgot to mention that he should do more comedy. He was quite good in Huckabees.
How many differenet people perform HAMLET? why can't there be different versions of SLEUTH? I saw the original play and I liked this performance in whch Jude Law has scenes in which the entire range of acting can be seen in 5 minutes. A bravura performance from all involved. Finally
respect for ALFIE and finally for
HUCKABBEES. I remember their getting razzed as well, Jude will never play the movie actor game but shows us many sides because he is a real actor instead and a real person.Will he be crucified as no
one else has been for something the
tabloids blew up ihnto two years of
slander and fabrication. In the end
he will be the outstanding actor or
this generation no matter how late
you arrive at this inowledge.
Great topic for this week's list!
Don't agree on Wilde, but then I generally hated that movie on the whole.
I agree that Alfie was underrated - he was really quite good in it. And I think Cold Mountain was his best performance.
I'm with Steve on all three points. I thought he was okay in Breaking and Entering (which deserves Wilde's spot, for me), but I'd make a bigger case for him on this list for his bewildered, funny, casually feminized role in Cronenberg's eXistenZ.
And I'll say, too, that I think Law is one of the things that works the least well in A.I.. Not that there aren't a few of those (and I like the movie, a lot.) But I never really get Gigolo Joe, or why the movie needs him. And the robot physicality seems pretty forced.
You know who's also good in "Alfie"? Susan Sarandon. In fact, she does the most with the least of all the actors in it. There's a look she gives him in the absinthe scene that's so vulnerable and devastating I still remember it even though it lasted like a split second.
Gattaca is still great (except the kind of schmoopy ending with the swimming and whatnot), and so is eXistenZ. He needs to work with auteurs more often; he gets lost in more mainstream, commercial material.
I was not aware you were such a big fan of Gattaca and Alfie. He was definitely good in both of those, though. Also good in Breaking and Entering, though I don't think it's among his best work... and the movie itself was kinda "meh"... that ending... *shudders*
I remember at the time you preferred both Tom Cruise and Haley Joel for the '99 oscar, but I guess now you've changed your mind? Hmmmm...
Though it's not hard to see why anyone would be retroactively turned off by Tom Cruise at this point. I mean, do we really want to REWARD him for expressing that inner psycho-crazy macho cock-loving nutjob within? Why? I'm over it.
I'd say the only performance in Breaking & Entering of major note is that of Binoche, so I'd not lose too much sleep over not seeing it in time for inclusion in this particular list. (Agree with Arkaan though; it's underrated, even though I thought the final reel stank.)
This is a terrific list, even though I'd move Wilde wa-a-ay up to #2 and I wasn't as, um, wild about his turn in Cold Mountain.
I'd also probably find room for his work in The Holiday. By no means anyone's favourite Law film, surely, but I found it "nice", schmaltzy fun, and his performance managed to ooze both swagger and vulnerability.
Rob
he has been great in 1 film and 1 film only your number 1 choice he seems to play variations on the same character!!!!
he is a terrible interviewee he comes across as unappreciate,petulant & arrogant.
chris rock did his career no favours at the oscars 2005
Agreed. It's ALL ABOUT DICKIE GREENLEAF!
secretmargo -- agreed on Sarandon. I really need her to be good again soon
Adam --i kinda think Haley is a lead in Sixth Sense... that's where i'm going with that
Nick --I have very unclear memories of EXistenZ... but i was turned off by the movie as a whole.
everyone --about the Wilde placement. I don't like the movie but I was at a loss for what belonged there. I guess I only love 8 performances ;)
Jude films i haven't seen: BREAKING & ENTERING, ENEMY AT GATES, SHOPPING and THE HOLIDAY
off topic- i'm guessing you haven't seen it yet, since it's not listed in your list of films screened, but you should see in bruges. i saw it yesterday, and thought it was quite good, especially brendan gleeson.
I thought that Jude Law was perfect as Inman, so "Cold Mountain" would have topped my list of Jude Law performances. I've never been head over heels in love with "The Talented Mr. Ripley", but it was a deserved nomination at least. I liked Jude in "Closer", and I thought that Clive's character was the most unsympathetic. He had the nerve to sleep with some whore and then acted all magnanimous when she told him about her affair? Hell to the naw! But yeah, "Closer" would have been higher on my list too.
I thought that Jude Law was perfect as Inman, so "Cold Mountain" would have topped my list of Jude Law performances. I've never been head over heels in love with "The Talented Mr. Ripley", but it was a deserved nomination at least. I liked Jude in "Closer", and I thought that Clive's character was the most unsympathetic. He had the nerve to sleep with some whore and then acted all magnanimous when she told him about her affair? Hell to the naw! But yeah, "Closer" would have been higher on my list too.
best law lite.
instead of "the holiday" how about "music from another room"? a quaint, not so pretentious entry to the genre.
I'm glad you mentioned Alfie. It was so much better than the critics gave it credit for. I saw it in an almost-empty theater but really enjoyed it, especially his scenes with Krakowski.
nat you want sarandon check her out in the okay in the valley of elah in it for 6 mins and owns every one of those wipes the floor with tommy lee jones.
I like your list. Jude's performances are generally good, even if the movies aren't total hits, but I like that he chooses what he wants to do and hasn't become a Hollywood cookie cutout. As far as his reputation, yeah, got WAY too much flack over something that was nobody else's business...if he'd been the one with Angelina that year instead of Brad, he would have been canonized...but instead, he was with someone (gasp) PLAIN and NORMAL! How dare he!
Anyway...among the movies you listed, though, I would have to add Immortality (Wisdom of Crocodiles) in there...a little artsy film, and I loved his performance in it...it's the one that drew Minghella's attention to Jude, as his wife was directing the film...and he went on to cast him in Ripley.
I love Gattaca (saw it last summer for the first time) and I really, really like it...and love his performance. Alfie is another...I just really like that film, but since it's the norm to trash it, I just consider it a guilty pleasure.
I really liked him in The Holiday as well.
Also, I love his intereviews (Charlie Rose and network, not so much the little junket press that includes such dribble sometimes...I don't know how actors endure these)...he always comes off so interesting and intelligent and really interested in what he's doing.
He's always been a devoted father, and I think that really endears him as well.
Sorry so long...I just think it's time all the negativity about him just cease...it's really been overhyped, and the other half of the circus has already moved on and joined another circus and getting ready to marry it...so good riddance.
Oh, and to add to my longwindedness, I want to say I enjoyed Sleuth...saw it twice in theaters...I've ordered the DVD. Also, to respond to someone's comment on here about Jude and the stage, he will be doing Hamlet in London next summer...I think tickets are pretty much sold out now, though. I would love to beg him to come to the NYC stage again...
Oh, and about Tom Cruise...well, let's just say Chris Rock is an all-out idiot...I've never cared for the over-hyped, over-blown, over-done Cruise...what do you think of your boy now, Chris?
My top five:
5. Closer
4. I Heart Huckabees
3. Cold Mountain
2. The Talented Mr. Ripley
1. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
I actually loved what Spielberg did in A.I.-it wasn't quite as beautiful as what Kubrick would have done (and he would have ended it WAY differently), but I thought it was a valiant effort and a worthy companion to the next year's even better Spielberg film, Minority Report.
He was certainly perfect in Cold Mountain, an underrated gem in my opinion! YES, I even like Zelwegger in it!! So shoot me. The thing that pisses me off the most is Kidman's uneven accent, but I think even she does a good job. It's paced very well though and is beautifully shot.
There is a certain arrogance about him that I think the public has been turned off by in recent years. Plus the whole leaving your wife for the babysitter thing.
Meant to chime in on the Alfie love, and to stump for Nia Long as yet another sssssssssmokin member of that ensemble. That billiards sequence with Law is one of my favorites in the film.
loved him in "wilde." was embarrassed for (by?) him in "breaking and entering," a film that proves anthony minghella should stick to hiding behind period details. the film was preposterous.
I agree with Nathaniel...would love to see him again with Portman on film. They're both in My Blueberry Nights, which is coming out soon, but they don't have scenes together.
For the poster who commented about him leaving his wife for the babysitter, he didn't. He was divorced.
But that's okay...I guess leaving Jennifer for Angelina was much more admirable on Brad's part...especially when they were not YET divorced when he started his thing with her...
but carry on with your little bad self there.
I'm sorry, I freaking adored Caine and Law going head to head in 'Sleuth'. No, it wasn't by any means a great film, but same with the other tete-a-tete picture 'Interview', it was delicious fun. Watching two beautiful, talented men engage in a 'dance macabre' for an hour and a half using words as their weapons (for a majority of the time, at least) was more adrenaline pumping than a majority of action flicks I was subjected to over the last year.
Yeay to the Portman/Law love (I thought Portman's performance was the most moving in Cold Mountain - I wanted to hand her the Best Supporting nod, and almost wept in my hankie because I knew there was no way she was going to get it. )
And though I enjoyed Cold Mountain greatly in the theaters it hasn't aged particularly well for me. But I thought Law was perfectly cast. He was so interior that he became the "chromatic grey" against which the more eccentric and colorful supporting characters could "pop" (which is very much true of Inman in the novel as well), and he didn't carry any star baggage or vanity onscreen to interfere with the characterization (unlike Nicole and Renee, alas).
And to think Tom Cruise was originally supposed to play Inman *shudders*. (And Cate Blanchett was supposed to be Ada (huh?))
Haven't seen most of these other titles I confess; will add Ripley and Closer to the must-see list.
RedSatinDoll
@gabrieloak - he's apparently going to be doing Hamlet with Kenneth Branagh (directed by Branagh that is) on the West End next year.
I love Gattaca anyway, which I only found on DVD a couple of years ago, but I'll add my voice to Jude's performance in it. His bitterness is the glue. It beautifully and coldly played, no punches pulled and no attempt at sympathy. Which of course does make him sympathetic, but in a very clean way. My favourite of his performances.
I am with the person that love Sleuth. That perf belongs somewhere in the top 5 but I can't say where and I'll likely change my mind in 10 min anyway. It's such an unconventional film, I guess cause it's really a Pinter story. No conventional payoff. Now wonder the masses didn't like it.
I don't know that he's played "more than his fair share of callow pretty boys". Wilde and Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, what else did I miss?
Here's hoping for great future projects from Mr. Law! I'd love to see another like Sleuth but I want some commercial success for him too. He's way too bright a flame to be ignored.
-- A voice in the concrete jungle
Also, Enemy at the Gates, Sky Captain and Alfie are 3 very very entertaining films. His star glamour in The Holiday is the only thing worth watching so I'd put it somewhere in the top 10.
He should've been nominated for AI, Huckabees and yeah SLEUTH. He should've won for Ripley
-- A voice in the concrete jungle
"Nick Davis said...
Meant to chime in on the Alfie love, and to stump for Nia Long as yet another sssssssssmokin member of that ensemble. That billiards sequence with Law is one of my favorites in the film.
1:56 PM"
Nick, this IS a smokin' hot scene and just about my favorite in the movie...they both played very well off each other.
Thanks all for letting me know about Hamlet. Now I wish I lived in the UK. Though I have seen Hamlet performed so many times I don't know if I could stand another one.
Nathaniel, you're missing nothing by not seeing The Holiday. But I don't know how Nancy Myers convinced both Jude and Kate to appear in that dreck. They do their best and it was nice to see them in something lighter but it probably would have been better if it had just been a love story between Jude and Kate without Jack Black and Cameron Diaz.
Oh, great idea, Gabrieloak! I would LOVE to see a love story with Kate and Jude...absolutely...totally opposite the brooding, strained relationship they had in All the King's Men.
Anybody out their listening? Another movie with Jude-n-Natalie, and another one with Jude-n-Kate.
I really liked Breaking & Entering and Jude in it. And when it comes to The Talented Mr Ripley I think Law and Blanchett are stunning.
Hate Wilde and don't remember much of Jude in it. Like him in Perdition and Music from Another Room and he was one of the best things about Cold Mountain.
But looking over the list I think my favourite performance of Jude's is I Heart Huckabees.
I LOVE I Heart Huckabees!
For what it's worth, I second the previous poster who recommended In Bruges. Well-written, well-acted (even Collin Ferrel! Who's totally adorable in it! What's up with that?), affecting. Everyone should see it right now. It's a much deeper and more nuanced [and funnier] movie than the cheapened, misleadingly edited trailer would lead one to believe.
agree with you.
I think Law is talented. I've been watching his movies back from Gattaca, eXistenZ, A.I, Ripley..and latest, Sleuth. Gotta say, most of his performance are better than the movie itself, and some could've been award nominated.
about the third pairing with Portman, yeah finally someone speaks my mind!
I absolutely love Law and Portman in both Cold Mountain & Closer. I feel the most moving moment when Inman stayed in Sara's house (You have to see the deleted scene!). They just fit to each other. Something in their eyes.
Nathaniel, this is a dream post for me! Thank you! Always wanted to know how you'd rank/what you thought of the performances of our shared favourite contemporary actor.
Kamikaze - agreed that Law and Blanchett were both sublime in Ripley. Oh! But I loved Damon and Paltrow (her monologue on the staircase is perhaps her best scene ever in any film?), Hoffman and Davenport too. What a cast, all pretty much playing at the peak of their powers.
Beau - agreed that Sleuth had such palpable tension. A proper action movie. Caine and Law were both beyond brilliant. Crudely written off because Law and Branagh are so unfashionable right now.
Also I've interviewed Jude post-Nannygate and he is not petulant at all! Very open, chatty and unmediated for a star of that stature - and considering what he's been through.
1. I think Sleuth was written off because it was a mediocre adaptation of an uncinematic project based on a dated stage play that wasn't all that great to begin with. Brannagh misdirects the shit out of it (that art direction? I mean, what the fuck?), and makes a horrible mistake in presuming this story (when it is basically an amusing parlor game) has any pathos whatsoever. Caine and Law are clearly having a ball, but the whole thing is utterly ludicrous, and not in a good way.
2. Outside the problematic final reel, I think Breaking and Entering is some of the best work Minghella has done. And it contains a magnificent performance from Robin Wright-Penn. She was amazing. Law was fine.
3. Echo the love for Talented Mr. Ripley, and I love amir_uk for mentioning Jack Davenport. It's Damon's show through and through, but man, that cast was amazing.
4. Top five Law performances? Gattaca, Ripley, AI, Cold Mountain, I Heart Huckabees, for reasons already stated by others.
5. Whenever you hear about the Huckabees maelstrom (aka, David O'Russell is batshit crazy), you never hear about Jude Law. You hear about Hoffman, Tomlin, Wahlberg, and others, but not about Law or Watts.
Amir, I like Gwyneth in it too but Law and Blanchett (probably my favourite Blanchett perf, even if it's not technically her "best") were the two I'd nominate and I would give them both my gold medal for the year.
i think CATE is super in that movie 2
I know you mention you haven't yet seen Enemy at the Gates, but I would highly recommend it. For me, I think it would fall in somewhere in the top 5 performances, and that is considering that I am not a fan of war movies. I tend to turn them off in the first 5 minutes if they don't catch my attention. I think it's another introspective type of character, and also has great performances by Joseph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.
My top 6 or so picks would be Immortality (interesting in an odd kind of way), A.I. (hated the movie, but liked Jude, I turned it off after he left the screen), Gattaca, Closer, and Ripley.
My Blueberry Nights will be released in America on April 4, and I'm looking forward to it. It seems there's such a division in taste for the film, but nonetheless, I'll be there anyway because it includes actors I like.
I'm looking forward to Repossession Mambo next year with Jude and Forest Whitaker as well. And The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnissus with Ledger/Depp/Farrell next year, too.
In my opinion Jude Law deserved an Oscar for many of his performances, he's been great in '..Ripley', 'Wisdom of crocodiles', 'Enemy at the gate', 'Closer', 'Breaking...' and I got mesmerized by his Milo Tindle in 'Sleuth'. He is such an amazing actor!!
Oh! sorry! I forgot 'Alfie' (how could I???) that's one of my favourites. And the role fits him as glove! I even saw the original one with Michael Caine and it appeared boring, slow and dark. How can they say that was better than this brilliant remake?
I rewatched The Talented mr Ripley last night. Jude is so good. I must've made my mind think Cate Blanchett was in it for longer because she probably has no more than 15 minutes of screentime.
15 amazing minutes of screentime, nonetheless, but I was startled actually.
kamikaze camel
it's also my favorite Blanchett perf, but it's ultimately Law's film. He should have won the Oscar.
I'm trying to get tickets for Hamlet next year. Wish me luck !
I received my DVD of Sleuth today and watched it tonight with friends. I had seen it twice in the theater when it was here.
Anyway, this is not a run-of-the-mill film, and it more than likely doesn't/won't appeal to anyone looking for a Hollywood formula film. I expect anyone sentimental for the Sleuth 1972 more than likely won't like it, either. Me, I was looking for neither, as I saw the 1972 film last summer for the first time, and it didn't appeal to me. I just think this one should be viewed irrespective of 1972. I really like watching Jude and Michael together in this. Yes, it has some quirky over-the-top moments, but eh, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Actually, quirky and over-the-top describes quite a few of my relatives.
Has anyone seen Existenz? Another under-rated JL film in my opinion. Pick it up at your local movie store if you like David Cronenburg films.
"Anonymous Anonymous said...
Has anyone seen Existenz? Another under-rated JL film in my opinion. Pick it up at your local movie store if you like David Cronenburg films."
Yes, I enjoy watching Existenz!
To whoever said Jude should do more comedy, I agree. I loved him in Huckabees, in Love, Honor, and Obey (nice little dark British comedy), and his Saturday Night Live skits were very funny! He was great in them.
my favorite jude role was alfie...i couldn't see anyone else holding my attention who was on screen for the entire film. he was perfect....ripley put him on the map and his charisma shone so brightly...i liked breaking and entering....he was much younger than his co stars and was going through a very difficult time but i enjoyed the performance. his entance in wilde was a classic. jude's beauty is a blessing and a curse....sometimes it may distract from his performance but for me it works just fine...i too hope he finds a role that revives his career. many of his choices haven't been winners but i almost think that jude does what he finds to be a challenge and he's not looking for the so called blockbusters. of course if he had one it would put a spring in his step...
immortality shows jude at his most introspective best. his acting is great. when he speaks or just internalizes he mesmerizes. this guy is amazing. i also thought sleuth was a master class in acting. only in a daniel day lewis film are you going to see two actors like jude and michael go at each other. they both deserved oscars or at least the british bafta.
the best movie is cold mountain.
wisdom of crocodiles aka immortality is also very good...best time of year to see it is end of october all the way through november.
i love my blueberry nights and holiday which are both very sweet and endearing...touching and sweet and clean. sleuth is also very good. some good lines in there that make you bust up laughing. there are two lines where it is hard not to laugh.
ai is also very sweet...
breaking and entering is good but for mature audiences. it had adult themes, i thought, something for people with a bit more of life experience, and i think he did a good job as a husband and father in this role and of course i was disappointed in the character's behavior at some points. so jude did a good job in this one. there are other themes to this story that i think can be lost on some in the audience if they have been lucky in the past 6 years. closer is also for people who have had a certain life experience...both of these films deal with issues that are not so simply cut and dried. they deal with deeper issues that require thought and understanding so it is intended for more mature audiences or people who have had some life experience and experienced losses in life.
in closing i would like to say:
save me sky captain save me ;)
Most of actors at the end of his acting life, always are remembered by a memorable performance, wether in terms of acting or because the role itself was brilliant enough to get that category: in this case, and from my point of view, Jude will be remembered as the, as you described beatifully, the Mysterious, Yearning, Secretive.. etc, etc... Passionate and Telented Mr. Ripley. He should have won the oscar, I don't remember any other performance along this decade that shined as much as Jude in that wonderful Minghella's movie...
I just saw Sleuth and i loved it!As for the list i agree!
I kinda like Law, he's beautiful man but also got talent. As you said. Gattaca was my first. and then came Enemy at The Gates (He's actually good), A.I (comical performance), the weirdo eXistenZ, and last Sleuth. though it's not a good movie, I believe he's a great character actor.
you're right about the Law/Portman third pairing. I was hoping it in Blueberry (ugh dissapointing movie). Man, am I ask too much about the romance between Law/Portman - their unfinished love screen in Cold Mountain??
Jude Law gives one of his best film performances in the generally overlooked Blueberry Nights. OK he should have spent more time with the Gallagher brothers (Oasis) to get the Macunian accent right. But he does get to eventually snog Norah Jones after feeding her with the eponymous fruit pie; as ever, every man envies him!
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