Nebula
New member
Alright, start with some easier stuff.
1.) Who is the best villian of all time?
Gotta be Darth Sidious for me. (Palpatine.) Just so maliciously enduring. His voice, his effect on everyone...he is brilliantly evil. That's my vote. Everything he puts together is so calculated and so well cloaked. Dooku (Tyrannus) and the face he makes when Sidious commands Annakin to kill him is classic Palpatine. Dooku is SURPRISED! Any apprentice to that man should NEVER be surprised at an act of malice committed by Darth Sidious. But even an apprentice doesn't see his wrath coming. Palpatine wins pretty easily for me. And I love that Annakin REALLY does fulfill his destiny. Luke does not kill the Emperor. Annakin does. And you can probably argue that it's acceptable to call him Annakin in that moment. A Sith Lord does not murder his Master out of love for anyone, son or not.
(The Joker...Heath Ledger's Joker that is, is in 2nd place. How close that is I'm not sure, and I could be persuaded that he should drop maybe. But he brilliantly insane in that movie. Also...
2.) Best Gangster Role in a Movie: This is a hard one...lot of good choices to pick. This may be an unpopular pick, but I have to take Don Corleone. Yeah, I thought REALLY hard about Goodfellas and Casino and then, about Michael over the Don. But the meeting with all the main family heads is the final thing that sold me. He get's shot as a really old man, multiple times. Can't kill the bastard. Promises "he will not be the one to break the peace." And he isn't lying, but he knows that the Corleone Family will indeed be the one's to do just that. Brings in Hagan. Makes Luca Brasi, a man who is basically incapable of fear or respect, and makes him feel both of those deeply for the Don. The look he gives Sonny in the meeting with the Turk. And every single DeNiro scene in GF2. (Yeah, that counts. Same character! His killing of Don Fanucci is epic...and not just the hit. He profits off his future capos, eliminates a bane to the neighborhood, and basically usurps the role of crime boss in one fell swoop. Finally...telling Michael that whoever approaches him with Barzini's offer is the traitor. (Tessio, naturally.) He is cerebral, violent, reserved, and just all around a great, great character. And one last thing: His threat about what should happen if a bolt of lightning should strike Michael at that meeting. It's hard to be so intimidating while not really raising your voice, or even making an overt threat. Finally: "Tatagglia's a pimp....But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along." Don Corleone gets my nod.
3.) Best Sports Character: REAL hard. There are a lot of options. Rick Vaughn. Jake Taylor....Roger Dorn. Hell, all of Major League is epic. Rudy? Solid character, but not in the running for me. Herb Brooks from Miracle? That's a solid choice. Hoosiers is a good movie, but I can't go with Hackman. I think....I think it's gotta be Coach D'Amato from Any Given Sunday. I know that's maybe not super popular, but I think Pacino gives an incredibly believable performance. This guy is NOT a perfect guy by any stretch. He's getting old...getting worried that he's losing it. He convinces Cap to play a game that could really cause the guy significant, permanent damage. But that whole speech...his whole persona sells it for me. Just dying when LT (Shark) begs for a waiver, talking to Beamon right before he throws the first TD, asking the reporter based on Jim Rome "Where's your neck brace?" right after giving an apology...he's a great character. I'm going with 2 time Pantheon Cup winner Coach Tony D'Amato.
4.) Best character in a Western: This...had a million options for me. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to pick somebody from the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and that didn't even seem possible. But when I was a kid, I always thought Eastwood in High Plains Drifter was the best. He was such an ominous, spectral kind of entity. I liked him because he wasn't some cocksure swaggering d-bag like John Wayne. I like my characters flawed. And in the end...that's why I went with William Munny from Unforgiven. How do you not pick Doc Holliday from Tombstone? Well...I'm not sure I can defend that. Holliday is so sick in that movie that I almost want to rescind my vote. ALMOST. Except Holliday is not a totally unique character, he's just awesome in basically every possible way imaginable. Pick Doc and you'll never get an argument from me. But here is why I went with Unforgiven and Munny: Munny is a bad man. He is a complete anti-hero. Really, the whole movie is about winnowing down the contenders for most ruthless, heartless killer in the land. At first those ranch hands that cut up the working girls are the worst...and very soon you see Little Bill for who he is. English Bob is revealed as an imposter. However...none of them are William Munny. Every time his past is mentioned, people look like they're talking about Nero, or Hitler, or the Devil. He tried to change. DID change, for a woman and a family.
And then he starts to slowwwwwly turn back into who he really is. His fever makes him see all those he's killed...and the look on Ned's face when confronted with a frightened William Munny says more than words ever could. Munny being scared is HORRIFYING to Ned. The Devil is showing fear. And then Ned, who really seems to be the only person outside of his wife and kids that Munny has ever respected in his life, is killed. We see the change coming before this. The whiskey. As he starts drinking, you see the coldness in his eyes. He is a truly dangerous man, a murderous son of a b!^@h who won't bat an eye at a wailing man he's just gut shot. Munny DOES not care. And after Ned dies, his charade is over. He is William Munny again, the true version. An evil man who does not fear death nor lose sleep over the murder of ANYONE. And when he walks into the bar, everyone knows: Little Bill is a bad man. But William Munny is evil incarnate.
And Doc Holliday is not as complicated. He's a rather simple man in some ways: a brilliant, humorous, hard gambling and hard drinking lunger who is exceedingly dangerous in a firefight. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, he is ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER. Like, of any genre. Munny is just a genius character in my view. Because, the more you watch that movie, the more you realize just what kind of a person he truly is. And he isn't humorous. He isn't sentimental. He sure as HELL isn't a hero. He's sneaky evil. You see it to a greater extent every time you watch that movie.
OKAY: Insanely long? Ridiculous? I want signing day. Anybody feel like voting on these? Offer new questions. Anything. I'm bored beyond bored.
1.) Who is the best villian of all time?
Gotta be Darth Sidious for me. (Palpatine.) Just so maliciously enduring. His voice, his effect on everyone...he is brilliantly evil. That's my vote. Everything he puts together is so calculated and so well cloaked. Dooku (Tyrannus) and the face he makes when Sidious commands Annakin to kill him is classic Palpatine. Dooku is SURPRISED! Any apprentice to that man should NEVER be surprised at an act of malice committed by Darth Sidious. But even an apprentice doesn't see his wrath coming. Palpatine wins pretty easily for me. And I love that Annakin REALLY does fulfill his destiny. Luke does not kill the Emperor. Annakin does. And you can probably argue that it's acceptable to call him Annakin in that moment. A Sith Lord does not murder his Master out of love for anyone, son or not.
(The Joker...Heath Ledger's Joker that is, is in 2nd place. How close that is I'm not sure, and I could be persuaded that he should drop maybe. But he brilliantly insane in that movie. Also...
2.) Best Gangster Role in a Movie: This is a hard one...lot of good choices to pick. This may be an unpopular pick, but I have to take Don Corleone. Yeah, I thought REALLY hard about Goodfellas and Casino and then, about Michael over the Don. But the meeting with all the main family heads is the final thing that sold me. He get's shot as a really old man, multiple times. Can't kill the bastard. Promises "he will not be the one to break the peace." And he isn't lying, but he knows that the Corleone Family will indeed be the one's to do just that. Brings in Hagan. Makes Luca Brasi, a man who is basically incapable of fear or respect, and makes him feel both of those deeply for the Don. The look he gives Sonny in the meeting with the Turk. And every single DeNiro scene in GF2. (Yeah, that counts. Same character! His killing of Don Fanucci is epic...and not just the hit. He profits off his future capos, eliminates a bane to the neighborhood, and basically usurps the role of crime boss in one fell swoop. Finally...telling Michael that whoever approaches him with Barzini's offer is the traitor. (Tessio, naturally.) He is cerebral, violent, reserved, and just all around a great, great character. And one last thing: His threat about what should happen if a bolt of lightning should strike Michael at that meeting. It's hard to be so intimidating while not really raising your voice, or even making an overt threat. Finally: "Tatagglia's a pimp....But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along." Don Corleone gets my nod.
3.) Best Sports Character: REAL hard. There are a lot of options. Rick Vaughn. Jake Taylor....Roger Dorn. Hell, all of Major League is epic. Rudy? Solid character, but not in the running for me. Herb Brooks from Miracle? That's a solid choice. Hoosiers is a good movie, but I can't go with Hackman. I think....I think it's gotta be Coach D'Amato from Any Given Sunday. I know that's maybe not super popular, but I think Pacino gives an incredibly believable performance. This guy is NOT a perfect guy by any stretch. He's getting old...getting worried that he's losing it. He convinces Cap to play a game that could really cause the guy significant, permanent damage. But that whole speech...his whole persona sells it for me. Just dying when LT (Shark) begs for a waiver, talking to Beamon right before he throws the first TD, asking the reporter based on Jim Rome "Where's your neck brace?" right after giving an apology...he's a great character. I'm going with 2 time Pantheon Cup winner Coach Tony D'Amato.
4.) Best character in a Western: This...had a million options for me. I realized that I wasn't going to be able to pick somebody from the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and that didn't even seem possible. But when I was a kid, I always thought Eastwood in High Plains Drifter was the best. He was such an ominous, spectral kind of entity. I liked him because he wasn't some cocksure swaggering d-bag like John Wayne. I like my characters flawed. And in the end...that's why I went with William Munny from Unforgiven. How do you not pick Doc Holliday from Tombstone? Well...I'm not sure I can defend that. Holliday is so sick in that movie that I almost want to rescind my vote. ALMOST. Except Holliday is not a totally unique character, he's just awesome in basically every possible way imaginable. Pick Doc and you'll never get an argument from me. But here is why I went with Unforgiven and Munny: Munny is a bad man. He is a complete anti-hero. Really, the whole movie is about winnowing down the contenders for most ruthless, heartless killer in the land. At first those ranch hands that cut up the working girls are the worst...and very soon you see Little Bill for who he is. English Bob is revealed as an imposter. However...none of them are William Munny. Every time his past is mentioned, people look like they're talking about Nero, or Hitler, or the Devil. He tried to change. DID change, for a woman and a family.
And then he starts to slowwwwwly turn back into who he really is. His fever makes him see all those he's killed...and the look on Ned's face when confronted with a frightened William Munny says more than words ever could. Munny being scared is HORRIFYING to Ned. The Devil is showing fear. And then Ned, who really seems to be the only person outside of his wife and kids that Munny has ever respected in his life, is killed. We see the change coming before this. The whiskey. As he starts drinking, you see the coldness in his eyes. He is a truly dangerous man, a murderous son of a b!^@h who won't bat an eye at a wailing man he's just gut shot. Munny DOES not care. And after Ned dies, his charade is over. He is William Munny again, the true version. An evil man who does not fear death nor lose sleep over the murder of ANYONE. And when he walks into the bar, everyone knows: Little Bill is a bad man. But William Munny is evil incarnate.
And Doc Holliday is not as complicated. He's a rather simple man in some ways: a brilliant, humorous, hard gambling and hard drinking lunger who is exceedingly dangerous in a firefight. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, he is ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER. Like, of any genre. Munny is just a genius character in my view. Because, the more you watch that movie, the more you realize just what kind of a person he truly is. And he isn't humorous. He isn't sentimental. He sure as HELL isn't a hero. He's sneaky evil. You see it to a greater extent every time you watch that movie.
OKAY: Insanely long? Ridiculous? I want signing day. Anybody feel like voting on these? Offer new questions. Anything. I'm bored beyond bored.
