Denzel Washington poll

I'd vote for Training Day, but there's a lot of these I haven't seen

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8TPNkDWHv8I/SvbpsGgbEeI/AAAAAAAAAVU/qJPKMD4ryps/s400/carbon_copy.jpg

Roger Porter (Washington) is the long-lost black son of Walter Whitney (Segal), a respectable businessman who lives in the all-white community of San Marino, California.

Once Roger turns up at Walter's office, it turns out that he is the result of Walter's relationship with a black woman, who is now dead. Walter's father-in-law had warned him that the relationship would be harmful to his career, so he broke it off.

Walter attempts to help Roger by telling his wife Vivian (Saint James) that he wants to adopt him. She accepts, but soon regrets the decision and ends up kicking Walter out. Her father also fires him, taking his car and benefits in the process. Penniless, he and Roger check into a motel, and later move into an apartment. Walter ends up as a manual labourer, shovelling horse manure.

The final ten minutes makes the transition from comedy to drama, where Walter has to either accept that Roger is his son, or alienate him and give into his racist society in order to salvage his position in society.

Vivian Whitney: Roger, we're having chicken for dinner.
Roger Porter: I just love chicken, ma'am.
Vivian Whitney: I know you do.

LOL

unstoppable is gonna own so hard

Fallen vs. Man on Fire IMO

unstoppable is aight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SK6gbhuEXQ

He's never really done "indie," has he? It seems like he could pull off the occasional Bruce Willis-esque venture into arthouse territory pretty well.

it's been awhile since he played a likable character imo

he was a good guy in the Pelham 123 remake, don't know if that's what you mean by "likable" though

Based on dozen or so I've seen, Malcolm X followed by He Got Game. I'd probably take his performance in American Gangster over Training Day.

scoring like 4 or 5 straight on ray allen has to be a career highlight for denzel

would've voted st elsewhere, voted for devil in a blue dress over the spike lees, courage under fire, training day; this is more a case of me wishing there had been more easy rawlins movies than anything else. man on fire is a piece of work but i'm not sure i'm that impressed w/ denzel's performance in it (whereas courage under fire is standard oscar boilerplate fare but i do think denzel's performance is pretty great in it). a shame so much of his career has been either being a present day black gregory peck or acting against that type, he's such a better actor than peck ever was.

i love when he owns the shit out of lou diamond phillips in CUF

He's sexy as hell AND acting well in Devil in a Blue Dress; it's a real good Sean Connery type performance.

denzel washington
sexy as hell and acting well
tomorrow on oprah

I've seen a number of these films, but none of his performances have stuck in my head. Maybe a bit of a bland actor?

Ray Allen is really good in He Got Game, even if he's mostly just required to look sullen.

RICCOCHET

is this for worst because BONE COLLECTOR, THE - LINCOLN RHYME is jumpin out at me like majorly.

Training Day - Detective Alonzo Harris

KING KONG. AIN'T GOT SHIT. etc

^

voted 'devil in a blue dress' coz it's a chill film that i think is slept on, but you can't fuck with 'training day'

voted mo' better blues

Saw He Got Game for the 1st time last month, and thought it was weird that they cast a dude who was for real awesome at basketball but then there was minimal basketball play in the film.

oh and Malcolm X. yawn.

He's sexy as hell AND acting well in Devil in a Blue Dress; it's a real good Sean Connery type performance.

Alfred otm

oh and Malcolm X. yawn.

It's not perfect, for sure, but there sure is a lot of greatness in there--chiefly, Denzel's performance.

I haven't seen the majority of these and I liked him in 'Training Day' and 'Devil in Blue Dress' would get my #2 vote but I'm going with 'Fallen'. He's great in 'Malcom X' but the whole picture is lacking something.

he's kind of terrible imho...? I think the three standouts are Malcolm X, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Training Day. the rest alternates between laughable and irritating

there's some new SNL dude who does a drop-dead impression of him, I think it was posted on the SNL thread. reduces Denzel's purported acting "chops" to a handful of readily identifiable tics, it's pretty funny.

Inside Man was a good film, but I don't recall him doing anything special in it.

oh yeah here it is. I don't understand what the context of this is at all tho lol

http://www.youtube.com/v/EqZGGqO6Eu0

hmm why did that happen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqZGGqO6Eu0&feature=player_embedded

ha no, clemenza, i meant my pick was Malcolm X, which is a predictible, boring one.

Oops...that SNL clip is perfect, but has there ever been a great actor who wasn't an easy target for spot-on impressions? Cagney, Bogart, Brando, Nicholson, De Niro, etc., etc.--I'd almost say it's a prerequisite. But I know what you mean about lapsing into mannerism, and Denzel definitely does that a lot.

I'd counter with this, which, from an actor's standpoint, I count as two of the greatest minutes of the past 25 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT1jLY20tLo

has there ever been a great actor who wasn't an easy target for spot-on impressions? Cagney, Bogart, Brando, Nicholson, De Niro, etc., etc.--I'd almost say it's a prerequisite.

yeah I know this occurred to me too I just had never considered Denzel in that context before - like, his mannerisms and tics were not really obvious to me until I saw that SNL clip

cold go any of training day, he got game, fallen or crimson tide.

You guys. Carbon Copy is on TV RIGHT NOW. And it just started! Now idea what this channel is, but it shows up as "Flixe" on the TV menu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwq2OwWElLs

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

would've voted st elsewhere

this. and i thought he was pretty ott in training day, but then that stupid epic final battle where they're both hitting each other with chairs ruined that movie for me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nicholas "Ricochet" Styles

Guess I should watch Mo Better Blues.

Sort of blows my mind he was in both Carbon Copy and this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Heart_condition_movie.jpg

"Hoskins plays police sergeant Jack Moony, a racist cop, and Washington plays Napoleon Stone, an adorable but sleazy ambulance chasing lawyer whom Moony hates. Moony's years of bad habits, such as overeating, smoking, and drinking, finally catch up with him. At the same time, Stone is gunned down in a drive-by shooting. After suffering a heart attack, Moony wakes up to find out that his new heart was once Stone's, and the dead lawyer's ghost has become his constant companion. Now, Moony will have to solve Stone's murder."

Glad to see He Got Game and Mo' Better Blues get votes. Mo' Better is far from perfect, and some of it, like this long anti-pop-music diatribe played by Denzel's band, is downright bad. But he's often great in it, and it's the only film I know where you get both Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme on the soundtrack. Plus Wesley Snipes when he was still and actor; plus-plus Cynda Williams.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hnf0osK09V4/Rxnv47uGHBI/AAAAAAAACxE/x5uO79FPTmg/s1600-h/vlcsnap-208969.png

I love this man. Didn't see this until now but I would have voted He Got Game which I love or Malcom X but think this is pretty tough tbh. I actually really liked Man on Fire even though I feel like it wasn't well received.

surprised man on fire didn't fare better - i thought it had a (deservedly) fairly sizeable cult on ilx. mo better was unfairly hurt by being the followup to do the right thing and fairly hurt by its ott anti-semitism. it's still has alot to recommend it - great music, ernest dickerson firing on all cylinders, denzel in prot-easy rawlins mode, wesley snipes when he looked like another pacino instead of another seagal, cynda williams naked.

That broken link of mine looks stupid (I took it from Slant--it's all Dr. Morbius's fault), so here's a different one:

http://brianorndorf.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ee7b64288330133f2ded5f4970b-500wi

Agree with everything about MBB in previous post. The film resolves itself in this long, Raging Bull-style home movie to "A Love Supreme"; love that section. Along with Denzel and Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito's quite good too. Sam Jackson plays "Madlock"...I have no recollection of this character whatsoever.

me either, i'm guessing the bookie's muscle?

Could be. As long as he says "motherfucker" four or five times, I'm sure he's as great as ever.

Safe House has grossed $126 M domestically, how the fuck did that happen?

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/man_on_fire_movie_image_denzel_washington_01.jpg

John Creasy deserves more consideration. Denzel tearing around Tony Scott-imagined Mexico City favelas in an Akademiks warmup jacket. Pretty darn entertaining.

<3 Man on Fire forever

Well-meaning, I suppose, but John Q just gets more and more ludicrous as it goes along. By the time Denzel left all his hostages unattended in a different room so he could have a heart-to-heart with his son, I was watching in a kind of trance.

wow does 'the equalizer' look horrible, the only intriguing things afaict is the presence of marton csokas and cousin johnny from 'justified' as villains.

RICCOCHET

― johnny crunch, Thursday, November 11, 2010 9:18 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this movie is incredible. so strange and funny and entertaining.