What are some of your favourites? *POTENTIAL SPOILERS*
Of course, saying that I like these line readings doesn't imply that I like all of these performances. Although I do love a fair few of them.
In no particular order:
"Wear a raincoat." - Allison Janney in American Beauty
"It just makes me SO angry!" - Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky
"Even when you were throwing up I could tell that you cared." - Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game
"It would have been hard, but I would have buried you - and I would have wept." - Miranda Richardson in Damage
"I'm just an old clock winding down." - Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street
"Yes. I saw them. I saw them with my own eyes." - Saoirse Ronan in Atonement
"You don't want the money?" - Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton
"Pookie! I'm horny!" - Lesley Ann Warren in Victor/Victoria... a classic! haha
"Not talent. Genius. Ge-ni-us." - Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
"You think that just because you yell you aren't being mean, but this is mean!" "She's such a prissy little high school cu- ****." "You ****ing dip****." - all Leslie Mann in Knocked Up
"Perhaps we'll have a RAINBOOOOOOOWWWWW" - Kathy Bates in Revolutionary Road
"We're not in Paris. We're in hell!" - Adam Goldberg in 2 Days in Paris
"I am the super mother bug!" - Ashley Judd in Bug
"I could be like a grandfather" - Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild
"Well you haven't done enough (growing up) then, have you?" - Anne-Marie Duff in The Magdalene Sisters
"Flames... flames... on the side of my face, burning..." - Madeline Kahn in Clue
"I AGREE!" - Reese Witherspoon in Election
"I'm very, very sorry for the terrible thing that I have done" (?) - Romola Garai in Atonement
will post more as i think of them
"Notorious was nice, but it’s not in the color purple range" "Angels and Demons may get nominated for cinematography the imagery was profound" "District Nine will definitely win for best foreign film it made money and everyone loved it" ~ 8movies
Posts: 2714 | Location: nz | Registered: January 12, 2009
In the confrontation scene between Valmont and Merteuil when Glenn Close turns and says "War" to Valmont. That scene is unforgettable.
Kevin Spacey in the show in the opening scene of "American Beauty": "Look at me, jerking off in the shower. This will be the high point of my day, it's all downhill from there."
Annette Bening in "American Beauty": "I will sell this house today"
Glenn Close acting batsh!t crazy in "Fatal Attraction": "I'm not going to be ignored Dan."
Colin Farrell in "In Bruges": "Somehow I believe, Ken, that the balance shall tip in the favor of culture, like a big fat ****ing retarded fat girl on a see-saw opposite a dwarf." The way he says "tip" kills me every single time.
In "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" when they're on the rock and Sundance says: "I can't swim"
I also loved Mary Tyler Moore's slow breakdown and eventual explosion on the golf course in "Ordinary People": "Happy! Ward, you tell me the meaning of happy."
Maggie Smith with the thermos in "Gosford Park": "I can't get get this top off"
and of course
Bette Davis in All About Eve: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night"
Katharine Hepburn in "On Golden Pond": "You're my night in shining armour"
I'll admit though, that I'm pretty much a sucker for every line hepburn delivered, especially when she was drunk in "The Philadelphia Story" especially after he Stewart kisses her and she says "Golly", then he kisses her again and she says "Golly moses"
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"I see dead people" Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense
"You know how to whistle, dont you Steve? You just put your lips together, and blow" Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not
"I'll make him an offer he cant refuse" "I coulda been a contender..." "Stellaaaa!" Marlon Brando, The Godfather; On the Waterfront; A Streetcar Named Desire
"Nobody's perfect" Joe E Brown, Some Like it Hot
"Yaaaaaaah! " Elsa Lanchester, Bride of Frankenstein
"Yipee ki yay mother F_" ; "Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead" Bruce Willis, Die Hard; Pulp Fiction
"He didnt get out of the ****adoodle car!" Kathy Bates, Misery
Posts: 13909 | Location: canada | Registered: December 22, 2005
shirley maclaine in terms of endearment..GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT celeste holm in all about eve...VERY ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ARTS meryl streep in out of africa...I HAD A FARM IN AFRICA anne bancroft in the graduate...WAITER I WILL HAVE A MARTINI debra winger in terms of endearment..DONT MAKE ME CHASE YOU..I HAVE A TODDLER HERE dustin hoffman in midnight cowboy..I'M WALKIN' HERE peter finch in network...I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE zero mostel in the producers..LOOK AT ME..I'M WEARING A CARDBOARD BELT MANY MANY MORE..........
Posts: 254 | Location: long island NY | Registered: October 30, 2008
Originally posted by oscarnutlen: shirley maclaine in terms of endearment..GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT celeste holm in all about eve...VERY ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ARTS meryl streep in out of africa...I HAD A FARM IN AFRICA anne bancroft in the graduate...WAITER I WILL HAVE A MARTINI debra winger in terms of endearment..DONT MAKE ME CHASE YOU..I HAVE A TODDLER HERE dustin hoffman in midnight cowboy..I'M WALKIN' HERE peter finch in network...I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE zero mostel in the producers..LOOK AT ME..I'M WEARING A CARDBOARD BELT MANY MANY MORE..........
"That's all" - Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
"And I thought that was happiness. And of course there would always be more. But I was wrong. That was happiness. That moment." - Meryl Streep, The Hours
"We're going to bake Daddy a cake" - Julianne Moore, The Hours
"Even crazy people like to be asked" - Nicole Kidman, The Hours
"I'm not going to be ignored Dan" - Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction
"Snap out of it" - Cher, Moonstruck
"I wish I knew how to quit you" - Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
"Don't say it if it ain't true" - Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
"A man tried to test me once. I ate his liver with fava beans and a nice chianti" - Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs
Michael Douglas's closing speech of "The American President" was exquisitely delivered.
Pretty much any time Daniel Day Lewis opened his mouth in "There Will Be Blood"
This is the kind of topic where there are so many answers but can't pick them out of thin air. If I remember any lines that have specifically struck me, I'll come back.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Nicole Kidman in "The Hours," the haunting, weary whisper: "I wish your your sake, Leonard, I could be happy in this quietness."
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
"He took me. And I liked it...I LIKED IT" Piper Laurie in "Carrie"
"I'm your wife dammit! And if you can't work up a winter's passion for me, the least I require is RESPECT and ALLEGIANCE!" Beatrice Straight "Network"
"Nobody gives a damn what you think mother so just shut the hell up!" Meryl Streep in "She Devil"
"EVERYTHING!" Sissy Spacek "In the Bedroom"
"SAYS WHO? I'm good with the Lord. I'm fine with him. And I know how you were raised, alright?" Charlize Theron "Monster"
"SNAP! It went SNAP! I'm not gonna try to get through to you any more. There was a second back there, yeah, there was a second, just a second when I could have gotten through to you, when maybe we could have cut through all this, this CRAP. But it's past, and I'm not gonna try." Elizabeth Taylor "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"
"She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?" Anthony Perkins "Pyscho"
"No Wire Hangers EVER!" Faye Dunaway "Mommie Dearest"
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Posts: 10040 | Location: Iowa | Registered: June 09, 2005
"I'm married to a Jew. I've got nothing to lose!" - Amy Poehler, as an ACLU attorney in "Hamlet 2"
"I don’t know what it’s called. I only know the sound it makes when it takes a man’s life." - Nick Nolte, as a Vietnam vet asked what gun he carries in "Tropic Thunder"
"They don't remember the last one." - Frances McDormand, responding to youthful enthusiasm about war planes overhead on the eve of World War II in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"
"We're not helpless children!" - Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
"Meet me in Montauk..."- Kate Winslet in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
"I don't know! I DON'T KNOW! I'm lost! I'm scared! I feel like I'm disappearing! MY SKIN'S COMING OFF! I'M GETTING OLD! Nothing makes any sense to me! NOTHING MAKES ANY SENSE!"- Kate Winslet in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' when Elijah Wood's character keeps trying to use Jim Carrey's old items to make Kate fall in love with him.
"I wish I'd stayed, too. NOW I wish I'd stayed. I wish I'd done a lot of things. I wish I'd... I wish I'd stayed..."- Jim Carrey with his final memories of Kate Winslet in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'
"My GOD you've gotten fat."- Edna Mode (Brad Bird) in 'The Incredibles'
"No eating here tonight, I said no eating here tonight, you on a DIET!"- Ellen Degeneres mock singing to a fish that was chasing her in 'Finding Nemo'
"You think you can do these things, but you CAN'T NEMO!"- Albert Brooks yelling at Ellen Degeneres' Dory and mistakenly calling her by his missing son's name, in 'Finding Nemo'. (That line breaks my heart everytime I hear it!)
"And, um, we were... it was time to go and I was driving home... and... I lost control of the car. And drove off the bridge. And the car went into the lake. And I couldn't get him out of his car seat. And he drowned. And I struggle with God so much, because I can't forgive myself. And I don't really want to right now. I can live with it, but I can't forgive myself. And sometimes I don't want to believe in a God that could forgive me."- Anne Hathaway's heartbreaking speech revealing why her family has resentment towards her in 'Rachel Getting Married'
Some of the ones that immediately come to mind... I have to look back on some of my movies, I have a ton of great line readings! Hahaha.
FYC, Oscars 2010-
Best Picture- Star Trek Best Picture- Up Best Supporting Actor- Zachary Quinto in 'Star Trek' Best Supporting Actor- Michael Gambon in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' Best Actress- Tilda Swinton in 'Julia' Best Supporting Actress- Elle Fanning in 'Phoebe in Wonderland' Best Actor- Robert Downey Jr. in 'The Soloist' Best Supporting Actor- Jamie Foxx in 'The Soloist'
Posts: 271 | Location: STOCKTON, CA | Registered: August 12, 2009
Nicole Kidman in "The Hours," the haunting, weary whisper: "I wish your your sake, Leonard, I could be happy in this quietness."
I loved Kidman's delivery of most all her lines in that film.
The letter that opens and clothes the film is quite moving, and I love the way she reads it. "Leonard, always the years between us. Always the years. Always the love. Always, the hours."
and
"I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been."
Even though it's a serious moment and worked when I first saw it, on subsequent viewings the line "I am the french lieutenant's WHORE" makes me giggle a bit because of the words that are flying out of the prim and very British woman that Streep plays in that film.
