best film: The Assassination of Jesse James is a masterpiece and the best film of almost any year except for 2007 (which includes There Will Be Blood). Parts of it feel like a Malick film—it’s certainly that gorgeous and the crowning achievement of legendary DP Roger Deakins. Good Will Hunting, Interstellar, Ocean’s Thirteen, Manchester by the Sea and To Die For are all right there in terms of top 10 of the year quality but they can’t come close to the brilliance of Jesse James.
best performance: The Assassination of Jesse James is his best work despite the Oscar in in 2016 for Manchester by the Sea. It’s those two films though that hover far above everything else in Casey’s filmography (and that weaker rest of his top 5 and filmography is what’s keeping him from being a top 75 or even 50 actor of all-time). In Jesse James both he and Brad Pitt are brilliant. The casting, selecting Affleck to play the man with a crippling inferiority complex (hello younger brother of famous, more handsome Ben Affleck) that is both sympathetic and eerily creepy—just so well done. Affleck is mesmerizing and it’s one of the best performances of the 00’s decade.
stylistic innovations/traits: Boyish looks (even post age 40) who can play rage (Gone Baby Gone, Manchester by the Sea) and inner turmoil. Assassination proved his boundless talent in 2007 but he went quiet after that and it looked like, unlike Manchester, that he might go down as sort of a one-hit wonder. Hopefully the 2017 Oscar opens up better roles in the future.
directors worked with: Van Sant (2) – both 20+ year’s ago and in supporting and Soderbergh (2) as part of the Ocean’s trilogy (only two of which are in the archives).
Top 5 Performances:
- The Assassination of Jesse James
- Manchester by the Sea
- Gone Baby Gone
- Out of the Furnace
- Good Will Hunting
Archiveable films
| 1995- To Die For |
| 1997- Good Will Hunting |
| 2001- Ocean’s Eleven |
| 2007- Gone Baby Gone |
| 2007- Ocean’s Thirteen |
| 2007- The Assassination of Jesse James |
| 2013- Ain’t Them Bodies Saints |
| 2013- Out of the Furnace |
| 2014- Interstellar |
| 2016- Manchester By the Sea |
great actor. what do you think of manchester. him and joaquin phoenix are the masters of staring at their shoes and wetting their eyes. ok, but seriously i really enjoyed his performance in manchester especially the scene where he sees michelle williams again.
Funnily enough that you mention Malick in reference to The Assassination of Jesse James, Andrew Dominik actually took inspiration from Days of Heaven during filming and he even screened it for Malick who told him it was too slow. Ha.
Malick found The Assassination of Jesse James slow? That is baffling. The Thin Red Line is likely slower. Dominik’s film conforms enough to Malick’s style that I wouldn’t be surprised if I had been told Malick was the director if I hadn’t known the truth. There is some glowingly clear inspiration from Days of Heaven in many scenes. Although Malick is a better director, he has never worked with a better DP than Roger Deakins, and there is no single performance in one of his films that surpasses Affleck’s in TAoJJ.
@Graham- good stuff Graham. I don’t know about better than Roger Deakins– but Malick worked with Emmanuel Lubezki five times from 2005-2017 right? Not here to argue Chivo vs. Deakins– just throwing that out there.
I’d place both Lubezki and Deakins among the top five cinematographers of all time. There is a very strong case for either as the greater artist, but I think I would place Deakins two or three spots higher.
It’s interesting that Deakins may be the best, but if you checked the best movies of all time, it would take you a long time to get to movies shot by Deakins.
Even Sotaro, who doesn’t have much depth, shot best films. I mean, Apocalypse Now and The Conformist are better movies than anything Deakins has been in.
What is the best movie in which Deakins participates? The assassination of Jesse James, is good, but can’t touch the levels of Apocalypse now.
You are probably correct. Storaro is a perfect contrast to Deakins. I think both deserve a spot in the top five (along with Lubezki, Nykvist, and perhaps Toland). An apt comparison to Storaro among actors would be Daniel Day-Lewis, who has one towering, intense great work that brings him near the top but not as many other great films as some. People might lobby for The Big Lebowski, TAoJJ, Blade Runner 2049, Fargo, The Shawshank Redemption, No Country for Old Men, or 1917 as Deakins’ best film. To me, they are not all that far apart in quality. Apocalypse Now is certainly greater than all of them.