Kevin, I know the feeling! I don't have the best knowledge of film but hopefully this will improve. I'll look out for those posted here.

One performance I remember being impressed with was Charlize Theron in monster. Part of this must lie in the low expectations I had when the film started, which helped turn it into a pleasant surprise. Every time I have high expectations of a film there are rarely met, which may be unfair.

If we had a thread for the worst I recall a certain film, Hope Floats, with Sandra Bullock, that left me amazed at how poor it was, especially the ending.

A couple of weeks ago, I was channel surfing one morning, and there was a Betty Davis movie on. I really have seen only a few films from the black and white era, but obviously I've heard of Betty Davis, so I stopped to watch for a bit, curious. I can't recall the name of the film, but it took place in the ante-bellum South, on a plantation of course. I have to say, I really could see what the fuss was all about. She had this really strange and unique intensity about her. She was fragile and crazy and powerful and unpredictable all at the same time. It was like she sucked in all of the surrounding energy from other people and then radiated it. Very intense, and very hard to take your eye off her. Definitely one of a kind.

I've already said my film knowledge is too limited to choose greatest performances, but I will mention one not probably discussed much: Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. He does a great job of portraying the idea that until they break you, you're still free, even if you are in prison. Escape doesn't matter as much as the idea of escape, and though it's about prison, that applies to just about anyone in their own life. Newman does it with few words in this performance, but in his eyes you see a man who refuses to be broken, and clings to that instinct with every fiber of his life.

That, and he wins an egg eating contest!

It still floors me she was 75 when Harold & Maude went into production.
Even out of context, this scene wells up so many emotions for me.



And this scene from Ninth Configuration still gets me today.
Keach's transformation on the screen is truly chilling.
Even moreso when in the context of the subdued performance he gives in the film.