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10 Favourite Leonardo DiCaprio Performances

Today is Leonardo DiCaprios 38th birthday. Even though he is a bit too "give me an Oscar" these days, he is still my favourite actor. Ive seen most of his films, especially since I started my infatuation with him in 2009. Even though I wasnt around during Leo Mania (well, I was, but I was like two so that doesnt count), Leo has been plastered over my schoolbooks and walls and everywhere I could fit a piece of him. So I suppose that it is time for me to share a little love for my favourite performances of his, which Ive whittled down to ten. Which was actually harder than I thought it would be. Here they are, ranked. And theres not Titanic.


The Basketball Diaries is a film I saw long ago, right in the throes of my obsession, and one which I havent really thought about since I saw it. It stars a 20 year old Leo (and Mark Wahlberg, back in his Marky Mark days) as poet Jim Carroll, in his early years as a drug addicted teen. The film isnt all that fantastic - nor is it very memorable - but young Leo totally commands the screen as he stands on the precipice of becoming the next big teen thing. Which is why I adore him: he was quite a talented teen sensation.


Even though Inception is probably my favourite film of Leos, I admit that this isnt really an actors film. There are a few scene-stealers, namingly Cillian Murphys blue eyes and the teasing between Eames and Arthur, but Leo commands the screen from start to finish. It isnt his best "dead wife" performance, but it is damn good. Plus, his appearance in this spawned quite a few memes (where would life be without the Strutting Leo?!) and everyone started realising how unlucky he was when he wasnt one of the thousand Inception cast members called back for The Dark Knight Rises. Dont worry Leo, I still love you.


I remember when I first saw Blood Diamond - I was so shocked by how brutal it was. Time has passed since then and Ive seen a lot more brutality on screen, but I still remember Leos performance, which was also his last Oscar-nominated turn. As a person from NZ who already stakes a claim on having the worst accent in the world, I didnt know how authentic Leos African accent was, but he tried. And he tries a lot during this movie, too. Thats not to say that he doesnt succeed, because hes pretty badass in this.


You know how everyone my age goes on about people having "swag"? The ultimate swag-meister was Frank Abagnale, a guy who managed to pull off a whole lot of cons. Leo plays Abagnale in Steven Spielbergs Catch Me If You Can, bringing swag to a whole new level. Hes having just as much fun as Abagnale did before he got, well, caught. One of the funniest things about this movie, however, stems from that whole "Bad Luck Leo" thing - he stars in a movie called Catch Me If You Can. Gets caught.


No, J. Edgar wasnt a good movie. Not even close. I saw the trailer and thought that this would be Leos Oscar time. Then the reviews came in. Then I realised that Gary Oldman wouldnt get a nomination if Leo did (that was also when I thought Michael Fassbender would get nominated...good times). Then I started realising what a shameless Oscar campaign J. Edgar was. Then I started mocking the trailer at work. Then I saw the film. Leo shouldve got an Oscar nomination, but only if Michael Fassbender was in there too. Leos work was actually pretty good, and definitely showed how serious this guy can get. Maybe he gets a little too serious, though...


Martin Scorseses The Departed is a damn fantastic movie, featuring damn fantastic performances from one of the best ensembles weve had recently. It is hard to say who is the stand out (but I do have a soft spot for Mark Wahlberg in this movie), but Leos performance as the on-edge Billy Costigan is wonderful. Hes just got so much angst inside of him. And then theres that ending...


Leos latest collaboration with Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island, was met with a pretty lukewarm reception, but Ive seen love for his psychological horror grow. And I admit, I was one of those people who gave it a lukewarm reception in the beginning, but I absolutely adore it now. Leos performance in this ended up getting overshadowed by the box office prowess of his other 2010 "dead wife" movie Inception and the fact that it was released so early in the year, but it deserved to be in contention in the 2010/2011 Oscar season. He plays Teddy Daniels beautifully, playing out all of the confusion that we feel as an audience.


Leos performance in Revolutionary Road needs only to be summed up by one moment: the look he has at the end *SPOILER* when April dies. *SPOILER ENDS* Seriously, that devastated me more than anything Ive ever seen in my life. While Kate Winslet seems to have got all the acclaim for her performance in this film, but Leo is just as good - if not better. It is a subtle performance, which ends up exploding at the end. It is actually quite frightening to watch, and it was definitely not the Titanic follow-up that people were hoping for.


I have loved The Aviator ever since I first saw it. Howard Hughes was a fascinating man, and this slick biopic was just as fascinating. What was even more fascinating was Leos performance, which is so precise, slick and all encompassing. Leo totally immersed himself in the role, to the point that I could no longer see any trace of Leo in him. It was such a shame that he didnt get any more than that Golden Globe. But hey, in Leo terms, thats better than nothing.


My favourite performance of Leos is one of his first ones. Ive talked about it so much before, but his work in Whats Eating Gilbert Grape is just amazing. Every positive adjective in the world wouldnt be enough to describe how great it is. He deserved that Oscar. Even if Ralph Fiennes also deserved it. Thats like, the hardest match-up ever...then again, I see why they chose Tommy Lee Jones, because then they didnt need to choose between either of them.

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12 Performances from 3 People Born on November 12th Grace Kelly Ryan Gosling and Anne Hathaway

TThis is my third birthday post in the past week, and thats not because Im running out of things to talk about. It just seems that November was a good time to have talented babies, and it would also seem that the 12th was an especially good day to have talented babies. On this day in 1929, Grace Kelly, later known as Princess Grace of Monaco, was born. On this day in 1980, Ryan Hey Girl Gosling was born. On this day in 1982, Anne Hathaway, a.k.a. the sweetest person on Earth, was born. And I didnt know who to focus on, considering theyre all my favourite people, so I just decided Id focus on them all. What follows is my four favourite performances from the three of them, which adds up to 12 performances because, yknow, it is the 12th. And because doing ten performances from each would have been extremely tiring.


Grace Kelly is a woman who I know a lot about - much like I did with Vivien Leigh, I got obsessed and read a whole lot of biographies because I used to have a lot of spare time. Grace did live an interesting, somewhat short life. She rose to fame as a movie star after her debut in 1951s Fourteen Hours. Her breakthrough, however, was the western High Noon, which she co-starred in with Gary Cooper. In terms of her film career, she is best known for being a Hitchcock blonde - Hitchcock himself said that she was her favourite - in Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. In 1956 she left Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco. She was going to return to acting in 1982, but unfortunately she died in a car accident that year. She was only 52 years old. My favourite performances of hers, in chronological order, are:


In High Noon, Grace plays Amy Fowler Kane, the young Quaker wife of Gary Cooper. The role isnt an extremely demanding one as the film mainly follows Gary Cooper, but when she shows up, she brings such intense vulnerability and youth to her role. And its impossible to take your eyes off her. Interestingly enough, even though I wasnt so hot on westerns when I watched this one four and a half years ago, I was particularly taken by this tale of the rise and fall of a village. Now it is known as one of the best westerns ever made, but back in the day, the reception wasnt so great. I think it has survived pretty darn well.


Dial M for Murder was Graces first collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock, and probably her best, performance wise. She stars as Margot Wendice, the wife of Ray Milland. He finds out that shes having an affair, and proceeds to have her killed. However, Margot fights back and kills her killer, which lands her on death row. It is a pretty intense film, and Grace isnt just a pretty face in this - she is a force to be reckoned with.


Rear Window is perhaps her most famous role, and her second collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock. She plays Lisa Carol Fremont, the Manhattan socialite and model girlfriend of James Stewart. Even though she spends all of her time wearing divine costumes made by Edith Head, she isnt just a clothes horse in this movie - in fact, this was one of the only films in which she played an independent career woman.


The Country Girl was the performance that won Grace an Oscar. In this film, she appears as the plain, dowdy wife of an alcoholic actor, played by Bing Crosby. Ironically, that year her biggest competition was Judy Garland in A Star is Born, who was also playing the wife of a washed-up, alcoholic actor. The race between them was very close, and many were upset by Graces win, but her performance is a fantastic one. This isnt the movie star Grace Kelly that most people know - this is the seriously talented actress Grace Kelly that very few people are aware of. If you can ever track down The Country Girl, youll be impressed.


Ryan Gosling is a guy who is supposedly in a relationship with half of the worlds population, because everyone, and I mean everyone loves him. And how could you not? The guy is very talented, very good-looking and generally a very good person: he fights crime and everything. He started out as a little guy on Mickey Mouses Clubhouse along with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, and then continued on in his career in showbiz. Hes probably best known for The Notebook, but here are four other performances which are far better than that already unusually good performance for a Nicholas Sparks film:


Lars and the Real Girl was a film that somewhat slipped under the radar upon its first release in 2007, but Ryans performance as a man who falls in love with a sex doll is a performance that simply cant be missed. This is a performance that sticks out amongst his filmography because it is so quiet, yet so effective. He makes a somewhat strange situation seem totally normal. And he made me cry like a baby.


Michelle Williams seemed to get all the love for her work in Blue Valentine, but lets not forget how fantastic Ryan was in the movie (and how vital he was to the films success). One of the reasons why I dont really want to revisit this film is because Ryan is so goddamn heart-breaking in it. Hes basically a boy trapped in a mans body, unable to fully process his emotions or the situations that he gets in. Sometimes he is too sweet, sometimes he isnt sweet enough. And I just cant handle that.


Ryan had a boomer year last year, with his most popular and iconic role coming out from the shadows: as the Driver in Drive. People started calling themselves Driver. They tried to replicate Ryans "swag" in his gold jacket with a scorpio on the bag. Toothpicks became very popular accessories. Drive wasnt exactly a box office success, but it felt like every man and his dog was going crazy over this film this time last year, and with good reason: Ryan totally kills it (no pun intended) and this was a freaking awesome film that none of us really deserved.


While most people preferred his work in Drive, my favourite performance of Ryans last year was in The Ides of March. The film has a fantastic ensemble filled with marvellous performances, by Ryan leads them all as the determined, driven Stephen Myers. As the guy gets thrown around like the ball in a pinball game, you can see just how pissed off he gets with everything - and because of Ryan, it is fascinating to watch. A seriously underrated film from last year that deserved a hell of a lot more love than it got.


Anne Hathaway has been my idol for a very long time. Back in the days where I was obsessed with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and I saw Brokeback Mountain, she became my first favourite actress. I vowed to see everything that shes been in, and even though I still have some gaps, Ive been pretty true to my word. I just adore Anne. Shes a great role model, and always makes me feel super happy whenever I see her. Shes evolved so much as an actress, and I cant wait to see her at the Oscars for Les Miserables. Because thats where we know that shes headed with her unbelievably great singing voice and acting chops. For now, here are my four favourite performances of hers:


The Princess Diaries may be an odd choice to stick in amongst three other largely dramatic roles, but shes so darn lovable in this movie. I know it is mostly Disney piffle but Im always so happy seeing this movie. Anne is just so sweet as Mia Thermopolis, who is the kind of girl who doesnt revel in the idea of being a princess, but she eventually rises to the challenge. All I can really say is how much I love her in this film, just coz.


Rachel Getting Married got Anne her first Oscar nomination, and showed the world just what she was capable of. She plays Kym, the titular Rachels sister who has just got out of rehab for the titular wedding. The film was a tiny, independent production which most actors usually excel in, and Anne does exceptionally well, shredding any memory of her princess days.


Love and the Other Drugs wasnt a very good film - it was a rather messy movie that featured a little too much sex - but Anne was damn good in it. She played Maggie, Jake Gyllenhaals sex buddy who is diagnosed with Parkinsons. She begins the film as a firey, free spirit, but as the film goes on (and it goes on for a very long time), the Parkinsons starts taking over her body and things start getting extremely depressing. I was so numbed by the experience of the film, but I was still crying over Anne.


When The Dark Knight Rises came out a few months back, a lot of people were singing Annes praises for his performance as Selina Kyle. Even though she does have her fair share of haters, she stole the show off everyone in that movie, and that wasnt exactly an easy thing to do. Annes voice purrs (it is actually quite scary how she can do that), she slinks around, and shes totally badass. Had it not been for her performance in Les Miserables which will inevitably win her Oscar notices, I would be out there campaigning for her performance in this during this Oscar season.

What are your favourite performances from Grace Kelly, Ryan Gosling and/or Anne Hathaway?

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