Hard to justify Pulp Fiction, I know--ditto The Wedding Singer--but it seemed wrong to leave them out. He's funny in both.
Very hard for me to choose between his most famous roles: Fargo, Reservoir Dogs, Ghost World, and The Sopranos. (Didn't get very far with Boardwalk Empire, don't like him at all in The Big Lebowski.) I like Trees Lounge too.
― clemenza, Monday, 13 May 2024 18:02 (two months ago) link
Ghost World is the one I hope wins the poll, but voting Parting Glances
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Monday, 13 May 2024 19:12 (two months ago) link
The last time I watched Fargo I had a lot of fun watching all the different ways he’d calibrate his performance with each different character. You get to see him in scenes with all these different characters, each of whom he has a slightly different relationship & status with, and Buscemi does a really fun job at playing each scene in a way that conveys the different ways he feels about each person, and the how he wants to be seen by them. He puts on a slightly different performance depending on what he needs, and he lets us see that he’s putting on that different performance with each one without making a huge deal about it. On the one hand that’s all very basic acting class stuff, but on the other hand it still would have been easy not to make those choices and just kinda play it the same across the board and still get laughs and be memorable. Just a great example of really smart character acting.
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Monday, 13 May 2024 19:17 (two months ago) link
Just watched Living in Oblivion for the millionth time, one of the funniest comedies of the 90s and a great lead performance by our guy.
― orifex, Monday, 13 May 2024 19:18 (two months ago) link
His appearance on the Gilbert Gottfried podcast (particularly after everything goes wrong halfway in) is all-time.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 13 May 2024 19:26 (two months ago) link
He's so great in The Sopranos. It would have been very easy for him to reprise some variation on his Fargo or Reservoir Dogs characters and stay close to the lowlife hood, but if anything, at least for his first few episodes, he goes the Ghost World route: a thoughtful guy who wants to get out of the life and become a massage therapist. (Tony, as always, can't seem to comprehend this.) It makes his eventual downfall all the more tragic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmnzA5k2kc
― clemenza, Monday, 13 May 2024 22:53 (two months ago) link
Con Air was the weird casting, like...his demeanor has always scanned more like 'menacing, quirky low-life' than serial killer, and his performance wasn't very convincing. and then all the dialogue they gave him was "HI, please 2 listen to this listicle of all of this serial killy things I've done before", which I know serial killers do actually do, but usually only when being interviewed by investigators so they can brag about their crimes and get them etched into public record.
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 16:59 (two months ago) link
Fargo, meanwhile, is a brilliant performance, every bit of it the id of a guy who is perpetually aggrieved by really small things, whose aggravation at his sociopathic partner is less the sociopathy and more 'not doing things the proper way', similar to being charged for changing one's mind about parking in a lot. chemistry between him and Stormare (insofar as how they're the WORST POSSIBLEY PAIRED criminal team) is perfect.
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:02 (two months ago) link
kind of scratches a similar itch to Mr Pink in Reservoir Dogs, like he's an unhinged guy who isn't afraid to kill people but what upsets him most of all is people not doing things the way he believes they should be done, like all of the times he hilariously brags how he's a professional and nobody else is.
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:03 (two months ago) link
Worth noting the Sopranos episodes he directed, notably "Pine Barrens."
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:06 (two months ago) link
an utter classic
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:08 (two months ago) link
had no idea he directed it
It’s sad how little of this I’ve seen - and I like the man as a performer.
Voted “The Wedding Singer”.
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:30 (two months ago) link
(Was thinking of going super obscure for a film he’s barely in, but it wasn’t an option here: “The Island”.)
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:34 (two months ago) link
self-taught, no lessons
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 17:39 (two months ago) link
Had to look that up on YouTube! (Is he in the film earlier too, or just the final scene?)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 May 2024 18:12 (two months ago) link
he's in the opening scene, crashing the wedding singer's toast
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 18:13 (two months ago) link
“You’re not even my brother in law and you fxxxing shot me…”
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Tuesday, 14 May 2024 19:52 (two months ago) link
Worth noting the Sopranos episodes he directed, notably "Pine Barrens."― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)
Would vote for this if it were a standalone option tbh
― salsa shark, Tuesday, 14 May 2024 20:06 (two months ago) link
Will probably vote "Trees Lounge", which is one of my favorites and obviously made a big impact on David Chase, but that whole Blueshammer scene in "Ghost World" where he vainly tries to explain the difference between country blues and ragtime to his table companion is priceless.
― henry s, Tuesday, 14 May 2024 21:25 (two months ago) link
he was great in boardwalk. his character as written was a total cypher, probably the least interesting character on the page, but he elevates the material and makes himself a worthy center of the huge ensemble
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 21:34 (two months ago) link
slightly tempted to vote for his 30 rock performance, which will probably outlive him and us all by some years
gotta be fargo tho, for reasons one eye open and neanderthal stated well
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 21:36 (two months ago) link
xpost shame that the show itself went to shit in Season 5, because it had something going up until then.
his relationship with Billie felt like the only time he actually cared deeply about someone beyond their usefulness to him
― RICH BRIAN (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 21:37 (two months ago) link
Trees Lounge is a well-scripted, well-observed little film generous towards its characters: one of my favorite directorial debuts by an actor.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 22:07 (two months ago) link
Trees Lounge is a good movie.
Mystery Train was the first thing I saw him in. I think his storyline with Joe Strummer is my favorite in the movie.
Kansas City is not great but he is really good as the politician’s muscle getting out the vote.
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Tuesday, 14 May 2024 22:38 (two months ago) link
TV appearances of famous people together that you would never have expected to be together but make you happy all the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dztQhGg2uRc
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 14 May 2024 23:49 (two months ago) link
For Buscemiheads, Miracle Workers is good fun. You get to have him as a comedy lead and he plays God in the first season.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 09:23 (two months ago) link
No Horace & Pete?
― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 13:15 (two months ago) link
Dunno if it’s his best but I voted 30 Rock
― a hoy hoy, Wednesday, 15 May 2024 13:27 (two months ago) link
(xpost) I definitely goofed on Horace and Pete, sorry. I meant to include any TV with more than four or five episodes, and I remember I had it on the list at one point--I was cutting and pasting, and I think it accicdentally got dropped. Haven't seen it myself.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 May 2024 13:36 (two months ago) link
He's only in Miller's Crossing for like 20 seconds as basically a one-joke character, but what he pulls off is still some kind of olympic feat.
I love Trees Lounge, I remember liking his 2nd directorial effort Animal Factory but now recall zero about it. I just went on wikipedia and was surprised to see he's directed three more features since then, I'm curious to check those out now.
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 14:47 (two months ago) link
Just caught Trees Lounge on Prime. That's some Peak '90s AmeriIndie right there. (And a hilarious bit of plot overlap with Ghost World: Young Ladies Love Uncool Steve)
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 19 May 2024 02:41 (two months ago) link
I voted for Tony Blundetto from The Sopranos. It really splits the difference between the shy, underdog Ghost World guy and the lowlifes from Reservoir Dogs and Fargo. And he ends up being so central to everything that happens the last season, up to and including the famous ending.
― clemenza, Sunday, 19 May 2024 14:09 (two months ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 20 May 2024 00:01 (two months ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 21 May 2024 00:01 (two months ago) link
low voter turnout
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 21 May 2024 00:06 (two months ago) link
Can't argue with the tie at the top. I don't remember him in Big Fish, but I do remember despising that film.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 21 May 2024 00:15 (two months ago) link