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Which of these unwatched Oldman films are most worth my time?

posted 8 years ago by WeAintFoundShin
9 replies | jump to latest

Darkest Hour (pre-production)
Winston Churchill

2017 The Hitman's Bodyguard (post-production)

2016 The Space Between Us (completed)
Nathaniel Shepherd

2016 Squadron 42 (Video Game) (post-production)
Admiral Ernst Bishop

Flying Horse (announced)
Dennis Spencer

Hunter Killer (filming)

2016 Criminal
Quaker Wells

2015/I Man Down
Captain Peyton

2015 Child 44
General Mikhail Nesterov

2014 RoboCop
Dr. Dennett Norton

2013 Jimmy Kimmel Live! (TV Series)
A Thanksgiving Message
- Episode #11.82 (2013) ... A Thanksgiving Message

2013/I Paranoia
Nicolas Wyatt

2013 David Bowie: The Next Day (Video short)
Priest

2012 Guns, Girls and Gambling
Elvis

2011 Touch of Evil (Short)
The Menacing Dummy

2011 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Smiley

2011 Kung Fu Panda 2
Shen (voice)

2011 Red Riding Hood
Solomon

2010 The Book of Eli
Carnegie

2009 Planet 51
General Grawl (voice)

2009 A Christmas Carol
Bob Cratchit / Marley / Tiny Tim

2009 Rain Fall
William Holtzer

2009 Do Not Go See the Perfect Sleep (Video short)

2009 The Unborn
Rabbi Sendak

2006 The Backwoods
Paul

2005 Dead Fish
Lynch

2004 Who's Kyle? (Short)
Scouse

2003 Sin
Charlie Strom

2003 Tiptoes
Rolfe

2003 Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead (Video Game)
Sgt. Jack Barnes (voice)

2002 Beat the Devil (Short)
Devil

2002 Greg the Bunny (TV Series)
Gary Oldman
- Piddler on the Roof (2002) ... Gary Oldman

2002 Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road
O.W. Grant

2001 Friends (TV Series)
Richard Crosby
- The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding: Part 2 (2001) ... Richard Crosby

- The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding: Part 1 (2001) ... Richard Crosby

2001 Nobody's Baby
Buford Dill

2000 The Contender
Shelly Runyon

1999 Jesus (TV Movie)
Pontius Pilate

1999 Tracey Takes On... (TV Series)
Hairdresser
- Hair (1999) ... Hairdresser

1998 The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot
Ruber (voice)

1995 The Scarlet Letter
Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale

1995 Murder in the First
Milton Glenn

1993 Romeo Is Bleeding
Jack Grimaldi

1993 Fallen Angels (TV Series)
Pat Kelley
- Dead-End for Delia (1993) ... Pat Kelley

1986-1991 Screen Two (TV Series)
Ian Tyson / Bex Bissell / Derek Bates
- Heading Home (1991) ... Ian Tyson

- The Firm (1989) ... Bex Bissell

- Honest, Decent and True (1986) ... Derek Bates

1990 Henry & June
Pop (as Maurice Escargot)

1990 State of Grace
Jackie Flannery

1989 Knots Landing (TV Series)
Don Ross
- Close Call (1989) ... Don Ross

1989 Chattahoochee
Emmett Foley

1988 We Think the World of You
Johnny

1988 Criminal Law
Ben Chase

1988 Track 29
Martin

1987 Prick Up Your Ears
Joe Orton

1985 Summer Season (TV Series)
Gary
- Rachel and the Roarettes (1985) ... Gary

1984 Morgan's Boy (TV Series)
Colin
- Episode #1.6 (1984) ... Colin

- Episode #1.4 (1984) ... Colin

- Episode #1.2 (1984) ... Colin

- Episode #1.1 (1984) ... Colin

1984 Dramarama (TV Series)
Ben
- On Your Tod (1984) ... Ben

1984 Meantime (TV Movie)
Coxy

1982 Remembrance
Daniel

[–] black_mass-65596 8 years ago

Five films in that list stand out as having received a very favourable critical/audience reaction, with particular praise directed toward Oldman:

Prick Up Your Ears. Oldman received his first major award nomination at the BAFTAs for his work here.

The Firm. Time Out magazine named Oldman's performance as the best of his career.

State of Grace. Roger Ebert wrote that "Oldman's performance in the movie is the best thing about it".

The Contender and Tinker Tailor. A hardened Republican may not enjoy the former, but Oldman got major award nominations for his performances in both.

Other than that, there's nothing to die for in that list, since you appear to have seen most of Oldman's acclaimed films (Sid & Nancy, JFK, Dracula, True Romance, Leon/The Professional, Potters, Batmans, Planet of the Apes). Murder in the First got mixed reviews but has a cult following and Kevin Bacon's performance is widely praised. The Book of Eli wasn't a big critical hit, but was more fondly received by audiences and might be worth watching for a bit of popcorn fun. If you really need your Oldman fix, you could be daring and try Romeo Is Bleeding: it was universally destroyed on release but there's been a decent amount of retrospective (ironic?) praise for Oldman and Lena Olin.

[–] cherry68 8 years ago

It depends on what you prefer. Are you more interested in his performance or in the movie itself?

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[–] WeAintFoundShin 8 years ago

Ideally both, but as long as one of the two is worthwhile, I'd watch it.

Thanks Black Mass for your in-depth help.

[–] cherry68 8 years ago

I see the user above me gave you good advice. Among those, I personally loved Oldman in The firm the most.

Let me add a few suggestions about TV movies.
Meantime - You can see a very young Tim Roth and Alfred Molina too.
Dead end for Delia - A short movie, a deep performance.
Beat the devil - a funny short

If you want to see him in an unusual role, try Nobody's baby.

Hope you enjoy!

FREEDOM OF SPEECH 🇮🇹

[–] WeAintFoundShin 8 years ago

Thanks

[–] cherry68 8 years ago

You're welcome. I personally liked him in Chattahoochee too tbh.
I see you already watched Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, one of my favorites.

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[–] WeAintFoundShin 7 years ago

Cool.

Yeah, RAGAD was enjoyable for me.

[–] findmyself27 7 years ago

Seeing as how I own pretty much everything he's done up to Criminal I'd say my favorites are

Prick up Your Ears

Track 29

The scarlet letter

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Air Force one

Lost in Space

Immortal Beloved

Basquiat

The batman trilogy

Red Riding Hood

Criminal

In my opinion every single one of his movies are worth watching at least once and they are totally worth owning simply because Gary is in them.
His part is small in many of them but they are still enjoyable!
Sin is kind of a painful film to watch through. Seriously the story line is absolutely horrifically awful and the violence is unbearable. But Gary is mesmeric and the movie is enjoyable if you skip through it and just watch Gary's parts.
Again I highly recommend you see everything he's ever done, but the ones I listed above are the ones that I find the most enjoyable and can rewatch to death without getting tired of them. :)