It's the 20:20 Movie Frame Game of 2019!

My favorite “as long as the check clears” John Cusack performance is as a hapless version of DB Cooper in a godawful teen crime thriller called Blood Money, which feels like an “as long as the check clears” job for Lucky McKee. It stars the tepid kid from Boyhood. Remember him? Of course you don’t.

-Tom

I honestly mistook Cusack for Steven Seagal on that poster. I think it’s the gaudy aviator sunglasses. :(

Cusack played a fictionalized DB Cooper? Is it a period piece?

I didn’t like High Fidelity that much. =/

I think he peaked with Say Anything, though there have been a few bright spots since.

That is more of statement regarding his mindset now, than anything else. Though I am a High Fidelity freak. What’s his best performance? The Grifters?

I’ve never thought of him as that great an actor, at least in the sense of being able to transform himself. Say Anything is where he concentrated his Cusackness into a very pure essence and also happened to be in an exceedingly well-written movie, so I would also say that is his best performance. I haven’t seen the Grifters in a quarter-century, though.

The last really good role I remember Cusack in was as middle-aged Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy. I also have a weird affection for that Emma Roberts vehicle Adult World and thought he was very good in it.

He apparently has a manic need to work though…he’s been in 27 movies in the past 8 years. That’s a lot of fucking movies and most of them appear to suck.

I’m not sure he’s a great actor, but he has such ease in front of the camera that he’s usually believable in whatever role he’s cast in.

I need to see that, as I’m a Beach Boys fan but it slipped by me. Is it that good overall?

I loved it. Great cast, top to bottom…even Paul Giamatti’s scenery-chewing is perfect.

e: also, Paul Dano in the studio are some of my favorite musical creation scenes in any movie…even better than Hustle & Flow, the previous high-water mark.

I think part of the problem here is the age when we saw Cusack first was an age where he was the teen lead a large supporting actor in a movie with teens. And he’s become what I would place as more of a B movie character actor or far from supporting actor. He’s fine in the roles he plays, but they are not top notch really. I’m not particularly hard on other actors that fell into that role, but it’s hard to watch a movie now with him and wonder what happened. Well, that’s Hollywood really.

In what movie will you see this at the 60:60?

-Tom

Hmm is that Laurence Fishburn? Standoff? Aka what Thomas Jane did after The Expanse?

Darn it im a fraction to slow.

What I wanna know is if that is whiskey, bourbon or southern comfort.

Ahhh, beat me by a minute…knew it was Jane, just needed the Fishburne piece of the puzzle.

Phew! I’m sure glad you guessed it because the 80:80 was just credits!

Standoff isn’t very good, but it’s fun to watch Thomas Jane and Laurence Fishburne yelling at each other up and down a staircase. Sometimes, they even shoot guns. But the script is so dumb, and they’re both so gamely trying to go along with it. Whee! Frankly, I wish it was a stage play, and the actors traded roles each night, like a production of True West.

The little girl is named Ella Ballentine, and she doesn’t get to do much in Standoff beside look waifish and vulnerable. However, she’s really good opposite Zoe Kazan in a movie called Monster.

Over to you, @CraigM. Also, ha ha, you saw Standoff.

-Tom

Wow, not something I would have thought of. I saw the Quaid brothers in True West at the Cherry Lane Theater in Greenwhich Village in the '80s. Even though they’re siblings, you wouldn’t have imagined them trading roles, since Randy was physically so much larger than Dennis.

I’m reaching back in the thread here, but… I just realized why he was sorta familiar: he also played a d-bag in Ingrid Goes West, as Elizabeth Olsen’s brother. I wanted to punch him there as well.

Sorry; carry on, 2020 game.

Ok, what movie has this as the 20:20

Den of Thieves?