November 28, 2005
Eric Bana Oscar Favorite for Munich
I am a huge Eric Bana fan... and it looks like right now the Vegas bookmakers are picking him as their current favorite to win the Oscar for Best Lead Actor for his upcoming role in the Steven "I'm too important to do commentaries" Spielberg film Munich.
Even though peoples reactions to Hulk were mixed (I actually kinda liked it), most people agreed that Bana's portrayal of Bruce Banner was amazing. It was really the first time I noticed him. Then came that awful film Troy. You know... it's not hard for an actor to look great in a fantastic film... but it takes someone with ass loads of talent to play a role so well that it stands out in a crap film. That's exactly what Bana did in Troy. A movie billed as staring "Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom". Nonsense... Bana took that film and made it his by force. Sadly one man can't make a worthless film watchable. But DAMN he was good in it!
At this point I can't say if Bana "deserves" to win the Oscar this year or not... after all I haven't seen Munich yet. Nor have I seen Capote yet. But man... it's nice to even hear that real talent is being recognized.
Posted by John Campea at November 28, 2005 04:59 PM
Comments
Posted by: James Mc Creesh at November 28, 2005 05:19 PM
I like Bana a lot. I thought he was great in Black Hawk Down too. Admittedly, it's a role in a large cast movie, but I thought he and William Fichtner stood out from the rest in that one.
Posted by: yodaf at November 28, 2005 05:28 PM
I certanily agree with everyones comments here. I saw Chopper after hearing about the actor in it and years later I couldn't believe it was the same guy in Black Hawk Down. I read an interview with Bana a while back and he stated that in Australia he is actually a comedic actor, starting in Standup. I really would like to see him in a fun, light role instead of always doing heavy drama and action. Don't get me wrong I still would like to see more action roles but I wan tot see what he can do in a comedy.
Posted by: crackerjack at November 28, 2005 08:04 PM
I'm with you Campea, I've been a big Eric Bana fan for quite sometime now. All the way back to the days to which, I'm sure you wouldn't be aware of. Eric Bana used to star on an Australian Sketch TV show called Full Frontal, which was hugely successful in Australia (and possibly the UK, I'm not sure. Most Aussi shows are big over there). He was so popular on that show, it actually spawned his own sketch show some years later called "The Eric Bana Show", I think it only ran for about two seasons though. Most Memorable charactor was 'Poiter!' ('Peter' with a a bit of Aussie twang, bloody comedy gold!).....
But what disappoints me most, is the fact that he got hardly any international recognition for what myself and thousands of other Aussies consider Eric Bana's best role (keeping in mind, I havenot either seen Munich) .... He starred in Aussie Biographical movie about a serial killer Chopper Reed, in which he played to title character to perfection! He won an AFI award for the performance (AFI award being equivelent to a Best Actor Oscar in Australia)
Please oh please check it out, or someone else at least back me up on this ... You can also check him out in the Hilarious Aussie comedy which i believe had a little more success in the us called "The Castle" starring Michael Caton also ....
Posted by: Koko at November 28, 2005 08:06 PM
Bana actually is doing some sort of comedy/drama soon, i think it may be more drama than comedy. But it's a film for curtis hanson called "Lucky You" with drew barrymore. From what I'm aware of, i think he plays professional poker, im not sure about the whle concept though. sorry bout that last post by the way, it was a bit late.
Posted by: Koko at November 28, 2005 08:08 PM
Love me some Bana!
Donna A.
Posted by: Donna A. at November 28, 2005 10:55 PM
Big old ditto about the Hulk, I loved it, much more grown up than any of the other comic book movies. I first noticed him in Black Hawk Down, his performance was so intense it stole the show. The man could read aloud from the phone book and people would pay to watch.
Posted by: Randall at November 29, 2005 04:14 AM
Big old ditto about the Hulk, I loved it, much more grown up than any of the other comic book movies. I first noticed him in Black Hawk Down, his performance was so intense it stole the show. The man could read aloud from the phone book and people would pay to watch.
Posted by: Randall at November 29, 2005 04:20 AM
I loved Hulk but you guys are right on the money about Eric Bana. He's has such intensity you can't take your eyes off him.
Posted by: Vix at November 30, 2005 05:13 AM
This is one of the first entries everyone seems to agree on, does anyone not like Bana?
Posted by: crackerjack at December 1, 2005 12:34 AM
I so love love Bana... Im a "Banatics"
Posted by: Donna Aldon at December 10, 2005 01:52 AM
I'm with you John. Eric Bana is a fantastic actor. I too kinda liked the Hulk, especially his portrayal. And you nailed the description of Troy.
I urge you to check out an Australian movie Bana made in 2000 called "Chopper". He plays the role of Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read, a notorious crime figure in Australia, and the movie is based-on Mark Read's book "From The Inside".
Very nice movie, very nice indeed.