592 Best Well-acted Movies to Watch (Page 39)

Usually, a good movie and great performances go hand-in-hand. If you’re looking to be blown away by acting talent, look no further. Here are the best movies and show featuring great acting.

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571. Bone Tomahawk, 2015

A peculiar Western that might not please everyone if it wasn't for its main star, Kurt Russel. It's a mix between classic western material, a horror flick, and a fantasy movie. Yes, it's a lot. And not only that, it can be slow at times. However, in those perks it also finds a lot of originality in a saturated genre, and one more time: Kurt Russel. He's amazing as can be expected, playing the sheriff of a quiet town that gets struck by sudden disappearances. The suspect is a faraway tribe known for its cannibalism practices, the movie follows the sheriff as he leads an expedition to save a disappearing woman.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Western

Actor: Alex Meraz, Brandon Molale, David Arquette, David Midthunder, Eddie Spears, Erick Chavarria, Evan Jonigkeit, Fred Melamed, Geno Segers, James Tolkan, Jamison Newlander, Jay Tavare, Jeremy Tardy, Kathryn Morris, Kurt Russell, Lili Simmons, Maestro Harrell, Mario Perez, Matthew Fox, Michael Emery, Michael Pare, Omar Leyva, Patrick Wilson, Raw Leiba, Richard Jenkins, Robert Allen Mukes, Sean Young, Sid Haig, Zahn McClarnon

Director: S. Craig Zahler

Rating: Not Rated

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572. Black Snake Moan, 2006

Chances are good you missed this movie the first time around due to the studio's big mishandling of it's promotion. The posters and trailers were squarely aimed at the lowbrow audience, ironically turning off the kind of viewers that would have appreciated the film. They promised an exploitation flick about an old black man keeping a sexy half-naked young white girl chained up in his shack. Which is, to be fair, exactly what you get - minus the exploitation. Samuel L. Jackson absolutely nails the role of Lazarus, a retired bluesman. He finds and rescues Rae (Christina Ricci) after she's left for dead in the road, and yeah, there's a chain, but.. well, you'll just have to see. Black Snake Moan is funny, sexy, tense, and (surprisingly) heartwarming. And oh hey by they way, its a helluva music-lovers' film in the bargain. Sporting a tremendous soundtrack full of that lowdown dirty blues (some performed by Jackson himself), you owe it to your ears to watch this someplace you have a decent sound system.Genre: Drama
Actor: Adriane Lenox, Amy Lavere, Christina Ricci, Clare Grant, Claude Phillips, Cody Block, David Banner, David Chapman, Dhonna Harris Goodale, Jeff Pope, John Cothran, John Cothran, Jr., John Pickles, Justin Timberlake, Kim Richards, Leonard L. Thomas, Michael Raymond-James, Neimus K. Williams, Ruby Wilson, S. Epatha Merkerson, Samuel L. Jackson, Willie Hall
Director: Craig Brewer
Rating: R

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573. A Bronx Tale, 1993

This is right up your alley if you have a thing for gangster films. Actually, if you have a thing for stupendous acting and just Robert de Niro in general, then A Bronx Tale might do the job for you. The 1960’s was a tough time for Lorenzo (de Niro), father to conflicted Calogero (Lillo Brancato), who seems to have befriended Bronx’s big man, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri). Torn between his moral integrity and a few other factors in the mix, the young boy’s leap to the crazed world of mobsters doesn’t get any more real than this.
Tragedy and fascination take human form through the eyes of De Niro’s directorial debut and Palminteri’s work of art, leaving you with a gripping feeling long after the credits have stopped rolling.Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: A.J. Ekoku, Alfred Sauchelli Jr., Chazz Palminteri, Clem Caserta, Dave Salerno, Derrick Simmons, Domenick Lombardozzi, Dominick Rocchio, Eddie Montanaro, Francis Capra, Frank Pietrangolare, Fred Fischer, Gianna Ranaudo, Joe Pesci, Joseph D'Onofrio, Katherine Narducci, Kathrine Narducci, Lillo Brancato, Louis Vanaria, Max Genovino, Mitch Kolpan, Nicky Blair, Nina von Arx, Patrick Borriello, Phil Foglia, Richard DeDomenico, Robert De Niro, Sobe Bailey, Taral Hicks
Director: Robert De Niro
Rating: R

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574. Volume, 2023

Rap music originated in the African American community, but internationally, there are local music industries diving into the genre, including countries in Africa as well. Kenyan music drama Volume puts theirs on the spotlight, through up-and-coming artist Benja trying to make his way. But the show isn’t just about a musician’s dream– it’s about the crew that surrounds him too. There’s his friend Castillo whose crime and influencer girlfriend can make or break his career. And there’s his girlfriend Lucy, who’s torn between her support and her religious family. Writer-director Tosh Gitonga balances their respective subplots well, able to maintain its watchability through its understanding of the stakes. Volume might be a familiar story, but it's still an entertaining watch, because it understands how this dream can be tough to reach coming from a rough neighborhood, and how tough it can be to keep this dream pure and unadulterated.

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575. The Boxer, 1997

With a great cast, a relevant story, and a stirring romance, The Boxer is all set to be a great film, but the resulting feature feels like a letdown. Irish director Jim Sheridan has teamed up with English actor Daniel Day Lewis for a feature depicting the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and for the most part, it’s decently made, but the film struggles to balance the romance and the politics of its story, with Day Lewis’ boxing lagging behind. There are plenty of interesting threads here– the right to self-determination, on both the individual and national level, the loss of youth, and the way war makes cities turn on themselves– which are all emotionally carried by the performances, but the structure fails to organize these ideas into a daring and cohesive statement. The Boxer isn’t a terrible watch, but it just feels like it could have delved more deeply into the conflict, or better yet, could have been at least two separate movies.Genre: Drama, Romance
Actor: Brian Cox, Brian Milligan, Britta Smith, Ciarán Fitzgerald, Daniel Day-Lewis, David Hayman, Des Braiden, Don Foley, Eleanor Methven, Emily Watson, Frances Tomelty, Gerard McSorley, Ian McElhinney, Jer O'Leary, Joan Sheehy, John Cowley, John Wall, Ken Stott, Kenneth Cranham, Liam Carney, Lorraine Pilkington, Maria McDermottroe, Mark Mulholland, Mick Tohill, Niall Shanahan, Nye Heron, Paul Ronan, Peter Sheridan, Tom Bell, Tom Maguire, Veronica Duffy, Vinny Murphy
Director: Jim Sheridan
Rating: R

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576. Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023)

Sitting in Bars with Cake's best qualities and roughest qualities stem from the fact that the story is apparently based on true events. Screenwriter Audrey Shulman (who based the script on her cookbook of the same title) clearly wants to honor the details of this very personal year in her life, but the effect is a story that often lacks thematic coherence. When the cancer diagnosis is inevitably revealed, the rest of the film's subplots just seem frivolous and underdeveloped in comparison. But there's also a charm to having this be a story about a friendship rooted in regular, random things—suddenly interrupted by a devastating illness. The film definitely doesn't escape the cliches of a cancer drama, but they're deployed in a more sedate, mature way here. And if the filmmaking doesn't do much to tell this story in a more interesting way, the performances are enough to let the emotions land when they really need to.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Bette Midler, Maia Mitchell, Odessa A'zion, Ron Livingston, Yara Shahidi

Director: Trish Sie

Rating: PG-13

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577. Nothing Like Paris, 2023

One day, Filipino romances will wean themselves away from the tropes that keep their stories circling back to the same conclusions, undermining the bold narrative ideas on which that they establish themselves. Nothing Like Paris still doesn't break free, but its commitment to a more serious, modern view of romance set against the loneliness of migration is surprising given director Sigrid Andrea Bernardo's previous collaboration with her lead actors (the inadvertently creepy I See You, set in Japan). Here, the possibility of romance built on little more than one's shared nationality and language is explored with real maturity, through two performers who prove that subtlety will always leave more room for complex emotion than ugly crying and cutesy, empty gestures.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Alessandra de Rossi, Dolly de Leon, Empoy Marquez, Jean-Marc Noirot-Cosson

Director: Sigrid Andrea Bernardo

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578. A Killer Paradox, 2024

Life can be funny sometimes, with the way accidents can lead us to what would make the entirety of our lives. Usually, these accidents lead us to a new career, maybe the love of our life, and sometimes a new life path altogether, but for recently discharged Lee Tang in A Killer Paradox, it leads to finding that his talent is killing evildoers, accidentally or otherwise. It’s funny to see Lee accidentally getting away with murder and the way his imagination conceives of his serial killer victims, but the show also gets into intriguing thought experiments about the morality of his actions, as well as the way we try to reconcile the tragedy of a lost life, with the terrible consequences of the actions they did with their lives. It’s enjoyable, with the great cast and the unique cinematography, but the writing, structure, and thriller aspects fail to maximize what’s so interesting about A Killer Paradox.Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Actor: Choi Woo-shik, Lee Hee-jun, Son Suk-ku
Director: Lee Chang-hee
Rating: TV-MA

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579. The Glass Castle, 2017

It’s not easy to talk about dysfunctional families, especially when that family is your own. Talking about the reprehensible parenting, but also the love, the understanding behind their neglect, and the few moments when they actually had your back, can be a hard balancing act, which makes Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle a challenging one to adapt in film. Because of this, its Hollywood adaptation does have a disjointed tone to it. Woody Harrelson’s Rex initially charms us and his children with his dreams and stories, and time proves his other side, though Jeannette and the audience are asked to forgive him too. It’s not an easy thing, and the ending they reached doesn’t feel totally earned. But it’s still a touching adaptation that captures Walls’ family, warts and all, one that's buoyed up by the strength of its cast.Genre: Drama
Actor: Alanna Bale, Andrew Shaver, Brenda Kamino, Brie Larson, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Chandler Head, Charlie Shotwell, Chris Gillett, Darrin Baker, Dominic Bogart, Eden Grace Redfield, Ella Anderson, Hamza Haq, Iain Armitage, Joe Pingue, Josh Caras, Kenny Wong, Kyra Harper, Max Greenfield, Naomi Watts, Nathaly Thibault, Olivia Kate Rice, Philippe Hartmann, Robin Bartlett, Sabrina Campilii, Sadie Sink, Samantha Hodhod, Sarah Camacho, Sarah Snook, Shree Crooks, Tessa Mossey, Tyrone Benskin, Vlasta Vrana, Woody Harrelson
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Rating: PG-13

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580. Phenomena, 2023

Inspired by the real-life Hepta Group, Phenomena is an entertaining, though familiar supernatural horror comedy. As the three women in the Hepta Group take on a case that took down their leader, Sagrario, Paz, and Gloria can’t help but bite and snap at each other affectionately, even just before conducting a seance. But it’s their chemistry that keeps the predictable plot entertaining. It’s a bit old school, and at times, inconsistent, but the technical aspects are decently executed. Big horror fans and viewers looking for a creepier thrill might not enjoy this lighthearted seance, but it might be a fun watch for viewers new to the genre.

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller

Actor: Andrea Gara, Antonio Pagudo, Belén Rueda, Carlos Cañas, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Fran Cantos, Gracia Olayo, Ivan Massagué, Jesús Puente, Lorena López, Manuel Regueiro, Miren Ibarguren, Óscar Ortuño, Pedro Casablanc, Roberto Chapu, Toni Acosta

Director: Carlos Therón

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581. In the Know, 2024

With podcasts, online music services, and of course, video, radio might not have the same relevance as it did back then, but it’s still alive and changing with the times today. In The Know satirizes modern day public radio, portraying a more narcissistic fictional radio team behind the airwaves, but it does so in a charming way that makes the station feel lived in. Part of this feeling is ShadowMachine’s expressive, well-crafted stop-motion animation style, but part of it stems from how specific the humor gets to be, poking light fun at the very insecurity that drives their (and today’s) self-absorption. Being this specific, the humor hits sporadically for some viewers like myself, who would prefer to watch a show rather than listen to one, but In The Know might be entertaining enough for NPR fans and those keeping themselves up-to-date with American pop culture.Genre: Animation, Comedy
Actor: Carl Tart, Charlie Bushnell, J. Smith-Cameron, Mike Judge, Zach Woods
Rating: TV-MA

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582. Crypto Boy, 2023

Crypto Boy may seem, at first, to primarily warn against the allure of cryptocurrency, but at heart, it’s a family drama centered around an ambitious man and his immigrant Egyptian father. The Dutch Netflix film is actually a whole family affair, with writer-director Shady El-Hamus casting his brother Shahine and their father Sabri Saad in a real and relatable struggle between generations. That being said, the film is definitely less interested in the actual cryptocurrency scam presented. It takes such a predictable route that the protagonist comes off as foolish, rather than understandably ambitious. With his parallel to the villain, the film seems like it wants its viewers to empathize with the rich Mark Zuckerberg-wannabe, rather than cathartically put him through the consequences. This makes the film feel as disappointing as the crypto promises, as viewers are lured into the film for this, but come out with another thing entirely.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Aus Greidanus, Hannah van Lunteren, Jonas Smulders, Kendrick Etmon, Leny Breederveld, Loes Schnepper, Manoushka Zeegelaar-Breeveld, Minne Koole, Raymond Thiry, Shahine El-Hamus, Tobias Kersloot

Director: Shady El-Hamus

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583. Bruiser, 2022

As a story, Bruiser isn't the most tightly written thing in the world, with a somewhat long-winded first half and a conclusion that feels too easy given the complicated things we learn about each character. But at its core, it remains impressively perceptive about how men perform their masculinity as a game of aggression and dominance—even if they feel that they're simply trying to protect the children closest to them. Bruise takes on quite a bit of suspense for a drama, as tempers slowly boil over and everybody involved in this supposed battle over who claims authority over a teenage boy reveals themselves to be right and wrong in equal measure.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Frank Oakley III, Gavin Munn, Jalyn Hall, Jay Santiago, Jonah Bishop-Pirrone, Kiah Alexandria Clingman, Moses Jones, Sarah Bock, Shamier Anderson, Shinelle Azoroh, Trevante Rhodes

Director: Miles Warren

Rating: NR

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584. Bad Education, 2023

With its wildly different shifts between the film’s chapters, Bad Education feels like it doesn’t know what to do with itself, like plenty of newly graduated teenagers. The first chapter holds such visceral revulsion that it first feels like it would be a serious cautionary tale, commenting on how, without guidance, teenagers will led each other astray. However, its next chapter takes a more comedic route as the kids try to escape from gangsters and the police. While director Kai Ko reveals an excellent sense of direction and imagery, his style feels like it’s been wasted on ill-thought intentions and a poorly written script. Bad Education at least has stunning visuals and a short runtime to get through it all.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Berant Zhu, Cheng Chih-wei, Edison Song, Hong Yu Hong, Huang Hsin-Yao, Kai Ko, Kent Tsai, Kurt Hsiao, Leon Dai, McFly Wu, Ning Chang, Tzu-Chiang Wang

Director: Kai Ko

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585. Spaceman, 2024

Set at a time when humans can travel as far into space as Jupiter, Spaceman looks delightfully retro-futuristic. It’s as if the people and tech of the ‘60s were transported to a faraway future where things like long-haul space flights and nebulous pink clouds exist, and so visually, Spaceman is not tiring to look at. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about most of the film’s other elements, including its dialogue and story. Jakub is sent to space to collect mysterious ancient dust, but since we never know why he should exactly, it never feels consequential if at all necessary. In fact, this is less about his mission than it is about coming to terms with existential truths like pain, loss, and love. And what better way to confront all that than with a wise primordial arachnid? Now, the idea of a therapy session between a spaceman and a spider sounds intriguing enough, and with strong enough writing, it could fly. But the dialogue is too sparse to be thought-provoking. The main message, that you should appreciate what you have while you have it, is also too simple to carry the weight of this expansive film, especially since we have very few details about the story and character to go on with. But Sandler, Carrey Mulligan (who plays his wife), and even Paul Dano (who voices the spider) do the best with what they can, and if anything, you leave the film stunned by the visuals and moved by their empathetic performances.Genre: Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction
Actor: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Isabella Rossellini, Jessica Bechyňová, John Flanders, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Marian Roden, Mikuláš Čížek, Paul Dano, Sinéad Phelps, Sunny Sandler, Zuzana Stivínová
Director: Johan Renck
Rating: R

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