Cast of "Syriana"

An undercover operative. An energy analyst. A new "sheep" to the firm. Two young boys out of work. A Sheik. A Prince who wants to be heir. And a whole bunch of corrupt company managers and politicians. These entail the cast of Syriana - a political thriller concerning blood and oil and greed and everything else that comes with it. What I think makes this ensemble effective is that for the majority of the film, the main characters do not meet or appear together in any scene. They do not converse. They are not friends. They tread along their own paths that cross at certain intersections... yet every character seems to carry his load. Getting past the complexity of the screenplay, take a look at the characters themselves and how they act and behave. This film may not be for everybody but for those who like a lot of politics and law, look into it.

Cast of "In America"

Husband-and-wife Irish immigrants. Their two young daughters. A strange man in their apartment with a dark secret. These are the characters that inhabit the film, "In America". Seen through the eyes of the intelligent, observant daughter of two Irish immigrants, the story of their struggles to survive in a downtrodden area of the city is told. There is a slight fairytale verve to the way she tells the story and the way these characters are portrayed. Paddy Considine plays the father and Samantha Morton as the mother. They are effective but not enough to be the driving forces of the film. In comes Djimon Hounsou as a mysterious man in their apartment building who quickly befriends their children. The interactions among all of them seem so natural, without a break in plausibility - and that's a lot to say for a film that tries to have fairytale qualities.

Cast of "11:14"

A pregnant girl. The most dedicated father in the world. A drunk driver. Another drunk driver. Two very stupid convenience store clerks. Smash them all together to get the story of 11:14, the story of a pregnant girl that gets hit by a car, the bizarre story of a drunk driver, the story of a staged robbery, the story of three kids just out to have some fun, the story of a murder cover-up and a mischievous dog... and they all link together without sounding too contrived, believe it or not. 11:14 is told in vignettes and depends on even each character to act their part convincingly just to deceive you in each successive vignette, as this is a story that makes you think differently of the characters as each vignette rolls on.

Cast of "The Squid and the Whale"

A husband who is a failing writer. A wife who is a succeeding writer. Their two sons, one a teenager and the other a pre-teen. Their sons' tennis coach who happens to be Stephen Baldwin! Throw in divorce and the lamest joint custody agreement and you get "The Squid and the Whale", a simple comedy set in the 80s that tells of the different ways each member of a family coped with a divorce. What ensues is plagiarism, chronic masturbation, a lot of childhood swearing, alcoholism and pretty much all shitty behaviour of that sort. Each character deals with the divorce in their own different way and it's fun and painful watching them try to cope in vain - but no performance is stand-out and each person carries their own load.

Cast of "Crash"

The D.A. The D.A.'s wife. The crooks that jacked their car. A racist cop. His tired partner. A molested woman. Her husband. Two detectives. A Persian store owner. His daughter. A locksmith. His daughter who is afraid of bullets. They all crash together in... well... Crash. Anyone can say what they want about the preachiness and hullabulloo of this movie but putting all Paul Haggis' mystical "bullet cloak" references aside, you gotta admit that this was a great ensemble performance. Though I would consider Matt Dillon's performance truly standout, I think everyone carried their role well enough to earn a spot on my list!

Cast of "JFK"

An assassined President. A pissed-off bar owner. A lawyer wanting to make a change. His supportive wife. Tommy Lee Jones with white hair. Joe Pesci with thick eyebrows. A mysterious man named "X". A homosexual with some inside scoop. John Candy in shades. And a whole lot of footage and theories and explanations that all take place in Oliver Stone's JFK. This truly is an ensemble, with characters gliding here and there, back and forth, shifting their weight. The central character is Garrison (Kevin Costner) but the supporting cast is enormous and their effectiveness is hard to ignore.

Cast of "A Fish Called Wanda"

A st-st-stutterer. Two American thieves. Their two British partners. A bunch of stolen diamonds. One of their British partners' lawyer who is in for quite a ride! They are all here in "A Fish Called Wanda", a comedy about betrayal and eating raw goldfish and never, ever calling someone stupid unless you want to be killed. There's no standout here and every actor brings their own style of comedy to the plate, from Kevin Kline's brashness to John Cleese's naive silliness to Michael Palin's physical comedy. Combine it all with some slapstick and you get something truly enjoyable!

Cast of "The Full Monty"

Chippendale dancers. Women who go to see them. Two jealous husbands. A series of unemployed men. A penis pump. This is what is required of the cast of The Full Monty, a comedy about the average Joe in Britain who wants to strip for a living. The main characters are a bunch of unemployed men who decide to dedicate their time to learning this 'trade' while dealing with their own personal problems. There's a range of different people in these men and this brings a lot to this movie.

Cast of "Babel"

Ready for this one? A husband and wife in Morocco. Their children back home in America. The children's nanny. The children's nanny's drunk nephew. Two boys with a rifle. Their dad. The man who sold them the rifle. A worried police chief. A busload of distressed people. And... a deaf girl in Japan. Babel seeks to show the communication problems in the cultural gaps between countries and their people, and the disconnection one feels from not being able to communicate. I don't want to say anymore about this movie but every actor is great, especially Rinko Kikuchi who plays the deaf girl. But truly, this ensemble is boss.

Cast of "Almost Famous"

A young journalist. His mentor. His mother and his sister. His love interest. Who happens to be the groupie for a band. The band's members. Especially the frontman. The band's manager. Doris, the band's bus. This is the cast it takes to rock and roll with a film like Almost Famous. There is one defining moment I would like to detail that I think makes this ensemble such a great ensemble. The first is a scene on a bus where the band are sour at each other and nobody is talking to each other. Cue Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" and one person starts singing. Soon enough, everyone else is belting out the vocals and they're all friends again. Sounds sappy, huh? Watch the scene and see how smoothly the whole thing flows.

Cast of "The Thin Red Line"

Two AWOL soldiers. A really hoggish and selfish commander just looking for victory. A caring lieutenant who opposes this commander. A world-weary sergeant. A lovelorn private. A soldier afraid to kill. A commander who lost all his men. A crazed soldier who ends up haunted by his killings. These are just some of the personalities one can find in the platoons of The Thin Red Line. I consider this one of the greatest war movies because it covers so much broad ground and has such a wide range of characters. Every different type of person working together to make this thing work.

Cast of "Traffic"

A DEA agent and his partner in the U.S. A DEA agent and his partner in Mexico. A major drug dealer. His pregnant wife. A witness to testify. A judge. His drug-addicted daughter. The corrupted head of the Drug Enforcement Agency in Mexico. The head of a major drug dealing cartel. And an eccentric hitman named Francisco Flores. These are the characters that cross paths in Steven Soderbergh's traffic, a tale about drug enforcement and rehabilitation that stretches from hitmen in the cartel and government corruption to drug addiction in the family. Every character has their own important role to play and I think it all works out quite well overall!

Cast of "Mean Creek"

A bully. His victim. His victim's girlfriend. His victim's brother. His victim's brother's friends. And they're all planning on getting revenge, one way or the other in "Mean Creek". But here's one thing about this ensemble performance - they are all kids. And they all portray a variety of characters and it's interesting in watching them banter and argue with each other on what to do next and the roles and ranks among them become obvious. But seriously, this is one of the best ensemble performances and without it, this movie would not work AT ALL.

Cast of "The Breakfast Club"

The jock. The princess. The brain. The hood. The basket case. And a really mean principal WHO'S GOT THE HOOOORRRRNNNSSS! It's every teenage stereotype wrapped up in a little film called The Breakfast Club. Again, this movie solely depends on the chemistry the actors share among each other as they go through their different stages of hate, love, hate again and love again for each other. As the last movie, this just would not work without this.

Cast of "Snatch"

Two boxing promoters. A boxer with the highest one hit K.O. count in history. Three hoodlums. One gambling-obsessed criminal. A really scary mob boss who feeds people to PIGS. A Russian hitman who can dodge bullets. A man looking for a diamond. Other men looking for a diamond. And the dog that ate the diamond. These are what can be found in Guy Ritchie's hilarious crime comedy, Snatch. Every character seems to have their own special little gimmick for entertainment. Every character has their own flair and they don't use it to siphone off anybody else's. And this makes for a truly great ensemble.

Cast of "Boogie Nights"

A porno director. His boom mic operator. His set direction men. All his crew. All his porn stars. A dodgy "colonel". A crazy ass Alfred Molina. The crazy ass that wants to rob the crazy ass Alfred Molina. A boy from out of town. And his very, very big... part in this film as he's the star, yet he does not overshadow any of these other characters. They work as a team, both on-screen and off-screen. There are moments when a character will grandstand another but this does not carry on for long. Like the section with Alfred Molina - I was not able to concentrate on anything else because he was so goddamn insane and entertaining as hell! But all in all, this is a solid ensemble performance.

Cast of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

A new inmate to an asylum feigning mental illness. His sadistic nurse. All the cuckoo birds in the nest. A shy, stuttering boy named Billy Bibbitt. A Chief with a secret. And lots of words flying here and there. This is what One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest entails and I say this is a fine ensemble performance because the cast works so perfectly together, I was convinced that these people knew each other for years and that they all behaved like mischievous little boys and they all knew it. Yet none of the supporting cast overshadowed each other as each of them was quirky in their own way. Even the main antagonist does her part in a rather subtle way. And those round-table arguments they had were intense to watch.

Cast of "Little Miss Sunshine"

A little girl who wants to be in a beauty pageant. Her brother. His vow of silence. Her father. His obsession with being a winner. Her mother, holding things together. Her grandpa, who taught her the moves. Her gay suicidal uncle. Yep, these are the Hoovers and they are the main characters of Little Miss Sunshine. I thought the Hoovers were remarkably convincing as a family, albeit a dysfunctional one. This is a road trip movie and road trips seem to bring out all sorts of qualities in people others did not know they have, in movies. And we get to learn about each of these characters and though we see the sadness in them, they act to make us find humour in it. And it's always nice to see what a dysfunctional family would be like if they just decided to not give a shit anymore in the end.

Cast of "12 Angry Men"

Juror 1. Juror 2. Juror 3. Juror 4. Juror 5. Juror 6. Juror 7. Juror 8. Juror 9. Juror 10. Juror 11. Juror 12. I list them all individually instead of Juror 1 - 12 for a reason. 12 Angry Men is a movie driven by dialogue and almost entirely by dialogue. For a movie like this to work, you need your actors to work together and you need them to have chemistry. For this movie, you have to work to make some seem out of place and some not. And I doubt that's harder said than done.

Cast of "Magnolia"

A dedicated police officer. A junkie. A very very bright child. A game show host. A former very very bright child. A dying patriarch. His torn-up wife. His caring nurse. And Tom Cruise in a superb role as a sex specialist sharing the tips with an audience of his peers. This movie has so many characters and so many connections that I cannot even begin to go into detail with you here. But Magnolia is a sprawling epic that takes place in one day with such a deep pantheon of characters and mosaic of personalities that I cannot help but put this as my number one. Put simply, the ensemble cast makes this movie. Paul Thomas Anderson is a great director and all but without the collective effort of this cast, I would have probably really hated this movie.