10 Great Movie Performances (That Got Better The Second Time You Watched)

5. Jon Favreau - Chef

Jon Favreau's performance in the simply wonderful Chef may not seem to fit with the others in this list, but it is the crowning glory in a film that becomes more and more intoxicating every time you watch it. It's a film told entirely wrongly in traditional terms, with all of the dramatic difficulty right at the start and the rest of the story geared towards a sort of humanist propaganda that will make your heart as hungry as the food sequences make your belly.

Crucially, Favreau's role - and indeed the whole process of making this film - is a cathartic process and it's only the second time you watch it that that subtext really appears. Favreau made Chef as an antidote to big studio films that he didn't have full control over - a palate cleanser after the unfortunate experience of Cowboys & Aliens (and Iron Man 2 before that).

It is the food he wanted to make while his over-bearing restaurant-owner bosses were demanding he made chocolate lava cake and his rebirth as a chef in touch with his passion is Favreau's story as a film-maker. Once you know that, watching him again is even more heart-warming. Plus, it's just a really great film that rewards multiple viewings.