How Do You Differentiate Good Acting From Bad Acting?

Slate ^ | 2014 | Marcus Geduld

[CondoleezzaProtege]

There are many ways an actor can surprise. Jack Nicholson surprises by being … surprising. Even though he’s not a chameleon like Oldman or Depp, you never know what he’s going to do next. But whatever he does, it’s grounded in psychological reality. It never seems fake. Christopher Walken, Glenn Close, Al Pacino, and many others have a surprising danger in them… you feel they might jump you or blow up at you at any time. They are ticking time bombs. And, many comedic actors (e.g., Julia Louis-Dreyfus) surprise us in all sorts of quirky, zany ways…

Some people think acting is good if they like the movie. Keanu Reeves, in my mind, is a horrible actor—it often seems as if he’s reading from cue cards rather than saying words that are his. There is a difference between playing an undemonstrative person and being a wooden actor. In fact, playing someone who is reserved is very difficult…But some people like Reeves because they think the Matrix films are cool.

Lots of people think an actor is great if they like his or her character…Or they think she’s good if she pulls off some impressive effect, such as gaining or losing a lot of weight or pretending to be handicapped… If you forced me to rank Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man versus Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer, I’d say he did more exciting work in the latter. In Rain Man he was able to hide behind some stunts. In Kramer vs. Kramer, he just had to be truthful.

Tom Cruise… rarely surprises me, and he doesn’t seem to dig deep into a anything raw or vulnerable inside him. He seems guarded. The must vulnerable I’ve seen him is in Eyes Wide Shut…but it’s not the norm.

[MayflowerMadam]

“one of the all time greatest performances ever in ‘American Psycho’”

We started to watch that movie a few months ago. It creeped us out — HE creeped us out — so we ended it. Watched Office Space again instead.

[MayflowerMadam]

Dennis Farina - one of my favorites. (Am partial to Italian men.)

[mfish13]

Great scene,

[Rummyfan]

Peachy Carnahan and Daniel Dravot... yeah. Huston originally wanted to make it with Gable and Bogart. Both died before it could be made.

[Rummyfan]

There Lady Eve for a comedy and Double Indemnity for drama.... She was great. As a kid I only knew her from The Big Valley ugh...

[Rummyfan]

He came through our base on a USO Tour right around Christmas time. I missed his appearance and a couple months later he died from a heart attack. I still regret not going to meet him.

[nopardons]

It was MUCH better with Caine and Connery!

Gable and Bogart?????That would NEVER have worked at all!

[HandyDandy]

”As a kid I only knew her from The Big Valley ugh...

Exactly,…. ugh! She’d become a bitter old pill by then. But believe you me, she didn’t start out that way! She started out bright and happy. A hard life caught up with her.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

honorable mentions:

Kamala Harris and her signature laugh.
Bill Clinton “I did not have…that woman…Miss Lewinsky.”
Hillary Clinton and her emails.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Agree with all your takes on all the posts on this thread. :)

[nopardons]

Oh thank you SO very much!

[MikelTackNailer]

From the article:"These are the same scared, hurt parts that are inside all of us—the parts we work hard to hide."

Well let's give it up for Chuck Norris who acts without scared or hurt parts inside. He's not a wooden actor - trees are copying his style.

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Compare the 'good' job DeNiro did in "Cape Fear"

To the utterly believable monster Robert Mitchum BECAME for the original

Had Mitchum's performance not been unmatchable DeNiro's would have been considered great.

Like Wesley Snipes said in "Blade": Some mother f*****s are always trying to skate uphill."

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Don't know about you guys, but when I watched the Oscars (past tense) I always said "Nice, but they did a way greater job in such-and-such film." or "WTF? That other actor did WAY better in their film." John Wayne's role in "The Searchers" was already mentioned. Other Examples:

Brad Pitt in "Fury", Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant", Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark", Randy Quaid in "Short Time" (really!). I'd like to hear what others have.

[nopardons]

Re Hepburn in WAIT UNTIL DARK...SHE WAS dreadful, “CHEWED THE SCENERY”...meaning over acted in the extreme, and was not a patch on Lee Remick, who starred in the play and which I saw before the film came out.

[nopardons]

Oh...and the remake, as with almost all remakes, with very few exceptions, of CAPE FEAR, was garbage!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“...because once you see “THE REAL XXX”, it might spoil anything and everything you ever see them in afterwards/take away the “magic”.”

Like when they open their yaps about politics or denigrate President Trump or threaten to leave the USA.

[nopardons]

Yes, but also because they don't have a script, so they say really STUPID things.

In the old "STUDIO" days, actors and actresses were protected, guided, and had make believe stories about them, so that the "great unwashed" ( movie goers ) never knew the REAL person and believed the fantasy stories. But even way back when, so things did manage to get some public attention and once the old STUDIO SYSTEM began to fall apart...it was the end of the coverups, the fantasy, and the protection.

Some of the old ( Silent to talkies ) actors and actresses actually did come from upper middle class families, had gone to ELITE boarding schools and good colleges. Others came from the lowest levels of society, whilst others were just average middle class people. In other words...it was a mixed bag!

Then Hollywood began to get Brit & European actors and actresses, also with varied backgrounds.

But slowly, at first, and then more rapidly, writers, directors, actors, and actresses began to be far more public about who they REALLY were,and now...there is no "magic"/no "mystery" left at all.And the final product is GARBAGE!

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Frances McDormand, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet are some of my favorite working actresses from today. Angelina Jolie is compelling too but I actually prefer her as a director.

Actors wise, I quite like the notorious Prince of Belair himself: Will Smith. Also Joaquin Phoenix and Forest Whitaker.

From olden days: Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, and Jimmy Stewart…LOVE Stewart. And yes, Marlon Brando.

[MikelTackNailer]

Tell Mr. NoPardons I'm sorry you got all riled up. I thought Audrey was great compared to all that romcom stuff they cast her in and Cape Fear 1991's supporting cast elevated that film beyond DiNiro's scene-chewing.

I'm going back to the Kentucky Derby now where Mitch McConnell is just coming around the bend while the bleachers are being dismantled. C'mon turtle, you can do it!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’m always very impressed with how many stars in the WW II era served in some very tough and courageous ways.

[nopardons]

I didn’t get “riled up”; I wrote my opinion; just as you now wrote me your’s. But since I doubt that you saw Lee Remick in the stage play, you are unable to make the comparison that I did… and left me finding the film version wanting.

And as far as CAPE FEAR is concerned. It is you who are getting upset because I disagree with you. Pity that……….