Posted on 05/04/2025 1:03:40 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Thank YOU so much; I agree!!!
No accounting for taste.
Streep imho in every film she has been in that I have seen has been: ...NOW MERYL STREEP IS EMOTING... moments.
Streep’s just good at doing accents very well...acting? She’s adequate, which is NOT “good”.
“Twelve O’Clock High” — the transformation of Peck was astonishing and, the first time I watched it, totally unexpected. What a story of leadership in the ultimate adversity situation.
James Dean was great in East of Eden.
In some plays and films, INTENTIONALLY “breaking the 4th wall” really works and IS part of the role. But THAT is a rarity.
“..actors who fully disappear into their characters...Daniel Day-Lewis”
“There Will Be Blood”
Good actor ...actor’s politics match mine.
Bad actor..actor’s politics do not match mine.
Isn’t that what everyone else here believes also?
DiCaprio was incredible in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
“Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday in Tombstone”
Most excellent example.
Christian Bale is very gifted.
“...it’s the ‘mask’ that they wear when ‘acting’”
The ones that always impress me are the young women actresses who can melt a man’s heart with their voice, their lines, their emotions, their gestures. It’s easy to fall in love with that persona on the screen, but I often wonder what the access was like in real life. I haven’t seen any in recent years like that.
LOL...perfect!!
You listed:
Jimmy Stewart
Cary Grant
Gary Cooper
Humphry Bogart
Marlon Brando
Robert Mitchum
Henry Fonda
Sounds like you were born in 1951 like me.
“Oh God, oh man, oh God, oh man”
Edward Norton in Primal Fear.
Yes.
It was absolutely stunning when Roy finally revealed himself to Marty at the end. And the scene when he revealed himself to Molly/ Frances McDormand....it made you want to slowly back away just like Molly did, to get a lot of distance.
Great, great character. It was the first thing I thought of at Val’s passing.
May God rest his soul, and Gene Hackman’s....
An actor with so many great roles that I cannot choose only one.
Tatt
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING is one of THE best films EVER and the acting is superlative!
I never saw Henry Fonda as anything but an actor. Same as his Daughter, they were political. On Golden Pond he was okay, playing a doddering old man. I saw him in an old western, he was good. He just never blew me away. Tommy Lee Jones did a few times, and he was more watchable than Fonda.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.