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.
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Agreed.
The very best actors look like they’re just being themselves, but they’re not. I can count on one hand screen actors like that.
By their fruits:
* Elmer Gantry, too late
* Sampson, too late
* Super Bowl halftime, too late
* Jimmy Swagart, too late
* Obama, hand in pocket
* Theft,: Clinton, Bush I, II, Biden,Tip O’Neil, Pelosi
Good “Acting”
* Twelve O’Clock High
* Midway, (Heston)
* Ben Hur
* Best Years of Our Lives
* All Quiet on the Western Front
Yes Christian Bale is fantastic. He was so good in Hostiles.
Shia LeBouef is also a very good actor.
I like Keanu’s movies. I don’t think of him as much of an actor but he gets it done and I enjoy the result. Sort of a minimalist actor perhaps?
An example of bad acting to me is Robert de Niro in Quentin’s movie Jackie Brown. I’m sure much of it can be blamed on the poor writing. I love almost all Quentin’s movie except that one.
And the easiest way: Zero, no swearing:
* E.g. the difference between original Star Trek, and the motion pictures.
Yes, everyone in "I Claudius" was AMAZING and that was back when the the actors and actresses, in the UK, didn't mumble and could act....unlike many of the current crop.
“How Do You Differentiate Good Acting From Bad Acting?”
With my remote...
A LOT of well known actors and actresses did one or two episodes of that show, which was always fun to see.
Edward Norton in pretty much everything except A Compete Unknown.
He was THE least believable Fletcher Christian and Mark Anthony EVER to say those lines!
Was he good as other characters? Yes, but had a really limited range.
I had heard that he had issues as Mark Antony, but I do consider Stanley Kowalski to be very different from Vito Corleone. I didn’t see him as Fletcher Christian. Now that you mention it, he was badly miscast in “Guys and Dolls” as well.
When I watch Daniel Day Lewis I am entranced - he is the character he is playing. Meryl Streep to a certain degree too.
Many actors are dismissed as ‘always playing the same’ or ‘playing themselves’ …. Kevin Costner. John Wayne in his later days. Pacino and DeNiro of the last decades. That’ not easy either.
On the other hand, when you see a bad actor you know it.
It’s a cruel business - who knows there may be some Olivier or Sarah Barnhart playing summer stock who will never be discovered.
And I don’t know what it is, but I can’t stand Dustin Hoffman any more…. Old movie new movie doesn’t matter.
Um…. That was Harry Carey Jr but yes that is one of the most effecting scenes ever filmed. ‘Don’t ever ask me about it….’
Albert Finney was the all-time best Hercule Poirot. Loved him in Erin Brockovich and Wolfen too. He was David Lean’s first choice for T E Lawrnce but Finney didn’t want to dedicate over a year to the picture. Hence Peter O’Toole. And I had the pleasure of seeing O’Toole live on the London stage way back in the day.
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