[PeterPrinciple]

Good actors don’t have to act, they be themselves.

Trump doesn’t have to act and pretend.

Biden was all pretending.

[lowbridge]

“STELLA! STELLA! HEY, STELLA!!!”

Now, let’s see Brando try and top that.

[Howie66]

My wife watches those “K-Dramas”. There is a shit ton of BAD ACTING examples to view. Should be addressed in the Geneva Accords, if you ask me.

[ansel12]

I’ve said many times that you could put Michael Caine in a western while he was wearing his golf clothes and he would still fit the part, he doesn’t seem to need wardrobe or props to deliver his roles.

[RandallFlagg]

Good and bad in the same movie.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Good acting: Johnny Depp as Glen (Nancy’s boyfriend).
Bad acting: Ronee Blakley as Marge (Nancy’s Mother).

[Bullish]

Good screenplays MAKE good acting. Bad ones do the opposite.

[algore]

one of my favorite actors

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Acting is funny. We've all seen stilted, wooden people reciting lines drone-like from memory. You watch that and don't see anybody realistic.

But often that blah person is interacting with a very convincing person opposite them who is natural and believable in the part. You see the "real" imaginary person, not the actor.

It's a strange thing. I'm sure the wooden person is trying their hardest, but they just can't pull it off.

I've been watching a lot of "Death Valley Days" and "Tales of Wells Fargo" shows the past six months. They are full of unknown actors and actresses, many who were outstanding at their craft. I've seen many gorgeous and outstanding women in their 20s and 30s who just disappeared from the Hollywood scene by their mid- to late-30s.

[VideoDoctor]

If you're a GOOD ACTOR multitudes of viewers SEE your movie and your WORK and APPLAUD it.

If you're a BAD ACTOR in a $HITTY movie then you do NOT receive PRAISE and NO ONE cares that your performance was WEAK and/or MEANINGLESS.

[HYPOCRACY]

Ask Al Pacino. He can do both equally as bad/good.

[Libloather]

Recently watched The Quatermass Xperiment. Brian Donlevy constantly delivered a few pages of script in one sitting and one take. Impressive.

[coloradan]

Dirka dirka jihad.

[dfwgator]

The only actor today that I consider to be good is Billy Bob Thornton.

[JBW1949]

Best actor was the only real “James Bond”... Sean Connery....

[John Milner]

Watched (don’t ask me why) a movie with Steven Seagal. I swear he was reading his lines from cue cards off camera. No feeling, no emotion. Laughably bad.

I had been able to avoid his “craft” up to that point but, wow, I was impressed by his ability to be successful with no acting talent or drive.

[ClearCase_guy]

Brad Pitt is surprisingly good.I remember when he started out there seemed to be the idea that he was just a “pretty boy” and there was no need for him to act. But he now has an impressive body of work. Good movie choices, varied roles, solid contributions.

[catnipman]

“How Do You Differentiate Good Acting From Bad Acting?”

easy: brilliant actors make their characters so real that you don’t even realize that they are acting ...

many of the best Brit shows are filled with great actors, and not just the leads, but EVERYONE in the show!

and one of the very best Brit shows for characters who seem totally real is “Midsomer Murders” ... at least until the lead, John Nettles, retired and the entire show subsequently turned into caca ...

[Psalm 73]

"How Do You Differentiate Good Acting From Bad Acting?"

Well you would start with a base-line of known great actors:

Jimmy Stewart
Cary Grant
Gary Cooper
Humphry Bogart
Marlon Brando
Robert Mitchum
Henry Fonda

All of them could easily carry a movie by themselves, didn't need a great co-star or leading lady or high-tech special effects.

The very best (Stewart and Grant) were great with ANY type of film - comedy, drama, spy-intrigue, thriller.

Sure, Deniro and Hoffman are fine actors - but cannot hold a candle to any of the above.

[al baby]

Albert Finny was awesome

[Dr. Sivana]

Bad acting stands out when it is surrounded by good acting. T Take three exceptional actors: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn . . . and ask Katherine Houghton to hold her own, and it is just awful. A formulaic, and bad, script buttressing a weak story doesn't help. Now, take a great movie, and even the bit actors are excellent. Great directors can even take someone who is not a great actor (Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi in the Godfather) and mold the part to make it work (unfortunately, Winona Rider bailing out on Godfather III was too much to patch up on a tight schedule). When you have a baseball team, you can have great players who have a limited range. You need a home run? You bring in Dave Kingman. You need a glove at third base? Brooks Robinson. Similarly, Humphrey Bogart was a great actor with a somewhat limited range. Gregory Peck pretty much has to play sanctimonious good guys. Jimmy Stewart, Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando (outside of that idiotic Superman script part of Jor-El) had surprising range. Sort of like a Babe Ruth who can pitch as well as hit. Katherine Hepburn, not so much, but is unmatched for the right part.

Every great actor in drama roles has to convince the viewer that he is watching a three-dimensional person. Unless the person really isn't three dimensional, like Norman Bates, Norma Desmond, or James T. Kirk). In Godfather I & II, we watch Al Pacino develop from one kind of man into another, never losing sight of the fact that it is the same man.

"That's my family Kate, that's not me."-->"I don't feel I have to wipe everyone out -- just my enemies -- that's all. "