It's pushing it to include him in a thread with a title which includes the words "great actors", but Sean Bean just seems to play the same wooden character in everything that he's in. I have no idea how he gets so much work.
Nicole Kidman.......no matter what role she plays she is simply being Nicole Kidman saying her lines. She cannot do characters at all, in 'The Hours' she was Nicole Kidman with a big fake nose - thin-voiced, no depth at all in her acting and she was dreadful beyond description in 'Australia'.
I have to agree with the OP re: Laurence Olivier. His style was the old school ack-tor and it never transfered well to the screen, maybe he was worth the money on the stage when younger but that was way before my time. I do have to say he was good in Sleuth but that's because he was not doing the grande-old man type roles...and he was not at all photogenic in my opinion. I thought Daniel D was brilliant in My Left Foot:)
Michael Caine. He's made some great films (Ipcress File among them), but so often he is like solid oak, so wooden. He frequently delivers his lines as though he's reading them off a piece of paper.
the thing about Day Lewis, unlike most actors, is that he doesn't always look like the same guy. I mean, Hackman is always Hackman, say, Cage is always Cage, Connery is always Connery, Damon is always Damon. - but Day Lewis changes.
And Olivier was like that as well. He didn't just do Olivier acting.
At least no-one has mentioned Hugh Jackman. I think he might start winning Oscars if he stops making popular fims.
It is possible to think an actor is 'great' but at the same time think they're over-rated.
Bette Davis for example who is a great actress I adore.
She gets a lot of praise for her breaking the mould of the type of characters female actresses played, willing to take a variety of 'unattractive' parts. However I think sometimes with this deserved praise comes the idea that she was great in every 'challenging' role she took... when she wasn't. Yes she could be great but she was also awful at times.
I think "Of Human Bondage" is a good example of that. While I think she deserves praise for taking on a role that actresses of the time wouldn't touch I personally think the performance isn't that great.
It is possible to think an actor is 'great' but at the same time think they're over-rated.
Bette Davis for example who is a great actress I adore.
She gets a lot of praise for her breaking the mould of the type of characters female actresses played, willing to take a variety of 'unattractive' parts. However I think sometimes with this deserved praise comes the idea that she was great in every 'challenging' role she took... when she wasn't. Yes she could be great but she was also awful at times.
I think "Of Human Bondage" is a good example of that. While I think she deserves praise for taking on a role that actresses of the time wouldn't touch I personally think the performance isn't that great.
...And nobody, not even Roger Moore, rates Roger Moore as an actor.
Quite. He doesn't purport to be a 'great' actor and has never been nominated for an Oscar as far as I'm aware so has no business being mentioned here really. That said, he's great as a tongue-in-cheek performer which is almost a genre in its own right...
Quite. He doesn't purport to be a 'great' actor and has never been nominated for an Oscar as far as I'm aware so has no business being mentioned here really. That said, he's great as a tongue-in-cheek performer which is almost a genre in its own right...
Precisely he was fabulous in the Saint. Its almost like he smiles secretly at the camera.:)
Oh well said, her 'Elizabeth' is unsurpassed in my opinion, I cannot even acknowledge the character that the benign and boring Cate Blanchett produced. Being a history student right now I reckon Bette's portrayal was spot on.
As for Baby Jane.....only Bette could have done that role and pulled it off. A very unsettling film - love it.
Tom Hanks appeared on Parky's show some years back and told a wonderful story of the time he met Bette Davis not long before she died...she was almost deaf but as fiesty as ever, the meeting as he recounted it was hilarious. Worth searching out...
Al Pacino De Niro and Tom Hanks for real? I just can't believe some of the names popping up here.
Pacinio and De Niro are shadows of their former selfs in films todays. It's quite sad really to see some of the rubbish they turn out. I wouldn't call Tom Hanks a great actor anyway, just good and predictable. You know exactly what you are going to get with him.
Comments
I agree with all those too.
Johnny Depp just cannot act for toffee. And is it just me but this must be a myth that he is 'very good looking'.
Pictures I've seen of him he looks like a dirty old tramp with greasy hair and a stuck on beard.:D.
Liam Neeson just awful too.
Well I can and I have.
Pacino and De Nero just both look wrong in every movie they appear in. Absolutely no screen presence whatsoever in my view.
De Niro's like some third rate actor who's been brought in to make up the cast numbers. His face is all wrong. Take a good look at him. He's awful.
Glad I got that off my chest.
I have to agree with the OP re: Laurence Olivier. His style was the old school ack-tor and it never transfered well to the screen, maybe he was worth the money on the stage when younger but that was way before my time. I do have to say he was good in Sleuth but that's because he was not doing the grande-old man type roles...and he was not at all photogenic in my opinion. I thought Daniel D was brilliant in My Left Foot:)
Kenneth Branagh is very so-so on the screen too.
Cannot abide Roger Moore - at all.
spookily it was a couple of weeks ago....
Colin Firth
Russell ****face Crowe
In an earlier post I mentioned 'Conspiracy' in reference to Colin Firth. I recommend the same film for Kenneth Branagh. Fantastic performance.
And nobody, not even Roger Moore, rates Roger Moore as an actor.
20 films, 3 best actor oscars
that's some strike rate for a bad actor. And we get a nice blockbuster like Last of the Mohicans, as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Day-Lewis
the thing about Day Lewis, unlike most actors, is that he doesn't always look like the same guy. I mean, Hackman is always Hackman, say, Cage is always Cage, Connery is always Connery, Damon is always Damon. - but Day Lewis changes.
And Olivier was like that as well. He didn't just do Olivier acting.
At least no-one has mentioned Hugh Jackman. I think he might start winning Oscars if he stops making popular fims.
Bette Davis for example who is a great actress I adore.
She gets a lot of praise for her breaking the mould of the type of characters female actresses played, willing to take a variety of 'unattractive' parts. However I think sometimes with this deserved praise comes the idea that she was great in every 'challenging' role she took... when she wasn't. Yes she could be great but she was also awful at times.
I think "Of Human Bondage" is a good example of that. While I think she deserves praise for taking on a role that actresses of the time wouldn't touch I personally think the performance isn't that great.
I agree I never thought much of his acting or the films he has been in tbh.
Liam Neeson
Always found them quite wooden and De-niro has been sleep walking through his roles since '96
Precisely he was fabulous in the Saint. Its almost like he smiles secretly at the camera.:)
Now he was damn good in Scent of a Woman...one of my fave films.
Oh well said, her 'Elizabeth' is unsurpassed in my opinion, I cannot even acknowledge the character that the benign and boring Cate Blanchett produced. Being a history student right now I reckon Bette's portrayal was spot on.
As for Baby Jane.....only Bette could have done that role and pulled it off. A very unsettling film - love it.
Tom Hanks appeared on Parky's show some years back and told a wonderful story of the time he met Bette Davis not long before she died...she was almost deaf but as fiesty as ever, the meeting as he recounted it was hilarious. Worth searching out...
re james dean
i don't believe this
james dean made 3 films, all good.
what's not to like
giant
east of eden
rebel without a cause
not worse - just lighter