Best Actor of the modern era?

Ikozma

Has to be denzel

Errashareesh

William Hurt - wonderful actor.

Also, Scott Glenn.

Capt'n Midnight

riclad wrote: »

There's actors like Tom Cruise who star in action films, he's not a great actor, he plays the good guy, hero in every film.

A good actor plays a wide range of roles like jeff bridges Jesse eisenberg.
I think joaquin phoenix is a great actor.
He has played a wide variety of characters in comedys, action and more realistic type roles.
He is not always the hero in the films he appears in.

Tom Cruise is a turn off. At best competent. Money spent on him wasn't spent on special effects or scriptwriters :mad:

Christian Bale said he based American Psycho on him "he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes,"

Is there a Tom Cruise film that wouldn't be better with an actor who cost a third of the price ?

Capt'n Midnight

riclad wrote: »

A good actor plays a wide range of roles like jeff bridges Jesse eisenberg.
I think joaquin phoenix is a great actor. .

James Cagney and Christopher Walker get bonus points for being able do great villains and dancing.

How many of today's "tough guy's" could out tap-dance Cagney or keep up with Walken in "Weapon Of Choice"

An Ri rua

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Tom Cruise is a turn off. At best competent. Money spent on him wasn't spent on special effects or scriptwriters :mad:

Christian Bale said he based American Psycho on him "he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes,"

Is there a Tom Cruise film that wouldn't be better with an actor who cost a third of the price ?

Tom Cruise is the bad guy in Collateral (Vincent) and he's quite scary.

A very fine actor. Under-rated by film snobs.

And what about Born on the 4th of July? And Tropic Thunder?! :P

tylercheribini

Jim Bartley.

Errashareesh

Troy McClure

An Ri rua

Tom Hardy is a superb all-rounder.

Warrior, the Krays, Venom, Lawless. The Revenant. Bane. Such a range of films beyond that.

But what about Locke??? What a performance!! Few could manage it. I dunno, maybe Hopkins or Burton. But it's intense.

Leslie Nielsen close 2nd and Phil Hogan plays a great Othello also.

Errashareesh

Yeah he's phenomenal in Locke. I didn't budge for the whole thing.

Capt'n Midnight

An Ri rua wrote: »

Tom Cruise is the bad guy in Collateral (Vincent) and he's quite scary.

Nah. How long would that character have lasted against Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men ?

Competent. Nothing to write home about, especially given what he costs.

Does he sing, tap-dance, do comedy, tragedy, play a disabled person, historical character, different accent, different character ?


Jamie Foxx and Mark Ruffalo have more done more varied stuff.

Daniel Day Lewis did Last of the Mohicans which was a proper action film and some other stuff.

Surreptitious

An Ri rua wrote: »

Tom Hardy is a superb all-rounder.

Warrior, the Krays, Venom, Lawless. The Revenant. Bane. Such a range of films beyond that.

But what about Locke??? What a performance!! Few could manage it. I dunno, maybe Hopkins or Burton. But it's intense.

Leslie Nielsen close 2nd and Phil Hogan plays a great Othello also.

Warrior is one of my favourite movies. Plus he's hot!

An Ri rua

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Nah. How long would that character have lasted against Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men ?

Competent. Nothing to write home about, especially given what he costs.

Does he sing, tap-dance, do comedy, tragedy, play a disabled person, historical character, different accent, different character ?


Jamie Foxx and Mark Ruffalo have more done more varied stuff.

Daniel Day Lewis did Last of the Mohicans which was a proper action film and some other stuff.

Play a disabled person??

Ron Kovic! 4th July.

Comedy Tropic Thunder.

riffmongous

Tommy Wiseau surely? The guy blows Brando and Dean out of the water

Errashareesh

Tom Cruise used to be a brilliant actor. His depiction of Ron Kovic is stunning. He's awesome in A Few Good Men too. And oh my god, Magnolia! :eek:

Dustin Hoffman got all the focus for Rain Man - understandably to an extent, but Tom Cruise is just brilliant as the selfish younger brother who builds a really beautiful bond with his estranged big brother gradually. Interview With The Vampire, Vanilla Sky and Minority Report - all great performances.

With the odd exception though (Tropic Thunder) he has slipped into mediocrity since the early 2000s. Partly I'd say due to the projects he's chosen.

And Far And Away - hang your head in shame, Thomas!

Surreptitious

Errashareesh wrote: »

Tom Cruise used to be a brilliant actor. His depiction of Ron Kovic is stunning. He's awesome in A Few Good Men too. And oh my god, Magnolia! :eek:

Dustin Hoffman got all the focus for Rain Man - understandably to an extent, but Tom Cruise is just brilliant as the selfish younger brother who builds a really beautiful bond with his estranged big brother gradually. Interview With The Vampire, Vanilla Sky and Minority Report - all great performances.

With the odd exception though (Tropic Thunder) he has slipped into mediocrity since the early 2000s. Partly I'd say due to the projects he's chosen.

And Far And Away - hang your head in shame, Thomas!

I loved Vanilla Sky but it got panned by the critics. Very good performance in it.

mr_edge_to_you

Bradley Cooper for me.

First saw him in The Hangover. Then I saw him in Silver Linings Playbook and American Sniper - he was excellent in both of those movies.
Tried his hand at the singing too In A Star Is Born.

KevRossi

John Cazale

Surreptitious

Jeff Bridges is good, adaptable actor

Errashareesh

Surreptitious wrote: »

I loved Vanilla Sky but it got panned by the critics.

I know! Didn't get that at all - love that movie.

fryup

anyone mention Nick Nolte yet??

i know nearly all the characters he plays are gruff types...

but his performance in the WWII movie The Thin Red Line was truly mesmerising you'd swear he was there in the middle of a battle with his face contorted with rage...best screen performance ever imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQLmH_uwnBI

Surreptitious

buried wrote: »

James Gandolfini

Just the best in the greatest of them all

Masterclass of the grim criminal

Only saw this now. Sexy as hell when he was alive. Very brooding and intense work from him. The Sopranos is still the best show ever made and has aged well.

CrankyHaus

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

James Cagney and Christopher Walker get bonus points for being able do great villains and dancing.

How many of today's "tough guy's" could out tap-dance Cagney or keep up with Walken in "Weapon Of Choice"

Something like White Heat shows what a clear influence Cagney had on later "gangster" performances, all the way down to Gandolfini playing Tony Soprano.

2lazytogetup

Allison_Janney in itonya and the new addams family animation film.

brendan gleeson, expect he has been mentioned before. daniel de lewis.

Acting isnt really that hard. its about having a look and a good manager. look at that annoying twirp that was in love/hate and is now going to be in batman.

2lazytogetup

very little mention of women. and im a guy saying that. meyryl streep. pauline mcglynn in father ted.

probably cause women always get side roles so harder to notice their acting.

who is the actress that plays jeff's wife in curb your enthusiasm. she is great.

fryup

2lazytogetup wrote: »

very little mention of women.

maybe the mods could re-title the thread.. Best Actor & Actress of the modern era?

The Nal

Julianne Moore is always great.

Jodi Foster is probably my favourite though. Taxi Driver, The Accused, Silence of the Lambs, Nell, Panic Room, Inside Man, Carnage. Acting with De Niro, Liam Neeson, Anthony Hopkins, Christoph Waltz, Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Mel Gibson, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and steals most of the scenes she in with them.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

BailMeOut wrote: »

21 pages later and no mention of Meryl Streep who has to be one the greatest actors ever.

Yurt! wrote: »

Hollywood luvvie. Solid actor, but can't think of a single performance where you'd stand back and say 'wow.' Although her Maggie Thatcher was good, but not mind-blowing.

Female actors wise, I'd rate Frances McDormand and Julianne Moore far above her.

Hubs and I were talking about this recently. The problem with Streep is that she doesn't pick really good films. She's an actress who would have her pick of roles and that's going back to the early '80s and yet, I struggle to think of many classic films she was in. Well, she was in The Deer Hunter but that was before she broke out and her part in it was tiny. She doesn't seem to choose the best scripts. I think her problem is that she leans towards worthy, Oscar-baity films which are rarely bold and singular and daring. So they don't age well.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

DavidLyons_ wrote: »

Paddy Considine. Toby Kebbell. Sam Rockwell. Laura Linney. Frances McDormand. Jake Gyllenhaal.

All great choices except Toby Kebbell who I don't know. Glad to see Considine and Gyllenhaal mentioned.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Tom Cruise is a turn off. At best competent. Money spent on him wasn't spent on special effects or scriptwriters :mad:

Christian Bale said he based American Psycho on him "he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes,"

Is there a Tom Cruise film that wouldn't be better with an actor who cost a third of the price ?

Oh, that is just excellent. :pac:

spurious

Toni Colette, Eddie Marsden, Timothy Spall.
Can't really think of a bad performance from any of them.