Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Best Actor (pt. 2)

I'm gonna go ahead and highlight 2 people in this one since most of the names I had planned on doing have been mentioned already:

Tom Cruise

1 - Top Gun - One of my top 10 movies of all time

2 - Last Samurai - Also could be in my top 10, although this one I have a feeling may be argued

3 - Mission Impossible - 3-7 of Cruise are all pretty even to me, I give MI the slight nod over the rest

4 - A Few Good Men - Like I said, Ive been flip flopping on like 5 movies for the last 3 spots so these could go either way

5 - (tie) Cocktail , Jerry Maguire, Collateral - Cocktail is a classic, Jerry Maguire was great minus the chic moments of the movie, and Cruise's character in Collateral was sweet

Notables: The Color of Money (really might be in my top 5 but I excluded it due to low popularity), Days of Thunder, Born on the 4th of July, Rain Man (only excluded this because half credit goes to Hoffman), Eyes Wide Shut, Minority Report, War of the Worlds (haven't seen), Vanilla Sky (Haven't seen), M.I. 2/3, Risky Business

Overall Outlook: You can't deny the quantity of solid movies Cruise has, definetly should be at least in the discussion for #1


Leo Dicaprio

1- Titanic - Considered moving this lower to avoid the flaming I'll receive, but I can't do it. Highest grossing movie of all time, and it was C-A-R-R-I-E-D by Leo.

2 - Blood Diamond - 2-5 are interchangable in my book, but I'll give this the edge because he carried this movie imo more than the other 2

3 - The Departed - Probably my favorite movie with Leo in it, but a lot of credit goes to the rest of the cast. I still think he was the best though

4 - Gangs of New York - Bill the Butcher was equally as good as Leo, which is the only reason I have this at 4 and not higher.

5 - Catch me if you Can - Actually think some might argue for this to be higher

Notables: The Beach, The Aviator (haven't seen this, but it was up for a lot of awards), The Basketball Diaries, What's Eating Gilbert Grape (havent seen, or heard of until mentioned by boon)

Overall Outlook: If you just look at top 5, I think Leo takes the crown. But he seems to lack the quantity that some of the others have (not his fault). The fact that I haven't seen a lot of his movies (Man in the Iron Mask, Romeo and Juliet, Aviator, etc.) may also be why I see a lack in quantity.

20 comments:

booncakes said...

i think denzel is a good actor, just overrated b/c he is limited to a specific type of role. he played malcolm x well b/c malcolm x was an angry black man. hurricane...same thing. movies like man on fire and remember the titans, he played completely different roles (hs football coach vs drunk bodyguard), but can you honestly say they were different people? seemed like the same person to me...just an opinion, we can agree to disagree.

i also think matt damon and jim carey are good actors too. not many people could pull off his eternal sunshine and truman show roles as well as he did. matt damon does a good job in picking great scripts (departed, rounders, borne movies, good will hunting, oceans movies, school ties, chasing amy, rainmaker [great movie btw], saving private ryan)...

pex said...

dont be ashamed of putting Titanic at #1, I saw that in the theatres twice. Leo is very possibly my favorite actor, but its a really tough decision. I'd have to say its between hanks and leo. Cruise was in the mix until he went crazy...I just can't look at him the same anymore.

About Denzel, I don't think he's overrated. Like I said before, he fits a role and plays it well. You don't have to have lots of diversity to be good. I'm not saying he's in my top 5, but I definitely wouldnt call him overrated.

booncakes said...

i agree about cruise...he has been in some domination movies, but after he turned loony i just don't see him the same. and his top 3 are 1) jerry mgwire 2) eyes wide shut 3) cocktail.

Poorman said...

cruise is definetly off the radar now due to his recent troubles, but just looking at previous movies alone hes gotta be top 5, if not higher.

just at a curiousity, has anyone seen the aviator? i just looked it up out of boredom and it won 5 academy awards and was nominated for 11.

And just for some random stats I found, heres the number of times the people we listed have won an academy award (not that i think this means anything)

Leo - 3 nominations, no awards

Cruise - 3 nominations, no awards

Hanks - 5 nominations, 2 awards (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump)

Spacey - 2 nominations, 2 awards (American Beauty, Usual Suspects)

Travolta - 2 nominations, no awards

Norton - 2 nominations, no awards

PSH - 2 nominations, 1 award (capote)

Pitt - 1 nomination, 0 award

Damon - 1 nomination, 0 awards

pex said...

I've seen the aviator a while ago. Leo does a great acting job, but I think I remember the movie being pretty weird. It's kinda slow and a little artsy. I don't know if I'd call it a good movie or not, I'd have to watch it again.

Poorman said...

De Niro - 6 nominations, 2 awards (Godfather 2, Raging Bull)
Pacino - 8 nominations, 1 award (Scent of a Woman ???)
Denzel - 5 nominations, 2 awards (Training Day, Glory)
Crowe - 3 nominations, 1 award (Gladiator)
Hoffman - 7 nominations, 2 awards (kramer vs. kramer, rainman)

Nicholson - 12 nominations, 3 awards (Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets)

Staboski said...

like you said prime, the awards don't mean too much. BUT...look at my boy Walken for example: Academy Award, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Tony, and Golden Globe winner. His acting goes beyond the screen to the stage. I still think Pitt would be in my top 5.

Staboski said...

the aviator was good, but i am also fascinated with Howard Hughes. I do hear good things about Cruise's new film Valkyrie..it will be interesting to see how it does. And I don't know why I don't see these Cruise flicks up there:
Born on the 4th of July
Magnolia

Poorman said...

I included Born on the 4th of July in the notables, and it def could be considered for top 5.....Magnolia I haven't seen but that was one of Cruise's nominations so it must be pretty solid

Good call on Walken, I forgot about him....his recent movie cameo type roles combined with his solid movies in his prime make him an interesting debate

pex said...

i dont recall ever seeing a movie that walken starred in. He wouldnt be in the top 5 from what ive seen though. dont get me wrong i like walken, but not more than the other guys mentioned

booncakes said...

i wouldn't put too much into awards. i could be wrong, but i swear i remember seeing john voight winning 2 academy awards.

Poorman said...

i def dont think anything of the awards, just thought it was interesting. The fact that leo, cruise, travolta, and norton have never won best actor shows how weak they are, not the mention the fact that lost in translation was nominated for best movie, and no country for old men won best movie...which happen to maybe be my two worst movies ever

term said...

Chiming in a little late here, few points I'd like to make:

Tom Hanks - Road to Perdition was one of his best roles. Amazing story and his supporting actor was a kid. Kids can do really good things for movies, but really lack the maturity necessary to make a movie as good as Road to Perdition.

Cruise - Ignoring his real life, the dude is an amazing actor. There is absolutely no doubt he should be top 5 in my mind. Maybe he is a great actor because he has had to live his whole live hiding that he might be homo. Eyes Wide Shut and Vanilla Sky were some great performances.

Jack Nicholson - Do NOT overlook him. His role in the Departed, following up some of his more girl-movie type rolls, was simply amazing. He had one of the most memorable roles ever in the Shinning; how many of those posters with his face in the split door do you see around. Take into consideration Cuckoo's Nest, Batman, and A Few Good Men, and you have a pretty amazing line-up.

Also, in response to the Denzel discussion (which I agree, he is overrated), would you say that Morgan Freeman is overrated? I think he is a pretty awesome actor and he has been in some unreal movies: Shawshank, New Batmans, Gone Baby Gone (heard good things, never saw), and IMO the best movie of all time, Seven. But in almost all of his movies, he plays the same role: soft-spoken, intelligent, reserved black man. Rarely does he have the lead role. If he doesn't show versatility, is he overrated? I think not, but there also could be debate since he often isn't mentioned as being one of the best.

pex said...

unless you think denzel is just a bad actor, you contradict yourself. the argument that denzel is overrated stems from the fact that he supposedly doesnt have enough versatility, which you say isnt reason enough to call freeman overrated. and if you are saying denzel is bad, i dont know what to think about your opinions on acting

term said...

no, I'm asking the question... if Denzel is overrated, does that make Freeman overrated? I could argue that both play very similar roles in all of their movies.

my point is, versatility is a factor in how good an actor is, but you shouldn't call someone overrated just because they aren't versatile.

I would call Denzel overrated in the fact that he is always blown up to be one of the best actors in the world and in my opinion, he isn't even in my top 10. good, but not in the top 10.

overrated does not mean bad

Staboski said...

Regarding Pex's statement about Walken. First off he is in Catch me if you Can (Leo's Father). Now lets talk about more memorable roles: The Three Musketeers (1969 version), Valley Forge, The Deer Hunter(one of the best movies), The Dogs of War, {James Bond}:A View to a Kill(he was the bad guy), Batman Returns, Waynes World 2, Pulp Fiction (small part), Sleepy Hollow, Wedding Crashers, Hairspray, etc.

pex said...

when i said starred i meant lead actor, my fault.

about denzel, i dont think he's considered top 10 by most people, i think he's considered more like the best black actor. i still just cant attach the word overrated to him. he deserved the oscars he won, and he's really good in most of his movies. training day and man on fire were just too good, regardless of the "similarity" in roles, which really werent even that alike

term said...

Well made point; can't say I disagree.

Nathan still hasn't replied to my question though...is Freeman overrated because of his limit to the specific type role?

Poorman said...

i would put denzel in my top 10 for sure, dont know about top 5, but that doesnt mean i necessarily think hes overrated. A lot of people (certain ethnicities mostly) call him the best actor, which is when I would say he is overrated

freeman doesn't have the hype of denzel, so it would be tough to call him overrated. although thinking back, freeman really doesn't have many starring roles

booncakes said...

i don't think freeman is overrated simply b/c i don't see him as a great actor. he's a good actor and plays his roles well, but that's all he is limited to. if i wanted an old black man to play a part in one of my movies, then my first choice would be morgan freeman, but that's about as far as it goes.