Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by RGA (A) on August 19, 2003 at 22:24:55

In Reply to: The collapse of American "Acting," and its replacement: posted by tinear on August 16, 2003 at 06:34:29:

Well determining whether someone is a good actor or not is a matter of preferance and not an objective fact. I'll agree that actors like DeNiro and Nicholson are STARS and were at one time(ie the 70s)considered great actors but the fact that time has passed does not make them any less talented. What has changed though is the film making and their choice of roles. DeNiro seems to parody himself all the time and has become a cartoon - though to tell the truth I always felt his characters were pretty much the same every movie...All his Mobster roles and Jake Lamatta?? Pretty much the same all the time. Kenny G plays 5 notes perfectly...but they are just 5 notes.

Nicholson is simply SOOOOOOOOOOOO popular that as soon as you see his face IT'S JACK or theeeeeeeeeeere's Johny.

The great actors of this generation seem to remain the Michael Caine, John Hurt, Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman types. Of Which Ralph is the youngest. But even he had a lot of difficulty doing the powderpuff LIGHT romantic character in Maid in Manhatten...a totally formula politically correect Pretty Woman - It's nice enough but Ralph hardly seemed comfortable in it. Nevertheless there are very few camelian(sp?) actors out there that seem to hide in their roles pretty well. Fiennes seems to be one. Watching Strange Days, Schindler's List, The English Patient and Oscar and Lucinda convinces me that there is a quality Actor that needs, if he's going to be on the A list, to get some larger crossover mass appeal films.

I think Kevin Spacey and Richard Dreyfuss are two of the very best American Actors...but so are(and they are not all American) Morgan Freeman, Ed Norton, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Ben Kingsley, Daniel Day Lewis, Sam Jackson, Tom Wilkenson, Billy Bob Thornton.

Indeed, Billy Bob Thornton, arguably, was robbed of a nomination in Monster's Ball(who I felt was the driving force of that movie), and I felt he should have won for Sling Blade.

Trouble is a lot of these actors are better suited for certain things. Very few actors I know of do a very wide range of characters equally well. And let's face it a lot has to do with the director and the script. The Matrix was a very popular film in SPITE of the fact that Keanu Reeves is maybe the worst BIG actor I've ever seen. People complain about Costner...but the guy is a Hopkins in comparison.

I suppose my favorite right now is Ralph Fiennes...even he has certain mannerisms and a kind of intensity that seems ingrained a bit. He said he never felt comfortable after starting Maid in Manhatten 3 days after finishing Red Dragon(He did LIGHT pretty well in Strange Days and Oscar and Lucinda). I have yet to see Spider...but the premise seems to be more in line with his strengths...physical presence stage acting.

Ohh and he was robbed in Schindler's List. The worst oversight of the decade of a major award. Academy - Blegh.