Favorite Actors and Actresses

[JaJae]

If you had to pick your favorite actors and actresses who would they be? Or who do you think are some of the most talented actors out there currently? Ardent's horrendous opinion of Tom Hanks influenced this thread.

As far as talent goes this is my list in no particular order:

Morgan Freeman
Johnny Depp
Denzel Washington
Tom Hanks

Charlize Theron
Meryl Streep

I can't think of any female actresses off the top of my head. They're mostly typecasted or selected for appearance. I'll edit as I think of them. Morgan Freeman is probably one of my all-time favorite actors.

[Linzyhop]

Harrison Ford (I grew up in the Star Wars/Indiana Jones era)
Tom Hanks
Jack Nicholson
Johnny Depp
Geoffrey Rush
Will Smith
Sean Connery

Cate Blanchett
Jennifer Connelly (loved her ever since Labyrinth)
Drew Barrymore (I know she's not the best actress, but I still like her)

this list will be edited as my memory reboots....

[Publius]

Denzel Washington
Johnny Depp
Jamie Foxx

that's my top 3.

[7960]

for me it's "right actor for the right part"

robin williams in good morning vietnam
arnold at the terminator
jim carrey in the truman show
annette bening in american president
capt picard in x-men
morgan freeman in shawshank
joe pesci in goodfellas
al pacino in scent of a woman
jamie foxx in ray

the list goes on.....funny thing is they've all done things I absolutely hated, and some of them are only on my "good actor" list for the specific movie listed above.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by 7960

fsome of them are only on my "good actor" list for the specific movie listed above.

Hopefully Arnold is included in that. Jamie Foxx is another good choice. He's gotten a lot better since he's grown out of his Saturday Night Live crap. He managed to break that stigma.

[7960]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Hopefully Arnold is included in that. Jamie Foxx is another good choice. He's gotten a lot better since he's grown out of his Saturday Night Live crap. He managed to break that stigma.

arnold is an excellent character actor, as long as the character doesn't have too much personality.....but then again he was funny in kindergarten cop ("It's not a toooooomah!")

I've only seen foxx on ILC and ray. I thought he was perfect as ray even though I waited months to see it because I seriously doubted he could do him justice.

I hate to admit it but I can't stand joe pesci. Except for bits here and there, Goodfellas is the only thing I've liked him in. He had some good lines in my cousin vinny but overall I didn't like him in that.

I can't stand jim carrey. I hate his humor. I'd rather be stabbed in the scrotum than watch mask or ace ventura or dumb and dumber (from which I walked out and got a refund for my ticket).

Same for robin williams. I think he sucks as a comedian. I think he's near genius as a serious actor.



OH FUCK!! I forgot Forrest Whitaker! I think I've liked everything he's done (movies and TV, especially The Shield) even though mostly he's played the same character over and over.

[Ardentfrost]

lol I feel sorry for Morgan Freeman b/c he's been typecast since he became older. He's definitely earned his stripes, but now-a-days it's like "hmm, we need an older man to be really wise and have awesome lines... Ooo, Morgan Freeman, then we get the black thing too!" The good thing about him is that he doesn't accept every shit role that comes across his desk and tends to do a good job of picking out good movies in which to act. The bad thing, as I said, is that he's all too often pushed into that same part over and over.

You already know how I feel about Tom Hanks. It's a strong distaste, needless to say. Being in the occasional awesome movie doesn't excuse poor acting.

As for actors I like, I don't distinguish between actors and actresses. But most actresses, as you said, are often typecast, so it's difficult to get a good read on them. One who has done a good job of avoiding this is Natalie Portman. Of course, I think that is partly because she did SUCH a stellar job in Leon, even at 14. She hasn't always made the best movie choices, but as for her acting, it's quite good.

My first real exposure to Brad Pitt was that AWFUL movie Meet Joe Black. After seeing that one, I vomited all over the place and was convinced he was the worst actor on the planet. However, I was proven wrong time and time again after I watched more and more of his work. The first to really start to change my mind was Fight Club, where him and Edward Norton did an awesome job together. His bit stoner part in True Romance was hilarious, being a crazy person in Twelve Monkeys was quite believable, the rage-filled cop in Seven, the fast talking Gypsy in Snatch... all incredible parts. Of course, after doing all that good work, he got majorly noticed by Hollywood and every blockbuster actor does his share of shit movies, but I gotta admit, the guy can act.

Speaking of Edward Norton, he has done some great work in some great flicks. I remember seeing Primal Fear in '96 when it came out and thinking to myself "Whoever that guy is did a fucking fantastic job!" Then he did it again in The People vs Larry Flynt, American History X, Fight Club, and even the dark comedy Death to Smoochy. It's been a couple years since he's done a REALLY good piece (that I've seen), but he's got a lot of leeway to make some shit before I change my mind.

Probably one of my favorite actors of all time is Harvey Keitel. He's been in over 100 titles in his 30 years acting, and does not bind himself to the rules of the big time blockbuster actors (Hollywood trash). He gets interested in independent works and supports them in their endeavor to make a movie. And his acting is awesome. I always enjoyed him in the old Tarantino films, but seeing him do stuff like Bad Lieutenant (even though I never really wanted to see his penis, lol) really swayed me.

I'll forgive any actor of indiscretions if they do some really great work though. Walken has done some good and bad work (although most of his earlier work was really good). Though I'll forgive all the bad movies he's done in the past 15 years because of just one scene from True Romance, where he and Dennis Hopper have a scene together that I can watch over and over and over.

But then, giving actors all the credit is fallacy in and of itself. The Coen Brothers, as I mentioned in the other thread, write, direct, and cast some of the best movies ever created. And I'm not just talking about their really popular movies like O Brother, Where Art Thou or Fargo, even their first film, Blood Simple, was a great flick.

Tarantino is another one that can write and/or direct some great stuff even though his acting sucks goat nuts (forgivable since he never plays a lead part and his parts are generally funny and short lived).

These are all just picks off the top of my head though. It'd take too long to go fully into who I like (or who I hate, for that matter).

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by 7960

I can't stand jim carrey. I hate his humor. I'd rather be stabbed in the scrotum than watch mask or ace ventura or dumb and dumber (from which I walked out and got a refund for my ticket).

You see him in Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind? The movie was written by Charlie Kaufman who also wrote Being John Malcovich. He writes some really good shit, and Eternal Sunshine is no exception. Carrey did a good job in it to boot.

[7960]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

You see him in Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind? The movie was written by Charlie Kaufman who also wrote Being John Malcovich. He writes some really good shit, and Eternal Sunshine is no exception. Carrey did a good job in it to boot.

no.....I really can't stand him so I avoid whatever he's in. I only saw truman show because I was on a plane and my laptop battree died. I saw enough to realize it might be worth watching and found it later and liked him in it.

[Thorgrim]

So, no list of "great" actors, just a few you kinda like but have criticisms for too...jees I guess you should considering all the actors who ever lived had a lot of room for improvement

The one actor you did list, Keitel, it's easy to point out all his big films have him playing a character with the exact same mannerisms, 100x worse than anything you said about Hanks

Hollywood never thought he was anything good, and he's been consistently typecast as the competent reliable thug or sidekick...if I ever see a movie of him late at night often I don't know what movie it is because he is doing the exact same thing he does in every movie and I can't tell what his "acting" is supposed to convey, I just have to hear enough dialogue to figure out what movie it is...if it was just him on a stage, no one would ever figure it out if they hadn't known the dialogue well

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by 7960

no.....I really can't stand him so I avoid whatever he's in. I only saw truman show because I was on a plane and my laptop battree died. I saw enough to realize it might be worth watching and found it later and liked him in it.

He's been in a few good movies, even if you don't care for his humor (which was what Ace Ventura was basically based on). Some movies use his humor in a subdued way to further the plot, like Liar, Liar or Bruce Almighty (both of which I thought were hilarious). Ever since Truman Show his quality of work majorly increased. You should give him another chance

[7960]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

He's been in a few good movies, even if you don't care for his humor (which was what Ace Ventura was basically based on). Some movies use his humor in a subdued way to further the plot, like Liar, Liar or Bruce Almighty (both of which I thought were hilarious). Ever since Truman Show his quality of work majorly increased. You should give him another chance

ok

IMDb Top 250

eternal sunshine is 48 on the top 250 list so there are two recommendations.......I'll give it a shot. But if I think he sucks, I'm going to stab you in the scrotum.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

So, no list of "great" actors, just a few you kinda like but have criticisms for too...jees I guess you should considering all the actors who ever lived had a lot of room for improvement

The one actor you did list, Keitel, it's easy to point out all his big films have him playing a character with the exact same mannerisms, 100x worse than anything you said about Hanks

Hollywood never thought he was anything good, and he's been consistently typecast as the competent reliable thug or sidekick...if I ever see a movie of him late at night often I don't know what movie it is because he is doing the exact same thing he does in every movie and I can't tell what his "acting" is supposed to convey, I just have to hear enough dialogue to figure out what movie it is...if it was just him on a stage, no one would ever figure it out if they hadn't known the dialogue well

Shitty Hollywood movies tend to typecast all actors. Big director X sees Actor Y in a movie and says "hey, that's similar to what I want to do!" and sends Actor Y a script. All his "thuggish" castings comes from Tarantino flicks... where practically everyone is thuggish. Those movies were really good, Keitel did a good job in them, and thus the cycle continues.

What I like about Keitel is that he's not so worried about some silly Hollywood reputation that he won't take a chance on some no name writer/director shooting an independently funded film somewhere out in common-land America. He takes his GOOD acting to the movie and is fine accepting little payment because he believes in a project. Without actors like him, the movie industry would just continue being these CGI-laden, plot lacking, cookie cutter pieces of shit that make the charts week after week.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by 7960

ok

IMDb Top 250

eternal sunshine is 48 on the top 250 list so there are two recommendations.......I'll give it a shot. But if I think he sucks, I'm going to stab you in the scrotum.

lol, ok, deal.

[David Octavius]

Fav Actors:

Denzel Washington
Al Pacino

Least Fav:

Keanu

Hottest:

- Eva Mendez
- That girl that was in "Harold and Kumar", the one that Harold was in love with
- Rosario Dawson - I just love her eyes and lips

[Thorgrim]

so you like him as a person?

so you still don't have any great actors, just a lot of complaints? You don't by chance happen to be a libertarian, do you?

[Publius]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

so you like him as a person?

so you still don't have any great actors, just a lot of complaints? You don't by chance happen to be a libertarian, do you?

this is an idiotic post.

[Publius]

Originally Posted by 7960

ok

IMDb Top 250

eternal sunshine is 48 on the top 250 list so there are two recommendations.......I'll give it a shot. But if I think he sucks, I'm going to stab you in the scrotum.

i'd never seen it until Sheana sat me down and made me watch it (Im not a big Carey fan, either). It's actually really good.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

so you like him as a person?

so you still don't have any great actors, just a lot of complaints? You don't by chance happen to be a libertarian, do you?

I listed plenty I liked. And I like his acting, especially how he takes his acting to independent films.

Liking someone unconditionally is retarded. Every actor does shit and even the best actors have roles in which they just don't cut it.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by Publius