Greatest actor ever?

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

He was also great in Cast Away. He was the only person on screen from well over an hour. No other actor of the time could have pulled that role off.

There was never a question for me in that movie that he would survive.

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Yep. He's another one that has a hard time blending into the movies he's in. Any suspended disbelief the movie builds up is exhausted when he comes in frame.

Yeah, becuase the average guy looks like Brad Pitt, that's much more believable.

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

There was never a question for me in that movie that he would survive.

True, but he kept me entertained throughout that period despite the inevitability of the plot.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by erowe83

Definetly his best performance but that is just a ridiculous statement.

Brando in Street Car. Pacino in Godfather Part II. Hanks in Philadelphia. That performance by Tom has to mentioned in the same breath with the greats.

[ikbradley]

Originally Posted by erowe83

more like the most overrated actor alive.... hands down.

Tom Hanks is the best actor for people who have pedestrian tastes. Does this settle the matter? Seriously, after Bachelor Party it was all down hill.

Daniel Day-Lewis was very good for in the Name of the Father. I am hard pressed to find an actor that picks consistently good projects and provides a unique intensity to each. I think that Gangs of New York was a poor movie in comparison to the rest, but he was just awesome in it.

As a dark horse, I really like Billy Bob Thornton. Sling Blade and Bad Santa. Game over. He picks some real turkies to act in, but when he gets it right, wow!

Super Tangent:

The best cameo guys or side kicks - Bill Paxton and Tom Arnold. Man, these guys are just gold.

[M]

Originally Posted by ikbradley

Tom Arnold.

I pretty much laugh at this guy in everything I see him in, he's just good at being an oddball, I remember not so long ago watching him in Cradle 2 The Grave, great fun.

[SS316SRV]

^ Paxton kills every movie he speaks 3 sentences in, for me.

[ravrunner]

I would have to say Tom Hanks!

They dont give back to back oscars to just anyone!

[erowe83]

Originally Posted by ikbradley

Tom Hanks is the best actor for people who have pedestrian tastes. Does this settle the matter? Seriously, after Bachelor Party it was all down hill.

Daniel Day-Lewis was very good for in the Name of the Father. I am hard pressed to find an actor that picks consistently good projects and provides a unique intensity to each. I think that Gangs of New York was a poor movie in comparison to the rest, but he was just awesome in it.

As a dark horse, I really like Billy Bob Thornton. Sling Blade and Bad Santa. Game over. He picks some real turkies to act in, but when he gets it right, wow!

Super Tangent:

The best cameo guys or side kicks - Bill Paxton and Tom Arnold. Man, these guys are just gold.

I agree with most of this...


Here is my point...

Tom Hanks could never play The Butcher (Gangs of New York) or Plainview (There Will Be Blood). Daniel Day Lewis could play any character that Tom Hanks has played and probably be better at it.

See my original post for more people who are infintely better than Tom Hanks (sorry, i just dont get why peopel think he is an amazing actor. he is ok, but does not deserve to be listed with the greats)

[erowe83]

Originally Posted by ravrunner

I would have to say Tom Hanks!

They dont give back to back oscars to just anyone!

Oscars are a popularity contest. Anyone who uses the Oscars to establish who is the best actor/director/cinemintographer/etc. really needs to think outside the box.

[Beta Man]

Tom Hanks.... Nicholas Cage..... I could do without either of them!

As far as "side-kick" maybe Steve Buscemi could fill that spot ?

Jack Nicholson is still alive, and he has a very impressive resume.......

[ravrunner]

ok popularity contest fine.....

An actor is defined imo by the most diverse character someone can portray in a flim.

Tom Hanks

Jack Nicholson

Antony Hopkins

Mel Gibson (braveheart)

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by ravrunner

ok popularity contest fine.....

An actor is defined imo by the most diverse character someone can portray in a flim.

Tom Hanks

Jack Nicholson

Antony Hopkins

Mel Gibson (braveheart)

Jack, and Sir-Anthony are LEGENDS,..... Mel, and Tom, are good actors that have appeared in very successful movies.



I still think Kalifornia is Brad Pitt's best role (I love that movie) .... people who say 12-Monkeys have a point, but by Se7en, and other later movies.... he was a type-casted pretty-boy.

[SS316SRV]

1st, I am not that big of a Tom Hanks fan. He is not the best ever.

Originally Posted by ravrunner

I would have to say Tom Hanks!

They dont give back to back oscars to just anyone!

They also don't give Oscars to Martin Scorsese until he made Departed. Peter O'Toole only has an honorary. Oscars mean very little except marketing for a movie.

Originally Posted by erowe83

I agree with most of this...


Here is my point...

Tom Hanks could never play The Butcher (Gangs of New York) or Plainview (There Will Be Blood). Daniel Day Lewis could play any character that Tom Hanks has played and probably be better at it.

See my original post for more people who are infintely better than Tom Hanks (sorry, i just dont get why peopel think he is an amazing actor. he is ok, but does not deserve to be listed with the greats)

Daniel Day Lewis is very intense and would not handle Big or Forest Gump Not the greatest movies ever but they have the characters have a quality of simplicity that I don't think that Daniel Day Lewis could do. Tom Hanks has been in some amazing movies with pretty good performances on his part.

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Tom Hanks.... Nicholas Cage..... I could do without either of them!

As far as "side-kick" maybe Steve Buscemi could fill that spot ?

Jack Nicholson is still alive, and he has a very impressive resume.......

Why does everybody keep coming back to Nicholas Cage? Raising Arizona good, Leaving Las Vegas good...everything else is junk.

Jack Nicholson has fallen into the trap of great icons, they are just playing themselves. De Niro, Pacino, Nicholson, Hoffman, Voight, they are basically just playing their legendary selves now. It doesn't take away from what they have done, but other actors are starting to surface that will fill what they used to be.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Jack, and Sir-Anthony are LEGENDS,..... Mel, and Tom, are good actors that have appeared in very successful movies.



I still think Kalifornia is Brad Pitt's best role (I love that movie) .... people who say 12-Monkeys have a point, but by Se7en, and other later movies.... he was a type-casted pretty-boy.

Fight Club was a role that nobody other than Brad Pitt could play - nobody.

[erowe83]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

Daniel Day Lewis is very intense and would not handle Big or Forest Gump Not the greatest movies ever but they have the characters have a quality of simplicity that I don't think that Daniel Day Lewis could do. Tom Hanks has been in some amazing movies with pretty good performances on his part.

.

Daniel Day Lewis is quite good at palying simplistic characters though. See The Boxer or The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I do not think there has ever been a role that Daniel day Lewis couldnt play....

And I agree, Kalifornication is definetly Brad Pitt's best but he was really great in 'The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford' just got overshaddowed by the amazing performance that Casey Affleck put in.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

Fight Club was a role that nobody other than Brad Pitt could play - nobody.

That's not true.... Just like there are other actors that could have played Don Corleone, but it's just hard to wrap your mind around the possibility of it because your knee-jerk reaction is to look at his physique, voice, demeaner, etc... and say "oh, it's gotta be Brando" I don't think so.... If it would have been a no-name actor, he'd be permanently engraved in your memory "The Don"

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by erowe83

And I agree, Kalifornication is definetly Brad Pitt's best but he was really great in 'The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford' just got overshaddowed by the amazing performance that Casey Affleck put in.

I don't care much for Casey Affleck. Brad Pitt was good in that role though.

[erowe83]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I don't care much for Casey Affleck. Brad Pitt was good in that role though.

REALLY???????? I thought his performance was easily the 2nd best of the year (DDL being 1)

[clownface]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Can't believe no one has said Morgan Freeman yet...

I CONCUR!!!!

I say it's too hard to pick just one...

Morgan Freeman
Denzel Washington
Phillip Syemour Hoffman
Edward James Olmos
Don Cheadle
Gary Oldman
Tom Hanks