Best actors (of your generation)

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

Okay, but Samuel L. Jackson still sucks. Really.

I disagree with that. Just because he has some consistencies in his style and delivery does not mean he's not a great actor. If that was the case, Bob deNiro and Chris Walken would suck too...

Sam Jackson is awesome in Long Kiss Goodnight, Pulp Fiction, Fresh, Jackie Brown; he is great in Do The Right Thing, Red Violin, Kill Bill and Menace to Society.

His problem is his choice of movies rather than his acting skills... He does way too many crappy movies

 

[Violinist]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Have you SEEN The Caveman's Valentine or Resurrecting The Champ? If not, I would like you to make an effort to watch them open-mindedly sometime, and then come back and tell me that Samuel L. Jackson isn't an actor.

I'll watch both when I go home for Christmas, and will stand corrected if the aforementioned films so merit it.

 

[Violinist]

Originally Posted by 76classic

The topic was best actors of your generation. These are choices from MY generation relating to my age, gender, culture, etc. Denzel has A Soldier's Story, Glory, Malcolm X, Mo Betta Blues, Philadelphia, The Hurricane, John Q, Antwone Fisher, Inside Man, etc. So we have a soldier, civil rights activist, jazz musician, lawyer, naval officer, detective, a boxer, etc. Hardly the same character. Jackson's body of work includes Pulp Fiction, Jungle Fever, A Time to Kill, Jackie Brown, Fresh, Eve's Bayou, etc. Sure both have made stinkers, but overall they are great actors in my opinion.

The occupation of a character does not make the character. Denzel could play a trans-sexual hockey player and it would have the same flavor as everything else he's done. That's my opinion, and it's fine you think he's great.

 

[tiger02]

Nine pages. Val Kilmer people?

 

[dkzzzz]

1. Mickey Rourke,
2. Matt Dillon,
3. J. Depp

in that order.

 

[Brian278]

Originally Posted by tiger02

Nine pages. Val Kilmer people?

Brilliant at times for sure, The Doors, Wonderland, Tombstone (stole the entire movie), his "your dangerous" locker room rant in Top Gun was epic, and who could forget his turn as the Sherpa in Entourage? But did you see Alexander?

 

[jpeirpont]

Originally Posted by 76classic

I also like Dennis Haysbert and Delroy Lindo. Edward Norton is pretty good.

People who do not like Denzel are luny. He played Malcolm to a T, I sometimes thought he was actually Malcolm. And they have opposite personalities. I also like Delroy a lot he is very under rated.

 

[Chris "Italia"]

Sean Connery.

 

[Southern-Nupe]

Originally Posted by jpeirpont

People who do not like Denzel are luny. He played Malcolm to a T, I sometimes thought he was actually Malcolm. And they have opposite personalities. I also like Delroy a lot he is very under rated.
Delroy Lindo...great choice, I feel he's very underrated.

Aside from that, I'm a big Cheadle fan.

 

[Southern-Nupe]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

So basically, you are denying that since... oh... Scarface, he has been hamming it up as a caricature of semi-repressed volatility with occasional outbursts of rage? I can point out that there is a world of difference in nuance and preparation between Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction and Samuel L. Jackson in The Caveman's Valentine; and Denzel's roles in John Q , The Hurricane, and He Got Game. I really don't think you are giving anyone a fair shake here. Pacino may be a great actor, but the roles he chooses to perform, and the way he performs them all have a distinct similarity. As someone who has done his fair share of stage acting, I'll tell you right now, that while I haven't seen every Al Pacino movie he's ever made, I've seen most of the "popular" ones, as well as many of his earlier and independant works, - and he is almost ALWAYS "Al Pacino".
Tokyo,

I thought I was the only one, Pacino is basically the same actor in the majority of his films. I like him, but lets be honest, the guy doesn't vary too far from where he's comfortable.

 

[robbie]

Kevin Spacey
Bill Murray
Phillip Seymour Hoffman(along with the majority of actors used by pt anderson)
Ed Norton

i was trying to think of a solid 5 and couldn't

robbie

 

[Quirk]

I really like Gabriel Byrne and David Strathairn. Jack Lemmon could be great (Glengarry), but in some of his roles (Felix Ungar) he makes me groan.

I really like Robert Downey, but I think it's for his charisma on screen as much as for his actual acting skill, if that makes any sense. I'm actually surprised he's not a bigger star than he is, despite his drug/legal problems. He should have been as big as Tom Cruise once was.

Kevin Spacey and Denzel Washington are two actors I used to love, until I they seemed to become full of themselves and grow tiresome. May be all in my head, but nevertheless, it affects the way I see them on screen now. I have to admit, I enjoyed Denzel's bad cop romp in Training Day, and I hear he's not bad in the Spike Lee flick with Jodie Foster....

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by Southern-Nupe

Delroy Lindo...great choice, I feel he's very underrated.
Haven't seen him in much, but I like him; he was very good in 'Malcolm X'.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Haven't seen him in much, but I like him; he was very good in 'Malcolm X'.

BTW Quirk, who is your avatar?

 

[tiger02]

Originally Posted by Brian278

Sherpa in Entourage
This one, for sure. Didn't see Alexander.

Originally Posted by RJman

BTW Quirk, who is your avatar?

tigress02