Movie bad actors

[tonk]

Haha, you watched Street Fighter I'm guessing?



I call bullshit. Name the roles Ledger was awful in?

Ned Kelly

 

[footylover18]

I don't quite understand the recent backlash against Tom Cruise? He does not deserve to be on any list like this.

 

[Financialpanther]

Ned Kelly

Seconded - that was just tripe. Don't believe that he was a particualarly bad actor pre-dark knight though.

 

[Invigoration]

Ned Kelly

Poor movie no doubt, but Ledger's performance was lauded as one of the movies saving graces.
Eg. From the Film Journal International:

the film rises above its own shortcomings through Heath Ledger's electric embodiment of Ned.

Ledger (after Two Hands) fills the screen with a dark, romantic energy, aided by a soaring, Irish-inflected score

Towering above it all is Ledger, who morphs from a handsome, hot-blooded youth, changing hairstyles and adding facial hair to become an invincible outlaw, defiance etched on his features. This is an actor with old-time firepower, and I'm eager to see whatever he does next.

Not a bad call I'd say.

Can't be included in the argument that most of his earlier roles were poor either seeing as this came after Monsters Ball.

 

[Bowski]

I don't quite understand the recent backlash against Tom Cruise? He does not deserve to be on any list like this.

Ditto.

The problem is that his personal life is clouding the judgement of some regarding of his acting ability.

A fine fine actor who has become a walking headline.

 

[tonk]

Poor movie no doubt, but Ledger's performance was lauded as one of the movies saving graces.
Eg. From the Film Journal International:

Yeah maybe however I worked on Ned Kelly and I can tell you Heath wasn't very pleased with his work on the picture. Like many actors something happened to Heath when he got a bit older, he was always talented but he managed to let go of all the crap that was holding him back. often
its just about relaxing and not trying so hard i.e. "don't think, do".

 

[tonk]

lol I liked the OP.

I'm always dubious of anyone who's a Swans supporter and an actor. Have to be bandwagoning bastards. I'm guessing they were there through the glory years with a brand new scarf on, and haven't been seen since.

Mate try living in St Kilda every B grade comedian and C grade actor around here has reinvented themselves as a rusted on Saint supporter. I have worked in the film industry for 25 years and interestingly a lot of the old timers are North supporters. I guess they were the darlings of the seventies and a lot of people jumped on board.

 

[mantis]

Ditto.

The problem is that his personal life is clouding the judgement of some regarding of his acting ability.

A fine fine actor who has become a walking headline.

Wrong, I have always thought him & his ex missus were terrble acotrs, long before that contrived couch jumoing incident. Funniest thing is, he coudn't even make that act believeable, it was laughable how fake it was.

 

[Invigoration]

Poor movie no doubt, but Ledger's performance was lauded as one of the movies saving graces.
Eg. From the Film Journal International:

Yeah maybe however I worked on Ned Kelly and I can tell you Heath wasn't very pleased with his work on the picture. Like many actors something happened to Heath when he got a bit older, he was always talented but he managed to let go of all the crap that was holding him back. often
its just about relaxing and not trying so hard i.e. "don't think, do".

Like I said, he was terrific in Monster's Ball and his performance in Two Hands was pretty bloody good as well, so I don't really buy into that.

His work on Roar was even meant to be well above the mark. Just saying the initial comment about him being a poor actor are bullshit, he was notable talented from the start for a reason.

 

[tonk]

Like I said, he was terrific in Monster's Ball and his performance in Two Hands was pretty bloody good as well, so I don't really buy into that.

His work on Roar was even meant to be well above the mark. Just saying the initial comment about him being a poor actor are bullshit, he was notable talented from the start for a reason.

Fair enough and I didn't include him in my original list but I doubt there is any actor no matter how good they are that hasn't turned in a bad performance.

 

[Jafa]

Seeing as I'm not the only one in this thread who thinks so, maybe you're the one with nio bloody idea.

Nah - he's the type of actor you either like or don't. He was brilliant in Tropic Thunder - very good. He was also good in WOTW - it was a different part for him. Ordinary in A few good men, Top gun etc.

Your call on Brad Pitt was a bad one though. Benjamin Button and Jesse James where brilliant performances on his part.

 

[Jafa]

I always thought Leonardo DiCaprio was a dud. In recent years I have changed my opinion - exceptional actor.

 

[Invigoration]

I'm not a huge Cruise fan, but he smashed his role in Magnolia.

 

[bunsen burner]

Ditto.

The problem is that his personal life is clouding the judgement of some regarding of his acting ability.

A fine fine actor who has become a walking headline.

The problem with Cruise is he's playing himself all the time. He's the same guy in every movie - Tom Cruise. And every knows that Tom Cruise is a major f***-head.

So they sort of go hand in hand. People don't see his acting skills anymore because they're not really there. All that's there is Tom Cruise. Monster f***-head.

Pacino, De Niro, Nicholson all do the same thing - play themselves. People are bored with them, but they are complete f***-heads like Tom Cruise.

I propose 2 lists:

1. Worst Actors
2. Biggest f***-heads

And no one can be on both lists. Problem solved.

 

[Upgrayedd]

American Psycho, Rescue Dawn, The Machinist, The Prestige, Batman Begins and 3:10 to Yuma.
Needless to say he is easily one of the better actors of his generation.

I rebuff that with The dark Knight and Terminator 4, where he was absolutly horrible, American Psycho he was alright, because he just played himself.

 

[Bowski]

The problem with Cruise is he's playing himself all the time. He's the same guy in every movie - Tom Cruise. And every knows that Tom Cruise is a major f***-head.

So they sort of go hand in hand. People don't see his acting skills anymore because they're not really there. All that's there is Tom Cruise. Monster f***-head.

Pacino, De Niro, Nicholson all do the same thing - play themselves. People are bored with them, but they are complete f***-heads like Tom Cruise.

I propose 2 lists:

1. Worst Actors
2. Biggest f***-heads

And no one can be on both lists. Problem solved.

See now I agree with this. To a degree.

As you say, quite correctly, Pacino and alike are quite often cast to play themselves, as a character is deemed a De Niro character or a Cruise character.

They play those roles well (obviously) but the strength of those actors is also their ability to venture into other territory. It's only natural for such exposed actors to develop their own 'personas'.

When he plays himself I can imagine that becoming distracting to some, but watching his early work or more daring stuff he does show his considerable ability.

 

[The King of Leon]

Jessica Alba. Has never been in a decent movie excluding Sin City (her role was only minor anyway) Also I can't believe the amount of times I have heard people say that she is the hottest women on the planet. Seriously I could name at least 100 women I would like to sleep with before her.

 

[Invigoration]

I rebuff that with The dark Knight and Terminator 4, where he was absolutly horrible, American Psycho he was alright, because he just played himself.

He wasn't even bad in TDK, just probably not up to his standard. I haven't bothered to see T4, but from what I read it wasn't his performance so much as a thin script and a complete lack of character development.

Try judging him on his on-screen performances instead of one stupid tirade he went on, his performance in American Psycho was outstanding.

I can't think of to many actors of his calibre and in his age range at the moment in Hollywood.
You'd probably struggle to give me 5 names I reckon.

 

[mantis]

I always thought Leonardo DiCaprio was a dud. In recent years I have changed my opinion - exceptional actor.

Strangely I have had the opposite view, in 1993 I thought he did his best work in, "This Boys Life" & "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", felt he went downhill after that, because he matured & with his good looks, he was cast into stupid roles for his looks alone.

 

[footylover18]

I always thought Leonardo DiCaprio was a dud. In recent years I have changed my opinion - exceptional actor.

I take it you haven't seen "What's eating Gilbert Grape"?

 

[footylover18]

The problem with Cruise is he's playing himself all the time. He's the same guy in every movie - Tom Cruise. And every knows that Tom Cruise is a major f***-head.

So they sort of go hand in hand. People don't see his acting skills anymore because they're not really there. All that's there is Tom Cruise. Monster f***-head.

Pacino, De Niro, Nicholson all do the same thing - play themselves. People are bored with them, but they are complete f***-heads like Tom Cruise.

quote]


I agree with you in part. When you watch Cruise, you do realise you're watching Cruise. However, this is the case with 99% of the actors in Hollywood. So are you saying that 99% of actors are bad actors? Of course not. Once you get to a level of fame that Tom Cruise has, it's extremely difficult to watch them play a character and not realise who you are actually watching. Damn difficult. I would argue that there isn't any actor who is on Cruise's level of fame that doesn't have this issue. The actors that don't have this problem are the ones that are the elite actors of their generation. Guys like Daniel Day Lewis, Meryl Streep etc etc. The other actors that avoid this problem are the actors who continually play really wierd characters. Somone like Brad Pitt for example or even Johnny Depp. These guys play some real strange characters where they can put on a really far fetched performance and thus escape their persona. Tom Cruise hasn't really played these roles. Actually the one time he did do that was in Tropic Thunder and he was absolutely brilliant in that. That character was actually so popular that apparently Crusie and Stiller are trying to work out a way they can do something else with it.

I disagree with your other point as well. Tom Cruise is a ****head? Really? How do you know this? From all reports he's actually one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. What sort of scandals has he been involved in exactly? Has he been in fights with papparazzi? Been busted beating up his girlfriends? The only issue he's had is the whole Scientology thing. He had that problem where he said that post partum depression doesn't actually exist when they were talking about Brooke Shields. Cruise actually personally apologised to Shields and explained what he actually meant to say. Things are fine between those two now. Other than that, i don't think he's been invovled in any other issues. You see, it's really popular to beat up on Tom Cruise right now. He just isn't the "in" actor right now, like say, Christian Bale is. Christian Bale recently was involved in a domestic dispute with his own family. His OWN mother and sister had to call the police on him because they feared for their own safety. Think about that for a second. His own mum called the police. The intersting thing about this is that when this occured, everyone lept to the defence of Bale claiming that it was probably because his mum and sister wanted money from him. That might have been true, noone knows, but the fact that everyone automatically just assumed Bale was in the right shows how important it is to be popular. Not to mention that outrageous outburst he had at that guy on set. People will forgive and forget anything as long as someone plays the role of Batman well eh? Bale is the "in" actor right now and he can seemingly get away with anything yet Tom Cruise is vilified to this day because of what? He jumped on the couch proclaiming his love for his gf/wife? Ridiculous.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Great post

IMO Tom Cruise is a sensational actor, he was exceptional in the Last Samurai but was at the height of his media portrayed craziness that he didn't get much recognition for it. Was also excellent in Valkyrie and Collateral.

 

[Invigoration]

The problem with Cruise is he's playing himself all the time. He's the same guy in every movie - Tom Cruise. And every knows that Tom Cruise is a major f***-head.

So they sort of go hand in hand. People don't see his acting skills anymore because they're not really there. All that's there is Tom Cruise. Monster f***-head.

Pacino, De Niro, Nicholson all do the same thing - play themselves. People are bored with them, but they are complete f***-heads like Tom Cruise.

quote]


I agree with you in part. When you watch Cruise, you do realise you're watching Cruise. However, this is the case with 99% of the actors in Hollywood. So are you saying that 99% of actors are bad actors? Of course not. Once you get to a level of fame that Tom Cruise has, it's extremely difficult to watch them play a character and not realise who you are actually watching. Damn difficult. I would argue that there isn't any actor who is on Cruise's level of fame that doesn't have this issue. The actors that don't have this problem are the ones that are the elite actors of their generation. Guys like Daniel Day Lewis, Meryl Streep etc etc. The other actors that avoid this problem are the actors who continually play really wierd characters. Somone like Brad Pitt for example or even Johnny Depp. These guys play some real strange characters where they can put on a really far fetched performance and thus escape their persona. Tom Cruise hasn't really played these roles. Actually the one time he did do that was in Tropic Thunder and he was absolutely brilliant in that. That character was actually so popular that apparently Crusie and Stiller are trying to work out a way they can do something else with it.

I disagree with your other point as well. Tom Cruise is a ****head? Really? How do you know this? From all reports he's actually one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. What sort of scandals has he been involved in exactly? Has he been in fights with papparazzi? Been busted beating up his girlfriends? The only issue he's had is the whole Scientology thing. He had that problem where he said that post partum depression doesn't actually exist when they were talking about Brooke Shields. Cruise actually personally apologised to Shields and explained what he actually meant to say. Things are fine between those two now. Other than that, i don't think he's been invovled in any other issues. You see, it's really popular to beat up on Tom Cruise right now. He just isn't the "in" actor right now, like say, Christian Bale is. Christian Bale recently was involved in a domestic dispute with his own family. His OWN mother and sister had to call the police on him because they feared for their own safety. Think about that for a second. His own mum called the police. The intersting thing about this is that when this occured, everyone lept to the defence of Bale claiming that it was probably because his mum and sister wanted money from him. That might have been true, noone knows, but the fact that everyone automatically just assumed Bale was in the right shows how important it is to be popular. Not to mention that outrageous outburst he had at that guy on set. People will forgive and forget anything as long as someone plays the role of Batman well eh? Bale is the "in" actor right now and he can seemingly get away with anything yet Tom Cruise is vilified to this day because of what? He jumped on the couch proclaiming his love for his gf/wife? Ridiculous.

This isn't even remotely true, I don't know where you are pulling this from. Bale was absolutely reamed for both incidents. He also isn't even in the top 10 most bankable actors, he gets completely shunned. Any popularity he has comes from his acting skills and on-screen accomplishments, generally stemming from his pre-Batman days because a lot actually rip him about his Batman roles. He is very much the "out" actor with the masses atm, maybe not to Cruise's extent, but he is vastly more talented than Cruise which is what keeps him in the hunt. Cruise was terrible in Valkyrie for example, can't believe someone said he was excellent in it.

Tom Cruise is vilified because he is ****ing bat shit insane, simple. A fact the large majority of Hollywood would testify to.
This sort of shit;

Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, it’s not like anyone else. As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one that can really help.

We are the authorities in getting people off drugs. We are the authorities on the mind. We are the authorities on improving conditions. Criminals, we can rehabilitate criminals. Way to happiness, we can bring peace and unite cultures.

[YOUTUBE]UFBZ_uAbxS0[/YOUTUBE]
4:26, just randomly ****ing laughing and shit.
Edit: I forgot just how much of a ****head TC was till I re-watched this. Watch from 5:20 and tell me this guy isn't absolutely insane? Wtf is he even talking about? He can't go on vacation because he just knows?

The bloke is absolutely nuts and portrays a shocking image through the media, it has nothing to do with scandals or anything of the sort. There is no conspiracy theory or anything, the guy just thinks he is the 'authority' on what is right and wrong in the world and people seemingly don't agree.


At least we get the Jerry O'Connell parody out of that video though:
Jerry O'Connell


Matthew Mcconaughey lays absolute waste to this thread by the way, he is the all mighty king.

 

[tonk]

That Jerry O'connell video is pretty funny however nothing will ever be as hilarious as the Tom Cruise original.

 

[Invigoration]

Yeah no one can top Tom's own insanity.

Another completely cringe worthy Cruise TV moment;
[YOUTUBE]cc_wjp262RY[/YOUTUBE]

Only TC can comment on Psychiatry because he knows the history