Who is the best actor and actress, presently?

[pErvinalia]

Oh, and i think the topic is "Best actor." Not "seems nice."

Which is why I wonder at Amy Adams on your list. I mean, she seems nice...

I think she's a really diverse and talented actress. I think she's cute too, so maybe that is biasing me a bit.. I really enjoyed her in a movie with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the name of which I can't remember. He was a priest and she was a nun. Really good acting by both of them and a great movie.

[Sean Hayden]

Doubt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/

[hadespussercats]

I like Crow - thought his acting was top notch in Beautiful Mind and The Insider. Thought he was just being himself in Master and Commander and was well cast. If anyone is interested in historical fiction - the author of that is the best there is. Patrick O'Brien is simply brilliant. 21 novels - I was thinking in the vernacular and didn't want the series to end.
Enjoyed Gladiator as well.

Bonham Carter is much fun and Charlize willing to push the envelope as well. I think Australia has done a good job promoting it's actors and film industry.

Ah, The Insider! Yes, I remember thinking that was good-- though clearly the film didn't make a long term impression on me!

I think have NZ next door, with all the filming that happens there, doesn't hurt Aussie actors at all.

[hadespussercats]

I agree. You just have to see it for yourself and make your own judgment.

Aren't you the one that never goes to movies tho?

Went to one yesterday, didn't I?

Tix for "The Hobbit" were $20 each. Regular-type movie, I think about half that? Not sure.

Then $15 an hour for a sitter. Never mind any food or drink. Ends up being a really expensive night.
Fortunately, I don't think J wants to see Les Mis, so I might be able to talk him into having a boys' night in while i go with a friend.

[hadespussercats]

Oh, and i think the topic is "Best actor." Not "seems nice."

Which is why I wonder at Amy Adams on your list. I mean, she seems nice...

I think she's a really diverse and talented actress. I think she's cute too, so maybe that is biasing me a bit.. I really enjoyed her in a movie with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the name of which I can't remember. He was a priest and she was a nun. Really good acting by both of them and a great movie.

She is really diverse, I'll give you that. From Enchanted to Julie/Julia to The Fighter is a wide gamut. I particularly liked her in The Fighter-- I grew up not too far from that part of Massachusetts, and people who aren't from there usually really butcher the accent. She was believable. Apparently, her director told her to keep her baby weight for that role. So, I guess that's her looking chubby? I should have her problem! Director said he wanted her to look like she liked drinking beer.

Anyway, yeah. I like her a lot, too. I haven't been blown away by her chops, yet. But I could see it.

[hadespussercats]

Doubt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/

Oh, yeah. I know the play. Cherry Jones did it on Broadway, I think. I'd like to see that.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah I forgot she was in The Fighter. She was fantastic in that too. So was Bale, of course. He's a fanatic. Have you seen the Machinist? He's almost anorexic in that. He gets into his movies so much. But you can't go past American Psycho for one of the greatest movies of all time.

Regarding Crowe... yeah, I thought Insiders and Beautiful Mind were incredible. He was amazing in Insiders. Basically the guy is a meat head, so in movies like Gladiator he is just being himself. That's why when you see him in something like Insiders it blows you away. I can't remember the exact chronology and the exact movies, but I remember the time he won the Oscar for Gladiator. It was a good movie and good performance, bot I just didn't get why he got an oscar for that. In the same year I'm pretty sure Denzel Washington was in Hurricane, and his performance in that blew Crowe out of the water in Gladiator. There was quite a stink after that if I recall correctly. The next year or thereabouts, Crowe was in either Insiders or Beautiful Mind and was brilliant and should have won the Oscar, but they gave it to Will Smith in Ali. It was almost as if they were trying to make up for the fuck up the year before in not giving it to Denzel. But this time around, I think Crowe was way better than Smith was in Ali.

[pErvinalia]

Doubt http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/

Oh, yeah. I know the play. Cherry Jones did it on Broadway, I think. I'd like to see that.

Yeah, it's a great movie. I don't think PSH has ever been in a shit movie.

Just remembered that Meryl Streep was in that too! Three of my favourite actors, all delivering brilliant performances, in one movie.

[orpheus]

Best actor... you mean besides Max von Sydow?

Not sure about best actress. Have to think about that.

[Jason]

Ian McKellen deserves a mention.

Agreed.

Did you ever see his Richard III ?
Fabulous. Really brilliant, I thought.

Nah. I've only seen the old BBC renditions of Shakespeare's plays, with the exception that I've also seen Roman Polanski's MacBeth. I was thinking more of his performances in X-Men.

[Coito ergo sum]

Yeah, I like actors that push the limits, but most importantly - pull it off! And Charlize definitely does that. And, as much as people are might hate me for this, so too does Russel Crowe. Now, I'm Australian, so I am more than aware of what a wanker Russel is in real life. But his acting really is good in my opinion. I first saw him in an australian neo-nazi film called Romper Stomper. I would highly recommend it to those who like challenging cinema.

edit: oh fuck yeah, Emma Thompson is brilliant too!

I still would like to see Les Mis at some point. I'm curious what sort of Javert he made.

I enjoyed Gladiator. I'm trying to think which if his movies I've actually seen. I missed the boxing one...

Russell Crowe is good. The boxing one is Cinderella Man, and it is excellent. He is kind of a wanker, though. I don't like it when actors pretend to be all out-of-place and confused at awards shows. We all know they are just acting there too, trying to seem all "deep" and "above it all" at the same time. I saw Crowe do that at an awards show -- pretended to be all confused as to what to do on stage and was like pretending to try to see the audience by putting his hand over his eyes like a visor. LOL. Douche.

Gladiator was entertaining, but it failed for me for the same reason many historical movies fail. They fuck up the history. I don't mind poetic license used to improve the story, but sometimes the actual history is even more exciting and entertaining than the trite, Hollywood rewrite. I mean, they turned Commodus into a Caligula-like guy who wanted to fuck his sister and who Aurelius wanted to disinherit, and Marcus Aurelius was suddenly an Emperor whose only wish was to restore the Republic, but for the evil forces that he could not master. Total nonsense. Commodos didn't try to kill Marcus. And, even stupid little details -- like, why couldn't they be accurate about the battle scenes? I mean -- cavalry riding with stirrups, and seige engines used in an open field and forest battles? It's like they didn't even try.

[Coito ergo sum]

Best actor... you mean besides Max von Sydow?
.

I like Max von Sydow. The best role I saw him in was in Three Days of the Condor with Robert Redford. Max plays the hired assassin. And, there is that early movie of his from Sweden where Max encounters the grim reaper. I can't remember much of it, but I watched it ages ago.

[hadespussercats]

Yeah I forgot she was in The Fighter. She was fantastic in that too. So was Bale, of course. He's a fanatic. Have you seen the Machinist? He's almost anorexic in that. He gets into his movies so much. But you can't go past American Psycho for one of the greatest movies of all time.

Regarding Crowe... yeah, I thought Insiders and Beautiful Mind were incredible. He was amazing in Insiders. Basically the guy is a meat head, so in movies like Gladiator he is just being himself. That's why when you see him in something like Insiders it blows you away. I can't remember the exact chronology and the exact movies, but I remember the time he won the Oscar for Gladiator. It was a good movie and good performance, bot I just didn't get why he got an oscar for that. In the same year I'm pretty sure Denzel Washington was in Hurricane, and his performance in that blew Crowe out of the water in Gladiator. There was quite a stink after that if I recall correctly. The next year or thereabouts, Crowe was in either Insiders or Beautiful Mind and was brilliant and should have won the Oscar, but they gave it to Will Smith in Ali. It was almost as if they were trying to make up for the fuck up the year before in not giving it to Denzel. But this time around, I think Crowe was way better than Smith was in Ali.

The Oscars are retarded like that. Not that it wouldn't be amazing to win one, but it's generally weird politics and money, not merit, that determines the laureates.

[hadespussercats]

Ian McKellen deserves a mention.

Agreed.

Did you ever see his Richard III ?
Fabulous. Really brilliant, I thought.

Nah. I've only seen the old BBC renditions of Shakespeare's plays, with the exception that I've also seen Roman Polanski's MacBeth. I was thinking more of his performances in X-Men.

Magneto is fabulous. And obviously I like me some Gandalf. But this Richard III was fierce-- not your Masterpiece Theatre type production. Set in an alternate-universe World War Two, with England going fascist.

Off-subject slightly-- another Shakespeare film I like for people who don't like your basic Ken Branaugh-type stuff is Julie Taymor's Titus Andronicus. That'll blow your hair back.

[hadespussercats]

Yeah, I like actors that push the limits, but most importantly - pull it off! And Charlize definitely does that. And, as much as people are might hate me for this, so too does Russel Crowe. Now, I'm Australian, so I am more than aware of what a wanker Russel is in real life. But his acting really is good in my opinion. I first saw him in an australian neo-nazi film called Romper Stomper. I would highly recommend it to those who like challenging cinema.

edit: oh fuck yeah, Emma Thompson is brilliant too!

I still would like to see Les Mis at some point. I'm curious what sort of Javert he made.

I enjoyed Gladiator. I'm trying to think which if his movies I've actually seen. I missed the boxing one...

Russell Crowe is good. The boxing one is Cinderella Man, and it is excellent. He is kind of a wanker, though. I don't like it when actors pretend to be all out-of-place and confused at awards shows. We all know they are just acting there too, trying to seem all "deep" and "above it all" at the same time. I saw Crowe do that at an awards show -- pretended to be all confused as to what to do on stage and was like pretending to try to see the audience by putting his hand over his eyes like a visor. LOL. Douche.

Gladiator was entertaining, but it failed for me for the same reason many historical movies fail. They fuck up the history. I don't mind poetic license used to improve the story, but sometimes the actual history is even more exciting and entertaining than the trite, Hollywood rewrite. I mean, they turned Commodus into a Caligula-like guy who wanted to fuck his sister and who Aurelius wanted to disinherit, and Marcus Aurelius was suddenly an Emperor whose only wish was to restore the Republic, but for the evil forces that he could not master. Total nonsense. Commodos didn't try to kill Marcus. And, even stupid little details -- like, why couldn't they be accurate about the battle scenes? I mean -- cavalry riding with stirrups, and seige engines used in an open field and forest battles? It's like they didn't even try.

There's the answer to your question. Not every film is striving to be a historical document.

I get the frustration. I remember feeling it watching Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth. The fashion-ized version of Elizabethan garments ( clothes that really couldn't be more splendid in their original forms) stuck in my craw. But I saw it again recently, and while the acting/story still strikes me as a little too "The Other Boleyn Girl" soap-opera-ish, the visuals were really striking. They weren't trying to be accurate-- they were trying to look Botticelli-amazing.

So... yeah.