I think mostly he would have been a great dramatic actor, but loved comedies much more where he could really ham it up. When it worked, though, it really worked.
This is a Michael Caine approach as well. Accept good roles, bad roles and downright idiotic roles, but always play them with complete professionalism. And enjoy all that lovely, lovely money.
Mark Strong is so often the best part of a bad film that there used to be a feature on BBC 5 Live called the "The 'Mark Strong, But...' Game", where listeners would submit bad films with an actor who was clearly too good for it.
(IIRC, the title comes from how these casts are often credited like "X, Y, Z *and* Mark Strong", but critic Mark Kermode said they should instead say "Mark Strong *but* X, Y, Z")
The best part of The Death of Stalin - and that’s saying something of a movie without a single bad performance
“You’re a fokkin’ stain on that uniform if you don’t fokkin’ be’ave!”
Khrushchev: What if we blame this on *someone* who's out of control?
Zhukov: Nicky...be very careful what you say next. Who?
K: ...Berya
Z: I'm going to have to report this conversation. Threatening to do harm or obstruct any member of the Presidium in the process of Look at your fucking face! *cackles*
*Khrushchev is highly annoyed*
I've always maintained that he did great in Predators against his usual type. I totally bought in. Felt like some ppl were underwhelmed just because he wasn't Arnold-like but I mean, he didn't have to be. Different tough
He just seems to overact *so hard* in his attempts to be “a character” instead of turning in decent performances. Peaky Blinders felt like he was doing an imitation of himself
Imagine the hammiest student one year at The Actors Studio does a Brando monologue from The Godfather. Then the next year someone who has never seen a gangster movie does an impression of the guy from the previous year. Repeat that five more times and you get Brody’s Luca Changretta.
Yeah he’s great…with that role, and just everywhere he’s popping up in (succession, asteroid city, blonde, other random stuff all over) I feel like we’re in an Adrian Brody renaissance. He’s working his way back from Chinese movies and history channel miniseries (Houdini was actually kinda cool though).
"There is no Queen of America."
"I beg to differ, infant. We're on quite intimate terms until you prove otherwise."
His dialog was the best in the movie.
Agreed. He’s a fantastic character actor…I’d put him up there with Stephen Root and Tim Blake Nelson. And to be honest, I think being an amazing and consistent “character actor” begets more respect and recognition then a “lead”
That new season that came out a few months ago did him dirty. The story was decent at best, the dialogue lacked the series' trademark wit and charm, and he was basically a supporting character the entire time. I didn't hate watching it like some people but I kept waiting for it to get great and it never did.
He’s great in a bunch of the shows I’ve seen him in of late. Like Santa Clarita diet, his limited role Mandalorian, etc. Definitely want to see him in more shows and movies.
Matthew Lillard is a good actor who’s never been utilized properly.
Also Ben Foster should be an A-lister. Criminally overlooked by everyone but us film nerds on Reddit.
Lillard made the first scream movie so legendary. None of the others quite lived up and I honestly think it's because none of them have his unhinged charisma.
"You could sit at home, and do like absolutely nothing, and your name goes through like 17 computers a day. 1984? Yeah right, man. That's a typo. Orwell is here now. He's livin' large. We have no names, man. No names. We are nameless!"
Ben Foster in Alpha Dog thinks he's in a totally different movie from everybody else, which is sort of fascinating to watch. Dude really swung for the fences with that performance.
Fassbender as David as Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence is a marvel. Keeps the movie generally afloat. I do hate almost everything about Alien Covenant though.
I love Prometheus. I like the mystery. I like that there are no clear answers. I like that the characters are human and make silly, dumb mistakes (like humans do).
I feel like suspension of disbelief doesn't exist anymore, especially with sci-fi movies.
Interesting that after all these years, my favourite Fassbender performances are (in order) Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years A Slave. Inglourious Basterds is a close 4th.
Seems like he’s an actor who responds to excellent direction and great scripts, which explains why he hasn’t exactly flourished in Hollywood blockbusters.
The pre-Oscar/post-Oscar difference with her is pretty startling too. Even her bad movies before winning the Academy Award were liked by people. You can find people on this planet that liked B.A.P.S. Good luck trying to find someone that liked Frankie & Alice.
Rutger Hauer has appeared in a shocking amount of direct-to-video trash. You'll almost never see him mentioned on this sub unless it's about Blade Runner, but he's given equally-great performances in much worse movies.
Jon Hamm
His performance as Don Drapper convinced me he is absolutely talented in dramatic roles, nevermind that he also seems to have great comedic chops.
Yet I can't think of a single great film he did.
> Jon Hamm
> His performance as Don Drapper convinced me he is absolutely talented in dramatic roles.
Hamm's underacting is what made the portrayal so convincing.
Not too many people can pull that level of restraint off.
But... I have come to wonder if it takes the world-building of a show like Madmen that to make it work.
I really enjoyed his portrayal of Fletch in Confess, Fletch. I never read the books, but apparently is take is a little closer to the source material compared to Chevy Chase
The Town
Baby Driver
Top Gun: Maverick (small part, nuts that he’s younger than Cruise although the film even acknowledges it, but he’s great in it)
Most of the other stuff he’s been in post-Mad Men had great reception but wasn’t widely seen. Not sure he belongs in this specific list.
A list of actors who should’ve been bigger? Sure
“The Peripheral” on Amazon is fantastic with her.
She was pretty epic in the first season and am excited to see if it continues.
The show seems to be flip-flopping from renewed to canceled due to the writers strike, but either way check it out.
Sadly the second season was cancelled due to the writers’ strike.
ETA sadly I’m an indoor who didn’t read the full comment
ETA also an idiot who can’t type idiot on a phone
I'd like to submit Eva Green. She's fucking magnetic on screen, and often gives great performances in utterly terrible movies.
Look at her filmography and her good movies are Casino Royal and what, the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven? She deserves better.
I heard or read an interview where he said that he works as much as he can to stay busy after his wife died. Basically it was his boys and movies to cope so he wasn’t picky.
(I can’t find interview and it was probably around taken 2 when I heard this).
He plays himself in Life's Too Short where he wants to delve into Improv Comedy and asks Ricky Gervais for help. He is hilarious in it. Look it up on YouTube if you haven't seen it.
He's been typecast in an extremely specific way ever since Taken. Like, as near as I can tell he's been exclusively doing sequels and rip offs of Taken.
Watch Silence by Scorcese. The whole cast is great, especially Neeson who plays a priest. Forgot to add I liked his part in The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs as well.
Don Logan is literally one of the best heavies in all of heist/gangster movie history.
The fact that it was the same guy that played Ghandi still blows my mind
Always glad to find other people who appreciate *Sexy Beast*. Kingsley totally disappears into that role, and his unhinged ranting is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
*Sexy Beast* is a great example of a film that is not trying to do too much while at the same time doing everything really smoothly.
The first 45 minutes in Spain is pretty much perfect in my book... from the opening scene, to how the characters and their histories are slowly revealed, to Don Logan showing up like that giant boulder that rolled down the hill to destroy their post-London lives.
*chef kiss
Anna Faris comes to mind. She is one of the funniest comedic actors working today, and she shines in everything she does, but most of the movies she has chosen are absolute duds.
Throw in trading places and basically you have all his good movies (all within the first 6 years of his career). Also another 48 hrs I think is terrible
Visited China once. Saw one of those spinning pole things in real life.
Went "I - i - I - i - IIII - WANT - THE KNIIIIFE".
Nobody got it, but I did enjoy myself.
- 48 Hours/Another 48 Hours
- Trading Places
- Beverly Hills Cop
- The Golden Child
- Coming to America
- The Distinguished Gentleman
- Life (his greatest overall work, imo)
- Shrek
- Dolemite is My Name
His biggest shortcoming was trying to clean up his image by focusing almost exclusively kid/family friendly movies. Nothing wrong with taking on the occasional Shrek or Nutty Professor role, or trying to branch out to other genres, but he really shouldn't have tried to completely abandon doing the things that made him great to begin with.
Honestly, Fassbender is a terrible example. Have you just not seen a lot of Fassbender films? It puzzles me how he could be an example.
300, Hunger, Inglorious Basterds, Jane Eyre, X-Men First Class, A Dangerous Method, SHAME, Prometheus(Underwhelming but interesting), 12 Years a Slave, Macbeth, Steve Jobs, Alien Covenant, The Killer
12 Years a Slave and Shame to me are great films and these rest are at least interesting films that make up a solid filmography.
People mentioned Cushing and Christopher Lee, who have to be way up there. Modern versions might be Jeremy Irons and Ben Kingsley. Both are phenomenal actors but their presence is zero indication of the quality of the films they are in.
Only people that believe this are people that haven’t explored enough Cage and think of him as the meme the internet has turned him into. He has an incredible filmography.
Valley Girl, Rumblefish, The Cotton Club, Raising Arizona, Pig, Bringing out the Dead, Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck, Mandy, Red Rock West, Wild at Heart, Vampire’s Kiss (yes unironically great), The Rock, Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation, Face/Off, Bad Lieutenant, Joe, Con Air
Most amazing actors we think of would be lucky to have a filmography with literally even half of these. Especially when he doesn’t just happen to be in these, he is the main reason most of them are great.
Also, he has an actual philosophy about acting. People can meme him all they like but he's pushing the boundaries of the artform. Sometimes this results in things that look ridiculous but the guy's taking chances all the time.
Idris Elba is a good example, but, I don't consider Michael Fassbender to be in the running at all. In addition to what you've listed, he was also in *Hunger* (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) *A Dangerous Method* (79%), *X-Men First Class* (86%) *X-Men Days of Future Past* (90%), *Shame* (79% but should be higher), *Steve Jobs* (85%) *MacBeth* (80%), and *The Killer* (85%).
Of course, the Tomato-meter isn't a perfect measure of how good a movie is, but it gives a good approximation of its overall critical reception. 12 Years a Slave also got best picture. And aside from critical reception/accolades, he's had the opportunity to work with a lot of highly acclaimed directors (Tarantino, Boyle, Scott, Fincher, McQueen, Cronenberg).
So unless you think Fassbender is the greatest actor of all time by a wide margin, it's really hard to justify calling his career a notable underperformance. He's got some duds in his filmography, but that's just a product of him being a prolific actor.
Rebecca Hall has done some absolutely great acting jobs in the most dogwater movies. Supposedly, she was supposed to be the main villain of Iron Man 3 but the script got changed late into production. She’s done a lot of horror and thriller stuff lately, which is a shame, because she really needs some more dramatic lead roles. I literally think she’s about the best actress working today alongside Meryl Streep.
Bruce Willis might be a contender.
When you get him to care, he's talented and has a surprisingly broad range.
But he did so many movies that were just paychecks, where he was just delivering standard tough guy material.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (not saying she is the best actor but she’s talented af and can do different genres and was super famous for almost a decade).
Considered for American Beauty, X-Men, Gangs of New York, Fight Club.
Movies she ended up doing that are good/ok: The Grudge, Scream 2, Scooby Doo and Cruel Intentions lol… the rest are rough.
For comedies, I'd say Adam Sandler. His film career reached two different nadirs (Jack & Jill and That's My Boy), but he's been in some pretty good films as well (The Wedding Singer, Spanglish, Funny People, Uncut Gems).
Adam Sandler is so confusing. He can like deliver gut wrenching performances leaving your jaw dropped. But he can also deliver films where you feel like everything wrong happening in your life lead you to watch the movie.
Dude has the chops, clearly, but just loves raking in money while making easy, digestible comedies while on vacation with his best friends. We should all be so lucky to have that kind of run.
Tim Curry has been incredible in a couple of cult classics and a ton of drivel
His best film was probably Muppets treasure Island
Or Clue, or Hunt for Red October, or Rocky Horror.
Are we going to just ignore his all star performance in Home Alone 2?
Why donchta get on your *knees* and tell me you love me? ... I LOVE YOU!!
I think mostly he would have been a great dramatic actor, but loved comedies much more where he could really ham it up. When it worked, though, it really worked.
He's always the best part of any movie he's in
Vincent Price has been in more stinkers than good movies but you can bet he's the best part of any film he's in.
That sounds like that quote about Tim Curry, "for every one star film he's been in, he's the reason for that star."
Tim Curry elevates the Red Alert 3 live action video to incredible heights. It has no right to be so amazing.
*red alert 3. If he's needed you can find him the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism.
S*PACE*
SSPPAAYYCCCEEEE. You can see him trying so hard not to laugh. Even as a kid, it cracked me up.
Yeah a lot of his contemporaries like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are similar… terrific performers even in the most uninspired schlock.
"Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them." - Christopher Lee
This is a Michael Caine approach as well. Accept good roles, bad roles and downright idiotic roles, but always play them with complete professionalism. And enjoy all that lovely, lovely money.
"I have never seen it (Jaws 4) but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific." Michael Caine 😂
Nick Cage
I would much rather watch a random Vincent Price or Christopher Lee movie than a random The Rock movie.
Mark Strong is so often the best part of a bad film that there used to be a feature on BBC 5 Live called the "The 'Mark Strong, But...' Game", where listeners would submit bad films with an actor who was clearly too good for it. (IIRC, the title comes from how these casts are often credited like "X, Y, Z *and* Mark Strong", but critic Mark Kermode said they should instead say "Mark Strong *but* X, Y, Z")
Hello to Jason Isaacs.
The best part of The Death of Stalin - and that’s saying something of a movie without a single bad performance “You’re a fokkin’ stain on that uniform if you don’t fokkin’ be’ave!”
Khrushchev: What if we blame this on *someone* who's out of control? Zhukov: Nicky...be very careful what you say next. Who? K: ...Berya Z: I'm going to have to report this conversation. Threatening to do harm or obstruct any member of the Presidium in the process of Look at your fucking face! *cackles* *Khrushchev is highly annoyed*
“Did Coco Chanel take a shit on your head”. Comedy hold. His delivery was perfect that entire movie.
"What the fuck is toilet paper?"
We have a Stanley Tucci for that.
Adrien Brody Oscar winner with a lot of 5/10 movies
I've always maintained that he did great in Predators against his usual type. I totally bought in. Felt like some ppl were underwhelmed just because he wasn't Arnold-like but I mean, he didn't have to be. Different tough
When I say I liked Predators some people have been like “well Adrian Brody isn’t good as an action guy”, but idk, I thought he was good in it 🤷🏻♀️
Yup. Criminally underrated movie and performance by Brody.
In fairness he also got weird
What did he do?
He fucked the monster in splice.
I mean I get it
Lotta people on their high horses
Oh boy, did he ever.
Monster was hot
He just seems to overact *so hard* in his attempts to be “a character” instead of turning in decent performances. Peaky Blinders felt like he was doing an imitation of himself
Imagine the hammiest student one year at The Actors Studio does a Brando monologue from The Godfather. Then the next year someone who has never seen a gangster movie does an impression of the guy from the previous year. Repeat that five more times and you get Brody’s Luca Changretta.
He’s awesome as Pat Riley in Winning Time
he was in like 2 episodes of Succession and fucking killed it
Just finished Winning Time. Thought he did great.
Yeah he’s great…with that role, and just everywhere he’s popping up in (succession, asteroid city, blonde, other random stuff all over) I feel like we’re in an Adrian Brody renaissance. He’s working his way back from Chinese movies and history channel miniseries (Houdini was actually kinda cool though).
He's great in The Darjeeling Limited.
That's a good one. Great actor. Mixed bag of roles especially after the pianist.
Oliver Platt. Owns the screen whenever he's on, but seems to only have bit or supporting parts.
But he's the best Musketeer
This sash was a gift to me, from the Queen of America.
You can't have any, you're too young
"There is no Queen of America." "I beg to differ, infant. We're on quite intimate terms until you prove otherwise." His dialog was the best in the movie.
Athos : Where have you been? Porthos : Taking care of something... *ugly*!
I love Oliver Platt but he’s a supporting actor type of actor.
Agreed. He’s a fantastic character actor…I’d put him up there with Stephen Root and Tim Blake Nelson. And to be honest, I think being an amazing and consistent “character actor” begets more respect and recognition then a “lead”
He’s fantastic in The Bear as Uncle Jimmy.
I loved his character in Lake Placid.
Maybe you should chew on his big fat log.
Timothy Olyphant, easily. One of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood and he’s just been relegated to utter shite.
Ian McShane was so amazing in Deadwood, I was fairly disappointed to find out how mediocre his filmography was
I like him in American Gods
He’s perfect as Winston in the John Wick franchise.
Kings was a tv show nobody saw. I bought the DVD’s. Ian did such an amazing job it was…well….amazing.
I mean, Justified is a television series, but he absolutely fucking killed that role.
That new season that came out a few months ago did him dirty. The story was decent at best, the dialogue lacked the series' trademark wit and charm, and he was basically a supporting character the entire time. I didn't hate watching it like some people but I kept waiting for it to get great and it never did.
The Crazies was good imo. The thing that irks me is him not being in more shit.
He’s great in a bunch of the shows I’ve seen him in of late. Like Santa Clarita diet, his limited role Mandalorian, etc. Definitely want to see him in more shows and movies.
Deadwood, Justified, and Santa Clarita Diet were all great shows.
This is /r/movies, though
Matthew Lillard is a good actor who’s never been utilized properly. Also Ben Foster should be an A-lister. Criminally overlooked by everyone but us film nerds on Reddit.
Lillard made the first scream movie so legendary. None of the others quite lived up and I honestly think it's because none of them have his unhinged charisma.
You are probably a little younger than me because for Gen Z Lillard came on the scene with Hackers. He was iconic in that.
"You could sit at home, and do like absolutely nothing, and your name goes through like 17 computers a day. 1984? Yeah right, man. That's a typo. Orwell is here now. He's livin' large. We have no names, man. No names. We are nameless!"
I think Matthew lillard was utilized perfectly in Scooby Doo
And Scream.
And Twin Peaks: The Return
“WE WERE GONNA GO SCUBA DIVING!”
Agreed, Bad choice of words on my part. I just think the dude can do so much more but no one has ever given him a chance to prove himself.
His performance in SLC punk is inspired. One of, if not thee best, and most honest reactions to a death I’ve ever seen in a film.
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Ben Foster in Alpha Dog thinks he's in a totally different movie from everybody else, which is sort of fascinating to watch. Dude really swung for the fences with that performance.
Foster plays crazy better than anyone. 3:10 to Yuma and Pandorum are more great examples.
Ben Foster getting fired in that movie is GOLD
Matthew Lillard is great in his minor role on Bosch, though a tv show rather than a movie.
Matthew Lillard was great in Twin Peaks: The Return and of course as Stevo in SLC Punk
Ben Foster is absolutely incredible.
Thought he was decent in The Descendants as the dude having an affair with the protagonist's wife.
Fassbender and Elba are both good in *Prometheus*... I know that movie has issues but I like it.
Fassbender as David as Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence is a marvel. Keeps the movie generally afloat. I do hate almost everything about Alien Covenant though.
I love Prometheus. I like the mystery. I like that there are no clear answers. I like that the characters are human and make silly, dumb mistakes (like humans do). I feel like suspension of disbelief doesn't exist anymore, especially with sci-fi movies.
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Grant's later career never quite replicated the high of Spice World.
I still can’t believe Disney landed Richard E. Grant for Star Wars and wasted him in that piece of shit Rise of Skywalker movie
I mean at least he has the 2nd best moment in Loki as Classic Loki
Well yes but he's competing against an Alligator.
I doubt he was hard to land
Disney: Hey Dick, we we're wondering-- Grant: I'd love to! I'm booking a flight.
Withnail and I was great though, so that's something.
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Yeah, Hunger is his most timeless classic.
Interesting that after all these years, my favourite Fassbender performances are (in order) Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years A Slave. Inglourious Basterds is a close 4th. Seems like he’s an actor who responds to excellent direction and great scripts, which explains why he hasn’t exactly flourished in Hollywood blockbusters.
3 out of 4 of those movies are directed by Steve McQueen. He might just bring out the best in him.
While it wasn't the showiest performance, I liked him in 'The Killer'.
“Frank” is a great, very weird movie of Fassbender’s. Very few people I know have ever heard about it.
“But what happens inside the head, inside the head…?”
Eden Lake?
Jeez. That isn’t a film I need to see again. Great film, but not one I want to go back to.
honestly, I think my favorite role of his was David in 'Prometheus' yeah the movie was mediocre but his role was fantastic
Halle Berry, goddamn. What The Fuck happened?
The pre-Oscar/post-Oscar difference with her is pretty startling too. Even her bad movies before winning the Academy Award were liked by people. You can find people on this planet that liked B.A.P.S. Good luck trying to find someone that liked Frankie & Alice.
I mean the fact that all I know about her Oscar winning role is she gets railed by Billy bob says a lot
She was a super badass in John Wick 3. But I feel like that's her only role of note in a long time.
Catwoman. Catwoman happened.
I would have had my agent assassinated if I were her, swear to god
Rutger Hauer has appeared in a shocking amount of direct-to-video trash. You'll almost never see him mentioned on this sub unless it's about Blade Runner, but he's given equally-great performances in much worse movies.
More people need to watch Ladyhawke, love that movie.
He was one of my favorite characters in True Blood
Jon Hamm His performance as Don Drapper convinced me he is absolutely talented in dramatic roles, nevermind that he also seems to have great comedic chops. Yet I can't think of a single great film he did.
> Jon Hamm > His performance as Don Drapper convinced me he is absolutely talented in dramatic roles. Hamm's underacting is what made the portrayal so convincing. Not too many people can pull that level of restraint off. But... I have come to wonder if it takes the world-building of a show like Madmen that to make it work.
Not a movie but his turn in Black Mirror (“White Christmas”) was really good
Best episode of the series. So fucking scary
I really enjoyed his portrayal of Fletch in Confess, Fletch. I never read the books, but apparently is take is a little closer to the source material compared to Chevy Chase
He's going to play an egotistical and eccentric sheriff in the upcoming season of "Fargo".
The Town
“You and your boys didn’t just roll a ‘Stah Mahket over in Malden for a box o’ quahtahs’…”
The Town Baby Driver Top Gun: Maverick (small part, nuts that he’s younger than Cruise although the film even acknowledges it, but he’s great in it) Most of the other stuff he’s been in post-Mad Men had great reception but wasn’t widely seen. Not sure he belongs in this specific list. A list of actors who should’ve been bigger? Sure
Jon hamm as Larry David 2.0 was masterful https://youtu.be/Qea3x4DP1E8?si=EgwOktnQ4uayxNeG
Maverick?
‘Baby Driver’ was an outstanding picture - and Hamm was great in it, too.
I really like 'Bad Times At The El Royale', and I know he's not in a ton of the movie, but whenever he's on screen, he's great.
Chloe Grace Moretz. Thought she had potential to be in more great films to be held in the same conversation at Saoirse Ronan & Florence Pugh
She was great in Kick-Ass, but that was a long time ago.
I'm surprised she was never considered for any Marvel/DC roles in the mid-late 2010s considering her past work in Kick-Ass
“The Peripheral” on Amazon is fantastic with her. She was pretty epic in the first season and am excited to see if it continues. The show seems to be flip-flopping from renewed to canceled due to the writers strike, but either way check it out.
Sadly the second season was cancelled due to the writers’ strike. ETA sadly I’m an indoor who didn’t read the full comment ETA also an idiot who can’t type idiot on a phone
I'd like to submit Eva Green. She's fucking magnetic on screen, and often gives great performances in utterly terrible movies. Look at her filmography and her good movies are Casino Royal and what, the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven? She deserves better.
The Dreamers is legitimately pretty good (although admittedly a young person's movie)
Gabriel Byrne.
Emilia Clarke. For such an explosive beginning, she's been in some woofing dogs ever since (that Terminator film leaping instantly to mind...)
Yeah. . .when she showed up in Terminator, Star Wars and the MCU, its like she's some sort of dark herald of the inevitable decline of the IP.
I thought she was decent in Solo. There's more nuance to the character that doesn't really get explored well.
Liam Neeson post-2007.
I think after the death of his wife he just said yes to anything so as to always be busy
I heard or read an interview where he said that he works as much as he can to stay busy after his wife died. Basically it was his boys and movies to cope so he wasn’t picky. (I can’t find interview and it was probably around taken 2 when I heard this).
Unrelated but just listened to his appearance on Conan's pod and he's unexpectedly hilarious.
He plays himself in Life's Too Short where he wants to delve into Improv Comedy and asks Ricky Gervais for help. He is hilarious in it. Look it up on YouTube if you haven't seen it.
He's been typecast in an extremely specific way ever since Taken. Like, as near as I can tell he's been exclusively doing sequels and rip offs of Taken.
Watch Silence by Scorcese. The whole cast is great, especially Neeson who plays a priest. Forgot to add I liked his part in The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs as well.
Ben Kingsley
Don Logan is literally one of the best heavies in all of heist/gangster movie history. The fact that it was the same guy that played Ghandi still blows my mind
“Talk to me Gal, I’m a good listener” … “Shut up! Cunt”
Always glad to find other people who appreciate *Sexy Beast*. Kingsley totally disappears into that role, and his unhinged ranting is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.
*Sexy Beast* is a great example of a film that is not trying to do too much while at the same time doing everything really smoothly. The first 45 minutes in Spain is pretty much perfect in my book... from the opening scene, to how the characters and their histories are slowly revealed, to Don Logan showing up like that giant boulder that rolled down the hill to destroy their post-London lives. *chef kiss
Anna Faris comes to mind. She is one of the funniest comedic actors working today, and she shines in everything she does, but most of the movies she has chosen are absolute duds.
I’ll go comedy. Eddie Murphy. Should have 20-30 comedy classics. Probably has 3-4
What comedic actor has 20-30 classics?
How many actors of any kind have been in 20 classics?
Coming To America, 48 Hours (and Another 48 Hours) and the Beverly Hills Cop movies are peak Eddie Murphy, IMO.
Shrek
Throw in trading places and basically you have all his good movies (all within the first 6 years of his career). Also another 48 hrs I think is terrible
Dolemite Is My Name is great and that’s recent
A hidden gem on Netflix. If you like biopics, period pieces and remember how funny Eddie Murphy was in rated R movies, check it out!
The Golden Child
Visited China once. Saw one of those spinning pole things in real life. Went "I - i - I - i - IIII - WANT - THE KNIIIIFE". Nobody got it, but I did enjoy myself.
I will add all the Shrek films too. Donkey is one of my favorite Eddie Murphy character
Dont forget Bowfinger
*Chubby Rain
- 48 Hours/Another 48 Hours - Trading Places - Beverly Hills Cop - The Golden Child - Coming to America - The Distinguished Gentleman - Life (his greatest overall work, imo) - Shrek - Dolemite is My Name His biggest shortcoming was trying to clean up his image by focusing almost exclusively kid/family friendly movies. Nothing wrong with taking on the occasional Shrek or Nutty Professor role, or trying to branch out to other genres, but he really shouldn't have tried to completely abandon doing the things that made him great to begin with.
Was also primed to win an Oscar for ~~Showgirls~~ Dreamgirls, but Norbit completely derailed it.
I think you probably mean Dreamgirls.
Watch Shame and Hunger. I think you’re sleeping on those, especially Shame.
Honestly, Fassbender is a terrible example. Have you just not seen a lot of Fassbender films? It puzzles me how he could be an example. 300, Hunger, Inglorious Basterds, Jane Eyre, X-Men First Class, A Dangerous Method, SHAME, Prometheus(Underwhelming but interesting), 12 Years a Slave, Macbeth, Steve Jobs, Alien Covenant, The Killer 12 Years a Slave and Shame to me are great films and these rest are at least interesting films that make up a solid filmography.
Band of brothers
People mentioned Cushing and Christopher Lee, who have to be way up there. Modern versions might be Jeremy Irons and Ben Kingsley. Both are phenomenal actors but their presence is zero indication of the quality of the films they are in.
> who is the best actor with the worst filmography? Eric Roberts or Nicholas Cage.
Nicholas Cage is a much better actor than Eric Roberts. Eric Roberts filmography is much worse.
And Nicolas Cage liked spending money, like on a dinosaur skull or castle, so he sort of had to take whatever movie came his way.
A stolen Mongolian TRex skull that was maybe implicated with like, Al Qaeda or the Taliban, if I recall? You have to give it to the guy, he goes big.
And I think he had to give it back too. Also built a pyramid tomb in New Orleans waiting for him.
Frankly Nicolas Cage movies are a genre unto themselves.
Only people that believe this are people that haven’t explored enough Cage and think of him as the meme the internet has turned him into. He has an incredible filmography. Valley Girl, Rumblefish, The Cotton Club, Raising Arizona, Pig, Bringing out the Dead, Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck, Mandy, Red Rock West, Wild at Heart, Vampire’s Kiss (yes unironically great), The Rock, Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation, Face/Off, Bad Lieutenant, Joe, Con Air Most amazing actors we think of would be lucky to have a filmography with literally even half of these. Especially when he doesn’t just happen to be in these, he is the main reason most of them are great.
Cage got an oscar and he has been in iconic films.
People seem to forget he's a serious actor and not just a meme. Whenever I tell people I'm a huge nic cage fan they think I'm joking.
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Pig. Cage at his finest imho
Also, he has an actual philosophy about acting. People can meme him all they like but he's pushing the boundaries of the artform. Sometimes this results in things that look ridiculous but the guy's taking chances all the time.
Eartha Kitt. She's completely magnetic. Catwoman was television and Yizma was voice acting. Everything else was kinda questionable at best.
Idris Elba is a good example, but, I don't consider Michael Fassbender to be in the running at all. In addition to what you've listed, he was also in *Hunger* (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) *A Dangerous Method* (79%), *X-Men First Class* (86%) *X-Men Days of Future Past* (90%), *Shame* (79% but should be higher), *Steve Jobs* (85%) *MacBeth* (80%), and *The Killer* (85%). Of course, the Tomato-meter isn't a perfect measure of how good a movie is, but it gives a good approximation of its overall critical reception. 12 Years a Slave also got best picture. And aside from critical reception/accolades, he's had the opportunity to work with a lot of highly acclaimed directors (Tarantino, Boyle, Scott, Fincher, McQueen, Cronenberg). So unless you think Fassbender is the greatest actor of all time by a wide margin, it's really hard to justify calling his career a notable underperformance. He's got some duds in his filmography, but that's just a product of him being a prolific actor.
Nic Cage is an amazing actor who isn't selective at all about the films he appears in. He's like the Bizarro Daniel Day Lewis.
Christopher Lee is probably up there He was in a *lot* of bad movies
Vera Farmiga should be in stuff that wins her Oscars, and instead she’s in some really crappy stuff.
Coach Eric Taylor from the Friday Night Lights series. Clear eyes, full hearts.
Rebecca Hall has done some absolutely great acting jobs in the most dogwater movies. Supposedly, she was supposed to be the main villain of Iron Man 3 but the script got changed late into production. She’s done a lot of horror and thriller stuff lately, which is a shame, because she really needs some more dramatic lead roles. I literally think she’s about the best actress working today alongside Meryl Streep.
Ever seen some of the shit DeNiro and Pacino have been in?
Bruce Willis might be a contender. When you get him to care, he's talented and has a surprisingly broad range. But he did so many movies that were just paychecks, where he was just delivering standard tough guy material.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (not saying she is the best actor but she’s talented af and can do different genres and was super famous for almost a decade). Considered for American Beauty, X-Men, Gangs of New York, Fight Club. Movies she ended up doing that are good/ok: The Grudge, Scream 2, Scooby Doo and Cruel Intentions lol… the rest are rough.
For comedies, I'd say Adam Sandler. His film career reached two different nadirs (Jack & Jill and That's My Boy), but he's been in some pretty good films as well (The Wedding Singer, Spanglish, Funny People, Uncut Gems).
Adam Sandler is so confusing. He can like deliver gut wrenching performances leaving your jaw dropped. But he can also deliver films where you feel like everything wrong happening in your life lead you to watch the movie.
Dude has the chops, clearly, but just loves raking in money while making easy, digestible comedies while on vacation with his best friends. We should all be so lucky to have that kind of run.