Which actor is your all time fav??

I've got a few -

The most complete actor I've ever seen, his ability to inhabit a character was a joy to behold. Timing, pathos, presence, he had it all - Sir Alec Guinness.



From John Le Carré: "Watching him put on an identity was like watching a man set out on a mission into enemy territory. Was the disguise right for him? (Him being himself in his new persona.) Were his spectacles right? His shoes, were they too good, too new -- would they give him away? And this walk, this thing that he did with his knee, this glance, this posture -- not too much, you think? And if he looked like a native, would he speak like one -- did he master the vernacular?"

Favourite performances:

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957, David Lean)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951, Charles Crichton)
Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)
The Ladykillers (1955, Alexander Mackendrick)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979, Frances Alcock, John Irvin)
Smiley's People (1982, Simon Langton)

Bubbling under -

For all round charisma, ability and star quality: Denzel Washington



For all round tough working class Irishness (with a heart of gold): Colm Meaney.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Hehe, good ole Chief Miles O'Brien

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I think a new thread needs to be created ... this time with a real choice of actors ... none of the original in the poll were even B stars

Hmm, if it's ok with you, please don't put any of those names near this thread, it just disrespects them.

someone mentioned Denzel *shuders* Washington....WHY?! IN GODS NAME WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?! ( the man is such an overactor it's quite horrible, he won the oscar for one of his worst overacting roles and in my opinion he was given the oscar because of the whole "black people have not won the oscar since sidney poitier"-thing )...i don't like affirmative action.......

I like him. A lot. What other reason do you need?

I honestly can't see where Denzel's been particularly guilty of overacting. In fact I think his performances in Cry Freedom, Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Devil In A Blue Dress, The Hurricaine and Man On Fire were, if anything, nicely underplayed. Then there was Training Day - a case of a performance lifting a film and turning it from banal to...well...average. Takes all sorts, I guess.

Oh yeah, Oscars given to people for reasons other than the actual performance. Since when was this unusual? Were you talking about Glory or Training Day?

I definitely agree with Tacitus here. Maybe I understand where you're comming from with the overacting if all you've seen of Denzel is in Training Day, Out of Time, John Q, and possibly Man on Fire, even though I thought he was excellent in all three, I feel I can agree with some instances of arrogance in his acting in his works following the Hurricane. If you are going to criticize Denzel, don't say he's bad because he won an academy award for one of his less impressive parts, but at least have some grounds for your arguement. The Academy Awards don't aways award the best actor, but most of the time they award the actor that deserves the award. I would say Denzel definitely deserved an award for best actor for one of his roles, maybe not Training Day, but that was the year he was honored. If you think there was some sort of affirmative action in play, then I believe you are somewhat mistaken. Another good example of the academy awarding is Russel Crowe, who is a great actor, may not have deserved best actor for Gladiator. People felt he should have won for The Insider, but he got it for Gladiator, which wasn't even close to depth of his role in The Insider. It happens, doesn't matter what color you are. Also you should never claim that someone won an award because of their race, instead I would point more towards someone not winning an award for their race. Anyways...

training day. the only reason i picked it up was because i wanted to see why he was given the oscar, half way through it i was thinking of stoping the movie, that's how much his performance annoyed me, that scene where he was surrounded was so incredibly overacted i actually started to laugh....what annoyes me about the man is his recent roles, he seems to be picking the roles that will land him an oscar ( you know, the classic oscar nomination roles )...one of his best performances was in philadelphia and the pelican brief, no overacting, just smooth normal acting, cry freedom was streching it a bit....i guess i also find it annoying that he took it upon himself to act out all of the legendary black leaders which i think is very presumptuos of him....yes we know you're very proud to be african american ( as well he should be ) but honestly , give it a rest....i'm willing to bet my life he's going to try to play neslon mandela if he ever gets the chance....
all in all i just don't like anything he's done after philadelphia....
also he always picks the same roles, his only two ( that i can think of ) not-so-goody-toshoos roles were training day ( immediatly landed him an oscar ) and he got game, but he's obviously not really a negative character in that one, only sorta....

To me, Denzel seems pretty one dimensional. It's like he's the same person in every movie and seems to put being cool above being a believable character, but that's just my perception and I haven't seen all of his work. Meanwhile if he's one of Tacitus' favorite actors it is a valid opinion and I won't knock him for it. One of my favorite actors is Sean Penn, who gets his fair share of criticsim for overacting.

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"Like all dreamers, Steven mistook disenchantment for truth."

thank you very much , that is exactly what i'm saying....

sean penn is a far better actor then washington.....

I agree, and there is another example of someone put off. Sean Penn missed out on I Am Sam, but got it for Mystic River, interesting how the academy works sometimes.

I think Denzel is one of America’s best actors of today…making his overall body of work rather depressing.

Films like Ricochet, Fallen, and Virtuosity have a one-dimensional Washington wowing no one while he happily laughs all the way to the bank, but then there are the few films that are written and directed so much better and also demand so much more from him. He always excels in those films with what appears to be the greatest of ease.

Personally, he’s already convinced me that he’s the real deal by shining brightly in films like The Manchurian Candidate, Malcom X, The Hurricane (which is unfortunately not a great film), and, of course, his work in Glory. I don’t think it’s outlandish at all that he won the Oscar that year, or for the year he won for Training Day. I like that film and also like Washington’s performance in it. He was up against Will Smith/Ali, Russell Crowe/A Beautiful Mind, Sean Penn/I Am Sam, and Tom Wilkinson/In the Bedroom. You think it was an Oscar given due to affirmative action? Who should they have given it to...among those nominated?

Crowe? People seem to be pissed off enough that A Beautiful Mind won the Oscar, let alone Ron Howard for directing it.

Penn? Gimee a break. He does not deserve an Oscar for one of his absolute worst performances and films.

Wilkinson? In my mind the only serious contender…but he ain’t no Denzel. America loves Denzel. America says, “Wikiwho?” Maybe if he had already done Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind before this.

Smith? Then you’d cry…whatever it is that you’re crying foul about...even more. Smith did a fine job, probably the best of his career…maybe better than he’ll ever be able to reach again…but Mr. Washington did better.

Denzel is good and deserves the recognition he gets. I just hope that he picks something amazing to do…and soon!

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Sorry but I don't think so. Too earnest - great at breaking down but not so great as showing what led up to the breakdown.

I wouldn't use the phrase 'Poor man's DeNiro' because I think Penn's had some excellent performances (though I've struggled to like any of his characters since Carlito's Way), but he needs to watch himself carefully.

Not even in The Assassination of Richard Nixon? C'mon!

Geez, I've got that movie on pause as I type this.

Seriously.

He's got talent, no doubt, there's just something about his recent performances (21 Grams, Mystic River, Assassination Of Tricky Dickie) that suggest to me that he's swallowed the Method book but hasn't managed to digest the chapter about subtlety.

Apologies, that was tortured...

I've now written two anti-Penn posts on two different forums in 10 minutes. That might suggest I hate the guy, but...

Yeah he's definitely not subtle, but when he performs, he PERFORMS. He puts so much energy and effort into just about every movie he makes. Though I was dissapointed seeing him in The Interpreter where the ill-advised closeups of his face when his character was sad made him look like a sad clown. Decent flick though.

Haven't seen The Interpreter yet but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I enjoy Denzel's performances (the thread was about favourites, after all ) more than I do Penn's - though to be honest I could have put 20 actors on my list below Alec Guinness. Washington and Colm Meaney just popped into my head because I haven't really mentioned them here.

dakota faning(sp?) blows them both out of the water ( denzel said so himself )..

Do you not find her acting talent just a little creepy?

I swear she's like 45 with a growing dis-order.