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Best acting in a movie?

 
 
 
There's so many, and I tend to gravitate towards character actors like Gary Oldman. People who can blend into the background or become the character so completely you forget there's an actor on screen. Philip Seymour Hoffman did the latter in "Capote," but the one scene I keep coming back to that's maybe the greatest bit of acting? The answer to "why is everyone fooled by Superman's 'Clark Kent' disguise when it's just him wearing glasses?"

 
I think Jamie Foxx is a quite under appreciated actor. He's played many different roles and all of them convincingly.
 
southernhybrid said:
One of the my all time favorite movies is the comedic drama, "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon. I also loved Lemmon in "The Odd Couple", "How to Murder your Wife", "Some like it Hot" and lots of others. I just can't remember the names or which ones were my other favorites because I'm old. Lemmon won many awards and could do drama or comedy extremely well.
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I remember seeing that Some Like It Hot was voted by film critics to be the greatest comedy of all time. I happened to catch in on TV once so I watched it. I was unimpressed to say the least. Although I do appreciate Jack Lemmon's talent.
 
ZiprHead said:
southernhybrid said:
One of the my all time favorite movies is the comedic drama, "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon. I also loved Lemmon in "The Odd Couple", "How to Murder your Wife", "Some like it Hot" and lots of others. I just can't remember the names or which ones were my other favorites because I'm old. Lemmon won many awards and could do drama or comedy extremely well.
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I remember seeing that Some Like It Hot was voted by film critics to be the greatest comedy of all time. I happened to catch in on TV once so I watched it. I was unimpressed to say the least. Although I do appreciate Jack Lemmon's talent.
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I wouldn't call it the best comedy of all times, but we've probably watched it more than 10 times. We probably even have a copy of it on DVD, but we have way too many movies, so I can't ever remember for sure, which ones we have and which ones we've watched on TCM. We do have "The Apartment" and I love watching it around the Christmas holidays. To each their own when it comes to movies.
 
Bogart -- for range -- everything from dark comic delivery (Maltese Falcon) to menace (Desperate Hours) to paranoid violence (Sierra Madre) to wounded romantic figure (Casablanca) to middle-aged romantic (Sabrina.) And of course, his ability to create very particular characters like the river rat in African Queen and the stressed-out martinet in Caine Mutiny. Spencer Tracy could have done a lot of those parts, but I think Bogie still cuts him for versatility.

In our time, Anthony Hopkins, Geoffrey Rush, Meryl Streep, Annette Bening.
 
Ford said:
There's so many, and I tend to gravitate towards character actors like Gary Oldman. People who can blend into the background or become the character so completely you forget there's an actor on screen. Philip Seymour Hoffman did the latter in "Capote," but the one scene I keep coming back to that's maybe the greatest bit of acting? The answer to "why is everyone fooled by Superman's 'Clark Kent' disguise when it's just him wearing glasses?"

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You're so right about Hoffman! Don't know how I forgot him, except that he's a painful memory and such a tragic loss, not even 50 when he left us. I first became aware of him when he played Freddie Miles in Ripley -- I sat in the theater and thought, "Who is this guy? I can't spot the technique, but he's walking away with every scene." After that I tried to catch anything he was in. He made 54 features, and I've seen 50 of them.
 
I forgot to add that Morgan Freeman is a terrific actor, especially in "Shawshank Redemption", one of the best dramas made in my life time.
 
David Tennant in United (2011). He was also incredible in Des and Jessica Jones (but those were TV). He really is an amazing actor.
 
ZiprHead said:
gmbteach said:
Tom Hanks is up there for me. From ‘Big’ and ‘The Money Pit’ to ‘Apollo 13, he has proven himself a few times.
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I agree. If you haven't seen Captain Phillips, do so. He put in an amazing performance in it.
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That is the only movie I was impressed with him in. He isn't remotely bad, but I've never considered him anywhere as good as he gets credit for. Denzel Washington won the Oscar for Philadelphia, not Hanks.
abaddon said:
Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I knew a kid who was EXACTLY like Arnie when I was a kid. All the same hyper-ness and most of the same little quirks. DiCaprio so entirely embodied that, down to the tiniest details (like blinking out of sequence a couple times, for one example), it was hard to believe it was acting instead of real.

I later heard Daniel Day Lewis make the same comment -- he too was unfamiliar with DiCaprio when he saw the movie and thought they'd hired a kid who'd fit the role because it seemed too precise and real to be someone acting a part.
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In my opinion, I think DiCaprio rode that performance for a couple decades before he started acting for realz. I couldn't stand his acting at all, until I saw Blood Diamond. And I was curious where the heck this had been hiding.
 
southernhybrid said:
One of the my all time favorite movies is the comedic drama, "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon. I also loved Lemmon in "The Odd Couple", "How to Murder your Wife", "Some like it Hot" and lots of others. I just can't remember the names or which ones were my other favorites because I'm old. Lemmon won many awards and could do drama or comedy extremely well.

"Days of Wine and Roses" was pretty good too, from what I remember. Sad, but well acted. I haven't seen that one in many years. Oh wait.. "Glen Garry, Glen Ross" was excellent as well and Alex Baldwin played a great asshole, which is what he's always been good at.

I haven't watched a new movie since around 2000, so all of my favs are going to be old school.
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I think I've seen 30 Lemmon films. Inherit the Wind was really good (TV version with George C. Scott and Beau Bridges), more subtle than the film. I love his acting, but I wouldn't say he was the tops in acting. He just has such a pleasant charisma (except Day of Wine and Roses which was hard to watch and I can't stand The Odd Couple). The Wackiest Ship in the Navy is an odd name to a film that wasn't that wacky. I'd say Save the Tiger, The Front Page, and The Apartment are his three best. Oh and Missing. Damn, his movies were usually great.
 
hurtinbuckaroo said:
George C. Scott playing two very different generals in ‘Dr. Strangelove’ and ‘Patton’.
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This makes me think of Lawrence Olivier in his later years (I haven't seen much of his early stuff). The Boys From Brazil and The Marathon Man. I mean we are talking absolute opposite spectrum characters and he fit into both like his was poured in to the roles.
 
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