Ed Harris is the greatest living American actor (only because he's still working, and Gene Hackman has retired). Fuck this list.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:43 (three years ago) link
Is this a ranked list?
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:44 (three years ago) link
where the fuck is channing tatum he is the only good actor
― adam, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:45 (three years ago) link
I think I need two separate lists to work with, Best Actors and Best Movie Stars, several ppl on this list aren't really the former but certainly qualify as the latter
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:47 (three years ago) link
Keanu Reeves? Woah!!! #onethread
― sarahell, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:51 (three years ago) link
Hoffman should definitely be here.
Voting for Day-Lewis purely on the strength of his two PTA collaborations (I still haven't seen Lincoln). Elsewhere, I can think of one performance each that I've really liked for a few of these--McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me, Ali in Moonlight, Kidman in Birth--but no one I'm consistently wowed by from one film to another.
― Langdon Alger Stole the Highlights (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:54 (three years ago) link
I don’t even think about movies this way
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:02 (three years ago) link
My favourites are Phoenix and Ali. My two favourite actresses, Elizabeth Moss and Carrie Coon, aren't on there.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:06 (three years ago) link
Shirley and Invisible Man is a good one-two much of Moss for the 2020
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:08 (three years ago) link
*punch
With both, their best work is on TV, and I don't know if they factored that in (they ought to).
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:10 (three years ago) link
No Gandolfini on the list! Well, he’s no Melissa McCarthy
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:12 (three years ago) link
Whether I agree with it or not, I like that McCarthy's on the list. Movie critics are usually incredibly shitty about judging comedic performances.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:18 (three years ago) link
I love Keanu but no way is he one of the top 25 actors of the 21st century. Think he would agree with me.
― 好 now 烧烤 (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 22:20 (three years ago) link
Because You Can Count on Me (2000) gets in just under the wire, I'd consider both Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:19 (three years ago) link
Heath Ledger
― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:27 (three years ago) link
They must have meant living actors, right?
― jmm, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:34 (three years ago) link
Willem Dafoe? lol
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:53 (three years ago) link
Seconded
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:56 (three years ago) link
several of these seem like "we liked them in the 90s, so they're grandfathered into this list"
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:56 (three years ago) link
That was my first reaction to Dafoe, too, but when I looked up his filmography, he has done a few significant films since 2000. I can sort of see it.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 November 2020 23:59 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I thought about voting Day-Lewis, and then realized that I was mostly thinking of his early performances and I've avoided his 21st century movies because for the most part they seem like overhyped star vehicles.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:04 (three years ago) link
I did like Phantom Thread and There Will Be Blood
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:06 (three years ago) link
apparently I can only vote once for Viola Davis -- honestly I think that the greatest test of acting ability is a TV series ...
― sarahell, Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:12 (three years ago) link
I could see voting for Davis. She's done some really great work. I'm looking forward to seeing Ma Rainey's Black Bottom on Netflix next month.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:14 (three years ago) link
Marion CottilardSarah PaulsonAdèle Haenel
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:48 (three years ago) link
I'm glad the Swinton blurb singles out Julia. Great movie and her best performance.
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:50 (three years ago) link
Re Hoffman:
We LOVE him, promise. But we had to make a lot tough choices and one choice we made was to stick with actors who are alive. Otherwise we would have also chosen Toshiro Mifune, Bette Davis, Ruby Dee, Gary Crant, Michael Lonsdale, Laurence Olivier, Setsuka Hara, James Cagney, Miche https://t.co/qw2kzQ07pX— Manohla WE ONLY CHOSE LIVING ACTORS Dargis (@ManohlaDargis) November 25, 2020
― jaymc, Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:53 (three years ago) link
Cary Grant and Bette Davis, two of the best actors of the 21st Century.
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:55 (three years ago) link
lol. silly list
― k3vin k., Thursday, 26 November 2020 00:58 (three years ago) link
Oscar Isaac? I can't pinpoint one movie where I would say he was great.
Binoche would be in my top five.
― knowing for certain the first touch of the light will finish you (fionnland), Thursday, 26 November 2020 01:04 (three years ago) link
wow, she's not on the list?!
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Thursday, 26 November 2020 01:10 (three years ago) link
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Wednesday, November 25, 2020 7:55 PM bookmarkflaglink
he said GARY CRANT, cant u READ
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 November 2020 01:10 (three years ago) link
Ruffalo is one that I would have included (largely on the strength of YCCOM, but he's been good in a lot of things since).
Dafoe is very good in both The Florida Project and Pasolin, and I wasn't even crazy about either of those films. The Lighthouse and At Eternity's Gate have their fans as well (haven't seen either).
― Langdon Alger Stole the Highlights (cryptosicko), Thursday, 26 November 2020 01:17 (three years ago) link
its sad to learn this way that meryl streep has died
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 26 November 2020 01:57 (three years ago) link
it's ok, you're with friends now
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 November 2020 02:02 (three years ago) link
Does Gary Crant make lo-fi hip-hop beats to study/relax to?
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, 26 November 2020 02:48 (three years ago) link
I don’t even understand that tweet since most of those actors died before 2000?
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, 26 November 2020 02:51 (three years ago) link
I didn't realize Joaquin Phoenix was still alive. Yes I know River Phoenix died, I'm not confusing them. I just assumed they had both died.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 26 November 2020 02:58 (three years ago) link
xpost they didn't understand their own tweet either
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:12 (three years ago) link
Shit list but Deneuve or Swinton take this easy for me
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:14 (three years ago) link
i picked one of the people i'd never heard of
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:23 (three years ago) link
He is also known for portraying Sagat in Street Fighter (1994).
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:25 (three years ago) link
He is the only actor to appear in all six of Marvel's Netflix television series.
A few of the missing include Kaitlin Dever, Merritt Wever and Toni Collette... and that's just the cast of Unbelievable!
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:28 (three years ago) link
which is to say this is a very silly list
03. Daniel Day-Lewis04. Keanu Reeves
i like keanu as much as anyone but this is a pretty hilarious juxtaposition
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:30 (three years ago) link
Keanu absolutely belongs on this list
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Thursday, 26 November 2020 03:31 (three years ago) link
Tempted by Huppert, Day-Lewis, Swinton & Isaac, but Kidman wins this wins for me on range and role choices. My write-in would be PS Hoffman, or another character actor like Jared Harris or Ciarán Hinds.
― Advanced Doomscroller (Sanpaku), Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:26 (three years ago) link
Casey Affleck
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Thursday, 26 November 2020 23:06 (three years ago) link
All boxes checked!
― JackMyFruit, Sunday, 29 November 2020 05:45 (three years ago) link
Kind of shocked that Philip Seymour Hoff wasn’t in the mix
you've probably avoided some bad news about them by not reading articles
yeah, especially satisfying that they went so hard on Spy in the piece
Which, I mean, I love Deneuve, but why is she on a 21st century list?
if only there was any kind of answer to this in the mini-essay about her approach and performances
How the heck is Hoffman not on this list?! Ledger?
I could give you some bad news but you obviously don't read threads or articles (or display names, or tweets)
― huge rant (sic), Sunday, 29 November 2020 06:34 (three years ago) link
wait what happened to Heath? WHAT HAPPENED TO HEATH
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Sunday, 29 November 2020 06:55 (three years ago) link
his acting got worse so they left him off this list
― huge rant (sic), Sunday, 29 November 2020 07:12 (three years ago) link
Christ, you scared me for a minute!
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Sunday, 29 November 2020 07:13 (three years ago) link
Even if you like Daniel Day-Lewis more than I do--especially if you do--I'd count The Gangs of New York as a minus, not a plus.
My favorite thing about that film was Day-Lewis' acting in it, and his character. The rest of it around him seemed a bit much, but as a villain and a personality, he felt larger than life and I couldn't wait to see every second of his time on screen in it.
― octobeard, Sunday, 29 November 2020 09:39 (three years ago) link
I don't recall ever watching a film just because of who was performing in it.
Not a judgement, just an observation: I'm guessing you'd have a hard time finding someone who shares that viewpoint.
― clemenza, Sunday, 29 November 2020 21:53 (three years ago) link
I imagine one of the only times that was true for me was Dancer in the Dark.
― On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 November 2020 21:56 (three years ago) link
I watched The Bishop's Wife last week cuz #CaryGrant. I should've stayed away because Loretta Young.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 November 2020 22:00 (three years ago) link
I'm in this camp, actors rarely if ever have anything to do w/ my seeing a given movie
― early-Woolf semantic prosody (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 29 November 2020 22:02 (three years ago) link
"Actors doing the sort of thing they especially excel at" is a different factor to "actor is listed somewhere in credits"
― huge rant (sic), Sunday, 29 November 2020 22:14 (three years ago) link
I've watched so many movies just because it looked ordinary at worst (obviously I draw the line somewhere) and had Gene Hackman or Audrey Hepburn or somebody else I really like.
― clemenza, Sunday, 29 November 2020 22:36 (three years ago) link
Instead of the director's cut of Superman II I watched, I would much rather have seen the Gene Hackman cut, with all the scenes of his that were discarded.
― clemenza, Sunday, 29 November 2020 23:07 (three years ago) link
https://archive.org/details/supermanii-restoredinternationalalternativecut2005
― huge rant (sic), Monday, 30 November 2020 00:07 (three years ago) link
times when i have watched a film specifically to see an actor in it tend toward the old (Mitchum, Chevalier, Welles) or action (Jaa, Chan) or because they ARE the show (Marx Bros)
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, 30 November 2020 00:07 (three years ago) link
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, November 25, 2020 11:53 PM (five days ago)
― Robert Gotopieces (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, November 25, 2020 11:56 PM (five days ago)
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, November 25, 2020 11:56 PM (five days ago)
― clemenza, Wednesday, November 25, 2020 11:59 PM (five days ago)
What's wrong with him? He's one of those few I'm always happy to see.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 30 November 2020 00:47 (three years ago) link
agree, and loved him in The Lighthouse
― Dan S, Monday, 30 November 2020 00:52 (three years ago) link
Apparently he's great in Abel Ferrara's latest.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 30 November 2020 00:56 (three years ago) link
Keanu is an interesting case because he is entirely himself on screen and is always a compelling presence, and his wick performances have added a lot of shading to his stock character. he obviously doesn’t have “range,” but there’s something to be said for doing one thing extremely well
this was an interesting argument about the virtues of reeves, and really did change my thinking about him: https://www.rogerebert.com/features/bright-walldark-room-february-2016-the-grace-of-keanu-reeves-by-angelica-jade-bastién
― la table sur la table (voodoo chili), Monday, 30 November 2020 01:02 (three years ago) link
Keanu’s failed performances are those that push him toward a theatricality against his natural instincts. They also tend to be the kind of roles actors use to challenge or prove themselves—difficult accents, lush period pieces, reliance on verbal dexterity (...) Total Film writes dismissively that “you can visibly see Keanu attempting to not end every one of his lines with ‘dude.’"
ROFL
― Deflatormouse, Monday, 30 November 2020 01:23 (three years ago) link
btw, need to copy paste the link, think the accent makes it screw on ilx
― la table sur la table (voodoo chili), Monday, 30 November 2020 01:26 (three years ago) link
*screwy
― la table sur la table (voodoo chili), Monday, 30 November 2020 02:05 (three years ago) link
"Meryl Streep Isn’t on Our List of Greatest Actors. Here’s Why."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/insider/best-actors-list.html
― Dan S, Sunday, 6 December 2020 23:11 (three years ago) link
An explainer!
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 6 December 2020 23:19 (three years ago) link
Gary Crant!
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Sunday, 6 December 2020 23:35 (three years ago) link
I don't see Scoot McNairy on this list
― american primitive stylophone (zchyrs), Monday, 7 December 2020 13:10 (three years ago) link
voted song kang ho
― nxd, Monday, 7 December 2020 16:20 (three years ago) link
Very disappointed his career hasn't taken the Sam Rockwell trajectory (in terms of visibility) I expected it to.
― On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Monday, 7 December 2020 17:52 (three years ago) link
I am somewhat perplexed that Michelle Williams isn't on this list given that she has approximately 500 Oscars
― DJP, Monday, 7 December 2020 22:06 (three years ago) link
Oscar nominations?
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 December 2020 22:14 (three years ago) link
She has three fewer Oscars total than Green Book won last year.
― huge rant (sic), Monday, 7 December 2020 22:26 (three years ago) link
Citizen Kane (10.0)Mank (6.0)Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (7.0)Hillbilly Elegy (5.5)Affairs of State (2.0)Blume in Love (6.5)Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (5.0)The Parallax View (7.0)The Killing of a Sacred Deer (6.5)The Net (6.5)
I have no excuse for last rating, other than to say it’s an example, for me, of some of what I was trying to say in this thread: NYT: The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century. Early in her career, I really liked Sandra Bullock.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 04:46 (three years ago) link
Oops, wrong thread.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 04:50 (three years ago) link
Julianne Moore turned 60 this week.
― 10percent Discocunt (jed_), Tuesday, 8 December 2020 20:14 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Tuesday, 29 December 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
Departed from my initial post and voted for Nicole Kidman, possibly edged in that direction by seeing The Killing of a Sacred Deer (I want to give her credit for Eyes Wide Shut, too, which came out in the summer of '99 and maybe was still playing somewhere in January of 2000).
― clemenza, Tuesday, 29 December 2020 21:41 (three years ago) link
clem's accidental post above had me genuinely trying to work out which of these actors could have possibly appeared in Citizen Kane for oh, at least 10 seconds
― ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 29 December 2020 21:55 (three years ago) link
God this list sucks.
― candyman, Tuesday, 29 December 2020 22:48 (three years ago) link
List this God sucks
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 29 December 2020 23:05 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Wednesday, 30 December 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
04. Keanu Reeves 521. Catherine Deneuve 1
never change ilx
― early-Woolf semantic prosody (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 00:24 (three years ago) link
1 dude in the top 5? I'll take it.
― On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 00:49 (three years ago) link
voted for Zhao Tao, would have liked to see Kim Min-hee get a vote or two
― Dan S, Wednesday, 30 December 2020 01:00 (three years ago) link
― early-Woolf semantic prosody (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 00:24 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
― On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 00:49 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
Never change ilx
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 02:21 (three years ago) link
Whatever, dudes suck and you know it.
― On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 02:27 (three years ago) link
🎶Some dudes willSome dudes wont 🎶
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 03:17 (three years ago) link
― On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 00:49 (one hour ago)
― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Wednesday, December 30, 2020 1:21 PM (one hour ago)
two Irish actors in the top 5? never change, ILX
― huge rant (sic), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 03:46 (three years ago) link
this is not a poll to take too seriously
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 30 December 2020 04:10 (three years ago) link