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What movie has the best acting?

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Z

Zakalwe

Banned
Disgraced said:
Fixed.
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It's good, but Ripley's character in Aliens > all perfomances in the first, including her own.

Sure, the support cast were individually technically superior in the first, but the second required the cast it did to work. Having oscar winners playing army grunts would probably have felt contrived. Plus it was about the subversion of expectation and playing off/on tropes. It's as much a celebration of the genre as it is a brilliant action film in general.

Everything about Aliens is perfect, Alien too I agree.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Zakalwe said:
All of the films mentioned had mediocre turns from supporting cast,
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No, not really.

Dog Day? Godfather? The Master? Network? Glengarry? Jesse James? There Will Be Blood? Hell, Lebowski?

I'm not saying you won't find a mediocre (or maybe even bad) performance in there the farther down the cast list you go, but to say the line being drawn is arbitrary when you're trying to compare Michael Biehn playing Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton sweating hot dog juice, Goldstein sneering at everything, and Reiser smarming all over the place? And those are the BEST performances aside from Weaver's (which should have won the Oscar that year, absolutely)?

Up against Cazale, Brando, Keaton, Pacino, Caan, Duvall? Hell, I'd argue Abe Vigoda turns in a better performance in Godfather than almost anyone in ALIENS. It's a weird as fuck comparison to make, and one I wasn't expecting to consider (this place is great) when I woke up this morning, but ALIENS is a classic because the performances slot in perfectly to the action/horror engine Cameron built, not because the performances themselves are any great shakes outside of Weaver.

ALIENS is a classic, yes. There is no way it belongs in a discussion of "The best acted films of all time."

It might not even make the top two best acted ALIEN movies of all time, honestly.
 
P

| Praxis |

Banned
The three leads in Jaws are up there. I wouldn't say the best acted film overall, but the core is solid. Shaw being the standout.
 
Z

Zakalwe

Banned
Bobby Roberts said:
No, not really.

Dog Day? Godfather? The Master? Network? Glengarry? Jesse James? There Will Be Blood? Hell, Lebowski?

I'm not saying you won't find a mediocre (or maybe even bad) performance in there the farther down the cast list you go, but to say the line being drawn is arbitrary when you're trying to compare Michael Biehn playing Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton sweating hot dog juice, Goldstein sneering at everything, and Reiser smarming all over the place? And those are the BEST performances aside from Weaver's (which should have won the Oscar that year, absolutely)?

Up against Cazale, Brando, Keaton, Pacino, Caan, Duvall? Hell, I'd argue Abe Vigoda turns in a better performance in Godfather than almost anyone in ALIENS. It's a weird as fuck comparison to make, and one I wasn't expecting to consider (this place is great) when I woke up this morning, but ALIENS is a classic because the performances slot in perfectly to the action/horror engine Cameron built, not because the performances themselves are any great shakes outside of Weaver.

ALIENS is a classic, yes. There is no way it belongs in a discussion of "The best acted films of all time."

It might not even make the top two best acted ALIEN movies of all time, honestly.
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Disagree entirely for the reasons stated. It works so perfectly because the roles are required to be the way they are, celebration of genre as much as a reinvention, etc...

And even if you disagree, in the context of the genre it is definitely at the top. That alone deserves consideration in this discussion, imo.
 
D

DeathyBoy

Banned
Goodfellas.

Liotta is great, Pesci is better, Sorvino is better than Pesci, DeNiro is better than all three, Bracco is better than all four.

Like those were career performances from every main actor. And every other role was spot on cast too. Fucking ridiculous film.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Zakalwe said:
And even if you disagree, in the context of the genre
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That context is basically irrelevant, though. It's not like this thread (starring Jack Ilyich Ulyanov) was asking people to handicap performances based on genre.

Again, it might not even make top 3 casts in the ALIEN series, much less sci-fi, much less horror, much less all films ever made.

I love ALIENS to death. But the acting is not one of its strong suits.
 
Z

Zakalwe

Banned
Bobby Roberts said:
That context is basically irrelevant, though. It's not like this thread (starring Jack Ilyich Ulyanov) was asking people to handicap performances based on genre.

Again, it might not even make top 3 casts in the ALIEN series, much less sci-fi, much less horror, much less all films ever made.

I love ALIENS to death. But the acting is not one of its strong suits.
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How would a team of idiotic, macho, arrogant grunts be better portrayed in a film that's obviously subverting the expectations of action film protagonists while playing up to expectation at once?

They were almost parody, and I believe that was considered. There's no way it wasn't when Ripley was so well written/directed/acted and every other aspect of the film down to the sound of the machine fun fire was obsessive.
 
D

Disgraced

Member
Zakalwe said:
It's good, but Ripley's character in Aliens > all perfomances in the first, including her own.

Sure, the support cast were individually technically superior in the first, but the second required the cast it did to work. Having oscar winners playing army grunts would probably have felt contrived. Plus it was about the subversion of expectation and playing off/on tropes. It's as much a celebration of the genre as it is a brilliant action film in general.

Everything about Aliens is perfect, Alien too I agree.
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I agree they are both virtually perfect movies, but Aliens not for its acting. Or, I wouldn't list it as one of the reasons for its excellence. The perfomances in Alien are immersive in the truest sense. The crew of the Nostromo feel real. That's not to say the acting in Aliens isn't good or even great, (it is) as is Ripley's arc, it's simply very movie.

And I don't know if Aliens played off cliches so much as it helped establish some of them.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
Zakalwe said:
Disagree entirely for the reasons stated. It works so perfectly because the roles are required to be the way they are, celebration of genre as much as a reinvention, etc...

And even if you disagree, in the context of the genre it is definitely at the top. That alone deserves consideration in this discussion, imo.
Click to expand...
Aliens is well acted, but its not an example of best acting. Terminator was well acted as well, but you're not going to see it listed besides My Left Foot.
 
S

supernormal

Member
It's not the best overall acting if you take into account the whole cast, but I think Jaime Foxx as Ray Charles is one of the best performances I've ever seen.
 
Z

Zakalwe

Banned
Bobby Roberts said:
This isn't the best argument for ALIENS being one of the best acted films of all time
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Again, I disagree. The idiot marines were the action film standard, Ripley was the shift. They were absolutely required as a backdrop, and just because the actors involved aren't anywhere near the best in terms of individual scope doesn't mean they didn't act the parts they were required to perfectly.

Comparing Alien with Aliens is Apples and Oranges, the characters in the first were scientists and engineers and navigators, they required a certain level of intelligence to be authentic. Ditto with the marines.

That can be pure acting or method to the point of employing the character types directly. Both can work if the writing and directing and intent is considered.

Now, of course I'm not suggesting these /individual/ turns are great and should be considered alongside the Brandos et al, but they were a perfect backdrop to Weaver's excellent turn and one that was, imo, incredibly considered for a variety of reasons and, hence, deserves to be considered as a whole here.
 
H

hodayathink

Member
Bobby Roberts said:
Goddammit. I actually knew a couple guys (emphasis on the past tense) who thought that part of the movie was legitimately hot.

"heh heh heh" they would giggle like Beavis & Butthead, "ass to ass, heh heh heh. That bitch from Labyrinth was fuckin takin it, dude. Heh."

Like, that was the whole movie, so far as they were concerned.
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I was pretty classless dude when that movie came out (hell, I have my moments now), but even I thought the context of that scene took anything that might have been hot right out of it.

Then again, I think Jennifer Connelly has never done anything hotter than the horse riding scene in Career Opportunities.
 
D

DerZuhälter

Member
While I agree with Glengarry Ross I have to give a shout out to this:

THE_MASTER_900x600.jpg


While I didn't really love the movie, the acting was sublime. Phoenix not getting an Oscar for it was tragic, though I agree that DDL did an outstanding job in Lincoln (Denzel & Jackman were also great, only Cooper was very meh in Silver Linings, a very meh film in my opinion).
 
V

Vulcano's assistant

Banned
PTA is so good even young Mark Wahlberg in Boogie makes you wonder if he is acting the bad porn acting of if that's just bad acting.

Boogie Nights wouldn't be my pick though, it is somewhat all over the place.
 
W

watershed

Banned
Glengarry Glen Ross is a very well acted movie in a stage play kind of sense. A lot of the performances and staging/blocking are very dramatic in a theatrical sense which makes sense.

For me Husbands and Wives by Woody Allen has all around great acting with maybe 1 or 2 supporting actors not quite matching the rest of the cast.

Lincoln by Spielberg has great performances topped off my DDL's god-tier Lincoln.
 
Z

Zakalwe

Banned
Some less abstract, contemporary offerings:

Locke
Whiplash
Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy

I also love The Departed, full of interesting characters, great perfomances all-round.

I also consider genre films like Brick and Let the right one in to be suitable answers. Again, in context for what they're aiming for the performances are great, but I'll conceed these are more fun than completely serious examples.
 
A

airjoca

Member
Kramer vs Kramer

Shawshank Redemption

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Heat

Apocalypse Now

Unforgiven

The Dark Knight
 
D

DasPenguin

Member
Glengarry Glen Ross and The Godfather are awesome picks, but I'll try to give some credit for one of the most underrated movies in the past twenty years.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Every single actor in that movie is incredible, even Elijah Wood. Perfect casting, incredible script.
 
T

TrutaS

Member
gamz said:
Magnolia.
Click to expand...

I was coming here to post Magnolia. But since you did it I want to raise everyone in The Hours. Meryl Strepp + Julianne Moore + Nicole Kidman are all absolutely perfect. The later scenes are simply incredible.
 
BAW

BAW

Banned
Heat was mentioned already, so I would have to go with The Prestige. Everyone was great in it, but especially Jackman, Bale and Bowie.
 
T

True Savior

Member
King Gondo played by Mifune hits several different notes that probably make it the best acting in a movie.

As an ensemble, the OP is on point.
 
B

Blader

Member
Godfather 1 and 2


I like Glengarry Glen Ross, but Jack Lemmon is just way too hammy in it (and really, in everything).
 
D

Deleted member 57681

Unconfirmed Member
Vulcano's assistant said:
PTA is so good even young Mark Wahlberg in Boogie makes you wonder if he is acting the bad porn acting of if that's just bad acting.

Boogie Nights wouldn't be my pick though, it is somewhat all over the place.
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Hell he somehow got an alright performance out of Adam Sandler.

Also the acting was the least of Inherent Vice's problems. With PTA movies the least you can expect is good to great performances.
 
A

Always-honest

Banned
Bobby Roberts said:
I don't know that this is the best performance of all time, but I do believe it to be one of the single best examples of Academy robbery ever committed

requiem6.jpg


]
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Yeah she was amazing.

Anyway, I thought Boogie Nights was very well acted. But there are many more great performances in acting. Unfortunately, there are mnay more bad or mediocre performances..
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Godfather 1
Glengarry Glen Ross (prolly my favorite ensemble tbh, Jack Lemmon's hilarious...super slime)
Thin Red Line (I loved everyone in this one, especially Koteas and Penn)

more recently Take Shelter blew me away. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain are on another level.

I wouldn't call the performances in Heat incredible or anything but I love how every character in there had a sense of professionalism in the way they talked. Best example of the Mann-verse there.
 
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