Forgot to grab a transfer to the Bullock bus when I first boarded.
No, no idea why…she just insists on herself, somehow. Whatever it is that made her a big headliner for a number of years, I never figured out. Small town aw shucks gal made it to the big time? Was that her shtick? Whatever it was, I’m glad it’s gone now.
Matt Damon as well…he’s done some formidable movies and roles, I suppose, but all I see is “mouth breathing chunkhead” pretty much every time. Seems like a decent fella IRL, though, IIRC, so, that’s good.
One that’s sure to be a brace of unpopular choices: Jeremy Irons. Incredibly mannered and affected. I don’t avoid his movies, but I try to avoid pondering the decisions he made as an actor.
Tim Robbins, as well. Has been in any number of outstanding pictures, and even some OK ones. But it seems as though he has but one facial expression (slackjawed doughy-faced rube) and one physical stance (slouching, weak shoulders, often wearing a suit which is cut wrong for him).
Interesting, I had the completely opposite impression of McConaughey in True Detective. It felt to me completely artificial, like he was calling upon every theater-school trope possible to conflate ‘character’ with artificial acting tics. Weird restless postures, dramatic exaggerated smoking gestures, melodramatic stares and inflections. I used to have some theater-major friends in college, and it all felt to me like the same aping of Brando and other noir that seemed to be an obligatory phase for all male dramatic actors to go through.
Harrelson in comparison gave an astounding performance and distinct believable character.
I love that movie as well. It was one of the first movies I showed when I began working as a projectionist. With 9 theaters running, I rarely watched much of any of the films, but whenever I had some time I’d go see what scene was showing in Rain Man and would watch it for ten or fifteen minutes.
It wasn’t until decades later that I realized that Tom Cruise’s character straight-out used his brother. Still, I love the movie.
(We also ran Days of Thunder and Cocktail…both forgettable Tom Cruise films)
My feelings about Robin Williams were that his standup act was vastly overdone and overrated, but I think he was great as an actor, including roles in Good Will Hunting (amazing performance), The Fisher King, 24 hour photo, the one where he was a HS teacher (forgot the name of the movie–but very well done.
Robin Williams also had a nice uncredited bit in Dead Again. This one is a scenery-chewer by most of the cast, but, dang, it I find it completely watchable.
I was a big fan of his standup when he first came out. I was a kid and loved Mork and Mindy as well. As an adult his comedy annoyed me. People laughed at his pace and delivery even when the jokes didn’t make any sense. His joke hit rate was probably about 25%. On film it worked better because he had an editor when he improvised. As an actor I don’t hate him but he is hit or miss. Awakenings good. Patch Adams bad. And so forth.
And a very small part in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, where he played John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt in the first ten minutes. I cannot remember if he was credited or not. But he did just fine.
Williams is one of those ones whom I am on the fence about. He could handle dramas just fine (Awakenings), but he did a lot of films that started with “Robin Williams Wackiness” and then became dark and gloomy dramas (Good Morning, Vietnam,Patch Adams,Dead Poets Society), and he never seemed to handle those well.
The trick seems to be finding those films - specifically how do you get over the hump of dislike for a particular performer, to discover their hidden gem performances?
Jim Carrey was pretty solid in The Truman Show; Will Ferrell was pretty good in Stranger than Fiction (Which also contains a quite watchable performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal); Ryan Reynolds is a truly mixed bag, so for me, it’s worth a try; Adam Sandler is probably good in something or other, but how to find it? It’s not as simple as taking recommendations from other people, because the popularity of these actors in general means there is much enthusiasm in general for all of their works.
I’ve been reading along, and mostly agreeing. I mentioned Tom Hanks first, I think, and was pleased to see many others dislike his movies.
I was disappointed to see Jennifer Tilly. She played a sultry lesbian and made Bound a great movie. (But Googling just now it appear that’s the ONLY Jennifer Tilly movie I’ve ever watched! )
I love Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel movies. Joe Pantoliano (costar of Bound) makes good movies. I agree Nicolas Cage “over-acts” but also agree with Si_Amigo: “other [Cage movies] are great for his overacting abilities.”
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