He was hardly brooding or very capable in Big or Splash! I’ve admired his range, moving from goofy comedy to his more serious roles. You must admit, from Big to Philadelphia is quite a range.
He certainly wasn’t his usual “aw shucks” likable self in “Vertigo.”
I agree; Tom Hanks is a definite veto-factor for me in most movies. He sucks.
What I want is to see him play a really evil villain. He’s always the hero, or at worst a flawed but fundamentally good person. I would love to see him play a serial killer or a Nazi or something. To me, if you can’t or won’t play a compelling villain, you haven’t truly expressed your range as an actor.
He played a villain in The Ladykillers. That was a comedic baddie, though, not a seriously evil, dramatic one.
The Philadelphia Story?
I never thought Greer Garson was especially good- particularly in Goodbye Mr Chips. However I acknowledge she fitted the part well In Mrs Miniver.
And I don’t know if anyone thought he was good, but George Raft certainly wasn’t.
I didn’t even think of that one because he was a real mustache-twirler in that one, if I recall (and I might not). I’m thinking more like Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List, or Gerald McRaney in Deadwood, or Robin Williams in Insomnia, or even Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd. Play really strongly against type as an evil monster. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Tom Hanks play a role that scared the crap out of you? I can’t take seriously the contention that he’s The Best Actor Ever until he does that.
Derek Jacobi.
Every time I see him I am reminded of the character he played in Frasier, which it seems to me was only an exaggeration of the truth. Somehow he got an Emmy for it. No justice.
If you still want to give him a chance in something different, there’s The Sum of Us. I’m not all that fond of him, but he was good way back then.
I saw Kevin Spacey on stage a few years ago in a production of The Philadelphia Story he directed at the The Old Vic. He played the Cary Grant part and was just amazing. He had genuine stage presence, which is very rare - he electrified the atmosphere on stage the moment he entered - and lived the character from the tip of his toes to the top of his head. Everything, right down to the way he moved, was pitch-perfect.
I’d taken my mum, who’s a huge Spacey fan, to see it as a birthday present, but a few days before had read that he’d actually finished his run and his part was being played by an understudy. I broke the news to mum, who was very disappointed, but we decided to go along anyway. Cue our astonishment and my mum audibly and breathily gasping “Kevin!” as he walked on stage, and my :o
Such a happy ending right at the start! How wonderful!! 
A few thoughts:
Al Pacino’s Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman wasn’t all that great. He played “Blind Al Pacino.” He was the same crass loudmouth as he usually is. What made that movie was the excellent story told. Al started changing into this screaming buffoon almost immediately after The Godfather, Part II; his characters in Dog Day Afternoon and *…And Justice For All *were younger versions of what we have today.
**Matthew McConaughey **makes my skin crawl. We get it Matt, you like yourself with your shirt off and you’re a gen-u-ine southern lady-killer.
Watching Two for the Money (starring them both) made me twitch for two weeks. (Don’t ask why I saw it – all you need to know is I had to for other people)
I think possibly the best performance I’ve ever seen was by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. But what’s interesting, I watched Red Dragon, and he didn’t have the same handle on the Hannibal Lecter character. He was a lot more excited and animated, which I thought detracted from the urbanity and overall creepiness of the good doctor.
What about Morgan Freeman? Do he ever have a role where he doesn’t play the Wise Old Black Man?
I think Tim Robbins is a good actor; his Nuke LaLoosh was spot-on as well as his Andy Dufresne – two very different characters. I also think Jodie Foster and Ed Norton have well-developed acting skills. Robin Williams is a great actor when he’s trying to act. His stand-up these days is cringe-worthy (see his Idol Give Back performance – some people liked it, I found it annoying, repetitive and embarrassing), but his dramatic performances are something to behold.
Ever see Street Smarts? He got an Oscar nom for that.
No. Tell me what kind of character he played.
To me, Morgan Freeman is the epitome of The Magic Negro.
He is a pimp. Not the nice Huggy Bear kind.
A pimp.
Beaten to it by Loach.
That may be, but we couldn’t judge it by my opinion of The Aviator. Being neither a fan of DiCaprio or biopics, I skipped that film.
Here is a clip. Look especially at around the 5:00 mark.
He also wasn’t playing the Wise Old Black Man when he was Easy Reader on the Electric Company.