EWB's 51 Favourite Actors 2010

[Kaney]

I like those three. Pacino sort of descended into self parody at times but back in the days of the Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon etc he had all the potential in the world. I'm happy with his position, but I'd expect people would bitch that he's too high. Sam Jackson is just a badass. Freeman is also badass, but in a different way.

Bale has been one of my faves since American Psycho came out. But Public Enemies he was just there. PAYCHECK PLEASE!

Yeah, exactly. He does tend to just yawn and collect his paychecks nowadays but earlier on in his career he was really, really good. American Psycho, The Machinist, The Prestige, all really good turns from him. Bale's performance in The Prestige is basically enough for me to love him till the end of days, it's one of my favourite movies of all time and it's largely down to him so yeah. He was disappointing in Public Enemies, because like someone said, Bale and Depp in the same film going head to head should have been electrifying stuff, like DeNiro/Pacino etc but he was just totally not interested. He's still awesome though. He's fucking Batman.

I also LOVED reading the machines post about Pitt. Waah, he's a pretty boy who gets the pretty girls a bloo blah bloo bloo. Pitt is a tremendous actor and unlike Bale, I haven't ever seen him just phone it in.

[probablyoliver]

I was discussing Pitt at work today, am I the only one who's noticed that he eats something in every film?

[Josh]

Well, that doesn't sound like as much of an accomplishment as eating in every scene of every film. But I did notice he did that in Ocean's 11.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Twelve Monkeys sounds like the sort of film that he WOULDN'T eat anything in. I'll have to check it out now.

[Jimmy]

4. Robert Downey Jr.

(63 Points)

3. Robert DeNiro

(65 Points)

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

DeNiro, Sammie Jackson and Pacino. The list was going so brilliant, then fucking Downey had to come and ruin it all

[probablyoliver]

Twelve Monkeys sounds like the sort of film that he WOULDN'T eat anything in. I'll have to check it out now.

You say that like watching 12 Monkeys again is a bad thing?

[TGC]

DeNiro, Sammie Jackson and Pacino. The list was going so brilliant, then fucking Downey had to come and ruin it all

How can you hate Downey????

[TKz]

DeNiro, Sammie Jackson and Pacino. The list was going so brilliant, then fucking Downey had to come and ruin it all

Were you dropped on your fucking head as a child?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Downey Jr. is a great actor and has been for years.

If anything he's still on the way up while Pacino and De Niro are definitely on the self-aware way down.

[Kaney]

Yeah, Downey is fucking awesome. Go watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and tell me you don't like the guy.

[Jimmy]

Thank God someone else shares the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang love. I adored that film upon watching it, and very few people I know have ever seen it.

[Pesci]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is awesome, as is Downey Jr. Nicholson should've been higher, probably in the Top 3 but whatever, I'll accept it. As long as DiCaprio is #1 all is forgiven.

[Jimmy]

oooh, the tension.

One Point seperates the top two.

[LL!]

I was discussing Pitt at work today, am I the only one who's noticed that he eats something in every film?

As if people didn't need to eat in real life.

DeNiro, Sammie Jackson and Pacino. The list was going so brilliant, then fucking Downey had to come and ruin it all

Somehow, I feel that you don't deserve the breath in your body...

Anyway, Johnny Depp is a fantastic character actor. He can pull performances that will tug you every which way and he's solid when it comes to all that. However, if he was going to be on the Top 50 I'd wager he'd have to be way lower than this. Jack Nicholson is fucking amazing and has remained consistent throughout his career, he should be moved a few pegs higher. Christian Bale is a fine actor when he's not phoning it in (*cough* Terminator *cough*), but he certainly does not deserve to be up here. Like Depp, if he's going to be in the Top 50, he'd be closer to the bottom.

Al Pacino was one I was debating about putting in my Top 10 because he's fucking GOOD. He's been really fucking great for the majority of his career and deserves recognition for it. So, while he'd be just outside my Top 10 these days I won't complain about him being up here. I get the feeling that people are gonna yell at me when I say Sam Jackson doesn't belong on the Top 50. I don't care. He doesn't. He's not bad, but fuck off putting him so high. Morgan Freeman is fantastic. He should be just outside of the Top 10 if anything, but deserves a spot in the Top 50.

Robert Downey Jr. is sitting pretty at 4 and he deserves to be this high, maybe just a few pegs lower, but still in the Top 10. I'd wager his best performance was in the film that everyone is raving about, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Nobody should ever judge Downey without seeing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He is an absolutely brilliant actor and flourishes in every movie role he gets. Robert DeNiro should've topped this list. Sure, he's made his mistakes in recent years, but we can't forget that he's been part of some of the greatest movies of all time with some of the greatest performances of all time. He DESERVES to top this list, and I sort of fear who will because even if they don't offend me that much, it sucks that DeNiro wasn't on top.

[the machine]

I also LOVED reading the machines post about Pitt. Waah, he's a pretty boy who gets the pretty girls a bloo blah bloo bloo. Pitt is a tremendous actor and unlike Bale, I haven't ever seen him just phone it in.

I don't think you got my point. I agree Pitt's a very talented actor, but my point is about how his celebrity can cause people (not me, mind you) to overlook his legit acting talent. Love him in 'crazy' roles. He's incredible at them.

Oh, and two more "Bale phones it in" examples: Terminator and Rescue Dawn. Terminator's understandable in that it's a mediocre action movie directed by McG, so nobody expects real acting, but he was just bad in Rescue Dawn. Completely missed the character, and does his standard American accent for some reason. Really disappointing. Also Steve Zahn did a great job and made him look worse by comparison.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is awesome, as is Downey Jr. Nicholson should've been higher, probably in the Top 3 but whatever, I'll accept it. As long as DiCaprio is #1 all is forgiven.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a great movie, but I'm not sure he should be in front of some of those guys, especially Nicholson. I mean, KKBB, Chaplin, and... maybe Iron Man are his best roles? Compare that to Nicholson, who has 12 Oscar nominations, and that's not even counting his performances in Batman and The Shining. He's also been in some of the greatest films ever like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Chinatown. Honestly though RDJ kind of reminds me of a young Nicholson: all he has to do is keep turning in memorable performances for another 20 years or so and they'll be right at the same level.

As far as DeNiro goes, I think there was definitely a period where he was working at a higher level than anyone else in the industry, but unfortunately that period ended about 20 years ago. I have a hard time saying he deserves to be #1 over Nicholson because Nicholson was consistently great for a significantly longer period of time.

Edited September 10, 2010 by the machine

[Jimmy]

2...

(108 Points)

Leonardo DiCaprio

Which means, by one point, EWB's Favourite Actor is...

1. Brad Pitt

(109 Points)

Thanks for reading and voting (Y)

[TCO]

Aww bummer, Leo came 2nd.

Pitt is a viable no.1 though.

[METALMAN]

Didn't realise brad was so popular here. He's cool though.

[Meacon Keaton]

You know it is clearly a favorite list and not a most talented list, when Samuel L. Jackson is in the top 10. I disagree with a lot of the list order, but it is favorite actors, not best actors, so it does not bother me all that much.