Is Christian Bale the best actor in Hollywood?

PSH and Meryl Streep were both in "Doubt" which was a priest sex abuse scandal movie. Plot was so so. Both PSH and Streep were INCREDIBLE.

Also liked PSH in Boogie Nights

wha huh? wrote:

PSH and Meryl Streep were both in "Doubt" which was a priest sex abuse scandal movie. Plot was so so. Both PSH and Streep were INCREDIBLE.

Also liked PSH in Boogie Nights

Did you know they made of video game for "Doubt"? Seems worth the buy.

Christian Bale and Reeves are the same actors in almost every single movie they play in.

Every time I watch Constatine I wonder why Neo is doing trying to get into Heaven.

Bale goes on Auto-Pilot a lot less but often you'll be watching a movie like Terminator or The Fighter or The Machinist, you wont know the difference between the characters if you just walked into the room.

I'd say Will Smith, Daniel Day Lewis or Philip Seymour Hoffman are more complete actors.

[quote]o.O wrote:

I'd say Will Smith[quote]

WTF.

I would put Tom Wilkinson in any "best actor" discussion

See: Six degrees of seperation

Ted the Nordic Runner wrote:

[quote]o.O wrote:

I'd say Will Smith[quote]

WTF.

Probably not the best, but very good.

Ed Norton comes to mind.

PSH has been mentioned many times.

Depp has shown great range.

DDL is crazy good (I wouldn't say he's an over-actor, but he's taken a lot of roles with 'big' characters)

Anthony Hopkins and Michael Cain are great.

I'd say my vote goes to Ed Norton. Another sleeper is Joseph Gordon Levitt. Check out some of his Indy stuff between Third Rock from the Sun and Inception, great stuff.

Wow, I have to say that I am impressed with the love Philip Seymour Hoffman has received. As for Daniel Day-Lewis, I suppose it is "quality" over "quanity" with him. He has been in only 4 films the past 10 years.

Now please excuse me, I have to go return some video tapes.

Nothing compares:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1-oquwoL8

Aotkmty wrote:

Menace wrote:

The best actor, and it's not even close, is Daniel Day Lewis.

I find Daniel Day Lewis to be entertaining, but also an overacting ham. So while he is fun to watch, I find his performances make the movies he is in unrealistic.

Gene Hackman is my all-time favorite, but recently announced his retirement.

Seymour Hoffman is great, but doesn't his looks limit the range of roles he can play.

Christian Bale is really good, but for the time being Michael Caine remains my favorite.

Caine and Hackman are at the top of my list as well. They've both been in some stinkers with some terrible co-stars but they've not only acquited themselves well, they've made everyone else look good.

Also agree about Daniel Day Lewis. He's not a great actor, he's a great over-actor; he has no dynamic range. In some roles that's appropriate but usually he's a negative.

Christian Bale is fantastic - a total badass. Unlike so many lame actors, he cares more about quality than money and doesn't simply accept every invitation to act in films.

You should see him in a movie called "Harsh Times." Don't know if it was ever in theaters, but it's a great performance by him.

Guys in/near their prime:

Christoph Waltz (role in I.B. qualifies him by itself)

Daniel Day Lewis (otherworldly skills and approach)

Tom Hanks (dude has thrown-down multiple amazing performances)

Sean Penn (totally unlikeable since "Fast Times" but insane skills)

Christian Bale (75% of Tom Cruise films would be better with him in there instead)

Ryan Gosling (Drive -- dude rules, crazy jacket, 80s-style soundtrack, total ass-kicker)