Great actors with great range; Famous actors with no range

Tom Hanks

I guess you haven't seen many tom Hanks movies. Philadelphia, Castaway, saving Private Ryan, Big, forest gump, not even close to being the same character

Now if you had said Tom Cruise, I'd agree 100%.

Tom hanks should be there

Great actor: Jean Claude Van Damme:

http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=199373

Worst: Timmy McDougal

overwithtruth wrote:

Famous actors who essentially play the same character in each movie:

Kevin Costner

I mean, Robin Hood with an American accent?

We walk among you wrote:

Kevin Costner

Gotta agree with you. The only role he was any good in was Eliot Ness, and that's because he was playing a character who's supposed to be as bland as the actor is.

Great range:

Anthony freaking Hopkins! Shocked that no one mentioned him yet.

Clive Owen has also been impressive in the films he's done so far.

Jim Carrey is very underrated, and of course can be hysterical when he wants to.

Will Smith is also very good, he's come a long way from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to "Ali" and can be funny, an action hero, or a romantic lead.

Tim Robbins has demonstrated the ability to play a normal, reasonable person in some movies, so obviously that makes him a pretty darn good actor!

No range: Julia Roberts. Still can't believe she won an Oscar for that pile of crap movie "Erin Brockovich."

The Governator always plays himself too, although I enjoyed most of his movies.

I second Kevin Costner. Dances With Wolves was great, but he always plays the same basic guy. (That is, Kevin Costner.)

John Travolta can't act either, except in Pulp Fiction. Royale w/ cheese, LOL.

Finally, Denzel Washington, while a decent actor, is overrated and gets nominated too much.

I nominate Keanu Reeves for both categories.

Yes, Anthony Hopkins great range

Julia Roberts and Kevin Costner no range

Early Robert DeNiro tremendous range

Later DeNiro a cartoon character of self with no range

I don't know if I agree that Will Smith has range. He is a good actor but in all of his movies I always think of him as Will Smith.

Travolta I'm undecided about.

Best: Newman, DeNiro, Duvall, Pacino, O'Toole, Streep, Deneuve,

Worst: Keanu Reeves (can it get worse?), Melanie Griffith (yes it can), Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Jeff Bridges, Rosie Perez

Best quote: (regarding Dances with Wolves) "Kevin Costner has feathers in his hair and feathers in his brain."

--Pauline Kael.

denzel washington overrated? did you see him avenge that little girl in the mexico city vehicle?

obviously the great actor with narrow range means de niro, nicholson, jimmy stewart, and a lot of others.

good choices squid but you are giving away your age.

Duvall, Streep and early Pacino are gifted.

You beat me to it on Will Smith having no range, which he doesn't. Come on! He was more like a bulked up Fresh Prince of Bel Air in Ali than an actual embodiment of Ali.

Clive Owen is very good too, but I'm not sure I agree with him having great range. Seems to me he always plays the same brooding strong type.

Most famous actors do not have great range. People pay to see so-and-so being themselves, essentially, but with a twist. Some that I think do have range that I haven't seen mentioned are:

Ian McKlellan (sp?) - that guy can pull off just about anything.

Robin Williams - whatever he does, from funny to evil, it works.

Forrest Whitaker - gotta give him props for some of the diverse roles he's done, especially "The Last King of Scotland."

Harrison Ford - no range. He's either the president of the united states or....the vice president of the united states. Still looking forward to him in Indy 4 though.

Gene hackman has incredible range

Ed Harris has done it all as well.

Mathew Mconaughey (spelling) - no range. He was good in U-571 though.

Great Actors with range: Gene Hackman, Paul Newman, Cary Grant, Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mel Gibson

Great Actors with only one character: Gary Cooper, Bruce Willis, James Dean, Morgan Freeman, Dennis Quaid

Famous with no range: Kevin Costner, Richard Gere, Gwenneth Paltrow

I judge actors on the basis of whether I believe it is a character or if I am watching an actor playing a character. With that being said, I hope Squid knows what he is talking about because he is spot-on with my list. I might add Morgan Freeman to the best list and Robin Williams to the worst list. I enjoy Williams but always feel I am watching him play a character.

Great actors with range:

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Greg Kinnear, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Christian Bale, Daniel Craig (!)

Famous actors with no range: Meg Ryan obviously, Robin Williams (consistently overacting), Morgan Freeman (love him though), Jack Nicholson, Parker Posey, Juliette Binoche, and (I hate to say it but lately) Jodie Foster