CharlieK

I didn't know if this was some guest columnist for the A/V Club or something.

freshticles

/Nope...I'd give it to Frances Mcdormand and Diane Wiest first.

mickey65

I loved her in that one also, and thought she looked beautiful in that movie.

She may not be THE best - but she is definitely ONE of the best. It just amazes me how well she does accents for certain movies.

I love A LOT of her films.

Drake

I voted No, top 3 I would say all time actresses Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Stanwyck.

hasslein

This thread was always stuck in my head, & I've been watching a lot of Sally Field films lately, she won two Oscars yet no one mentioned her. (my apologies if someone did & I missed it) I think she is right up there as well... I definitely enjoy watching her more than Streep, I don't know if she is the better actress though..

Supermallet

To reply to an assertion made earlier in this thread (and many years ago), I'd put Kinski and Mifune above Daniel Day Lewis. But that's just me.

JumpCutz

Herzog? You mean Kinski.

Supermallet

You're correct, and I edited my post. But in all fairness, Werner Herzog is excellent in Julien Donkey-Boy.

SkullOrchard

I can't believe no one has mentioned the great Pia Zadora.



Here she is accepting her 8th Academy Award for best actress.

Hazel Motes

I like Streep, but I wouldn't even consider her the worlds greatest LIVING actress. That role would fall to:

Jon2

Fields (like pretty much every other woman in Hollywood) is certainly better on the eyes than Streep, but I have to say Streep is a far better actress... and I don't care at all for Streep as an actress.

Streep is an unattractive woman... not ugly, just flat-out not attractive. I've never been able to buy into any movie that had her billed as the romantic female lead.

inri222

She would definitely be in my top 10

Supermallet

I might have to put my vote in for Sigourney Weaver.

golden_rod

I had nearly the same thought as I clicked this thread. Eerie.

Faye's 10 minute monologue in something as slight as Drunks is enough to embarrass the perpetually overreaching Streep.

B.A.

Nope.

Solid Snake

Yeah...for sure those 2 went to boundaries unparallelled. I'd also argue that in his era of greatness. Mifune could beat the shit out of anyone in the time frame from of 1948 to (at least) 1965. Acting wise...and probably physically, he was a physically wild man. Mifune fucking floored me when he was in I LIVE IN FEAR. He also was a great half to Takishi Shimura, another actor I do very much love.

Mabuse

Meryl Streep's may be a great actress, but her biggest problem is her choice of films. Part of being a great actor is picking interesting projects and frankly she makes almost exclusively bad choices. With only a few exceptions she makes films that are what most would agree are "Oscar Bait" and they're the kind of bland movies my mom would go see.

Out of Africa, A Cry in the Dark, The Hours, Julie & Julia, Music of the Heart, The Bridges of Madison County. Yawn. Do any of you actually like these movies? How can anyone who has made such boring movies be considered great?

Kathleen Turner is a shitty actress but she has appeared in 5x more good movies than Meryl Streep, and I'd rather watch a good movie than a good performance in a lame film.

Supermallet

One word: Adaptation.

Ash Ketchum

Good points. In looking at her IMDB filmography I'm startled to realize I've only seen three films she's made in the last 20 years: ADAPTATION, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. I do think, though, that she's the best thing in all three of those movies. I just haven't felt compelled to see her in anything else in all this time.

She's a great comic actress and I appreciate her most in the few comedies she's made, e.g. POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. I wish she'd done more films like that.

And I have to confess I do find her beautiful.

Daytripper

And I like to add three more words: "Defending Your Life". Another great movie and performance you rarely hear about.

Re: Mabuse: Yeah, many people liked "Out of Africa", "Julie & Julia" and "The Bridges of Madison County". All were critical and commercial successes.

conscience

I like all of those movies (except the Julie parts in J&J).

I said that I hated Music of the Heart too - until I actually watched it. It turned out to be quite a good movie.

TomOpus

I was about to post the same thing. I love that movie. While not a tour-de-force type of role, it's solid and she very funny in spots.

Mabuse

Of course Adaptation , Defending Your Life , Doubt and a couple others, but they don't outweigh the dull Oscar Bait she mostly appears in.
And were then almsot completely forgoten about and no one talks about them anymore.

inri222

The question is :
Does she get a ton of offers that she can pick and choose?
or
Does she not get many offers that she takes whatever comes her way ?

Daytripper

Yeah, almost completely forgotten about and no one talks about them anymore. No one!

Just singling out one film on one website.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=130717 (271 replies)

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=196469 (191 replies)

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=190913 (123 replies)