JohnSlider

The Brad Pitt comments are shocking to me.

Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Snatch., Seven, Fight Club, Twelve Monkeys, Ocean's, Burn After Reading, Babel, Inglourious Basterds, Kalifornia, etc. etc. are all varied roles and varied characters that he played uniquely.

Drop

I find most of the choices in this thread shocking. A lot these guys do play similar roles, but that's because that's what they're offered. You become famous for a certain role and someone wants you you play a similar role. All of them at some point have shown some great range, even if they don't so much anymore or not for a while.

Hokeyboy

See I disagree; I think Jackman is incredibly charismatic and a strong screen presence. He's just been in some incredibly shitty movies.

Fox will back up a dumptruck full of cash for him to continue doing Wolverine movies, but I'd rather see him walk away from that role forever after the twin crapfests of X-Men: The Last Stand and Wolverine. On the other hand, I thought he was exceptional in "The Prestige" and extraordinarily good in "The Fountain".

Sessa17

There are rules of DVDTalk, and one of them is to never ever criticize Brad Pitt. This board is infatuated with him. Any time I've said anything negative about the guy, as this therad proves again, people will come out of the blue to defend him. He is a a media darling and adored because of it, he could shit on screen for 2 hours and people will praise him for it. I think that fact that people have brougth up roles like Oceans & Benjamin Button to defend him, only prove the point for the select few of us that find him as charismatic as a brick.

AnonomusBob15

if I were to defend Brad Pitt, IF, I would use Kalifornia, 12 Monkeys, and Seven as my examples.


he doesn't make films unwatchable to me and I don't hate him, as he has his hand in some real quality movies, regardless of his performance in each. I wouldn't call him an excellent actor. Just someone who I think used his level of power wisely, and made and extreme profitable career while retaining credibility. He such a Nancy though...



Patrick Wilson. Loved Little Children, liked Hard Candy, hated Watchmen. Hope he picks some good roles in the future, but can't exactly tell if he has anything to bring to the table. His casting in Little Children was perfect, but the character was a clutz, so maybe he's another Keanu or something.

Terrell

I'll echo the Brad Pitt comments. I'll also say Tom Cruise. He's made some good movies, but he's himself in every film.

toddly6666

Kristen Stewart, but I'm sure she's bad and shouldn't be as popular as she is.

AnonomusBob15

quite a Tom Cruise fan myself...

I consider him to have an excellent resume, supported by three Best Actor/Supporting nominations. His personal antics have overshadowed this, which is a shame, because he's given many good performances in some great films. Even his huge blockbusters have a certain "quality" to them. He recruits the best, and has a knack for working with some of Hollywood greatest current directors.

I do not work for Tom Cruise, btw, he gives me the creeps!

FRwL

I don't even know about that one...

AnonomusBob15

my youtube attention span runs at about 45 seconds, is it really funny or something?

jeffbase34

I would throw in Babel as well. I thought his performance was powerful in that film.

notkevinbacon

Not really 6 minutes worth funny. It's the end of Seven voiced over by some college kids or something, I think.

But I do agree, that ending scene is weakened somewhat by Pitt's performance.

I don't really have anything against Pitt, though. There is a place for the "movie star" type in Hollywood and I think he fits the role pretty well. I think he's fine in Ocean's (which isn't anything that requires much ability beyond a little charisma) and sometimes knocks it out of the park like, for instance, in 12 Monkey's.

Jaymole

Absolutely agree, in fact I have decided that he is not a very good actor. When I first saw Boogie Nights, I thought he was very good, but my opinon of him has sank ever since.

Ash Ketchum

Doesn't mean he played them well. He has a tendency to overact, to pitch his performance a little too much in one direction or another, diminishing the character's believability. Sometimes you need to tone it down and let the eyes do the talking and let the camera pick it up. Of the films you list, I only thought he was good in OCEAN'S and only because, as Clooney's chief sidekick, he had to play a straight man rather than a "top banana."

Drop

I think a lot of those roles benefited from that though. 12 Monkeys he was crazy, Fight Club he was a cartoon in many ways, Inglourious Basterds he was an exaggeration, etc.. I thought he fit all those rolls really well. And I thought he did a great job in Babel as well.

It's like when people criticize Nicholson in The Shining. You might not like it, but it is exactly what Kubrick wanted, he wanted it over the top. So in that instance I wouldn't say there is overacting, overacting is a film to film thing. I think every director gets exactly what they want out of Pitt, and he has showed some pretty good range over his career. I wouldn't say he's great but he is solid. And I know what to expect from Pitt when he's in a film.

foofighters7

I was just discussing the issue of people disliking Jack's performance in The Shinning with my wife the other day. I for one think it is terrific.

Of course the comparisons to Toshiro Mifune are valid as many of his performances are 'Big'.

Just as I understand some performances need to be low key, slow and drawn out, I also understand the need for performances at the other end of the spectrum. Brad Pitt has been great in performances where he has to go big, ie- Fight Club, Snatch, 12 Monkeys, and has been good in other more subdued roles like Seven Years in Tibet, Benji Button, etc.

islandclaws

<img src=http://www.stephenkingshortmovies.com/images/covers_movies/shinning_big.jpg alt=sp

foofighters7

Wondering if anyone was going to catch it. hehe

funny story, I went to see a showing of the Shining a few years ago and the movie ticket says The Shinning. Kept it just for that reason.

Ash Ketchum

Good points. In fact, I have to ask myself if I would even remember those films as well if he hadn't gone a little over the top. Sometimes it works in the context of the film (e.g. 12 MONKEYS) and then years later that's all I remember about the film so I think it's over the top. Maybe it's just that the rest of the film isn't so memorable after all. I so wanted to like ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, but I didn't like the directorial approach, so it marred Pitt's performance for me. In fact I think I would have liked it better if he had played James a little more over the top. I had just finished reading a bio of James when I saw the film, so that may have colored my reaction as well.

But he bothered me in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS because his acting style was so out of key with everybody else's. I didn't want that character to be a cartoon. In that case, it may simply be a case of a director's conception of the character not changing during the shoot so as to accommodate everyone else's rhythms. It's a tricky thing, but I wish Tarantino had toned Pitt down once he saw how everyone else was doing.

Something like that.

Brack

SterlingBen

I wasn't sure about Rosario Dawson until this sceen in Clerks 2

tylergfoster

That was when your opinion bounced back, eh?

GenPion

This thread is kinda sad for me to see... a lot of great actors are mentioned in here. And, yes, Brad Pitt is one of them.

Hokeyboy

I like Brad Pitt too. I totally don't get the criticism. He just has this screen charisma that you got to just own, you can't develop it. Not just good looks (it helps) or confidence (helps even more), they're a certain presence he has that totally works for movies.

And I think he's a damn good actor too. So there.

TheySentYou

Christian Bale

i'm almost certain he's a bland actor - but i'm not altogether positive. he's in so many awesome films but i think he just has a really damn good talent agent.