Who's the best actor on the planet?

Night Shift, a fucking brilliant movie - and Michael Keaton's best, IMO.

 

Gilbert Grape is a hell of a movie. DiCaprio came up with that character's "brain wipe," the compulsive flicking finger, all on his own.

 

Circle gets the square.

 

Should have been one of the first names mentioned. I guess when people do two films per decade, people sometimes forget. He is amazing though.

 

I just watched that in its entirety the other day. I forgot how good it is.

Oh, and my vote is for Jim Gaffigan. He's brilliant in those 7-up commercials.

 

MY FIVE

CHRISTIAN BALE
WHY? Makes you want to watch him in EVERY role. Every time he is on screen, you can't seem to look away.
FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: American Psycho

PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
WHY? Range. He plays Truman Capote on film, a down-on-his-luck college professor, a action movie villain, a heroin-addicted small-time crook ... The best of this generation.
FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: Boogie Nights

ED NORTON
WHY? Brings authenticity to all of his roles, seemingly breathing life into those around him. Makes acting look easy.
FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: American History X

RUSSELL CROWE
WHY? Has the balance of sensitivity and strength sought after in most leading men. His range is remarkable given his ability to be a box-office action star.
FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: The Insider

MERYL STREEP
WHY? Similar to Ed Norton in her ability to make the material feel ad-libbed, like a real person landed in the middle of a movie. Seems more at ease now as an actress than 25 years ago.
FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: Adaptation

More of note: Robert DeNiro, Ewan McGregor, Adrien Brody, Cate Blanchett, Clint Eastwood, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Gosling, Denzel Washington, Dustin Hoffman, Emile Hirsch, Leo DiCaprio.


So, I guess, the answer to the thread question would be Phillip Seymour Hoffman. If you told me I had to make a movie and had to pick the protagonist before I saw a script -- and the material could be ANY genre, etc. -- I'd have to go with Hoffman. I could even see him shedding a few pounds and being an action hero. Seriously.

 

'Oh that Meryl Streep, she's such a phony baloney.'

Check her out in the under-rated 'Ironweed.'

 

Christian Bale — Is good even in those movies you don't see. The ones that nobody watches.
Edward Norton — Ditto
Alec Baldwin — For 30 Rock alone
Phillip Seymur Hoffman — Just amazing in that Capote movie.
Paul Giamatti — Uniformly good in everything he does

 

See. The. Machinist.

That is all.

 

Fake, fake. Fake, fake.

 

I strongly agree with Streep, Norton and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

The way Norton can morph from a wimp to a badass is amazing.

Hoffman steals every movie.

Al Pacino has been in some great movies but does nothing for me.

 

I have. So I have now confirmed that me and you are two of the 17 people who saw the film.