I was trying to make a list of top 5 modern actors (under 45 roughly) and couldn't figure out who should be number 5. The criteria used include consistency and range, as well as peak performance.
5. ????? ?????
4. Matt Damon
3. Brad Pitt
2. Leonardo DiCaprio
1. Edward Norton
I've been trying to research some other names, and I found some good ones, but no one who stood out.
Honorable Mention:
Clive Owen
John C. Reilly
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Jim Carrey
Will Ferrel
Don Cheadle
Jude Law
Mark Walhberg
Guy Pearce
Christian Bale
Nicolas Cage
So help me out, who am I forgetting, and what does your top 5 look like?
i would add Will Smith to that top 5.
ReplyDeleteWill smith is definitley honorable mention, but i don't know if he's top 5 yet...only because his really great movies have just been recently, with things like Ali and the POH (i know i 'm missing 1 or 2 more)
ReplyDeleteI don't know that i would put brad pitt at 3, i was thinking my 5 would read:
5. Matt Damon
4. Ed Norton
3. Leonardo DiCaprio
2. Johnny Depp
1. Brad Pitt
My argument for Ed Norton at 4 is because i haven't seen him in many movies, the only one i really remember is fight club, which was amazing, but yet its only one. I didn't think he was special in Italian Job, and if i've seen him in others, i don't remember him in them, which tells me something about his acting. The others though, i remember distinctly. But i definitely think he's better than matt damon.
Luke Wilson
ReplyDeleteKiefer Sutherland (same birthdate as me!)
Vince Vaughn
John Cusack
Just a bit older:
Willem Dafoe
John Travolta
Tom Cruise
Steve Buscemi
No range, but funny:
Owen Wilson
Ben Stiller
Fred Willard
Steve Carell (I'm guessing)
And what about Jason Bateman? He really showed his versatility in Smokin' Aces :)
Ed Norton's been around. Primal Fear was really good. American History X was great. He was in one of the Hannibal Lecter movies. One of my favorite actors.
ReplyDeleteAs for number 5, I say bump up Jim Carrey. Bursting onto the scene from In Living Color to Ace Ventura, he conquered comedy, and now he's doing mostly dramas and still excelling. But the other four are right on.
John Cusack might be underrated. Tom Cruise might even be as well. That guy has done a ton of really good movies playing different types of roles. If only he weren't crazy. . .
Hmmm...Johnny Depp is really good, he should probably be on the list, but Jim Carrey is really good too. They both have amazing range.
ReplyDeleteI regretfully would have to give the nod to Johnny Depp--I say regretfully because I don't enjoy his movies that much and he gets slurped from the James Lipton crowd, but I guess he has better chops than Carrey.