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    Overrated film performances

    Seeing as we're doing overrated things and people...

    Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront. The "coulda been a contender" was received with great enthusiasm because it was a whole new, authentic style of acting. Well, it was new(ish), but it wasn't authentic. With all that face-contorting and so much pain, it was pure hammery.

    James Dean was another exhibitor of the scenery-chewing tortured soul.

    Now, to be clear, I'm not saying Brando or Dean put in bad performances. They were good in those movies, and the overacting did much to introduce more introspection into the thespian craft. So Brando in the taxi and Dean over-emoting served their purpose for the time. But today, it looks contrived and absurd -- partly because actors who drew inspiration from those performances have perfected that style. So they are overrated as acting performances, but their influence cannot be overrated.

    #2
    Brando in On the Waterfront is the acme of under-rating compared to Brando in The Godfather.
    Last edited by DCI Harry Batt; 15-12-2018, 20:07.

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      #3
      Good grief, yes.

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        #4
        Or Apocalypse Now. It's amazing how one person can emote so much with so little dialogue.

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          #5
          Originally posted by TonTon View Post
          Brando in On the Waterfront is the acme of under-rating compared to Brando in The Godfather.
          I don’t know what this sentence means.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
            Or Apocalypse Now. It's amazing how one person can emote so much with so little dialogue.
            It's a horror. A horror.

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              #7
              Burt Lancaster (who I like) in "Birdman of Alcatraz". Always seemed a flat performance to me. Both Telly Savalas and Karl Malden acted him off the screen.
              Last edited by adams house cat; 15-12-2018, 22:47.

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                #8
                Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                Burt Lancaster (who I like) in "Birdman of Alcatraz". Always seemed a flat performance tome. Both Telly Savalas and Karl Malden acted him off the screen.
                Burt was excellent at the beginning of his career. Flicks like The Killers and Brute Force are among the very best of classic noir. He was also very good towards the end. In Local Hero and, especially, Atlantic City he gives virtuoso performances. The late fifties through the seventies, not so much. Like others, he was type cast as the rough-hewn male lead and not asked to much more than flex his biceps. Birdman finds him in that period of his career. Earlier or later, he'd have done a better job I reckon.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                  I don’t know what this sentence means.
                  It means that Brando's performance in The Godfather is a lot more over-rated that Brando's performance in On the Waterfront.

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                    #10
                    Fair assessment Amor. He was also terrific in "Vera Cruz". And he could buckle a swash better than anyone, including Flynn or Fairbanks.

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                      #11
                      Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight".

                      Constantly chewing on your own tongue shouldn't really be enough to win you an Oscar.

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                        #12
                        When The Silence of the Lambs came out, I found Anthony Hopkins genuinely creepy; watching it now, it's just campy.

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                          #13
                          Yes yes yes to both the above. It’s a massive cliche to say it now, but (Not Centrist Dad Prof) Brian Cox’s understated Lecter in Manhunter was far superior.

                          I really really dislike the Nolan Batman series in general, but especially the performances of Bale and Ledger.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                            And he could buckle a swash better than anyone, including Flynn or Fairbanks.
                            The joyful acrobatics of Lancaster's films with Nick Cravat, his old circus partner from pre-Hollywood days, are still wonderful to watch.


                            Not exactly overrated, but I remember when I first heard about Robert De Niro, in the early '80s, people spoke of his deeply immersive preparation and how he disappeared into his roles like a chameleon. Nowadays watching even his greatest performances, and he is probably still my favourite actor, what is noticeable is the irreducible core of De Nironess in all of them.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                              I really really dislike the Nolan Batman series in general, but especially the performances of Bale and Ledger.
                              Bale is a bit like Forest Whitaker in that if you see him in one or two films he seems like a really good actor. Any more than that and it becomes apparent that he really only has one schtick, albeit a generally entertaining one. I'd possibly make an exception for Whitaker's performance in The Last King Of Scotland.

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                                #16
                                Burt Lancaster was the second best thing about "Field of Dreams" (after James Earl Jones).

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                                  Burt Lancaster (who I like) in "Birdman of Alcatraz". Always seemed a flat performance to me. Both Telly Savalas and Karl Malden acted him off the screen.
                                  Yeah, but telly savalas was the coolest man alive. I watched Kojak for the first time last year. It was fucking great.

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                                    #18
                                    Daniel Craig as Bond.

                                    Add me to the group of people who don't rate Nolan's Batman films. The third one is the worst.

                                    I'm not sure why people rave about Tom Hardy.

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                                      #19
                                      I really struggle with Toby Jones. He seems to overact in pretty much everything I've seen him in.

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                                        #20
                                        Benedict Cumberbatch the same. Basically the same character in any film context. Even when a baddie on Star Trek.

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                                          #21
                                          That also applies to Martin Freeman.

                                          Ledger in The Dark Knight is amazing, you wrongos. The film itself is merely decent but he is astonishing.

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                                            #22
                                            I was underwhelmed by Hopkins in "Silence Of The Lambs" The best portrayals of psychosis on film are James Cagney in "White Heat" and Richard Widmark in "Kiss Of Death". Both genuinely disturbing.

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                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                                              I really really dislike the Nolan Batman series in general, but especially the performances of Bale and Ledger.
                                              I couldn't agree with this less.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                                Daniel Craig as Bond.

                                                Add me to the group of people who don't rate Nolan's Batman films. The third one is the worst.

                                                I'm not sure why people rave about Tom Hardy.
                                                The one where the whole film is just him in the car destroying his life over speakerphone is remarkable.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Nah, I'm in the pro- Nolan-Batman camp too.

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