Christian Bale vs. Leonardo DiCaprio

[DACrowe]

Just because he want an oscar doesnt mean he does a movie just so he can win one. And just because you dont like Sam Mendes doesnt mean everybody dislikes him.

I didn't say I dislike Sam Mendes. American Beauty was quite good and I thoroughly enjoyed Road to Perdition (Jarhead was a miss for me, I'll admit). But the guy makes movies that are more inclined to appeal to Oscar voters than say something made by Terry Gilliam or Werner Herzog. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But again I did not care for Revolutionary Road, because for me it was very similar to Far From Heaven, The Hours or any other Oscar-would-be film trying to garner awards attention by being about '50s angst with great actors to convey the trauma.


P.S. I would say 3:10 to Yuma and Empire of the Sun were hits. Maybe not by blockbuster standards, but for dramas not aimed at teenagers? I thought they did well. As did The Departed, The Aviator and Shutter Island, despite not being blockbuster films.

 

[Eros]

What's the other bad film other than T4? I see a pretty damn solid recent filmography outside of that one. If you want to say Public Enemies sucked, fair enough. If we're going by that rationale, then Body of Lies also sucked. Both of those movies failed to live up to their hype IMHO, but neither of them are truly bad films.

Yea But Bale was underwhelming and boring as John conner, he was just thier, and was doing that raspy voice crap, Sam worthington stole the show In T4. You cant Blame MCG the direcoter either, Bale read the script he talked it over with MCG for months, he new what he was getting into, and he still sucked. He was nothing in Public enemies, and Imo his Bruce wayne/Batman in the nolan bat movies while very good, can be pulled off by literally any actor in Hollywood.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Yea But Bale was underwhelming and boring as John conner, he was just thier, and was doing that raspy voice crap, Sam worthington stole the show In T4. You cant Blame MCG the direcoter either, Bale read the script he talked it over with MCG for months, he new what he was getting into, and he still sucked. He was nothing in Public enemies, and Imo his Bruce wayne/Batman in the nolan bat movies while very good, can be pulled off by literally any actor in Hollywood.

I agreed with DACrowe that T4 sucked and Bale sucked as Connor, so I'm not sure why you're jumping down my throat about it. I asked him to tell me which other recent Bale movie besides T4 sucked. I can't think of any but I was curious to hear DACrowe's take on it. Ironically enough, DiCaprio could not play Bruce Wayne anywhere near as well as Bale and it's because of his naturally high-pitched, whiny voice. People complain about Bale's Batman voice (which Nolan is just as responsible for, by the way), but DiCaprio's voice would be even more annoying -- and not just as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne too.

 

[Cmill216]

What's the other bad film other than T4? I see a pretty damn solid recent filmography outside of that one. If you want to say Public Enemies sucked, fair enough. If we're going by that rationale, then Body of Lies also sucked. Both of those movies failed to live up to their hype IMHO, but neither of them are truly bad films.

Bale's performance in Public Enemies was solid, for what he was given. His Melvin Purvis was painfully underwritten.

That's the thing I will say about Bale. I think he's a great actor, but the roles he's chosen recently haven't been all that sound.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Bale's performance in Public Enemies was solid, for what he was given. His Melvin Purvis was painfully underwritten.

That's the thing I will say about Bale. I think he's a great actor, but the roles he's chosen recently haven't been all that sound.

There is no doubt about that. I was disappointed with the writing for his characters in both Public Enemies and The Dark Knight. Hopefully his character has better writing in The Fighter and it sounds like he will be the main male character in Malick's 2011 project. Malick isn't known for short runtime so hopefully Bale gets plenty of screentime in that one.

 

[Brother Jack]

My feelings about DiCaprio over the last decade is that he's been in many good to great movies but hasn't necessarily given great performances in all of them. He's good yes, but other than The Aviator I don't see much greatness in his recent roles.

 

[rnewbz]

Dicaprio.

 

[DACrowe]

Yea But Bale was underwhelming and boring as John conner, he was just thier, and was doing that raspy voice crap, Sam worthington stole the show In T4. You cant Blame MCG the direcoter either, Bale read the script he talked it over with MCG for months, he new what he was getting into, and he still sucked. He was nothing in Public enemies, and Imo his Bruce wayne/Batman in the nolan bat movies while very good, can be pulled off by literally any actor in Hollywood.

wow, how the mighty have fallen!

I am not saying it is you specifically, but once upon a time Bale was the hero of fan communities and fanboys everywhere who could do no wrong. One crappy Terminator movie later and bam, what an overrated hack!

To be fair T4 sucked. It was a bad film all around (yes, even Worthington who is the new flavor of the month for the fanboy community). Okay, maybe Carter came out okay for her cameo, but that movie was just mediocre from the ground up. You have a point, Bale saw it is a film that would help his movie star climb (which it obviously did not) and he signed onto that crap film. But are you really going to judge him by that film?

The guy has given outstanding performances in Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, The Machinist, Rescue Dawn and very good movie star work in The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma and his Batman films. In Public Enemies he and Depp had the misfortune of trying to play Dillinger and Purvis as opposed to movie gangsters and heroes. I feel the movie is flawed but the acting is criminally underrated in that film because it is not a DePalma movie. I love The Untouchables, but that was not what they were trying to accomplish with that movie.

As for writing his Batman off...<shrugs> If the role is so easy, I wonder why no actor whose played Batman before has done nearly as well to point. Batman Begins lived or died on the strength of the lead's performance and I thought he did really well.

I just find it interesting how when Batman Begins came out Bale could do no wrong. But what has he done for fans lately? To be fair, with T4, not much.

 

[The Riddler]

this thread is useless because no one has seen all of bale's or dicaprio's works. (well maybe some of you have, but most haven't).

judging on simply what you've seen will have you making a decision based upon incomplete facts.

with that said (though i haven't seen all their works), i think the only performance i truly was blown away by between the two of them was bale's work in american psycho.

 

[Laderlappen]

I didn't say I dislike Sam Mendes. American Beauty was quite good and I thoroughly enjoyed Road to Perdition (Jarhead was a miss for me, I'll admit). But the guy makes movies that are more inclined to appeal to Oscar voters than say something made by Terry Gilliam or Werner Herzog. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But again I did not care for Revolutionary Road, because for me it was very similar to Far From Heaven, The Hours or any other Oscar-would-be film trying to garner awards attention by being about '50s angst with great actors to convey the trauma.


P.S. I would say 3:10 to Yuma and Empire of the Sun were hits. Maybe not by blockbuster standards, but for dramas not aimed at teenagers? I thought they did well. As did The Departed, The Aviator and Shutter Island, despite not being blockbuster films.

You said the only reason why an actor would do a Sam Mendes film is because of awards.

 

[Eros]

wow, how the mighty have fallen!

I am not saying it is you specifically, but once upon a time Bale was the hero of fan communities and fanboys everywhere who could do no wrong. One crappy Terminator movie later and bam, what an overrated hack!

To be fair T4 sucked. It was a bad film all around (yes, even Worthington who is the new flavor of the month for the fanboy community). Okay, maybe Carter came out okay for her cameo, but that movie was just mediocre from the ground up. You have a point, Bale saw it is a film that would help his movie star climb (which it obviously did not) and he signed onto that crap film. But are you really going to judge him by that film?

The guy has given outstanding performances in Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, The Machinist, Rescue Dawn and very good movie star work in The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma and his Batman films. In Public Enemies he and Depp had the misfortune of trying to play Dillinger and Purvis as opposed to movie gangsters and heroes. I feel the movie is flawed but the acting is criminally underrated in that film because it is not a DePalma movie. I love The Untouchables, but that was not what they were trying to accomplish with that movie.

As for writing his Batman off...<shrugs> If the role is so easy, I wonder why no actor whose played Batman before has done nearly as well to point. Batman Begins lived or died on the strength of the lead's performance and I thought he did really well.

I just find it interesting how when Batman Begins came out Bale could do no wrong. But what has he done for fans lately? To be fair, with T4, not much.

Im not saying Bale sucks, I still really like him and as a actor. I just think some of his more recent roles have not blown me away.

 

[DACrowe]

You said the only reason why an actor would do a Sam Mendes film is because of awards.

that doesn't mean I dislike his films. I was pointing out a likely motive of Revolutionary Road's existence. This is like being surprised if I said that WB made The Dark Knight to make a poop ton of money. That is why TDK exists, even if Nolan made an insanely great movie.

 

[Laderlappen]

that doesn't mean I dislike his films. I was pointing out a likely motive of Revolutionary Road's existence. This is like being surprised if I said that WB made The Dark Knight to make a poop ton of money. That is why TDK exists, even if Nolan made an insanely great movie.

So you like Mendes' films and you are aware that some actors can be a fan of his. Still you can come up with a single reason for an actor to agree to play a part in one of his movies other than getting an oscar. This would be the perfect moment for you to start making some sense.

Based on that The Dark Knight comment, it sounds like the only reasons why an actor would take a part in a movie are the money or the awards.

 

[DACrowe]

Never said that. But there are films made to win awards and films made to do well at the box office in some way and from a studio POV that is probably a lot of them. Filmmakers have different reasons to make a movie (obviously) but to pretend some films weren't meant to be award winners is ridiculous. I'm sure the cast of Cold Mountain for example all thought they were making a good movie, butt that picture was looking for some pay off. For example, look at Nine last year, that film starred entirely Oscar winners or nominees and was directed, shot and costumed by previous Oscar winners. I'm sure they all thought Nine was going to be a good movie (or is a good movie) but to say the thought of awards didn't cross the mind of a cast and crew full of award winners is naive, I would say.

 

[Laderlappen]

So you are saying any actor that would agree to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, Kate Winslet or any oscar winner would ONLY do it for the Oscars? Ok I understand.

 

[Dark Donnie]

I'm a much bigger Leo fan at this point....I think Bale has become fairly overrated.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I'm a much bigger Leo fan at this point....I think Bale has become fairly overrated.

In what way? People bag on him about the Batman voice all the time, people bag on him about his temper tantrum on the Terminator set, people bag on him for even bothering to sign up for Terminator at all, and he's never been nominated for an Oscar. Doesn't sound overrated to me.

 

[Deaths Head II]

I prefer Leo but I like 'em both.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Despite all that, people act like Bale is the best actor in the industry. He is a great actor, but there are better than him.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Despite all that, people act like Bale is the best actor in the industry. He is a great actor, but there are better than him.

Who is acting like he's the best? Whoever that is needs to watch more movies, namely with Daniel Day-Lewis for starters.

 

[Dark Donnie]

In what way? People bag on him about the Batman voice all the time, people bag on him about his temper tantrum on the Terminator set, people bag on him for even bothering to sign up for Terminator at all, and he's never been nominated for an Oscar. Doesn't sound overrated to me.

This board overrates him for one...I actually like most of Bale's movies but the out cry he gets when compared to other actors is ridiculous. He's a good actor....I wouldn't say he's amazing. I think he's done some real good stuff and some real bad as well.

I find Bale limited in many ways.....he seems to pick a certain type of role every time. just my opinion.

I prefer Leo but I like 'em both.

props pn another great avvy

 

[Spider-Fan]

Who is acting like he's the best? Whoever that is needs to watch more movies, namely with Daniel Day-Lewis for starters.

NOW we're talking

He had the decade's best performance in There Will Be Blood.

 

[redfirebird2008]

NOW we're talking

He had the decade's best performance in There Will Be Blood.

More like best performance ever, but that's another thread.

 

[Spider-Fan]

More like best performance ever, but that's another thread.

It is. I am still mad that didn't win Best Picture for 2007

But, it has made my top 10 favorite films of all-time list

 

[redfirebird2008]

It is. I am still mad that didn't win Best Picture for 2007

But, it has made my top 10 favorite films of all-time list

I would have preferred TWBB over NCFOM too but I do enjoy NCFOM. It's kinda one of those situations where I enjoy both so much that I didn't care too much which one ended up winning. 2007 was a weird year though because I was happy for the films that were nominated/won awards but at the same time, how the hell does a great movie like Zodiac completely slip through the cracks with zero nominations? Sigh.