The Actor Essentials Thread

[CConn]

Okay, basically, this thread is to list movies that you feel define an actors career...for instance...


Joseph Gordon Levitt
Brick
(500) Days of Summer
Inception
The Dark Knight Rises
Looper

Michael Keaton
Mr. Mom
Gung-Ho
Johnny Dangerously
Beetlejuice
Clean and Sober
Batman
Batman Returns
Jackie Brown
The Other Guys

Harrison Ford
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Blade Runner
Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Patriot Games
The Fugitive
Clear and Present Danger
Air Force One

 

[Donnie Darko]

I don't always agree with what you have to say, but much respect for including The Other Guys for Keaton.

 

[CConn]

You were one "but when I do" away from a dos equis commercial.

 

[Donnie Darko]

Except I am spending part of my day at work posting on Superherohype, so there is no way I am the most interesting man in the world.

 

[CJ]

Joseph Gordon Levitt
Brick
(500) Days of Summer
Inception
The Dark Knight Rises
Looper

You forgot Angels in the Outfield.

Jack Nicholson
The Shining
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
About Schmidt
As Good As It Gets
The Departed

Tobey Maguire
The Cider House Rules
Seabiscuit
Spider-Man 2

Tom Hanks
Big
Forrest Gump
Road to Perdition
Cast Away
Saving Private Ryan
The Green Mile
Toy Story

Leonardo Dicaprio
The Aviator
Inception
Shutter Island
Catch Me if You Can
The Departed

 

[gwynplaine]

Jack Nicholson:

_ Easy Rider
_ Five Easy Pieces
_ The Last Detail
_ The Passenger
_ Cuckoo's Nest
_ The Shining
_ A Few Good Men
_ About Schmidt

 

[Figs]

You forgot Angels in the Outfield.

Leonardo Dicaprio
The Aviator
Inception
Shutter Island
Catch Me if You Can
The Departed

and you forgot What's Eating Gilbert Grape. t: That was the movie that got DiCaprio noticed in a big way. He was great in all those other films you listed too but he gave a damn good performance in WEGG as well.

 

[Soapy]

Bill Murray
Stripes
Ghostbusters
Scrooged
Quick Change
What About Bob?
Groundhog Day
Broken Flowers
Lost in Translation
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

 

[childeroland]

Toshiro Mifune
Rashomon
Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Red Sun
High and Low
Drunken Angel
Stray Dog
The Hidden Fortress

Setsuko Hara
Tokyo Story
Late Spring
Late Autumn
Early Summer

 

[cabel]

I would add Much Ado About Nothing for Keaton.

 

[CConn]

Jack Nicholson:

_ Easy Rider
_ Five Easy Pieces
_ The Last Detail
_ The Passenger
_ Cuckoo's Nest
_ The Shining
_ A Few Good Men
_ About Schmidt

Chinatown.

And Batman. If only for the fact that Nicholson loved his role in that movie.

 

[gwynplaine]

Nicholson is great in Chinatown, but even though the film is excellent on many levels, I'm not a huge fan of it and I think it's a little overrated (hence why I omitted it from my list.)
As for Batman, I guess Nicholson loved his role in it more than I did
That said I was unclear whether this thread was about roles that shaped an actor's career or personal favorites?

 

[CConn]

More what shaped their career.

Like, if someone asked why is Jack Nicholson so famous, what films would you show to prove it to them? So kind of a mixture, I guess.

And never wink at me. I consider it a threat.

 

[gwynplaine]

I'm going to do my favorites (most of which helped define his career)

Al Pacino:

_ Godfather
_ Godfather 2
_ Dog Day Afternoon
_ Scarface
_ Sea of Love
_ Glenngary Glen Ross
_ Carlito's way
_ Donnie Brasco
_ The insider

 

[SoNicRaDiATioN]

I'll list what defined these actors for me. I will only list five for each and do some obvious names first. Really tough for some of them.

Brando
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Wild One
Burn
The Godfather
Last Tango in Paris (my favorite)

Paul Newman
Hud
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Verdict (my favorite)
The Color of Money
Nobody's Fool

James Cagney
The Public Enemy
Angels With Dirty Faces
Yankee Doodle Dandy
White Heat (my favorite)
One, Two, Three

Jimmy Stewart
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
It's a Wonderful Life (my favorite)
Harvey
Rear Window
Vertigo

Gene Hackman
The French Connection
The Conversation (my favorite)
Night Moves
Hoosiers
Unforgiven

 

[Figs]

Charlton Heston

Ben Hur
The Ten Commandments
Planet of the Apes
Soylent Green

 

[gwynplaine]

Robert De Niro:

_ Mean Streets
_ The Godfather 2
_ Taxi Driver
_ 1900
_ The Deer Hunter
_ Raging Bull
_ Angel Heart
_ Goodfellas
_ Casino
_Cape Fear
_Analyze This

Not a huge fan of Once Upon A time in America or Midnight Run, but maybe I should save that comment for the "unpopular opinion" thread.

 

[Donnie Darko]

and you forgot What's Eating Gilbert Grape. t: That was the movie that got DiCaprio noticed in a big way. He was great in all those other films you listed too but he gave a damn good performance in WEGG as well.

I feel like you would also need to include Titanic. Although that film gets bashed by some (waaaaay more than it should), that was the movie that really made him a genuine A-lister on the level of guys like Tom Cruise and Will Smith (not saying all his movies make as much as theirs do, although I believe he is a better actor than both of them, but you get my point).

 

[CJ]

I feel like you would also need to include Titanic.

Eh. I never saw Titanic, and I really have no interest to.

I thought this was just a 'list your favorite movies by whatever actor' thread, so that's what I did..

Jim Carrey
The Mask
Me, Myself and Irene
Dumb and Dumber
Liar Liar
The Grinch (Underrated movie, IMO)

I know Ace Ventura is one of his most popular movies, but.. eh, I didn't really care for it that much..

 

[Soapy]

I thought this was just a 'list your favorite movies by whatever actor' thread, so that's what I did..

Did you read the first post?

 

[CapedCrusader14]

Christian Bale

Empire of the Sun
American Psycho
The Machinist
Batman Begins
The Prestige
The Dark Knight
The Fighter
The Dark Knight Rises

 

[CJ]

Did you read the first post?

Yeah. I thought that "Movies you feel define an actor's career" basically meant, "What do you think are this actor's best films?" Guess not.

 

[HydraSupreme]

The actors essentials in my personal opinion... well here goes

Uma Thurman
-The Avengers- the other Avengers movie which was based on the old 1960s british Avengers show or whatever
-Kill Bill

Ethan Hawke
-Alive
-Dad
-Training Day

Micheal Keaton
-Batman - it changed his life due to some of the negativity etc
-Beetlejuice
-Multiplicity - my personal favorite Micheal Keaton movie
-White Noise

Virginia Madsen(oh she's so dreamy)
-Dune
-Candyman

Sylvester Stallone
-Rambo
-Rambo III
-Tango and Cash
-Cobra
-the underrated cop flick with him and Billy Dee Williams
-Oscar - yes I love this movie. Shut up lol

Patrick Kilpatrick
-Class of 1999
-Cyborg
-that one Jean Claude Van Damme prison action flick
-Free Willy 3

Kevin Kline
-Pirates of Penzance the actual theatrical movie with Angela Lansbury in it too. I got the old VHS tape of the movie for Christmas last year
-Fish Called Wanda
-In and Out

Liam Neeson
-Krull
-High Spirits
-Rob Roy
-Micheal Collins
-Next of Kin
-Darkman

 

[ericadawn16]

Liam Neeson without Schindler's List? It's how everyone learned his name, same with Ralph Fiennes.

 

[HydraSupreme]

Sorry but I have to disagree with you right there. I learned about Liam Neeson from watching Krull and Hight Spirits back in the day.

Schindler's List was only famous because Spielberg made it black and white. That and it was kind of boring.