The Zone

by **burlivesleftnut** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:31 am

Okay, I just watched Redbelt, and this thred ISN'T about sports, but rather actors who seem to choose the right movie every time. Redbelt got me thinking about Chiwetel Ejiofor, and how I have YET to see him in a movie that hasn't impressed me (except for American Gangster from which I don't even remember him). The guy has done some awesome work and I can't really think of something I have seen him in where he didn't own the screen.

So this thread is dedicated to actors/actresses who somehow manage to keep a clean record. Are there any out there? Name the actors that you think have a spotless record when it comes to film, and if you think the suggestions don't, then let's debate it like civilized men. I supposed directors and producers can be included in this hot mess. Let the arguing begin!

by **stereosforgeeks** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:37 am

For a director Edward Yang tops my list for having a spotless record. While not everyone of his films is as brilliant as Yi Yi or A Brighter Summer Day they are all are incredibly well made and worthy of praise.

by **Nachokoolaid** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:26 pm

John Cazale.

Only 5 films. All best picture nominees.

/thread.

by **Fievel** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:32 pm

Nachokoolaid wrote:John Cazale.

Only 5 films. All best picture nominees.

/thread.

Wow! Great call!!!

by **Chris a.k.a StuntMike** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:39 pm

I'd say Paul Thomas Anderson but I though Punch Drunk Love was just o.k. Almost made it.

by **Fried Gold** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:50 pm

During the Mark Kermode bit on BBC Radio, they say that anything with Phillip Seymour Hoffman in is usually always above average.

by **travis-dane** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:54 pm

I'll go with David Fincher,he has a great set of movies,even his "biggest" failure(Alien 3) is interesting.

by **Chris a.k.a StuntMike** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:58 pm

travis-dane wrote:I'll go with David Fincher,he has a great set of movies,even his "biggest" failure(Alien 3) is interesting.

Agreed. Although I think Panic Room is his worst(Still love it though)

by **King Of Nowhere** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:00 pm

Alan Rickman.

Wait, scratch that, he was in that hairdressing movie.

by **Chris a.k.a StuntMike** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:03 pm

King Of Nowhere wrote:Alan Rickman.

Wait, scratch that, he was in that hairdressing movie.

But he was in The January Man, which is Danny Aiello's finest hour. :mrgreen:

by **travis-dane** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:08 pm

Stanley Kubrick belongs in here too......
Every movie of his is a work of genius.
I miss him...

by **Chris a.k.a StuntMike** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:14 pm

travis-dane wrote:Stanley Kubrick belongs in here too......
Every movie of his is a work of genius.
I miss him...

Argh Travis, your scooping up all my favorites. Scorsese is my favorite director but he has done a few dogshit movies. Too much coke.

by **King Of Nowhere** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:16 pm

Chris a.k.a StuntMike wrote:
travis-dane wrote:Stanley Kubrick belongs in here too......
Every movie of his is a work of genius.
I miss him...

Argh Travis, your scooping up all my favorites. Scorsese is my favorite director but he has done a few dogshit movies. Too much coke.

Are you both forgetting Eyes Wide Shut?
Immediate disqualification for Kubrick.

by **Chris a.k.a StuntMike** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:26 pm

King Of Nowhere wrote:
Chris a.k.a StuntMike wrote:
travis-dane wrote:Stanley Kubrick belongs in here too......
Every movie of his is a work of genius.
I miss him...

Argh Travis, your scooping up all my favorites. Scorsese is my favorite director but he has done a few dogshit movies. Too much coke.

Are you both forgetting Eyes Wide Shut?
Immediate disqualification for Kubrick.

I'm not forgetting. I loved it.

Aaaaaaaaaand here it comes...........

by **travis-dane** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:38 pm

Yes,I liked it too.
It is like a big fucked up "Dream" of a genius...and the orgy is beautiful.
Thanks Stanley.

by **John-Locke** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:27 pm

King Of Nowhere wrote:
Chris a.k.a StuntMike wrote:
travis-dane wrote:Stanley Kubrick belongs in here too......
Every movie of his is a work of genius.
I miss him...

Argh Travis, your scooping up all my favorites. Scorsese is my favorite director but he has done a few dogshit movies. Too much coke.

Are you both forgetting Eyes Wide Shut?
Immediate disqualification for Kubrick.

Douche

by **John-Locke** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:31 pm

Oh and Daniel Day Lewis hasn't been even remotely less than brilliant in anything he's been in.

by **Fried Gold** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:38 pm

Even though he's only made four films in thirty-something years....maybe Terrence Malick?

by **stereosforgeeks** on Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:25 pm

Fried Gold wrote:Even though he's only made four films in thirty-something years....maybe Terrence Malick?

That's a good one FG.

by **RogueScribner** on Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:24 am

Johnny Depp? I mean, his movies haven't all been great, but he's generally been great in all of his movies. The only performance of his I didn't really groove to was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but even that wasn't horrible or phoned in.

by **ChaoticMoira** on Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:24 am

RogueScribner wrote:Johnny Depp? I mean, his movies haven't all been great, but he's generally been great in all of his movies. The only performance of his I didn't really groove to was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but even that wasn't horrible or phoned in.

Speaking of his performance, I agree. I like Depp whenever I see him. But not necessarily his movies as a whole. I hated Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, but not because of Depp's performance.

by **Nachokoolaid** on Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:27 am

So are we basing this just on performance, or sort of a mixture of performance and film performance, because that's what I was thinking. It's a little less opinionated, I think, and more concrete if we include the film quality as well. Shit or Gold seems to be more recognizable on a larger scale.

by **ChaoticMoira** on Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:42 am

burlivesleftnut wrote:actors who seem to choose the right movie every time

That's why I haven't mentioned anyone. Nobody came to mind quickly. There are a few that pop in my head based on performance alone though.

by **burlivesleftnut** on Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:46 am

Nachokoolaid wrote:So are we basing this just on performance, or sort of a mixture of performance and film performance, because that's what I was thinking. It's a little less opinionated, I think, and more concrete if we include the film quality as well. Shit or Gold seems to be more recognizable on a larger scale.

I could care less about anyone's methodology. I think someone can be awesome in a shit film, and it doesn't tarnish my image of them. A lot of you know I am a big Matt Damon fan, and looking back on his career, there's really only one film with a blot-worthy performance from him (can't remember the name but it was another shitty Kevin Smith film with Angels and fart jokes). So I don't see why people can't just look at actors, directors, writers, producers, et al... example their career as a whole, and then suggest people they think have been a benchmark in cinema quality.

I am tired of threads where it's all like "yeah let's talk about best performances in slasher films where someone gets raped by a ghost but the movie has to have had a wide release and made more than 30 million at the domestic box office".

by **Spandau Belly** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:26 am

Krystof Kieslowski gets a 100% from me as a writer director.

Same goes for Zhang Yimou.

Mel Gibson is batting 100% as a writer-director, but as an actor he did his share of sell-out phone-it-in garbage to pay the rent. But I love him on either side of the camera.

I haven't seen all his films, but David Lean never made a bad movie that I've heard of.

I've never seen a bad performance from John Goodman.

I've also never seen a bad performance form Cate Blanchett, although she's been in some weak movies.

by **King Of Nowhere** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:54 am

Given the lack of Alan Rickman love in the thread, im just gonna work my way through the rest of the Potter alumni until someone agrees.

Gary Oldman?

by **papalazeru** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:20 pm

Fucking DAME fucking JUDY fucking DENCH!

by **Fried Gold** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:25 pm

I would agree with Gary Oldman, but I've not seen all of his work so I guess there may be a few clangers in there.

Some other potentials for the list (obviously feel free to strike them from the record):
Peter Sellers
Morgan Freeman (although he technically been playing the same role for twenty years)
John Malkovich
Wes Anderson
Kevin Spacey
Peter Ostrum
Michael Palin
Patrick Stewart (I know some of the Star Trek's are too great, but he still usually maintained a certain standard in them)
Ian McKellen
John Le Mesurier

by **Lord Voldemoo** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:32 pm

Fried Gold wrote:I
Kevin Spacey

K-PAX?
Pay it Forward? (I admit i never actually saw this, i just heard it was bad)
Superman Returns? *runs*

by **Fievel** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:51 pm

Fried Gold wrote:John Malkovich

Eragon, Knockaround Guys, Con Air, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, etc.

by **papalazeru** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:56 pm

Patrick Stewart?

There are skeletons in every mans closet

by **havocSchultz** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:57 pm

Fievel wrote:
Fried Gold wrote:John Malkovich

Eragon, Knockaround Guys, Con Air, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, etc.

Con Air is part of the spotless record of any and everybody in it...

Now put the bunny back in the box...

by **travis-dane** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:15 pm

I thought we would judge the actors by their acting abilities and not the "Quality" of the movies they took part in?

So I say ED HARRIS belongs in here,the mans a genius and can blend in every movie with a great performance(the man was in "The Stand".....and was good!)

by **stereosforgeeks** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:32 pm

What about Chanwook Park?

Youve got JSA, Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, and I'm A Cyborg (which isnt perfect by far but still damn interesting)

by **travis-dane** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:36 pm

stereosforgeeks wrote:What about Chanwook Park?

Youve got JSA, Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, and I'm A Cyborg (which isnt perfect by far but still damn interesting)

Thats a good call....
His movies are allways interesting and he has no real fuck up in his resume....

by **ChaoticMoira** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:20 pm

Fried Gold wrote:Morgan Freeman (although he technically been playing the same role for twenty years)

This is why I always disagree on Morgon Freemans acting skills. It isn't that I don't enjoy him, I do, but is he even really acting?

travis-dane wrote:So I say ED HARRIS belongs in here,the mans a genius and can blend in every movie with a great performance(the man was in "The Stand".....and was good!)

I have never not liked Ed Harris!

Don't think he was mentioned. I also have never not liked Samuel L Jackson... Though, I have not, and will not see Snakes on a Plane.

by **stereosforgeeks** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:32 pm

Samuel has the same problem as Morgan Freeman. Same character all the time.

Also, he chooses lots of shite movies. LOTS!

by **Fried Gold** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:18 pm

papalazeru wrote:Patrick Stewart?

There are skeletons in every mans closet

You don't like Lifeforce??!?!!?

by **Spandau Belly** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:34 pm

There's a difference between a gamble that missed and a plain shitty movie.

I think Cate Blanchett has done great acting in every movie I've seen her in, and even though some of the movies she's in don't turn out so well, I can understand why she signed on to do them.

But guys like Michael Caine, Sam Jackson, Morgan Freeman have all signed on to play one dimensional characters in things that must've looked like shitfest even back when they were just treatments. I realize all those guys have undeniable charisma and acting ability, but I also feel they have a default performance that they resort to time after time when there isn't much to the character they're playing or they're not getting adequate direction. If you don't tell Sam Jackson to do something else, he'll just go into Tarantino mode and collect his cheque. So I can't call these guys spotless even though I really like them.

by **papalazeru** on Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:12 pm

Fried Gold wrote:
papalazeru wrote:Patrick Stewart?

There are skeletons in every mans closet

You don't like Lifeforce??!?!!?

I find it incredibly difficult to post anything after an Elisha Cuthbert Piccy.

I saw her in London a while again and she was hot in real life.

Time this came back as my AV

Awsome.

by **havocSchultz** on Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:12 am

papalazeru wrote:
Fried Gold wrote:
papalazeru wrote:Patrick Stewart?

There are skeletons in every mans closet

You don't like Lifeforce??!?!!?

I find it incredibly difficult to post anything after an Elisha Cuthbert Piccy.

And yet you bad mouth Lifeforce and the incomparable Mathilda May...

by **travis-dane** on Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:15 am

Mathilda May!!! Lifeforce is good stuff.....

by **havocSchultz** on Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:47 am

travis-dane wrote:Mathilda May!!! Lifeforce is good stuff.....

Mathilda May is the muthafuckin Charlie Bronson of nude scenes...

by **travis-dane** on Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:32 am

havocSchultz wrote:
travis-dane wrote:Mathilda May!!! Lifeforce is good stuff.....

Mathilda May is the muthafuckin Charlie Bronson of nude scenes...

Best set of "natural" Alien boobs ever seen on film.........closely followed by Natasha Henstridge's Alien boobs...