Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Tom Cruise
Self anointed title
If you knew something about Naval aviation you'd hate it even more. Dreadful movie.
"You were in a 4G inverted dive with a MIG 28?"
Imminent Catastrophe
TCLTC.
Twin Cities Lego Train Collectors?
"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"
"To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain
"The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.
√ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015
Cruel Jewel 50 mile May 2016
Western States 100 June 2016
Doc, my tooth hurts
I wonder if Scientology would even approve? Seriously.
They obviously don't care about Travolta getting handjobs from males. I doubt they would care as long as he kept giving money to them.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
Sure.
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
You have a point, there.
I thought Minority Report was OK really. Not a great film, but not as bad as some people here seem to think.
There does seems to be a bit of thing going where films have to be completely amazing or absolutely terrible. Whereas in fact many are just OK.
Meg Ryan was hot.
Proboscis Colossus
I'm certainly no Tom Cruise apologist - based on everything I've read and seen, I suspect his Tropic Thunder character is a distillation of his real personality - but as long as it's a decent movie otherwise, he doesn't ruin it for me.
I can cut the guy a little slack for having a relatively shallow bag of acting tricks. Even some of the "greats" have an expression or two that you know going in you're going to see used extensively: De Niro's "If-This-Punk-Says-One-More-Thing-I'm-Going-To-Kill-Him" look, Tom Hanks' "I-Care-Very-Much-But-Not-Enough-To-Lose-My-Cool" look (and its partner, his "I've-Lost-My-Cool" look), Nicholson's "I'm-A-Crazy-Person-In-An-Otherwise-Bland-Role" look.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fans of all of those guys, but in my opinion, there are only a handful of actors who seem to be able to pull completely original characters out of thin air the majority of the time. I'm thinking Streep, Fiennes, Day-Lewis, Oldman...
"God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people
Meat is Murder
De Niro and Nicholson use facial expressions quite a bit in their acting, although you are right saying that they have some looks they use more than others. If I need to think of a famous actor that has a very small set of expressions (one in fact) it is Harrison Ford. From Han Solo through Indiana Jones and to Jack Ryan, he has the same face.
Putin told me how to vote.
There is a not-small group of actors who seem to be the same basic character in almost all their roles. Get Shorty's Chili Palmer (John Travolta) notes this well when covering the differences between the movies Rio Bravo and Eldorado. Which are essentially the same movie. "John Wayne played John Wayne in both..."
Will Smith is another dude like this. Pretty much every movie is the same bit... he's being "Will Smith".
De Niro used to play a variety of roles, but over time his stuff devolved into him playing "Robert DeNiro", or at least the same basic persona.
It's actually kind of fun coming up with actors who DONT do this. Robert Downey Jr maybe. Eh, maybe not. Meryl Streep.
Samuel Jackson, I like him a lot. He does the 'angry guy' very very well.
There is a not-small group of actors who seem to be the same basic character in almost all their roles. Get Shorty's Chili Palmer (John Travolta) notes this well when covering the differences between the movies Rio Bravo and Eldorado. Which are essentially the same movie. "John Wayne played John Wayne in both..." Will Smith is another dude like this. Pretty much every movie is the same bit... he's being "Will Smith". De Niro used to play a variety of roles, but over time his stuff devolved into him playing "Robert DeNiro", or at least the same basic persona. It's actually kind of fun coming up with actors who DONT do this. Robert Downey Jr maybe. Eh, maybe not. Meryl Streep.
It's action that defines the character, and the history of leading men is that they've relied on this. Harrison Ford playing Han Solo as opposed to John Book in Witness is not much different in how he talks, walks, or eats, but there is a definite difference in the characters. It comes down to action. Dustin Hoffman is probably one of the best combined character actor-leading man there's ever been. Forrest Gump was a nice departure for Tom Hanks.
His presence improved Star Wars II (which must be viewed as a comedy to be enjoyable) and III immensely. Because I was waiting, just waiting, for him to go off all Jules-like. Same with Nick Fury.
Hello, Arie! Good to see they let you into heaven. You too, SRL!
Agreed on Harrison Ford. I would say he has another expression or two - he does "grumpy old man gets scared" and "grumpy old man concentrates" fairly well, but yeah, pretty limited range.
That said, I agree with SRL's point that, with a handful of exceptions, some of which we've mentioned, most actors and actresses are really just playing the same character in different situations. Which is just fine, in my opinion. Long as they achieve the suspension of disbelief for me for a few hours, I'm good.
Ironically, I would point to Will Smith as a (relatively) young actor who really seems to be at least trying not to be typecast as "sassy young black man." That's certainly his wheelhouse, but you look at The Pursuit of Happyness, Ali, Hancock, even I Am Legend...there are certainly common threads in those characters, but they seem pretty distinct to me.