There was a time where I would easily have said Jim Carrey. At his peak the guy can't be matched. When he first started doing films he was doing pretty risky roles, even with his comedies. The first Ace Ventura movie is still a great comedy which could have been a disaster. "The Cable Guy" is very under-appreciated. I even liked his dramas like "Man on the Moon" and "The Truman Show", but I think he's gotten too comfortable lately, and he's doing movies that just aren't as inspiring and he doesn't seem to elevate the material the way he used to.

That's something Pedro Almodovar said too: that Hollywood somehow doesn't seem to 'get' her. It's like she's two different actresses.

yeah, hollywood only gets mousy penelope, not hot smoldering penelope.

anyway, actors are cattle-- the director is the one that makes the picture, like it's the chef the one who prepares the cut of beef. ha!

I dunno, a great actor can often transform a quite mediocre film. Basic rule for me, stick Robert Mitchum in anything and you've got a far better film than the one you started with. The director may prepare the beef, but even I could prepare a decent stew with top quality ingredients. Replace Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris with Keanu Reeves, and you've got a bad film - regardless of whether you're Bernardo Bertolluci or Michael Bay.

Gonna have to disagree here, my good chap. I'm probably the biggest Abel Ferrara fan on this board, and that was one of the worst films I've ever seen.

No, it's "actors should be treated like cattle", if you're refering to Hitchcock.
To me, actors make half of the quality of a movie.
( oups, just got your joke )

Really, I'd rather watch movies with no-name actors that I've never seen before.

Haha, if I told you I was almost as drunk watching that movie as Matthew Modine was while acting in it, it may help explain my enthusiasm. Maybe a more sober viewing is in order.

you should read robert bresson's "notes on the cinematographer". it's an awesome book. there he talks about "models" instead of actors. he finds absurd that a face that last week was a villain today is a hero (hollywood). anyway, he's got some brilliant observations.

Word and word.

yeah a movie is usually more convincing to me if i dont feel that its "brad pit" playing a guy, rather a face that i have no frame of refrences. only a truly great actor can make you forget whatever he has done before and make one feel that this is the first time he is being seen

yes

Don Nicholson.

Araceli Gonzalez! What a great woman!!!!

Ralph Fiennes