Greatest Actor/Actress/Director (in your opinion)

[Daan]

Spain has also produced some excellent films, Cría Cuervos from 1976 is one of the best films I have ever seen. Other Spanish films I liked were El Sur, Mar adentro and El espíritu de la colmena. The original Abre los ojos was better than its American remake, Vanilla Sky.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Daan

[Stuart Galbraith]

1 hour ago, nitflegal said:

Hell, he did a Jaws sequel.  Though to be fair to him, he has stated he did it because it became a paid vacation to the Bahamas during the winter. . . 

Which is a fair reason, I respect that. But I can hardly see Lawrence Olivier doing it.

Anyone here like any Powell and Pressberger films?

[Ivanhoe]

5 hours ago, bd1 said:

both were amongst the best movies i´ve ever seen, but i was commenting on the timing of comical effect 🙂

The timing required for high-level comedy is purportedly why comedians and comedic actors are constantly surprising people with their dramatic work.

Of course, on the big screen, timing can be turbocharged by the editor. When one discusses great directors and great dialogue, always keep in mind that the editor has the final say on those pregnant pauses.

[NickM]

6 hours ago, Rick said:

As a child of the 60's, always like "Flipper" and "Lassie." For cartoons, it was "Johnny Quest."

Gotta love Quest. The only show where the opening theme is sometimes drowned out by gunfire and explosions. 

[R011]

9 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Michael Caine is a great actor, he proved that In Get Carter and a dozen other movies. The problem for me is, that whilst he is always good in a movie, the vast majority of the movies he has starred in have been utter stinkers. Go and watch the Movie 'Water', and you might see what I mean.

I wont say he tainted his legacy. I will say he did it few favours.

To quote TV Tropes: "Of Jaws: The Revenge, he once said: "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.""

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

[rmgill]

Another point in John Ford's favor...

 

 

[rmgill]

And Tony Zhou has another video on Kurosawa's scene compositions...
 

 

[Angrybk]

On 1/20/2023 at 10:01 AM, Ssnake said:

A disproportionate number of my favorite films are from Ridley Scott. And yet, some of his films where he was both director and producer have infuriatingly bad scripts. I think he really has a blind spot as far as plot holes and good dramaturgy go. If he has a decent script, the fill will be at least quite good, occasionally very good. With a stellar script, the result will be near-perfect. But he doesn't invest in fixing the thing that is cheapest to fix, a bad script.

I like most of his stuff but his latter Aliens sequels were just terrible, like you said, because of the plot holes (which he is on record as saying he doesn't care about because of the emotions, man). All these space films where the characters are basically the most competent humans selected by Planet Earth to fulfill a super important mission and they just end up acting like teenagers really piss me off. 

[Angrybk]

I think most of the Varsity Team directors make much better movies when they don't have as much resources to work with (or maybe when they're younger). Like James Cameron -- The Terminator and Aliens are incredible action films with characters who actually, like, do things that make sense for them even when they're f*cking up, their film-world has internal consistency, etc. 

[rmgill]

47 minutes ago, Angrybk said:

I like most of his stuff but his latter Aliens sequels were just terrible, like you said, because of the plot holes (which he is on record as saying he doesn't care about because of the emotions, man). All these space films where the characters are basically the most competent humans selected by Planet Earth to fulfill a super important mission and they just end up acting like teenagers really piss me off. 

Seems like as the Aliens Sequels go, they get worse and worse. The first one was good. The second too....lots of good characters tossed in. Later....it's clown shoes. But then maybe that's because Hollywood is all clown shoes and noses. 

[Ssnake]

7 hours ago, Angrybk said:

I think most of the Varsity Team directors make much better movies when they don't have as much resources to work with

John Carpenter would be the prime exhibit.