Unpopular movie opinions...

[Chas]

Gary Oldman and Johnny Depp are both character actors. Depp is a strange case because he is a character actor who happened to become a movie star, but is still playing characters.

Doug

Isn't that what acting is all about, after all? If this is so, which of course it is, then it follows that John Wayne wasn't much of an actor. He pretty much played himself every time. Ditto Tom Hanks.

 

[Atomic Age]

Isn't that what acting is all about, after all? If this is so, which of course it is, then it follows that John Wayne wasn't much of an actor. He pretty much played himself every time. Ditto Tom Hanks.

I would say that no thats not what all acting is about.

The cast of a movie, or a stage play for that matter, are in a way like the instruments of a symphony orchestra. The solo instruments, the trumpet, french horn, violin etc, tend to be bold. They have a sound that is distinctive and familiar and they carry the melody of the music. The supporting instruments, trombones, violas, bass, much of the woodwinds, tend to be more in the background. They are the harmony. Though they can be featured, it is often for purposes of producing a quirky or unusual sound.

John Wayne and Tom Hanks are like the trumpets in and french horns. They are bold and familiar, and for good reason. They carry the story, the melody if you will, and the audience identifies with them. The character actors support that melody. They are the side kicks and the moms and the goofy friends, even the villains. They work with the lead actors to make the world that the movie is creating come to life.

If you had all trombones in an orchestra, you wouldn't have a very interesting symphony. Like wise if every character in your movie is Gary Oldman (well you'd have a very strange movie) but I think it would also become tedious very fast.

Wayne and Hanks were and are both very good actors. Hanks probably has a wider range than Wayne did, but Wayne knew his limitations, and worked brilliantly with in them. This comes back to my point about Rio Bravo. Wayne is the rock around which these "characters" revolve. He makes the whole thing believable for the audience. Yes Wayne WAS a good actor. After all he wasn't playing Marion Morrison, he was playing a character he created called John Wayne.

Depp, with enormous help from Tim Burton has managed to create a place for himself where he can jump back and forth from character parts, to leads, sometimes in the same movie. Most actors haven't been able to do that, not because they don't have the skill, but because the audience doesn't want to see them that way.

Doug

edit: I just have to add that I watched a movie tonight with Wayne called Trouble Along the Way. In it he plays a football coach who is trying to help save a Catholic school from being closed down. But the real plot of the movie is that he is a single father who is trying to keep custody of his 11 year old daughter. You would think this film would be strictly a comedy, but it moves back and forth between being very funny, and touching and sad. I must say that Wayne is VERY good in it! And it doesn't have the pat ending that you might expect either.

 

[stardust]

Bumping this:
Unpopular Opinion of the year from my dear Boyfriend.
He hates Katherine Hepburn, and with a passion. We were watching The Aviator and his ranting began. "I Hate her so much I can't even stand people acting as her!".
That does give points to Cate for doing a great job with playing the role.

 

[Formeruser012523]

Bumping this:
Unpopular Opinion of the year from my dear Boyfriend.
He hates Katherine Hepburn, and with a passion. We were watching The Aviator and his ranting began. "I Hate her so much I can't even stand people acting as her!".
That does give points to Cate for doing a great job with playing the role.

Cate should win an award, if only for that reason. lol

 

[Miss Moonlight]

^Ha, that's great. The Hepburn role is the *only* thing I can stand Cate in. Everything she's always ACTING. This role at least she just was the part.

My unpopular movie opinion: I'm a long time hater of Pulp Fiction and Fargo. Ugly, ugly films. Can't stand them, and anything good in them is lost in the ugliness.

 

[rue]

The only thing I liked in Pulp fiction was the dance scene [huh]

 

[Tomasso]

The only thing I liked in Pulp fiction was the dance scene [huh]

And yet you keep replaying the pawn shop scene over and over and over.....................

 

[The Good]

I'm not into Pulp Fiction myself. I wasn't even able to finish watching it for a film class I had going on three years ago. I watched about half of it, and decided on a good night's rest instead of staying up to watch it all. I did OK on the quiz though. I think Tarantino's best movie is Inglourious Basterds, but that's just me.

 

[Miss Moonlight]

David Niven. I can't figure out why I find him so utterly boring. I start watching films he's in, then he shows up and... bleh.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Johnny Depp, a once-interesting (if limited) actor has become such a sell out. How expensive is that French estate of his that he must crank out Pirates sequel after Pirates sequel? He's become a "I've got a Roman Emperor-like lifestyle to support" kind of actor. Leonardo Di Caprio picks more challenging roles Depp these days. Come on Johnny, be interesting again!

 

[Gene]

How about the Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards "Pink Panther" movies? I'm sorry, I really don't get them, maybe I'm just too young to understand the humor (or lack thereof).

Oh, and "Easy Rider." My buddy Brad said when they played it at the drive-in in rural Indiana everyone cheered at the end when they got shot.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

How about the Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards "Pink Panther" movies? I'm sorry, I really don't get them, maybe I'm just too young to understand the humor (or lack thereof).

For years I despised Peter Sellers like everyone at TFL (but me) hates Kate Hepburn. I've slowly warmed to Sellers, but I have to be in the mood to take his schtick.

BTW, I don't mind Pat Harrington's take on "The Inspector" (they never state he's Clouseau), as heard in the 1960s cartoons, though; those are pretty funny.

 

[C-dot]

I once posted that I hated The Night of the Hunter, and I got cyber-lynched! lol I tend to agree with this comment on IMDb:

I had heard many good things about this movie, so when I saw it in a video store I quickly bought it. Upon watching it I found it to be a laughably bad movie! Mitchum is good in his role but there are so many other problems with the movie I can't understand how it gets such high marks on IMDB (not that they are always perfect). The acting of the children is abysmal for the most part, and the story seems to wander on without a clear direction while clumsily introducing new characters and painfully continuing the story.

It was a bad movie. There, I said it.

 

[Mr Vim]

Perhaps these aren't opinions per se, in fact I know they aren't, but I always get shocked looks when I tell folks I have never seen Top Gun or Napolean Dynamite... I just have no interest in either film. Considering all the classics I have watched I think it is a fair trade.

 

[Gene]

For years I despised Peter Sellers like everyone at TFL (but me) hates Kate Hepburn. I've slowly warmed to Sellers, but I have to be in the mood to take his schtick.

BTW, I don't mind Pat Harrington's take on "The Inspector" (they never state he's Clouseau), as heard in the 1960s cartoons, though; those are pretty funny.

My friends and I have had conversations about what we consider humor that is generation-specific, and "Pink Panther" definitely falls into the category of I don't get it but my dad loves it. Reminds me of the "King of the Hill" episode where Bobby finds his dad's Raymond J. Johnson record and can't figure out why it's so funny. "You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Ray J....."

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

In the Pink Panther movies I always liked Herbert Lom as Chief Dreyfuss, Clouseau's long-suffering superior.

[video=youtube;LEcsgbwBFRs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEcsgbwBFRs&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;6j_2KMyUxso]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j_2KMyUxso&feature=related[/video]

 

[Puzzicato]

Perhaps these aren't opinions per se, in fact I know they aren't, but I always get shocked looks when I tell folks I have never seen Top Gun or Napolean Dynamite... I just have no interest in either film. Considering all the classics I have watched I think it is a fair trade.

A former colleague gave me Napoleon Dynamite on DVD because he was so shocked I had never seen it. I still haven't. I'm just not interested.

 

[The Good]

I saw Napoleon Dynamite twice, and I don't think it's all that it's cracked up to be. It's not even all that funny, but there were a few unintentionally funny moments.

 

[lolly_loisides]

I once posted that I hated The Night of the Hunter, and I got cyber-lynched! lol I tend to agree with this comment on IMDb:



It was a bad movie. There, I said it.

I can understand why you were cyber lynched. The storytelling & cinematography remind me of the silent film era. Visually it's a beautiful movie. It's a pity that it was the only movie that Charles Laughton directed.

Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's bad.

 

[Edward]

Perhaps these aren't opinions per se, in fact I know they aren't, but I always get shocked looks when I tell folks I have never seen Top Gun or Napolean Dynamite... I just have no interest in either film. Considering all the classics I have watched I think it is a fair trade.

You're not missing anything. Top Gun was the absolute worst kind of macho nonsense: quite possibly the most offensive film I have ever seen. Napoleon Dynamite was just weak, third rate, wannabe-cult trash. I found all the characters utterly unlikeable, most particularly the eponymous Napoleon. If ever they invent a timer machine, that's one of the many two-hour slots I'm going to go back and prevent myself from wasting....