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I often read reviews where someone says "...and the acting was terrible" without getting into what made the acting so terrible. For the most part, I find nearly all acting in big budget films/TV shows to be pretty good acting. I usually only see truly poor acting in very low budget movies and movies where athletes or entertainers try to make the transition to the big screen. What would be an example of really bad acting, in your opinion, and what makes it so?
I think both Zooey and JGL do a fantastic job in this scene. Guilt has got to be one of the most difficult emotions to display in a non-verbal way and I think Zooey nails it after she says "What I was never sure of with you." IMO the best way to watch this scene is on mute and to simply watch their facial expressions. A lot of actors can fake cry, but JGL gets the "I want to cry but I have too much pride" facial expression down perfectly here.
Throughout the movie, JGL does a great job conveying that his character is absolutely in love, or at the very least infatuated with this woman, and you can see that in this scene where Zooey places her hand on top of his. It's almost like he gets taken back to those happy moments of their past and then gets crushed by reality and all of that is written on his face within the span of a few seconds.
To me, bad acting is like pornography. I know it when I see it.
Yeah, definitely. Good acting has a lot to do with making the viewer buy into the story. e.g. these two people are in love; that family is in danger from zombies; that woman is a nuclear scientist. When the acting is bad, the entire artifice falls apart.
I often read reviews where someone says "...and the acting was terrible" without getting into what made the acting so terrible. For the most part, I find nearly all acting in big budget films/TV shows to be pretty good acting. I usually only see truly poor acting in very low budget movies and movies where athletes or entertainers try to make the transition to the big screen. What would be an example of really bad acting, in your opinion, and what makes it so?
Bad acting in my opinion, is when the actor cannot deliver a line and make it believable. Another aspect of bad acting is when the actor basically is the same character over and over and over, just with different names and circumstances.
Currently, the worst mainstream actor right now is Tom Cruise. He has two ways of acting: mumble or yell. That covers all the emotions that he can muster. How on earth he ever got a reputation as a great actor is beyond me.
Good actors? Mel Gibson 30 years ago. Brad Pitt. Adrien Brody. Many others.
That question is a Pandora's box. In general, if the character is not believable, or it seems as though the actor is simply reciting lines, or the emotion of the character does not match the scene, that is "bad acting." There are also some actors that play up their own persona in films to be instantly recognizable. That may or may not be bad acting, depending on how distracting it is. The short answer is - actors are there to advance the story line, the story line is not there to enhance the actors.
Proper casting plays a big role in whether an actor is seen as good or not. Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinnie" was brilliant. Casting him as the lead in "Titanic" would have been a disaster, although the comic possibilities are intriguing.
Acting "styles" also play into the perception of whether acting is bad. I find "Ben Hur" to be full of horrible acting, but some people have no problem with that stylized acting. The kicker line from the original "Planet of the Apes" always struck me as some of the worst acting I had ever seen. The "tells" of real anger were simply not there, and the voice modulation was clearly designed for the microphone.
The reason that Stanislavsky variations are so prevalent is that they work. Actors that are able to "live" the role onstage and off have more consistent and natural reactions, down to little mannerisms. They do this at some psychological peril, for various reasons too complex to go into here.
Bad acting in my opinion, is when the actor cannot deliver a line and make it believable. Another aspect of bad acting is when the actor basically is the same character over and over and over, just with different names and circumstances.
Currently, the worst mainstream actor right now is Tom Cruise. He has two ways of acting: mumble or yell. That covers all the emotions that he can muster. How on earth he ever got a reputation as a great actor is beyond me.
Good actors? Mel Gibson 30 years ago. Brad Pitt. Adrien Brody. Many others.
Add to the Cruise list: Harrison Ford...he only has two or three facial expressions that never change.
Nicholas Cage, same thing...
Add to the Cruise list: Harrison Ford...he only has two or three facial expressions that never change.
Nicholas Cage, same thing...
Right, those are the kind of actors who don't blend in to whatever role they're playing and become unrecognizable. Nick Cage is always playing Nick Cage, no matter what. Actors like Michael Fassbender or Cate Blanchett are almost chameleons--you forget you're watching a celebrity in a movie with them.
Some of the best acting I've seen lately is Claire Foy in "The Crown".
She doesn't have the luxury of showing passionate emotions. She is, after all, the queen. So she has to act with her facial expressions, perfectly timed sighs, a brittle tension in her manner, a shy smile, etc.
The contrast between her formality and Matt Smith's easy-going jauntiness is really beautiful.
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