The Elite List
Dec 20 '01
The Bottom Line There are a lot of people that could be on this list. But these are our favorites!
About two years ago a couple of friends and I where talking about the acting ability of Wesley Snipes. I'm not sure why, but it spawned my best friend and my list of "Elite Actors."
We argued for hours that night about what made a good actor. We talked about his ability to play funny roles, action roles, and drama. We talked about his list of movies. His time frame. And his list of "great moments."
Each of these categories became rules to get on the "Elite List."
The Rules
Rule Number 1: The actor must have been in a classic. Either a Cult Classic or a General Classic.
A classic is a movie generally accepted among some group of people as a movie that represents their feelings. For instance, among football players the movie, The Program is a classic. In fact it is the definitive football movie. Note: These are our opinions of classics. We are football players, scholars, and computer nerds.
Rule Number 2: The actor must have had a bad role. This means that although the written character was not a good idea, the actor played it well and made up for bad writing. For instance, Wesley Snipes in Art of War. Or Michael Keaton in Multiplicity.
Rule Number 3: The actor must have played in a horrible movie. This means that the actor must have had a fallout of some sort. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero.
Rule Number 4: The actor must have played in 95% color movies. We are not AMC watchers. Sorry. But we feel there are too many new movies to watch all of the old ones. Note: This rule was created mainly to get my girlfriend to leave me alone about all of her favorite actors. :-)
Rule Number 5: The actor must have had at least one or several good roles in Dramas, Action Movies, Comedies, and an "other" movie. Other movies include Horror, Chick-flick, Space movies, or Westerns.
The List
Note: This list is ranked, but any of the top 10 could really be number one.
Tom Hanks For his diversity. There really should not be any argument that Tom is the most diverse actor around. And I am happy that he has never played the same role twice. Important Roles: Big, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, You've got Mail.
John Travolta Another highly diverse actor. He can do Drama, Comedy, Classics, or action. Important Roles: Face Off, Battlefield Earth, Grease, Pulp Fiction. You ask why Battlefield Earth? It was his bad movie.
Jack Nicholson Jack is an actor who can play anything, but his personality makes it hard for him to fit into some roles. Yet somehow, he often pulls it off. Important Roles: Batman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, As Good as it Gets, The Shining, Wolf (bad movie).
Kevin Costner I love Kevin Costner. I think he picks his movies well, and he plays in them even better. Important Roles: Robin Hood- Prince of Thieves, Waterworld, Dances with Wolves, The Postman, 3000 Miles to Graceland (bad movie).
Nicholas Cage One of the younger actors on our list, but we think his diversity is great! Although his southern accent needs help. Important Roles: Face Off, Conair, The Rock, Family Man, 8mm (bad movie). Note: Gets bonus points for being Francis Ford Copola's son.
Robert Dinero Ahh.. the Italian. He has played so many roles, good and bad. How could we live him and his twin Al Pacino off of the list. Important Roles: The Godfather, Goodfellas (any gangster movie ever made), Men of Honor, Meet the Parents, Wag the Dog, The Fan (bad movie).
Bruce Willis Our Hero. A heroe's hero! Important Roles: Die Hard Trilogy, The Kid, The Sixth Sense, 12 Monkeys, Armageddon, The Fifth Element, The Jackal (bad movie).
Arnold Schwarzenegger Ex-Hero. Now diversity rules. Important Roles: True Lies, Terminator Trilogy, The Sixth Day, Jingle all the way, Twins, Total Recall, Last Action Hero (bad movie), Batman 3 (bad movie).
Michael Keaton Very diverse actor. Big hero, funny guy, and more. Plays a lot of small guy roles with attitude. Important Roles: Batman, Multiplicity, Beetlejuice, The Dream Team, and Jonny Dangerously.
Denzel Washington Roles in action, adventure, cop, drama, and comedy. Important Roles: The Hurricane, Remember the Titans, He Got Game, Fallen, The Preacher's wife, Crimson Tide, Glory.
Keanu Reeves Another somewhat young actor, but Matrix put him over the top. Important Roles: Matrix, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Hardball, The Gift, Devil's Advocate, Sweet November.
Honorable Mentions
Helen Hunt. There are many more women that deserve to be on this list, but we are working on a woman specific list. :-) The thing is though that Helen deserves to be on both.
Will Smith. Ali might put him over the top, but he needs some more roles.
Jim Carrey. He is so close. Truman almost did it for him. I think the Majestic may just put him in there.
Sean Connery. Well, there can only be 10.
Brad Pitt. Plays a lot of roles. Plays them well, but he just doesn't stand out enough for us.
Intentionally Left Off The List
Julia Roberts. Grr.. She plays the same role over and over. Pretty Woman was good, but please we've had enough!
Richard Gere. Uh.. Autumn in New York? Give me a break. Play something other than a playboy and we might consider it. Note: Not penalized for Pretty Woman.
Tom Cruise. Another bad boy. He has had a lot of good oppurtunities and I think he really hasn't exploited them. In 1990 he would have been on the list, but we got tired of Days of Thunder a long time ago. If he had exploited the roles he could have been number 1.
Old Guys. Sorry Gene Hackman, and all you guys. You're just too old. Your newer roles just don't satisfy us.
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Epinions.com ID:
bossman52
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Member: Matt Hudson
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Reviews written: 66
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Computer programmer, a political nerd, a business executive, and an artist all mixed into one.
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