MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Many people don’t like his
warm and fuzzy, middle of the road styleboring mediocrity.
FTFY
Here's a contentious one:
Samuel L Jackson, WITH the following caveats.
1) He's in a supporting role, NOT the Star.
2) Unless it's a Tarantino film.
He's made more films than any other well known Actor I know, I just can't think of any really shit ones he was supporting in.
For me it's Ben Mendelsohn
Got to be Tom Cruise, for sheer volume of decent films over so many decades. Even his worst are still watchable. He comes across as very professional, seems like he always commits 100% to a part rather than sleepwalking through some just to pick up a paycheque as plenty of other big-name actors do!
Would've loved to pick Samuel L as a backup but DAMN he's been in some bad movies 😃
Stephen Graham
+1
Actually, Green Mile was even worse than The Terminal. Tom Hanks has done some real shit, with his best stuff being mediocre.
Erm, what P-Jay said.
It's easier if you look for the best actors with the least turkeys.
I would go for :-
The two Kates
Blanchett and Winslet
Brad Pitt
Sam Rockwell
Yir wee man Tom Cruise
Elisabeth Moss
and the best James Bond
Another vote for Jake Gyllenhaal. And yes, Source Code was pretty good.
Joaquin Phoenix?
Good shout on Joaquin! 🙂
Actually, Green Mile was even worse than The Terminal. Tom Hanks has done some real shit, with his best stuff being mediocre.
Bachelor Party sucked.
The Money Pit sucked.
Bonfire of the Vanities sucked.
Forrest Gump sucked.
Get in the sea - Green Mile's a good film, The Terminal's an interesting premise that's overlong and with a bad accent. The Money Pit is top-class mid-eighties slapstick and Forrest Gump would have been great if it hadn't been so quotable.
Can I tentatively add Cate Blanchett and James McAvoy with the caveat of "in films that I've seen"?
It’s easier if you look for the best actors with the least turkeys.
Logical way to do it is to calculate log-odds. Take the number of good movies by the actor and divide it by the number of shit movies. For example, someone who has made 50 good movies and 50 poor ones would be 50/50 = 1.00. Someone who has made 90 good movies and 10 poor ones would be 90/10 = 9.00.
Then take the natural log of that number. The natural log of 1.00 = 0.00. The natural log of 9.00 = 2.20. An actor with log odds of 0.00 means that it's purely a coin toss whether a random movie will be good or bad. That's Tom Hanks. He gets a D grade.
An actor with log odds of 1.00 will have about 73% good movies versus 27% poor ones, so a random movie will probably be ok, but there will be plenty of rubbish ones in there too. That's Tom Cruise. He gets a C grade.
An actor with log odds of 2.00 will have about 88% good movies versus 12% bad ones. That's probably someone like Dustin Hoffman - very solid, but occasionally has a misfire. He gets a B grade.
When you get to log odds of 3, then you are talking about 95% being good. That's someone like Daniel Day-Lewis, who is as close to a sure bet as you'll get. He gets an A grade.
Green Mile’s a good film
Maybe there were two films with the same name. The one I saw had Tom Hanks and was long, turgid, overwrought nonsense.
he's a great actor, and has starred in many excellent films (although relatively few for someone who's been acting so long - he's obviously very picky - and now retired IIRC) and I've enjoyed all those I've seen - I've never got the urge to rewatch any of his movies, and doubt I ever will! Whereas I'm into double figures now with Top Gun alone 😂That’s someone like Daniel Day-Lewis, who is as close to a sure bet as you’ll get.
I’m into double figures now with Top Gun alone
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Try watching Sonny (you only have to try, it's not necessary to finish it), which he directed and also appeared in. Nic Cage's best movies are awesome. His bad ones are heinous. He doesn't seem to do anything in between those extremes.
Con Air sucked too, but not as much as Sonny.
Logical way to do it is to calculate log-odds. Take the number of good movies by the actor and divide it by the number of shit movies.
Nice one hols2 ,as long as it didn't turn in to a <span class="st"> 'mutant' algorithm</span>' 🙂
Con Air sucked too, but not as much as Sonny.
I liked Con Air. And The Rock. 🙂
Jeff Bridges?
Blimey, reading through this list it depends entirely on your standard of a "good" film. Some I'd consider utter shite have been mentioned multiple times! Tom Cruise 😆
I think
Gary Oldman - some I've not seen, but maybe Dracula the nearest to crap. but then I wouldn't think "Oh Gary Oldman's in that, I must watch it"
who would I think that about..? Erm... Christopher Walken? According to IMDB - 138 films!
Impossible
a handful of decent films. One true great. But SO MUCH DROSS. A crazy amount. Like, how can one man make so many bad films? An Oscar winner at that?Nic Cage’s best movies are awesome.
That said, I agree with @hols2 that The Rock & Con Air are awesome. 😉 Not great, but definitely awesome 😃 Probably seen Con Air almost as many times as I've seen Top Gun 🤣🤣🤣
Probably seen Con Air almost as many times as I’ve seen Top Gun
Probably seen Con Air almost as many times as I’ve seen Top Gun
Me too: Once for each was more than enough.
I like hols' approach
There aren't any actors with a decent filmography who haven't been in shit film.
IMDB have a list of actors who have appeared the most times in a "IMDB Top 250" film
No 1 is pretty surprising.
Although this doesn't give a ratio of hits to misses just the number of top rated film an actor has appeared in
Benicio Del Toro has a good list
The human word jumble of Chiwetel Ejiofor. Awesome in everything - including Firefly/Serenity.
Gary Oldman & Micheal Keaton
Pete Postlethwaite. Nope scratch that, he did Jurrassic Park the lost world.
Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Ellen Paige.
Michael Cera.
Agree with Jake Gylenhall, Prince of Persia was sublime.
Argh I knew it, it was inevitable...Tom Cruise!!!
GET IN THE SEA
Groot.
No mention for Michael Caine?🤣
I agree with hols.
This is why my list is strong.
Name a bad film edward furlong or robert patrick are in.
Awesome in everything
Dr Strange? and I believe; the live action Lion King remake...However if anything, what threads like his show us that the definition of a good film is a movable feast.
Name a bad film edward furlong or robert patrick are in.
Well, I do believe that Ed Furlong starred in a "Straight to TV" vehicle named Aracno-quake...The "plot" is that an earthquake has awakened a hive/horde/interpretive dance collective of mutant fire breathing spiders....Wait...Ins't Robert Patick the baddie in Term 2 and Ed Furlong is Connor in Term 2...
Terminator 2 is a shit film, dude...
Negatory. Terminator 2 is awesome.
Where the cut off for a film counting?
Because George Clooneys early work will automatically disqualify him.
Surely been in general release?
Joaquin Phoenix - no chance, ruined the Phantom franchise with that woeful film adaptation.
Charles Bronson and Gary Oldman for me.
Danny Trejo
Negatory. Terminator 2 is awesome
uh-huh, I bet you prefer Aliens as well, right?
Danny Trejo
He's got nearly 400 acting credits in IMDB
Pretty sure he will have been in plenty of utter bobbins
I probably wouldn't say that to his face though
I suggested Nicolas Cage very much with my tongue firmly in cheek. He's atrocious.
The Rock.
surely got to top the list of the "best" actors to be in the worst films. Even above Cage 😂 “You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one.” as I believe he said once 😃 I actually sat through (most of) the one he did with Seagal the other day. Absolutely terribly, but not quite bad enough to enjoy ironically! And not his worst either. Jaws 4? (not seen the one about the bees 🐝)No mention for Michael Caine?
to be fair, if there is a film with him in it, I will watch it. And probably enjoy it!!The Rock.
Are we counting good performance in bad films, or just performances in good films? Cheech Marin was good in the otherwis oddly good/bad of "Dusk Till Dawn"...
Also, how are we to assess whether a film is good or bad? The original Dune was epic, but was by no means an amazing performance by a lot of actors in it (Sting, looking at you) and some films are really, really divisive. I know that Blade Runner is almost a trigger for several friends that do not like it in the slightest.
Also, Rutger Hauer.
Are we counting good performance in bad films, or just performances in good films?
Good films, not good performances in shit films.
Jaws 4, also known as Jaws: The Revenge, won a Razzie for worst visual special effects.
"I've never seen it," Sir Michael, 83, said on ITV's The Jonathan Ross Show.
"Somebody said, 'Have you ever seen Jaws 4?' I said, 'No. But I've seen the house it bought for my mum. It's fantastic!'"
Michael Shannon - and yes, I include "Premium Rush" in his list of films, he was the standout in that for me. Which really begs the question, does it still count as a bad film if they were the main star but you still found them watchable?
*edit: I was beaten to that nugget of wisdom
Keeping it British , but James Mcavoy , Strephen Graham and Paddy Considine never fail. On the TV side I'd say David Tennent is always very watchable. Great actors like Denzel , Leonardo DiCaprio and Joaquim Phoenix have all been in some not so great films early in their careers but now never fail to dissapoint.
@hols2 That makes a big difference... I still think though that we need to define what a good film is because Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile score high up in the IMDG top 100, but can generate a lot of ill feeling.
The Rock
I'm only seeing Tooth Fairy as a miss there.
Otherwise, along with Statham and Diesel, that's the comedy action market sewn up.
Eva Green
Robert Duvall been mentioned?. Usually a sign of quality. "Way of the Gun" - see it.
I love the fairly dark ones, preferably British. There's not lots of it really.
Paddy Considine, Stephen Graham.
Also Daniel Day Lewis, DiCaprio and Brad Pitt
and even that made money! Easily the most bankable actor. If you can get him in your film, you WILL make money. So yeah,I’m only seeing Tooth Fairy as a miss there.
1) Daniel Day Lewis
2) The Rock
3) everyone else
Tom Cruise has been in a bunch of films I didn't like. But they were probably good, in that they did exactly what they were supposed to do, really well.
Zoe Saldana.
The only answer is Jason statham If you like Jason statham you’ll probably like all his films . I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with one of his films as you know what your going to get . except revolver that was awful .
For people saying DiCaprio yes hes become an outstanding actor but for me Titanic and man in the iron mas were truly awful. As already said its best to look at whos done the least worst movies.
I was going to put forward Wesley Snipes but i think he might have been in one of the expendibles films.
I'll repeat, the answer is Tom cruise
He hasn't been in an absolute stinker.
You might not like Days of Thunder, Cocktail, Last Samurai, Eyes Wide Shut etc, but they weren't bad films in the way the likes of Nic Cage has done some absolute stinkers. You may not like Cruise as a person however his output is consistently watchable. Plus he has some absolute belters in there like Edge of Tomorrow
however his output is consistently watchable
Sorry, so many of his films (due to his performances) give me rage.
Main exception is Collateral.
Talking of 'Edge of Tomorrow', how about Emily Blunt? Haven't seen her in too many stinkers - good performances in Looper, Sicario, Adjustment Bureau, A Quiet Place..
Sorry, so many of his films (due to his performances) give me rage.
You not liking him doesn't mean he isn't good.
I detest reggae music, but I'd acknowledge that Bob Marley is good in terms of what he did musically based on popularity alone.
TL;DR ..... Mark Strong
Clint Eastwood.
R2-D2.
I’ll repeat, the answer is Tom cruise
He hasn’t been in an absolute stinker.
Days of Thunder sucked.
R2-D2
Nah, he was in Phantom Menace, Rise of Skywalker and then there’s that whole flying thing in the one who’s title I always forget.
Emily Blunt is a good shout. Rachel Weisz too.
@johndoh, I was thinking Brad Pitt too, agreed on Burn After Reading it is superb. Inglourious Basterds is brilliant too.
He has done his fair share of carp films too though Mr & Mrs Smith being an obvious choice!
Ok, here's an easy baromoter
IMDB ratings
Tom Cruise has 50 films he's been in with ratings available. 48 of them have ratings of more than 5/10 and of the 2 below that the lowest is 4.9.
The likes of Pacino and De Niro have some movies with ratings of 2/10
Harrison Ford looks to be very dependable
Gary Oldman has come right guff on his ledger
IMDB ratings mean nothing. I recently watched the most appalling Vince Vaughn film. Laughably bad and there's loads of 10/10 ratings on there.