I can't tell bad actors from good actors in movies

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paulsinnerchild
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02 Mar 2007, 10:59 pm

I find it so difficult to read the actors's emotions, my ability of telling a bad actor apart from a good actor are really hard when I am watching a movie, so bad acting really has never bothered me like it bothers most people. Even today I really bad at judging acting skills. I may have seen a movie and told everyone “that was a great movie I saw last night” and everyone replied “yeah, but the acting was dreadful (and other words I dare not mention), that so and so can’t act and go on… ”. I would just have to their word for it because I would have absolutely no idea. That may be good in my eyes, because if you are totally blind to bad acting that would make some movies that look really lousy in most people’s eyes look terrific in mine.



matt271
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03 Mar 2007, 12:54 am

ppl like to say some actors r bad actors. what happens is it becomes common for a group of people to like/dislike the same actors. like tom crues; he does some pretty idiotic stuff on tv, and now people think hes a bad actor. its just so they can talk about him, saying they are a better person them him, and he is famous. its like saying "i could do what he does. i am as good as him. i could do it better. i am better them him" about some guy on tv. people do it to make themselves feel good, because they idolize people on tv. also NTs tend to like to conform to the group. i remember talking w/ my friends about a movie, and we all liked it. then later 1 of my friends who we where talking about it with asked me to burn the movie for him. i asked "wtf?" and he said "i didn't want to feel left out" that was very weird i thought, but i was nice and burnt him the movie.
so yeah, there is a big social factor to movies i was unaware of until this incident. i myself only find acting bad when the actors act like they don't remember what just happened in the last scene. also if the actors talk like they are gay, i find that annoying too.



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03 Mar 2007, 12:57 am

you have to look at an actors full range to know how good or bad they are, if someone is truly brilliant in their first performance that could be them being truly brilliant, or that could be them playing themself with different words

determinging aif someone acts well or not is difficult, and 90% of peopl ewho are in mainstream studio films are utter dreg, so it makes it harder.



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03 Mar 2007, 7:58 am

Watch something with "the Olsen twins" or "Sabrina the teenage witch" and then see a movie like "Capote" or
"Walk the line".



rabbit23
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03 Mar 2007, 8:22 am

I think this could very well be a case of the emperor having no clothes....



ZanneMarie
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03 Mar 2007, 9:36 am

Here's the deal with acting. Good actors transcend the character so they become that person. A really good actor is so good at this that you don't recognize that they were in other movies you may have seen. That is when they disappear into the role, so the actual actor is left completely behind. You rarely see this in mainstream movies.

Bad actors are the actors where you are always aware of the "actor." That is Tom Cruise playing so and so. If you are always aware that it is Tom Cruise playing the part, the transcendence is lost and it is bad acting. If he disappears into the character as he did in Born on the Fourth of July, that is good acting. Of course fame and choosing similar roles also does good acting in even with good actors. A really famous actor must pick very different roles to still appear a good actor (Jack Nicholson has a tendancy to do this and usually successful when he does).


Hope that helps you distinguish. By the way, the general public does not recognize that is what good acting is. That's the result of classes in film.

Zanne



9CatMom
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03 Mar 2007, 10:01 am

I agree with the above. Good actors are understated. Bad actors are "over the top." You are painfully aware of their acting. You want to run out of the theater or, if you are at home, stop the video or DVD you're watching and return it to the store promptly.



Graelwyn
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03 Mar 2007, 10:03 am

Have no issues with this... if I can totally believe that person is real, and I am immersed in the story rather than sitting thinking, 'God, that looks so fake, couldn't they do that better?'', I pretty much consider the actor to be reasonable, but then I did drama as a child and indeed as an adult to some degree and have grown up being taken to the theatre and being shown films because my mother has a massive interest in these things.


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9CatMom
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03 Mar 2007, 10:07 am

I must have AS if I notice this, but in the movie Four Minutes, the actor who played Roger Bannister was an almost complete match, except that he was two inches shorter than the real Roger Bannister. The actors who played Bannister's friends, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, were exact lookalikes. They were runners as well. Drew Carnwath (Brasher) competed in a marathon.



larsenjw92286
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03 Mar 2007, 11:25 am

I think it has something to do with the fact that some actors have a dry sense of humor.


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Corvus
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03 Mar 2007, 11:29 am

I've read that introverts/aspies would have an acting advantage. They have acted their whole life, no training.



larsenjw92286
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03 Mar 2007, 11:32 am

Is that because their way of understanding things is different?


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KurtmanJP
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03 Mar 2007, 11:35 am

Corvus wrote:
I've read that introverts/aspies would have an acting advantage. They have acted their whole life, no training.


But what about the parts where they have to show intense emotion in a flick?


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larsenjw92286
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03 Mar 2007, 11:36 am

That's a good question!


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9CatMom
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03 Mar 2007, 11:38 am

This would be another of those Random Facts Nobody Needs to Know, but Roger Bannister did some acting at Oxford. He had some AS traits and was very shy, but could get into character very well. I think it probably helped him a lot.



larsenjw92286
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03 Mar 2007, 11:40 am

I thought Roger Bannister was someone who founded one of the original 13 colonies, but he is also an actor.


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