Is Leonardo DiCaprio the Best Actor of this Generation?

[Palooza]

In a single word, yes.

Look at this guy's resume (RT score included) -

Inception (2010) - 87%
Shutter Island (2010) - 67%
Revolutionary Road (2008) - 68%
Body of Lies (2008) - 52%
Blood Diamond* (2006) - 63%
The Departed (2006) - 93%
The Aviator* (2004) - 88%
Catch Me If You Can (2002) - 96%
Gangs of New York (2002) - 75%
Marvin's Room (1996) - 81%
The Basketball Diaries (1995) - 43%
What's Eating Gilbert Grape** (1993) - 88%
This Boy's Life (1993) - 76%

While I can't say I've seen some of the movies in between that look like shit (Celebrity, Don's Plum, The Man in the Iron Mask). And there are some shitty movies that I have seen (The Beach, Romeo + Juliet, The Quick and the Dead), but it's been 10 years since any of these movies have come out.

It doesn't hurt that most of his movies he's worked with some of the best directors in the game [Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island, The Departed, The Aviator, Gangs of New York); Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road); Steven Spielberg (Catch Me If You Can); Christopher Nolan (Inception), Ridley Scott (Body of Lies)] and he is also the single reason why Titantic was the highest grossing movie of all time for 12 years.

And while, yes, some of these movies have their faults, none of them are because of DiCaprio. Actually, the best part of all his movies are usually the performance he gives. He has the most consistent resume in the acting game right now, hands down.

* - Nominated for Best Actor Oscar
** - Nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscar


thoughts?

p.s. - If you voted no, please tell me who is.

 

[Champ]

Nick Cage

 

[Primetime]

Sadly, the only movie of those I've attempted to watch was Shutter Island and it was just a bad movie IMO. I couldn't even finish watching it.

 

[Palooza]

Sadly, the only movie of those I've attempted to watch was Shutter Island and it was just a bad movie IMO. I couldn't even finish watching it.

obviously you belong nowhere near a movie thread.

 

[Palooza]

Nick Cage

the thread is best, not worst.

try again.

 

[inthecards21]

i really like tom hanks and brad pitt ahead of dicaprio but he is a pretty great actor, not my favorite though

 

[Palooza]

i really like tom hanks and brad pitt ahead of dicaprio but he is a pretty great actor, not my favorite though

Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Terminal and The Ladykillers FTL. Outside of Charlie Wilson's War, Tom Hanks hasn't made a real attempt at acting since Catch Me If You Can where he was outshined by ya boy Leonardo DiCaprio.

I will refrain from talking shit about my favorite actor, though.

 

[inthecards21]

yeah i guess hanks was more of a 90s guy but in those 90s movies i thought he was excellent for the most part, and maybe im a bit biased due to that hilarious celebrity jeopardy skit on snl

 

[Palooza]

Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp all come to mind for me before DiCaprio. When I think DiCaprio I tend to view him on the same level as Matt Damon. Still one of my favourite actors though.

Daniel Day-Lewis has made 4 movies this decade, one of which was one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever seen (Nine).

Tom Hanks (see above)

Johnny Depp wants you to sit down and watch From Hell, Sleepy Hollow, The Ninth Gate, POTC 2 & 3, Secret Window, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, and Alice in Wonderland and then try again.

 

[Maynard]

johnny depp possibly

its tough to argue against leo and i think he is great. But to me a great actor should go hand and hand with a great film. Out of all of his films there isnt one i think of as one of my all time favorites.

i dont think depp is any better, but i look at him in a role like the 9th gate. He made that film great and its one of my all time favs.

Russell Crowe is another. take the insider. That was one of my favorites of all time and he has played some magnificent roles. a beautiful mind, gladiator etc etc.

No matter the film, leo always feels like a kid. Films like shutter island or revolutionary road where he played a more grown, mature role felt no different then the 19 year old he played in titanic. i dont mean to say that each role didnt feel like different charecters....i just mean he always ends up feeling like a young man in his early 20ies

 

[Palooza]

the movies may suck but he did a good job in them. Your question was who was the best actor all three of them can and have shown more range as actors the DiCaprio. This isn't about whether or not you liked a movie.

A good job is not good enough. Leonardo DiCaprio is the best part of some of the best movies of this decade. Consistency is something you rarely see in the film industry. With every actor that has been named (except maybe Russell Crowe) there have been almost as many meh performances as there have been spectacular performances.

Johnny Depp plays a weirdo in every movie and is a very overrated actor. Maybe if he stopped hanging out with Tim Burton, he'd have a better career. Tom Hanks, as previously mentioned, is more of a 80's-90's guy.

 

[inthecards21]

christian bale is up there too, not ahead of leo but still pretty good

 

[Palooza]

christian bale is up there too, not ahead of leo but still pretty good

He was on the right track, but he kind of veered off course since TDK (Terminator: Salvation had some turrible overracting, but that movie was doomed since jump street and his character in Public Enemies was stiff, boring and underdeveloped.)

Hopefully The Fighter gets him back on the path.

 

[inthecards21]

He was on the right track, but he kind of veered off course since TDK (Terminator: Salvation had some turrible overracting, but that movie was doomed since jump street and his character in Public Enemies was stiff, boring and underdeveloped.)

Hopefully The Fighter gets him back on the path.

the batman voice for the entirety of Terminator kinda killed it for me

 

[Maynard]

depp was nominated for best actor for sweeny todd. i never saw it but how bad could it have been?

if u were to put together a list for the past 15 years or so
depp
leo
crowe
hanks
pitt
cage
day lewis
penn

out of all of those hanks, penn and lewis have 2 oscars for best actor. Penn and Day Lewis were recent. I personally would take Crowe, but I cant argue against Leo because he has had alot more films and most of the films he has been in have been great

great topic though

sidenote, i only listed cage cause he was mentioned in the discussion. I dont think he would be considered in the top 10

 

[jags224]

leo/matt damon

 

[Palooza]

the batman voice for the entirety of Terminator kinda killed it for me

The entire movie was Batman voice yelling.

IF WE STAY THE COURSE WE ARE DEAD! WE ARE ALL DEAD!

 

[Buzzman]

I do think Leos string of movies this decade were the best. ell two of my favorites of his, Body of Lies and Revolutionary Road are two of his worst RT scores.

Other actors this decade that were sweet were Gordon Levitts, Ed Norton, Damon, Bale, and Crowe. You cant go wrong with choosing either of them. The thing is Bale and Levitts only in the past 2-3 years started to get noticed. Before Batman and 500 Days of Summer, the general public and no idea who they were or how good their films had been.

Terminator on the other hand is underrated. Yes its crap(wtf are robots wearing bandannas for?) but the last 15 minutes felt like a terminator film.

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

I can't think of anyone that has maintained the same level of quality throughout their career. In the past decade he has been better than anyone, most of Depp's best work cam from the 90's to the beginning of the decade.

 

[inthecards21]

but goodness Romeo and Juliet was just terrible