Greatest Screen Performances per Film Actors

[Dubrow555]

Timothée Chalamet?:

1. Marty Supreme
2. Call Me by Your Name
3. A Complete Unknown
4. Beautiful Boy
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Dune
7. Wonka
8. Bones and All
9. The King
10. Little Women

(alternates: Lady Bird, Interstellar, The French Dispatch)

[Dubrow555]

Forgot Lonesome Dove for Duvall (RIP) list. How about #6?

Word for word something my mom texted me yesterday: "Saw a little blurb on news. Glad he went peacefully at age 95. Can't believe they said nothing about his roll on TV miniseries Lonesome Dove. That was huge."

[ManPerson]

Timothée Chalamet?:

1. Marty Supreme
2. Call Me by Your Name
3. A Complete Unknown
4. Beautiful Boy
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Dune
7. Wonka
8. Bones and All
9. The King
10. Little Women

(alternates: Lady Bird, Interstellar, The French Dispatch)

Forgot Lonesome Dove for Duvall (RIP) list. How about #6?

I support both of these.

[Tim]

Robert Downey Jr. (1965-)
1. Chaplin (1992)
2. Tropic Thunder (2008)
3. Oppenheimer (2023)
4. Less Than Zero (1987)
5. Iron Man (2008)
6. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
7. Zodiac (2007)
8. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
9. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
10. Ally McBeal (2000-2002)

Joaquin Phoenix (1974-)
1. The Master (2012)
2. Joker (2019)
3. Walk the Line (2005)
4. Gladiator (2000)
5. Her (2013)
6. You Were Never Really Here (2017)
7. Beau Is Afraid (2023)
8. C'mon C'mon (2021)
9. Inherent Vice (2014)
10. Two Lovers (2008)

Jim Carrey (1962-)
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2. The Truman Show (1998)
3. Man on the Moon (1999)
4. The Mask (1994)
5. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
6. Liar Liar (1997)
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2001)
8. Dumb and Dumber (1994)
9. The Cable Guy (1996)
10. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

Figured I'd take a stab at some contemporary actors as well.

[ManPerson]

I could see Dumb and Dumber a bit higher.

[Bruno]

I could see Dumb and Dumber a bit higher.

Agreed.

[Tim]

Bumped it to #6.

[Tim]

ManPerson, curious on why you have Pépé Le Moko as a top Gabin performance in the top performances by year? Not necessarily agree or disagree.

[Dubrow555]

A few things:

1. I prefer Master > Joker, but I'm curious if it contradicts the current decade list?

2. Wondering if Tropic Thunder has enough cultural impact to take down Oppenheimer's acclaim win

3. Wondering if Eddington would make more sense than "Two Lovers"

Other than that....looks good!

[Dubrow555]

More ideas!:

Brad Pitt:

1. Fight Club
2. 12 Monkeys
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. Se7en
6. Moneyball
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
8. Ocean’s Eleven
9. Snatch
10. Burn After Reading

(alternates: Babel, Babylon, Ad Astra, Legends of the Fall)



George Clooney:

1. Up in the Air
2. The Descendants
3. Syriana
4. Michael Clayton
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
6. Out of Sight
7. Ocean’s Eleven
8. Three Kings
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
10. From Dusk till Dawn

(alternates: Burn After Reading, The Ides of March, Good Night, and Good Luck, Jay Kelly)



Christian Bale:

1. American Psycho
2. The Fighter
3. Vice
4. American Hustle
5. Empire of the Sun
6. The Prestige
7. Batman Begins
8. Ford v Ferrari
9. The Big Short
10. The Machinist

(alternates: The Dark Knight, The New World, Hostels)



Ralph Fiennes:

1. The English Patient
2. Schindler’s List
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Conclave
5. The Constant Gardener
6. Quiz Show
7. In Bruges
8. The Reader
9. The Menu
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

(alternates: Strange Days, The Duchess, The Hurt Locker, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple)



Samuel L. Jackson (this one was VERY hard, so feel free to shred apart):

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Jackie Brown
3. The Hateful Eight
4. Jungle Fever
5. Eve’s Bayou
6. The Incredibles
7. A Time to Kill
8. Unbreakable
9. Jurassic Park
10. Django Unchained

(alternates: Glass, Shaft, Iron Man, Mother and Child, Do the Right Thing)



Will Smith:


1. King Richard
2. The Pursuit of Happiness
3. Ali
4. Men in Black
5. Concussion
6. The Fresh Prince of Bel-air
7. Six Degrees of Separation
8. I Am Legend
9. Independence Day
10. Bad Boys

(alternates: Aladdin, Hancock, I, Robot, Hitch, Shark Tale)



Russell Crowe:

1. A Beautiful Mind
2. The Insider
3. Gladiator
4. Cinderella Man
5. L.A. Confidential
6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
7. American Gangster
8. 3:10 to Yuma
9. The Loudest Voice
10. The Nice Guys

(alternates: Nuremberg, Boy Erased, Les Miserables, Robin Hood)

[ManPerson]

ManPerson, curious on why you have Pépé Le Moko as a top Gabin performance in the top performances by year? Not necessarily agree or disagree.

I actually partially based that on your list for Gabin on the old forum where Pepe Le Moko was ahead of Grand Illusion.

[ManPerson]

A few things:

1. I prefer Master > Joker, but I'm curious if it contradicts the current decade list?

I think The Master is pretty clearly more acclaimed than Joker.

[Tim]

ManPerson, curious on why you have Pépé Le Moko as a top Gabin performance in the top performances by year? Not necessarily agree or disagree.

I actually partially based that on your list for Gabin on the old forum where Pepe Le Moko was ahead of Grand Illusion.

Worm Ouroboros of list-making.

[ManPerson]

More ideas!:

Brad Pitt:

1. Fight Club
2. 12 Monkeys
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. Se7en
6. Moneyball
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
8. Ocean’s Eleven
9. Snatch
10. Burn After Reading

(alternates: Babel, Babylon, Ad Astra, Legends of the Fall)



George Clooney:

1. Up in the Air
2. The Descendants
3. Syriana
4. Michael Clayton
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
6. Out of Sight
7. Ocean’s Eleven
8. Three Kings
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
10. From Dusk till Dawn

(alternates: Burn After Reading, The Ides of March, Good Night, and Good Luck, Jay Kelly)



Christian Bale:

1. American Psycho
2. The Fighter
3. Vice
4. American Hustle
5. Empire of the Sun
6. The Prestige
7. Batman Begins
8. Ford v Ferrari
9. The Big Short
10. The Machinist

(alternates: The Dark Knight, The New World, Hostels)



Ralph Fiennes:

1. The English Patient
2. Schindler’s List
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Conclave
5. The Constant Gardener
6. Quiz Show
7. In Bruges
8. The Reader
9. The Menu
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

(alternates: Strange Days, The Duchess, The Hurt Locker, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple)



Samuel L. Jackson (this one was VERY hard, so feel free to shred apart):

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Jackie Brown
3. The Hateful Eight
4. Jungle Fever
5. Eve’s Bayou
6. The Incredibles
7. A Time to Kill
8. Unbreakable
9. Jurassic Park
10. Django Unchained

(alternates: Glass, Shaft, Iron Man, Mother and Child, Do the Right Thing)



Will Smith:


1. King Richard
2. The Pursuit of Happiness
3. Ali
4. Men in Black
5. Concussion
6. The Fresh Prince of Bel-air
7. Six Degrees of Separation
8. I Am Legend
9. Independence Day
10. Bad Boys

(alternates: Aladdin, Hancock, I, Robot, Hitch, Shark Tale)



Russell Crowe:

1. A Beautiful Mind
2. The Insider
3. Gladiator
4. Cinderella Man
5. L.A. Confidential
6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
7. American Gangster
8. 3:10 to Yuma
9. The Loudest Voice
10. The Nice Guys

(alternates: Nuremberg, Boy Erased, Les Miserables, Robin Hood)

I'd have Tree of Life somewhere on Pitt's list.

I'd probably have Pursuit of Happyness over King Richard, it seems to have more lasting acclaim and probably a stronger cultural legacy as well. I'd also have The Fresh Prince in the top 3.

I'd have Michael Clayton > Syriana since Syriana is widely considered to be a pretty undeserving win while I still see Michael Clayton cited by some as a standout performance from that decade.

I'd have The Machinist at 5 for Bale S it's one of his most notorious performances.

Schindler's List > The English Patient for sure. Without double checking, I assume that it's the other way around on the 90s list, but Schindler's List has way more lasting acclaim from what I've seen.

I'd have Django Unchained at 5 or 6 for Sam Jackson and I'd have Do the Right Thing somewhere in the top 10.

[Sherick]

I was going over some of these in my head and y'all beat me to it! And pretty similar in some cases.

I was thinking Pitt more like
1. Fight Club
2. 12 Monkeys
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. Moneyball
7. The Assassination of Jesse James
8. Burn After Reading
9. Snatch
10. Babel

and Christian Bale

1. American Psycho
2. The Fighter
3. Vice
4. The Prestige
5. Empire of the Sun
6. American Hustle
7. The Machinist
8. The Big Short
9. Ford vs Ferrari
10. 3:10 to Yuma

I also wholeheartedly support the Chalamet and Phoenix lists. Fiennes's is quite a bit different than I'd have thought: I agree with Schindler's > English Patient, and I had Quiz Show at 3rd in mine.

[Dubrow555]

I am pretty on board with both of your guys' chances (didn't really go over either of these with a fine-toothed comb or anything). However:

-Inglorious Basterds that high would seriously contradict the decade lists (however, they might need to be revamped at this point). Maybe I'm thinking about how Waltz takes the vast majority of acclaim in that movie - but I've also never really heard that as one of Pitt's most revered/acclaimed performances. Tree of Life would be an interesting addition...although I've also never heard that one as one of his most acclaimed performances. What would you both suggest we take off? Ocean's Eleven is what brought him to international fame, hence why I included it.

Other than that...I'm totally on board with all of the suggested changes.

[Sherick]

Takashi Shimura (1905-1982)
1. Ikiru (1952)
2. Seven Samurai (1954)
3. Drunken Angel (1948)
4. Stray Dog (1949)
5. Rashomon (1950)
6. The Quiet Duel (1949)
7. The Idiot (1951)
8. Scandal (1950)
9. Godzilla (1954)
10. I Live in Fear (1955)

I'm not a Shimura authority, but some of these movies he has fairly small roles in. I sometimes forget he was even in The Idiot and that's one of my favorite Kurosawa films. I just don't think the great majority of filmography is known enough internationally.

Johnny Depp (1963‐)
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
2. Ed Wood (1994)
3. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
4. Dead Man (1995)
5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
6. Finding Neverland (2004)
7. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
8. Black Mass (2015)
9. Donnie Brasco (1997)
10. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

This one I'm not sure about either. I wasn't considering Dead Man to be very high placed for him at all.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2. Ed Wood
3. Finding Neverland
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
6. Black Mass
7. Edward Scissorhands
8. Blow
9. Donnie Brasco
10. Benny & Joon / Dead Man

-Inglorious Basterds that high would seriously contradict the decade lists (however, they might need to be revamped at this point).

This is fair, that's just how it worked out in my head. I seem to remember DDD being very heavy on that performance in the past.

[Tim]

Takashi Shimura (1905-1982)
1. Ikiru (1952)
2. Seven Samurai (1954)
3. Drunken Angel (1948)
4. Stray Dog (1949)
5. Rashomon (1950)
6. The Quiet Duel (1949)
7. The Idiot (1951)
8. Scandal (1950)
9. Godzilla (1954)
10. I Live in Fear (1955)

I'm not a Shimura authority, but some of these movies he has fairly small roles in. I sometimes forget he was even in The Idiot and that's one of my favorite Kurosawa films. I just don't think the great majority of filmography is known enough internationally.

I will admit, past the top 5-6, this list is a bit of a crapshot. Any replacement for the Idiot in mind?

Johnny Depp (1963‐)
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
2. Ed Wood (1994)
3. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
4. Dead Man (1995)
5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
6. Finding Neverland (2004)
7. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
8. Black Mass (2015)
9. Donnie Brasco (1997)
10. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

This one I'm not sure about either. I wasn't considering Dead Man to be very high placed for him at all.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2. Ed Wood
3. Finding Neverland
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
6. Black Mass
7. Edward Scissorhands
8. Blow
9. Donnie Brasco
10. Benny & Joon / Dead Man

I do remember Dead Man being considered one of Depp's signature roles/performances but maybe it's something I thought up myself. Either way, Dead Man isn't ranked on the 1995 list (or Man's suggested revision) nor is acknowledged in terms of acting awards.