Leo needs to break his habits.. - J. Edgar (2011) Discussion

[–] utp0130 12 years ago

OMG, finally someone said it. I've been complaining about his acting ever since the Departed. I like him enough that I tried to ignore his lack of versatility, but he just gets more and more unbearable (don't forget he did the exact same thing in blood diamond too).

This guys needs to improve his acting. He can't always get away with the same serious eye-brow frown in every freaking movie starring Leo DiCaprio

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[–] Greekm5330 12 years ago

I've felt this way for a long time, every actor I'm sure has their own mannerisms just as everyone else does but what makes a great actor different from an OK is that their able to rid them for each role. Sure De Niro may seem the same in Mean Streets, Raging Bull and Taxi Driver with a squint here and there, but sometimes you forget your watching an actor and believe your watching an actual psychopath. DiCaprio is a good actor, consistent but that's also a fault of his, never really showed me a powerful performance except with The Aviator (I'm excluding What's Eating Gilbert Grape because clearly his method of acting has changed since his adolescent years). He does have an eye though for quality films which is the reason I still watch his films, he knows what directors to work with and rarely is in a film that doesn't have it's merits, but he never actually carries the film, the strengh of his films never rest on his shoulders, always his co-workers.

You couldn't smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe!.. I lost my train of thought.

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[–] hjemmefra 12 years ago

About that squinting-, It's exactly the same as Charlie Sheen's.
Would be fun to see them toe-to-toe in an escalating squint-off. In the style of early b&w silent-films with dramatic escalating piano.

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[–] EvieLee-NBH 12 years ago

Leonardo Dicaprio doesn't carry his films? Opinions, opinions....

I am you and what I see is me.

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[–] Arthur254 12 years ago

You have to be kidding!

Very few actors carry their films as DiCaprio does. If he could not carry the films he makes the great directors he works with, would not look for him.

Directors trust that he will be able to carry the film because the man is a tremendous actor. That's all there is to it, and it's not as if the characters he has played have been simple and easy.

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[–] bs-2010 12 years ago

IMO carrying a film means that without that certain actor the film would just not be the same. The last time I can remember that with Leo is the Aviator which was an excellent performance and maybe Catch Me If You Can. Lets be honest though, any other good actor could have done his character in the Departed, Blood Diamond, Inception, Body of Lies, Rev Road, or Shutter Island. Gangs of New York Leo was basically a non-factor because DDL took over.

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[–] Arthur254 12 years ago

In my opinion, especially in The Departed, Blood Diamond, Body of Lies, Rev Road, and Shutter Island, no other actor would have given those films the quality that DiCaprio gives them. Even in Inception, DiCaprio is masterful in the way he brings the audience to connect with his character's motivation and emotional struggle. I think another actor could have done a "good job" as Cobb but just doing a good job speaking the lines from the script, would have brought the film down to just "another science fiction movie". It happens with most of the films of that genre.

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[–] Lady-A 12 years ago

I agree, Leo elevates the quality of his films, consistently.

This reviewer, Steven Daniels, (Rotten Tomatoes) is not entirely happy about the film, but he praises Leo and Hammer and Naomi.

"The standard biographical approach can make some passages of the movie seem longer than they should; however, the exceptional performances by Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, Armie Hammer as Clyde Tolson, and Naomi Watts as Helen Gandy overcome nearly all of the shortcomings of the film."

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[–] pbstuckey 12 years ago

And Leonard Maltin charitably called him "miscast".

I agree with the OP's original critique. Leo is not as good as he used to be, imo. The problem is that when an actor has a lot of acclaim very early he tends to start relying on what has worked previously. Then he's is the danger zone. The way Hollywood encourages actors to repeat themselves deepens the danger.

I actually think that working so much with Scorcese, (even while he's a visual genius) is NOT in Leo's best interest as an actor. He's always pushing actors to the point of ham. It works by giving the audience cheap thrills in the short term, but over the long term it's a disaster.

"So she can one day become president and declare war on Germany like back when we were awesome."

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[–] utp0130 12 years ago

I second that. He has good taste picking films and directors, but his role could easily be done with other actors with similar caliber

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[–] mikeyflatley 12 years ago

totally agree wid ur last stmt

i only like maybe 3 of his moviez:

titanic - there i sed it. but winslet carried da movie as well as cameron's direction and uncanny attention 2 detail

catch me if u can - spielberg. i shud stop there, but there is hanks, dude dat played da dad. spielberg.

departed - i mean c'mon, u have marky mark, damon, nicholson - need i say more? and wat made it good wuz da story dat they stole from chinese ppl and da razor sharp script

I live, I love, I slay, and I'm content

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[–] fieldsofgrass419 12 years ago

I completely agree. I think Leo is at best a good actor. But the whole idea of acting is two get rid of your mannerisms and into the character you are portraying. Revolutionary Road is a perfect example. He played the same character for the last several movies and in my opinion he was COMPLETELY overshadowed by by Michael Shannon (who incidentally received the Oscar nod for his performance). Sure, Daniel Day-Lewis' Bill the Butcher and Daniel Plainview were similar, but compare those two performances to him in My Left Foot or In The Name of the Father and its like they're two totally different people (which is why Lewis has won a couple oscars). The problem is Leo's "Character" has been transferred to all of his movies over the past 10 years.

But the thing that irks me about Leo and people who call him the actor of his generation is they lack the understanding that the true mark of a great actor is versatility. Can this actor do comedy, drama and theater (which crosses over). We know Leo can do drama but has he ever really done comedy? If he has, is he even that good at it? So far in the interviews I've seen him in, he seems to have the personality of toothpaste. So let's not go calling him the actor of his generation. There are much better actors out there from his era. Certainly Kevin Spacey, Johnny Depp, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington spring to mind.

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] utp0130 12 years ago

This I don't understand. People are calling Leo the best actor of his generation yet consistently downplays Pitt's acting. Brad Pitt has an incredible resume under his belt. He might be an one-dimension actor 15 years ago, but this man absolutely can act now.

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[–] AJarcher 12 years ago

I don't think they're downplaying Pitt's acting, just seeing it for what it is. For one, he's been incredibly crap or underwhelming in way more movies than Leo has. It's more a swiss-cheese resume than 'incredible'.

And now Moneyball comes along, and those you think are downplaying his acting probably just didn't see what those reviewers calling him incredible and whatnot apparently saw. I'm sure there are people who think that is "understated" but they tend to be the same people who consider ANYTHING else "overacting".

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[–] utp0130 12 years ago

Sorry can't agree with you man. Brad Pitt isn't that amazing in Moneyball, mainly because Jonah Hill stole the show. On the other hand, Brad Pitt was incredible in Assassination of Jesse James and Babel, although I have to admit that he is probably more suitable in supporting roles (12 monkeys, tree of life, inglorious basterds, etc.) In any case, he is versatile, even if he doesn't usually carry the film on his shoulder.

DiCarprio is a good actor, but his acting only impressed me in Catch me if you can and Aviator. All his other roles are pretty much indistinguishable. It's not about overacting, his arsenal is simply too narrow.

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[–] AJarcher 12 years ago

Ok then we'll agree to disagree, no harm done.
I really DON'T find Leo's roles indistinguishable, and that's going from when he was a kid to now (with a slight break in late 90s). I loved Catch Me, and Aviator as you said too, those two roles were very different. But so was The Departed, coming right after Aviator.
If Christian Bale was in the two roles right after each other, someone would inevitably bring up his complete visual transformation between the two roles, but that seems to get overlooked with Leo.

Blood Diamond was a completely different role than The Departed. Yes, both the characters were troubled, but note my other post in this thread about dramatic roles in general.
After BD, he went from a smuggler/soldier to a pussywhipped husband in Revolutionary Road, which was such a warts-and-all role of a flawed human that it was almost uncomfortable to watch (as most flawed humans have the benefit of not being seen in some of those instances). I think Pitt only comes close to that in Tree of Life.

I also think that people are really overlooking Shutter Island, because between that and Inception, though they both deal (in PART) with crazy dead wives one is a much more in your face period role and the other is a very modern, underplayed character.
I can easily say I think Leo has already done most of the types of roles you listed from Pitt already, and that's while being 11 years younger than him.

I typed all this because I've found Leo's roles inspiring in the last several months, so just wanted to stick up for them. Cheers.

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[–] utp0130 12 years ago

Yea, I have to admit that I haven't watched Revolutionary Road (it's currently sitting at the 6th spot on my watching list), so I might have a new perspective re his acting a few weeks from now.

Since you bring up Shutter Island, I think it is actually an interesting example. I thought he overacted, but in the context of the ending, his overacting actually makes sense. I had this argument with my gf, and she managed to convinced me that Leo's overacting was intentional.

That said, he did play an almost identical character is Inception. Of course it's not his fault, and Inception is not the best film to judge an actor's caliber(for me it is an emotionally hollow but technically brilliant film, which in essence, requires very minimum acting skill). That said, his facial expression just reminds me Departed again.

Don't get me wrong. I totally like Leo. He is a good actor since early age (basketball diary, Who ate Gilbert's grape), and has continued to be a very good actor until today. I just agree with the OP that he needs to break out of his habits to move to the next level.

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[–] bs-2010 12 years ago

"I can easily say I think Leo has already done most of the types of roles you listed from Pitt already, and that's while being 11 years younger than him. "

I'm going to have to disagree with that statement. Pitt has way more diverse roles than Leo. Leo in his younger days definitely had quite a bit of diversity but now since he started doing movies with Marty his performances and characters have all been quite similar. Pitt's resume includes much more diversity. Just look at 12 Monkeys, Inglorious Basterds, Snatch, Ocean's, Jessie James, or Burn After Reading. I'm not Brad Pitt's biggest fan by any means, but his performances in just the films I listed are things Leo has never even come close to doing.

The only films I can think of that would have a Pitt/Leo character similarity would be Babel, Spy Game, and maybe Benjamin Button.

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[–] AJarcher 12 years ago

If you think that just because he's doing stuff with one director makes his roles similar, then really let's just leave it at that.

Aviator wasn't similar to Departed, I pretty much just wrote about 3 paragraphs on why above, and neither of them was similar to Shutter Island.
As for Pitt, Burn After Reading was the kind of comedy thing that I'm sure people really want to see Leo do, but it made me cringe how self-consciously average it was that I just have no desire to see someone else take a similar role for the sake of more diversity.
I'm not gonna bother with IB in regards to diversity since Leo has a Tarantino movie in the works and more often than not different actors end up similar in his movies.

Jesse James really isn't that much different than anything Leo's done.

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[–] bs-2010 12 years ago

I'm saying his acting has been similar around the time he started being in Marty's movies. I'm not saying it is because of Scorsese.

Aviator was definitely a standout performance. As far as characters, of course the movies/characters weren't similar. Leo's acting was what was similar. Teddy Daniels and Billy Costigan are obviously very different characters but Leo acts the same in both roles making them less impressive. He also acts the same in Body of Lies. He just doesn't show the same diversity in his acting ability as Brad Pitt does.

I'm not saying that he doesn't necessarily have the potential to offer a more diverse performance but nothing since the Aviator has shown me otherwise.

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[–] AJarcher 12 years ago

Well, can't disagree more.

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[–] drtturner 12 years ago

Ever since Titantic and before he's been given us 1 period piece after another. Enough
With the history lessons. While his dopplgagger Michael Pltt enjoys success of Boardwalk Empire
Set in 1920s at least he treated us to modern stories like Murder by Numbers and ....something else. Does Leo wear regular clothes in real life? It would be nice to see him in clothes, not costume. I dare say Gosling is more relateable having played such modern characters as a Skinhead, a suave dating expert and a school teacher. DiCaprio could have put a larger scale spin and stepped into the new world by playing The father in Orphan, Casey Affleck's part in Gone Baby Gone or a young train worker in Unstoppable. Enough with dreams and history shows.

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[–] ratracer 12 years ago

Ever since Titantic and before he's been given us 1 period piece after another. Enough With the history lessons.

I'm not too familiar with DiCaprio's work but if that's the case, he is obviously one of those people who make movies rather for themselves than for the audience. I must say I much prefer that to actors who always seek to do mainstream movies and box office draws.
Also, I wouldn't exactly call Inception a period piece.

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[–] AutumnSF 12 years ago

I agree with you, ratracer.

I have a lot more to say about this "issue" but right now, referring to the "enough of dream films" satement above your post, I will say that Leo has made only TWO different "dream films" and they were VERY, VERY successful with critics and audiences.
They could hardly have enough of them! So much so, that they put Leo at the top of the Forbes list of the highest paid actor; boxoffice champion, etc....whatever the titles are.

These facts make the complaints very personal and have very little or NO resonance with the majority of viewers.

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[–] mikeyflatley 12 years ago

totally agree. at least deniro totally shocked every1 by doin those fockerz moviez. and he wuz so funnie.

now pacino will da same in da new adam sandler movie. cant wait!

leo can never do comedies bec he thinkz hez da sht

I live, I love, I slay, and I'm content

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[–] JoeyGreen 12 years ago

All good actors develop recognizable mannerisms over time. DeNiro and Pacino, two of the best, have been parodied often for their peculiar way of talking, breathing and emoting. It seems Kirk Douglas could never deliver a line without gritting his teeth, Burt Lancaster without a little laugh, etc.

DeCaprio is not yet in a league with the top actors of all time, but he's getting there and will mature over time. Whether J. Edgar is his seminal role remains to be seen. I think Eastwood is a bit overrated as a director although he's made some good movies. I think DeCaprio does his best work with Scorcese.

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[–] Greekm5330 12 years ago

Clint Eastwood is an amazing director, especially what hes capable of at this age it really is something else. But you said that all good actors develop recognizable mannerisms over time. I understand Pacino, De Niro and even Brando are parodied for mannerisms and whatnot, but this happened after they 'peaked', while in their prime though youd be crazy to call them anything less than great. Sure DiCaprio has been in the buisness a long time but these mannerisms started to show with Gangs of New York, his first 'grown up role'. These mannerisms are visible in a ten year time span in which people claim hes the best actor of his generation, not close.

You couldn't smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe!.. I lost my train of thought.

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] DaleCoop 12 years ago

Yeah, he does carry some habits from role to role, but there's really nothing wrong with that. DeNiro, Pacino and Nicholson, to mention a few, does that, and they're all pretty great, right?

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[–] haikoui 12 years ago

Personally, I think he's phenomenal.
I actually care about the characters he's played, and I completely think of the characters as separate people.

On a different note, Tom Hanks has stated that DiCaprio is the best actor of his generation. Who are we to argue?

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[–] bradwbaumann 12 years ago

The first thing I said when i saw the trailer was - Oh look, Leo's doing the same thing with his face.

When you're playing J Edgar, who was real as we all know - maybe leave those Habits at the door and be J Edgar for 2 hours.

Sean Penn did it briliantly with Harvey Milk, and he won a much deserved Oscar.

The OP is right, so suck it.

"This Town Needs and Enema!"
The Joker

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[–] jerrylee02 12 years ago

The 2 kings of being the "same guy" in every movie are George Clooney and John Wayne. Both made enjoyable movies but they just tweek their personalities slightly to fit what the character is supposed to be. I think DeCaprio is a good actor but I have never left a movie being blown away by his performance like I have with with ather actors. (i.e. D D Lewis in There will be Blood and Heath Ledger in TDN. There are many many others but those are the 2 of the more recent.)

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[–] heartsinwonderland 12 years ago

I agree that he's gotten a little repetitive, but he captured Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road perfectly. I read the book, and it was like watching the book and the characters come alive on film.

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[–] ArthurJimbo 12 years ago

Im sorry, but I have to agree with the initial post. At least to a certain extent. It just seems as if he carried over his performance from Aviator and went with that for this. And to play another historic figure to boot? I agree that his face is what it is and shouldnt be judged and made slight of in regards to performance. Just the same, there is an amount of characterization that seems to be lacking when making distinctions with his recent "character" decisions. Or lack there of possibly?

Truth is, everybody can only really truly be themselves on screen in the end. DiCap has done this over and over. And just like any other actor, he has to strive to improve or be better beyond how great he has already been. Its no easy task. Brando told Depp one time "you only have so many faces in your pocket" Its true. I love Leo though. Always a fine performer. Sometimes a Great! performer. No easy task. As long as the audience are willing to suspend their disbelief..he will continue to be working on many many projects and making the films a great deal of money. I for one am not able to suspend that disbelief to watch him portray another historical figure. Just doesnt seem to me that he has brought too much new to the table. Maybe he should retreat for awhile and gather his energy so that he can grow even further. Come back stronger. Clip the wings so to speak. He is definately a terrific actor! Hes so good..it has to be tough to re invent himself so to speak..

"Silences crossed by Worlds and by Angels" - Arthur Rimbaud

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[–] nowoolplz 12 years ago

LOL, THANK YOU!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

I thought I was the only one who noticed decaprio trying to play these tuff guys. I think he got tired of being cast as a pretty boy.

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[–] buckshot69 12 years ago

Those are things a lot of actors do though, some try to be chameleons like Gary Oldman, and Billy Crudup, some of the best actors keep soem of the same mannerisms character to character, like Pachino, Deniro, Edward Norton, Christian Bale. I like to see both kinds of actors though.

To him mercy is passion With me it is good manners.You may judge which motive is more reliable

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