It's official: Leo Dicaprio is the greatest actor of his generation.

[andgar923]

He puts out amazing performance after amazing performance but never wins shit.

Blood Diamond, Catch me if you can, The Departed, The Aviator, (Inception), Shutter Island, Gangs of NY, Revolutionary Road, Gilbert Grapes.

The guy is 34 and has put out great performances in more good movies than any A list actor of our generation.

'Great' performances is a stretch.

He's mostly a 'solid' actor with occasional 'good' performances from time to time.

'Great' is not what he does all the time.

While some may see him as 'great' I still see him as trying to hard.

[leopoldstotch]

yeah kirk went in a completely different direction. and not in a good way.

i'm still waiting for kirk to pull a "mel gibson" sometime in the future. they were both bred in the same "born again christian" stables.

[Tito Beasley]

Ugh.

Leo = most overrated actor of the generation.

He has the exact same personality in all his movies, he does every role the same, just as different characters. And it's not even like a Pacino type deal where only he can pull off that same personality. His recurring personality isn't even really a personality at all. It's very generic. And honestly, movies like The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can, Shutter Island, weren't even that good.

Call me when he can go from Edward Scissorhands to Donnie Brasco to Raol Duke to Captain Jack Sparrow to Don Juan DeMarco to Willy Wonka to John Dillinger. Ironically, Leo wasn't even the best actor in Gilbert Grape (how soon we forget who Gilbert himself was played by).

[playtetris]

I still remember Leo's Growing pains days, and being with kirk cameron.

who would have thought 20 years ago he would be at this stardom status?

i like Leo's movies, but i am more of a phillip seymour hoffman fan.


Before the Devil Knows you're dead
The Savages
Doubt
Synecdoche, NY
Capote
Along Came Polly (yes i like this movie, but because of him. his obnoxious behavior carried the film)
Punch-Drunk Love
Magnolia

...... and the list goes on. His movies in the past 10 years have been gold. Should have gotten an oscar for 'Doubt', but no way am i going to take away that Oscar from Heath Ledger for 'Dark Knight'.

happiness
the big lebowski
25th hour
boogie nights
scent of a woman ( )

[andgar923]

Ugh.

Leo = most overrated actor of the generation.

He has the exact same personality in all his movies, he does every role the same, just as different characters. And it's not even like a Pacino type deal where only he can pull off that same personality. His recurring personality isn't even really a personality at all. It's very generic. And honestly, movies like The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can, Shutter Island, weren't even that good.

Call me when he can go from Edward Scissorhands to Donnie Brasco to Raol Duke to Captain Jack Sparrow to Don Juan DeMarco to Willy Wonka to John Dillinger. Ironically, Leo wasn't even the best actor in Gilbert Grape (how soon we forget who Gilbert himself was played by).

I agree with most of this.

An actor has to become that character, and make it his own.... he needs to OWN IT!

I can easily see different actors play the roles that Leo has played.

Not that he's been 'bad', but there's other actors that can do as good a job if not better in almost every single one of his roles.

Leo has been associate with great projects, that would've been just as great WITHOUT HIM. Take him out of the equation, and the projects are 'still' great.

There's other actors that carry entire films and make them watchable.

I really like that you chose Depp as an example. He's one of the very few that can take on very different roles and make them his. Almost all of his roles are entirely different than the last. And then we have the ingenuity of bringing to life characters that one doesn't have much of a foundation to start from. Creating the characters that he creates is a work of art that's highly underrated.

Depp is at an echelon that Leo will probably never reach.

Depp is on Jordan, Kareem level.

While Leo is on Worthy's level.

[branslowski]

Im sorry, but is Johnny Depp is on Jordan level....Then Robert Dinero and Marlon Brando must be Jordan + Bird + Magic Times 1000....


No disrespect to Depp..

[knobs]

depp's versatility - even based only on the fact that he can play both the rego and the wacked out freak with equal - trumps leo's slow and steady recurring style. as it does with a lot of great young mainstream actors, from damon to pitt to bale.

the title of best, trying to take everything into account, i'd probably give to psh like whoever mentioned him above me. ddl's resume doesn't hold up in quantity, and guys like hanks/bridges/penn/etc are quality but not quite on the top tier.

ledger was definitely on his way to being a defining actor of this generation though - i bet he would've had a somewhat similar legacy to depp without the zaniness, given his choice of films in the recent years before his death.

[Tito Beasley]

Im sorry, but is Johnny Depp is on Jordan level....Then Robert Dinero and Marlon Brando must be Jordan + Bird + Magic Times 1000....


No disrespect to Depp..

[Tito Beasley]

Leo is like Lebron James. He took the easy way out by choosing to work with Martin Scorsese so much, instead of becoming a great actor by working with less talented filmmakers and raising them all up like those who came before him. I mean, Clint Eastwood didn't want to work with Woody Allen; he wanted to beat him.

but only because there is no facepalm smiley.

[Nanners]

Leo has been in a lot of the greatest movies in the past decade, and he is one of the greatest actors, but not the absolute greatest. The only guys I would put ahead are of him though are Depp, Pitt, Denzel, Daniel Day Lewis, maybe a few others.

[Go Getter]

threads like this is why I believe he is one of the most overrated actors of his generation.

I think he's solid to good for the most part, and he happens to be in great movies. But as an actor he isn't the best, not close.

This.

Don Cheadle>Leo

[andgar923]

Leo has been in a lot of the greatest movies in the past decade, and he is one of the greatest actors, but not the absolute greatest. The only guys I would put ahead are of him though are Depp, Pitt, Denzel, Daniel Day Lewis, maybe a few others.

He's involved with 'great' projects which would've been great WITHOUT him.

[ukplayer4]

Deserved Best Supporting Actor 1993 for What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Deserved Best Actor 2004 for The Aviator

so that would have been hackman(unforgiven) and jamie fox(ray) that "robbed" leo.

look i like dicaprio alot and have been saying for years that he deserves respect as a serious actor(i once had a big argument with a professor/film academic about his ability) but lets get real- we all knew this was coming, as soon as someone decent is in alot of good mainstream films people start raving like hes the greatest actor. just like people do occassionally about pitt, lol. good actors that have big mainstream appeal have a massive advantage over all other actors, why? because firstly everyone sees their films and is aware of them, secondly because good directors will work with them because they can get their more ambitious projects funded. the thing is about actors is that alot of them dont even want to be mega stars, there is a whole flock of brilliant lead actors that just shun the mega stardom and are very picky, infact they are more true to their art, guys like guy pearce and viggo mortensen etc etc.
that said i love leo, whilst not possessing great range he does have that great screen presence that is required to be a great actor. someone pointed out that he hasnt won the oscar because he hasnt made any films better- this is a fairpoint as the oscars always go to actors based on the scale of their performance- i.e how much they dominated the film(day lewis in there will be blood/jeff bridges in crazy heart/forrest whitiker in last king of scotland etc etc etc), it never goes to a brilliant subtle performance, ever. its always a big loud method performance, in this age of ever more refined and restrained film making it is maybe becoming a bit of an outdated idea to give the award to the actor who does the "most" acting...is that neccesarily the best, memorable yes but is it the best?
anyway my point is leos best stab at best actor and also i consider it BY FAR AND AWAY HIS BEST PERFORMANCE was blood diamond- now the film wasnt a masterpiece but leo made that film, a captivating performance, just so controlled and he also dominated the screen.
leos time will come but to say he deserves it this year when in actual fact the year(in terms of film relevance) hasnt even begun yet, the summer garbage isnt even out of the way, october is usually when we start getting the real films.

[ukplayer4]

Leo is like Lebron James. He took the easy way out by choosing to work with Martin Scorsese so much, instead of becoming a great actor by working with less talented filmmakers and raising them all up like those who came before him. I mean, Clint Eastwood didn't want to work with Woody Allen; he wanted to beat him.

[plowking]

Depp can't hold Leo's jockstrap. If you're looking for overrated, Depp is it, not Leo.
Leo's put great performances out though only now lately has he been picking up on the increase in attention and constant appraisal from critics. Before it was "he was great", though they seemed to forget about him and you'd never see him mentioned with great actors. Now he is, and he deserves it.