re: Brad Pitt as an actor?

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He's a great character actor trapped in a leading man's body.

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That's my line!

Never really took him seriously as an actor until Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's the first time I truly saw him as the character instead of the actor. As someone said- he's got the talent- but it needs to be centered and controlled by a director.

His agent deserves much of the credit for his success. He has acted in many remarkably good movies and very few crappy ones. I doubt he makes many of these decisions himself.

Also, he is incredibly good-looking. His career reminds me of Robert Redford's.

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He's a top 10 actor of all time

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He's a good actor, but not near the top 10

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DIdn't realize there was a master list of top all time actors. It's pretty subjective based on personal preference

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There's not, but you're the one who posted he was a top 10 actor of all time

And yes, if you had stated he was in your top 10 that would have been different

It's also unclear sometimes when talking actors if we're talking about acting ability or quality of movies they've been in

One of the best.

Don't forget Spy Games. Several good food chewing scenes leading up to Operation Dinner Out. He even taught the A-rabs how to make migas just so he could chew them in Beirut.

Hanks as an actual actor is like 2/10. He's a fantastic movie star, but name one character Tom Hanks played? He's basically the same dude put into various situations.

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He's basically the same dude put into various situations.

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This affects most leads to a large degree, because they're being paid to be themselves molded into the role - of course this excepts the malleable guys like Pacino, Deniro, Hoffman and character guys asked to do lead roles (usually easier for them) like Spacy or PSH (RIP).

But, Hanks has a lot of range when you go back to the beginning - he's perfect in Bachelor Party, Splash!, even Money Pit - then also shows what he can do in things like Philadelphia, Green Mile, Forrest Gump - and even when he plays "himself" - SPR, Apollo 13 - he devotes a lot of effort to making himself look and sound right for period.

Dude may not be Olivier - I get that. I might even agree he's a little overrated, but he's also one of the best acting leads of the past 30 years.

So there's all of that.