re: Is Tom Hanks the GOAT?

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All I read was blah blah blah, I hate Tom Hanks.

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Come on, that was a pretty good explanation. Like I said, if we're talking "Hollywood" actors, he's tops. If we're talking like range and pure skill, he's solidly above average, but that's about as far as I would go.

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Let's talk about Brando and DDL. You could see them playing in Philadelphia, but how about Apollo 13, Splash, Dottie Didn't Drop It, or any number of roles that maybe played more off of on screen charisma than character immersion?

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See here:

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So you could see Kevin Bacon or Colin Firth talking to a volleyball for an hour and a half?

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And you can see Tom Hanks thinking about molesting a little girl? No you can't. He can't do it, it's not part of his wheelhouse because his charisma is based on likability. He's never taken a role that really puts him there, and that's probably a smart move, no one would ever by it. That's why his range is limited (arbitrary or not).

On the other hand, Bacon turned in a career performance in that very scenario. Now I wouldn't say Bacon is a better actor, I'd probably put them on the same tier. But there are things that Hanks can't do either. He just isn't equipped for it.

(And The Woodsman might be better than anything Hanks has done FWIW.)

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Is that a trait of a "great" actor (make no mistake, I'm not calling him the GOAT, I'd go top twenty.)?

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This is a better argument and there's a place for it to be made. I don't think it matters. I think portrayal, the ability to become someone else, is more important, and I find those characters, and those actors, far ore interesting. To each his own on that one.

I had this same debate not long ago with a friend and I said something to the effect of this:

I feel like all of Tom Hanks' roles are in the same family. That Josh is a younger, less grizzled Jimmy Dugan. That Jimmy is a cousin to Carl Henratty and Chuck Noland. And on and on. When I look at someone like Brando, his roles aren't from the same planet, much less the same family.

Is there something to be said for that? Maybe, there's a discussion to be had that being able to keep a recognizable core amongst so many roles. I'd be hard pressed to understand how, as I frame that more as an inability to portray different personas.