[quote]Petedacook wrote:
I think this guy is awesome. I just watched School of Rock, and no matter how many times I watch it. it still cracks me up.
Found this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpmA2I91poI&mode=related&search=Tenacious
Looks like it is from Jack Black’s new movie. The passion and zen state of mind he has in his performances is uniqie. He was hilarious in Orange County.
My wife says he is the same character in every movie. INMHO every actor is in some way the same character in every movie. It seems to me Jack Nicholson is always Jack Nicholson.
Warning, the link has strong language.
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I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m not a Jack Black fan but some of his movies have been decent and he was–in my opinion–surprisingly good in King Kong. But I have to disagree with the above. In the TRUE sense of the phrase, yes, Jack Nicholson is Jack Nicholson in every movie, but characters vary immensely and only the great actors can pull off a wide range.
For example, I love Johnny Depp because of his versatility…Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Blow, Pirates of the Caribbean, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fear and Loathing n Las Vegas…I could go on and on. Very different characters, and while some of those movies were God awful he still made each character believable. Now, he’s somewhat of an exception to the rule, but there are others like him.
I also think there’s a class of actors who have the ability to take different characters, pull them off, but always leave their own mark on them. This is where Jack Nicholson comes in: always a little off in the head, but every character is different and has depth to it…As Good as it Gets, Batman, A Few Good Men, The Shining, One Flew Over the Cucoo’s Nest, etc…
Then there’s what I call the ‘modern day’ actor, the guy who plays exactly one role no matter what he’s wearing…maybe the accent might change a bit, and at times he has to be happy, sad, angry, etc, but he’s playing the same brash, cocky independant, slightly crazy character…Take Tom Cruise in all the Mission Impossibes, Top Gun, Minority Report, Jerry Maguire, Days of Thunder, Cocktail, etc, etc…or Colin Farell, or any one of a dozen actors today who play the same role with different clothes on. And while they put together decent movies at times and pull off their roles pretty well I don’t consider it much skill to play yourself–or peoples perception of you–over and over again.
So there’s my analysis of actors. Oh, and Jack Black falls into another character: the ‘funny guy who eventually moves onto cheesy romantic comedies’. Reference Adam Sandler for that one, though unfortunately for Black he’s fat and unattractive, so I have a feeling he’ll disappear in a few years once people get sick of his comedy.