...but friends, those days are fading fast. There are more and more subjects regarding which I would fail miserably if they were categories on a certain television program that shall remain nameless.
For example, yesterday I ran across (not literally) an article from The New York TImes entitled "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far)". I am not going to give you a link to it. You are capable of finding it yourself if you wish to. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime, and other annoying expressions.
Glowing descriptions of the 25, their roles, and the films in which they appeared were provided by A.O. Scott, Marjane Satrapi, Manohla Dargis, Julian Schnabel, Ryan Coogler, James Gray (about all of whom I know nothing), and Denzel Washington (about whom I know a little bit).
I have omitted the glowing descriptions (I might also have called them breathlessly gushy) to spare you such memorable sentences as the following:
"She’s flat-out glorious in “The Paperboy” (2012), a delectably vulgar whatsit in which she outshines a showboating male cohort, alternately urinating on Zac Efron and tearing her pantyhose in an orgiastic frenzy over John Cusack."
You can thank me later.
Moving right along....
Of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century (so far) themselves, I had never heard of about half of them. I say "about half" because I had heard of 12 of them. I had never heard of the other 13. It would have been impossible for me to have heard of exactly half of them because that would be, let's see, multiple by 4, carry the 3, um, 12 and a half, and that would be impossible.
Here's the list. You can tell me how well you did in the comments:
25 - Gael García Bernal
24 - Sônia Braga
23 - Mahershala Ali
22 - Melissa McCarthy
21 - Catherine Deneuve
20 - Rob Morgan
19 - Wes Studi
18 - Willem Dafoe
17 - Alfre Woodard
16 - Kim Min-hee
15 - Michael B. Jordan
14 - Oscar Isaac
13 - Tilda Swinton
12 - Joaquin Phoenix
11 - Julianne Moore
10 - Saorise Ronan
9 - Viola Davis
8 - Zhao Tao
7 - Toni Servillo
6 - Song Kang Ho
5 - Nicole Kidman
4 - Keanu Reeves
3 - Daniel Day-Lewis
2 - Isabelle Huppert
1 - Denzel Washington
I grow more out of touch with every passing day. All in all, however, it is not a bad thing to be.
What names are missing from the list that you would have included? What names are on the list that you would have omitted? How many have you never heard of?
Well I have never heard of 15 of them. And the ones that I have heard of, I don't consider them the greatest actors.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I think I am somewhat older than you so it is interesting to learn that you knew even fewer on the list than I did. Then there is also the fact that I haven’t been inside a movie theater in years and years. So I feel a little better about not knowing.
DeleteCatherine Deneauve? 21st Century? Les Parapluies de Cherbourg was wonderful but that was made in 1964. I know 6 by the way.
ReplyDeleteTasker, I know. Maybe she was cast as Grandma?
ReplyDeleteI knew all twenty five. No problem.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I was lying. Only thirteen of the film actors rang the reindeer bells in my cavernous skull.
I thought I heard tinkling.
DeleteHow absurd that the incomparable Tom Hanks is not on that list and what about Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet? Whoever compiled the list needs brain surgery.
DeleteI like your choices better. I said in reply to Graham Edwards that it had occurred to me that the writers at The New York Times were striving for diversity and political correctness when they compiled their list.
DeleteI think the key here is the "21st" Century. A part of me is still in the 20th Century! I recognized a little more than half of the names and a few others I recognized the faces when I looked them up. I don't remember a lot of the "new" popular actors' names but know their faces when I see them in a different show.
ReplyDeleteI think we have to face it - the world is moving on - with or without us! For a long time I have tried to keep up but these days I just go with the flow. If I enjoy something, that's great but if I don't then I don't worry about it. But that's just my take on it!
Bonnie, almost 60 of my almost 80 years are in the 20th century! Your take on things is the right one in my opinion.
DeleteI probably would have made a list. It would look so much different so I will not make one now. Lists like this are purely subjective anyway.
ReplyDeleteEmma, they certainly are! For example, Yorkshire Pudding above suggested Tom Hanks, Leonardo DuCaprio and Kate Winslett. I like his choices more than those of the experts at The New York Times.
DeleteI have heard of 5 of them. Which, to answer your question, means that I maven't hear of 20 of them. I'm not a big film buff but I would have said that Catherine Deneuve and Nicole Kidman were really at their best in the 20th century but that may be because I don't know any of their more recent films. Ah not quite true. Moulin Rouge was 2001. I can nominate no names I regret to say. I'm not a film buff.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I am not a film buff either. It occurred to me that the writers at The New York Times were attempting, or it is in their DNA, to be diverse and politically correct when compiling a list of any kind.
DeleteI know of a whopping 10. That may be because I've seen so few movies in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteJeannelle, 20% of the 21st century is already past and many of us seem to have missed it completely.
DeleteOkay. 25 of the greatest actors of the 21st century according to a NYT article.
ReplyDelete15 on the list I've never heard of therefore 10 who are known to me. A good even number, 10. No mathematical calculations required for halving and certainly no need of the old magician's trick of cutting people in half. What a relief on both counts.
As for the first and second questions in the last paragraph, I will just quote a few words from a Paul Simon song 'I have no opinion about this, I have no opinion about that'
Alphie
Alphie, join the club! The entire readership of this blog, including its author, are all in the same boat — we don’t know nearly as much about 21st-century actors as the illustrious writers for The New York Times.
ReplyDelete