Best run of 5 great movies by an actor

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

you could try, but Dirty rotten Scoundrels is not great movie.

different tastes, though. I don't think Little Shop of Horrors was a great movie either, or Parenthood, or Roxanne, actually.

I’ve seen compelling arguments that Steve Martin’s entire filmography is overrated. Even The Jerk and PT&A are weak in story pacing. That doesn’t diminish the fact that he’s one of the funniest people ever but his movies don’t belong in this thread, IMO.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

Sir.

Training Day
John Q
Antwon Fisher
Out of Time
Man on Fire

Fits this five consecutive film run quite well.

Well I haven't seen the middle one and don’t consider Out of Time to be a “great”…. But Man on Fire is my favourite Denzel movie.

[Harry Lime]

Val Kilmer started his career with Top Secret in 1984, and through to Tombstone in 1993 he starred in ten movies, with two duds. Those two duds are spaced perfectly to keep him out of this list, but that has to be one of the best starts to an overall acting career.

Top Secret, Real Genius, Top Gun, Willow, Kill Me Again (not horrible but not great), the Doors, Thunderheart, True Romance, The Real McCoy (Kim Basinger vehicle, blah) and Tombstone.

[Harry Lime]

Roger Ebert insisted that Planes, Trains and Automobiles was the perfect comedy. He loved that movie. Three Amigos is also a gem.

[octothorp]

Christian Bale had a great run with Rescue Dawn, The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, I'm Not There, and The Dark Knight. Three outstanding movies and two very solid ones in that run.

[indes]

Russell Crowe had a good run for a while, not sure if A Good Year can make the cut though.

Gladiator

Proof of Life

A Beautiful Mind

Master and Commander

Cinderella Man

A Good Year

3:10 to Yuma

American Gangster

[Roughneck]

I don't think Proof of Life or A Good Year make the cut at all IMO. The former was neither a critical or box office success, the latter wasn't well received and not great at the box office either.



But throw in the Insider and it's a 7/9 stretch only a handful of actors could hope to achieve, but does show how tough it is for in demand actors to get a perfect stretch of five in a row. Proof of Life might not have been a success, but he got $7.5M for it which s more than he got for Gladiator.

[Buff]

How are we defining "great movies"?

Box office?
Rotten Tomatoes?
Just our personal preference?

[SportsJunky]

Yes

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Buff

How are we defining "great movies"?

Box office?
Rotten Tomatoes?
Just our personal preference?

I'm also curious how someone who doesn't take a purely main role, yet still a memorable one would factor in. (ie: Michael Caine).

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Buff

How are we defining "great movies"?

Box office?
Rotten Tomatoes?
Just our personal preference?

I dunno. Combo of both? Box Office isn’t a good metric of greatness, just popularity. Also then you’ve got a thwack of actors that only did Harry Potter or Marvel movies. Have Robert Downey Jr and Gary Oldman made great movies? Sure, but not for Iron Man 2 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

[LouCypher]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Agreed, Paxton had a good run but where's the 5th movie? It's hard to get 5 in a row. I looked at a few actor's IMDB page and there is always one or two stinkers that #### it up.

Near Dark 1987? Not sure if there was something before that though

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Since1984

Leo Dicaprio

Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
Rick Dalton
2015

The Revenant
Hugh Glass
2015

The Wolf of Wall Street
Jordan Belfort
2013

The Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby
2012

Django Unchained
Calvin Candie
2012

What, no Titanic? /sarcasm

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Buff

How are we defining "great movies"?

Box office?
Rotten Tomatoes?
Just our personal preference?

This was actually a little tough to pin down. I was looking at Sam Rockwell, and his role in The Sitter was awesome, but the movie itself was a step above trash. I landed on 'a great performance, a great movie does not make'.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

This was actually a little tough to pin down. I was looking at Sam Rockwell, and his role in The Sitter was awesome, but the movie itself was a step above trash. I landed on 'a great performance, a great movie does not make'.

good way to look at it. I would also think you have to sometimes add in how it's viewed as time passed.

Shawshank Redemption bombed originally, but I think the majority of people now would consider it a great movie.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I would say to really have a shot at this you'd need to have a) a good movie, b) a good performance in the movie, and c) an important role. This is the reason you'd say Pacino had a better run than Cazale even though the movies on Cazale's list are better - Pacino had the more important role and performance in the ones he was in.

By those standards, that Gyllenhaal run might be the best one in the thread. It's actually really hard to find a consistent run of good movies. I was thinking Gosling had a shot at it with Big Short / Nice Guys / La La Land / BR2049 but he had a movie in there called Song to Song that I've never heard of and has terrible reviews.

Bogart goes Maltese Falcon / All Through the Night / Across the Pacific / Casablanca, but there is also a movie in there called "The Big Shot" that I've never seen (although even if it's garbage the rest of that list is probably still strong enough to make up for it). Maybe he has an even better stretch later.

Can anyone find any women who might get on this list? I tried Streep, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett and it's a struggle. Blanchett does okay from ROTK for the next 4 movies but she was barely in ROTK and then there's a movie called "Babel" that I've never heard of.

This is actually quite a bit tougher than the director thread.

[Harry Lime]

Already did Michelle Pfeiffer.

Here's one Ingrid Bergman

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (good but not great, not the definitive version)
Casablanca
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Gaslight
Spellbound
Saratoga Trunk (never watched this one)
The Bells of St. Mary's
Notorious

Saratoga Trunk is clearly the weak link, right in the middle of the run, so you would have to add Hyde and forget the last two.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Can anyone find any women who might get on this list? I tried Streep, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett and it's a struggle. Blanchett does okay from ROTK for the next 4 movies but she was barely in ROTK and then there's a movie called "Babel" that I've never heard of.

.

I tried Jodie Foster, didn't pan out. Ellen Burstyn has a pretty good run starting with Last Picture Show but to be honest there were a few I didn't know much about, took a flyer on Faye Dunaway who was in some great movies in the early 70s but there were a bunch of 3 Muskateer sequels worked in- took a long shot hoping Talia Shire could pull off some sort of awesome Godfather/Rocky set but to no avail

[SportsJunky]

Debra Winger had:
1983 Terms of Endearment
1982 An Officer and a Gentleman
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1982 Cannery Row
1980 Urban Cowboy

The E.T role was an uncredited small appearance though.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Debra Winger had:
1983 Terms of Endearment
1982 An Officer and a Gentleman
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1982 Cannery Row
1980 Urban Cowboy

The E.T role was an uncredited small appearance though.

yeah I looked at that and couldn't remember her in ET. not all of those movies are my cup of tea, but its pretty solid- and definitely early 80s iconic


Carrie Fisher was one better choice away from a Star Wars Trilogy, Blues Brothers mic drop