#10 SHIA LABEOUF.Top 50 status: Ranked #11 on the previous list.
"Best acting performance: His definitive portrayal as the young Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing your Saints.Why he made the top 50: I'm not that impressed with LaBeouf's acting talents, but I am with his ability to play the Hollywood game. While he admits, he's not your usual 'Hollywood idol type of guy', he certainly has proven time and again that given a good enough role where he can sink his teeth and involve himself in some serious character study, he can show some amazing results.
The biggest factor that puts him into the Top 10 is his ability to draw crowds into the movie houses. A lot of young audience certainly look at Shia as one of their favorite young stars, but not necessarily their favorite young actor.
#9 EMILE HIRSCH.Top 50 status: Ranked #4 on the previous list.
Best acting performances: Hirsch certainly made a good number of breakthrough performances, but I have to say his role in Sean Penn's Into The Wild is his best so far- as adventurer Chris McCandless. Also worth mentioning is his role in Imaginary Heroes as the younger son of Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver, the emotionally traumatized Tim Travis.Why he made the top 50: Together with Joe Levitt and Jake Gyllenhaal, he is the only Hollywood-based young actor who can compete with the current onslaught of young actors from across the Atlantic, most notably the current crop of talented British actors led by the likes of Jim Sturgess, Robert Pattinson and Ben Whishaw, to name a few.
#6 JAKE GYLLENHAAL.Top 50 status: Ranked #9 on the previous list.
Best acting performances: His Oscar nominated role in Brokeback Mountain is certainly his best role so far. As Jack Twist, he brought so much credibility into the character, it completely complements the emotional pain and anguish of Ennis del Mar, played by the late Heath Ledger. Coming in second is the cult hit, Donnie Darko where he played the title character. Also worth mentioning is David Fincher's Zodiac where Jake plays Robert Graysmith, who happens to be the author where the movie was based.Why he made the top 50: He is probably the most identified among the young actors as a 'celebrity'. But while he is part of the celebrity circle where paparazzi like to hunt and intrude upon, Jake has certainly made the best of it. His sense of humour while guesting in some of America's biggest talk shows certainly made him a household name, but while some of these household names are being dismissed as having no talent, Jake is that rare exception. I certainly look forward to his next movie, Brothers, with Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, definitely a great showcase of young talents!
#3 JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT.Top 50 status: Ranked #5 on the previous list.
Best acting performances: After a hustling gig that turned violent, we see Neil (Gordon-Levitt) silently licking his wounds as he stared at his bruises and cuts, silently he cries – he must have realized he’s all alone and that there’s no one to help him or even listen to him… Such was the performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Greg Arakki’s Mysterious Skin, that almost all critics agreed- Levitt is the young actor to watch! Of course, Levitt is no ‘one-movie wonder’, as Brick from director Rian Johnson proves.Why he made the top 50: He's a better actor than Jake Gyllenhaal or Emile Hirsch for that matter. He can play a credible and exciting romantic lead better than Ryan Philippe or James Marsden for that matter.
While he reminds me of Heath Ledger, and there is certainly some striking resemblance, Gordon-Levitt is someone who has proven himself as an actor's actor. There is one particular movie that I would love to watch Joe Levitt, and I just think this will be one of his finest ever- The Frog King".
Source: themovie-fanatic.com
Well, a pair of notes I'd like to add related to these list posts:
1.- My favourite role by Jake is "Donnie Darko", that performance just stuck deep inside my heart, although Jack Twist in "Brokeback Mountain" is definitively his adult acting wide break-through role (and really wonderful).
2.- Regarding opinions about who's an better actor than another, I think it's extremely difficult to compare and discern. For example, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is impressive in almost everything, he chooses very dark and brooding characters to play, whereas other roles wouldn't be so suiting for him. On the other hand, I don't find Shia Labeouf particularly gifted, his tendency to star in blockbusters seems an elongation of his Disney roots and his real-life person seems off-putting. I think Shia is cute but not endearing. Emile Hirsch is more than competent, was especially brilliant in "Into the wild" and he's physically gorgeous. My personal favourites (young actors) are Jake, Joseph, Ryan Gosling, Emile Hirsch and Michael Cera. Also liking a lot Ben Foster, James McAvoy, Anton Yelchin, Robert Pattinson, Patrick Fugit, Andrew Garfield, Michael Welch, and many more.
I agree with you, Kendra. It's difficult to compare. I don't think that JGL is a better actor than Jake (though I'm biased) but I think that he is as good as Jake. I don't like Shia La Beuf either. But, if I wasn't so so fond of Jake, I'd be a big fan of Ryan Gosling, he is really a mature sensitive natural-born actor.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, because Jake and Ryan share the "Jena Malone connection", both had excellent chemistry with her (in "Donnie Darko" and "The United States of Leland" respectively).
ReplyDeleteJoseph Gordon-Levitt, as I said, is specialized in very demanding conflicted characters, I think Jake is fit to be a more classic romantic lead.