Best Acting You've Ever Seen

[Plutonic Panda]

I really like acting a lot, probably more than I should anyhow ... but here are a couple of my favorite moments in acting history

[bchris02]

One of the best moments in acting history right here.

[Plutonic Panda]

[RadicalModerate]

Hard to believe that this is the same guy who starred in "Bad Santa" . . .

[Dustin]

Meryl Streeps performance in August Osage County was scary good. Im shocked she didnt win the Oscar.

Also, anything with the late Phillip Seymore Hoffman is great.

[Eddie1]

Morgan Freeman in 'Shawshank'.

[Dennis Heaton]

Topol...

[Urbanized]

[Achilleslastand]

Marlon Brando in Mutiny on the Bounty played Christian too a tee and Trevor Howard was great as Capt Bligh as well.

[BlackmoreRulz]

Tim Curry did a helluva job in Rocky Horror, not exactly my genre of movies but his portrayal was superb.

[RadicalModerate]

This guy is pretty versatile, as well.

[Prunepicker]

I'm a John Wayne fan. I can't think of a single western without
him coming to mind.

Case in point "The Searchers". He makes my skin crawl.
The Quiet Man.
True Grit.
Rooster Cogburn.

[kelroy55]

I'm a John Wayne fan. I can't think of a single western without
him coming to mind.

Case in point "The Searchers". He makes my skin crawl.
The Quiet Man.
True Grit.
Rooster Cogburn.

About the only movie John Wayne didn't play the same character in was one of my favorites, The Quiet Man

[RadicalModerate]

This man is a genius. And versatile, too.

[Questor]

Christolph Waltz (colonel Hans Landa) in Inglourious Basterds. The opening sequence of dialog, where he is just talking with the French farmer, actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up the first time I saw it. The character he plays is somehow charismatic and entirely evil at the same time.

Ed Norton pretty much all the time. The first time I saw him, in Primal Fear (especially after the final scene), I remember thinking this guys going to be huge. Also great in Fight Club and American History X.

Agree, Heath Ledger as the Joker was mind blowing.

Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.

Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood.

Mickey Rourke did a surprisingly awesome job in The Wrestler. That is such a sad, sad movie.

Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones. There was a scene earlier this season that involved some back and forth dialog between his character and his father in open court that just blew me away. He's been fantastic this entire series, but the acting in that episode, which had an homage to / had me thinking about the monster from Frankenstein, was just amazing.

Some other actors who have had amazing moments, and I think are going to land an amazing role one day, are Benedict Cumberbatch (he is fantastic in Sherlock, and as the villain in Star Trek Into Darkness he had a dialog scene where he cried on command that was jaw dropping) who just needs to land an appropriately big role, and Michael Fassbender who's been great in everything he's ever done but also just needs to land something a little less "genre."

Just my thoughts anyway.

[Dustin]

Christolph Waltz (colonel Hans Landa) in Inglourious Basterds. The opening sequence of dialog.

Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones. There was a scene earlier this season that involved some back and forth dialog between his character and his father in open court that just blew me away. He's been fantastic this entire series, but the acting in that episode, which had an homage to / had me thinking about the monster from Frankenstein, was just amazing.

Yes!! Both of these guys are amazing! Dinklage doesn't quite have the english accent down, but he makes up for it in his acting.

[RadicalModerate]

This gentleman plays just as well in Fargo as he does in Vegas . . .
Bill Macy . . . not Mr. Baldin . . . =)

[RadicalModerate]

Christolph Waltz (colonel Hans Landa) in Inglourious Basterds. The opening sequence of dialog, where he is just talking with the French farmer, actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up the first time I saw it. The character he plays is somehow charismatic and entirely evil at the same time.

Speaking of which . . .

[Dennis Heaton]

So many GREATS in this one...

[Mel]

Lee Marvin in "The Big Red One".

[bchris02]

[mugofbeer]

Anything Roger Moore did as James Bond........

[zookeeper]

I haven't heard of half of these people from current movies and TV. That reflects my age - nothing else.

The best acting I have ever seen would probably come from movies involving one or more of these people...no particular order.

Robert De Niro
Michael Caine
Lauren Bacall
Jack Nicholson
Robert Duvall
Jimmy Stewart
Meryl Streep
Tom Hanks
Judi Dench
Gene Hackman
Fredric March
Ingrid Bergman
Anthony Hopkins

All greats to me.

[RadicalModerate]

This scene, from the best use of film ever made, proves that Liam Neeson is a great actor.
He could play this . . . followed up by scads of goofy buffoonery/action movies.
And the bad guy was pretty good in the scene, too.

[Prunepicker]

I haven't heard of half of these people from current movies and TV.
That reflects my age - nothing else.

The best acting I have ever seen would probably come from movies
involving one or more of these people... no particular order.

Robert De Niro
Michael Caine
Lauren Bacall
Jack Nicholson
Robert Duvall
Jimmy Stewart
Meryl Streep
Tom Hanks
Judi Dench
Gene Hackman
Fredric March
Ingrid Bergman
Anthony Hopkins

All greats to me.

A very, very good list.

I'd add to your list:
John Wayne
Humphrey Bogart
Debbie Reynolds (she could do it all while blind folded)
Lionel Barrymore (he could act better sitting in a wheel chair than
most actors could standing up)
Cary Grant (who I believe would have made a fantastic James Bond)
James Cagney
Edward G. Robinson
Bette Davis
Joan Crawford (if you name Bette you must name Joan)
Orson Wells
Paul Newman
And when I think of "A Touch of Evil" Charlton Heston.

Supporting Actors
Edward Everett Horton
Jack Carson
Ben Johnson
George Kennedy