I Heart Leonardo
Okay, it’s now officially time for all the Leonardo DiCaprio haters to either shut their traps or admit he’s an incredible actor. Titanic was almost ten years ago, get over it.
Oh, and go see The Departed. Wow.
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Posted on October 10, 2006, in Film, Pop Culture. Bookmark the permalink. 35 Comments.
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I admit it. He had me with The Aviator.
Sorry, not buying this one. I mildly warmed to him in “Catch Me if You Can” but wasn’t too thrilled with him in “Gangs of New York.”
I actually didn’t see “The Aviator” because it had DiCRAPio in it–and I don’t discriminate like that too often.
I’ll see The Departed in spite of him.
I think he’s an actor (a la Colin Farrel) that Hollywood has grossly overestimated his appeal to the male audience.
Awesome movie. I loved it. And they filmed the office scenes with Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, et. al. in the office building where I used to work. It really IS that ugly.
Tim, you’re off on this one. Colin Farrell really really sucks and has nary a whisper of talent. Leonardo really can act.
Tim, watch What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and then The Departed and try to tell me Leo can’t act.
I have only been impressed by one Leo performance: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. I didn’t like his delivery in Romeo + Juliet, but other than that I haven’t found much reason to complain about him; I’ve been indifferent to most of his performances. I haven’t seen the three latest Scorsese films, so I’m not able to judge his performances in those ones. I don’t know why I still haven’t seen The Aviator. Off to Netflix I go.
I’ll admit he has talent–that was evident on “Growing Pains”. But that doesn’t mean I have to like him.
The comparison between he and Farrell only exists because producers/directors continue to believe that they have a wider appeal than they do.
There was an interview (on 20/20?) before the release of “Catch Me…” that had Spielberg, Hanks, and DiCaprio together for the interview. 95% of the interview was about DiCaprio!! I was just shaking my head.
Maybe I’m just jealous.
Yes, he was darn good in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” I believe he was even nominated for it.
I guess I’ll reserve a little judgement until after I see “The Departed.”
I also don’t find him particularly likeable. He’s not as unlikeable as Colin Farrell, but something about his boyishness bugs me.
Tom might have hit on it. The boyishness. I remember seeing a scene in the Aviator where he is an older Howard Hughes, and I thought, “He still looks 12.”
I only want to see this movie because Markie Mark is in it. So I’ll wait till it comes on tv in a couple years.
Ahem, Susan, I think you mean Marky Mark. Sheesh, no respect for the one-hit wonders. But yeah, I like Mark Wahlberg in this movie. You shouldn’t wait a couple years to see it.
Regarding boyishness, I guess I understand what you’re saying but it is non-existent in this movie.
How about the following?
He is an incredible actor that I do not care for at all.
Is that ok?
As far as Marky Mark goes, I remember freshman year a bunch of guys from the dorm went to see Marky Mark. I did not go. One of the guys came back with a pair of boxers that was said to have been thrown into the crowd by Marky Mark from the stage. The exact details of how he removed them escape me. Mainly I just remember feeling badly for all the teenage girls that would have just died to have those boxers as a souvenir who had to see this geek from my dorm snatch them out of the air and take them home.
We should have a post of “The Best Actors that We Hate.”
It’d probably be a good debate.
Did you ever see “The Man in the Iron Mask?” I couldn’t really take him seriously after that.
Wow, lotta sturm und drung over LeoD.
Eh.
He’s fine, in a good role. He and Mark Wahlberg are about at the same level, I’d say.
There are some actors that rise above the normal standard  in this movie, I’d say, Matt Damon and obviously Jack Nicholson are the real McCoy, so to speak.
D., you’re thinking of DeForest Kelley.
Ha
Ha
Ha
oh come on! That’s comedy gold, right there.
I know you don’t care, but I didn’t care for The Aviator. It’s just… not very good. I’m also not a fan, at all, of Gangs of New York.
The Departed seems much more up Scorsese’s alley.
I did enjoy Catch Me If You Can, a fun romp.
Leo to Marky Mark is a good comparison. Like DiCaprio’s, I’ve rarely been overwhelmed by Wahlberg’s acting chops. He’s good. I wouldn’t say he’s much more skilled than Leo. But I like him a lot more. He’s manly cool. DiCaprio comes across as a bratty adultolescent. He’s a gravitas vacuum.
But, again, I need to see some recent Scorsese before I judge the current ‘Nardo.
D., no love for The Aviator? I suppose you don’t like any Scorcese that’s not modern gang violence — I shudder to think of your opinion on Kundun…
I like Kundun, though it was SLOW. Nice music score.
The Aviator isn’t enough of anything. It’s not a real bio, and it’s not a Scorsese (spelled with 3 s’s) movie about urban angst/violence, and I think Leo was miscast  should have been Johnny Depp (a real extreme type).
I don’t think Hollywood does bios very well. I can’t think of one that’s really good.
Hollywood does film noirs, and thrillers/action movies best.
Television has become venue of choice for good comedy and small, heartfelt drama.
Of course, these are generalizations that can be disproved by individual projects. But generally, the generalizations hold true.
Wait, he was on “Growing Pains?”
I also hated Gangs of New York. I don’t think Leonardo can be blamed for its badness, though. Man in the Iron Mask was just awful, but as Gabriel Byrne was also in it and sucked, and as I’m firmly convinced he really can act and will never be convinced otherwise, I guess Leonardo can’t be blamed for that fiasco either. I’ll admit he can act, but like a random John, that doesn’t mean I have to like him. Unlike Marky Mark, who can act (despite that awful remake of Charade) and is a hottie.
As I said, these actors are all fine in the right part, and can be wretched in the wrong part.
At least Gabriel Byrne pronounced the French words semi-accurately.
I’m not going to start liking Leonardo DiCaprio just because he made a movie that is easier to love than Titanic.
But yes, the movie does look interesting.
I honestly don’t have strong feelings either way about Leo. I think he’s a pretty strong actor, but I don’t go out of my way to see a movie just because he’s in it.
Looking over his filmography, my thoughts are:
Titanic: didn’t see it
Gangs of New York: sucked, but he was okay
The Aviator: Well-made movie, but the story didn’t ever really develop like I was expecting it to. Leo was pretty good.
Catch Me if You Can: Pretty good.
Celebrity: seems like it was one of the more entertaining Woody Allen movies in recent memory, but I don’t really remember DiCaprio in it.
He’s just not an actor that I feel reflexive about either way, which is probably a good thing.
One thing that does bother me is any movie with more than about three celebrities in it. I just find it very distracting. That kind of bothered me about The Aviator. The trailer for The Departed gave me this feeling. I might be one of the only movie fans I know that feels this way.
You know, I almost hate to say it, but Jack Nickleson is one of those actors that I’m not really crazy about. He always seems like he’s just playing crazy Jack to me.
Titanic: didn’t see it
Trying. To. Resist. Joke. About. Movies. Not. Seen…
Greg, but Crazy Jack is so good. And he plays it very well here.
Totally was won over by DiCaprio in Gilbert Grape. For that, he can be forgiven almost anything.
D. I don’t think Hollywood does bios very well. I can’t think of one that’s really good.
Even Chaplin??
Allison, he killed Growing Pains like cousin Oliver killed “The Brady Bunch”.
…and Kirk Cameron’s career has never been the same…
I shouldn’t post on movie threads, since in general I don’t like what most people do, but here I go anyway.
BTD Greg’s point about Jack Nicholson is how I feel about most big name actors these days. I don’t want to see a movie with big name stars in it because I’m always aware of who they are. I’m guessing this movie would be ruined for me by all the star power.
I’m not sure why that is. Either I’m just old and tired of all the same faces, or it’s the cult of personality the media has going. I keep waiting for the media circus surrounding celebrities to backfire, like disco did, eventually people will get sick of it, right? And we can stop seeing headlines everywhere about Brad and Angelina and Paris and Nicole. Please.
DiCaprio just needs to be better cast in better movies.
Scorsese needs to stop over-choreographing his work. I tire of “seeing the camera” in every shot–which really amounts to seeing the director. It’s as if there’s a “Scorsese” copyright symbol at the bottom of every frame.
Susan M, that’s exactly how I feel. I find it really distracting to watch JACK NICHOLSON! or TOM CRUISE! or JULIA ROBERTS! or TOM HANKS! or ANGELINA JOLIE! for a whole movie, instead of watching their character. Put more than two or three of these people in a movie and it’s enough to make me just not want to see it at all. I’d much rather watch people like Phillip Seymour Hoffman or Stanley Tucci, or someone who can make me forget that they are in the movie and watch the character.
Yeah, totally. There are some character actors I like, such as Steve Buscemi. And it doesn’t really apply to comedians, since comedies aren’t meant to be believable, or whatever.
I just caught the last hour of Castaway on tv the other night, and while it’s a good movie, most of the time I was thinking, “Tom Hanks sure got skinny for this one.”