There are some actors who are good at what they do, but they are one-trick ponies. They play the same type of part over and over. And over. Hey, good for them. Cash that check. But here we’re going to celebrate 10 actors with insane range. These actors can ]]>

There are some actors who are good at what they do, but they are one-trick ponies. They play the same type of part over and over. And over. Hey, good for them. Cash that check. But here we’re going to celebrate 10 actors with insane range. These actors can play almost any role. Seriously, we checked. Let’s begin.

10 John C. Reilly
The lovable John C. Reilly leads our list. Reilly can crack you up in roles like Dr. Steve Brule on Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, the hilarious Cam Naughton in Talladega Nights or Dale Doback in Step Brothers. But he can also play serious parts like he did in Magnolia, as the aloof cop trying to find his place in the world.



And the extent of his range doesn’t end with comedy and drama. Reilly was hilarious but also sang wonderfully in Walk Hard. He was nominated for a Grammy for his efforts there, and nominated for an Oscar for his work in Chicago. And of course, he dominated the Catalina Wine Mixer.



More Range: The Hours » Dark Water » Year of the Dog » The Aviator » Cyrus

9 Meryl Streep
Simply put, Streep will likely go down in history as the best actress of this generation. The list of roles that she has slayed could take up a whole Web site, let alone one article. She has been nominated a whopping 16 times for Oscars and has won the award twice. And she did it by being an actress that can playing a massive variety of roles. She started turning heads in films like The Deer Hunter, Silkwood and Kramer vs. Kramer. She showed grit in Out of Africa, Sophie’s Choice and The River Wild. And she even did guest stints on two of America’s beloved animated series: The Simpsons and King of the Hill. She’s the crown jewel of American actresses.



More Range: Doubt » Julie and Julia » Marvin’s Room » The Devil Wears Prada » It’s Complicated

8 Guy Pearce
Pearce burst onto the scene when he played Det. Edmund Exley in the film adaptation of James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential. He followed that up with another amazing performance, this time in Christopher Nolan’s non-linear thriller, Memento. Most recently he played Kate Winslet’s husband in the HBO mini-series, Mildred Pierce. He’s also known for his turn as a drag queen in the cult classic, The Adventures of Priscilla, and for playing Andy Warhol in Factory Girl. He even appeared in a music video for the band Silverchair. The Aussie can play any type of character with any type of accent.



More Range: The Proposition » The King’s Speech » The Hurt Locker » The Count of Monte Cristo » Bedtime Stories

7 Idris Elba
Elba will probably be best known to Americans as the business savvy street thug Stringer Bell from The Wire, or from his stint as Charles Miner in The Office. He’s even played a single dad trying to get his kids back in a Tyler Perry film. Actually, that doesn’t make my point, as we have all been in one or more Tyler Perry films. But he also dominated the screen in Luther, the BBC series where Elba gets to play the flip of Stringer Bell — the crafty detective that is on a mission to crack cases. It doesn’t matter the accent or the role, Elba has mass range.



More Range: Thor » 28 Weeks Later » Obsessed » The Count of Monte Cristo » The Big C

6 Barry Pepper
No, not the guy from The Hangover. That’s Bradley Cooper and he’s not on this list. Barry Pepper might be the most underrated actor in Hollywood. He popped up on our screens in films like Saving Private Ryan and The Green Mile. Then he totally nailed the role of Roger Maris in 61* and by then he was on his way to an outstanding career. He should win awards for his portrayal of Bobby Kennedy in The Kennedys mini-series, and even played a killer cowboy in True Grit. He nailed the classic line from that film, yelling at Jeff Bridges, “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!” He did the original proud.



More Range: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada » Flags of Our Fathers » Casino Jack » Like Dandelion Dust » Knockaround Guys

5 Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American treasure. She’s drop dead gorgeous, sure, but she is also an amazing actress. There’s a reason George Costanza fell in love with her on Seinfeld, and we all fell in love with her in My Cousin Vinny.



But she also made your emotions crumble with her In the Bedroom role, broke your heart (and Mickey Rourke’s) in The Wrestler and made you wish you had a mother like her in Cyrus.



More Range: Happy Accidents » Danika » Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead » War Inc. » Factotum

4 Cate Blanchett
Blanchett has been nominated for 4 Oscars, and won for her amazing portrayal of Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator. She also wowed moviegoers as Queen Elizabeth not once, but twice, and played Bob Dylan in I’m Not There and killed in Notes On a Scandal. Oh, and she even made Bandits worth watching. So if you can play the Queen, Hepburn and save a film with Billy Bob Thornton and Bruce Willis, that show you have major range.



More Range: The Talented Mr. Ripley » Oscar and Lucinda » The Gift » The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou » The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

3 Christian Bale
Bale might not be the nicest guy to work with if you are on the crew, but dude can act and play almost anything. He nailed the role of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, masterfully played the Batman/Bruce Wayne combo in The Dark Knight, dropped about 60 pounds to play the sleep-deprived Trevor Reznik in The Machinist, and showed off amazing “gun-kata” in Equilibrium. He can even rock the Boston accent as he did in his outstanding performance in The Fighter.



More Range: 3:10 to Yuma » Rescue Dawn » I’m Not There » Terminator Salvation » Public Enemies

2 Alec Baldwin
“Put that coffee down! Coffee’s for closers only.” Baldwin had certainly done plenty of work before he uttered that line — and dominated one of film’s most memorable scenes — but it was GlenGarry Glen Ross that signified his arrival as a heavy hitter in Hollywood. The younger generation may know him best for his Jack Donaghy role on 30 Rock, or even his frequent stints as host of SNL. But they would do well to go see him as Old Man Dunphy in Outside Providence, the failing husband and father in Lymelife, and as the lead in It’s Complicated. Baldwin even makes Capitol One commercials fun.



More Range: The Departed » Running with Scissors » The Cooler » Path to War » State and Main

1 Phillp Seymour Hoffman
“This is our concern, Dude.” With all his outstanding roles you might have forgot that Phillip Seymour Hoffman was in The Big Lebowski. He also brought “sharted” into the pop culture lexicon in Along Came Polly.



Hoffman can make us laugh, but he has moved us emotionally in so many ways over the years. He blew us away as Truman Capote, made us cringe and laugh as Scotty in Boogie Nights and was a believable Rastafarian in Jack Goes Boating. He moved us as the helpless huffer in Love Liza, the degenerate gambler in Owning Mahowny and was as cool as they come as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous. Hoffman may have the most range in all of Hollywood.



More Range: Cold Mountain » Magnolia » Flawless » Doubt » Hard Eight



Originally published on July 26, 2011.

Are you ready to watch this movie? I’m really past ready to watch this movie. We’re getting damn close to the release date of the third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman run, and at this stage there’s not much else they can release about the thing. But here! ]]>

Are you ready to watch this movie? I’m really past ready to watch this movie. We’re getting damn close to the release date of the third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman run, and at this stage there’s not much else they can release about the thing. But here! Here’s a new poster for the movie, depicting the Caped Crusader (do people still call him that?) against a flaming bat-shaped explosion in Gotham City. Peep that tagline towards the bottom, too: “The Legend Ends.” If you were doubting that this was the big finale, you should probably stop doing that.

At this point, are there any words even necessary about The Dark Knight Rises? Are there any words even necessary about anything Christopher Nolan? Third and final Batman film. Everything’s about to pop off hardcore. The new trailer gives us a chance to hear a less-muffled Bane, see some Catwoman ]]>

At this point, are there any words even necessary about The Dark Knight Rises? Are there any words even necessary about anything Christopher Nolan? Third and final Batman film. Everything’s about to pop off hardcore. The new trailer gives us a chance to hear a less-muffled Bane, see some Catwoman whipping tail, and watch some serious explosions rock Gotham City. When a new villain breaks the Bat and takes him out of the picture, chaos reigns in Gotham. Can Bruce Wayne get it together and save his city, and what will it cost him? Not in terms of money, that guy’s loaded.

The last movie had a dude with a melted off face and a guy getting stabbed with a pencil. Why isn’t the sequel rated R? The official verdict from the MPAA dropped this week for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, third and probably final ]]>

The last movie had a dude with a melted off face and a guy getting stabbed with a pencil. Why isn’t the sequel rated R? The official verdict from the MPAA dropped this week for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, third and probably final of the Christian Bale Batman movies. I brook no argument to The Dark Knight being the best superhero movie of the last two decades, with sizzling direction and amazing performances, but a lot of things about Rises are kind of weirding me out. Bane’s dumbass costume and voice were bad enough.

The thing with these movies is that they’re very obviously not for kids. The intense psychological content of the Batman franchise will go right over the heads of younger viewers. Making them PG-13 just lessens what they could be – and they’re already really good. I guess we can just hold out hope for a Director’s Cut.

Christian Bale made headlines recently for being one of the first American stars to make the move over to China’s growing film industry with movie The Flowers of War. But when he tried to go visit detained human rights activist Chen Ghuangcheng with a CNN camera crew, Chinese security guards ]]>

Christian Bale made headlines recently for being one of the first American stars to make the move over to China’s growing film industry with movie The Flowers of War. But when he tried to go visit detained human rights activist Chen Ghuangcheng with a CNN camera crew, Chinese security guards were not so thrilled to see him.

Poor Christian Bale. All he wants to do is hang out with some guy under house arrest and he can’t do that? Don’t they know he’s from Hollywood? Show some respect.

Either way, if I’m one of these Chinese guards and I hear an incoherent unnecessarily guttural voice having trouble breathing through a latex mask, I’m definitely shitting myself.

Christian Bale And China Are Fucking Done, Professionally [Dlisted]

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this dude… some might think my constant pointing and laughing is somewhat mean spirited. On the contrary; I believe it to be educational.

First off, here he is, reacting to claims that Skyward Sword will have between 50-100 hours of gameplay. And ]]>

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this dude… some might think my constant pointing and laughing is somewhat mean spirited. On the contrary; I believe it to be educational.

First off, here he is, reacting to claims that Skyward Sword will have between 50-100 hours of gameplay. And to be honest, he doesn’t act too Bale-ish in this instance…

Hey, the guy has a point… Wind Waker was somewhat ruined by all the tedious sailing around, looking for Triforce pieces… but it could have been done in a far more effective manner. I hate to sound like a cranky old guy, but now that I’m 34, I may as well dive headfirst into such territory: kids today and their idea of funny.

I would blame television; the current iteration of what comes off as funny, at least on network television, is rather pathetic. Sorry, I still can’t get over how Family Guy is still popular. At least things are better on cable, a little bit, but I wouldn’t know since I don’t watch cable, nor TV in general (due to the aforementioned sucking).

But I know kids today don’t either, they get all their content from the web (hence why I still don’t feel that. There’s an example of crap humor online, but there’s also some really good stuff, that the networks won’t touch (for various reasons, like avoiding embarrassment). I don’t get it. I guess it all comes down to folks who think they are funny, but are not, trying to act like it.

Mind you, I have a pretty inflated ego, but I’m still not narcissistic enough to believe that I’m a funny person. I try to be, but that’s somewhat of a separate thing. And maybe that’s this guy’s deal as well, but at least when I try to get yucks, I channel the good stuff, like old SNL (none of this D*ck in a Box b.s.), SCTV, Kids In The Hall, Mr Show, Ernie Kovacs, Sid Caesar, Al Lewis, David Letterman before we went soft and got rich… the list goes on.

Sorry, where was I? Anyhow, here’s another clip that’s about Skyrim…

So here’s another thing: let’s talk about politics. I consider myself fairly down the middle, but I will admit, I generally agree with what Jon Steward says on The Daily Show. But the thing is… aside from the fact that it’s really not necessarily his opinions, but that of his army of writers… the way he says it is so douchey that it makes me NOT want to agree, if that makes any sense. Another lesson for all your aspiring video bloggers out there!

And once again, it’s absolutely douche-chill inducing.

So what’s he talking about this time? The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, last noted here, which was ages ago. By now, even the most ardent diehard Mega Man fan has accepted the truth. But the shtick of most pompous ]]>

And once again, it’s absolutely douche-chill inducing.

So what’s he talking about this time? The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, last noted here, which was ages ago. By now, even the most ardent diehard Mega Man fan has accepted the truth. But the shtick of most pompous nerds is to open up old wounds, yet bring absolutely nothing to the table…

… Here’s a fun-fact: conspiracies are the concoctions of those who simply have no clue. Fact. BTW, here he is going on about Blizzard. And again, it’s really impossible to discern his point…

I just the authorities eventually find the bodies so some families can have a little more peace in their lives.

Who doesn’t want fame and fortune? Even if you don’t want one, you definitely want the other. But once you get to that point and beyond, just how much is too much? At what point does the nonstop attention and ridiculous bank account cause you to start to lose ]]>

Who doesn’t want fame and fortune? Even if you don’t want one, you definitely want the other. But once you get to that point and beyond, just how much is too much? At what point does the nonstop attention and ridiculous bank account cause you to start to lose your mind a bit? Now that some of the smoke from the Charlie Sheen time bomb has settled a bit, we at Guyism got to thinking… What have some of our favorite meltdowns (both mild and major) of the rich and famous been? Here’s what we came up with.

11 Dave Chappelle
We’ll listen to any excuse he gives us, but running away to Africa and going completely MIA due to the pressure he felt from a fifty million dollar deal he received still classifies him as completely bonkers. If you get that much money thrown at you, you man up and work fifty million times harder than you were working before. You didn’t see Seth Macfarlane run for the hills when he got his 100 million dollar deal. With the Chappelle mindset, technically MacFarlane should’ve run off twice as fast (Yes. I did that math all by myself).

10 Christian Bale
Although it is dwarfed in comparison to others on this list, Christian Bale’s verbal berating of a crew member on the set of Terminator Salvation is three and half minutes of pure gold that should be revisited on a regular basis. The reason this meltdown is one of the lesser on the list is due to fellow meltdowner, Chris Brown’s expert opinion on the rant: “Yeah…I mean, Christian was mean and all, but my mother always taught me to use my fists instead of words whenever possible…I give it a 2.5.”*

*Disclaimer: Chris Brown never actually said this. I want to make that absolutely clear before he hits me.

9 Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera’s publicist has to be so thankful that her client chose to break down the same time as Charlie Sheen. For once, a major pop star’s divorce/arrest/racy leaked photo/weight gain/(insert any other embarrassing personal situation here) wasn’t front-page news. Despite all of the above, and also completely flubbing the national anthem during the most watched sporting event of the year, Aguilera still managed to land a gig as a judge on the upcoming competition American Idol wannabe, The Voice. She should send Sheen a Sparkletts truck full of Tiger Blood as a thank you immediately.

8 Chris Brown
Hot off the presses! Chris Brown, who will forever be infamous for his physical altercation with ex-girlfriend, Rihanna, snapped and trashed a dressing room over at Good Morning America just this week for being asked questions about… his physical altercation with ex-girlfriend, Rihanna. Apparently, Brown was “angry” about being asked about the thing he’s the best known for… his anger. Clearly the best way to prove to people that you are not violent is by smashing things.

7 Michael Richards
Oh Kramer… say it ain’t so! Everyone’s favorite wacky next door neighbor completely lost in on stage and went on a racist rant that has gone down in viral video infamy. He’s since awkwardly apologized publicly, as well as poked fun at the incident on Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I guess is the only way you can deal with such an incident. On the plus side, I bet after seeing the video, Mel Gibson bought tickets to all of his upcoming shows.

6 David Hasselhoff
How many of us have had the kind of week where all we want to do is get completely wasted, collapse on the floor, and absolutely devour a cheeseburger? We get it. We’ve been there. It’s just probably best not to do it when you’re a celebrity. Or when you’re around your children. Or you’re a recovering alcoholic. Or if camera phones have been invented. Or if YouTube exists. On the bright side, this is the most entertaining on-camera work that Hasselhoff has ever been a part of.

5 Randy Quaid
I guess of all the people on this list, Randy Quaid looks the part the most. I also use the term “celebrity” loosely on this one because I’m not sure if co-starring in 27 National Lampoon’s Vacation movies actually qualifies you as one. Along with his wife, Quaid has fled to Canada, not only to avoid felony charges on a $500,000 bench warrant in the U.S., but more importantly to avoid the “Star Whackers” – a group of assassins that he claims are taking out celebrities left and right. He even wrote and performed a song named after the group, which is obviously the best thing you can do when trying to remain anonymous and lay low. Here is your opportunity to watch a melodious meltdown live on stage:

4 Lindsay Lohan
It’s funny. All of the signs that the press claimed were “warning” signs during Lindsay’s meltdown are all of the signs we look for when picking up a girl at a bar. Venturing out sans underwear? Check. Partying a little too hard then she probably should be? Check. Making out with girls? Jackpot! The kleptomania might be a little much though. Make sure all of your stuff is bolted to the floor before you take this mess home with you.

3 Britney Spears
When one of the hottest women on the planet somehow ends up looking like Moby, I think it’s safe to say the girl has cracked. While Charlie Sheen’s weapon of choice was a machete, Britney chose to show off her freshly shaved head by waving an umbrella at paparazzi. You can’t blame her though. Anyone who had to listen to Kevin Federline rap for more than 30 seconds would easily snap and do the same.

2 Mel Gibson
Mel only recently got bumped to the #2 spot. If Charlie Sheen’s antics weren’t so damn lovable, Mel’s racist and misogynistic rants would still be basking in the glow of the #1 spot. He also loses a couple of points because in most of the recordings, it’s sometimes hard to make out exactly what he’s saying since his voice tends to get muffled while he’s wearing his hood.

1 Charlie Sheen
Of course he’s #1 on this list. Sheen has solidified himself as a pop culture icon with this most recent of celebrity meltdowns. The dude is clearly beyond nuts, but for some reason, he’s a lovable nut. Show me another celebrity who completely flipped out and turned it into a financial gain. Everyone is on the Charlie Sheen bandwagon right now. His tour has sold out and will net him at least seven million dollars. The other day, even my Grandma ended a 16 minute long story about a quiche she made with “Duh, winning!”. With lucrative business opportunities coming at him left and right, the man’s successfully upped the ante for celebrity meltdowns. Can’t wait to see who’s next.

I am about to present to you 10 celebrities that could be serial killers. This is all in good fun. Well, fun for us. But if the celebs can’t take the joke, it just adds credence to my theories. But this is all parody and fantasy. The Guyism legal ]]>

I am about to present to you 10 celebrities that could be serial killers. This is all in good fun. Well, fun for us. But if the celebs can’t take the joke, it just adds credence to my theories. But this is all parody and fantasy. The Guyism legal staff told me to write that. So in no particular order, 10 celebs that could be serial killers. But they really aren’t… or are they?

10 Quentin Tarantino
The “Mr. Obvious” of this group. He talks like one, writes like one, makes many movies about killers and most of all, he just looks like one. And he enjoys it.

9 Russell Crowe
Dude has some serious anger issues. Don’t tell me Crowe as a mass killer hasn’t crossed your mind before. Look at this picture of him. The person he’s looking at in this photo? Already dead.

8 John Turturro
Turturro is such a good actor that he even made Mr. Deeds entertaining — well, at least the scenes he was in. He’s an underrated actor too. Also, he looks rather psycho, like he might recite Shakespeare whilst removing your body parts whilst your still alive. Did Shakespeare use ‘whilst’? I kind of like it.

7 Craig Robinson
Hey man, it’s Darryl from The Office. He was in Hot Tub Time Machine. Totally hilarious. Hosted Last Comic Standing. You didn’t know that show was still on? Me neither. Dude is so funny! Also, a viable candidate for a serial killer. Dig those eyes man. You just know he has a set of power tools dedicated for you-know-what.

6 Gary Busey
Do I really need to write something here?

5 Tom Cruise
Nobody laughs like that, man. Nobody laughs like that. He’s going to take you to some secret hideout, dress up in some Eyes Wide Shut robes and start laughing. I bet it’s at that time you begin to hear all the other cries from around the room.

4 Christian Bale
You may think I’m referring to his well-played role as the psychopathic Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Nope, I’m referring to the real version of Bale, the one I envision repeatedly swinging a hatchet while intermittently yelling, “Oh goooood for yooooooou!!”

3 Matt Ross
Ross was also in American Psycho with Bale, but you may know him better as Alby Grant on HBO’s Big Love. There’s a reason Ross is cast in such roles. The reasons aren’t because he has bodies under his porch at home, but is because he looks like he does. He looks like he could pull off some Scanners mind-explosion stuff on you.

2 Mel Gibson
See: Busey, Gary.

1 Nic Cage
You wake up in a fog. Your vision is blurry and your head is pounding. You’re chained to a radiator in the corner of a room. Your tongue runs over the blood that’s caked on the corners of your mouth. You take a deep breath. Your vision clears. You look left. There’s Nic Cage smoking a cigarette, staring at you. He smiles.

By now you are probably familiar with the “David after the dentist” video that’s been all over the Internets. If you’re not, then jeez, what have you been doing? Working? Anyway, people have been having a lot of fun with that little video. Witness…

Darth Vader after ]]>

By now you are probably familiar with the “David after the dentist” video that’s been all over the Internets. If you’re not, then jeez, what have you been doing? Working? Anyway, people have been having a lot of fun with that little video. Witness…

Darth Vader after the dentist

Christian Bale takes David to the dentist

I think maybe that’s one too many memes in a post, but I thought I’d roll the dice…

By now you have probably heard all about Christian Bale and his epic meltdown. But when compared to Bill O’Reilly and his own meltdown, does it really stand up? You make the call!!

Do you know how difficult it is to play John Connor in the new Terminator: Salvation movie? You think freaking out about killer robots is EASY? Well here’s a dose of reality from Christian Bale since the audio of his shouting at a crew member has been ]]>

Do you know how difficult it is to play John Connor in the new Terminator: Salvation movie? You think freaking out about killer robots is EASY? Well here’s a dose of reality from Christian Bale since the audio of his shouting at a crew member has been leaked.

I could get Christian Bale’s frustration and all, but let’s not act like he’s doing high f’ing art here. The guy had some incompetent crew member walk onto the set of his big scary movie with robots, it’s not like he was doing a subtle acting job like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront.

You know how much concentration and focus it takes to recite dialogue in a Terminator movie? “Holy crap, big f’ing robots.” “Let’s stay calm so the big f’ing robots don’t do big f’ing robot crap to us.” “Holy crap watch out for that big f’ing robot!” A child with ADHD who snorted lines of pure sugar and was shot up with crystal meth before that could probably get those lines out without being distracted. Though you’d probably have to question how the children’s work advocate would allow that to happen on set. Poor form on his part.

Bonus: Courtesy of the heroes at FilmDrunk, some DJ named Revolucian did a remix of the audio here which is hilarious and a must-watch. Check it out below:

NFL: It’s OK for the NFL to get you drunk, but not Charles WoodsonNFL: Super Bowl ‘wardrobe malfunction’ fine tossedNFL: Bucs safety Nicholson tasered during nightclub arrestLPGA: Michelle Wie to play on PGA Tour againTENNIS: ]]>

NFL: It’s OK for the NFL to get you drunk, but not Charles Woodson
NFL: Super Bowl ‘wardrobe malfunction’ fine tossed
NFL: Bucs safety Nicholson tasered during nightclub arrest
LPGA: Michelle Wie to play on PGA Tour again
TENNIS: Doubles titlists suspended for betting on matches
UFC: Couture expecting a court ruling this week
CFB: Iowa accused of mishandling assault case
TRACK: Marion Jones asks for prison sentence to be commuted
CELEB: Christian Bale arrested on assault charge

on 205th recommends: SQWABLE