"niether artist has done a decent film in over a decade."
I consider Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to be excellent. But I can see your point. NONE of the Chinese actors who came to America have made movies as good as their old ones.. Just about the only partial exception is CT,HD for CYF, since it is an American production, even if filmed in China and directed by a Chinese person..
John Woo.. Well, Face/Off is watchable. Bleh. Woo still has it. He should just go back to China, where he's allowed to do whatever he wants - and get someone with a more objective viewpoint to tell him if a script he's reading sucks or not. Maybe then he could of avoided Blackjack, M:I2, Hard Target and Broken Arrow (though I like the last two, they're not that good).
"Ok, so you rebuked my post with phrases like: "long string of bombs", "mostly forgettable films", and "television roles"."
For starters, just because they bombed doesn't mean they aren't good. I believe Hong Kong 1941 bombed, and it's a GREAT movie. His television roles were mostly in the late 70s, he stopped doing them for the most part after trying to get into film. And you have to understand Hong Kong.. In 1986-1989, he was making a dozen films a year. They used to say while one film crew was filming his front, another was filming his back.
"Face it, there is nothing special about Chow's acting, there never was, and never will be."
How many of his movies have you seen? Have you seen ANY of his older movies? Next thing you know, you'll be arguing that Marlon Brando is a terrible actor since he's made garbage for the past 15 years.
"Aside from the couple Woo pix you mentioned, I bet no one BUT Fat fans know those films. "
SO WHAT? Does that make them less good? And actually, MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY people in China know and love those films. he's HUGE there, it's been said before that CYF is the most popular actor in the WORLD, and Jackie Chan is the most popular ENTERTAINER.
"Those roots you speak of are tiny pictures that have clut following at best."
Perhaps you're speaking of America, but some of his old Hong Kong films are equivalent to a Godfather-level film to people in China.
"Fat is too big for that now and couldn't go back home to that stuff even if he wanted to."
Why not? I'm sure they (the industry as a whole) would LOVE for him to come back.
"Does he even have a different expression than that squinty, introspective, "I got smoke in my eyes" look"
As I said, if you want to see his range, see his older movies. Story of a Wu Viet is one of his best early performances, and he goes from psychotic rage to faked amusment, to real amusement, to sadness, to happiness and everywhere else.
"But check his credits again and the performances he has turned in: "Fight Club", "Snatch", "Thelma & Louise", "Meet Joe Black", "Seven Years in Tibet", "12 Monkeys", "Se7en", "Kalifornia", and a few others if I pulled up his list I am sure would qualify as damn fine films, and partly because he was in them. "
I don't think Brad Pitt is a bad actor. I've seen all of the above films, and I still don't put him on the level of CYF, or as you mentioned before, Day Lewis, Malkovich or Hopkins. He is a good actor, I just don't consider him a great one at this point. I do like how he has a huge variety of films - just like CYF if you see his older movies. Not suprising considering for 5 or 6 years CYF pumped pictures out almost like John Wayne did.
I'm not saying CYF hasn't made a number of bad decisions, but it doesn't mean he isn't a great actor. Until you've seen his older films, you have no basis anyways, just like if the only Brando movies you'd seen were the Island of Dr. Moreau, Free Money and the Score.
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