He’s a great actor in mafioso flicks but he’s nothing special outside of that genre. Not a fan of his work, Scorsese is the one who deserves the praise if you ask me
I enjoyed Taxi Driver
Outside of De Niro and maybe Affleck (he was the bomb in phantoms, yo), are any of the people mentioned really actors?
Brie Larson can't act for shit.
My list would be people in films who call themselves actors who can't act. They're Sunday league footy players earning premiership money.
I'd go one step further and say that the majority of actors aren't all that special. When I was a kid I thought actors were interchangeable because the writer and director told them what to do and how to play it, and to some degree I still think that. You can convey emotion and all that stuff? Good, you're suppose to: it's your job. There's essentially 3 categories for me: Standard (does the job, not bad)
Bad (stands out in a bad way)
Good (stands out in a good way)
I think half of what makes an actor good or not isn't their skill, but characteristics that make them right for the character. Physical characteristics are a big part, but also charisma, presence, etc which can't necessarily be learned. Di Caprio could never be Terminator for example, and Arnie playing an emotionless robot was ideal for him. Therefore the quality comes from the writing and everything else that paints the picture and tells the story. But does anyone think John Connor was irreplaceable? Or even Sarah Connor, for that matter?
Certain roles you can't imagine anyone else doing, and they're the stand outs. Maybe that's what it is for me.
OP mentioned MCU, but I can't imagine anyone but Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man or Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. I can't quantify that because it's not like they were delivering exceptional acting, so in their case I think it's more embodying the character and RR especially
is Deadpool. Maybe with Irin Man I'm just praising the casting choice. To contrast that with Heath Ledger as Joker (to stick with comics), that was a widely regarded stand out performance for the performance alone. Sticking with it, was Christian Bale good as Batman? He wasn't bad, but you could probably have put anyone there. His credentials were from his other roles where he transformed and performed, Batman was just popular.
Hollywood is a weird game. Being good isn't a requirement to be an actor, it's standing out that does it.
And that answers the question nobody asked.
