How would you rate these actors?

[Bromius]

Honestly a rather silly question, Johnnyboy. An actor is only as good as the material he's given, and then there's the question of how well he's suited for it. For example, Russell Crowe in Gladiator was nothing special. All he had to do was grimace, then look angry, then look sad, then die. If I had only seen him in that and, say, Proof Of Life, I wouldn't think much of him at all. Yet he was FANTASTIC in The Insider (for which he SHOULD have won an Oscar) and I wouldn't have expected that sort of acting coming from the guy who played Maximus.
All the actors you list are at least good (though Tom Hanks really plays maudlin far too much--let's hope Road to Perdition opens some eyes) but a few, IMHO Brando, Pacino, Deniro and POSSIBLY Penn and Norton, really are astounding. Keep in mind they've all been in stinkers, but when their game is on it is ON. Some great actors give one good performance and spend the rest of their careers in crappy movies---like Donald Sutherland, Malcom McDowell (does he just PICK bad movies?) and Dennis Hopper. The only Nic Cage movie I'd want to watch twice is Raising Arizona---proving even so-so actors can do well under the right circumstances.

Gah, that was far too long......just my 2, um, 28 cents.