He laughed at every episode of Angel ?!?! O_o

NickSeng | March 10, 07:21 CET

i know ill probably be killed for saying this, but i have never thought DB was that great of an actor either.......hes good, but not that great. there is a lot better talent out there, especially in the buffyverse. that being said, i still like him, and i will still watch this movie. hopefully it is good.

norman | March 10, 07:24 CET

Thank God you said it first norman - you're a brave man! I love AtS, second only to BtVS but DB's acting is not what draws me in at all.
*puts earplugs in to protect from the outraged screams and hides in the corner to avoid the vengeful fists*

catalyst2 | March 10, 07:45 CET

I think David's best work has always been as Angelus, so I'm not surprised the reviewer liked him as the film's villain. I'll certainly be adding this to my Netflix queue.

Saturn Girl | March 10, 07:58 CET

I think DB tends to get underrated and JM gets overrated (now that really will get outraged screams...) Angel's a tough character; there's usually a lot going on with him two or three layers down. In episodes like Amends whre it all comes bubbling up I think DB does a great job with it. And I give him a lot of credit for being able to do both Angel and Angelus convincingly.

Andarcel | March 10, 08:00 CET

In DBs defence, the reviewer said and it might not be hard to carry Tara's scenes but still he seems to have done well in this...although have to agree with the Valentine comment.

Poster Boy | March 10, 08:01 CET

DB is underrated, part of which has to do with being understated. He's got that old Hollywood, intuitive/gut level-pre-Method kind of vibe, which some people like and some don't. I do (though I enjoy many Method actors just as well), and I thought he brought an emotionally compelling, very believable depth and poignancy to Angel -- which, considering the character is limited emotionally by so many restrictions, was some feat.

Angelus was meatier work he could sink his fangs into, and DB played that range brilliantly. Really, consider him in "Passion", "I Only Have Eyes for You" and later on AtS, "Epiphany" and "Home", and tell me you honestly don't think the man can act well. He's not genius, maybe, but he's certainly got something undefinable and unusual that sets him apart from thousands of others, or else JW wouldn't have cast him as Angel in the first place.

Looking forward to seeing this eventually, even if it only gets the small screen treatment.

Wiseblood | March 10, 11:56 CET

I laughed at every episode of Angel too, there were some really funny lines, and some really funny episodes.

Cider | March 10, 15:50 CET

Cider wins.

wren | March 10, 18:06 CET

I don't think DB was bad in 'Valentine', I think 'Valentine' was just a terrible movie.

DB is a good actor, and I ditto with everything that Wiseblood said. Angel/Angelus is a very complex character and he did a great job with it especially because he doesn't seem to be like Angel at all. He seems to be a very light hearted fun loving guy and he played the dark intense broodiness very well. I think JM played Spike so well because he has some of Spike in him (not taking anything away from him, I love JM and think he is a BRILLIANT actor).

I wasn't going to even bother with watching this movie but for some reason I have just been intrigued.

Spikecam21 | March 10, 22:23 CET

I haven't logged in to post in a long time but I just had to say, Cider, "heh heh--very good."

It took me a long, LONG time to warm up to DB but now that I've seen everything he's done in the Whedonverse, he's become one of my favorites. I find his reactions to be better than his solo stuff. When watching him play off the others I think he's often bloody brilliant.

marmoset | March 11, 03:17 CET

I am not a rabid fan of DB but I enjoy his performances in both Buffy and Angel. I have never seen him in anything else. I look forward to seeing him in other roles and seeing him develop as an actor as he gets new challenges. There is such a tremendous difference between his performance in the first couple episodes of BTVS and his later work on the series. That bodes well for his future potential. Maybe I'll even become a rabid fan...never can tell.

As far as JM, I have never heard him overrated as an actor. He amazes me. Yeah, he had some missteps in School Hard as he adjusted to the medium and the accent, but that's just mechanics. He is so consistant at being able to tap into the truth of the scene and the character in everything I have seen him do. His performance is one of the things, along with the writing, that caught my attention when I was casually watching BTVS in reruns and made me start taping them. From then on I was hooked. I always respected the show, but had never had the chance to watch consistantly. When I did, I could not believe the themes that were being explored and then I could not beleive JM was churning out a performance like that every week. I remember thinking, "Who is that guy?"

What I have seen on some other boards (not here) that I cannot understand, is the need some people seem to have to make some kind of competition between the actors. They seem to need to put down one because they like the other one. DB and JM are different and well cast in their particular roles. If they were not both doing a good job, their scenes together would not be nearly so interesting.

Sorry I got off topic. That just always bothers and perplexes me. The Whedonverse if full of good actors, why not just enjoy?

newcj | March 11, 08:20 CET

That's good He steals the show. My gut tells me he is going to be a director. I remeber that he directed one of his Angel ep in the season 5, so I tought "this guy is going to be a director". Don't know why, but I think this until now.

Angeluffy | March 11, 09:00 CET

cj: absolutely concur with your frustration about folks setting the actors against one another. As you say, it's the ensemble that really matters, and both BtVS and AtS (and Firefly) just had great group dynamics. I kinda understand the faux-competition more when one wants to promote the undersung virtues of an actor who often doesn't get much notice. So saying, e.g., "Emma Caulfield was just as effective in that scene as SMG" is a handy rhetorical device. All too often, alas, that leads to "Emma's great and Sarah sux," which, first, doesn't inevitably follow, and second, is totally unnecessary to make the same point (unless the point is to vent one's animus against a particular actor, in which case I have a exit door I can show you . . . )

I like snarkiness as much as the next really snarky person, but focusing on the up-and-up is probably healthier for the soul.

SoddingNancyTribe | March 11, 10:00 CET

I think DB did a fantastic job in the role of Angel. If you do see him in real life, he is nothing like the character at all. I think the moments that DB shined was when he played Angelus or had to do comedy. Most of the time he had to play Angel as very serious because that's how Angel was. If he was a bad actor, I don't think I could've watched the show and I doubt he would've gotten a spin-off.

A lot's been said about Point Pleasant and for me, I just think that the acting from most of the cast is really lacking, with the exception of that Boyd guy. I can really imagine that if there had been a better cast of actors like BtVS, AtS or Firefly had, we all might be loving that show. So if DB truly was a bad actor, I doubt AtS would've been as good as it was.

And yes, Valentine the movie sucked but it wasn't DB fault it sucked, it was just a horrible movie.

Firefly Flanatic | March 11, 10:13 CET