Greatest acting performances

Edward Norton - Primal Fear
Leonardo DiCaprio - Aviator
Christian Bale - The Fighter
Heath Ledger - Batman
Forest Wittaker - Last King of Scotland
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson/Blue Valentine
Adrian Brody - The Pianist
DDL - Gangs of New York
Gene Kelly - Singing In the Rain
Jimmy Stewart - Anything.
Emile Hirsch - Into The Woods

Tons more... I'll have to think.

 

^ Since you mentioned Edward Norton, you HAVE to put his performance for American History X.

 

DiCaprio - What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Bruce Willis - 12 Monkeys
Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven
Steve McQueen - Papillon
Matthew Modine - Birdy
Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind
Theron - Monster
Rutger Hauer - Blade Runner

 

Gladiator was on the other day, which reminds me both Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix are worthy to be on this list.

 

Which is why I pay no attention to the Oscars. I just recently watched The Aviator, and Jamie Foxx is a good actor and I liked Ray, but Leo not winning goes down as one of the biggest snubs in history. Jamie was already declared the winner as soon as it was announced there would be a Ray Charles movie.

 

Billy Bob Thornton - Slingblade
Heath Ledger - Batman

 

DeNiro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull
Pacino- Dog Day Afternoon
Brando- On the Waterfront
Hopper- Blue Velvet
Hopkins- Silence of the Lambs
Peck- To Kill a Mockingbird
Penn- Mystic River
Nicholson- Five Easy Pieces, The Shining
DiCaprio- The Aviator (most underrated performance I've ever seen)
Sinese as Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump
D-Day as Bill the Butcher and as Daniel Plainview (Gangs, TWBB)
Jim Cavesel (or however you spell it) - Thin Red Line
Adrian Brody- The Pianist
Spacey- American Beauty (I don't even like the movie).
Douglas- Paths of Glory

to name a few...I'll post some female roles later on.