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Message: [QUOTE="Dogdeacon, post: 2676638, member: 1026"] Just seeing this now. Great response, nuanced detail on Kilmer. I think our conclusion is flawed people that are artists/actors can make transcendent great art, but they are unlikely to be able to do so consistently or hold onto it. So Val Kilmer's performance in Wyatt Earp becomes in a weird way even more outstanding cuz something was right to capture that lightning in a bottle before the damn bottle explodes sending glass chards into everyone nearby. And of course in Hollywood there are those who get tainted by successes usually too early or too much. Sean Penn comes to mind there with iconic turn in Fast Times and as mentioned in other threads I think his best work is in At Close Range where he literally transforms his body and self into the big time actor (he built towards this, also great in Bad Boys, Falcon and the Snowman). He's had on & off again good performances since, but at this point is quite obviously an insufferable and that is hard to see past in many movies (see Cruise, Tom). I find Mystic River insufferably over-rated partially because Penn over-acts yet also dumbs down the role and mostly b/c I'd read the Dennis Lehane book and Eastwood dumbed down the plot to make more obvious villains & heroes. [/QUOTE]