I remember Martin Scorsese talking about how Robert De Niro told him to watch Gilbert Grape to see how good DiCaprio was in it. Scorsese said he watched the film and couldn't find him; he genuinely believed the kid in the film was handicapped.
I agree, Gilbert Grape was a crappy dvd I got free in my newspaper, I watched it when bored & it blew me away - Dicaprio was outstanding and he should have won an oscar.
Looking forward to see The Wolf of Wall Street. My top five would have to be 5) Gangs of New York, 4) Inception, 3) The Basketball Diaries, 2) The Departed, 1) Django Unchained.
Loved so many of his movies so its hard to give them a ranking. Here are some of my favourites.. Revolutionary Road, Catch Me if You Can, Shutter Island, Inception, Romeo and Juliet and of course a most watch....The Wolf Of Wall Street!
My favourite is The Great Gatsby, I love the book and he embodied both sides of Gatsby so well he raised up what might of been an average movie into one I really love
For me, in order. From 5 to 1. The Beach. The Departed. J. Edgar. Catch Me if You Can and The Aviator. And i totally agree with him about Catch Me If You Can, Tom Hanks and Leonardo were just electric in this film. I saw it for my 12th birthday. And i still watch it at least once or twice a year. In fact, i might even put it in my top 5 films from Spielberg.
Mine? 5. Inception 4. Revolutionary Road 3. The Departed 2. Shutter Island 1. The Aviator I'd also mention Catch Me If You Can, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Django Unchained and The Beach. Amazing actor, and hoping to see The Wolf Of Wall Street this week sometime! Excited!
The two greatest performances (by a mile) of the 21st century by any actor in a motion picture are Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood" and Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator". To not include his performance in The Aviator on this list is a crime against cinema.
I actually think that his performance as Gatsby was vastly underrated this year, I would've loved to have seen him be nominated for that. Catch Me if You Can and The Aviator are favourites of mine too.
For a sort of bio-pick, Catch Me if You Can manages to create a superb atmosphere with its minimalistic music soundtrack, even before the first scene is opened after the introductory credits. The semi-cartoon based credits themselves match the soundtrack to a tee. Not sure if Christopher Walken was the right choice for Frank's father, but absolutely sure that Tom Hanks was the right choice as the FBI agent. This is my favourite DiCap.
Great List as always, I would maybe throw Django Unchained in there as well, he should definitely play more antagonists in films. Just such a disturbing character!
I saw the Wolf Of Wall Street last week in South Korea. Absolutley fantastic. Putting that movie aside my top 5 Leo films would be as follows. 1. What's Eating Gilbert Grape 2 The Aviator 3. Catch me if you can 4. Shutter Island 5. Inception Underated performance: Body of lies. Leo was sublime in this movie. The movie itself was...ok. I also have a soft spot for The Beach. It's a mess of a film (the video game section in particular...) but it was the film that inspired me to see the world. So yeah, thank you Danny Boyle, Alex Garland and Leonardo DiCaprio :)
The Aviator should be number one, IMO, for both performance and the actual quality of the film. The other choices are... interesting. Can't argue with them too much. Although if we're talking purely the quality of his performance rather than the quality of the film, Django Unchained should probably be there.
A good list from Mark but for me Gilbert Grape would be out & I would find room for The Aviator, The Quick and the Dead (which I'm surprised no one mentioned! ) & possibly Django. Not yet seen The Wolf ... but I'm sure he's great.
Definitely What's Eating Gilbert Grape, but I don't think you should overlook his performance in The Wolf just because the film doesn't agree with your sentiments, as I'd say that performance was second only to Gilbert. Also amazing in The Basketball Diaries.
Mmm, tough call here. Lot of good stuff Leo's done. Well, here's what I think: 1. The Wolf of Wall Street 2. What's Eating Gilbert Grape 3. Blood Diamond 4. The Departed 5. Inception
The Departed for me is definitely his best performance. Despite a large ensemble cast it felt like DiCaprio really stood out. Also, surely Django Unchained would make the top five I'm really not a fan of The Beach though. I thought that was a horrendous movie.
Not seen Gilbert Grape... but no mention of Blood Diamond?? I'm quite surprised by that. Thought he was excellent in that, although it's been a while since I saw it.
1. Catch Me If You Can 2. The Departed 3. The Beach 4. The Wolf of Wallstreet 5. The Quick and the Dead The reason Decaprio worked so well on Catch me if You Can it's cause Leo is the eternal teenager and in that movie he played one, someone that's closer to who he is. He didn't play against type like on Aviator for example or in J Edgar and it lacked something.
His performance in "The Basketball Diaries" was incredible; I would insert it in the list in "Inceptions" place, and that would be my top five Leo movies.
5. Blood Diamond 4. The Wolf of Wall Street 3. Inception 2. Aviator 1. The Departed But then he's good in The beach, catch me if you can, revolutionary road pretty much everything he's in.
I have to totally agree with this top 5. I remember seeing Gilbert Grape in the theatre when it first came out and thinking he was great. I would add the movie Marvin's Room to the list too.
I've never seen Whats eating Gilbert Grape But I Love This Boys Life. Would love to see DiCaprio and De Niro together again, hopefully in a Martin Scorsese movie. Wouldn't that be great.
I think he was at his best in The Departed, an otherwise second league film. The desperation he invests in his character sears through the screen. Having said that, they were all upstaged by Mark Wahlberg.
Thats one thing with Di Caprio that If he that he is in it, it is probably going to be worth a watch. H didn't mention Departed which is another excellent performance, The Man in the Iron Mask was another good performance from him
It may not be his most popular film, but DiCaprio's best performance has to be in Revolutionary Road, which has an equally good performance from Kate Winslett.
My top 5; 5. The Wolf of Wallstreet, 4. The Beach, 3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, 2. This Boy's Life, 1. THE BASKETBALL DIARIES!!! Honorable Mentions- Django Unchained, Marvin's Room, Shutter Island, The Man in the Iron Mask & Titanic (sorry!)
Leo is my absolute favourite actor so a top 5 is almost impossible, but I would say his best performance pre-Wolf has to be between Gilbert grape and the aviator, roles where he was completely lost into the characters
Is this about the films or about his performances on them? It´s not the same. Anyway: 1. Inception 2. Django 3. Revolutionary Road 4. Shutter Island 5. Titanic, the film, not him (sorry) I don´t know about his roles as a child and teen so I can´t judge that. But I know he´s always been such a great actor. I still have to see "Wolf". Maybe his performance in this new one makes it to my top5. He may never be the very best of a particular year and deserve the oscar that year, but he´s definitely fantastic and has the best career of the last decade, I mean, all his choices... GREAT.
Ranking them just as films regardless of his performance in them I'd say 1) The Departed 2) The Aviator 3) Blood Diamond 4) Inception 5) Catch Me if you Can Ranking his performances would probably be about the same, but I'd swap out Inception for WoWS or something
I'm surprised 'The Basketball Diaries' isn't mentioned tbh. He did a messed up Catholic school-dropout junkie as well if not better than a coke and qualude huffing yuppie. He certainly represented Planet Opiate better than Streep did in Osage County
I find his performance uneven in most of his works, he'd be terrific in 2 scenes, ok for most scenes, and got it slightly wrong in half of a scene. But he's one of my favourites, very engaging and has a lot of energy on screen. I have a soft spot for Ernie and Blood Diamond.
Leo's best performances are: 5. The Aviator 4. Titanic 3. Catch Me If You Can 2. The Departed 1. Shutter Island Haven't seen Revolutionary Road yet though and he looks like he could be great in it.
I remember Martin Scorsese talking about how Robert De Niro told him to watch Gilbert Grape to see how good DiCaprio was in it. Scorsese said he watched the film and couldn't find him; he genuinely believed the kid in the film was handicapped.
As did I when I first watched it as a kid. "Match in the gas tank, boom boom."
He's amazing in Blood Diamond...
Blood Diamond Mark! surely that was his greatest performance. The accent and the character were very convincing..
The Basketball Diaries would've been somewhere on my list, I thought that performance deserved an Oscar nod.
The Aviator for me, great performance.
He was brilliant in the forever underrated shutter island.
love him in The Departed. He's on edge and vunerable the whole time.
So smart, angry and such righteous fury!
There is nothing to "forgive" for Titanic. The end.
Great list as always, Mark! In my opinion Wolf of Wall Street is his greatest achievement
I feel like I'm the only one who likes The Beach
Me too
I like the beach. I don't know why, nut it seems barely anyone knows about it for some reason! much like the island in the film...
Obviously the Departed is Leo's greatest performance
1. The Aviator
2. The Departed
3. Basketball Diaries
4. Django Unchained
5. Gangs of New York
I agree, Gilbert Grape was a crappy dvd I got free in my newspaper, I watched it when bored & it blew me away - Dicaprio was outstanding and he should have won an oscar.
Ditto. Took me ages to get round to sticking that free dvd in my player. Glad I did though.
Looking forward to see The Wolf of Wall Street. My top five would have to be 5) Gangs of New York, 4) Inception, 3) The Basketball Diaries, 2) The Departed, 1) Django Unchained.
Loved so many of his movies so its hard to give them a ranking. Here are some of my favourites.. Revolutionary Road, Catch Me if You Can, Shutter Island, Inception, Romeo and Juliet and of course a most watch....The Wolf Of Wall Street!
My favourite is The Great Gatsby, I love the book and he embodied both sides of Gatsby so well he raised up what might of been an average movie into one I really love
My favourite Leo performances are:
The Aviator
What's eating Gilbert Grape?
Revolutionary Road
The Revenant
The Departed
Very good top five. Would like to also mention The Departed, Shutter Island, Django Unchained, Blood Diamond and Revolutionary Road
For me, in order. From 5 to 1.
The Beach.
The Departed.
J. Edgar.
Catch Me if You Can
and The Aviator.
And i totally agree with him about Catch Me If You Can, Tom Hanks and Leonardo were just electric in this film. I saw it for my 12th birthday. And i still watch it at least once or twice a year.
In fact, i might even put it in my top 5 films from Spielberg.
In no particular order without mentioning Wolf of Wall Street... The Aviator, Inception, Blood Diamond, Django Unchained, Revolutionary Road.
I think shutter island is another spectacular film of Leonardo Dicaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio is an amazing actor. One of the best next to Pacino and Christian Bale. Nuff said!!!!
No Shutter Island? No Blood diamond?
Both bring me to tears.
Yes, yes, I'm so glad What's Eating Gilbert Grape is there at the top. :) Agreed.
Mine?
5. Inception
4. Revolutionary Road
3. The Departed
2. Shutter Island
1. The Aviator
I'd also mention Catch Me If You Can, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Django Unchained and The Beach. Amazing actor, and hoping to see The Wolf Of Wall Street this week sometime! Excited!
No love for Blood Diamond or Shutter Island?
The two greatest performances (by a mile) of the 21st century by any actor in a motion picture are Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood" and Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator". To not include his performance in The Aviator on this list is a crime against cinema.
I actually think that his performance as Gatsby was vastly underrated this year, I would've loved to have seen him be nominated for that. Catch Me if You Can and The Aviator are favourites of mine too.
1) The Aviator
2) Inception
3) The Departed
4) Catch me if you can
5) Django Unchained
For a sort of bio-pick, Catch Me if You Can manages to create a superb atmosphere with its minimalistic music soundtrack, even before the first scene is opened after the introductory credits. The semi-cartoon based credits themselves match the soundtrack to a tee.
Not sure if Christopher Walken was the right choice for Frank's father, but absolutely sure that Tom Hanks was the right choice as the FBI agent. This is my favourite DiCap.
Great List as always, I would maybe throw Django Unchained in there as well, he should definitely play more antagonists in films. Just such a disturbing character!
Revolutionary Road is his greatest performance along with The Departed and The Aviator.
I saw the Wolf Of Wall Street last week in South Korea. Absolutley fantastic. Putting that movie aside my top 5 Leo films would be as follows.
1. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
2 The Aviator
3. Catch me if you can
4. Shutter Island
5. Inception
Underated performance: Body of lies. Leo was sublime in this movie. The movie itself was...ok.
I also have a soft spot for The Beach. It's a mess of a film (the video game section in particular...) but it was the film that inspired me to see the world. So yeah, thank you Danny Boyle, Alex Garland and Leonardo DiCaprio :)
My favorites for him are Wolf of Wall Street, Inception and Shutter Island (Both the movie and his performance are severely overlooked)
Blood Diamond, The Departed and Gangs of New York surely deserve a serious mention Mark.
The Aviator should be number one, IMO, for both performance and the actual quality of the film. The other choices are... interesting. Can't argue with them too much. Although if we're talking purely the quality of his performance rather than the quality of the film, Django Unchained should probably be there.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Blood Diamond are easily my two favorite of his performances.
has to be revolutionary road, plus I also find the quick and the dead completely re-watchable
Departed for me, however I do think that is partly because it is one of my favourite all-time movies.
i loved the wolf of wall street
A good list from Mark but for me Gilbert Grape would be out & I would find room for The Aviator, The Quick and the Dead (which I'm surprised no one mentioned! ) & possibly Django. Not yet seen The Wolf ... but I'm sure he's great.
The Basketball diaries was one of Leos earlier movies & I think he was really good in it
Critters 3. What a performance.
1.Romeo + Juliet 2.Django Unchained 3.Gangs of New York 4.Inception 5.The Beach
Definitely What's Eating Gilbert Grape, but I don't think you should overlook his performance in The Wolf just because the film doesn't agree with your sentiments, as I'd say that performance was second only to Gilbert. Also amazing in The Basketball Diaries.
Mmm, tough call here. Lot of good stuff Leo's done. Well, here's what I think:
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
3. Blood Diamond
4. The Departed
5. Inception
And He DOES Vanish into the roles in Revolutionary Road, Blood Diamond, Inception, Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall Street
The Departed for me is definitely his best performance. Despite a large ensemble cast it felt like DiCaprio really stood out. Also, surely Django Unchained would make the top five
I'm really not a fan of The Beach though. I thought that was a horrendous movie.
what?! no Blood Diamond?
Not seen Gilbert Grape... but no mention of Blood Diamond?? I'm quite surprised by that. Thought he was excellent in that, although it's been a while since I saw it.
1. Catch Me If You Can
2. The Departed
3. The Beach
4. The Wolf of Wallstreet
5. The Quick and the Dead
The reason Decaprio worked so well on Catch me if You Can it's cause Leo is the eternal teenager and in that movie he played one, someone that's closer to who he is. He didn't play against type like on Aviator for example or in J Edgar and it lacked something.
His performance in "The Basketball Diaries" was incredible; I would insert it in the list in "Inceptions" place, and that would be my top five Leo movies.
5. Blood Diamond
4. The Wolf of Wall Street
3. Inception
2. Aviator
1. The Departed
But then he's good in The beach, catch me if you can, revolutionary road pretty much everything he's in.
I have to totally agree with this top 5. I remember seeing Gilbert Grape in the theatre when it first came out and thinking he was great. I would add the movie Marvin's Room to the list too.
I've never seen Whats eating Gilbert Grape But I Love This Boys Life. Would love to see DiCaprio and De Niro together again, hopefully in a Martin Scorsese movie. Wouldn't that be great.
His role as Arnie group was amazing
I bloody love catch me of you can
I think he was at his best in The Departed, an otherwise second league film. The desperation he invests in his character sears through the screen. Having said that, they were all upstaged by Mark Wahlberg.
Thats one thing with Di Caprio that If he that he is in it, it is probably going to be worth a watch. H didn't mention Departed which is another excellent performance, The Man in the Iron Mask was another good performance from him
Delighted to see so many people saying What's Eating Gilbert Grape?... but no mentions of Gangs of New York?!
His role as Arnie grape was amazing
I was praying catch me if you can would be on this list.
The departed and the aviator are also terrific performances.
He knocks it out of the park in
The Revenant, The Great Gatsby, The Departed and Revolutionary Road.
What scene in Poison Ivy is Leo in? I've never spotted him in it. Did he have a speaking part?
5.romeo and juliet
4.the great gatsby
3.titanic
2.shutter island
1.inception
It's an absolute disgrace that Critters 3 isn't on that list
It may not be his most popular film, but DiCaprio's best performance has to be in Revolutionary Road, which has an equally good performance from Kate Winslett.
I love: The Beach, Catch me if you can, The Departed.
My top 5; 5. The Wolf of Wallstreet, 4. The Beach, 3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, 2. This Boy's Life, 1. THE BASKETBALL DIARIES!!!
Honorable Mentions- Django Unchained, Marvin's Room, Shutter Island, The Man in the Iron Mask & Titanic (sorry!)
Leo is my absolute favourite actor so a top 5 is almost impossible, but I would say his best performance pre-Wolf has to be between Gilbert grape and the aviator, roles where he was completely lost into the characters
1 The Wolf of Wall Street
2 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3 Django Unchained
4 The Aviator
5 This Boy's Life
Honors:
The Departed
Catch Me If You Can
1. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
3. The Departed
4. Total Eclipse
5. Revolutionary Road
maybe not one of his best but Basketball diaries is most definitely worth a special mention.
Is this about the films or about his performances on them? It´s not the same. Anyway:
1. Inception
2. Django
3. Revolutionary Road
4. Shutter Island
5. Titanic, the film, not him (sorry)
I don´t know about his roles as a child and teen so I can´t judge that. But I know he´s always been such a great actor. I still have to see "Wolf". Maybe his performance in this new one makes it to my top5. He may never be the very best of a particular year and deserve the oscar that year, but he´s definitely fantastic and has the best career of the last decade, I mean, all his choices... GREAT.
Ranking them just as films regardless of his performance in them I'd say
1) The Departed
2) The Aviator
3) Blood Diamond
4) Inception
5) Catch Me if you Can
Ranking his performances would probably be about the same, but I'd swap out Inception for WoWS or something
Can't believe Gangs of New York and The Aviator weren't in there.
The Departed made me a fan of Leo, he was outstanding in that.
Revolutionary Road ... a devastating performance.
5. The Aviator
4. Django Unchained
3. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
2. Wolf Of Wall Street
1. The Departed
1. Catch Me If You Can, 2. The Departed, 3. Django Unchained, 4. Blood Diamond, 5. Inception
I'm surprised 'The Basketball Diaries' isn't mentioned tbh. He did a messed up Catholic school-dropout junkie as well if not better than a coke and qualude huffing yuppie. He certainly represented Planet Opiate better than Streep did in Osage County
Am I wrong in thinking Blood Diamond was a great performance and believable accent.
I think the Aviator performance should be on the list.
Loved catch me if you can, but no departed? Shutter island? Django? Body of lies is very underrated film, should of done at top 10 :)
i love him in Django Unchained, he really commits to the character
The Basketball diaries of course!
well he's never really given a "bad" performance really...but can't believe he left out departed and aviator! Kermode's personal favorite 5 I guess.
The Departed. And you've got to admit he was good in Django.
The Davinci Code surely it's about him!
The Departed, Inception, The Basketball Diaries, Catch Me If You Can and The Aviator.
How on Earth did you miss The Departed, Mark?
I love him in The Quick and the Dead.
Shutter Island and The Departed have got to be up there for me
he is great in revolutionary road too
Basketball Diaries -- so underrated
before you even said it i knew and agreed that What's Eating Gilbert Grape was going to be no.1! I agree with the list entirely!
Hey...u picked This Boy's Life too..😁
Inception for me is my favourite film. Should have been number 1 :)
1) inception
2)shutter Island
3) whats eating gilbert grape
4) Gangs of new york
5) catch me if you can
I find his performance uneven in most of his works, he'd be terrific in 2 scenes, ok for most scenes, and got it slightly wrong in half of a scene. But he's one of my favourites, very engaging and has a lot of energy on screen. I have a soft spot for Ernie and Blood Diamond.
Leo's best performances are:
5. The Aviator
4. Titanic
3. Catch Me If You Can
2. The Departed
1. Shutter Island
Haven't seen Revolutionary Road yet though and he looks like he could be great in it.