I suppose, as you are suggesting, it depends on the type of movie or genre in question. Like you said, if you mainly watch B movies then "bad acting" is going to be less notable unless it is really bottom-of-the-barrel bad. If like me, you hardly watch B movies then terrible acting is going to be more noticeable when you do come across it. It doesn't bother me in those type of movies because I go in expecting it, but of course I would not expect to see it in a bio-pic with A-list actors about, I don't know.. Winston Churchill or Donald Trump (can't wait to see that one in the future).

I feel that acting is one of those things that is on a fine line between being subjective and objective.. most of us would generally notice good or bad acting when we see it.

So in answer to your question, because of the kind of movies I generally watch, yes it is rather important to me.

I know what you mean about actors like Denzel Washington. They can still put in a fantastic powerhouse performance (Training Day, Man On Fire, etc.) but at the end of the day, he is just playing another version of Denzel. You could say the same for actors like Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Arnie, and to an extent even Robert De Niro, fabulous actor though he is (was?). Whereas actors like Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis can mould themselves into being the characters they are playing without just playing themselves.. although appearing in bio-pics does tend to help as they have to play another real-life person anyway.

So rant aside, it shouldn't be hard to act. Just don't look at the cameras, and try to drown out the rest of the world around you, and convey a scene. As long as you can do that, you're an actor.

I don't agree with this at all though. That's a bit like giving someone a piano and saying.. look at the keys and notes, can you do something with them? Sure they can hit the notes and try to convey something meaningful, but it doesn't make them a pianist..

An actor also needs a degree of training/practice. Why do you think they have acting coaches and acting schools if it were so easy for anyone to pull off, straight off the bat. It might not require the same sheer virtuosity of playing the piano or any musical instrument, but it is still a skill that requires almost constant refining. And think about stage acting for instance.. you can't expect to put a bunch of people on stage, give them a scene/plot device and some character insights, and watch them all pull it off convincingly - yeah you are right in the sense that some people will get it, others won't. This is why, going back to the OP's post, you have terrible acting and great acting.

I tried acting once.. not for me. But I was pretty good at the piano .