Sunday 7 September 2014

Alternate Best Actor 2004: Results

5. Paul Giamatti in Sideways- Giamatti gives a very good performance naturally conveying the various states of a man who seems constantly depressed in at least some way.

Best Scene: Miles calls Maya from the hospital.
4. Kevin Bacon in The Woodsman- Although I do wish the film had let him explore the character a little more what he manages to do is give a chilling yet surprisingly heartfelt portrayal of a very troubled man.

Best Scene: Walter visits the girl in the park.
3. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- Carrey is exceptional with his atypical performance, and has truly marvelous chemistry with Kate Winslet.

Best Scene: Joel and Clementine in the crumbling house.
2. Javier Bardem in The Sea Inside- Bardem is only can utilize very little of his body yet he still gives a wonderfully complex and incredibly charming portrayal of Ramon Sampedro.

Best Scene: Ramon with his brother and father.
1. Bruno Ganz in Downfall- Ganz meets his rather extreme challenge as he is absolutely convincing in his portrayal of he vicious delusion Hitler we know, but is incredibly effective in showing the more tender and human elements of such an inhumane man.

Best Scene: Hitler says goodbye to his staff.
Overall Rank:
  1. Tom Cruise in Collateral
  2. Bruno Ganz in Downfall
  3. Javier Bardem in The Sea Inside
  4. Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou 
  5. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  6. Kevin Bacon in The Woodsman
  7. Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead
  8. Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda
  9. Paddy Considine in Dead Man's Shoes
  10. Paul Giamatti in Sideways
  11. Jeff Bridges in The Door in the Floor
  12. Daniel Craig in Layercake
  13. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator
  14. Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby
  15. Clive Owen in Closer
  16. Liev Schreiber in The Manchurian Candidate 
  17. Liam Neeson in Kinsey
  18. Will Ferrell in Anchorman
  19. Denzel Washington in The Manchurian Candidate
  20. Ron Perlman in Hellboy
  21. Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ
  22. Johnny Depp in Secret Window
  23. Vince Vaughn in Dodgeball
  24. Eric Bana in Troy 
  25. Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland
  26. Craig T. Nelson in The Incredibles
  27. Trey Parker in Team America
  28. Matt Stone in Team America
  29. Jude Law in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
  30. Daniel Wu in One Nite in Mongkok
  31. Dennis Quaid in Flight of the Phoenix
  32. Jamie Foxx in Collateral  
  33. Tobey Maguire in Spider-man 2
  34. Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly
  35. Dennis Quaid in The Day After Tomorrow 
  36. Jude Law in Closer
  37. Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
  38. Jake Gyllenhaal in The Day After Tomorrow
  39. Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
  40. Vin Diesel in The Chronicles of Riddick
  41. Jon Foster in The Door in the Floor 
  42. Tom Hanks in The Polar Express
  43. Liam Aiken in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
  44. Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing
  45. Thomas Jane in The Punisher 
  46. Gerard Butler in The Phantom of the Opera
  47. Rupert Evans in Hellboy
  48. Brady Corbet in Thunderbirds 
  49. Daryl Sabara in The Polar Express
  50. Jamie Foxx in Ray
  51. Brad Pitt in Troy
  52. Jon Heder in Napoleon Dynamite 
  53. Will Smith in Shark Tale
  54. Orlando Bloom in Troy
  55. Matthew Perry in The Whole Ten Yards
  56. Matthew Broderick in The Stepford Wives
  57. Bruce Willis in The Whole Ten Yards
Next Year: 2004 Supporting

31 comments:

Luke Higham said...

Yes! Ganz for the Win.

Robert MacFarlane said...

David Carradine in Kill Bill Vol. 2
Rip Torn in Dodgeball
Mark Wahlberg in i heart huckabees
Jude Law in i heart huckabees
Michael Madsen in Kill Bill Vol. 2

Robert MacFarlane said...

Oh, and Alfred Molina in Spider-Man 2

Luke Higham said...

David Carradine - Kill Bill Vol 2
Michael Madsen - Kill Bil Vol 2
Willem Dafoe - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Tom Cruise - Collateral
Alex Fong - One Nite in Mongkok

Louis: Ratings & Thoughts on:
Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Paddy Considine in Dead Man's Shoes
Jeff Bridges in The Door in The Floor
Daniel Craig in Layer Cake
Ron Perlman in Hellboy
Jim Caviezel in The Passion of The Christ
Vince Vaughn, Rip Torn & Ben Stiller in Dodgeball
Eric Bana, Brad Pitt & Orlando Bloom in Troy
Craig T. Nelson in The Incredibles
Park & Stone in Team America
Jude Law in Sky Captain
Tobey Maguire in Spider Man 2
Quaid & Gyllenhaal in The Day After Tomorrow
Jim Carrey in Lemony Snickets
Tom Hanks in The Polar Express
Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing
Gerard Butler in The Phantom of The Opera
Jon Heder in Napoleon Dynamite


Robert MacFarlane said...

If you REALLY think Cruise is lead in Collateral, don't review him. Keep your integrity.

Psifonian said...

Dafoe, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Hoffman, Along Came Polly (MUST REVIEW)
O'Toole, Troy
Frost, Shaun of the Dead
Bardem, Collateral

Michael McCarthy said...

The only suggestion I can add to the ones so far is Tobin Bell in Saw.

GM said...

David Carradine - Kill Bill Vol. 2
Nick Frost - Shaun of the Dead
Mark Wahlberg - I Heart Huckabees
François Berléand - The Chorus

Robert MacFarlane said...

I must be the only person in the world who hated Frost in Shaun of the Dead.

Matt Mustin said...

He's not gonna review Nick Frost guys, he already gave his thoughts on him.

Luke Higham said...

Louis's Ratings
Molina - 3
Bardem - 4
Frost - 4

Robert MacFarlane said...

Oh, good. Wait, only gave Molina 3?! He was EASILY a 4 at minimum.

Michael Patison said...

David Carradine in Kill Bill Vol. 2
Brian Cox in The Bourne Supremacy
Willem Dafoe in Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Michael Patison said...

I forgot Brad Bird in The Incredibles!

Michael McCarthy said...

Out of curiosity Louis, dd you watch the theatrical cut or the director's cut of Downfall for your review of Ganz?

Kevin said...

Madsen and Carradine in Kill Bill Volume 2
Peter O'Toole in Troy
Dafoe in Life Aquatic
Mark Wahlberg in I heart Huckabees

And I know Robert is opposed to Cruise being reviewed for supporting, so can you please do him as just a bonus?

Robert MacFarlane said...

O'Toole in Troy? Why are so many people requesting him?

Louis Morgan said...

Luke: Okay I'll answer this through steps of the good the bad and the ugly starting with the ugly.

Pitt - 1.5(Alright if one wants to see why Russell Crowe and Charlton Heston deserve praise watch this performance. Pitt is woefully inadequate in the role playing the part so blandly and having a decided lack of charisma and even screen presence. Also he has some very atrocious lines to say such as "you sack of wine")

Bloom - 1.5(Bloom is always bland anyway, but well he's bland anyway. His Paris is insufferable but the problem is for some reason the film thinks we should like him for this. He's obnoxious and I just wanted Bana to throw him to the Greeks)

Heder - 1.5(I guess this is wholly depended on whether or not you like the "comedy" of this film since Heder is basically the film personified. Well I don't find the film funny end of my short review)

Butler - 2(I actually don't find him to be actively bad like the other performances I have mentioned thus far, although that does not mean I find him to be good either. His Phantom though has really no actual pathos which defines the Phantom, he's also sorely lacking in the menace, as well as an actual horrible disfigurement. I might be being generous but I still did not hate him I guess)

Part II might be a bit.

Robert: Well I have never intended on ever putting Cruise in the supporting ranking.

On Molina, I do like him, but for me the writing is conflicting with his performance so much it's really something odd to see. Molina obviously wants to play Doc Ock as he is in the comic, a evil sociopath who loves what he is doing, while the movie insists on trying to make him some sort of troubled scientist. That would have been fine but unfortunately Molina tries to combine the two and it does not quite work. When he's just being the evil villain I do like him quite a bit though. Honestly a re-watch could raise his score.

Michael:

The theatrical version.

Robert MacFarlane said...

I always found Molina far more complex than that.

Anonymous said...

Glad Cheadle is still pretty high!

Thoughts/ratings on:

Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Paddy Considine in Dead Man's Shoe
Jeff Bridges in The Door in the Floor
Eric Bana in Troy 
Johnny Depl in Secret Window

Anonymous said...

Is still Thurman your pick or now Winslet is your winner?

mrripley said...

Peter Sarsgaard - Kinsey
Michael Gambon - Being Julia
Danny Huston - Birth
Phil Davis - Vera Drake
Tom Wilkinson - Eternal Sunshine
Anyone from The Aviator
Liev Shreiber - The Manchurian Candidate

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comments about the films Ray and Closeri love me some showboating Meryli know she is ott but she is having fun and not mimcing Lansbury'smore subtle porttrayal,maybe it's better not to compare.

RatedRStar said...

Alex Fong - One Nite In Mongkok (one of my winning requests)
David Carradine - Kill Bill Vol 2
Michael Madsen - Kill Bill Vol 2
Rip Torn - Dodgeball
Willem Dafoe - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Louis Morgan said...

Luke: Alright now the bad although they very well may be decent.

Vince Vaughn - 3(The comedy of the film really stems from the other supporting players in the film. Vaughn does a good enough job, if fairly standard, as the exasperated straight man)

Eric Bana - 3(Bana, unlike Pitt and Bloom, actually brings some weight to the proceedings as he brings an honest conviction to his performance. I frankly would have preferred if they messed up the legend even more since Bana made Hector the only hero I actually cared about)

Nelson - 3(Completely solid vocal work from. I don't think it's in the pantheon of great vocal performances by any means but it serves the character and film well)

Parker & Stone - 3(Their voice acting taken out of context of their shows actually could easily be seen as not very good actually since they certainly don't have that many voice total. In their comedy style though their voices completely fit the material)

Law - 3(Law's role is very straight forward but Law gives it the right Ronald Colman like style to it. He may not be quite as good as Colman in say Lost Horizon, but he still manages to bring a similair charm to his role here)

Maguire - 2.5(Maguire technically is best at being the awkward Peter Parker, and I suppose he actually gets to that the most in this film out of the series, and thankfully not the far too awkward Parker of the third one. Unfortunately I do think his Spider-Man is still quite lacking as he fails to bring any humorous edge that the character should have)

Quaid & Gyllenhaal - 2.5(I'll give em both credit for trying to give their best despite the often quite absurd material. They don't exactly rise above their film, but they don't let its goofiness ruin their work entirely)

Carrey - 2.5(Of a year of Carrey giving his most reserved performance you could also see Carrey giving a rather bombastic one. Now to be fair his character is suppose to be extremely flamboyant in nature, but I never found him that entertaining or intimidating here)

Tom Hanks - 2.5(Hanks just simply is not a chameleon style of actor by any means. When Hanks does a different voice other than his own it just sounds like Hanks doing a silly voice, he's simply not a Peter Sellers or Alec Guinness. He's not wholly bad, but multiple roles in one film is not his forte)

Jackman - 2.5(I pretty much have the same thought for as Quaid and Gyllenhaal)

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

TIFF reviews coming in and looks like Redmayne and Gyllenhaal have become frontrunners as well. Looks like this year could potentially challenge 2013-2014!!

Luke Higham said...

GDSAO: I'll be flabbergasted if this year ends up with 10 or more 5s in Lead. I think 7 or 8 is a more reasonable outcome at the moment.

Michael McCarthy said...

I've already given 5s to 4 performances and it's barely even September.

Luke Higham said...

Michael McCarthy: What Performances did you give a 5 to.

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Winslet would now be my win.

Luke:

Murray - 4.5(This performance made me feel what I feel his performance in Lost in Translation wanted to do. I feel throughout Murray really conveys the exasperation and depression of the man whose never gotten over the loss of his friend although continues to try to. Along with that though Murray still is quite funny here in his dead pan fashion weaving naturally in the weightier moments he does manage to bring to his character)

Considine - 4.5(This is almost the most intense moments of Michael Caine's performance in Get Carter but for the almost the entirety of his performance. That is really something to watch and Considine has an incredible visceral sting in his portrayal of the searing, yet restrained, hatred this man feels. Although we, perhaps?, are rooting for him Considine the one we fear not the guys he's getting revenge on)

Bridges - 4.5(I was not big on the film, although I have a problem with most films adapted from the works of John Irving, but Bridges is easily the best part of the film. I always like Bridges more when he gives a more casual performance and he does that here in portraying the easy going nature of his self-indulgent writer. Bridges though is very good in creating a undercurrent of emotional turmoil and manages to create quite the affecting character in the end)

Craig - 4.5(It's easy to see how Craig set himself up for Bond with this performance as he carries himself with that great cool here and its easy to follow him through this crime thriller. What I really like though is Craig brings a bit of comic side to that though as he kinda shows that his character more wants to be as cool as James Bond rather than being truly that cool. I particularly love the scene where he holds the Luger as if he is James Bond)

Perlman - 3.5(Absolutely perfectly cast in the role it's a shame that film though it needed John any man as a co-lead. Perlman's consistently charming and entertaining in the role. Hellboy could easily been distant but Perlman made it easy to root for him the whole time)

Caviezel - 3.5(I'm not really a huge fan of Passion of the Christ as I do feel it focuses far too much on simply the torture involving Christ's crucifixion. This leaves Caviezel's performance somewhat limited because of that. To be far to him he portrays the pain quite realistically and is effective in portraying the intense degradation. In the very brief moments of showing an inspiring Jesus Caviezel does deliver, but there was not enough of it)

Anonymous:

Depp - 3.5(Haven't seen the film in quite some time but as I recall... His second before last scene is pretty bad actually as he tries to do John Turturro's performance from the film and it comes off as a bit silly. The rest of the film though I thought it was a pretty effective and entertaining very mannered turn. I thought that worked well though here as it contributed to showing the shambled nature of his character. He can't quite get over that twist though)

Michael McCarthy said...

Luke:

Brendan Gleeson-Calvary
Ralph Fiennes-The Grand Budapest Hotel
Andy Serkis-Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Tom Hardy-Locke