Sunday 27 November 2016

Alternate Best Actor 2005: Results

5. Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto - Murphy is convincing in his challenging role managing to be both humorous and heartwarming though the film doesn't seem to use his work to its fullest potential.

Best Scene: Kitty visits his mother.
4. Romain Duris in The Beat That My Heart Skipped - Duris gives moving portrayal of man wavering from a life of violence to a life of something more.

Best Scene: The final scene. 
3. Daniel Auteuil in Caché - Auteuil gives a compelling performance that effortlessly brings the needed complexity to his character's terrible situation.

Best Scene: Georges is confronted by the son. 
2. Damian Lewis in Keane - Lewis gives a harrowing and emotional resonate portrayal of  a mentally disturbed man.

Best Scene: Keane tries to find the kidnapper. 
1. Byung-hun Lee in A Bittersweet Life - Lee gives a downright brilliant performance. He is the badass lead you'd expect in such a role but goes even deeper to give a surprisingly heartbreaking and humane portrait of a man granted just a glimpse of a better life. 

Best Scene: The final scene. 
Updated Overall

Next Year: 2005 Supporting

30 comments:

Michael McCarthy said...

Ratings and thoughts for Bill Murray in Broken Flowers and Matthew Macfayden in Pride and Prejudice?

Giuseppe Fadda said...

Sad Heath Ledger is not in your top 10 anymore :( anyway, what are your rating and thoughts on Jessica Lange in Brokeb Flowers? I sort of hated the movie and I didn't even care much for Bill Murray's performance but I thought Lange was terrific in her single scene.

Giuseppe Fadda said...

*Broken

Calvin Law said...

Thoughts and ratings for Keira Knightley, Tom Hollander, Jena Malone and Donald Sutherland in Pride and Prejudice? And for the film, your thoughts and which did you prefer, this or the 1940s version.

Calvin Law said...

Also, thoughts/rating for Daniel Day-Lewis in The Ballad of Jack and Rose.

2005 Supporting

Kingdom of Heaven lads
Keanu Reeves in Thumbsucker
Chiwetel Enjoyed in Serenity
Choi Minh-Sik in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Jeffrey Wright in Broken Flowers

Calvin Law said...

Lastly (sorry), thoughts and rarings for:

Leads of Paradise Now and Wedding Crashers
Johnny Depp in The Libertine
Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Match Point
Elijah Wood in Everything is Illuminated
Bob Hoskins in Mrs. Henderson Presents (I actually really love him here)
Martin Freeman in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Peter Sallis in Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Will Smith in Hitch
Johnny Depp in Corpse Bride
Heath Ledger and Matt Damon, The Brothers Grimm

And your thoughts on Corpse Bride and the Wallace and Gromit films in general, if you've seen them (Curse of the Were-Rabbit is my favourite animated feature film of all-time)

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Ratings and thoughts on:
Anthony Hopkins in The World's Fastest Indian
Ali Suliman & Kais Nashif in Paradise Now
Johnny Depp, Rosamund Pike, John Malkovich and Samantha Morton in The Libertine
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlet Johansson in Match Point
Elijah Wood in Everything Is Illuminated
Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell and Bill Nighy in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter in Wallace And Gromit: The Curse Of The Were Rabbit
The Cast of Wedding Crashers
The Cast of Corpse Bride
The Cast of The Brothers Grimm
Sandler, Rock and Cromwell in The Longest Yard

Apologies for asking so much.

Your Updated Female Top 10s with ratings.

My Supporting Lineup
Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton and David Thewlis in Kingdom Of Heaven
Cillian Murphy in Red Eye
Chiwetel Ejiofor in Serenity
Choi Min-Sik in Lady Vengeance
Jeffrey Wright in Broken Flowers or Keanu Reeves in Thumbsucker

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Ratings and thoughts on Kurt Russell in Sky High and Evans, Chiklis & McMahon in Fantastic Four.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: And Alan Rickman in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

RatedRStar said...

Ghassan Massoud - Kingdom Of Heaven
Edward Norton - Kingdom Of Heaven
Choi Min-Sik in Lady Vengeance
Stephen Dillane - Nine Lives
Cillian Murphy - Red Eye

Robert MacFarlane said...

Keanu Reeves in Thumbsucker
Heath Ledger in The Lords of Dogtown
Choi Min-Sik in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Jeffrey Wright in Broken Flowers
the Kingdom of Heaven cast

Anonymous said...

Ghassan Massoud - Kingdom Of Heaven
Edward Norton - Kingdom Of Heaven
Choi Min-Sik in Lady Vengeance
Stephen Dillane - Nine Lives
Cillian Murphy - Red Eye
Louis: From the G.I.Joe episodes you've seen, what are your thoughts on Michael Bell as Duke?

Luke Higham said...

Louis: With 2016 supporting, if there's a few performances that you would really like to review, but you couldn't because of my requests, then do you mind sending Ineson and Scrimshaw to the bonus rounds instead. I'm happy enough waiting another year or two for those reviews and the bonus round maybe in need of them.

Plus, I'm beginning to somewhat regret choosing them as I didn't expect this year to be as strong as I thought it would.

Anonymous said...

Louis: What are your top 10 favorite scenes from James Cagney?

Álex Marqués said...

Louis: Have you seen the Director's Cut version of Kingdom of Heaven? I haven't seen the movie yet, but everyone says that version is infinitely superior to the other ones.

Luke Higham said...

Alex: He certainly hasn't. Bloom's not on the the lead overall yet.

I concur with the director's cut being utterly superior to the theatrical version.

Charles H said...

Louis, What are your 15 favorite supporting male acting performances you've seen?

Robert MacFarlane said...

Just saw Allied. I seemed to like it a lot more than the rest of you. Yeah, Pitt was unsatisfactory, but the rest of it worked pretty damn well for me.

Louis Morgan said...

Please no further requests until I post the supporting lineup.

Michael:

Murray - 4.5(To me this is a strong example of sad Murray. To me this is perhaps a former sardonic Murray turned to the sad Murray by time we meet him. I actually rather liked the film and I felt Murray brought the right nuance in each of Don's relationship. He created the sense of essentially how Don left each giving either a sense of loss, regret or sorrow for his actions of the past within keeping the general melancholia of the character alive. In the end I found it rather poignant work particularly in his final scene, where Murray finally shows a specific break in the character as he tries to reach out for something more in life.)

Macfayden - 4.5(Alright alright he does best Olivier in terms of portraying Mr. Darcy in terms of who the character should be, though I'll stand by that I think Olivier's portrayal works for the more screwball style of that adaptation. Macfayden though succeeds in his performance by being genuinely off putting and cold in his early scenes. He does this in a way though that once we see more of the character, it is a shyness rather than an arrogance. Macfayden is very natural as he reveals the real charm of the character well be presenting the struggle of an introvert to break from his shell and explain the good man he truly is.)

Giuseppe:

Well I suppose we just are not on the same page on this one, since I enjoyed the film and Murray. I have to admit I found Lange to be a weaker element of the film. I generally don't cotton to Lange to begin with, and I just found she brought this unneeded intensity in her performance.

Louis Morgan said...

Calvin:

Knightley - 2.5(Aw geez. Knightley just rarely works for me, and this performance is unfortunately exception. She falls right upon her method of over emphasizing her line deliveries, which I felt became very distracting given the nature of the dialogue. In addition I felt she double downed on that through her usually Knightleyisms of over doing everything by a few notches.)

Malone - 3(I kind of hate that the more talented Malone and Mulligan must play third and forth fiddle to Knightely and Pike. Malone though is good as per usual. She instantly establishes kind of the desperation of her sister, and makes much more of an impact that she would otherwise.)

Hollander - 3.5(Some classic bit of Hollandaise to go around. He's splendid in the role bringing the right type of awkwardness and pompousness about the man that manages to be actually rather endearing in its own pathetic way.)

Sutherland - 3.5(Sutherland I felt seemed a tad underused at times however I liked the warm presence he brought in the few scenes he did have, particularly with the ending.)

The 05 version is theoretically better. The production design is far more remarkable, and the story is presented in a more compelling fashion given that it takes a more balanced approach with the material. Of course Knightely does the film no favors if you ask me, but hey what are you going to do.

Day-Lewis - 4(It is interesting to see Day-Lewis in kind of a "low stakes" role like this. The film, which happens to tell a very similair story to this year's Captain Fantastic, tells its story in a fairly light hearted way, though with a strong dramatic undercurrent. Day-Lewis is good as you'd expect particularly in bringing the forceful personality of the man, making his situation quite believable. What I liked most though was the modesty he begins to reveal as the cracks in his philosophy slowly begin to show. It's lowkey work yet he is still quite affecting as he reveals the gradual descent of Jack. I will say the writing keeps him back a bit, nevertheless this is still a strong performance from Day-Lewis.)

Louis Morgan said...

Vaughn & Wilson - 3(Several of the film that were placed, I actually had already seen when I originally did 05, I just for whatever reason did not include them. This is a good example of their usual shtick for both. Wilson gets a bit extra later on in terms of dramatic arc, though nothing major, he delivers more than just fine in that regard as well.)

Depp - 3.5(I rather hated the film, which played as like an anti-restoration, but I did find Depp's work to be fairly effective. Although there is some of his old tricks, which are less tired here than they are these days, but as the film proceeds I found his portrayal of the character's emotional despair rather compelling)

Suliman & Nashif - 3.5 & 3 respectively(Both I felt give convincing and naturalistic performances. I felt though that Suliman managed to mine a bit more in terms of portraying the central conflict which weighs on the characters. I felt his portrayal of the realization became far more moving than Nashif who I felt remained just a bit too static throughout the film.)

Wood - 3.5(A limited performance to a certain extent, though I felt his work became rather moving in terms of depicting the change from a curious detachment to eventual real empathy and understanding of the situation faced by his character's grandfather.)

Hoskins - 3.5(Kind of strange to see Hoskins as a refined British gentleman. Nevertheless I thought he was the highlight of the film bringing a real charming presence underlined with just the right amount of comedic energy. Lovely work.)

Freeman - 3(Very standard Freeman Shtick, not a bad example of it though.)

Sallis - 3(Nothing new technically speaking yet endearing and enjoyable as usual in the role.)

Meyers - 3.5(This performance never quite steps into Martin Landau territory in the similarly minded Crimes and Misdemeanors, though I think that is in part of the nature of the character. Meyers I feel always plays his part as kind of sociopath, and what happens is more of a revelation than an act of desperation. This works rather well but as sociopath portrayals go this is a good one I wouldn't say quite a great one.)

Louis Morgan said...

Smith - 3(Another film I had already seen some time ago. Smith is pure charm here, which when he goes for that it usually works well enough.)

Depp - Corpse - 3(I thought his voice work was fine, but nothing too notable.)

Ledger - 3(I felt he did his best to try to make the film's tone, a futile effort I'll admit, however he did end up being one of the few things I remotely liked about the film. He managed to bring a goofy charm bringing out the lighter tone well still grounding it when it needed to be.)

Damon - 2(Faltered around with the rest of the film. I'm not sure if he took it too seriously or not enough, but what he did just didn't work. He never finds the right touch, something Ledger accomplished.)

I have seen more of Wallace and Gromit, though it's been awhile. I really enjoyed Were-Rabbit though particularly in the sheer visual inventiveness of the film. I didn't like Corpse Bride all that much in that I felt the whole film was in the search of a plot, the songs were all forgettable, not to mention visually speaking Henry Sellick I felt did much more with Burton's style in stop motion, than Burton did. I didn't hate it by any means, but it just felt a little flat.

Louis Morgan said...

Headey - 2.5(Played her role without style, which means she not bad, but it doesn't maneuver the tone well. Again though that is an overarching problem with the film.)

Pryce and Stormare - 2(Usually like these two quite a bit, and over the top usually works in a Gilliam film. This time it just fell flat completely.)

Watson and Carter - 3.5(I felt both brought a lot within their vocal performances to really convey what the stop motion could not at times. Both I felt found a surprising degree of nuance within their work to bring a real poignancy to both potential romances in the film)

Corpse Bride, the rest of the cast - (Everyone was fine for the most part, felt the film made particularly good use of Finney's and Lee's distinct voices)

Sandler - 1.5(There's a real sense of just not caring at all throughout most of his performance, which is a shame because he does have talent onscreen unlike....)

Rock - 1(Rock whenever he is acting almost always can't help but mugg while having this general awkwardness about him)

Cromwell - 2.5(He has a lame part, but still brings an actual effort to it unlike some of his co-stars)

Rickman - 3(His dour asides I felt were rather enjoyable, one note though that's the point)

Russell - 3(It's been awhile sense I saw it but as I recall Russell was pretty entertaining in laying it on just thick enough that fits the tone of the film rather well, which is actually a bit better than you expect it should be.)

McMahon - 2(He begins as a pretty bland bring businessman villain, and then is distinctly lacking in menace later on.)

Chikilis - 2.5(He's an okay grump at first and does bring just a bit of real emotion to the character's anguish. He can't quite get through his suit so to speak though.)

Evans - 2(His approach isn't altogether wrong, but it doesn't really work either.)

Lead:

Felicity Huffman - Transamerica - 4.5
Charlize Theron - North Country - 4.5
Naomi Watts - King Kong
Q'orianka Klicher - The New World
Joan Allen - The Upside of Anger
Embeth Davidtz in Junebug - 4
Helena Bonham Carter - Corpse Bride
Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson Presents - 3

Supporting:

Emily Watson - The Proposition
Amy Adams - Junebug - 5
Michelle Monaghan - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Juliette Binoche - Cache
Tilda Swinton - The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe
Mary Lynn Rajskub - Mysterious Skin
Maria Bello - A History of Violence
Laryssa Lauret - Everything is Illuminated - 4
Samantha Morton - The Libertine
Emily Watson - Corpse Bride

I don't intend on purposefully "saving" any performances for later on, if I've seen the film.

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Alright then let's see.

Hopkins - 4(This is definitely Hopkins showboating a bit, but I felt it fit the film and the character. I thoroughly enjoyed the eccentricity he infused into his eccentric. I found him to be thoroughly charming and entertaining in the role, and he made me absolutely invested into his character's plight even though he never technically goes all that dramatic here.)

Malkovich - (I thought he was perfectly acceptable here in the role, though a far cry from Sam Neill's take, I'd also say the character is reduced to just being the monarch authority figure type that is not quite fitting to Charles.)

Hollander - (Hollander offers some fine support as per usual, didn't feel he had a great deal to work with, but he naturally brings something.)

Morton - 3.5(Morton I thought gave an interesting performance as well as effectively did the character's bad acting, then good acting rather well. Outside of the stage I thought she was rather effective in terms of revealing a more hardened character the more time she spent with Depp. I will say part of the problem I had with the film was I did not feel it balanced its threads particularly well, diminishing the power of all of them.)

Pike - 2.5(Felt she was a tad miscast in the role, and did not feel she quite overcame that fact. I didn't think she was bad though, just a bit unremarkable.)

Johansson - 2(Felt she was unbearably bland here actually, and I failed to quite see the "appeal" so to speak. This became worse I felt later in the film where she failed to bring the intensity to her character's growing distressed state, something Angelica Huston I would say did much better in the equivalent role in Crimes and Misdemeanors)

Def - 3(I thought he brought a nice charm and humor at first, but kind of faded into the background after the opening scenes.)

Rockwell - 3(Okay I'd say this performance is the test of whether you are true Rockwell fan. If you don't like when he goes full Rockwellian stay far far away from this performance I'd say. I enjoyed him here, but this is the closest he's come to be truly grating for me.)

Nighy - 3(Funny bit of Nighy for a bit.)

Fiennes - (Very much enjoyed his pompous delivery)

Carter - 3(Brought the appropriate sweetness and warmth to her voice.)

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous:

Essentially the same as his work as Prowl in Transformers, effortlessly heroic sounding.

Anonymous:

1. The Ending - Angels With Dirty Faces
2. Cody admits his loneliness - White Heat
3. The Basketball Game - Angels With Dirty Faces
4. The first Date - The Strawberry Blonde
5. Cody finds out about his mother - White Heat
6. The ending - White Heat
7. Grapefruit - Public Enemy
8. He fixes Everything - One Two Three
9. The Ending - The Roaring Twenties
10. They're pretty tough - Public Enemy

Charles:

Ever?

1. Robert Shaw - Jaws
2. Dennis Hopper - Blue Velvet
3. Martin Landau - Ed Wood
4. Richard Jordan - Gettysburg
5. Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter
6. John Cazale - The Godfather Part II
7. Gene Hackman - Unforgiven
8. Darrin McGavin - A Christmas Story
9. Dana Andrews - The Ox-Bow Incident
10. Edward G. Robinson - Double Indemnity
11. John Hurt - 10 Rillington Place
12. John Goodman - Barton Fink
13. Sessue Hayakawa - The Bridge on the River Kwai
14. Christopher Lloyd - Back to the Future
15. Tsutomu Yamazaki - High and Low

Bryan L. said...

Whoever requested Ledger in Lords of Dogtown:

4- He hams it up a bit around the middle when the skate group has a party at Skip's shop, but other than that, I thought he was very effective as the mentor of the Z-Boys. He really does feel like he's a part of the "skate/surf bro" culture without seeming like a caricature, and the voice he does for the character fits in as well. He also adds the necessary dramatic weight towards his later scenes. A highlight of the film for me. He sure was talented :/ *sob, sob*

Giuseppe Fadda said...

So sad you did not care for either Lange in Broken Flowers and Johansson in Match Point :( but I have to say I generally like them more than you. Thoughts on Huffman in Transamerica anx Adams in Junebug?

Anonymous said...

also, thoughts on Theron in North Country?

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Have you seen The Witch though.

Charles H said...

Great list Louis, Mine's similar. =D