Best Actor 2003: Results

5. Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog- Kingsley stays far too stiff throughout his performance to ever create an effective or even at times believable character.

4. Sean Penn in Mystic River- Penn's is one over the top hammy work that overcompensates in basically every moment.

3. Jude Law in Cold Mountain- I was very close to giving the win to Law because his performance really is the most consistent. He is good throughout but I never felt he was required to do that much overall.

2. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation- The only performance in this year that does not do an accent is my choice in a very close margin with Law, and in a year where I did not fell strongly about a single performance. But my choice goes to Murray because when he being basically Murray that is something no one else can do anyways, and when he tries for more with the performance he does succeed very well.

1. Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Carribbean - Depp gives an instantly iconic performance that's entertaining to watch, but here in the original incarnation contains an actual depth as well.

My Nominees:
 I can't really think of any performances I feel strongly about oh wait...

Tommy Wiseau in the room should have been the only nominee because no performance can stand next to this one.

Best Actor 2003: Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Johnny Depp received his first Oscar nomination for portraying pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Pirates of the Caribbean is a decent action film though there are indicators to how the series would  later go wrong.

Well here comes another one of my apology reviews, though I think for a different reason this time. I actually may not have re-watched the film when I did my initial review which would have been particularly problematic given that my view would have been infected by his lesser, though not wholly terrible turns, in the first two sequels to the film. His performances in those films though are more akin though to my initial assessment though where I focused mainly on his most overt mannerisms as Captain Jack. In those later two films he mostly reduced himself down to the elements that Sparrow was most readily known for, and he slowly became more of a caricature of the original Sparrow as the series went on. That did not though give proper credit to his initial performance by any measure though which goes far beyond those mannerisms. What Depp does though in terms of character creation though also should not be hand waved at any point though. 

His mannerisms are of course rather overt in his Keith Richards inspired style. His drunk walking manner and his britishish accent all establish a distinct style to his performance, and of course obviously succeeded in making his character one of the most iconic in the new millennium. What that does here though is a bit more than just make an original character he also offers an original presence to such a film. If Depp had been a more stale Pirate, the film itself could have been quite bland, but Depp goes for his risky approach which does payoff. What his approach amounts to is more than just a unique character though. Depp's original performance is quite different actually in that he sort of weaponizes Sparrow's style both in terms of within the film, and in terms of his performance. Depp does not always play Sparrow, as what he essentially became in the later sequels, although his accent, and physical style is always evident to some degree, they are not always to the extreme they would be in his reprises.

There is a specific method to Sparrow's madness in Depp's performance here. Depp actually utilizes this in a very clever fashion as he realizes this as a certain con in the way he plays him in any given scene. For example when he is with the British authorities this is when Depp goes to Sparrow's most ridiculous style, but here he is actually specifically showing Sparrow pretending to be the fool in order to make the British put their guard down around him. In his initial scene with Orlando Bloom's Will, Depp again though plays with the style of Sparrow, this time making himself purposefully unwieldy playing up the way Sparrow plays tricks to knock his opponent off guard. Depp is humorous to be sure and entertaining but it is rather notable the way he gives a purpose to this. This goes even further even in terms of facilitating the performances of Bloom and Keira Knightley as damsel in distress Elizabeth Swan. The two can be bland, and are bland, but here they are also better later on as Depp's unpredictability throws their performances off in a good way. They don't know what quite to do with him which makes for some fun moments as he gets a rise out of them, and it's a shame that this dynamic was rather lost in the sequels, perhaps they got a bit to used to him.

What Depp does here though is offer a pivotal bit of nuance to the character of Captain Jack, he's not just a clown. Depp actually sets up that facade well to realize moments where he's honestly a little menacing such as when he discusses their duel later on with Will. He threatens him and Depp alludes to another side to Sparrow that suggests he is indeed far more than he seems. Depp revealing more to Jack continues when they encounter Barbossa played by Geoffrey Rush the chief villain in this film. Depp reveals more of a hidden intelligence in his Jack showing always working the room switching his game from collaborator, clown, to real pirate as an elegant dance. Most importantly perhaps though is when the situation becomes dire, Depp finds an actual gravitas when it is absolutely needed, it's subtle but it's always there. He's particularly good in his meek reveal to Elizabeth of how he escaped the island, or when he finally shoots Barbossa. Depp reveals the real man beneath Sparrow's act in those moments. This is a terrific performance by him as he creates a three dimensional character in Captain Jack Sparrow, even if he would be diluted to a two dimensional one later on.

Best Actor 2003: Jude Law in Cold Mountain

Jude Law received his second Oscar nomination for portraying W. P. Inman a confederate deserter in the civil war in Cold Mountain.

Cold Mountain is a film that has some interesting moments but overall it is a bit of a confused effort partially due to its inability to keep a successful tone for the film.

Jude Law's performance as Inman is a rather interesting nomination because it is not showy in the least. The most showy thing Law does in the film is the fact he does a southern accent I suppose. He is actually fine with the accent because he does not overdo it unlike fellow cast members whose last name starts with a Z, it might be perfect but it is not distracting. But beside that Law never really has many "acting" scenes so to speak. There are not many scenes where he has to really control a scene with his performance instead he mostly reacts to what is going on around him.

I do not have a problem with that really because what he does do suits his purpose in the film well, because he acts as a guide through the Civil War South, someone that the viewer follows and experiences the stranger things with. He really has a mostly standard leading  man role and he does a fine job with it. He is always a fine presence throughout the film. He never does or needs to do anything overly amazing with his performance but he is good throughout.

He can always be watched plainly and keeps his story interesting enough to follow, but this is not the greatest lead performance ever. Law does not have the greatest screen presence ever but he has a fine presence. Law only really has one extremely emotional scene near the end and he does fine with it. His romantic chemistry with Kidman is fine.  Everything about his performance is fine. He never is great but he never is bad. A performance that completely serves its purpose and is never wrong.

Best Actor 2003: Bill Murray in Lost in Translation

Bill Murray received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Bob Harris an American Actor in Japan in Lost in Translation.

Lost in Translation is a film that it seems some people love and other people find rather boring, I myself go with the latter opinion.

Nominations like Bill Murray's here rather frustrate me, because of the idea of only nominating comedians when there not being comedic. They could not nominate him for what might be his best work in Groundhog's Day which is both funny and actually holds some dramatic weight, they can only nominate him for complete dramatics. This apparently is suppose to be a comedy but I never even sort of laughed at it. There was only one overt attempt at comedy from the film really and that failed miserably in my book. Anyways Murray is not allowed to use his real true comedic abilities and is forced to be quieter. But you know what I like Murray being a little louder and funnier. Not that he is exactly loud when being funny but he is being funny that's the point. Now that does not make his performance here bad here, I am just annoyed by that comedians can never be nominated for what they do best.

Bill Murray's performance here can be interpreted in two ways one way is a bit more negative in that he really is not acting and is giving almost a sleep walking performance or the other way is it is a brilliant portrait of extreme subtlety like none other ever seen. Well I myself I am in about the middle of these two thoughts. I do not think he is not acting at all but I do not think he is always being perfectly attuned in a brilliant performance either. I find he has both the criticism worthy parts of his performance and the praise worthy parts of his performance. I do not think he ever is lazy about his performance so much that he is not trying at all, but I do feel that a lot of his performance he really is just being Bill Murray. This though is not nothing since Murray himself is a nice presence that really cannot be imitated by anyone else. His rather relaxed charm really is something only Murray can do as well as he does.

There are also sections of the performance where he does more than just being himself which are limited but I feel still present in the performance. There are these short moments where he really shows really the history of Bob Harris. These are very well done because of the way Murray shows this very carefully a hidden regret in the character and a certain sadness reflected by his reactions to certain scenes. He does not do this all the time unfortunately and his performance would have been great if he had. Instead there is strength in his performance in some scenes, and when he his not brilliant he is just Murray which is good anyways. He never is never bad and works quite well with Scarlett Johansson. My only real problem with the performance was Murray could have been absolutely brilliant if he stayed with the character at all times, instead of just good.

Best Actor 2003: Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog

Ben Kingsley received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani an Iranian immigrant in America who becomes involved in a struggle involving ownership of a home in The House of Sand and Fog.

House of Sand and Fog is an okay film, but not one that I felt became really all that interesting.

Kingsley is fairly believable as an Iranian immigrant, and his accent is fine although not amazing. He does seem to be fine at being the character that is until the end though where his performance loses competency. He plays the part of Behrani fairly stiffly throughout the film. He never becomes that emotional and when he does he only becomes emotional for a very brief instance. Now it is fine for a character to be played stiffly as that can be merely how a character is but this does not quite work for Kingsley, because he is quite dull in this performance.

I found that Kingsley simply never became that interesting with this performance, and he could have been as stiff as he was if he tried to show something with little indicators which Kingsley never does or at least never does it particularly well. Even when he becomes angry with people in the film he never becomes that emotional but rather a still very restrained and stiff sort of anger that can seem a bit unnatural at times. Kingsley is not all bad though and there are few quiet scenes where he does much better, such as the scene where he speaks to his son after he slapped his wife. But even this scene is not amazing.

The biggest problem with his performance though in his big emotional scene at the end of the film. He still needlessly keeps the character stiff even when he becomes very emotional and that just comes off as false. Also in this scene I no longer really believed him as an Iranian immigrant because when he was praying in  
this scene he really seemed to be forcing it and came off as incredibly unnatural. Kingsley though is not all bad but, he fails in the key scenes and is a bit dull but most of the time he is okay just never very interesting.

Best Actor 2003: Sean Penn in Mystic River

Sean Penn won his first Oscar from his fourth nomination for portraying Jimmy Markum in Mystic River.

Mystic River is a decent enough film and is strong in many aspects but it has some problems involving a few scenes being too over the top and the plot being a little to convenient.

Sean Penn here plays Jimmy Markum a street smart Bostonian  who loses his daughter to a mysterious killer, and then goes to extreme measures to get to revenge for his daughter. Penn performance is not all bad as Markum so I will begin with the problems with the performance and though go to some of the strong moments later.

The major problem with his performance is any scene which he is required to show grief over his Daughter in the film. In every single scene involving this he goes over the top and unfortunately hams it up. He never sounds believable doing this to me instead it looks like look at me "I'm Acting". He never had the right style in theses scenes he always seems over the top no matter what. Every time he says "My Daughter" it just rings false to me.  Even later when he does these little facial gestures with his mouth he tries to be subtle in showing his grief but again he comes off as far too forced and actory. He basically is too calculated in these scenes and never seems to off the real raw emotions which he needs.

Best Actor 2003

And the Nominees Were:

Sean Penn in Mystic River

Jude Law in Cold Mountain

Bill Murray in Lost in Translation

Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 

Who do you Pick? What do you predict my ranking will be?