Friday 8 August 2014

Alternate Best Actor 1997: Results

5. Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco - Pacino gives a moving portrayal of a mobster whose past his prime but has a little bit to offer to an up and comer criminal who unfortunately happens to be an uncover F.B.I agent.

Best Scene: Lefty asks Donnie about the boat.

4. Ian Holm in The Sweet Hereafter - Holm gives a interesting two sided performance one the false performance of a lawyer pushing for a cause for monetary reasons, the other being a heartfelt portrayal of a father who feels like he has lost his own daughter.

Best Scene: Mitchell recounts saving his daughter's life.

3. Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential - Guy Pearce gives a fantastic portrayal that slowly dissects the cop who seems absolutely driven to only do good while following the letter of the law.

Best Scene: Ed interrogates the suspected killers.

2. Russell Crowe in L.A. Confidential - Crowe also gives a fantastic performance that slowly dissects the cop who seems absolutely driven to do good, but by any means necessary.

Best Scene: Bud reveals his vulnerabilities to Lynn.
1. Philip Baker Hall in Hard Eight - Good Prediction Psifonian. Hall gives such a magnetic and fascinating portrait of his incredibly unique character. Well this was not an easy decision to make between the top three. I love Pearce, Crowe and Hall's performances all equally. It was hard enough just to rank Pearce and Crowe. I could just as easily change their placement. They completely excel in their roles and get the absolute most out of them. I can at least somewhat justify it, I guess, in that I do think Hall technically has weaker material to begin with, but manages to give just as strong of a performance.

Best Scene: Sydney's final phone call with John.
Overall Rank:
  1. Russell Crowe & Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential (TIE)
  2. Robert Duvall in The Apostle
  3. Philip Baker Hall in Hard Eight
  4. Tony Leung in Happy Together
  5. Ray Winstone in Nil By Mouth
  6. Ian Holm in The Sweet Hereafter
  7. Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco
  8. Samuel L. Jackson in Jackie Brown 
  9. Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold
  10. Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights
  11. Stellan Skarsgård in Insomnia 
  12. Brendan Gleeson in I Went Down
  13. Robert Carlyle in Face
  14. Michael Douglas in The Game 
  15. Daniel Day-Lewis in The Boxer 
  16. Mark Addy in The Full Monty
  17. Robert Carlyle in The Full Monty 
  18. John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank
  19. Takeshi Kitano in Hana-bi 
  20. Sam Lee in Made in Hong Kong
  21. Billy Connolly in Mrs. Brown
  22. Johnny Depp in Donnie Brasco 
  23. Laurence Fishburne in Event Horizon
  24. Bill Pullman in Lost Highway 
  25. Sylvester Stallone in Copland 
  26. Aaron Eckhart in In the Company of Men
  27. Amir Farrokh in Children of Heaven
  28. Kōji Hashimoto in Cure
  29. Matt Malloy in In the Company of Men 
  30. Charlie Creed-Miles in Nil By Mouth
  31. Peter McDonald in I Went Down
  32. Vladimir Mashkov in The Thief
  33. Ulrich Mühe in Funny Games
  34. Mike Myers in Austin Powers 
  35. Ralph Fiennes in Oscar and Lucinda
  36. Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory
  37. Linus Roache in The Wings of the Dove
  38. Leslie Cheung in Happy Together 
  39. Arno Frisch in Funny Games
  40. Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element 
  41. Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic 
  42. Djimon Hounsou in Amistad 
  43. Kevin Kline in In & Out
  44. Sam Neill in Event Horizon
  45. Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black
  46. Will Smith in Men in Black
  47. Nicolas Cage in Face Off 
  48. Jonathan Pryce in Regeneration
  49. Stephen Fry in Wilde
  50. Jeremy Irons in Lolita 
  51. Christopher Guest in Waiting For Guffman
  52. Anthony Hopkins in The Edge
  53. Jared Leto in Prefontaine
  54. Pedro Cardoso in Four Days in September
  55. Dmitri Chigaryov in The Thief
  56. Kurt Russell in Breakdown
  57. Homayoung Ershadi in Taste of Cherry
  58. Ving Rhames in Rosewood
  59. James Wilby in Regeneration
  60. Jon Voight in Rosewood
  61. Jack Nicholson in Blood and Wine
  62. Jan Decleir in Character
  63. Jack Nicholson in As Good As it Gets
  64. Dustin Hoffman in Wag the Dog
  65. Harrison Ford in Air Force One
  66. Robert De Niro in Wag the Dog 
  67. Balthazar Getty in Lost Highway
  68. Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong in Kundun 
  69. Jeff Goldblum in The Lost World: Jurassic Park 
  70. Harrison Ford in The Devil's Own
  71. Jackie Chan in Mr. Nice Guy
  72. Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle
  73. Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate 
  74. Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting
  75. Pierce Brosnan in Tomorrow Never Dies
  76. Jim Carrey in Liar Liar
  77. Ben Affleck in Chasing Amy
  78. Nathan Lane in Mouse Hunt
  79. Matt Damon in The Rainmaker 
  80. Alec Baldwin in The Edge
  81. Chris Tucker in Money Talks
  82. John Travolta in Face Off
  83. John Cusack in Con Air
  84. Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own
  85. Tate Donovan in Hercules
  86. Nick Nolte in Afterglow
  87. Woody Allen in Deconstructing Harry
  88. Michael Jai White in Spawn
  89. Robeto Benigni in Life is Beautiful
  90. Chris Farley in Beverly Hills Ninja
  91. Charlie Sheen in Money Talks
  92. Pierce Brosnan in Dante's Peak 
  93. Johnny Lee Miller in Afterglow
  94. Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano
  95. Nicolas Cage in Con Air 
  96. Robin Williams in Flubber
  97. Jason Connery in Macbeth  
  98. Sean Penn in She's So Lovely
  99. Chevy Chase in Vegas Vacation
  100. Tim Allen in Jungle 2 Jungle
  101. George Clooney in Batman and Robin
  102. Robin Shou in Mortal Kombat Annihilation
  103. Keenan Thompson in Good Burger
  104. Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers 
  105. Lee Evans in Mousehunt
  106. Sam Huntington in Jungle 2 Jungle
  107. Kel Mitchell in Good Burger
  108. Alex D. Linz in Home Alone 3
  109. Shaquille O'Neal in Steel
Next Year: 1997 Supporting

25 comments:

Michael McCarthy said...

Kevin Spacey-L.A. Confidential
James Cromwell-L.A. Confidential
Robert Blake-Lost Highway
Mark Addy-The Full Monty
Arno Friseh-Funny Games

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

Thoughts/Ratings on: (unless you're planning on doing reviews in the near future)
Daniel Day-Lewis in The Boxer
Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights
Robert Carlyle in The Fully Monty
Tony Leung in Happy Together Laurence Fishburne in Event Horizon
Mike Myers in Austin Powers
Samuel L. Jackson in Jackie Brown
Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic
John Travolta/Nicolas Cage in Face/Off
Nicols Cage in Con Air

Sorry for this large batch. It's just such an entertaining year.

GM said...

James Cromwell - L.A. Confidential
Kevin Spacey - L.A. Confidential
Ulrich Mühe - Funny Games
Christoph Bantzer - Funny Games

GM said...

What are your ratings for Best Actress Nominees from this year?

Anonymous said...

Also, your thoughts on the Best Actress nominees. As for Supporting Actor:
-Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential
-James Cromwell in L.A. Confidential
-Bernard Hill in Titanic
-Philip Seymour Hoffman in Boogie Nights
-Mark Addy in The Full Monty

RatedRStar said...

What are your thoughts on Leslie Cheung and Chang Chen in Happy Together, I am a little underwhelmed by the rankings of the Happy Together leads.

RatedRStar said...

Robert Blake - Lost Highway
Tom Wilkinson - The Full Monty
Kevin Spacey - LA Confidential
James Cromwell - LA Confidential
Gary Oldman - Air Force One

Kevin said...

- Kevin Spacey and James Cromwell in LA Confidential
- Robert Blake in Lost Highway
- Ray Liotta in Cop Land
- Ulrich Muhe in Funny Games

Luke Higham said...

Kevin Spacey - LA Confidential
James Cromwell - LA Confidential
Gary Oldman - Air Force One or The Fifth Element
Tom Wilkinson - The Full Monty
Bernard Hill - Titanic

Bonus Review - Billy Zane in Titanic

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Ratings & Thoughts on Billy Connolly in Mrs Brown, Johnny Depp in Donnie Brasco, Linus Roache in The Wings of The Dove, Jones/Smith in Men in Black, Lane/Evans in Mousehunt, Robin Williams in Flubber and George Clooney in Batman & Robin.

Maciej said...

Tom Wilkinson - The Full Monty
Gary Oldman - Air Force One
Kevin Spacey - LA Confidential
James Cromwell-L.A. Confidential
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Boogie Nights

Scott Gingold said...

Djimon Honsou - Amistad
J.T. Walsh - Breakdown
Jason Lee - Chasing Amy
Tom Wilkinson - The Full Monty
Samuel L. Jackson - Jackie Brown

Anonymous said...

PLEASE do Jude Law in Gattaca. Josh over at The Cinematic Spectacle ranks Law as #9 in his 'Best Supporting Actor Performances'. He was really great in Gattaca.

http://classicblanca.blogspot.com/2013/06/top-10-supporting-actor-performances-of.html

RatedRStar said...

@Connor: The Cinematic Spectacle is a good mostly reliable site, but some of the decisions are a bit strange, like does Josh really think that Brian Donlevy in Beau Geste is better than Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach and Claude Rains in Mr Smith Goes To Washington, what about Robert Ryan beating Richard Widmark in 1947 lol very strange haha.

Psifonian said...

1. Robert Blake, Lost Highway
2. Kevin Spacey, L.A. Confidential
3. Don Cheadle, Boogie Nights
4. Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Brown
5. James Cromwell, L.A. Confidential

mrripley said...

Please do Bruce Greenwood in The Sweet Hereafter.

Michael Patison said...

I have no additions

Matt Mustin said...

Louis, what's your ratings/thoughts on Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?

Louis Morgan said...

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar:

Day-Lewis - 4.5(All those people who were questioning his casting as Lincoln, before the film came out, due to his assumed inability to portray warmth must not have seen this film. Day-Lewis brings so much heart to the role that even when the film somewhat faltered Day-Lewis managed to keep me invested by how much honest emotion he brought to his character)

Wahlberg - 4.5(Wahlberg actually has a rather severe challenge with this performance which is to give a hokey and bad performance as a porn star while still making his character convincing as a real guy going through these things. Wahlberg manages both of this being entertaining and convincing as Dirk Diggler, but managing to give such an volatile portrayal of this guy whose life is probably moving a bit too fast)

Carlyle- (Interesting to see Carlyle in this type of role after thoroughly enjoying his performances as a violent drunk and charming cannibal. Carlyle excels in a less extreme role and just gives a really winning performance in the film. He brings such an energy to every scene of the film, and made get completely behind his character's bizarre idea. All the while he still always brought a emotional weight naturally along with the comedy)

Leung - 4.5(Leung takes a particularly understated approach to his character which is often not the case when actors play a gay character. Leung does not make that the defining trait about his performance which really makes this an interesting portrayal. Leung gives a very effective portrayal of so many different desperation and insecurities. He and Cheung give an extremely convincing portrayal of truly destructive relationship)

Laurence Fishburne - 4(A rock solid leading turn by Fishburne. He just needs to be a reactionary hero for the film and completely succeeds in this task. A film like this could have easily led to some bad acting but Fishburne is really good because he stays grounded no matter how bizarre Sam Neill starts looking)

Mike Myers - 4(Although I hated how Myers went with the character in the later films as well how his whole career went in general afterwards. His performance here though is very funny as he plays them slighter straighter, in a way, than he did later. His Dr. Evil is more dead pan in nature as plays him as Bond villain but with the right dead pan manner. Powers is more flamboyant but he's funny there and even manages to effectively bring a certain seriousness into his character's displacement)

Jackson - 4(As I said before Jackson brings menace with such ease and again does that well here. This actually is a lot like his performance in Hard Eight but a little more intense but still in a certain casual way. It's far from my favorite performance of his but it's a solid villainous turn)

Louis Morgan said...

DiCaprio - 3.5(I probably should be a little more positive but my dislike from the film does stop me from fully embracing this performance. He does completely hit the marks, he's charming, energetic, and has some strong chemistry with Winslet)

John Travolta - 2(Travolta is an actor I actually like but I hate the direction he took with his career. He's someone who just is not right for villains. I actually like his performance as "himself" as its the Travolta I like, but once he goes evil he goes into some severe case of mugging and when it comes to that he's no Nic Cage)

Cage in Face/Off - 3.5(As the villain Cage is way over the top but this is a John Woo American action film so its a bit fitting. More importantly though he's entertainingly so. Once he becomes the hero though I thought Cage managed to be pretty effective in giving a much more somber and subdued performance)

Nicolas Cage - Con Air - 2(Yes Benigni's rating was a little severe. What type of Nicolas Cage is this though. When Nicolas Cage is boring something just is not right whether or not he's giving a good performance. Cage really just goes way too understated, and he's not the right type of actor for that. I would much rather have seen him try to go toe to toe with Malkovich in terms of insanity)

Louis Morgan said...


GM:

Hunt - 3.5(I've given my thoughts on her before, but I found her performance worked for the most part even if her history in the sitcom world was probably a little too apparent)

Carter - 4.5(Carter as an actress who should probably stay very far away from her husband, as well as stay away from every role that is some pale hag type person. Anyway Carter's performance here seems from another actress as there is a lot of life in her portrayal of the quietly ambitious and manipulative woman. Carter is effective in the way she balances the cold calculations while subtly bringing some genuine vulnerability to the character. I don't love the performance quite as much as some but she's definitely very good here)

Dench - 4.5(I'm not always that much of a fan of Dench's style but it certainly works here. Too often she can be too distance in her proper performance, but here that is too her advantage as her Victoria is purposefully creates a distance from others. Doing this from the beginning though allows her to naturally and poignantly show as the Queen slowly opens up and becomes closer through Victoria's relationship with Brown)

Winslet - 3.5(Like DiCaprio she hits the right marks as the romantic lead and maybe I should like her more)

RatedRStar:

Cheung - 4(I do think he was a little overshadowed by Leung and in turn a bit more limited since the film was from Leung's perspective. Having said though though Cheung still gave a very believable portrayal of sort of a constant emotional manipulation and the different forms his character used throughout the troubled relationship)

Chen - 4(Again a bit overshadowed by Leung but his performance acts as an effective counterpoint to Cheung. Instead being constantly at odds Chen creates a certain charm in just the way he makes his character so agreeable in relation to Leung's)

GM:

Hunt - 3.5(I've given my thoughts on her before, but I found her performance worked for the most part even if her history in the sitcom world was probably a little too apparent)

Carter - 4.5(Carter as an actress who should probably stay very far away from her husband, as well as stay away from every role that is some pale hag type person. Anyway Carter's performance here seems from another actress as there is a lot of life in her portrayal of the quietly ambitious and manipulative woman. Carter is effective in the way she balances the cold calculations while subtly bringing some genuine vulnerability to the character. I don't love the performance quite as much as some but she's definitely very good here)

Dench - 4.5(I'm not always that much of a fan of Dench's style but it certainly works here. Too often she can be too distance in her proper performance, but here that is too her advantage as her Victoria is purposefully creates a distance from others. Doing this from the beginning though allows her to naturally and poignantly show as the Queen slowly opens up and becomes closer through Victoria's relationship with Brown)


Winslet - 3.5(Like DiCaprio she hits the right marks as the romantic lead and maybe I should like her more)


RatedRStar:

Cheung - 4(I do think he was a little overshadowed by Leung and in turn a bit more limited since the film was from Leung's perspective. Having said though though Cheung still gave a very believable portrayal of sort of a constant emotional manipulation and the different forms his character used throughout the troubled relationship)

Chen - 4(Again a bit overshadowed by Leung but his performance acts as an effective counterpoint to Cheung. Instead being constantly at odds Chen creates a certain charm in just the way he makes his character so agreeable in relation to Leung's)

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Connolly - 4(He gives an interesting performance as he shows almost an opposite transition to Dench's. He starts out very open and shows the way that Brown becomes slowly becomes more introverted and warped due to the relationship although it is because of the other forces around them)

Depp - 4(Depp is overshadowed a bit by Pacino and I do feel he is saddled by the unconvincing scene of Pistone's home life. Nevertheless Depp is very good in showing the many sides to his man and has some great chemistry with Pacino)

Roache - 4(Technically fairly straightforward as his character is always honest even when he's trying to play the game of manipulation. He gives a charming performance and has some strong chemistry with both Carter and Elliott)

Jones - 3.5(A very enjoyable dead pan performance from Jones. This was the Agent K Brolin channeled in the third one not the boring and tired one we met in the sequels)

Smith - 3.5(Smith does have plenty of charm and some comedic ability which he uses quite well here. Very importantly though he has the right chemistry with Jones)

Lane - 2.5(Lane gives it his all, but I just don't find him that funny here)

Evans - 2(Rather bland particularly when compared to Lane)

Williams - 2(Williams can be funny but that's not the case here)

Clooney - 1.5(As Bruce Wayne Clooney coasts big time and not particularly well either. As Batman he's just George Clooney)

Louis Morgan said...

Tom Hanks - 2.5(A pretty forgettable performance from him and he was never able to rise above the saccharine material. He's not terrible but his performance should sort of haunt the film. That definitely does not happen.

Sandra Bullock - 3(She really is not given a whole lot to do, which probably is not a bad thing in this film. She's actually completely solid here and does her best to sell the material. She does not go as far as say Von Sydow, but she still manages to make it work a little bit)

Grady Tripp said...

Where is Pacino in "The Devil's Advocate", Louis? Or do you consider him supporting?

Louis Morgan said...

It's been awhile since I've watched it but I remember him being supporting.