Sunday 16 November 2014

Alternate Best Actor 1946: Results

5. David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death - Niven, despite a strong start, gives an adequate performance but one that is overshadowed both by the supporting players and the film's direction.

Best Scene: Peter's "goodbye".
4. Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine - The film doesn't really do much with Wyatt Earp as a character but Fonda still manages to gives a solid leading turn befitting the film.

Best Scene: The O.K. Corral
3. Van Heflin in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - Van Heflin gives a surprisingly charming performance that carefully maneuvers around the film's intensely melodramatic story. 

Best Scene: Sam leaves the house as well as his past.
2. Jean Marais in Beauty and the Beast - He makes for an appropriately jerky villain but as well brings the right humanity and animal into his earnest depiction of the beast.

Best Scene: Just before the transformation.
1. Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives - Good Prediction RatedRStar, mcofra7, and Luke. Andrews gives a powerful understated portrayal of man repressing his anguish of the war as he faces civilian life once again.

Best Scene: Fred visits an old bomber.
Overall Rank:
  1. James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life
  2. Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives
  3. Jean Marais in Beauty and the Beast
  4. Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep
  5. Fredric March in The Best Years of Our Lives
  6. Van Heflin in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
  7. Paul Muni in Angel on My Shoulder
  8. Cary Grant in Notorious
  9. Burt Lancaster in The Killers
  10. John Mills in Great Expectations
  11. Henry Fonda in My Darling Clementine
  12. Edmond O'Brien in The Killers
  13. Edward G. Robinson in The Stranger
  14. Basil Rathbone in Terror By Night
  15. David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death
  16. Claude Jarman Jr. in The Yearling
  17. Orson Welles in The Stranger
  18. Glenn Ford in Gilda
  19. John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice
  20. Dean Stockwell in The Green Years
  21. Alan Ladd in The Blue Dahlia
  22. Tom Drake in The Green Years
  23. Gregory Peck in The Yearling
  24. Bud Abbott in The Time of Their Lives
  25. Lou Costello in The Time of Their Lives
  26. Bob Hope in The Road to Utopia
  27. Bing Crosby in The Road to Utopia
  28. Joseph Cotten in Duel in the Sun
  29. Tyrone Power in The Razor's Edge
  30. Gregory Peck in Duel in the Sun
  31. Larry Parks in The Jolson Story
Next Year: 1946 Supporting

34 comments:

GM said...

Vincent Price - Dragonwyck
Henry Travers, Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell - It's a Wonderful Life
Claude Rains - Deception
Roger Livesey - A Matter of Life and Death
Victor Mature - My Darling Clementine

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: Your rating & thoughts on Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: My request is Clive Owen in Children of Men

Henry Travers - It's A Wonderful Life
Lionel Barrymore - It's A Wonderful Life
Roger Livesey - A Matter of Life and Death
Alec Guinness - Great Expectations

RatedRStar said...

@Luke:

Cumberbatch (4.5) I think Cumberbatch is well cast, because his calculated style of acting works for Turing just as it does Sherlock, he does carry the film and is definately watchable, his scenes of passion in the machine are very effective, and he does make himself sympathetic, the only problem is down the film which never really gets into Turing as much as I would have liked, the film feels a bit too safe, so thats why I felt a 4.5 was neccessary as I feel Benedict is kinda let down by the film itself in terms of writing.

Luke Higham said...

Everyone: For the First nomination list, I put Giamatti and Mortensen down because I just don't think they're as respected as they should be by the academy.

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: For me personally, I would much rather if he had a 4.5 than less than that since I would like the academy to get it right for the second year in a row, Bale Excepted. So I guess Redmayne's the one to worry about now.

RatedRStar said...

My winning request is actually a bonus review Louis, since Alternate Best Actor 2011 has been done, it is a performance close to my heart.


Jakub Gierszal - Suicide Room

Luke Higham said...

Everyone: Your ratings on Clive Owen in Children of Men.

mcofra7 said...

How many requests are there for 2007 lead?

Louis Morgan said...

Currently three.

Luke Higham said...

mcofra7: Someone should correct me for this but there should be about 2 or 3.
Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Lust Caution (Can't remember exactly, but I think his performance is one of them).
Lau Ching Wan - Mad Detective.

mcofra7 said...

Winning Request: Brad Pitt in the Assassination of Jesse James

Louis Morgan said...

Someone suggested Leung but did not request him.

Here are the three:

Lau Ching Wan - Mad Detective
Joaquin Phoenix - We Own the Night
Casey Affleck - Gone Baby Gone

Anonymous said...

finlay currie great expectations

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Was James McAvoy not requested awhile back for Atonement, despite giving him a 2.5 rating before the request was made.

Louis Morgan said...

No he wasn't.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: OK

So I'm guessing that fifth slot is between Jake Gyllenhaal in Zodiac, Josh Brolin in NCFOM, Ryan Gosling in Lars and the real girl, Tony Leung in Lust Caution and Mathieu Amalric in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, although you should save him for the bonus rounds.

Anonymous said...

Actually I did request McAvoy when I won for my prediction for Alternate Best Actor 1933, but I don't mind if you don't want to review him. If you don't want to review him I can change my request.

Louis Morgan said...

Anonymous: I'll review him..... as long as you're the real anonymous.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: What decade will you be doing next, also for the 00s, which are you covering first 06 or 07.

Louis Morgan said...

I'll probably do the 30's next and probably 06 first.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: I know this maybe a bit selfish of me, but if you are doing the 30s next, can you pick the least time consuming of the remaining years, that year possibly being 30 or 32 because I'm dying to get to the 90s and 06 especially.

Also for the 06 lead lineup prediction, will you be sticking to the first 5 requests or choose at random out of all 7.

Michael Patison said...

Lionel Barrymore in It's a Wonderful Life
Finlay Currie in Great Expectations
Henry Travers in It's a Wonderful Life

Anonymous said...

I've just seen Nightcrawler and I just loved it. It's brilliant and Jake Gyllenhaal is sensation. I also thought that Rene Russo was great as well, what are everybody else's thoughts on her performance? I think I'd give her a 4.5

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar said...

Thoughts/Ratings on:
Paul Muni in Angel on My Shoulder
Burt Lancaster and Edmund O'Brien in The Killers
John Mills in Great Expectations
Claude Jarman Jr. in The Yearling
Orson Welles in The Stranger
John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice
Dean SJoseph Cotten in Duel in the Sun tockwell in The Green Years

Anonymous said...

Louis, what are your thoughts and/or ratings for Choi Min Sik for Lucy?

Matt Mustin said...

So, I finally saw Interstellar. I'm still trying to gather my thoughts so for now I'll just say I thought it was completely amazing. My ratings for the cast:
McConaughey-5
Hathaway-4
Chastain-4.5
Gyasi-3
Irwin-3.5
Caine-3.5
Bentley-2
Foy-4
Burstyn-2.5
Lithgow-2.5
Affleck-2.5(wasted, but does the best he can)
Damon-2

I'll give specific thoughts on the performances if requested.

Michael Patison said...

This weekend I saw Interstellar, Nightcrawler, and Gone Girl (finally!), but I have a 15-page research paper due Thursday, so I won't write anything on them until after then, but here's my cast ratings for each:
Interstellar:
McConaughey-5
Hathaway-3.5
Chastain-4 (maybe a 4.5)
Gyasi-3
Irwin-3.5
Stewart-2.5
Caine-3
Bentley-2.5 (if he changes, he'll go down)
Foy-3.5 (maybe a 4)
Lithgow-2.5
Damon-2.5 (if he changes, he'll go down)
Affleck-3 (maybe a 3.5)
Burstyn-2.5

Nightcrawler:
Gyllenhaal-5
Russo-3.5 (maybe a 4)
Ahmed-3.5 (maybe a 4)
Paxton-3 (maybe a 3.5)

Gone Girl (Generally speaking I think I liked it more than most people here did):
Affleck-4.5 (maybe a 5)
Pike-5
Harris-2.5
Perry-4
Coon-4
Dickens-4
Fugit-3
Wilson-2
Pyle-3.5
Ward-2.5

Robert MacFarlane said...

I may as well share my feelings on the casts of Nightcrawler and Birdman;

Nightcrawler:

Gyllenhaal: 5
Russo: 3.5
Ahmed: 3.5
Paxton: 3

Birdman:

Keaton: 5
Norton: 4
Stone: 4
Galifianakis: 4 (bordering on 4.5)
Watts: 4
Riseborough: 4
Ryan: 4.5
Duncan: 4

Anonymous said...

I clearly liked Russo more than you, I thought she was great and she made her moral decay incredibly effective. I haven't seen Gone Girl, but my ratings on the casts of Interstellar and Nightcrawler are:
Interstellar:
McConaughey - 4.5 (almost 5)
Hathaway - 3.5 (almost 4)
Chastain - 4 (almost 4.5)
Foy - 3.5 (almost 4)
Gyasi - 2.5
Irwin - 3
Bentley - 2
Affleck - 2.5
Caine - 3
Burstyn - 3
Lithgow - 2.5
Damon - 2
Nightcrawler:
Gyllenhaal - 5
Russo - 4.5
Ahmed - 3.5 (almost 4)
Paxton - 3

Anonymous said...

@Matt Mustin: I'd like to hear your thoughts on McConaughey, Hathaway, Chastain, Caine, Foy and Damon if you don't mind :)

Louis Morgan said...

GetDonaldSutherlandAnOscar:

Muni - 4(He did not surprise me here because I've always felt Muni did his own biggest disservice by hamming it up because he definitely had talent. He does a little bit of his trademark overacting in doing the gangster mannerisms early on. Thankfully he settles down pretty quickly and gives a very effective depiction of slowly bringing some humanity to the gangster caricature he starts with)

Lancaster - 3.5(He actually peaks early with his performance as his best scene is when his character accepts his demise at the beginning. Due to the flashback nature of his character we get basically the highlights of his life which Lancaster does well with but I would not have minded if the film devoted a little more time for his character)

O'Brien - 3.5(Ah another performance where he has to play the straight man to the more emotional characters. O'Brien is good though and does a fine job of carrying his scenes which are completely detached Lancaster's)

Mills - 3.5(Pip really is not much of a character, he's mainly there to facilitate more interesting characters. Mills does manage to do a good job of reflecting what he's going through at any given moment stopping him from being completely overshadowed by the more flamboyant characters)

Jarman - 3.5(Out acted his adult co-stars as far as I'm concerned. He gets slightly one note in a few moments here and there but that's mostly due to the writing. He mostly gives a fairly endearing and honest depiction of a child gaining than painfully losing his companion)

Welles - 3.5(A couple of his moment are a bit over the top, but when he has his moments of quietly philosophizing he is quite chilling)

Garfield - 3(Garfield is someone I've yet to see the greatness that people speak of him. He has moments where he can be effective enough which are in this performance, but I always feels there is this certain awkwardness about his performances that keeps him from going the distance)

Stockwell - 3(A couple of his other child performances seemed slightly actorly, but he's rather good here. He's has a genuine sweetness and I really enjoyed his scenes with Charles Coburn)

Cotten - 2.5(I did not find him to be aggressively bad like his other leading co-stars but there was only so much he could do with such a underwritten role)

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I would have given a 1.5 to Gregory Peck in Duel in the Sun. He was really terrible, a 2 is still too generous.

Matt Mustin said...

Anonymous:
McConaughey(Perfect at just being the leading man to follow through the story, but as well his emotional moments are just exceptional)
Hathaway(Effective at first in being the cold, logical scientist, and later fairly moving when more is revealed about her)
Chastain(She has most of the key emotional moments in the film outside of McConaughey and she excels completely)
Caine(Offers his usual solid support and is surprisingly powerful in his final scene, even if the revelations regarding his character are questionable)
Foy(Absolutely perfect casting, as she actually seems like the spitting image of a young Jessica Chastain. In addition I felt she and McConaughey had great chemistry and she succeeded in her limited screentime in creating a sympathetic character)
Damon(His character is easily the worst part of the movie to me, as I felt he was distracting and just plain out of place. It's not entirely the fault of his performance, but he doesn't do anything to change the fact that his character is pointless.