5. William Shimell in Certified Copy - Shimell gives an effective if more simplistic, in comparison to his co-star, portrayal of the film's mysterious relationship.
Best Scene: The first stop.
4. Mads Mikkelsen in Valhalla Rising - Mikkelsen offers the right imposing yet otherworldly presence as his silent uncompromising warrior.
Best Scene: The pat.
3. Martin Sheen in The Way - Sheen offers the right balance to his film bringing a real emotional honesty to his character's journey of discovery while also doing the same for his less subtle co-stars.
Best Scene: Police Station.
2. Riz Ahmed in Four Lions - Ahmed is a proper Moe Howardesque straight man offering the right intensity, as well as sense of leadership in dealing with his incompetent underlings, while also humorously portraying his own failings.
Best Scene: Trying to talk Waj out of it.
1. Casey Affleck in The Killer Inside Me - Affleck delivers an absolutely chilling depiction of a psychopath and realizes the logic of a disturbed even if his film's not very good.
Best Scene: Preparing a funeral pyre.
Updated Overall
Next Year: 2010 Supporting
41 comments:
Hey guys, I'm trying my hand at a blog for the first time. Its going to center around the leading performances of the oscars (male and female) and will follow pretty much the template of the other posts here. Here's a link to it and if anyone has trouble finding it please let me know. Other wise feel free to comment on the first year I'm reviewing.
https://leadactorawards.blogspot.ca/
Armie Hammer in The Social Network and Kieran Culkin in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World are the only two a I want to see reviewed.
What are your thoughts on Douglas and Rolleson, and your thoughts on Boy?
And Giamatti in Barney's Version.
Only one I can think of for supporting is Zach Galifiankis in It's Kind of a Funny Story but I'm not sure I want to make you sit through that movie because you'll almost certainly hate it.
Actually, you might like Gary Oldman in The Book of Eli. Also, what's your ratings and thoughts on the rest of your lead rankings?
Calvin:
Douglas - 4.5(This is kind of classic Douglas in a way in that classic as in going all the way back to Kirk Douglas in terms of making just such a likable scoundrel. Douglas the younger brings that same type of energy creating a real charisma that basically lets his character get away through just how terrible he is because Douglas still makes him likable. It is not as though Douglas hides the real nature either as he does show the completely limited essentially impulse nature of him, although in that is perhaps is where he creates some sympathy. Whenever he explains himself Douglas is terrific in portraying the underlying fear that technically compels him to live life fully, well at least in his view.)
Rolleson - 4.5(Completely endearing performance that manages to make an honest performance creating the sense of a child's imagination so well in the first half of the film. Rolleson's great in bringing the right type of impressionable spirit that defines the boy, and makes it convincing why he wouldn't notice his father is a horrible person. Slowly throughout the film though Rolleson's pretty heartbreaking as he gradually portrays this shattering by presenting a growing maturity that hardens the boy, though in a way he technically needs to be hardened.)
I loved Boy, but I'll get into more detail very very soon.
Giamatti - 4.5(Well in terms of being a "comedic" performance, more of just a bit sarcastic at times, I suppose that is a bit of stretch, however it's good thing he won the globe that year considering some of his competition. Anyway Giamatti though is actually quite terrific in once again portraying a schlub although he isn't just Miles from Sideways here, this is different sort of schlub. Giamatti's great though again in portraying so well that inherent self-loathing that he depicts here as something that grows and grows becoming less affable the more it lasts. In addition he's quite effective in his later scene portraying the burden of his dementia in a pretty devastating fashion.)
Louis: Your Female Lead and Supporting Top Tens of 2010 with ratings and other 4+ performances.
Some ideas for the supporting lineup:
Dustin Hoffman-Barney's Version
Oliver Platt-Please Give
Eddie Marsan-Disappearance of Alice Creed
Forest Whitaker-Repo Men
Would also love to see upgrades for Hammer and Garfield in The Social Network, as well as Kingsley in Shutter Island.
Also, are Bale and Rush still 4s for the time being?
Really hoping Renner gets upgraded.
Awesome to see Lee & Eisenberg in the top 4.
And the supporting line-up for this year isn't amazing, i don't have anything to add.
Actually, I would like if Chris Evans and Brandon Routh got upgraded for Scott Pilgrim as well.
Armie Hammer in The Social Network
Dustin Hoffman in Barney's Version
Louis: Ratings and thoughts on the rest of the leading performances that you saw.
Armie Hammer - The Social Network
Cillian Murphy - Inception
Liu Kai Chi - The Stool Pigeon
Stellan Skarsgard - King Of Devil's Island
Gary Oldman - Book Of Eli
I hope to see upgrades for Hawkes and Mendelsohn.
Louis: Your thoughts on Alice In Wonderland and the cast.
Liu Kai Chi - The Stool Pigeon
Stellan Skarsgard - King Of Devil's Island
Dustin Hoffman - Barneys Version
Teddy Robin - Gallants
Wang Xueqi - Reign of Assassins
Louis: And please get around to Tangled, How To Train Your Dragon, Robin Hood and The Way Back.
And Of Gods And Men & Monsters.
Dustin Hoffman - Barney's Version
Peter Wight and David Bradley - Another Year
Michael Lonsdale - Of Gods and Men
Cillian Murphy - Inception
Oliver Platt - Please Give
Ronit Roy – Udaan
Arshad Warsi – Ishqiya
Luke: I actually saw The Way Back a couple of nights ago. I really liked it.
Louis: your ratings and thoughts on the cast of Barney's version, altough i really liked Giamatti, Rosamund Pike was my favourite, i hope you liked her as much as i do. Can i have also your ratings and thoughts on the cast of Another Year (especially Lesley Manville), Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole, Kirsten Dunst in All Good Things and Yoong Jeong-hee in Poetry if you have seen her.
Omar: I really liked Pike as well!
Taika Waititi - Boy
Liu Kai Chi - The Stool Pigeon
Stellan Skarsgard - King Of Devil's Island
Gary Oldman - Book Of Eli (a lot of fun)
Richard Jenkins - Dear John (heartbreaking)
Chris Evans - The Losers (hilarious)
I adored Kirsten Dunst in All Good Things. The film is not good and it’s one of my least favorite Gosling performances, but Dunst is amazing.
I really didnt like All Good Things, I had it on 4th from bottom on my Letterboxd for 2010 ( just casually plugging that again lol)
Calvin: :) your ratings and thoughts on Giamatti and Pike?
Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones, The Company Men
Michael Shannon, The Runaways
Michael Douglas and Frank Langella, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps
Omar:
Giamatti - 4 (a strong and moving portrayal of an imperfect but still sympathetic man going through a series of unfortunate relationships. His last few scenes are pretty great too)
Pike - 4 (thought she aged particularly naturistically, had solid chemistry with Giamatti and made her side of the story resonate just as much with much less focus)
Oh I totally forgot about Farrell in The Way Back and Lonsdale in Of Gods and Men, those would be great reviews.
Louis: And for ranking purposes, Ryan Reynolds in Buried.
Armie Hammer
Liu Kai Chi
Stellan Skarsgard
Michael Lonsdale
Taika Waititi
Alt. Colin Farrell, Wight and Bradley and Gary Oldman.
And if you do like Cillian Murphy in Inception more on Re-Watch, then a review for him as well.
Louis: What made you watch Alice In Wonderland. I thought you weren't going anywhere near it.
To see how bad Depp was in that movie?
So I guess NBR liked the Post(guess the negative rumors were indeed just that). The Three Billboards snub though is terrible, though even as the biggest fan of Martin McDonagh's cinematic output I did think people were overestimating its chances a bit.
Matt:
Phoenix - 4(Now I'm Still Here actually fails because it refuses to recognize itself as a mockumentary, the couple of scenes that lean into that actually do work, but the majority of them fall flat in just depicting a decaying egotistical Phoenix. Phoenix to his credit, particularly for all the effort he put in, is a pretty good at being an intolerable self-absorbed actor with some shameful sense of self-importance to his rapping career. Phoenix throws himself fully into this effectively so, but really they should have just made it a comedy since the two scenes where people play off of him, such as with Ben Stiller, or the David Letterman visit the film works. As Phoenix is a proper madman just waiting for some proper straight unfortunately he's stuck in some failed experiment.)
Labine & Tudyk - 4(Both are pretty funny here in portraying their roles with such earnestness in every facet whether it is in their abject confusion towards everything happening around them or the hilariously sweet words of encouragement by Tudyk or Labine's self-loathing. The two are really bring home the comedy here, even if the film doesn't quite sustain itself once it creates an actual monster.)
Broadbent - 4(This is a strange one in that he feels more of supporting, while Lesley Manville feels more of the lead even though she's really not. This is because his role is more of this center of stability within the more tumultuous times for others. Broadbent though portrays this with the right honesty presenting both a real warmth in the relationship between two people who simply and fully love each other. The rest of the time he is effective as a reactionary portrayal of sometimes quietly trying to push people in the right direction or occasionally stepping in a little to do the right thing. Broadbent is very in these little moments such as when he defends his brother from his nephew portraying a quiet incisiveness in his earnest words of wisdom.)
Carrey - 4(It is always interesting to see Carrey do drama, and again I'd say that is probably where he is best. His performance here is more comedic at times however he captures a needed madness for such a mad role portraying the needed enthusiasm towards life for a man willing to fake his own death for love. Carrey goes all in and his turn here is pretty effective in portraying a more unusual crook in every sense. He brings the right amorality even in the scenes where he explains his crimes, yet always creates an understanding in portraying a man who brings so much energy to being himself.)
Nielsen - 4(Rather effective in portraying just the instability from a boy who has built up such an intensity of anger and pain from his loss. He's quite good without going too far to seem openly psychotic. Instead he makes the intensity feel very natural to the raw emotions of a boy who just can't quite comprehend what to do.)
Gibson - 4(His accent is very much an afterthought however Gibson is one of the very best in terms of portraying the sheer intensity possible in grief which is quite striking and needed here. He carries the film properly here always giving such an emotional potency to every moment of the revenge thriller.)
Persbrandt - 4(Rather moving in portraying the quiet emotional turmoil within the unassuming man. He is properly meek throughout though with the right given warmth making it so the one scene where he acts out to have quite the impact.)
Galllo - 3.5(The Revenant with even less context and dialogue. A little too little actually. Gallo is decent enough in portraying just the physical exhaustion of every scene however he fails to make the character someone you can truly empathize with or at least be fascinated by in any way.)
Eckhart - 3.5(His performance is entirely just fine hitting the right emotional notes, and not going overboard in his more intense scenes with Kidman. His work though somehow never quite goes the next step to really become truly affecting despite the subject matter.)
Rygaard - 3.5(Perhaps the least of the three leads though he still is pretty good in portraying just a the enthusiasm of an impressionable young boy, while also being moving in depicting the pain and isolation that helps to encourage this behavior.)
Norton - 3(He's pretty bland as the "good" brother, while mildly entertaining as the "bad" brother. It's still isn't anything special and he can't quite meld the tone the same way the film struggles to do so.)
Farrell - 3(He's charming enough here to carry the film however he does get swallowed up a bit by the blandness of the role. He never quite takes the part anywhere past the starting point of likable enough fisherman.)
Stiller - 3(Really hated the experience of this film, and feel I should probably give Gerwig more credit for 20th Century Women due to my extreme aversion everywhere else. Stiller's a decent pseudo curmudgeon at times however he never made me feel the role was just a series of ideas than a genuine person.)
Helstad - 3(Stoic perhaps to a fault. He never quite brings enough charisma nor emotional intensity to truly carry the film. He's decent but far from great.)
Gosling - 2.5(The film to me made a major mistake to try to cover all of Durst leading to some pretty terrible scenes from Gosling as the older Durst. Gosling though the rest of the time just seems in this singular state of psycho without much substance to it. This partially due to the film that takes such cursory glance at the subject.)
Downey & Galifianakis - (Saw this awhile ago however here Downey Jr. proved to be no Steve Martin and Galifianakis proved to really be no John Candy.)
Depp - (Garbage.)
Louis: Your Female Lead and Supporting Top Tens of 2010 with ratings and other 4+ performances.
Anonymous:
Actress:
1. Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone
2. Juliet Binoche - Certified Copy
3. Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine
4. Emma Stone - Easy A - 4.5
5. Sally Hawkins - Made in Dagenham - 4.5
6. Naomi Watts - Fair Game
7. Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit
8. Lubna Azabal - Incendies - 4.5
9. Carey Mulligan - Never Let Me Go
10. Tilda Swinton - I Am Love - 4
Supporting Actress:
1. Jackie Weaver - Animal Kingdom
2. Lesley Manville - Another Year - 5
3. Marion Cotillard - Inception
4. Dale Dickey - Winter's Bone
5. Olivia Williams - The Ghost Writer
6. Rosamund Pike - Barney's Version - 4.5
7. Sissy Spacek - Get Low
8. Michelle Williams - Shutter Island
9. Ellen Wong - Scott Pilgrim vs The World
10. Miranda Richardson - Made in Dagenham
And:
Chloe Grace-Moretz - Kickass
Patricia Clarkson - Shutter Island
I'll get to rest of the thoughts on the next post.
Luke:
It was a Thanksgiving Treat wholly by chance.
Michael:
Yes for the time being, though I'll probably re-watch them during supporting.
Louis: Make sure to watch Poetry. Yoon Jeong-Hee could potentially take the Lead Actress win.
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