Thursday 31 January 2019

Best Actor 2018: Results

5. Viggo Mortensen in Green Book - Mortensen gives one of the least impressive turns of his career as he's stuck as a broad comedic caricature between two jarring tones of a buddy comedy, and a serious drama.

Best Scene: Writing the final letter.
4. Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody - Malek does his best to enliven the film's surface depiction of Freddie Mercury, as he manages to realizes the power of the man's personality and stage presence, even though not his voice.

Best Scene: Telling the band about his diagnosis.
3. Christian Bale in Vice - Although he's in a terrible film, Bale manages to give a convincing realization of the personal style of Dick Cheney, and manages to find at least some depth to the character even though this is limited by the terrible script he's working with.

Best Scene: Comforting his daughter.
2. Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born - Cooper, despite a few missteps and missed opportunities, gives an effective realization of the rock star personality and presence of his character, while also powerfully expressing the inner demons that haunt him.

Best Scene: Telling his brother the truth.
1. Willem Dafoe in At Eternity's Gate - Good prediction Matt Mustin, Dafoe easily wins this lineup for me in his heartbreaking yet also in some ways inspiring portrayal of Vincent van Gogh as a man who experiences reality in a different form.

Best Scene: Confession about cutting his ear.
Next: 2018 Supporting

30 comments:

J96 said...

First Comment! Not the strongest year, but we got some solid performances. DaFoe is your best, but he's got the lowest chance of winning the oscar, out of these five.

Bryan L. said...
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Bryan L. said...
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Mitchell Murray said...

Well since my line up looks like this - 5)Bale, 4)Mortensen, 3)Malek, 2)Dafoe, 1)Cooper - this is the most I've disagreed with your rankings in a while. Cooper is a 5 for me and I didn't think his drunken scene was overplayed at all, nor did I find his dynamic with Gaga to be forced or rushed, really.

Nevertheless, I'm glad Dafoe is your pick as he is a worthy second place for me, though if he, Cooper or Malek take home the prize, I'd be satisfied.

Charles H said...

Well, Dafoe had bad luck to begin with considering he had a hard time just getting nominated.

RatedRStar said...

Louis: What would you say is your favorite Norman Maine/Jackson Maine final scene/death scene out of the four versions.

Louis Morgan said...

RatedRStar:

Mason.

Mitchell Murray said...

Louis: Just an off hand question, but out of her two lead performances of 2018 - and I'm sure many people here have a clear answer, but I ask because you gave her the same rating each - did you like Rachel McAdams in "Game Night" or "Disobedience" more?

Robert MacFarlane said...

The Supporting ones I’d like to see:

Russell Hornsby (already locked in)
Allesandro Nivola
Nicolas Hoult
Bryan Tyree Henry
Linus Roache

You gave Josh Hamilton a 4 already, so not much I can do there.

Michael McCarthy said...

Still kinda hard to see Cooper as only a 4.5 for me, but it is what it is.

My ideal lineup:

Jeff Bridges & Lewis Pullman
Steven Yeun
Russell Crowe
Brian Tyree Henry
Tim Blake Nelson & Tom Waits
Linus Roache
Daniel Kaluuya
Russell Hornsby
Michael B. Jordan
Chris Hemsworth

Though I won't mind at all if Jordan and Hemsworth miss out in favor of Hoult and Nivola.

Mitchell Murray said...

In addition to those;

Russell Crowe
Josh Brolin & Chris Hemsworth (I don't think he's given there ratings yet)
Michael B Jordan
Daniel Kaluuya (Again, don't think he's given his thoughts)

That's who I can think of, anyways.

Emi Grant said...

Hey, at least I'm glad you have Bale on third, was hoping you were going to have him in the middle. Also 20.5/25 is pretty good considering how bad it has been before.

Of supporting, I'd personally like:

- Russell Crowe
- Brian Tyree Henry (Haven't caught up with the film yet, but the review would be interesting)
- Nicholas Hoult
- Alex Wolff
- Daniel Kaluuya (I don't care what anyone say, he's still my supporting win, damn it)

Charles H said...

This is my ideal 10, quite easily.

Steven Yeun
Jeff Bridges & Lewis Pullman
Lily Franky
Russell Crowe
Brian Tyree Henry
Tim Blake Nelson & Tom Waits
Linus Roache
Russell Hornsby
Nicholas Hoult

And i guess Nivola or Kaluuya for the final spot.

Matt Mustin said...

I can live with a 4.5 for Cooper, although I *heavily* disagree.

Suggestions:

Tim Blake Nelson and Tom Waits
Alessandro Nivola
Linus Roache
Nicholas Hoult
Steven Yeun

You probably might review Brian Tyree Henry in Beale Street, but I honestly was not overly impressed with that performance myself.

And my request is Christopher Plummer in Remember for Lead Actor 2015, although I'm warning you right now that the film itself is not very good.

Bryan L. said...

I just realized that I actually watched Sophie Scholl- The Final Days about ten years ago. It's just that I didn't know what the film was titled then. Props to whoever recommended that to Louis!

Anyways, the ones that I want to see reviewed the most are:

Bridges & Pullman
Nelson & Waits
Roache
Crowe
Hoult

Charles H said...

All i care about is that the guys from Buster Scruggs, El Royale and Yeun get reviewed with high ratings. They'd be my favorites of the year.

Michael McCarthy said...

Also Louis, seeing as you liked Game Night I would definitely recommend checking out Tag before you’re done with supporting actor. It’s not quite as impressively directed as Game Night, but it’s got a similar sense of humor and an interesting story that becomes surprisingly poignant. Also Jeremy Renner gives a really fun performance.

Scott Gingold said...

Tom Waits, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Josh Brolin, Avengers Infinity War
Mark Rylance, Ready Player One
Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther
Josh Hamilton, Eighth grade

Bryan L. said...

Scott: He gave his thoughts for Rylance in Sam Rockwell's review for Vice.

Louis: Your 90s cast and director for The Sweet Smell of Success and Good Time? With Downey Jr. as Sidney Falco of course

Calvin Law said...

Steven Yeun, Burning
Tom Waits and Tim Blake Nelson, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Russell Crowe, Boy Erased
Lily Franky, Shoplifters
Daniel Kaluuya, Widows
Nicholas Hoult, The Favourite
Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther
Linus Roache, Mandy
Alessandro Nivola, Disobedience
Brian Tyree Henry, If Beale Street Could Talk

Calvin Law said...

Oh yeah, and I forgot Hornsby was locked in. Since most on here haven’t seen Franky I wouldn’t be too disappointed if you saved onto him for a bonus review or just simply gave your thoughts on him when you do catch Shoplifters.

Anonymous said...

Steven Yeun in Burning
Tom Waits and Tim Blake Nelson in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Lily Franky in Shoplifters
Leonardo Ortizgris in Museo
Linus Roache in Mandy
Alessandro Nivola in Disobedience
Russell Hornsby in The Hate U Give
Nicholas Hoult in The Favourite

Luke Higham said...

Tom Waits/Tim Blake Nelson - The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
Jeff Bridges/Lewis Pullman - Bad Times At The El Royale
Lily Franky - Shoplifters
Steven Yeun - Burning
Russell Crowe - Boy Erased
Alessandro Nivola - Disobedience
Nicholas Hoult - The Favourite
Brian Tyree Henry - If Beale Street Could Talk
Linus Roache - Mandy
Russell Hornsby - The Hate U Give

Luke Higham said...

Louis: If you decide to save Franky for later, then I'd choose Jordan or Kaluuya.

Charles H said...

I wouldn't mind if Franky got saved although i would've liked to see a performance in a Koreeda film get reviewed.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Your thoughts on the Barber scene from Paddington 2 and Aquaman's visual effects.

Louis Morgan said...

A heads up, Franky won't be in the lineup as I've had no method of watching Shoplifters, the one online is a Chinese dub.

Sweet Smell of Success 90's directed by Barbet Schroder:

J.J.: Mel Gibson
Sidney Falco: Robert Downey Jr.
Susan: Christina Ricci
Steve: Jared Leto

Good Time 90's directed by David Fincher:

Connie: Nicolas Cage
Nick: Billy Crudup
Corey: Faye Dunaway
Ray: Kevin J. O'Conner

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

A delight scene of classic barber comedy to be sure, made unique through the madness possible the comedically absurd bear that is Paddington. And by that I mean it is a fun scene.

Aquaman's visuals look fake, however it doesn't really hide that and to that extent some of it certainly works into the amount of it. It doesn't really work in terms of giving any real "weight" in terms of the visuals since how much CGI is used against practicals. They still do work well enough for the silly tone of the film, and would've been a worthy long list nominee anyways.

Louis Morgan said...

Mitchell:

Game Night actually

Unknown said...

Hello Louis, i am new to your blog, i got to it by somebody pasting it into the comment section of YouTube Videos. Maybe you already answered my questions long ago, but how should i know? My questions: 1) why do you never explain your "deserving perfromances"? Every time i read that i think "it's wich i would hear some explanation on them, why they are great and why they are superior to the actual nominees. And 2) why haven't you ever made a post about female nominees?
I would be very happy about you ansWerbung, but even if you don't, take care!