Tuesday 21 January 2020

Best Actor 2019: Results

5. Joaquin Phoenix in Joker - Phoenix delivers some fantastic individual moments in his film though the shortcomings of it limit his work and in some points send it in the wrong direction.

Best Scene: Asking for his file.
4. Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes - Pryce makes use of great casting to give a charming and engaging turn that goes beyond the somewhat surface realization of Pope Francis offered by the screenplay.

Best Scene: Having made his confession.
3. Antonio Banderas in Pain and Glory - Banderas effectively shows off his range to give a subdued but captivating portrayal of the emotional state of his film director living through so much of his past, in the present.

Best Scene: Meeting his old lover.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - DiCaprio gives one of his best performances, in his wildly entertaining portrayal of the various roles of Rick Dalton, and the amusing fragile state of the actor.

Best Scene: Dalton in the trailer.
1. Adam Driver in Marriage Story - Good predictions Lucas Saavedra and Robert MacFarlane. Adam Driver gives a great performance that is based on creating such a naturalistic, intimate and vivid portrayal of a man's journey through a very painful divorce.

Best Scene: The argument.

Next: 2019 Alternate Supporting

24 comments:

Luke Higham said...

Downey Jr./Evans
Song/Choi
Rockwell/Waititi
Brown
Chalamet

BRAZINTERMA said...

- Song Kang-ho (Parasite)
- Robert Foster (El Camino)
- Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit)
- Sterling K. Brown (Waves)
- Robert Downey Jr. (Avengers: Endgame)

Robert MacFarlane said...

My official request is Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow for 2014 Actor

Chalamet
Song
Brown
Forster

BRAZINTERMA said...

Please Louis! That ALTERNATE SUPPORTING ACTOR and ALTERNATE ACTOR only have 5 reviews in each category.

Psifonian said...

Baykali Ganambarr, The Nightingale.

Luke Higham said...

Brazinterma: He's doing 10 for Lead.

Mitchell Murray said...

Like I said on Phoenix's review, I can accept him being last because Louis makes some fair points, and also because I knew Driver was going to be first without question.

Matt Mustin said...

I can live with a four for Phoenix. I might go a tiny bit lower, but that seems about right.

Emi Grant said...

Mitchell: What was your rating for Phoenix?

Mitchell Murray said...

Emi: Originally I had no qualms about giving him a 5. I have remained steadfast in that idea, even though I have yet to re-watch the film in its entirely. Even so, I can't imagine my score being any lower than 4.5, since I liked what Phoenix did in his "talk show" scene, and that seems to be the point of greatest derision for his turn.

I'd still feel confident in placing him above Pryce, though, so without having seen Banderas, my ranking for 2019 best actor would be as such.

1) Driver (5)
2) DiCaprio (5)
3) Phoenix (I'll stay at 5 for the time being, but I'll let everyone know if that changes.)
4) Pryce (4.5)

Emi Grant said...

Song/Choi
Waititi/Rockwell
Hader (he's still saved, right?)
Forster

Matt Mustin said...

Also, your review of Phoenix made me appreciate his performance a bit more. I still have issues with him, but I'm also letting my loathing for the film poison his work a bit in my mind, I think. Most of it is really not his fault.

Michael McCarthy said...

Since you have LaBeouf in lead, here’s my ideal lineup:

Song Kang-ho/Choi Woo-shik/Lee Sun-kyun in Parasite
Robert Downey, Jr./Jeremy Renner/Chris Evans in Avengers: Endgame
Bill Hader in It: Chapter 2
Sterling K. Brown in Waves
Timothée Chalamet in Little Women

If you’re not planning on reevaluating Chalamet, I’d be happy with Robert Forster in El Camino.

Matt Mustin said...

I can honestly live without a review of Hader. I still think he's very good, but I've lost a lot of enthusiasm for his performance.

Bryan L. said...

Louis, would the current Best Picture lineup be your favorite for the 2010s?

Calvin Law said...

Song Kang-ho/Choi Woo-shik in Parasite
Robert Downey, Jr./Chris Evans in Avengers: Endgame
Sterling K. Brown in Waves
Timothée Chalamet in Little Women
Sam Rockwell in Jojo Rabbit

Anonymous said...

Louis: Your thoughts on the rest of the cast of Always be My Maybe, and Bower, Moss & Pniowsky in Light of my Life?

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

My suggestions are the same as Calvin's.

Calvin Law said...

I have to admit on re-watch I lost a bit of passion for Downey, particularly in some of the middle scenes, and he’s not even in my top 10 anymore (though he will if I end up moving Majors and LaBeouf to lead).

Scott Gingold said...

Stephen Graham, The Irishman
Archie Yates, Jojo Rabbit
Robert Forster / Jesse Plemmons, El Camino
Jake Gyllenhaal, Velvet Buzzsaw

Mike Hannigan said...

Louis: Could you compare Jamie Foxx's Ray Charles, which you clearly hate, with Renee Zellweger's Judy Garland? They both base extensively on mannerisms, and are both in rather poor movies. But you seem to like Zellweger's turn more. Thanks.

Louis Morgan said...

Bryan:

Yes.

Anonymous:

Wong & Park - (The two occasionally fall into the overacting that isn't typically the best part of such a heightened romantic comedy. The two though manage to strike up enough of an honest chemistry though with a bit of depth that helps to make it more than just some hijinks.)

Buteau & Soni - (Now they squarely fall into the CWAZY best friend trope, a little too much and both are over the top. There are worse examples then their broad work here, but their not good examples. The worst thing being they just aren't that funny.)

Bower - (Bower manages to capture the sort of central loss better than anything else in just one brief scene, where his subdued yet potent delivery captures the weight of the situation in but a moment. Wonderful work, that I wish had been expanded a bit honestly.)

Moss - (This is where the Road comparisons are a little too strong as her scenes felt exactly like Theron's scenes in that film. Moss though does a fine job though in portrayal the physical and psychological degradation in her rather brief snippets.)

Mike:

Well the difference is not in the use of mannerisms, there is nothing wrong with doing mannerisms. The problem is Foxx is just not a very good actor, and his use of them feels very false because he cannot make them natural. Zellweger is a better performer than Foxx in general, and though her material she's working with is no better, there's more honesty in it due to her ability to make those mannerisms feel more natural. It also perhaps helps a bit that she sings her songs actually, but that is more so as her overall creating a better sense of her Garland than Foxx did of his Charles.

RatedRStar said...

One thing I think that makes the Joker film a fair bit worse without realising originally, is that there are 3 Gary Glitter songs used in the film .I mean really!!!

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