Thursday, 24 February 2022

Alternate Best Actor 2021


And the Nominees Were Not:

Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley
 
Nicolas Cage in Pig
 
Joaquin Phoenix in C'Mon C'Mon 
 
Amir Jadidi in A Hero
 
Dev Patel in The Green Knight 

Predict those five, these fives, or both: 

Hidetoshi Nishijima in Drive My Car

Jason Isaacs in Mass

Simon Rex in Red Rocket

Peter Dinklage in Cyrano

Caleb Landry Jones in Nitram

70 comments:

Robert MacFarlane said...

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Jadidi
4. Patel
5. Phoenix

1. Nishijima
2. Jones
3. Rex
4. Isaacs
5. Dinklage

HTT said...

1. Cooper
2. Phoenix
3. Cage
4. Patel
5. Jadidi

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Dinklage
5. Jones

May change this once some other predictions come.

BRAZINTERMA said...

5º Amir Jadidi
4º Joaquin Phoenix
3º Dev Patel
2º Nicolas Cage
1º Bradley Cooper

5º Peter Dinklage
4º Caleb Landry
3º Simon Rex
2º Jason Isaacs
1º Hidetoshi Nishijima

HTT said...

Watched Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence for the first time yesterday. What a underrated film! Beautifully acted, directed and especially scored. That ending is just ... *chef's kiss*.

9.4/10

Letterboxd review here:
https://letterboxd.com/htt/film/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence/

Cast ratings:
David Bowie - 5/5 (Absolutely hypnotic performance. It may help that he is ... Y'know, David Bowie? But still, I feel that no one could have done this as well as he did.)

Tom Conti - 4.5/5 (He does overact some times, but it's still a great expressive performance that is as loud as it is quiet. He manages to stand toe-to-toe with Bowie with ease.)

Ryuichi Sakamoto - 3/5 (Not a good performance by any means, but it is a performance that works. His soundtrack for this film is a 5/5 though.)

Takeshi Kitano - 5/5 (Great supporting performance here. He manages to be threatening when he is supposed to, but he is best when he portrays his character almost like a child. It's a great balance of menace and humanity. That last scene is an amazing piece of acting. That smile is hauntingly great.)

Also, I have finally created a list that kind of serves as a collection of all my film ratings and cast ratings. It constantly updates for each film I watch or rewatch. Give it a like if you want.

The list:
https://letterboxd.com/htt/list/every-film-i-have-given-a-something-out-of/detail/

Anonymous said...

Silly me. I spent a while typing out my predictions before I remembered I'm not allowed to anymore.

Michael McCarthy said...

1. Bradley Cooper
2. Joaquin Phoenix
3. Amir Jadidi
4. Dev Patel
5. Nicolas Cage (Supposedly he’ll be a five but I honestly thought Alex Wolff was better)

1. Hidetoshi Nishijima
2. Jason Isaacs
3. Peter Dinklage
4. Simon Rex
5. Caleb Landry Jones

Aidan Pittman said...

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Jadidi
4. Patel
5. Phoenix

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Jones
4. Rex
5. Dinklage

Matt Mustin said...

1. Cooper
2. Phoenix
3. Jadidi
4. Patel
5. Cage


1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Jones
4. Rex
5. Dinklage

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: Your rating and thoughts on Hoffman and the other saved performances.

1. Cooper
2. Phoenix
3. Jadidi
4. Patel
5. Cage

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Jones
4. Rex
5. Dinklage

HTT said...

OK, only thing I'm changing is Dinklage on 5th and Jones on 4th.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

HTT: When you change a prediction, make sure to repost the whole thing to make it easier for Louis.

Calvin Law said...

1. Cooper
2. Jadidi
3. Cage
4. Patel
5. Phoenix

1. Nishijima
2. Rex
3. Isaacs
4. Dinklage
5. Jones

Calvin Law said...

Predicting Cumberbatch to take the overall, Washington right behind him, and then Nishijima, Cooper and Rex filling out the rest of the top 5.

Calvin Law said...

Also Louis, for the request I won for Lead Actor 2021 I would like to request James Shigeta in The Crimson Kimono.

Matt Mustin said...

Just realized there's no Cooper Hoffman.

Calvin Law said...

And sorry to overflow with comments but just in case for reminder's sake, the other saved performances besides Hoffman are I *think*

Tim Blake Nelson
Mahershala Ali
Udo Kier
Stephen Graham

Also it's going to be interesting to see how many 5's we end up with here because don't forget, we already have 2 with Kaluuya and Stanfield.

Psifonian said...

1. Cage
2. Cooper
3. Patel
4. Phoenix
5. Jadidi

1. Rex
2. Isaacs
3. Jones
4. Nishijima
5. Dinklage

Shaggy Rogers said...

1. Cooper
2. Patel
3. Cage
4. Phoenix
5. Jadidi

1. Nishijima
2. Rex
3. Isaacs
4. Dinklage
5. Jones

Shaggy Rogers said...

Hey guys.
Challenge for you all: tell us what Louis' Overall will be like next week. The 10 I predict:

1. Nishijima
2. Cumberbatch
3. Washington
4. Cooper
5. Rex
6. Isaacs
7. Patel
8. Cage
9. Stanfield
10. Kaluuya

Tim said...

1) Cooper
2) Cage
3) Jadidi
4) Phoenix
5) Patel



1) Nishijima
2) Rex
3) Isaacs
4) Dinklage
5) Jones

Luke Higham said...

I'm hoping you'll do a special write-up on Hoffman (ala Hassell).

Louis: Ratings and thoughts on:
Stephan Graham
James Norton
Udo Kier
Mahershala Ali
Tim Blake Nelson

Luke Higham said...

I'll give my predictions on the 1st review for each lineup.

Anonymous said...

Luke, rating predictions.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Sod it, I'm predicting a clean sweep of fives for the entire lineup.

Luke Higham said...

Thinking about it, I think Louis will review Hoffman because he didn't write Licorice Pizza is another masterful film from PTA on the opening paragraph of the 'trio' review.

Marcus said...

Louis not including Hoffman in the line-up actually gives me even more hope that every performance here is a 5.

1. Cooper
2. Jadidi
3. Cage
4. Phoenix
5. Patel

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Jones
5. Dinklage

HTT said...

OK, final predictions:

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Phoenix
4. Jadidi
5. Patel

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Jones
5. Dinklage

Matthew Montada said...

1. Cooper - 5
2. Cage - 5
3. Jadidi 5
4. Phoenix - 5
5. Patel - 5

1. Nishijima - 5
2. Isaacs - 5
3. Rex - 5
4. Jones - 5
5. Dinklage - 4.5/5

Stephen Patterson said...

Louis reviewing Hoffman wouldn't surprise me. It'll be another opportunity to shower the love on the film as well as Alana Haim.

Randle McMurphy said...

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Phoenix
4. Patel
5. Jadidi

1. Nishijima
2. Rex
3. Isaacs
4. Jones
5. Dinklage

Calvin Law said...

I love how insanely different all Jason Isaac reviewed performances have been on here.

Matt Mustin said...

Regarding Isaacs, has anyone here seen Star Trek Discovery? He was FANTASTIC on that show.

Luke Higham said...

Isaacs getting a five would be a long time coming. He's one of my favourite underappreciated performers.

Emi Grant said...

Well, shit. These might be hard to rank. Will be interesting to see if Cooper gets his own write-up.

1. Cooper
2. Cage (always trust the Psifonian connection)
3. Phoenix
4. Patel
5. Jadidi

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Jones
5. Dinklage

Emi Grant said...

Cooper Hoffman that is, obviously.

RatedRStar said...

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Phoenix
4. Jadidi
5. Patel

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Jones
5. Dinklage

Ytrewq Wertyq said...

1.Cooper
2.Cage
3.Phoenix
4.Jadidi
5.Patel

1.Nishijima
2.Isaacs
3.Rex
4.Jones
5.Dinklage

Oliver Menard said...

INCREDIBLE line-up. I'll hold off my predictions until the first review. The ranking could go nearly anyway for these.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: What do you think contributed to Cooper missing out for both of his 2021 performances?

J96 said...

Hey Question, So I’ve been following your blog over the years and I love it, but please explain to me the purpose of having two categories of five. Thanks

J96 said...

Also Louis, what is your leading and supporting actress line-up?

Luke Higham said...

Save that for the results.

Bryan L. said...

J96: Louis wants to review the performances that he most wants to discuss. In this case, the Academy didn’t do the best job of nominating great turns in both their Supporting & Lead categories, when there were many that should’ve received more notice. That’s why there’s a total of ten for both Alternate rounds.

For other years, it depends if there’s many great performances to discuss from films that came said year, or hardly any (like with the 1930s/1940s).

Calvin Law said...

For Nightmare Alley, seems like the entire campaign was focused on the technical elements outside of the Blanchett SAG nom. For supporting, I would say length of the role but we’ve seen one scene wonders or so nominated here before so maybe just lack of imagination by the Academy.

It is interesting that despite being twice snubbed this year he still got a nomination as producer of NA.

Tim said...

your thoughts on the Cinematography of The Lovely Bones?

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Calvin: That's definitely true when it comes to Nightmare Alley. The nature of the character probably didn't help either, although that certainly didn't hurt Cumberbatch.

As for Supporting, I realized that the line up surprisingly had no category fraud this time, so I doubt screen time was the issue. Seems like all the voters who watched Licorice Pizza just wanted to recognize Anderson's work.

Maciej said...

1.Cooper
2.Cage
3.Phoenix
4.Jadidi
5.Patel

1.Nishijima
2.Isaacs
3.Dinklage
4.Rex
5.Jones

Razor said...

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Jadidi
4. Patel
5. Phoenix

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Dinklage
5. Jones

Louis Morgan said...

Tahmeed:

Nightmare Alley itself only had limited appeal, despite its Best Picture nomination, because it is such a prickly tale, with Stanton being the most prickly part of it. The acting branch typically doesn't embrace scoundrels unless, they are more overtly flamboyant in their behavior like Daniel Plainview, Arthur Fleck, or yes even Phil Burbank (though I think the critical support/the success of the film helped Cumberbatch as well). You have to be kind of a magnificent bastard for the lack of a better word. The more subdued your evil the less likely the academy will embrace the character. If critics had backed him, Cooper I think could've gotten in, but they just weren't there for him.

For Licorice Pizza it is because the acting branch sucks....I mean they want their cars smashed...I mean I honestly don't know, I would've said screentime but he got in for SAG so it seemed like he got over that hump. Really I think it was the acting branch being lazy, particularly in supporting actor, by voting Ricardos down the line in terms of the recognizable actors (leaving off Arianda aka you know the most deserving cast member) and then just doubling on Dog rather than think even slightly outside the box.

Tim:

Again please save any non 2021 specific thoughts questions for after I'm done with the alternates.

8000S said...

1. Cooper
2. Cage
3. Phoenix
4. Jadidi
5. Patel

1. Nishijima
2. Isaacs
3. Rex
4. Jones
5. Dinklage

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Stephan Graham - 4.5(His performance that is the most fixated upon in the one shot, and Graham, who I think often has a Hoskins esque energy anyways, carries that sort of bottled up intensity so well here. Graham's performance articulates a man just going along yet there's so much welling up within the man's state that is slow bursting at its seams. Graham's performance works in showing the way the character so desperately meets every moment of every act of one thing or another with a divided attention. There is always the sense of the internal wear inside of him just as he's trying to put out another fire or deal with a different emotional outburst. Graham creates the right sense of this attempt at being functional while really inside there's nothing even remotely functional about his peculiar state. His performance slowly conveying the impossibility of holding it all in as Graham's work becomes more and more of this decay until the last moments of the film.)

James Norton - 4.5(Just a very moving performance from beginning to end in creating this unique state of the man. Norton's performance conveys really the sense of the overarching depression in the man but this inner current of the man just trying to remain as upbeat as he can to find a place for his son. Norton punctuates every moment so beautifully with this honest pathos of the situation that rids the film of any inherent melodrama. This is because Norton's work always makes every moment of it feel so honest. And really I think the film really was nothing but pitfalls in terms of falling into over the top emotional manipulation. Norton's work earns the approach by just so articulately portraying the emotional state in the way that feels tangible. Every situation there is the needed truth behind it because of just how honest Norton's performance is.)

Udo Kier - 4.5(The film is so much built on Kier and you know what Kier has an awful lot to offer with that extremely unique presence of his. What is worthwhile about the film is getting Kier in this leading role. Kier offering that particular flamboyance of his that is ideal for the role of the retired hairdresser. His performance carrying with it this particular ease of style in a way that is beaten down in a way by his age, yet it still potent in the unusual way he goes about his ways as he goes to his old town. Kier's performance then is what is interesting in every scene because he gives you this Kier way of speaking and Kier way of just really being in a scene. These Kier ways being nothing that you'd expect really but just right for the character here as a man who always stood out in his own way. Within that though there is a genuine emotional core to his performance that is truly remarkable at times.)

Louis Morgan said...

Mahershala Ali - (The second Swan Song built upon performance and Ali is terrific here. What I think is impressive is the way he manages to create two performances with this variation that are two wholly believable guys yet there is just something slightly different about them. Ali does terrific work there in differentiating while still being the same. Ali the rest of the time just is incredibly moving in making every step of the man dealing with his loss so beautifully. There is a real poignancy in every moment of Ali's work and he is wholly on point in every scene of the film. It is a shame the sci-fi concept never goes anywhere terribly interesting because Ali is on point in every scene, giving a wholly moving performance even as the writing is just kind of boilerplate setup and execution every time. I'd like to just imagine what he could've done with a script that took a few more risks.)

Tim Blake Nelson - 4.5(Although I won't quite call this his Unforgiven as this is less about transforming back to his old self but rather revealing his old self when needed Rambo style, this is terrific work from Nelson. What I think it shows more than anything is his fantastic range within this type of character. Where he was wholly convincing as the goofy killer cowboy as Buster Scruggs, he is just as convincing as this older cowboy just trying to live his life though with this understated cunning. Blake just brings such a sense of gravitas but also calculation to every scene he's in. You get such a sense of both the man's weariness towards certain types of men, while also quietly suggesting the able state of the man even as he keeps playing the part of the boring old farmer. The reveal is wholly earned by Nelson and is properly done in that Nelson doesn't really change his presence, except bringing maybe just a bit more swagger rather we see that intelligence now directed to a killer intensity that is just magnificently performed. I really hope he gets more leading roles because Nelson really is an underrated performer in general, still hate that he was literally like the only substantial performer snubbed for Watchmen despite having the best singular episode performance.)

Louis Morgan said...

Ali is also a 4.5.

Matt Mustin said...

Finally got to see Drive My Car, which did not disappoint. Absolutely beautiful film. If I have one complaint, though, and I do, it's that this almost had a drop-dead PERFECT ending, but it comes back with a scene that, honestly, to me, felt tacked on. That's the only problem I have though, because I absolutely loved this otherwise.

Hidetoshi Nishijima-5
Tōko Miura-5
Masaki Okada-5
Park Yu-rim-4.5
Reika Kirishima-5
Jin Dae-yeon-4

Everybody else with any speaking part at all is also good, this is an amazing ensemble.

Robert MacFarlane said...

Louis: Is there any chance that you could switch to Faist in the future?

Calvin Law said...

Yeah i think I’m going to be bumping Park up to a 4.5 the more I think about it, what a performance.

Matt Mustin said...

Also, I gotta say, I studied Chekhov in acting school (The Cherry Orchard, specifically) and I got waaay more out of his writing through watching Drive My Car than I did by actually studying him.

Bryan L. said...

Louis: Your cast & director for a 1950s No Sudden Move.

Connor Olen said...

1. Cooper
2. Phoenix
3. Cage
4. Patel
5. Jadidi

1. Nishijima
2. Rex
3. Isaacs
4. Dinklage
5. Jones

HTT said...

So, I watched Petite Maman yesterday. I'll just post my Letterboxd review here, since the review is so short:
"More proof that Sciamma never disappoints. Yes, it is way too short, but it uses it's short runtime in a way that sweet and heartfelt in a way that isn't matched by any other film from 2021. Beautiful."

9.4/10

Letterboxd review here:
https://letterboxd.com/htt/film/petite-maman/

Shaggy Rogers said...

Hey guys. If Louis made posts about Alternate Best Actresses, what would be the 10 names for Lead and Supporting of 2021?

Lead:
Ann Dowd and Martha Plimpton (Mass)
Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza)
Lady Gaga (House of Gucci)
Jodie Comer (The Last Duel)
Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)
Tessa Thompson (Passing)
Rachel Zegler (West Side Story)
Emilia Jones (CODA)
Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho)
Rooney Mara (Nightmare Alley)

Supporting:
Kathryn Hunter and Frances McDormand (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
Ruth Neega (Passing)
Caitríona Balfe (Belfast)
Toko Miura (Drive My Car)
Rita Moreno (West Side Story)
Cate Blanchett and Mary Steenburgen (Nightmare Alley)
Jayne Houdyshell (The Humans)
Marlee Matlin (CODA)
Anya Taylor Joy (Last Night in Soho)
Gaby Hoffmann (C'mon C'mon)

Shaggy Rogers said...

I made a mistake, substitutes Mara for Taylour Paige (Zola)

8000S said...

Louis: My winning request would be Anthony Perkins in The Trial.

Shaggy Rogers said...

RIP Sally Kellerman

RatedRStar said...

RIP Sally Kellerman

8000S said...

RIP Sally Kellerman

Aidan Pittman said...

R.I.P. Sally Kellerman

moviefilm said...

1) Cooper
2) Cage
3) Jadidi
4) Patel
5) Phoenix

1) Nishijima
2) Rex
3) Isaacs
4) Dinklage
5) Jones

Luke Higham said...

RIP Sally Kellerman

Louis Morgan said...

Robert:

I don't know you should've seen the fruit basket Cooper sent me.

Bryan:

No Sudden Move 1950's directed by Orson Welles:

Curt: Juana Hernandez
Ronald: Anthony Quinn
Matt Wertz: Joseph Cotten
Detective Finney: Franchot Tone
Mary Wertz: Clare Trevor
Doug Jones: Everett Sloane
Mr. Big: Orson Welles
Vanessa: Rita Hayworth