Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Alternate Best Actor 1990: Results

10. Jacky Cheung in Bullet in the Head - I unfortunately I found Leung progressively less convincing as the film went on. 
 
Best Scene: Arriving at the wedding.  
9. Al Pacino in The Godfather Part III - Pacino has some good scenes throughout unfortunately he's saddled with a script that doesn't do Michael justice for the most part.
 
Best Scene: Confession. 
8. Robin Williams in Awakenings - Williams gives a modest and moving portrayal of a caring doctor that better sells the sentiment of the film than anyone else. 
 
Best Scene: Discovering the first awakening.  
 
7. Danny Glover in To Sleep With Anger - Glover gives an effectively unnerving portrayal of a man who seems to only speak in poison. 
 
Best Scene: Conversation about his past.  
 
6. John Lone in Shadow of China - Lone consistently elevates his inconsistent material, convincingly playing both the cold businessman his character is and the caring revolutionary he used to be. 
 
Best Scene: Reunion.  
5. Wojciech Pszoniak in Korczak - Pszoniak offers a moving portrayal of a man who adamantly gives warmth and decency in the most cold and indecent of times.  
 
Best Scene: Long march. 
 
4. Tim Robbins in Jacob's Ladder - Robbins manages to balance the tones of his film effectively by portraying both a sense of the real horror and a genuine emotional pathos. 
 
Best Scene: The ladder.  
 
3. Nicolas Cage in Wild At Heart - Cage wonderfully goes out on a limb that quite effectively matches the eccentricity of his director. 
 
Best Scene: Injured motorist.  
2. Jason Patric - After Dark, My Sweet - Patric gives a great performance that manages to so convincingly portray the truly damaged psyche of his character in so many different compelling ways. 
 
Best Scene: Ending.  
 
1. Gabriel Byrne in Miller's Crossing -  Good prediction Brazinterma, Robert & Shaggy, Byrne gives a brilliant portrayal of every different side of his Tom, the real, the fake, and the often in-between. 
 
Best Scene:  "What heart?"
 
Next: 1990 Supporting 

28 comments:

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Ratings and thoughts on the cast of Trust (1991).

Ratings and thoughts on the rest of the lead performances.

Your Female Top 25s with ratings and other 4+ honourable mentions.

Luke Higham said...

John Goodman - Arachnophobia
Roberts Blossom - Home Alone
and write-ups for Dafoe, Farnsworth and Polito

Anonymous said...

Brad Dourif in The Exorcist 3!

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Please review George C. Scott as well for Exorcist III if he's a 4.5 minimum.

Matt Mustin said...

Honestly Jason Miller is damn impressive in Exorcist III as well.

Harris Marlowe said...

You may want to double-check your spelling of Tie Me Up Tie Me Down.

Anon said...

If you don't mind, could you rewatch Reversal of Fortune and/or Mr. & Mrs. Bridge.

BRAZINTERMA said...

Hello Louis!
Tell me from the year 1990 which are your Top 10 with ranking of:
- Song
- Score
- Poster
- Editing
- Screenplays (adapted and original)
- Cast

Anonymous said...

Luke, where will The Odyssey rank in Louis's Top Ten for the year

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: 5th or 6th.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: Your thoughts on Abbas Kiarostami's direction of Close-Up?

Harris Marlowe said...

Luke: Any specific films you're predicting will be ranked ahead of The Odyssey, or are you just guessing based on his level of enthusiasm for it?

Daniel: Your top 5 Taskmaster tasks that went surprisingly well for the individual?

Lucas Saavedra said...

Jon Polito in Miller's Crossing
Thomas F. Wilson in Back to the Future III

Luke Higham said...

Harris: For now, the latter. Usually 3 or 4 films get 5 stars.

Luke Higham said...

I hope Wildwood is one of them.

RatedRStar said...

Harris: Might have to skip that question since I really can't think of any off the top of my head, its always the ones that go wrong that I think make the show special lol.

Harris Marlowe said...

Daniel: Not a problem. BTW, what did you think of Jason Mantzoukas on the show, if you saw series 19?

Harris Marlowe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RatedRStar said...

Harris: I did see it and I loved series 19, one of the best, I initially was worried about Mantzoukas casting because I had heard on this very blog some very unhappy reactions to some of his acting choices, describing it as over the top and hammy.

I think it helps that Taskmaster similar to What's My Line can suddenly turn bad screen performers into entertaining ones once they relax. Mantzoukas does go in loud but actually does settle in nicely and has great chemistry with everyone else, especially Stevie Martin, his exasperated reactions actually work here because they feel far more genuine and earned rather than an acting trick.

Luke Higham said...

Very pleasantly surprised to see Danny Elfman get his win at last.
Happy that John Williams got another win albeit for Song.
And I've noticed that Milena Canonero is now your most awarded Costume Designer.

Luke Higham said...

Damn, Taika Waititi really has fallen from grace lately.

Shaggy Rogers said...

I was happy to see Reiner among Louis’s favorites. It’s surreal to imagine him ranking above Lynch and Coen.
I was also surprised by the wins for Dick Tracy. I never imagined Louis would award a win to that over-the-top makeup.

RatedRStar said...

Luke: What's he done now lol

Harris Marlowe said...

Klara and the Sun.

Louis Morgan said...

You Can See Everything is an absolutely captivating documentary by Nathan Fielder/Lance Oppenheim. Where Fielder essentially applies the drunken fist method of interviewing for the first half of the film, where his ability to ask questions no one typically would ask manages to be incisive while also hilarious. A particularly necessary approach perhaps in dealing with one of the most slippery of fishes and her seemingly equally demented husband, whose level of mutual madness only seems to grow the deeper Fielder penetrates. The second half I won’t spoil here, but just say that I loved it as well though I perhaps wasn’t as surprised by it as some reviews suggest one should be.

Harris Marlowe said...

Your rating for [REDACTED], the one I've seen some people predict a S. Actress push for?

Louis Morgan said...

Harris:

I will say it's like Pacino in Looking For Richard, but probably with less actual acting, and here it also includes outtake acting so to speak. So personally I'll have to think about if I'll even give a rating, given a lot of the impact isn't from the acting from that person but rather that person being themselves. Though the acting is very good, it just doesn't seem wholly fair. Frankly the less talked about actor would be easier to quantify for me because they're there purely just to act.

Lucas Saavedra said...

Louis: Your thoughts on the cast of The Social Reckoning?