Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor 2012: Results

5. Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook- De Niro is very supporting here usually being part of a group but he plays his role as well as anyone probably could infusing a lot of energy and heart in the role something he has not done in quite some time. Having said that though this is far cry from his early days such as his performance in Mean Streets for example. 

4. Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln- The more I think about this performance the less I like it. He is reasonably entertaining in his scenes of insulting others, but honestly he is more of Tommy Lee Jones the Radical Republican than Thaddeus Stevens the Radical Republican. I think if he did less Jonisms, something he did reduce in JFK, he could have made the character more his own, and his last scene probably would have been much better as well.

3. Alan Arkin does not do much here more than say one liners in his crusty old man sort of way. He does it well but there is not at lot to it.

2. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained- Waltz gives an extremely entertaining turn he basically making his picture. He brings life to every scene and probably is the actor who knows how to bring the most out of Quentin Tarantino's dialogue more than any other actor.

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master- This year came out down to the two performances that you could easily say are leads in their films. Although I loved Waltz's performance I find I can give this win easily to Hoffman. His turn as cult leader Lancaster Dodd is something certainly fascinating to watch as he dissects this man in such a complex compelling fashion.

5. Denzel Washington in Flight- Washington although tries never overcomes the weakness of his film leaving him in an awkward position.

4. Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables- Jackman gives a fairly overt performance in that his emotions are overt. This works well for the film and his character which is a film of big emotions, and a character whose whole point is that he must be genuine.

3. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook- Bradley Cooper shows himself to be a very capable actor. He gives a strong leading performance that is both a charming funny turn, but as well a moving portrait of mentally troubled man.

2. Daniel Day-Lewis-This was a difficult choice for me as both Day-Lewis and Phoenix would be outstanding worthy winners in so many years. The performances could not be more different in both scale and style. Both are incredible in their characterizations though. I have to choose one and for the moment my choice is Day-Lewis for his remarkable portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Day-Lewis realizes this character marvelously and somehow makes a human character of his Lincoln but still manages to make it believable that he would create such a legacy.

1. Joaquin Phoenix in The Master- This is a performance that is easy to hate, but I loved it. Phoenix goes out on one big limb with his wild performance here that is perfectly fitting of his insane unpredictable character.

Best Actor Ranking:

1. 1962
2. 1939
3. 1964
4. 2002
5. 1978
6. 1965
7. 1970
8. 1974
9. 2012
10. 1976
11. 1954
12. 1966
13. 1982
14. 1960
15. 1983
16. 1967
17. 1979
18. 1955
19. 2011
20. 1986
21. 1973
22. 1972 
23. 1994
24. 1940
25. 1950
26. 1963
27. 1975
28. 1952
29. 1980
30. 1953
31. 1959
32. 1987
33. 1977
34. 1968
35. 2006
36. 1938
37. 1969
38. 1992
39. 1961
40. 1971
41. 1956
42. 1951
43. 1984
44. 1943
45. 1958
46. 1948
47. 1998
48. 1999
49. 1988
50. 1944
51. 1936
52. 1946
53. 1957
54. 2007
55. 2005
56. 1942
57. 1947
58. 1993
59. 1981
60. 1989
61. 1995
62. 2004
63. 1937 
64. 2009
65. 1941
66. 1997
67. 1931
68. 1996
69. 1949
70. 2003 
71. 2010
72. 1990
73. 1945
74. 1985
75. 2001
76. 2008
77. 1991
78. 2000

1. F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus (1984)
2. Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3. James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 
4. Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999)
5. Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer (1960) 
6. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954)
7. Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot (1989)
8. Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
9. William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) 
10. Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy (1969)
11. Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
12. George C. Scott in Patton (1970)    
13. Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies (1983)
14. Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973)
15. Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter (1968)
16. Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity (1953)
17. Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy (1969)
18. Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces (1970)
19. Paul Newman in The Verdict (1982)
20. Laurence Olivier in Sleuth (1972)
21. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)
22. Giancarlo Giannini in Seven Beauties (1976)
23. Peter Finch in Network (1976)
24. Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948)
25. Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter (1978)
26. Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
27. Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951)
28. Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From The Cold (1965)
29. James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
30. Clark Gable Gone With the Wind (1939)
31. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
32. Ernest Borgnine in Marty (1955)
33. Joaquin Phoenix in The Master (2012)
34. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (2012)
35. Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker (1965)
36. Kirk Douglas in Lust For Life (1956)
37. Laurence Olivier in Richard III (1956) 
38. Richard Burton in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) 
39. Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall (1937)
40. Stuart Whitman in The Mark (1961)
41. Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961) 
42. William Holden in Stalag 17 (1953)
43. Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune (1990)
44. Paul Newman in Hud (1963)
45. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
46. Laurence Olivier in Rebecca (1940)
47. Michael Caine in Alfie (1966)
48. Jack Lemmon in Days Of Wine And Roses (1962)
49. Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947)
50. Paul Scofield in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
51. Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973) 
52. Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
53. Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987)
54. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005)
55. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934)
56. Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
57. Alec Guinness in The Lavender Hill Mob (1952)
58. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
59. Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top (1959)
60. Spencer Tracy in A Bad Day At Black (1955)
61. Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek (1964)
62. Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland (2006)
63. Peter O'Toole in Becket (1964)
64. Art Carney in Harry and Tonto (1974)
65. Jack Nicholson in Chinatown (1974)
66. Al Pacino in The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
67. Jean Dujardin in The Artist (2011)
68. Adrien Brody in The Pianist (2002)
69. Bob Hoskins in Mona Lisa (1986)
70. Victor McLaglen in The Informer (1935)
71. Tom Hulce in Amadeus (1984)
72. James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes Washington (1939)
73. Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
74. Rod Steiger in The Heat of the Night (1967)
75. Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (1992)
76. James Woods in Salvador (1986)
77. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
78. Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960)
79. James Dean in East of Eden (1955)
80. Jon Voight in Coming Home (1978)
81. Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights (1939)
82. Edward Norton in American History X (1998)
83. Tom Wilkinson in In The Bedroom (2001)
84. Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt (2002)
85. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (2008)
86. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
87. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
88. Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking (1995)
89. Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field (1963)
90. Richard Harris in This Sporting Life (1963)
91. Albert Finney in Tom Jones (1963) 
92. Marcello Mastroianni in Divorce Italian Style (1962)
93. James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
94. Richard Burton in Becket (1964)
95. Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1971)
96. Demian Bichir in A Better Life (2011)
97. Robert Donat in The Citadel (1938)
98. Charles Boyer in Gaslight (1944)
99. Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
100. James Mason in A Star is Born (1954)
101. Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940)
102. Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939)
103. Leslie Howard in Pygmalion (1938)
104. Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove (1964)
105. Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
106. Peter Sellers in Being There (1979)
107. Walter Huston The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
108. Michael Caine in Sleuth (1972)
109. Robert Duvall in The Apostle (1997)
110. Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
111. Emil Jannings in The Last Command (1928)
112. Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
113. Walter Huston in Dodsworth (1936)
114. John Hurt in The Elephant Man (1980)
115.  Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982)
116. Jack Lemmon in The Apartment (1960)
117. Laurence Olivier in Henry V (1946)
118. Nicolas Cage in Adaptation (2002)
119. David Niven in Separate Tables (1958)
120. Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker (2009)
121. Kirk Douglas in Champion (1949)
122. Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda (2004)
123. Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables (2012)
124. Monty Woolley in The Pied Piper (1942)
125. Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
126. Fredric March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
127. Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (2007)
128. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator (2004)
129. Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 
130. Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York (2002)
131. Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning (1988)
132. William Hurt in Children of Lesser God (1986)
133. Ronald Colman in Bulldog Drummond (1930)
134. Marlon Brando in Viva Zapata! (1952)
135. Bing Crosby in The Country Girl (1954)
136. Dudley Moore in Arthur (1981)
137. Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
138. Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond (1981) 
139. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944)
140. Nigel Hawthorne in The Madness of King George (1994)
141. Charles Laughton in A Witness for the Prosecution(1957)
142. John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977)
143. Tom Courtenay in The Dresser (1983)
144. Oskar Werner in Ship of Fools (1965)
145. Marcello Mastroianni in A Special Day (1977)
146. Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967)
147. William Powell in The Thin Man (1934)
148. Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982)
149. Marlon Brando in Julius Caesar (1953)
150. Maximilian Schell in The Man in a Glass Booth (1975)
151. Alexander Knox in Wilson (1944)
152. Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters (1998)
153. Tom Hanks in Cast Away (2000)
154. James Stewart in Harvey (1950)
155. Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
156. Robert Duvall in The Great Santini (1980)
157. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
158. William Holden in Sunset Blvd. (1950)
159. Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network (2010)
160. Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
161. Daniel Day-Lewis in In the Name of the Father (1993) 
162. Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
163. Leonardo DiCaprio Blood Diamond (2006)
164. John Travolta in Pulp Fiction (1994)
165. Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind (2001)
166. Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
167. Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
168. Peter Fonda in Ulee's Gold (1997)
169. Alan Bates in The Fixer (1968)
170. Anthony Quinn in Wild is the Wind (1957)
171. Albert Finney in The Dresser (1983)
172. Albert Finney in Under The Volcano (1984)
173. Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones (1958)
174. Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)
175. Sam Waterson in The Killing Fields (1984)
176. Sidney Poitier in The Defiant Ones (1958)
177. Michael Douglas in Wall Street (1987)
178. Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1943)
179. Brad Pitt in Moneyball (2011)
180. Russell Crowe in The Insider (1999)
181. Richard Harris in The Field (1990)
182. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965)
183. Topol in Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
184. Colin Firth in A Single Man (2009)
185. Melvyn Douglas in I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
186. Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
187. Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan (1998)
188. Marlon Brando Last Tango in Paris (1973)
189. Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
190. Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson (2006)
191. Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (2008)
192. Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
193. Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin (1992)
194. Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul (1931)
195. Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952)
196. Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome (1979)
197. Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride (1950)
198. Dan O'Herlihy in Robinson Crusoe (1954)
199. Peter O'Toole in The Ruling Class (1972)
200. Paul Newman in A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
201. Roy Scheider in All that Jazz (1979)
202. Fredric March in A Star is Born (1937)
203. Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire (1996)  
204. Jackie Cooper in Skippy (1931)
205. Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory (1951)
206. Ronald Colman in Random Harvest (1942)
207. Kirk Douglas in The Bad and The Beautiful (1952)
208. Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom (1945)
209. Peter O'Toole in My Favorite Year (1982)
210. James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
211. Montgomery Clift in The Search (1948)
212. Richard Burton in Equus (1977)
213. Mickey Rooney in The Human Comedy (1943)
214. William Holden in Network (1976)
215. Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1933)
216. Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient (1997)
217. William Powell in My Man Godfrey (1936)
218. Cliff Robertson in Charly (1968)
219. Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool (1994)
220. Maximilian Schell in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
221. Laurence Olivier in The Boys from Brazil (1978)
222. Ronald Colman in Condemned (1930)
223. Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man (1980)
224. Laurence Olivier in Othello (1965)
225. Peter O'Toole in Venus (2006)
226. Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989)
227. Warner Baxter in In Old Arizona (1929)
228. Dustin Hoffman in Lenny (1974)
229. Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
230. Fredric March in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
231. Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
232. Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait (1978)
233. Michael Caine in The Quiet American (2002)
234. James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope (1970)
235. Marcello Mastroianni in Dark Eyes (1987)
236. Fredric March in The Royal Family of Broadway (1931)
237. Michael Caine in Educating Rita (1983)
238. Al Pacino in ...And Justice for All (1979)
239. Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart (2009)
240. James Franco in 127 Hours (2010)
241. Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day (1993)
242. Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (1953)
243. James Dean in Giant (1956)
244. Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City (1981)
245. William Powell in Life With Father (1947)
246. Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
247. Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot (1959)
248. Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade (1930)
249. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003)
250. Jude Law in Cold Mountain (2003)
251. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959)
252. Rock Hudson in Giant (1956)
253. Charles Boyer in Algiers (1938)
254. Stephen Rea in The Crying Game (1992)
255. Tom Conti in Reuben, Reuben (1983)
256. Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah (2007)
257. Jack Lemmon in Missing (1982)
258. John Garfield in Body and Soul (1947)
259. Ron Moody in Oliver! (1968)
260. Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964)
261. Clifton Webb in Sitting Pretty (1948)
262. Denzel Washington in Malcolm X (1992)
263. Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
264. Charles Boyer in Conquest (1937)
265. Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda (1948)
266. Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1992)
267. Max von Sydow in Pelle the Conqueror (1988)
268. William Hurt in Broadcast News (1987)
269. George C. Scott in The Hospital (1971)
270. Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men (1949)
271. Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind (1960)
272. Woody Allen in Annie Hall (1977)
273. Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles (1966)
274. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999)
275. Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam (1987)
276. Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
277. Al Pacino in Serpico (1973)
278. Trevor Howard in Sons and Lovers (1960)
279. James Cagney in Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
280. David Straithairn in Good Night and Good Luck (2005) 
281. Harrison Ford in Witness (1985)
282. Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver (1988)
283. Ryan O'Neal in Love Story (1970)
284. Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003)
285. Spencer Tracy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
286. Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1996)
287. Alan Arkin in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
288. Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl (1977)
289. Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1986)
290. Tom Hanks in Big (1988)
291. Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny (1954)
292. Richard Burton in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
293. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988)
294. Michael Redgrave in Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)
295. Richard Barthelmess in the Patent Leather Kid (1928) 
296. Nick Nolte in Affliction (1998)
297. Peter O'Toole in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
298. Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz (1964)
299. Walter Pidgeon in Mrs. Miniver (1942)
300. Charlie Chaplin in The Circus (1928)
301. Robert Redford in The Sting (1973)
302. Walter Matthau in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
303. James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
304. John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
305. Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets (1997)
306. Paul Muni in The Valiant (1929) 
307. Adolphe Menjou in The Front Page (1931)
308. Denzel Washington in The Hurricane (1999)
309. Dustin Hoffman in Wag the Dog (1997)
310. Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)
311. Alan Arkin in The Russians are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966)
312. Spencer Tracy in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
313. Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee (1950)
314. Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man (1959)
315. Sean Penn in Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
316. Gregory Peck in Twelve O'clock High (1949)
317. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994)
318. Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010)
319. Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
320. Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd (2007)
321. Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
322. Russell Crowe in Gladiator
323. Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie (1943)
324. Billy Bob Thorton in Sling Blade (1996)
325. Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland (2004)
326. Albert Finney in Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
327. Spencer Tracy in San Francisco (1936)
328. Johnny Depp in The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
329. Bing Crosby in Going My Way (1944)
330. Mickey Rooney in Babes in Arms (1939)
331. Spencer Tracy in Boys Town (1938)
332. Franchot Tone in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
333. Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line (2005)
334. John Wayne in True Grit (1969)
335. Paul Winfield in Sounder (1972)
336. Jose Ferrer in Moulin Rouge (1952)
337. Anthony Hopkins in Nixon (1995)
338. Denzel Washington in Flight (2012)
339. Gerard Depardieu in Cyrano De Bergerac (1990)
340. Cary Grant in None but the Lonely Heart (1944)
341. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951)
342. Robert De Niro in Awakenings (1990)
343. Richard Todd in The Hasty Heart (1949)
344. Frank Sinatra in The Man With the Golden Arm (1955)
345. Morgan Freeman in Invictus (2009)
346. Wallace Beery in The Champ (1932)
347. Alfred Lunt in The Guardsman (1932)
348. Charles Boyer in Fanny (1961)
349. Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (1993)
350. Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001)
351. James Whitmore in Give 'Em Hell Harry! (1975)
352. Robin Williams in The Fisher King (1991)
353. Ed Harris in Pollock (2000)
354. Gregory Peck in Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
355. James Garner in Murphy's Romance (1985)
356. Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
357. Robert Montgomery in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
358. Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (1976)
359. George Arliss in The Green Goddess (1930)
360. Gregory Peck in The Yearling (1946)
361. George Clooney in Michael Clayton (2007)
362. Fredric March in Death of a Salesman (1951) 
363. Gary Cooper in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
364. Geoffrey Rush in Quills (2000)
365. Walter Matthau in Kotch (1971)
366. George Arliss in Disraeli (1930)
367. Wallace Beery in The Big House (1930)
368. Paul Newman in Absence of Malice (1981)
369. Frank Morgan in The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
370. Jeff Bridges in True Grit (2010)
371. Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls (2000)
372. Warren Beatty in Reds (1981)
373. Massimo Troisi in The Postman (1995)
374. Dan Dailey in When My Baby Smiles At Me (1948)
375. Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945)
376. Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog (2003)
377. Robert De Niro in Cape Fear (1991)
378. Jon Voight in Runaway Train (1985)
379. Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides (1991)
380. Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
381. Marlon Brando in Sayonara (1957)
382. Laurence Fishburne in What's Love Got To Do With It (1993)
383. Richard Burton in The Robe (1953)
384. Leslie Howard in Berkeley Square (1933)
385. Bing Crosby in Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
386. Rex Harrison in Cleopatra (1963)
387. Spencer Tracy in The Old Man and The Sea (1958)
388. Frank Langella Frost/Nixon (2008)
389. Dexter Gordon in 'Round Midnight (1986)
390. Jack Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor (1985)
391. Jack Lemmon in Tribute (1980)
392. Javier Bardem in Biutiful (2010)
393. Sean Penn in Milk (2008)
394. Woody Harrelson in The People vs Larry Flynt (1996)
395. Larry Parks in The Jolson Story (1946)  
396. Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991)
397. Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow (2005)
398. Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting (1997)
399. Robin William in Dead Poet's Society (1989)
400. Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
401. George Clooney in Up in The Air (2009)
402. Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
403. George Clooney in The Descendants (2011)
404. Cornel Wilde in A Song to Remember (1945)
405. Jeff Bridges in Star Man (1984)
406. Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous (1937) 
407. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York (1941)
408. Chester Morris in Alibi (1929)
409. Will Smith in Ali (2001)
410. Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1998)
411. Sean Penn in I Am Sam (2001)
412. Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves (1990)
413. Jamie Foxx in Ray (2004) 
414. Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
415. Anthony Franciosa in A Hatful of Rain (1957)
416. Richard Dix in Cimarron (1931)

1. F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus (1984)
2. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954)
3. Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
4. Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot (1989) 
5. William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) 
6. George C. Scott in Patton (1970)
7. Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies (1983)
8. Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973) 
9. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)
10. Peter Finch in Network (1976)
11. Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948)
12. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
13. Ernest Borgnine Marty (1955)
14. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (2012) 
15. William Holden in Stalag 17 (1953)
16. Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune (1990)
17. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
18. Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947)
19. Paul Scofield in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
20. Charles Laughton in The Private life of Henry VIII (1933)
21. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005)
22. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night (1934)
23. Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland (2006)
24. Art Carney in Harry and Tonto (1974)
25. Jean Dujardin in The Artist (2011)
26. Adrien Brody in The Pianist (2004)
27. Victor McLaglen in The Informer (1935)
28. Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
29. Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night (1967)
30. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
31. Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960)
32. Jon Voight in Coming Home (1978)
33. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
34. Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field (1963)
35. Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1971)
36. Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
37. Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
38. Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
39. Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
40. Emil Jannings in The Last Command (1928)
41. Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982)
42. David Niven in Separate Tables (1958)
43. Fredric March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
44. Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
45. Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond (1981)
46. Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac (1950)
47. Michael Douglas in Wall Street (1987)
48. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965)
49. Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul (1931)
50. Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952)
51. James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy
52. Cliff Robertson in Charly (1968)
53. Maximilian Schell in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
54. Warner Baxter in In Old Arizona (1929)
55. Fredric March in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
56. Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
57. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959)
58. Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964)
59. Al Pacino in The Scent of a Woman (1992)
60. Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men (1949)
61. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999)
62. Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003)
63. Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1996)
64. Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl (1977)
65. Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1986)
66. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988)
67. James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
68. Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets (1997)
69. Paul Muni in The Story Louis Pasteur (1936)
70. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994)
71. Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010)
72. Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000)
73. Bing Crosby in Going My Way (1944)
74. Spencer Tracy in Boys Town (1938)
75. John Wayne in True Grit (1969)
76. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951)
77. Tom Hanks Philadelphia (1993)
78. Wallace Beery in The Champ (1932)
79. George Arliss in Disraeli (1930)
80. Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001)
81. Sean Penn in Milk (2008)
82. Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
83. Spencer Tracy in Captains Courageous (1937)
84. Gary Cooper in Sergeant York (1941)
85. Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1998)
86. Jamie Foxx in Ray (2004)

Supporting Actor Ranking:

1. 1944
2. 1981
3. 1975
4. 2008
5. 1972
6. 1966
7. 1974
8. 1988
9. 1987
10. 1964
11. 1986
12. 1959
13. 1983
14. 1980
15. 1951
16. 1998
17. 1963
18. 1952
19. 1999
20. 1989
21. 1993
22. 1946
23. 1969
24. 1954
25. 1961
26. 2012
27. 2007
28. 1992
29. 1968
30. 1939
31. 1970
32. 1979
33. 1994
34. 2002
35. 1978
36. 2010
37. 1947
38. 1996
39. 1945
40. 1990
41. 1982
42. 1941
43. 1971
44. 2001
45. 1937
46. 1955
47. 1962
48. 1995
49. 1967
50. 1973
51. 2009
52. 2005
53. 2011
54. 1942
55. 2006
56. 1984
57. 1957
58. 1950
59. 1958
60. 2000
61. 1976
62. 2004
63. 1960
64. 1997
65. 1943
66. 1956
67. 1949
68. 1965
69. 1977
70. 1948
71. 1940
72. 1991
73. 1938
74. 2003
75. 1936
76. 1953
77. 1985

1. Martin Landau in Ed Wood (1994)
2. Al Pacino in The Godfather (1972)
3. Sessue Hayakawa in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
4. James Dunn in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
5. Claude Rains in Notorious (1946)
6. Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter (1978)
7. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990)
8. Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields (1984)
9. Ralph Fiennes in Schindler' List (1993) 
10. Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)
11. Gene Hackman in Unforgiven (1992)
12. Melvyn Douglas in Hud (1963)
13. Peter Ustinov in Topkapi (1964)
14. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master (2012)
15. Rod Steiger in On the Waterfront (1954)
16. George Sanders in All About Eve (1950)
17. Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach (1939)
18. Edward Norton in Primal Fear (1996)
19. William H. Macy in Fargo (1996)
20. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)
21. Gene Hackman in I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
22. Jackie Gleason in the Hustler (1961) 
23. Martin Landau in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
24. Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
25. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944)
26. Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can (2002)
27. Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
28. Jason Miller in The Exorcist (1973)
29. Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
30. Ralph Richardson in The Heiress (1949)
31. Albert Brooks in Broadcast News (1987)
32. Morgan Freeman in Street Smart (1987)
33. Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
34. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained (2012)
35. Jack Nicholson in Reds (1981)
36. Claude Rains in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939
37. Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds (2009)
38. Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie (1963)
39. Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront (1954) 
40. Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
41. Jack Albertson in The Subject Was Roses (1968)
42. James Mason in The Verdict (1982)
43. Van Heflin in Johnny Eager (1942)
44. Karl Malden in On the Waterfront (1954)
45. Burgess Meredith in Day of the Locust (1975)
46. George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
47. Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death (1947)
48. George C. Scott in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
49. Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
50. Joe Pesci in Raging Bull (1980)
51. Tom Courtenay in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
52. Montgomery Clift in Judgment At Nuremberg (1961) 
53. Alec Guinness in Little Dorrit (1988)
54. Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now (1979)  
55. Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995)
56. Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man (1976)
57. George C. Scott in The Hustler (1961)
58. Tom Cruise in Magnolia (1999)
59. Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980)
60. Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
61. Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis (1951)
62. Pete Postlethwaite in In the Name of the Father (1993)
63. Gene Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
64. John Gielgud in Arthur (1981)
65. Billy Bob Thorton in A Simple Plan (1998)
66. George Segal in Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)
67. Walter Brennan in The Westerner (1940)
68. Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (1943)
69. Ian Holm in Chariots of Fire (1981)
70. Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff (1983)
71. Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II (1972)
72. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men (2007) 
73. Danny Aiello in Do the Right Thing (1989)
74. James Caan in The Godfather (1972)
75. Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts (1955)
76. Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (2008)
77. Tommy Lee Jones in JFK (1991)
78. Paul Newman in The Road To Perdition (2002)
79. Robert Shaw in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
80. Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (1999)
81. Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
82. Burl Ives in The Big Country (1958)
83. Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)
84. Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider (1969)
85. Lee Strasberg in The Godfather Part II (1974)
86. Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (1994)
87. Brad Dourif in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (1975)
88. William Hurt in A History of Violence (2005)
89. Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
90. Charles Coburn in The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
91. Jeff Bridges in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
92. Gene Wilder in The Producers (1968)
93. John Hawkes in Winter's Bone (2010) 
94. Burgess Meredith in Rocky (1976) 
95. Sam Jaffe in The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
96. Ian Mckellen in Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
97. Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
98. Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
99. Clifton Webb in Laura (1944)
100. Tom Berenger in Platoon (1986)
101. Willem Dafoe in Platoon (1986)
102. Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show (1971)
103. Justin Henry in Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979) 
104. Seymour Cassel in Faces (1968)
105. Thomas Mitchell in The Hurricane (1937)
106. Alec Guinness in Star Wars (1977)
107. Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life (1956)
108. Robert Duvall in A Civil Action (1998)
109. Claude Rains in Mr. Skeffington (1944)
110. James Coburn in Affliction (1998)
111. Hume Cronyn in The Seventh Cross (1944)
112. Jackie Earl Haley in Little Children (2006)
113. Josh Brolin in Milk (2008)
114. Thomas Haden Church in Sideways (2004)
115. Sal Mineo in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
116. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt (2008)
117. Charles Coburn in The Green Years (1946)
118. John Mills in Ryan's Daughter (1970)
119. James Cromwell in Babe (1995)
120. Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
121. Chris Cooper in Adaptation (2002)
122. Claude Rains in Casablanca (1943)
123. Victor McLaglen in The Quiet Man (1952)
124. Terence Stamp in Billy Budd (1962)
125. Richard Farnsworth in Comes A Horseman (1978)
126. Peter Falk in Murder, Inc. (1960) 
127. Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata! (1952)
128. Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)
129. John Gielgud in Becket (1964)
130. Benicio Del Toro in Traffic (2000)
131. Ethan Hawke in Training Day (2001)
132. Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur (1959)
133. Michael Chekhov in Spellbound (1945)
134. Joseph Schilderkraut in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
135. Jack Palance in Sudden Fear (1952)
136. Christian Bale in The Fighter (2010)
137. Stanley Holloway in My Fair Lady (1964)
138. Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
139. Anthony Perkins in Friendly Persuasion (1956)
140. Rip Torn in Cross Creek (1983)
141. Robert Mitchum in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
142. George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
143. River Phoenix in Running on Empty (1988)
144. Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile (1999)
145. John Lithgow in The World According to Garp (1982)
146. Lou Gosset Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
147. Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
148. Gig Young in Come Fill The Cup (1951)
149. James Mason in Georgy Girl (1966)
150. Walter Brennan in Kentucky (1938)
151. Vincent Gardenia in Moonstruck (1987)
152. Jim Broadbent in Iris (2001)
153. Walter Brennan in Come and Get It (1936) 
154. Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights (1997)
155. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Out of Africa (1985)
156. Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
157. Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech (2010)
158. Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
159. Donald Crisp in How Green Was My Valley (1941)
160. John Malkovich in In the Line of Fire (1993) 
161. Martin Landau in Tucker: A Man And His Dream (1988)
162. Gig Young in Teacher's Pet (1958)
163. Jeremy Renner in The Town (2010)
164. Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers (1986)
165. Bobby Darin in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)
166. Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman (1951)
167. Arthur O'Connell in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
168. Red Buttons in Sayonara (1957)
169. Sal Mineo in Exodus (1960)
170. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast (2001)
171. Frederic Forrest in The Rose (1979)
172. Kenneth Branagh in My Week With Marilyn (2011)
173. Lee Tracy in The Best Man (1964)
174. Hugh Griffith in Tom Jones (1963)
175. John Huston in The Cardinal (1963)
176. Robert Vaughn in The Young Philadelphians (1959)
177. Robert Ryan in Crossfire (1947)
178. Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture (1971)
179. Max Von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
180. Jason Robards in Julia (1977)
181. Roy Scheider in The French Connection (1971)
182. Arthur Hunnicutt in The Big Sky (1952)
183. Charles Durning in To Be Or Not To Be (1983) 
184. Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment (1983)
185. Tim Robbins in Mystic River (2003)
186. Bruce Davison in Longtime Companion (1990)
187. Ralph Bellamy in The Awful Truth (1937)
188. Monty Woolley in Since You Went Away (1944)
189. Elliot Gould in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
190. Michael V. Gazzo in The Godfather Part II (1974)
191. Richard Burton in My Cousin Rachel (1952)
192. Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
193. Jason Robards in Melvin and Howard (1980)
194. Edmond O'Brien in Seven Days in May (1964)
195. James Whitmore in Battleground (1949)
196. Ed Wynn in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
197. Michael Lerner in Barton Fink (1991)
198. Armin Mueller-Stahl in Shine (1996)
199. Robert Forster in Jackie Brown (1997)
200. Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
201. Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
202. John Hurt in Midnight Express (1978)
203. Rupert Crosse in The Reivers (1969)
204. Robert Morley in Marie Antoinette (1938)
205. Adolph Caesar in A Soldier's Story (1984)
206. Thomas Gomez in Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
207. Howard Rollins in Ragtime (1981)
208. John Lithgow in Terms of Endearment (1983)
209. Ed Harris in The Truman Show (1998)
210. Vincent Gardenia in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
211. Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game (1992)
212. Denzel Washington in Glory (1989)
213. Greg Kinnear in As Good As It Gets (1997)
214. Matt Dillon in Crash (2005)
215. Christopher Plummer in Beginners (2011)
216. Peter Firth in Equus (1977)
217. Brian Aherne in Juarez (1939)
218. Robert Duvall in The Godfather (1972)
219. Chief Dan George in Little Big Man (1970)
220. Clive Owen in Closer (2004)
221. Michael J. Pollard in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
222. Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom (1987)
223. James Coco in Only When I Laugh (1981)
224. Woody Harrelson in The Messsenger (2009)
225. Michael O'Keefe in The Great Santini (1980)
226. Walter Huston in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
227. Paul Giamatti in Cinderella Man (2005)
228. Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls (2006) 
229. Mark Wahlberg in The Departed (2006)
230. Andy Garcia in The Godfather Part III (1990)
231. Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump (1994)
232. Victor Buono in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
233. Tim Roth in Rob Roy (1995)
234. Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton (2007)
235. Robert Preston in Victor Victoria (1982)
236. Arthur Kennedy in Champion (1949)
237. Cecil Kellaway in The Luck of the Irish (1948)
238. Paul Scofield in Quiz Show (1994)
239. Jack Warden in Heaven Can Wait (1978)
240. Arthur Kennedy in Trial (1955)
241. Al Pacino in Dick Tracy (1990)
242. Jack Kruschen in The Apartment (1960)
243. Fred Astaire in The Towering Inferno (1974)
244. Alan Alda in The Aviator (2004)
245. Dean Stockwell in Married to The Mob (1988)
246. John C. Reilly in Chicago (2002)
247. Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Blvd. (1950)
248. Frank Finlay in Othello (1965)
249. Jack Palance in Shane (1953)
250. Robert Strauss in Stalag 17 (1953)
251. Chazz Palminteri in Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
252. John Marley in Love Story (1970)
253. Nick Nolte in Warrior (2011)
254. Randy Quaid in The Last Detail (1973)
255. Bruce Dern in Coming Home (1978)
256. Richard S. Castellano in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
257. Vittorio De Sica in A Farewell to Arms (1957) 
258. Hal Holbrook in Into The Wild (2007)
259. Nick Adams in Twilight of Honor (1963)
260. Dan Aykroyd in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
261. Mickey Rooney in The Black Stallion (1979) 
262. Charles Bickford in Johnny Belinda (1948)
263. Pat Morita in The Karate Kid (1984)
264. Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road (2008)
265. Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men (1992)
266. Arthur O'Connell in Picnic (1955)
267. Marlon Brando A Dry White Season (1989)
268. Jack Wild in Oliver! (1968)
269. James Woods in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
270. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
271. Brian Donlevy in Beau Geste (1939)
272. Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai (2003)
273. Matt Damon in Invictus (2009)
274. John Houseman in The Paper Chase (1973)
275. Mako in The Sand Pebbles (1966)
276. Judd Hirsch in Ordinary People (1980)
277. Anthony Hopkins in Amistad (1997)
278. John Malkovich in Places in the Heart (1984)
279. Mickey Rooney in The Bold and the Brave (1956)
280. William Bendix in Wake Island (1942)
281. Jack Warden in Shampoo (1975)
282. Alan Arkin in Argo (2012) 
283. Jack Gilford in Save the Tiger (1973)
284. Henry Travers in Mrs. Miniver (1942)
285. Robert Stack in Written on the Wind (1956)
286. Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones (2009)
287. Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (1993) 
288. Frank Morgan in Tortilla Flat (1942)
289. Christopher Plummer in The Last Station (2009)
290. Walter Brennan in Sergeant York (1941)
291. Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln (2012)
292. Roland Young in Topper (1937)
293. David Paymer in Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
294. Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond (2006)
295. Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
296. Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
297. Denholm Elliot in A Room With A View (1986)
298. Jason Robards in All the President's Men (1976)
299. Robert Loggia in Jagged Edge (1985)
300. Richard Jaeckel in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
301. Maximilian Schell in Julia (1977)
302. J. Carrol Naish in Sahara (1943)
303. Peter Falk in Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
304. Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
305. John Cassavetes in The Dirty Dozen (1967)
306. Jack Palance in City Slickers (1991)
307. Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones (1958)
308. Charles Bickford in The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
309. Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
310. Ned Beatty in Network (1976)
311. J. Carrol Naish in A Medal For Benny (1945)
312. Charles Bickford in The Song of Bernadette (1943)
313. Edmund Gwenn in Mister 880 (1950)
314. Harvey Keitel in Bugsy (1991)
315. Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love (1998)
316. Albert Bassermann in Foreign Correspondent (1940) 
317. Basil Rathbone in Romeo and Juliet (1936)
318. James Stephenson in The Letter (1940)
319. Alec Baldwin in The Cooler (2003)
320. Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
321. Harry Carey in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 
322. Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator (2000)
323. Anthony Quayle in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
324. Clifton Webb in The Razor's Edge (1946)
325. Albert Finney in Erin Brockovich (2000)
326. Leonard Frey in Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
327. William Demarest in The Jolson Story (1946)
328. Joe Mantell in Marty (1955)
329. Cecil Kellaway in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
330. H.B. Warner in Lost Horizon (1937)
331. Martin Balsam in A Thousand Clowns (1965)
332. Gene Lockhart in Algiers (1938)
333. Jonah Hill in Moneyball (2011)
334. Jamie Foxx in Collateral (2004)
335. Jeff Bridges in The Contender (2000)
336. Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys (1995)
337. John Garfield in Four Daughters (1938)
338. Michael Dunn in Ship of Fools (1965)
339. Graham Greene in Dances With Wolves (1990)
340. Ed Harris in Apollo 13 (1995)
341. Jack Oakie in The Great Dictator (1940)
342. Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules (1999)
343. Arthur Kennedy in Peyton Place (1957)
344. Mark Ruffalo in The Kids are All Right (2010)
345. Ralph Richardson in Greystoke (1984)
346. Russ Tamblyn in Peyton Place(1957)
347. Djimon Honsou in In America (2003)
348. Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams (2003)
349. Burt Young in Rocky (1976)
350. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (1997)
351. William Gargan in They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
352. Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
353. Ben Kingsley in Bugsy (1991)
354. William Hickey in Prizzi's Honor (1985)
355. Jeff Chandler in Broken Arrow (1950)
356. Dean Jagger in Twelve O'clock High (1949)
357. Oskar Homolka in I Remember Mama (1948)
358. Akim Tamiroff in The General Died at Dawn (1936)
359. Brandon De Wilde in Shane (1953)
360. Akim Tamiroff in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
361. Telly Savalas in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
362. Basil Rathbone in If I Were King (1938)
363. Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running (1958)
364. John Ireland in All the King's Men (1949)
365. Ed Harris in The Hours (2002)
366. Daniel Massey in Star! (1968)
367. Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday (1953)
368. Leo Genn in Quo Vadis (1951)
369. George Clooney in Syriana (2005)
370. John Dall in The Corn is Green (1945)
371. Chill Wills in The Alamo (1960)
372. James Gleason in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) 
373. Stuart Erwin in Pigskin Parade (1936)
374. Tom Tully in The Caine Mutiny (1954)
375. Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity (1953)
376. Ian Bannen in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
377. George Chakiris in West Side Story (1961)
378. Jon Voight in Ali (2001)
379. Jose Ferrer in Joan of Arc (1948)
380. Mischa Auer in My Man Godfrey (1936)
381. Don Murray in Bus Stop (1956)
382. Don Ameche in Cocoon (1985)
383. Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire (1996)
384. Eric Roberts in Runaway Train (1985) 
385. Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Turning Point (1977)

Actual Winners:

1. Martin Landau in Ed Wood (1994)
2. James Dunn in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
3. Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter (1978)
4. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990)
5. Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields (1984)
6. Gene Hackman in Unforgiven (1992)
7. Melvyn Douglas in Hud (1963)
8. Peter Ustinov in Topkapi (1964)
9. George Sanders in All About Eve (1950)
10. Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach (1939)
11. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)
12. Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
13. Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944)
14. Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
15. Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
16. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained (2012)
17. Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds (2009) 
18. Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie (1963)
19. Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
20. Jack Albertson in The Subject Was Roses (1968)
21. Van Heflin in Johnny Eager (1942)
22. George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
23. Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
24. Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects (1995)
25. Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980)
26. John Gielgud in Arthur (1981)
27. Walter Brennan in The Westerner (1940)
28. Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (1943)
29. Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II (1972)
30. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men (2007) 
31. Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts (1955)
32. Burl Ives in The Big Country (1958)
33. Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)
34. Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
35. Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show (1971)
36. Anthony Quinn in Lust for Life (1956)
37. James Coburn in Affliction (1998)
38. John Mills in Ryan's Daughter (1970)
39. Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
40. Chris Cooper in Adaptation (2002)
41. Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata! (1952)
42. Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)
43. Benicio Del Toro in Traffic (2000)
44. Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur (1959)
45. Joseph Schilderkraut in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
46. Christian Bale in The Fighter (2010)
47. George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
48. Lou Gosset Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
49. Walter Brennan in Kentucky (1938)
50. Jim Broadbent in Iris (2001)
51. Walter Brennan in Come and Get It (1936) 
52. Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
53. Donald Crisp in How Green Was My Valley (1941)
54. Red Buttons in Sayonara (1957)
55. Jason Robards in Julia (1977)
56. Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment (1983)
57. Tim Robbins in Mystic River (2003)
58. Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
59. Denzel Washington in Glory (1989)
60. Christopher Plummer in Beginners(2011)
61. Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
62. John Houseman in The Paper Chase (1973)
63. Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (1993) 
64. Jason Robards in All the President's Men (1976)
65. Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
66. Jack Palance in City Slickers (1991)
67. Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
68. Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
69. Martin Balsam in A Thousand Clowns (1965)
70. Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules (1999)
71. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting (1997)
72. Dean Jagger in Twelve O'clock High (1949)
73. George Clooney in Syriana (2005)
74. Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity (1953)
75. George Chakiris in West Side Story (1961)
76. Don Ameche in Cocoon (1985)
77. Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire (1996)

Best Actor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZU3Do9qAWE
Best Supporting Actor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FEAisrGcMQ

Next Year: Supporting 2012

Best Supporting Actor 2012: Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master

Philip Seymour Hoffman received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Lancaster Dodd the titular character in The Master.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has already been nominated once before in a role many described as lead which was in 2008 for Doubt. The same has been said of this role here in The Master after all he is the title character. I would say it is not nearly as clear cut in this case as there is a clearer male lead in Joaquin Phoenix as drifter Freddie Quell. Hoffman though does have an ample of amount of screen time and many scenes devoted to himself. Nevertheless there are more scenes devoted to Freddie than the Master and in many of the scenes with both actors Dodd tends to be the one supporting Freddie in some way, and Freddie usually is the main focus of many, not all, of their scenes together.

I do think Hoffman's role can be reasonably taken either as supporting or lead as he does take over twenty minutes to appear in the film, but his impact is tremendous in the first scene where he speaks to Freddie. The voice that Hoffman uses here as Lancaster Dodd is masterstroke with his deep command that resounds in a special way that makes you listen to him no matter what he may be saying. In his first scene with Freddie, Hoffman gives Dodd an uncompromising stare that seems to delve deeper into this man's mind than one expect. Dodd describes himself as hopelessly inquisitive, and Hoffman holds this inquisition in the face of Lancaster Dodd that shows that Dodd is fascinated with this young man.

In his earliest scenes Hoffman is a charismatic giant as he goes about the ship with an absolute sway. He is the Master of these people, and Hoffman portrays exactly why and how this is. There is a likability to Dodd here seeming like he only wishes well for his followers, and besides his words at the wedding there is nothing that would make one really too suspicious of this man. Hoffman is very welcoming in these scenes in a special way having a warmth among the group, and making it especially easy to believe how so many of these people would look right up to him. Hoffman makes Dodd a fascinating enigma here as he should be to both Freddie and the audience. Hoffman makes a wondrous impression leaving Dodd as someone we only wish to know more about.

One of the strongest scenes in the film takes place in early in the film when Dodd decides to have Freddie undergo his treatment known as processing. This scene is a unique pairing of actors with Phoenix's wild performance (which I will get to soon), and Hoffman's more restrained performance as Dodd. What is amazing about Hoffman here is the fact that he is never forgotten in these scenes despite the camera lingering mostly on Freddie. Hoffman makes Dodd this persistent force in these scenes and an incisive man who keeps piercing through the defensive to find whatever truth Freddie may hold. Hoffman brings this processing to life in a vivid way through his strict portrayal of Dodd's method which is uncompromising and extremely powerful to witness.

Hoffman does something very important in these scenes which is to have all the conviction possible in a human being. He does not seem to portray even the slightest doubt as he speaks about his theories of time and the past lives of individuals for over a trillion years. Hoffman gives such an assurance to Lancaster Dodd that fully realizes the potential of this character. He has a such a significant pull and sway that it is so easy to see how Freddie would be as captivated as he is. For a man who is filled with only doubts and hesitations of his life, Hoffman makes Dodd the perfect representation of the opposite. Hoffman allows Dodd to be the man who seems to seem to have all of the knowledge that he claims to have. Hoffman allows Dodd to be just as he should be.

Of course after they leave the boat we soon see the greater truth behind Dodd in one scene where a man questions his ideas behind his religion the Cause. Hoffman is tremendous in this scene as he shows how slowly Dodd begins to burn beneath the surface, and finds himself barely able to keep himself together as he ineffectually defends his ideas against scrutiny. When he finally does lose his hold on his anger we see a very different Dodd than the man we first met from the start. His voice loses his pitch, he loses his empowered demeanor, he resorts to the lowest form of insult against the man. Hoffman is brilliant because it is just for the slightest moment that portrays Dodd's loss of his Svengali like power, and reduces to basically an uncultured louse.

From that moment on Dodd just is never quite the same anymore, even though Hoffman shows him to be a man who tries to cover for himself very quickly. The simple fact of the matter is though the unblemished armor Hoffman made on the ship we first meet him on begins to quickly show kinks in this armor that never becomes repaired. Hoffman carefully rebuilds Dodd back to the way he was, but it is clear that there is more of a facade to the man than there seemed to be originally. There is a much darker side conveyed about Dodd after this scene that does not ignore those who disagree with him but instead seems to want to possibly violently injure them. There is a raging deep rooted vile within Hoffman portrayal of Dodd that suggests if he was truly in a position of power he could be capable of horrible things.

In the scenes with his congregation later Hoffman still shows to be a charismatic individual once again, but this time Hoffman carefully suggests a lesser man. As he sings his songs and looks among his congregation of many women, there is less the look of a passionate leader of these people, and more of that who is perhaps interested in these women as a lecher rather than a teacher. This leads to the very disturbing scene where his wife Peggy (Amy Adams) pleasures him well threatens him putting in him in his place, and importantly in this scene Hoffman alludes even more to the truth behind Lancaster Dodd. In this scene Dodd seems in a way a pawn himself not to his wife exactly, but to his own cult he has created. Hoffman is compelling because he allows us to see that perhaps he is not even able to escape what he has created.

The pivotal part of the film is of course the relationship between Freddie and Hoffman and we see that Dodd sees Freddie as more than just another member. This all seems to start in the scene when both end up briefly imprisoned, with Freddie out of control, we see more of Dodd once again. Hoffman again shows that when Dodd's charisma is failing him he quickly reduces to an uncultured and uncouth man just sprawling insults in an entirely unrefined manner that perhaps is the true Dodd. As he loses it with Freddie in the cell we still see him attempting to hold onto his task, although in a very different way. In this case he does it with none of the style or suave behavior he exhibited before instead showing Dodd just an average man trying to calm down the out of control Freddie simply by saying he is the only man who likes him.

A great portion of the film ends up being Dodd's attempt to reform Freddie and make him a true member of the cause. Hoffman cleverly leaves a nice bit of interpretation for why Dodd tries so hard to change Freddie in, and allows several conclusions. One being that it is simply to show of the power of the Cause, that is possible not entirely satisfactory to the complex way that Hoffman portrays Dodd. It could be that Dodd feels that if he can't bring Freddie around it proves his own weakness, again Hoffman allows this to be part of it but not the whole. Hoffman subtly suggests that Dodd has a certain connection to the wild man Freddie, something Dodd never could really be. Hoffman creates this underlying force that brings him to want to hold Freddie in his power, because perhaps in a way Freddie is the sort of man Dodd would like to be but never could be.

Again we see Dodd work his ways with Freddie and the full force of the cult at hand. Hoffman portrays Dodd in his ways as he pressures every aspect of the training to make Freddie part of the Cause. Hoffman once again brings to life the full extent of the power within Lancaster Dodd's method. In this case Hoffman makes it less of one powered attack as with the original processing but rather a slower deliberate process of forceful indoctrination. Again Hoffman makes the sway the techniques have on Freddie believable due to the confidence and strength Hoffman brings to the proceedings. In these scenes Hoffman pulls the strings allowing Dodd to be The Master of his cult as he organizes all of them around bringing Freddie into the fold.

Later on Dodd decides to release the second part of his manifesto to the public, and before he goes out to his people we see him brewing alone briefly. This scene is pivotal to Dodd, and though a silent moment Hoffman is excellent in showing the struggle in Dodd's mind in the moment. Here more than any other scene he suggests Dodd own doubts about himself, in this moment lacking that conviction of the cult leader of before. Instead he portrays the true man of the moment, a man no longer entranced by his own abilities instead allowing the flaws of his own concepts brewing in his mind in a way that leaves him a far different man than the over confidence from the beginning. After this moment he comes out in his empowered way, but Hoffman powerfully makes this far more of an act than ever before.

Hoffman is allowed once last scene of Dodd meeting Freddie for the last time. This is an outstanding scene by Hoffman as he creates the end of Dodd. Hoffman verbally displays a certain hatred and violence toward Freddie for leaving him, but in the same moment displays Dodd's fatal attempt to bring in Freddie to the fold once more. Both attempt by Dodd seem in a strange way half-hearted by the expression of his face. Hoffman is spectacular in expressing the idea that Dodd is perhaps in a prison himself by the way he seems not to be holding back hatred this time but perhaps a warmth toward Freddie that he must keep in place knowing that he must reject the type of man Freddie is to keep within his cult. It is a brilliant end to his performance making an understanding of how such a man as Lancaster Dodd could exist as well as how such a man could become trapped by the very thing he created. This is tremendous portrait of such a man by Philip Seymour Hoffman that realizes such a difficult character with believability and a complexity that is astonishing.

Best Supporting Actor 2012: Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook

Robert De Niro received his seventh Oscar nomination for portraying Patrizio "Pat Sr." Solitano in Silver Linings Playbook.

Robert De Niro has spent over ten years being in random films many of very poor quality, and he himself giving performances of no note. If De Niro had given more decent performances recently he very well might not have been nominated for this film which has been considered a return to form, although this seems to be to soon as his upcoming films in no way suggests he is going to stop being in mediocre to terrible films. Anyway though this being his best performance in years really does not say a lot considering the sort of performances he has been giving lately.

In this film Robert De Niro gives a very supporting performance in this, in that he is mostly there for support. He portrays Pat Sr. the father of the troubled Pat Jr. (Bradley Cooper). The main aspect of Pat Sr.'s character is his constant attention to football games and his favorite team the Philadelphia Eagles. He is always very concerned about things that create the necessary Karma for a game victory, especially since he is always gambling on the games as well. De Niro honestly does not really get any scenes to himself, and his moments are always at least someone else especially Bradley Cooper who is almost in every scene of the film.

De Niro is weaved throughout the film in the scenes as both a helpful and hurtful factor for Pat Jr. in basically equal measure. De Niro really just takes a realistic approach with his part. He combines well the various factors that weigh on Pat Sr. when it comes to his interactions with Pat Sr.. Importantly De Niro does show the proper warmth and love in their scenes together. De Niro is very understated about it, but he does successfully portray it with a great deal of effectiveness. When Pat Sr. fights with Pat Jr. for Jr's sometime very violent behavior, De Niro does not portray it with any hatred just rather as a gut reaction from Pat Sr..

Where Jennifer Lawrence as troubled young widow Tiffany who befriend Pat Jr., and Bradley Cooper as Pat Jr. are quite diagnosed about their mental problems De Niro's Pat Sr. play really an not identified obsessive compulsive. De Niro takes mostly downplays this even partially playing it for a little bit of humor. It is not that De Niro portrays it in any sort of parody actually, instead he just sort of plays in a lighter fashion which shows it as something that most certainly affects him, but in a manner that does not seem problematic for the most part. De Niro handles it well by having it just natural part of Pat Sr. than it almost hidden as him just being too intense of a football fan.

De Niro moves through the film well in the variations of Pat Sr. caused by his problems with his son or his problems with his gambling. He is very good by hitting the randomness of it all, and realistically conveys how quickly how Pat Sr. can be trying to be friendly to his son and the next moment be chewing him out. The two biggest moments of his performance are these two pulls one being when he lashes out at Pat Jr. for supposedly messing with his Karma, and later encouraging Pat Jr. to do the right thing. Both times De Niro plays them well, they are short moment, but De Niro makes them sweet through his honest depiction of Pat Sr.

This performance by De Niro is not on the same level of his work in the 70's by any measure. It is really a lesser work from an actor that can make far more of an impact in a film than he does here. That being said though he does fulfill the role of Pat Sr. the best he can. This is not a performance that steals scenes but instead it appropriately adds to them. He is likable when he needs to be, he is unlikable when he needs to be, he is charming when he needs to be, he is mean when he needs to be. He absolutely succeeds in all aspects of the character even if that is not all that much overall it definitely is a performance I liked that adds nicely to his film.

Best Supporting Actor 2012: Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Christoph Waltz won his second Oscar from his second nomination for portraying Doctor King Schultz in Django Unchained.

Django Unchained is an entertaining, although overlong film, about a German bounty hunter who teams up to to bounty hunt with a slave Django (Jamie Foxx), and later to rescue Django's wife who is in possession of a wealthy plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

It certainly is questionable if Christoph Waltz really is supporting here. This is not a completely closed case that he is either though in that there is a clear lead of Jamie Foxx as Django, there are many scenes without Schultz, and he clearly ends up not being the main character by the end of the film. That being said though he still has considerable screen time, he is in most scenes for a great deal of the film, as well as he pretty much commands most scenes that he is in though that really has a lot to with the quality of Waltz's performance. I would say that really I would not complain all that much if he were placed in either category.

There is a criticism of Waltz here that could be made, although I have not heard it or read it so far, that he is playing too much of a similar character to that of Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds also directed by Quentin Tarantino. Both are intelligent and very suave Germans, but the key difference between the two is Hans Landa is quite evil and King Schultz is actually the hero of the film. Also Waltz playing a similar character does not diminish this performance in the least as who else could give this performance other than Waltz? The effort of Waltz in each role is equal and the simple truth is Waltz could have played this role first therefore such an argument never would be made.

Waltz is just brilliant from his first scene where he procures Django from two slavers first in attempted negotiation. Waltz's way with words is just fabulous and it perfectly accentuates the superiority of his character's intelligence in such an easy fashion. He also did this as Hans Landa, but where as Hans Landa he portrayed it as just one of his methods of attack on the psyche of his opponent, as Schultz he portrays with a lighter touch showing it to be merely the way Schultz is without any malice attached. Waltz shows that with Schultz his manner and style really is just the way he is, and that it doesn't have anything to do with any greater scheme like it would be with Landa.

Waltz is terrific in his creation of the style of Schultz though which is both very easy going in the way he speaks each and every word in a meticulous fashion, but at the same time Waltz brings across the quick incisive method that Schultz also does use when it comes to killing. In the first scene he brilliantly goes along in his way of speaking way above the slavers head, which Waltz does with style that is both entertaining but effective in creating Schultz as a character. When the slavers finally have had enough of him though he quickly dispatches them. Waltz is excellent because he barely shows Schultz as that violent, despite killing a man, because he still goes back to being so civil right after the fact.

In this performance Waltz absolutely makes the style of Schultz work completely without it seeming bizarre, nor stopping him from being a heroic character within the film. In every scene he is in Waltz makes it work through a great deal of charm he has, that this time does not have a hint of slime this time his smile tends to be genuine. Even when Schultz kills Waltz does this well by making it clear that Schultz has no hesitations really knowing that who is killing are bad men, therefore does not need to second guess himself, and his portrayal of his stance is properly honest so we do not second guess him either.

Unlike with Hans Landa who the audience were really kept at a distance from in any part of his plan fearing them more than anything, Waltz here is outstanding in the way he loses that coldness found in Landa instead creating a warmth within Schultz that allows us to be really in on his plans instead. Waltz makes it so when Schultz wins over on the slavers we can easily enjoy the victory right with through his welcoming performance here. Every one of his scenes where he talks himself out of a problem early on in the film is just terrific, and despite doing it several times Waltz makes each and everyone of these scenes very entertaining without feeling repetitive in the slightest.

Another reason I love this performance is how Waltz works with Jamie Foxx in the film. Jamie Foxx goes for basically a man with no name attempt in the vein of Clint Eastwood or Lee Van Cleef, or maybe that is what Quentin Tarantino wanted from the character, either way though it does not quite work because Foxx is not Eastwood or Van Cleef. The weakness of the leading man does not matter though because Christoph Waltz is there to save the day. Whenever Foxx could allow the film to falter due to his not nearly compelling enough performance, Waltz steps in and instantly energizes the scene with his wonderful presence. Not a single scene while Waltz is around falters because Waltz simply through his extremely entertaining performance stops them from doing so.

Waltz's domination of the scenes between Django and Schultz might sound like it would not work as Django is suppose to be lead. It works though because Waltz creates the relationship between the two as a bit of a mentor apprentice sort of relationship. In their scenes together Waltz is very good in making Schultz a gentle teacher to Django as both a technical advisory in the ways of the Bounty hunter, but also an encouraging factor that works quite well that creates a certain friendship that works well. Foxx's performance style of basically of being a modern action hero in this period is saved, for the most part, because Waltz lightens up as well as energizes everyone one of their scenes together that really saves the film.

Later on in the film when they go to save Django's wife Schultz takes a little bit of a back seat to the craziness of Calvin Candie and his head slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) as the chief villains of the film. This is not Waltz's fault by any means but in certain scenes like one where Calvin orders a slave to be torn apart by dogs Schultz is regulated to the background. Still Waltz is very good and every chance he does have to to chime in he again infuses life into the picture, and he certainly makes sure that we do not forget him for a moment. Also very important through his short reactions Waltz very much shows a certain disgust brewing over the horrible behavior of the slave holder that is extremely well handled by Waltz that sets up Schultz's later actions.

Also when I say Waltz takes a back seat it is only brief, basically just on their way to Candieland. Waltz has a very good scene with Django's wife Broomhilda that is very amusing thanks to Waltz's expert delivery. Even better though is the scene where they all have dinner. DiCaprio, Jackson, and Waltz are just terrific here as they all play together. They are hilarious the way they trade the barbs with DiCaprio portraying Calvin's attempted sophistication, Jackson portraying Stephen purposeful lack of sophistication, and Waltz portraying honest sophistication. They work together just perfectly and make the scene work extremely well the way they just make entertaining but also the way Waltz sets up the ruse Schultz is playing all the while Stephen is detecting the ruse.

I will say this paragraph covers the severe SPOILERS of the film. After the ruse is detected and Schultz is forced to do things Calvin's way Waltz is terrific in subtle showing the slow moral anger that builds in Schultz. Waltz is outstanding in his last scene as Waltz finally shows Schultz let lose with his disgust against what he was repressing beforehand, and it is a powerful moment for the end of his performance. He though still ends his performance so brilliantly by showing his charm just one more time before he exits the film. I must say how good he is makes the last part of the film much harder to get through than it should have been. I have never missed a character more in a film this year than Schultz and the credit needs to go to Waltz for doing so.

Christoph Waltz is amazing because he not only made his character exceedingly entertaining but as well even towed along Jamie Foxx to make his performance tolerable. He honestly is the man who makes the entire film work. Without him the film could easily could have devolved into just an abundance of violence lacking the charm and fun necessary for the film. I would say this is particularly true as I do feel that the ending of the film does devolve into that a bit, and Waltz is absent from the conclusion. All I can say is this is just a brilliant performance as Christoph Waltz pulls such a terrific character that does not feel for a moment like he is just coasting on his previous work. All I can really say that lead or supporting this just a great performance either way, and simply is either one of the best lead or supporting performances of the year.

Best Supporting Actor 2012: Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln

Tommy Lee Jones received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying congressman Thaddeus Stevens in Lincoln.

Thaddeus Stevens is bit of a controversial figure when it comes to historical representation. Some wish to see him as a villain for his want to harshly punish the south for succession and slavery. Others though take him as a hero for his fervent hatred of slavery, and his intense efforts to end it. The film Lincoln most certainly takes the latter approach. It briefly gives a little indication of the other view in his scene with Lincoln, but for the most part it treats him as very positive character. Tommy Lee Jones in turn in his portrayal of the man portrays him as a crusty old man, who has a lot of one liners, just like another nominee this year.

There is something strange I noticed well watching this performance though was how it was set up in the film to be a best supporting actor winner. In his first scene the camera takes his point of view, until a dramatic ease in on him, almost just to add to the importance of his character in the film. Similarly the film always gives him his little reactions constantly much more than any other character in the film, just to always remind you of his existence. Then he gets all his scenes where he gets to talk down to the various pro-slavery congressmen, or spineless ones that seem to be there for his Oscar scenes.

To top it all off he gets a final scene that seems to forced in its sentimentality just for this performance again, which is unfortunate because that is the only scene where Spielberg indulged in his problems as a filmmaker.  Well this whole character seemed to be created to give Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar, as Thaddeus Stevens should have had important scenes but the film really overdid it to a certain extent. Putting that aside though for a moment, how really is his performance? Well if I would have to say it is a tad one note for the most part. Tommy Lee Jones note is the note of an impassioned crusty, of course, crusader.

Jones is good in being his note of angry passion, and he delivers all of his lines with a certain intensity that works for the character. He is passionate as Stevens and that works particularly in his yelling scenes in the middle of congress. In his quieter scenes with Lincoln Jones still plays Jones in the same fashion just quieter. He is still impassioned still crusty, still saying little one liners, just at a lower volume. Jones is certainly entertaining in all of these scenes to a certain degree becuase Jones does throw himself full force into every line, but still there is nothing incredible about what he does.

There are of course his scenes where he has his little reactions which are either little smiles, or looks of understanding toward Mary Todd Lincoln. There is not anything special about the moments, but he handles them well enough. He hits a slightly different note when Stevens is basically being interrogated about his views which are considered radical, and he is forced to hold himself back. Jones is good in this scene by being quiet and loud at the same time in his usual passionate crusty method. He does this scene properly, but still it does not amount to anything absolutely incredible.

Eventually though there is the scene where he takes the written amendment home to show to his biracial housekeeper Lydia Smith (S. Epatha Merkenson) who clearly is more than that as they share a bed, and he addresses her as "my love". This scene is terrible frankly, and I liked the film, there are two reasons why. One is Jones seems lost in this scene which is the only time he takes away the anger from Stevens, but he does not make it work because he has no chemistry with Merkenson, the two do not suggest any history between the two. They seem forced together, and the scene fails. It fails even more because than Smith reads the amendment which just hammers in the point to an unnecessary degree. 

That scene which is his worst scene is not a great way to end his performance, even though the scene seemed tailored made to be all poignant and moving. The problem is the scene was too tailored to be all poignant and moving and came off as ham-fisted due to that. This is the showiest performance in the film but it is not the best. David Strathairn is more interesting by creating William Seward as a caring friend for Lincoln, but also very forceful in questioning some of his friends methods. James Spader is a lot of fun and very entertaining in his creation of a sweaty but intelligent political operative. Both create more compelling characters than Tommy Lee Jones and his portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens which is entertaining but never as substantial as it should be.

Best Supporting Actor 2012: Alan Arkin in Argo

Alan Arkin received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Lester Siegel in Argo.

Argo is an entertaining thriller, even if the facts of the true story are played and many times in a typical movie sort of way, about the CIA using a fake film project as a cover story to get six embassy workers out of Iran. 

Alan Arkin portrays a veteran film producer who CIA operative Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), and make up artist John Chambers go to help create the fake film production. Where the scenes in Iran with the hostages are played very much with a strict uncompromising intensity the scenes that take place in Hollywood are played up for comedic value. Much of the humor comes in form of Alan Arkin as the crusty old producer, and his interactions with various Hollywood types as the three of them try to make the cover story seem strong. Most of Arkin's moments really come in his delivery of the various one liners he is given.

Arkin won his Oscar for playing a crusty old man in Little Miss Sunshine, who also had quite a few one liners. In both films Arkin delivers them in the same way which is always in a unabashed manner. I would say the difference though is in Little Miss Sunshine he always felt a bit cruder, and frankly due to that his deliveries there held a little more of a punch. His line delivery here though is still good as well as he does them in his crusty dead pan fashion. I will not fault Arkin here giving a similar performance to his performance in Little Miss Sunshine since it is completely fitting of the character of Lester Siegel.

What separates Lester Siegel in this film from Edwin Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine is there is considerably less heart here as Lester. There is a very brief scene where he talks about his family to Mendez that is fairly simplistic. Arkin is earnest in the scene, but still it does not make much of an impact unlike Arkin's scenes with Abigail Breslin Little Miss Sunshine. In his Oscar winning turn Arkin made so there was a character who said one liners, whereas here it is more of Alan Arkin showing up to say a few one liners Siegel never really becomes a compelling character on his lonesome.

Now I will say this is a good performance in that when he is on screen he is enjoyable, and lightens up the film nicely. He, Affleck and Goodman have a certain chemistry that works in their scenes together that allows the scenes in making up the phony film appropriately entertaining. Arkin though doesn't steal the film or anything near that. When he is off screen, which is quite often especially in the third act of the film, he really is not missed all that much. Arkin in his performance offers a little bit of humor, and fun, but there is not anything here that is substantial enough to warrant this being recognized as one of the best performances of the year.