Alternate Best Actor 2006: Results

10. Matt Damon in The Departed - Damon actually is good being a despicable worm you want to see get his comeuppance, but he's never more and the potential seemed to be there in the role.

Best Scene: Sullivan and Costigan in the Elevator.

9. Hugh Jackman in The Prestige - The main reason he's so low is merely his extra character in the film where he goes a little too broad. He's great though in portraying his character's great showmanship and his underlying obsession.

Best Scene: Angier confesses the truth about his "trick".

8. Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies - This is just a really fun performance as Dujardin as he brilliantly replicates while satirizing 60's James Bond. 

Best Scene: The real version of his time with Jefferson .

7. Keanu Reeves in A Scanner Darkly - Reeves gives a powerful depiction of a man who slowly loses his mind through his drug addiction while still trying to be an undercover cop.

Best Scene: Bob's break down.

6. Cillian Murphy in The Wind That Shakes the Barley - Murphy gives a great performance not as a larger than life freedom fighter, but as an average man doing what he believes in.

Best Scene: The execution.

5. Ken Watanabe in Letters From Iwo Jima- Watanabe manages to show the commander of men, but as well the man behind the uniform.

Best Scene: The General and the Private meet for the last time.

4. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed - DiCaprio gives a compelling portrayal of the intensity and pressure of an undercover cop.

Best Scene: Billy's visit to the psychiatrist.

3. Christian Bale in The Prestige - Christian Bale gives a memorable portrayal of a peculiar obsession and his duplicitous work makes the film's twist particularly effective.  

Best Scene: Borden meets Lord Caldlow.

2. Clive Owen in Children of Men - Clive Owen gives a powerful portrayal that makes his character's personal struggle resonate even though the film rarely focuses on that.

Best Scene: Theo watches his friend's execution.

1. Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others - Good Predictions Luke, Anonymous, Kevin, mcofra7, and  Psifonian. Mühe gives an exceptional performance as he so poignantly and convincingly portrays the transformation of a man from a heartless cog in a machine to a good man. 

Best Scene: The second interrogation.

Overall Rank:

1. Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others
2. Clive Owen in Children of Men
3. Christian Bale in The Prestige
4. Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland
5. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed
6. Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland
7. Daniel Craig in Casino Royale
8. Ken Watanabe in Letter From Iwo Jima
9. Cillian Murphy in The Wind That Shakes the Barley
10. Keanu Reeves in A Scanner Darkly
11. Aaron Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking
12. Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
13. Hugh Jackman in The Prestige
14. Adrien Brody in Hollywoodland 
15. Josh Hartnett in Lucky Number Slevin
16. Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond
17. James McAvoy in The Last King of Scotland
18. Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson
19. Edward Norton in The Painted Veil
20. Peter O'Toole in Venus
21. Sebastian Koch in The Lives of Others
22. Denzel Washington in Inside Man
23. Clive Owen in Inside Man
24. Hugo Weaving in V For Vendetta
25. Edward Norton in The Illusionist 
26. Greg Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine 
27. Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction
28. Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible III
29. Matt Damon in The Departed
30. Patrick Wilson in Little Children
31. Richard Gere in The Hoax
32. Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond
33. Ryan Reynolds in Smokin' Aces 
34. Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa
35. Luke Wilson in Idiocracy
36. Kazunari Ninomiya in Letters From Iwo Jima
37. Mark Wahlberg in Invincible
38. Will Smith  in The Pursuit of Happyness
39. Josh Hartnett in The Black Dahlia
40. Hugh Jackman in X-Men: The Last Stand
41. Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
42. Owen Wilson in Cars 
43. Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights in The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
44. Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd
45. Brandon Routh in Superman Returns 
46. Ben Stiller in Night At the Museum
47. Tim Allen in The Santa Clause: The Escape Clause
48. Robin Williams in RV
49. Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Next Year: 2006 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 2006: Ken Watanabe in Letters From Iwo Jima

Ken Watanabe did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters From Iwo Jima. 

Letters From Iwo Jima is an excellent film that depicts the pivotal battle for the island of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese. 

Ken Watanabe plays the Japanese General in charge of the defense of the Island of Iwo Jima which soon will be attacked by American forces. Watanabe has an interesting role as he plays who would technically be the unseen and unknown villain in most World War II films set in the Pacific theater. Watanabe does not portray the General as villain working for an evil regime in fact he is quite the opposite as Kuribayashi first arrives on the scene. Watanabe carries himself with a strong commanding presence as the General begins to instruct the men. Watanabe though along with the command has a considerable natural warmth he brings in the part to. There is a naturalism optimism about Watanabe’s manner in the scene and effectively allows Kuribayashi to be the inspirational figure he should be upon his arrival.

This is rather interestingly undercut by the fact that one of the first things we hear from Kuribayashi is his thoughts which is basically accepting his fate which is to die defending his country. Watanabe is very affecting by having this somberness that is pervasive in his performance. Watanabe is particularly good as he very quietly suggests this in his scenes with his men, but as a man trying to cover up his own hesitations. Watanabe is very good as he depicts Kuribayashi as a devoted soldier as he fervently attempts to make the right adjustments to make the island's defenses as formidable as he is able to make them, but also a man who is well aware of the futility of his objective. Watanabe make this inconsistency entirely understandable as he portrays Kuribayashi as having the convictions to his men, yet in his personal feelings reflect a reasonable man.

Watanabe has two especially great contrasting scenes where he motivates the troops. The first time is just before the beginning of the battle and it's a terrific scene for Watanabe as he shows Kuribayashi attempting to reinforce the ideals of Empire. In this scene Watanabe has a great forceful intensity as Kuribayashi fulfills this particular role. There is a coldness though that Watanabe suggests that this is obviously not the true nature of the General. Watanabe shows the effectiveness of this sort of speech, but there is one truer to his heart near the end of the film when Kuribayashi rallies his men for a final charge. Watanabe presents a far greater depth of feeling showing now that all of what the General is in this speech as he does believe it will be his last stand to protect his family. It's a powerful scene and particularly remarkable due to the contrasts that Watanabe presents between the moments. 

Kuribayashi is not always fulfilling his role as General though and the film does leave several moments where Kribayashi reflects back on his life including his time in America. The brief flashbacks are limited but well handled by Watanabe. He does well to make it at different Kuribayashi in the past. Instead of the somber man Watanabe instead portrays the enthusiasm of youth living in a very different world than the one he ends up in. The majority of the scenes though do not necessarily depict what Kuribayashi is thinking. Watanabe is excellent in these moments and there really is not a lot being said. In fact some of the scene merely depict him maybe reading or writing letter that is all. That is all that Watanabe needs though as he creates such poignancy in these moments as Watanabe reflects the happiness of the past while facing the sorrow of the present. It's wonderful work as he gives life to the letters from Iwo Jima.

Watanabe's screen time is somewhat limited due to the nature of the film where he goes back and forth between several men involved in the conflict. There is enough focus on Kuribayashi and perspective given to him that I don't hesitate calling him lead though. Watanabe's presence is felt throughout, and you are never at loss for where Kuribayashi is in terms of dealing with the battle. The film returns back to Watanabe's ongoing depiction of the psychological wear of the battle, which is not helped by men committing suicide against his orders, as the American front line slowly comes closer to his headquarters. It's a rather remarkable portrait of the career soldier devoted to a cause he does not truly believe in. Watanabe seemingly with such ease makes that conflict understandable realizing the human, really rather gentlemanly, nature of the man within along with the fearless convictions of a man of duty.

Alternate Best Actor 2006

And the Nominees Were Not:

Hugh Jackman in The Prestige

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed

Ken Watanabe in Letters From Iwo Jima

Clive Owen in Children of Men

Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies

Predict Those Five or Predict These Five:

Christian Bale in The Prestige

Matt Damon in The Departed

Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others

Cillian Murphy in The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Keanu Reeves in A Scanner Darkly

Or predict both separately if you want. I'll give you two requests.

Best Supporting Actor 2003: Results

5. Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams- Del Toro surprised me how little he did with his performance here and I never felt he made any sort of emotional connection ever in the film with this performance.

4. Djimon Hounsou in In America- Hounsou gives his usual two setting of performance, which is either speaking in a whisper or yelling wildly.

3. Alec Baldwin in The Cooler- Baldwin is completely competent throughout the film but what he does never makes much of an impact.

2. Tim Robbins in Mystic River-Robbins work never quite overcomes the surface posturing, yet there is some power found in the more subtle elements of his performance.

1. Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai- A good performance that makes the strongest impact within the film, giving an entertaining yet moving portrayal of his charismatic leader.

Best Supporting Actor 2003: Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai

Ken Watanabe received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Katsumoto the head Samurai leading a rebellion against the modernization of Japan in The Last Samurai.

Ken Wantanabe I find is far more interesting in this performance then he really had to be. Katsumoto could have been played extremely one dimensional fashion or too stiffly, but Watanabe does not play him this way. Watanabe effectively shows that Katsumoto has a certain knowing about himself. He shows well that Katsumoto is in fact intelligent and knows his way of life is being lost, but that he still fins his way is the right way. He is effective because he does not show Katsumoto to be just a single minded warrior but one with his own thoughts and a sense of humor. He handles this well because he adds this to his character without making making his performance merely farce.

He does this by always being believable as the leader of the samurai and I found his screen presence here to be always very strong. I felt scenes with him in it were always better than other scenes, and that his last scene is very well handled by Watanabe making it strong as possible. But still a lot of what he is doing here is not overly amazing but rather standard going through the motions sort of acting required of the part during certain scenes. Even his greatest scenes are not the most amazing feats of acting either, but Watanabe though is always good in the film and tries his best to get more out of the character than perhaps even the script allowed for.

Best Supporting Actor 2003

 And the Nominees Were:

Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai

Alec Baldwin in The Cooler

Tim Robbins in Mystic River

Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams

Djimon Hounsou in In America 

Who do you pick? What do you predict my ranking will be?