Best Actor: Mark Hamill

Showing posts with label Mark Hamill. Show all posts

Friday, 9 February 2018

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2017: Results

10. Daniel Craig in Logan Lucky - Craig goes wildly against his established James Bond type here to give a very entertaining portrayal of a southern crook that manages to get laughs even when the film undersells his moments.

Best Scene: "We're dealing with science here"

9. Hugh Grant in Paddington 2 - Grant gives a very enjoyable performance here bringing the needed charm but also the explosive ego to his villainous actor.

Best Scene: A character conference.

8. Paul Dano in Okja - Dano gives yet another strong performance here bringing such warmth and delivering an uncompromising empathetic figure within a film that is very much in need of one.

Best Scene: Taking the stage.

7. Jack Dylan Grazer in It - Grazer gives the best performance of the loser boys as he not only adds so much to the overall chemistry of the group, but also has some stand out individual moments through his arc that he realizes so well.

Best Scene: Gazebos.

6. Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Although I think his performance is slightly weakened by the forced humor given to his character, Hamill delivers a powerful reprise here in his depiction of a broken man.

Best Scene: Final scene with Leia.

5. Jerome Flynn in Loving Vincent - Flynn in one major scene makes a tremendous impact that sums up the nature of van Gogh's death through his moving portrayal of the man who blames himself for it.

4. David Lynch in Lucky - Lynch delivers some Lynchian greatness here as he manages to be both hilarious yet heartbreaking in his portrayal of a man who has lost his tortoise.

Best Scene: Coming to terms with tortoise loss.

3. Romain Duris in All the Money in the World - Duris quietly steals this film in his dynamic and moving depiction of the crisis of conscience of his kidnapper who struggles with his innate goodness as he tries to be a bad man.

Best Scene: The amputation.

2. Will Poulter in Detroit - Poulter's work is truly disturbing here as rather than portraying an overt drooling racist he depicts a calm and confident one who doesn't need to announce his prejudice as obvious hate rather he puts it within his horrible actions.

Best Scene: Interrogation tactics gone wrong.

1. Patrick Stewart in Logan - Good Prediction Michael McCarthy. Patrick Stewart gives a heartbreaking reprise of his most famous cinematic role. He realizes the real tragedy of the Professor's demise through how far he has fallen through his failing mind, but also finds a real poignancy just in those minor hints of the man he once was.

Best Scene: The most perfect night.

Overall Ranking:

Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Kōji Yakusho in The Third Murder
Sebastian Stan in I, Tonya
Woody Harrelson in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Patrick Stewart in Logan
Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project
Will Poulter in Detroit
Romain Duris in All the Money in the World
David Lynch in Lucky
Jason Isaacs in The Death of Stalin
Jerome Flynn in Loving Vincent
Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Tom Skerritt in Lucky
Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World
Jack Dylan Grazer in It
Michael Palin in The Death of Stalin
Paul Dano in Okja
Eric Tsang in Mad World
Mark Rylance in Dunkirk
Algee Smith in Detroit
Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water
Michael Keaton in Spider-man: Homecoming
Hugh Grant in Paddington 2
Daniel Craig in Logan Lucky
Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Mom
Bruce Greenwood in Gerald's Game
Jason Mitchell in Mudbound
John C. Reilly in Kong: Skull Island
John Boyega in Detroit
Brendan Gleeson in Paddington 2
Rory Cochran in Hostiles
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Happy End
Ray Romano in The Big Sick
Paul Walter Hauser in I, Tonya
Paddy Considine in The Death of Stalin
Caleb Landry Jones in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Cillian Murphy in Dunkirk
Bradley Whitford in Get Out
Robert Carlyle in T2
Rupert Friend in The Death of Stalin
Ben Foster in Hostiles
Shia LaBeouf in Borg McEnroe
Armie Hammer in Free Fire
Jeff Goldblum in Thor: Ragnarok
Stephen Merchant in Logan
Terry Notary in The Square
Bill Nighy in Their Finest
Thomas Kretschmann in A Taxi Driver
Sharlto Copley in Free Fire
Michael Rooker in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
Dave Bautista in Blade Runner 2049
Michael Stuhlbarg in Call Me By Your Name
Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049
Clarke Peters in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Bruce Greenwood in The Post
Carlos Sanz in Stronger
Michael Shannon in The Shape of Water
Idris Elba in Molly's Game
Jaeden Lieberher in It
Stellan Skarsgard in Borg McEnroe
Anthony Mackie in Detroit
Kenneth Branagh in Dunkirk
Bob Odenkirk in The Post
Ewen Bremner in T2
Gil Birmingham in Wind River
Dave Bautista in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
Michael Stuhlbarg in The Shape of Water
Jon Hamm in Baby Driver
Luke Evans in Beauty and the Beast
Ian McShane in John Wick Chapter 2
Ben Mendelsohn in Darkest Hour
Buddy Duress in Good Time
Lakeith Stanfield in Get Out
Traci Letts in Lady Bird
Peter Dinklage in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Bill Skarsgård in It
Austin Stowell in Battle of the Sexes
Jack Reynor in Free Fire
O'Shea Jackson Jr. in Ingrid Goes West
Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
Jared Leto in Blade Runner 2049
Jack Lowden in Dunkirk
Danny McBride in Alien: Covenant
J. Quinton Johnson in Last Flag Flying
Ben Safdie in Good Time
James Darren in Lucky
Woody Harrelson in War for the Planet of the Apes
Ryu Jun-yeol in A Taxi Driver
Tom Hiddleston in Thor: Ragnarok
Jamie Foxx in Baby Driver
Jeremy Ray Taylor in It
Owen Wilson in Lost in London
Graham Greene in Wind River
Josh Gad in Beauty and the Beast
Tom Hardy in Dunkirk
Hugh Bonneville Paddington 2
Camille Salameh in The Insult
Mark Hamill in Brigsby Bear
Gary Basaraba in Suburbicon
Fionn Whitehead in Dunkirk
Udo Kier in Brawl in Cell Block 99
Jeffrey Tambor in The Death of Stalin
John Hawkes in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Ronald Pickup in Darkest Hour
Taika Waititi in Thor: Ragnarok
Jonathan Majors in Hostiles
Oscar Issac in Suburbicon
Ron Livingston in Lucky
Pedro Pascal in Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Cillian Murphy in Free Fire
Mark Ruffalo in Thor: Ragnarok
Barry Keoghan in Dunkirk
Matt Walsh in Brigsby Bear
Too Hae-jin in A Taxi Driver
CJ Jones in Baby Driver
Johnny Lee Miller in T2
Timothy Spall in The Party
Gael Garcia Bernal in Coco
Akshaye Khanna in Mom
Ian Hart in God's Own Country
Wes Studi in Hostiles
Ed Oxenbould in Better Watch Out
Dwight Yoakam in Logan Lucky
Jacob Latimore in Detroit
Bill Pullman in Battles of the Sexes
Domhnall Gleeson in American Made
Jesse Plemons in Hostiles
Cillian Murphy in The Party
Tom Holland in The Lost City of Z
Tommy Flanagan in The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Joe Cole in Thank You For Your Service
Chosen Jacobs in It
Steven Yeun in Okja
Kenneth Cranham in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
Kevin Costner in Molly's Game
Aneurin Barnard in Dunkirk
Eddie Marsan in Atomice Blonde
Robert Pattinson in The Lost City of Z
Kit Harington in Brimstone
Chris O'Dowd in Loving Vincent
Josh Gad in Murder on the Orient Express
Paul Scheer in The Disaster Artist
Barry Shabaka Henley in Lucky
Wyatt Russell in Ingrid Goes West
Adnan Siddiqui in Mom
Dallas Roberts in My Friend Dahmer
John Goodman in Atomic Blonde
Greg Kinnear in Brigsby Bear
Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Boyd Holbrook in Logan
Michael Smiley in Free Fire
Stephen Henderson in Lady Bird
Bruno Ganz in The Party
Lior Ashkenazi in Norman
Giancarlo Esposito in Okja
Stephen Root in Get Out
Stephen Dillane in Darkest Hour
John Boyega in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Seth Rogen in The Disaster Artist
Marcus Henderson in Get Out
Harry Styles in Dunkirk
Martin McCann in Lost in London
Laurence Fishburne in John Wick Chapter 2
Finn Wolfhard in It
Steve Buscemi in Norman
Toby Jones in Atomic Blonde
Michael Sheen in Brad's Status
Don Johnson in Brawl in Cell Block 99
Barry Keoghan in The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Sterling K. Brown in Marshall
Willem Dafoe in Death Note
Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name
Tom Glynn Carney in Dunkirk
Dwayne Johnson in Fast 8
Jason Statham in Fast 8
Ralph Fiennes in The Lego Batman Movie
Kurt Russell in Fast 8
Robert Downey Jr. in Spider-man: Homecoming
Alex Lawther in Goodbye Christopher Robin
Karl Urban in Thor: Ragnarok
Glenn Fleshler in Suburbicon
Carel Struycken in Gerald's Game
Alan Cumming in Battle of the Sexes
Rob Morgan in Mudbound
Ben O'Toole in Detroit
Brian Gleeson in Phantom Thread
John Lithgow in Beatriz At Dinner
John Magaro in War Machine
Alec Secareanu in God's Own Country
Benjamin Bratt in Coco
Jon Favreau in Spider-man: Homecoming
Barkhad Abdi in Good Time
Noah Taylor in Paddington 2
James D'Arcy - Dunkirk
Choi Woo-shik in Okja
Mathieu Kassovitz in Happy End
Eddie Izzard in Victoria and Abdul
Bokeem Woodbine in Spider-man: Homecoming
Morgan Spector in Chuck
Anthony Hopkins in Thor: Ragnarok
Peter Capaldi in Paddington 2
Bobby Cannavale in I, Tonya
Wyatt Oleff in It
Derek Jacobi in Murder on the Orient Express
Matvey Novikov in Loveless
Franz Rogowski in Happy End
Adeel Akhtar in The Big Sick
Jason Mitchell in Detroit
Lakeith Stanfield in War Machine
Colin Firth in Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Donald Glover in Spider-man: Homecoming
Brian Gleeson in Logan Lucky
Jack Quaid in Logan Lucky
David Thewlis in Wonder Woman
Kwon Hae-hyo in On the Beach at Night Alone
Sam Riley in Free Fire
Ron Perlman in Chuck
Richard E. Grant in Logan
Jonathan Pryce in The Man Who Invented Christmas
Alex Wolff in My Friend Dahmer
Samuel L. Jackson in Kong: Skull Island
Nicholas Hamilton in It
Sam Claflin in Their Finest
Marton Csokas in Mark Felt
Jung Jae-young in On the Beach at Night Alone
Michael Rapaport in Chuck
Traci Letts in The Post
Johannes Krisch in In The Fade
John Goodman in Kong: Skull Island
Colin Farrell in Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Michael Cera in Molly's Game
Beulah Koale in Thank You For Your Service
Mark Strong in Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Lance Reddick in John Wick Chapter 2
Christopher Plummer in The Man Who Invented Christmas
Jim Gaffigan in Chuck
Denis Moschitto in In The Fade
Said Taghmaoui in Wonder Woman
Matthias Schoenaerts in Our Souls At Night
Jacob Batalon in Spider-man: Homecoming
Bradley Cooper in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
Willem Dafoe in Murder on the Orient Express
Lucas Hedges in Lady Bird
Bill Camp in Molly's Game
Billy Crudup in Alien Covenant
Timothee Chalamet in Lady Bird
Ewan Bremner in Wonder Woman
Michael Cera in The Lego Batman Movie
Christopher Fairbank in Lady Macbeth
David Cross in The Post
Anupam Kher in The Big Sick
Jon Bernthal in Wind River
Paul Hilton in Lady Macbeth
Tom Hanks in The Circle
Domhnall Gleeson in Mother!
Ezra Miller in Justice League
Nick Offerman in The Hero
Shea Whigham in Death Note
Paul Anderson in Brimstone
Jacob Tremblay in The Book of Henry
Michael McElhatton in The Foreigner
Emory Cohen in War Machine
Christopher Lloyd in Going in Style
Ian McKellen in Beauty and the Beast
Udo Kier in Downsizing
Peter Fonda in The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Leslie Odom Jr. in Murder on the Orient Express
Tim Blake Nelson in Colossal
Lee Pace in The Book of Henry
Michael Sheen in Norman
Dominic West in The Square
Christopher Abbot in It Comes At Night
Caleb Landry Jones in The Florida Project
Noah Taylor in Free Fire
Michael Stuhlbarg in The Post
Christoph Waltz in Downsizing
Stephen Graham in Films Stars Don't Die Liverpool
David Yow in I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
Jesse Plemons in The Discovery
Sunny Suljic in The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Arnaud Valois in BPM
Jim Caviezel in The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Caleb Landry Jones in Get Out
Steve Zahn in War For the Planet of the Apes
Owen Wilson in Wonder
Ed Harris in Mother!
Bradley Whitford in The Post
Benicio del Toro in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dustin Hoffman in The Meyerowitz Stories
Garrett Hedlund in Mudbound
Aleks Mikic in Better Watch Out
Israel Broussard in Happy Death Day
Jack Reynor in Detroit
Aidan Gillen in The Lovers
Brian Gleeson in Mother!
Lucas Hedges in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jason Momoa in Justice League
Riz Ahmed in Una
Jordan Rodrigues in Lady Bird
Andy Serkis in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Lil Rel Howery in Get Out
Ian Glen in My Cousin Rachel
Matthew Rhys in The Post
Jon Hamm in Marjorie Prime
Tom Hollander in Breathe
Robert Redford in The Discovery
Ray Fisher in Justice League
Adeel Akhtar in Victoria & Abdul
Emory Cohen in Shot Collar
Tim Robbins in Marjorie Prime
Dan Stevens in Colossal
Jim Belushi in Wonder Wheel
Zach Efron in The Greatest Showman
Austin Abrams in Brad's Status
Jason Clarke in Mudbound
Henrik Rafaelsen in Thelma
Eugene Brave Rock in Wonder Woman
Seth MacFarlane in Logan Lucky
Ewan Mcgregor in Beauty and the Beast
Jay Hernandez in Bright
Johnny Depp in Murder on the Orient Express
Oliver Platt in Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman
Jeffrey Donovan in Shot Collar
Dacre Montgomery in Better Watch Out
Scott Eastwood in Fast 8
J.K. Simmons in The Snowman
Common in John Wick Chapter 2
Edgar Ramirez in Bright
John Ortiz in Going in Style
Domhnall Gleeson in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
John Slattery in Churchill
Jeremy Strong in Molly's Game
Tyler Ross in The Lovers
Toby Kebbell in Kong: Skull Island
David Dencik in The Snowman
Bo Burnam in The Big Sick
Chris O'Dowd in Molly's Game
Clancy Brown in Stronger
Danny Huston in Wonder Woman
Zack Galifianakis in The Lego Batman Movie
Billy Magnussen in Ingrid Goes West
Dean Norris in The Book of Henry
Devon Graye in I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
John Krasinski in Detroit
Ike Barinholtz in Bright
Kurt Braunohler in The Big Sick
Mike Colter in Girls Trip
Jonathan Banks in Mudbound
Jonas Karlsson in The Snowman
Michael Mando in Spider-man: Homecoming
Caleb Landry Jones in American Made
Jake Gyllenhaal in Okja
Riccardo Scamarcio in John Wick Chapter 2
Thomas Mann in Kong: Skull Island
James Jordan in Wind River
Elton John in Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Ellar Coltrane in The Circle

Next Year: 2017 Lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2017: Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Mark Hamill did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The Last Jedi is a bit of the Dark Knight Rises of Star Wars movies as it becomes bloated by its expansive narrative and rare is there satisfactory execution within its exploration of some admittedly interesting ideas at times.

Although I do not care for The Last Jedi, I will say that some of the negativity towards the film is a bit overblown. In that those who say it is the worst Star Wars film of all time, even saying it is worse than the best prequel is going too far. The reason being in terms of just more basic film making techniques this film is clearly superior as well as in the acting. This brings me to Mark Hamill's long awaited return to his iconic role after his brief non-speaking role at the tail end of The Force Awakens. Unfortunately as we pick up from that I must return to more negativity by addressing the use of the film's humor, don't worry this will be the darkness before I get to the dawn. The aforementioned film did have a bit more humor overall than a typical Star Wars film however it was placed correctly for the most part. There is humor in the original trilogy as well however it is placed in the lulls of the action, The Force Awakens mostly followed this idea it just had a little more of it. There is one mistake in the opening of that film where Oscar Isaac's Poe is perhaps a little too casual with the film's chief villain Kylo Renn. That was only a minor offense though amplified to outrageous proportions in this film where Poe goes about the same behavior though now in almost pop culture referencing levels where he makes "your momma" and call waiting jokes to Domhnall Gleeson's General Hux.

This humor is consistently used at the wrong time and wrong place throughout this film. This includes making the villains goofballs, making Yoda behave as he does before he reveals himself to be Yoda to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back for some reason, but no example of this is more egregious than its use in the character of Luke Skywalker. Now Luke Skywalker was never an overly comical character in the original series, he was usually the earnest one that Harrison Ford's Han and Carrie Fisher's Leia bounced off of. For Luke to develop a more overt sense of humor in his old age is perfectly fine, that's not the humor of the character in this film that feels forced upon Hamill's performance. These are moments that are breaks in whatever else Hamill is doing in a given scene to make the audience laugh no matter how detrimental they may be to the dramatic potential of a scene. This is within the opening scene of the film where we come off of Rey (Daisy Ridley) returning his father's old lightsaber on the top of his island hideaway. In the previous film, the one piece of acting we get from Hamill in that film, we see a man haunted by the sight of the item, clearly taking it in and facing something from his past. In this film we get that moment then he tosses it. He tosses in a way to get a chuckle, a wah wahhhhh wouldn't have been out of place, from the audience yet it is a scar within this performance. I have no doubt this was a directorial, if not studio, mandate. It undercuts what Hamill did in the previous film, and makes no sense for the character. The idea that the man would toss it, as though it had not a single meaning to him whatsoever is the problem.

If he tossed it as though he wanted to avoid it, that would be fine, if tossed as though it caused him pain, that would be fine, but no, his father's lightsaber, the lightsaber given to him by his old mentor, he just whips it back as though he had absolutely no connection to it whatsoever. This isn't the act of a guy with a sense of humor, this isn't the act of the character we knew or we come to know even in this film, it's a goofy moment to get a cheap laugh. This sadly is not the only moment, and again just want to get through these negatives since there will be positives soon...I promise. Another moment is when is speaking to Rey and asks where she's from, to which she says nowhere, and then he says "Nobody is from nowhere" and she says "Jakku", and to which Hamill is forced to stop whatever else he is doing and go " Yeah, that's pretty much nowhere" as though he's in a sitcom. It stops whatever else he's doing in the scene to break, do something out of a character just for a good old hyuk hyuk hyuk because here in Disneyland we can't stomach a dramatic scene for more than four minutes at a time. There is one more time of this when he's training Rey to reach into the force where he messes with her with a leaf, however while I still don't think it's funny and is problematic as the force was always treated with gravity in every other film, Hamill at least makes this moment work in that it seems natural in the context of the overall scene. Hamill makes it feel like a bit fooling around rather than becoming automatized into ill-fitting joke mode that we saw previously.

Now putting that aside for a moment let's take a look at what Hamill does for the majority of his performance. Hamill actually does overall continue from that one haunted expression in the last film to portray Luke as this bitter man. His eyes are world weary, there is not a hint of any joy in him as he goes about his day, which I won't get into too much detail since I'll get annoyed again, but Hamill delivers in creating this sense of just a man burdened by his experience. We don't know exactly what he's been through yet Hamill expresses in every part of him this sense of exhaustion that has changed Luke to this man we meet here. When Rey asks him to go back to help, Hamill delivers his lines as a man who has been through one too many fights in his life within his exasperated and cynical responses to these requests. Hamill really plays into the age of the character as he says every line of a man scarred by his experience far from the hero of long ago at the end of The Return of the Jedi. We are not given a glimpse of anything else until when he reunites with Chewbacca who lets Rey into Luke's hut by literally breaking down the door. In this moment, and later he sees R2D2, are great moments by Hamill. As his delivery seems to de-age about thirty years as he says their names. He's back for just a second to the hopeful boy moisture farmer, and in these moments you really get a sense of the friendship that still is strong in the mind of his Luke towards the people he cares about.

Those moments though are only momentary respites towards his friends while towards Rey he continues as this irritable old man. Hamill does not make this one note either though as Luke begins the training through three lessons, we only see two for whatever reason, on why he believes the Jedi need to end. Hamill brings this great begrudging quality to every spoken word as he explains to Rey how the force works, the words once spoken with far more appreciation by his old masters, but now Hamill shows Luke spouting them out with almost certain hatred towards the word. When Rey reveals her level of power to the point she even reaches into the dark side Hamill is incredible in his reaction. He seizes up in fear showing Luke essentially with ptsd as the reaction isn't a general fear, it is this fear of the past. There is a sadness in it as he says he saw it once before, but it didn't scare him enough before. In this scene Hamill reveals some of the memories that cause his suffering and correctly he attaches these to basically the character's grumpiness. He's not just some angry old man, Hamill offers the proper context within where this comes from. He furthers this in every scene with Rey as he explains the Jedi's past failures in his second lesson. There is no care or affection that Hamill grants just a disgruntled man examining the faults of the past. When Rey though suspects he's closed himself fully from the force though Hamill is great in that he portrays a direct shame. A shame not of a bad man, but of a former hero who has run from his problems and the beliefs he once held so strongly.

The revelation of the full extent of Luke's past with his former student, and now near ultimate evil Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo (Adam Driver) is where of the great controversies of the film lies. This is actually one decision I don't have a problem with since you do need to take the character somewhere, however I do understand why others hated it including Hamill himself. After all it does perhaps seem strange that the man who refused to kill his own father, who was obviously very evil, would preemptively try to kill his nephew, but hey time can change people. Now Hamill to his credit, despite his own personal reservations, puts his all into his portrayal of the confession scene. When Rey initially confronts him Hamill reveals just the full anger again now revealing itself naturally to be the anger of a man hiding from something he did than just at the world in general, part of that is the shame that is so overwhelming in his work. When he finally is forced to explain Hamill is outstanding in revealing in his eyes such an overwhelming sadness of the failures of the man, with this palatable sense of despair when he notes his hand in creating Kylo Ren even if from a momentary weakness. In the scene Hamill makes sense of who Luke is in this situation now, which is someone trying to lose himself within his suffering by essentially lashing out at anyone or anything that expects more of him. When Rey though states her belief that she can save Kylo, Hamill delivers now a more passionate anger towards the idea creates this sense that he's understood this to be a lost cause for some time.

Luke eventually returns to the force due to these confrontations by Rey which leads again to some strong acting by Hamill. This is particularly in the moment where he initially reconnects speaking to Leia through the force, and Hamill expresses the intensity of that emotion, the man allowing himself to touch his past once again something rather powerful. It also leads to the reappearance by wacky Yoda, who never existed, and has since changed his philosophy from "Do or do not. There is no try" to failure is the best teacher. Kind of a complete 180 there which is also the theme of the movie being you gotta fail to succeed sometimes, while not if you're in a fight to the death then you're just dead! Anyway Yoda goes off to tell him that Rey knows more than him and she's surpassed him, despite almost no training from him because that's great writing, or lazy writing...I forget. Now I know I'm getting off topic a bit however that moment suggests really more time should have been spent on the island between Rey and Luke. Unfortunately this film suffers from the horrible condition of seeming to rush its good elements while dragging out its bad ones. That leaves only one sequence left for Hamill to return to the Luke we once knew and loved. I will say, despite the limited screen time, Hamill makes this transition convincing and effective by having those moments with his old friends by showing the younger man still there, making it so he did not really need to go too far to return to his old self. Also Hamill doesn't completely just become young Luke, rather he still shows the wear in the man, but now with the determination to fight. Hamill is excellent in this final sequence bringing now that sort of hero's bravado as he steps out to face Kylo, with even a cool of a true hero in his particularly efficient delivery of his one liners.

There is though still just enough of a shame there in Hamill's portrayal when Luke apologizes to Kylo for his past mistakes, but now more hidden by his conviction to confront the man. Hamill in presence delivers the Luke of legend, the man who faced down the emperor and defeated Darth Vadar once again. The man who said "I'm a Jedi like my father before me" as he once again commands that same confidence and power. Of course this confrontation, through force projection, leaves him to fade away into the force for some reason, even though Obi-Wan did right before he was going to be killed, and Yoda was dying from extremely old age there is no real reason why this should have killed Luke especially as it takes some of the oomph from his epic delivery of "see you around kid" to Kylo since I guess he won't see him around. Again just another problem I have with the film, but not Hamill's performance. My favorite moment in his work though is probably just before that scene when he "physically" meets up with Leia. It's a wonderful scene with Hamill bringing such a tenderness in this moment of recognizing loss, and it is a beautifully rendered both as a moment within the film recognizing Han's death, but also outside of it as this final onscreen time shared by Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. He creates such a tremendous since of warmth in that moment that is particularly cathartic when compared against the colder man we knew throughout. This is a legitimately fantastic performance by Mark Hamill however I cannot ignore the scenes I mentioned at the beginning of this review. They are there, and they're a blight on this performance. I'm sure they were not Hamill's choices but unfortunately they're realized through his work, to the detriment of it. They not only take me out of the performance, out of the scene, but also the film when they happen. It's a real shame because if it were not for those moments this would be the best performance in a Star Wars film, instead it's merely one of the best.

Friday, 2 February 2018

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2017

And the Nominees Were Not:

David Lynch in Lucky

Patrick Stewart in Logan

Daniel Craig in Logan Lucky

Jerome Flynn in Loving Vincent

Romain Duris in All the Money in the World

And for the Second Set of Predictions:

Will Poulter in Detroit

Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Hugh Grant in Paddington 2

Paul Dano in Okja

Jack Dylan Grazer in IT

With special appearances by:

John Boyega in Detroit

Brendan Gleeson in Paddington 2

Bill Skarsgård in IT

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1980: Results

5. Mark Hamill in The Big Red One- Hamill plays his character well and has stand out moments even within the vignette nature of the film.

Best Scene: The Concentration Camp.

4. Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back- Ford gives one of his best action hero performances making Han Solo the great hero he should be.

Best Scene: "I Know".

3. Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!- Nielsen gives an one note performance of utter comedic brilliance, being incredibly funny by playing his part as deadly serious as possible.

Best Scene: "I am serious and don't call me Shirley".

2. Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant- Brown gives an effective performance finding his own place in the film as the soldier whose rough exterior hides a deeper sadness.

Best Scene: Hancock writes his farewell letter to his wife.

1. Tsutomu Yamazaki in Kagemusha- Good Prediction Maciej. Well I've come to the conclusion that Tsutomu Yamazaki is the greatest actor to have a Wikipedia page with no more than three sentences. Once again he delivers an incredible supporting performance. He always finds a way to stand out even when he is in a group of actors. Yamazaki gives a great supporting performance that plays off of and supports Tatsuya Nakadai's lead performance beautifully.

Best Scene: Nobukado predicts the fate of Kagemusha.

Overall Rank:

Joe Pesci in Raging Bull
Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man
Tsutomu Yamazaki in Kagemusha
Scott Wilson in The Ninth Configuration
Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant
Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!
Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back
Mark Hamill in The Big Red One
Freddie Jones in The Elephant Man
Robert Stack in Airplane!
Jason Miller in The Ninth Configuration
Christopher Walken in Heaven's Gate
Brian Blessed in Flash Gordon
Yaphet Kotto in Brubaker
John Gielgud in The Orchestra Director
Oliver Reed in Lion of the Desert
Bill Murray in Caddyshack
Lewis Fitz-Gerald in Breaker Morant
Jason Robards in Melvin and Howard
James Earl Jones in The Empire Strikes Back
John Gielgud in The Elephant Man
Jack Warden in Used Cars
Gene Hackman in Superman II
Frank Oz in The Empire Strikes Back
David Carradine in The Long Riders
Lloyd Bridges in Airplane!
Harvey Keitel in Bad Timing
John Hurt in Heaven's Gate
Vittorio Gassman in La Terrazza
Keith Carradine in The Long Riders
Levon Helm in Coal Miner's Daughter
Max von Sydow in Flash Gordon
Jean-Louis Trintignant in La Terrazza
Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back
Ugo Tognazzi in La Terrazza
Om Puri in Sparsh
Marcello Mastroianni in La Terrazza
Richard Farnsworth in Resurrection
Sam Waterston in Heaven's Gate
Timothy Dalton in Flash Gordon
Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill
Jean Poiret in The Last Metro
Stacy Keach in The Long Riders
Roberts Blossom in Resurrection
Henry Gibson in The Blues Brothers
Hal Holbrook in The Fog
Terence Stamp in Superman II
Jeff Bridges in Heaven's Gate
David Morse in Inside Moves
Scatman Crothers in The Shining
Cab Calloway in The Blues Brothers
Philip Stone in The Shining
Peter Graves in Airplane!
Melvyn Douglas in Changeling
Ed Flanders in The Ninth Configuration
John Candy in The Blues Brothers
Judd Hirsch in Ordinary People
Joe Spinell in The Ninth Configuration
Harold Russell in Inside Moves
Bill Henderson in Inside Moves
Bert Remsen in Inside Moves
Randy Quaid in The Long Riders
Denholm in Elliott in Bad Timing
Christopher Plummer in Somewhere in Time
Paul Sorvino in Cruising
Ned Beatty in Hopscotch
Frank Vincent in Raging Bull
Morgan Freeman in Brubaker
Neville Brand in The Ninth Configuration
Dennis Quaid in The Long Riders
Herbert Lom in Hopscotch
David Keith in Brubaker
Allen Garfield in The Stunt Man
John Houseman in The Fog
Sam Shepard in Resurrection
Robert Carradine in The Big Red One
John Gielgud in Lion of the Desert
Sam Wanamaker in The Competition
James Keach in The Long Riders
Paul McCrane in Fame
Kenichi Hagiwara in Kagemusha
Siegfried Rauch in The Big Red One
Topol in Flash Gordon
Leo McKern in Blue Lagoon
Kevin McCarthy in Private Benjamin
Chevy Chase in Caddyshack
Keith Gordon in Dressed to Kill
Peter Gallagher in The Idolmaker
Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack
Anthony Daniels in The Empire Strikes Back
Dennis Franz in Dressed to Kill
Danny Lloyd in The Shining
Alex Rocco in The Stunt Man
Bob Balaban in Altered States
Jinpachi Nezu in Kagemusha
Barry Miller in Fame
Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit II
John Marley in Tribute
Armand Assante in Private Benjamin
Ted Knight in Caddyshack
Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit II
Laurence Olivier in The Jazz Singer
Stephen Stucker in Airplane!
Charles Haid in Altered States
Robby Benson in Tribute
John Adames in Gloria

Next Year: 1952 lead

Saturday, 22 June 2013

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1980: Mark Hamill in The Big Red One

Mark Hamill did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Pvt. Griff in The Big Red One.

The Big Red One is a pretty good World War II that focuses closely on just a small group of men as they make their way through various situations in the war.

Mark Hamill is an actor best know first and foremost as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars trilogy, then second for voicing the Joker in various animated forms, and thirdly if your making a joke Corvette Summer. Not much else gets mentioned about his filmography and to be truthful he mostly has voice work to his credit. He did manage to appear in this film as the technically rather cliche role of the one guy who doesn't want to murder in the role and looks poorly upon the other soldiers who treat life with so little care. I've seen this role before, but this film's depiction of the role is considerably better because we don't get constantly reminded of his character's nature over and over again unlike some other war films.

It is interesting to see Hamill in a purely dramatic role in a mostly serious war film like this, and actually he proves himself quite capable. Why this is a better portrayal of the usual sort of character, even though he follows a rather similar path, is that a lot is left unsaid. Hamill has his scenes where he outright says it, but even then he never forces the sentiment in an artificial fashion. He makes it a short passionate moment that is not at all sanctimonious as he keeps it entirely within his empathizing eyes never making any accusations at the other men. Hamill leaves it as something that is Griff's own personal issue that he must deal with and not something he pesters his comrades with.

The film does well though not to keep bringing this point up and actually leaves it to Hamill to express as they make their way through the war. Out of the supporting men Hamill always manages to have the strongest presence and frankly brings the most power to various scenes in the film. This film technically speaking does not have a lot of connective tissue in the traditional sense instead we kind of jump from one circumstance to another during the war and therefore the actors have to kind of jump around quite a lot in terms of their character's particular feelings during a particular scene. Hamill is the best at this bringing whatever is needed in a particular scenes whether it is some light humor or more profound gravitas.

The highlight of his performance is easily the required scene where the man who does not want to murder not only kills but does it in a way that particularly seems like murder. In this film it comes about when the men are liberating a concentration camp and Griff is going through the ovens finding the human remains until eventually he finds a German soldier hiding among them. Griff kills the man but then proceeds to continue shooting the man long after he is dead. Hamill manages to sell the scene because he builds up to it through the horror he expresses as Griff sees what is inside the ovens. As he kills the man Hamill is quite chilling actually as we see almost a pent up anger as well as almost an insanity in him as continues to shoot the man.

The film as well as Hamill kind of takes Griff's moment as just temporary insanity though and there really is not any follow up to the scene afterwards as he just kind of becomes the same old Griff. This is fine enough I suppose, but I do think it would have been more interesting to have seen Griff reflect on what he had done after the fact. Hamill's work here still is quite effective throughout adding to some of the strength of this film, and does manage to create one of the better character's of this kind even with the film structure which does not allow for a more traditional sort of character arc. It also is an indication that perhaps Hamill was capable of more in terms of live action then what he ended up doing through his relatively limited feature film career.

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1980

And the Nominees Were:

Tsutomu Yamazaki in Kagemusha

Leslie Nielsen in Airplane

Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant

Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back

Mark Hamill in The Big Red One

Best Actor