Best Supporting Actor 1992: Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men

Jack Nicholson received his tenth Oscar nomination for portraying Colonel Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men.

A Few Good Men depicts a trial for two marines who accidentally killed another marine during a hazing.

Jack Nicholson portrays the commanding officer of the U.S. Military base in Cuba, where the death of the soldier occurs. I must admit when watching this film I can't help but think that Nicholson is really miscast. I really cannot believe him as an ultra fervent marine commander,  Nicholson always comes off a little too much of a rebel, to truly be a man who only ever really thinks of doing his perceived duty as a Marine no matter what the cost. 

Also really Nicholson may seem a tad too evil to begin with. I knew from the first time I saw the film, that Nicholson was definitely behind everything since he just had the look the whole time. The casting of Nicholson as well as his approach really does not work as well as it should. It is too obvious that he is the bad the guy in the film, but at the same time it is hard to believe that he is sort of bad guy he is suppose to be. I never felt he truly believed in the Marines duty too much, instead he came off as doing what he did just because he was evil, which I do not really think is the intent of the story.

This is not to say Nicholson is truly bad, just really he should not have been the choice for the part. He no matter what is Jack Nicholson who still is effective in his own way in his scenes, even though not in the right fashion for the film. He is an intense villain, and his break down is handled well enough by Nicholson to be somewhat memorable. The feeling never escaped me though that Nicholson was not the Colonel Nathan R. Jessep the film needed or wanted him to be.

Best Supporting Actor 1992

And the Nominees Were:

Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men

Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross

Gene Hackman in Unforgiven

David Paymer in Mr. Saturday Night

Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game

Best Supporting Actor 2007: Results

5. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War- Hoffman gives a consistently dead pan performance that handles the dialogue and the style of the film better than anyone else in the film.

4. Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild- Holbrook has little screentime but when he is one screen he gives a nice warm performance, that creates a fairly moving portrait of a lonely man. 

3. Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton- Wilkinson is very loud almost throughout his performance. It comes fairly close to being over the top, but not quite, since Wilkinson still gives a fairly effective, and entertaining performance.

2. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men- Bardem gives a marvelous villainous turn as Anton Chigurh. Bardem creates a chilling portrait of  a killer with zero empathy for his victims. Bardem though also manages to avoid making Chigurh one dimensional adding a good amount of subtle dark humor to his performance as well.

1. Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford- Affleck simply gives an incredible performance as Robert Ford. There is not a single false moments in this entire performance. Affleck completely fulfills the role, and never fails to brings out the emotional complexity of Robert Ford to life.

Deserving Performances:
Tommy Lee Jones in No Country For Old Men
Albert Finney in Before The Devil Knows Your Dead
Timothy Dalton in Hot Fuzz

Best Supporting Actor 2007: Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton

Tom Wilkinson received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Arthur Edens in Michael Clayton.

Tom Wilkinson plays a crazed lawyer who suddenly decides that the corporation he is running  a case for is evil. Wilkinson has a rather large challenge with this performance, because he is almost always required to be a rather theatrical crazy. This is not overacting either, as it is required for the part, if Arthur Edens was subtly crazy than it would be rather unlikely that anyone would really take that great of a notice for him.

In fact Wilkinson does create a fairly interesting performance as the more than slightly off lawyer. I think there is always an indication that yes he is indeed imbalanced even when he has calmed down, but I would say Wilkinson shows that his big crazy scenes are indeed a bit theatrical on purpose, as stated as before, but that is not to say he is not crazy, he just overdoes it to be taken notice of.

Wilkinson is constantly sort of showboating though with his performance, that constantly does brings attention to himself. Wilkinson is able to do this showboating without going too over the top while still being fairly interesting and entertaining as well. He manages to find a good enough balance between his louder, and quieter scenes to make it so Arthur Edens can be believed.

 Tom Wilkinson's performance though is a rather short one really, and his character does not amount to a great deal in the end. He is really crazy, not so crazy, but always the moral center of the film. This is not really Wilkinson's fault since Edens in the end is mostly a plot device. Wilkinson is effective enough with the various phases of the character, but his performance never becomes quite amazing due to the limitations of the character.

Best Supporting Actor 2007: Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men

Javier Bardem won his Oscar from his second nomination for portraying Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men.

No Country for Old Men details a man(Josh Brolin)'s attempt to get away with money he accidentally found, well being chased and followed by a psychopathic killer, as well as a world weary sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones).  

Javier Bardem is not an actor who has done particularly well in the past with me. Both of his lead nominations received below a 3 from me because of what I found was a bit of a hallow characterization on his part. This is not a problem though in the case of Chigurh though who is a hallow psychopathic killer. Any possible weaknesses I would have with Bardem are not really apparent because Chigurh is the perfect character for Bardem's style.

 Bardem's turn Anton Chigurh into a very memorable psychopathic killer. Everything about Chigurh is rather particular and very odd right down to his name. Bardem's performance in turn is appropriately peculiar from the way he looks to the way he talks, and moves. Bardem creates a completely distinctive character with Chigurh in everything he does. Bardem is especially effective in this because he never seems to be acting any of these mannerisms, or his voice, he simply is Chigurh.

Bardem manages to be especially chilling in his performance because of how manner of fact he is as Chigurh. This is simply what he does, and he does it as effectively as possibly. Bardem has cold determination that Chigurh's job is something he will do no matter what, even if he no longer really is hired to do it. There is a really history of this strange man that Bardem suggests to, by his ease with what he does, an ease that makes him all the more frightening.

What I find is particularly strong in his performance are his few moments where he shows more to Chigurh, as well as when Chigurh acts "normal. There are moments small subtle moments that show Chigurh enjoying what he does a little bit, I particularly like for example when he sees one of his old acquaintances or when he says that everyone says "You don't have to do this" Bardem is just terrific, and manages to even be rather funny in a very very pitch black fashion.

Also in what are some of his most chilling moments, are his scenes where he talks to people in a seemingly normal fashion. There is obvious something wrong with him, but Bardem happens to make this fascinating the way he awkwardly interacts with people. Bardem manages behind his talking even when talking about really nothing, he creates an incredible menace, this is particularly true in the great scene where he plays a coin calling game with a gas station attendant. 

It is Bardem's choice never to make Chigurh as one dimensional as he technically could have been that makes this performance so memorable, and interesting. He manages to both create a chilling portrait of a psychopath with a seemingly unlimited ability to create a visceral reaction in the viewer, as well as turn Chigurh into simply a fascinating enigma as well. This is a great villianous performance that works perfectly in creating the tremendous dread for the film.

Best Supporting Actor 2007: Hal Holbrook in Into The Wild

Hal Holbrook received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Ron Franz in Into The Wild.

Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless' soul searching journey across America, that ends fatally in Alaska.

Hal Holbrook is a good character actor, and most certainly deserved to be nominated, and probably win for All The President's Men. Holbrook never was nominated though until Into The Wild. He plays Ron Franz an old widower who crosses path with McCandless (Emile Hirsch), and offers some advice while taking a strong liking to him.

It is a small and rather simple roll that Holbrook has here, he shows up is required to do his piece than leaves the film. I will say firstly that Holbrook is the most interesting of the side characters that McCandless happens to come across. Franz is a nice, and wise, but also somewhat sad, and lonely old man, Holbrook easily establishes this characterization, as well as creates a good deal of sympathy for Franz without ever pleading for it.

Holbrook manages to convey the degree of sadness in the character without every becoming overbearing. More importantly though Holbrook realizes a joy in meeting McCandless quietly in his performance. He never yells out his love toward Christ at any point, instead Holbrook keeps it mostly inside Franz but realizes fully.

In Holbrook's short amount of screen time his most important scenes come in two speeches to Christ. One being a little speech that is effectively handled, trying to help Chris gain a greater understanding of himself. The other being when he asks if he can adopt Chris. It is a nice quiet scene like all of Holbrook's scenes, and shows his honest love for Chris as well as earnest want to stop his loneliness. It is a moving moment and a fine end of this fine performance. Although I can't say this performance ever truly amazed me, but it does stand as the best in the film.

Best Supporting Actor 2007: Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Casey Affleck received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

The title of this film is quite self explanatory to what it depicts I think.

Casey Affleck plays the titular coward. The placement of this performance is not not one I would have to say is completely wrong, becuase there is another identifiable lead with Brad Pitt as Jesse James, as well as the fact that Robert Ford does disappears from the time to time contributing to the idea that he is supporting, but he also becomes the sole focus of the film at the end suggesting as more of a lead performance. I'd say he is on the border, leaning toward lead, but still on the border.

Affleck from his opening scene creates a memorable character with Robert Ford. Affleck in his first scene with Frank James instantly establishes Ford as rather pathetic individual. It is almost rather hard to watch becuase how meek, and pathetic Ford is. Affleck does not overplay this quality or single it out as the only facet of Ford either. In his early moments there is also a sense of ambition that Affleck infuses, and want to belong, despite also having an alienating presence as well. Affleck combines all of these very different emotions with an absolute ease.

Casey Affleck though never simply stops revealing more about Robert Ford, and is never content with leaving Ford as simplistic in any aspect of his complex personality. Later after joining the James gang on a robbery one can see more of Robert's complete idolization of Jesse James. There is almost an innocent quality that Affleck creates to his idolization. Although certainly with an odd aspect to it, much of it comes from him viewing him as hero as a child would.

His early scenes  with Jesse are pivotal, becuase Affleck shows a very boyish type of enthusiasm toward Jesse, wanting to know everything he can about his hero, as well as being simply enthusiastic to be in the same place as his hero. There is both an enthusiasm as well as a nervousness and awkwardness of his behavior as well. Affleck also keeps it appropriately ambiguous to how far he is to completely wanting to be Jesse, or simply viewing him as his hero.

After his initial meetings though there is a great deal of change in Affleck's characterization of Robert. Affleck shows a transition from an absolute idolization, to a slow realization of who Jesse really is. There is a disappointment that Affleck brings out in Robert, that also clearly brings an anger. There is not a compete loss of his idolization of Jesse every. Affleck never shows Robert completely forget his clearly long standing idolization completely go away, but most certainly becomes greatly reduced.

This realization of who Jesse really is the seems to at least in part fuel Robert's eventual plan to kill Jesse. I say in part, because Affleck never shows his plan to betray Jesse as any single reason. There is most certainly his anger over Jesse losing his luster, there is also his more personal reason to bargain for a murder he committed. Affleck never settles on a single reason, but rather a combination of problems that fuel his need to eventually kill Jesse.

The most prevailing perhaps are first his own fear of being killed by Jesse, as well as his own desire to be famous as Jesse. A certain reason perhaps prevails more at one time, than another reason. This inconsistency is actually perfectly played by Affleck, because Ford is never sure of himself to begin, or even sure of his exact motivations. It is quite a challenge to be inconsistent without seeming simply indistinct in terms of characterization, but Affleck never seems indistinct, instead he is always absolutely realistic in his portrayal of this inconsistency in terms of exact motivation.

Affleck is great throughout the film, but his best moment probably does indeed come in the actual assassination of Jesse James. The single scene of build leading to his eventual shooting of Jesse, is brilliantly portrayed by Affleck. Affleck manages to show us completely silently his internal struggle going on leading up to him eventually shooting Jesse, than afterward his immediate pain he feels for killing his idol. It is a stunning portrayal, and Affleck brings out every bit of power he can in the scene.

After the assassination, when Ford becomes the complete focus of the film, Affleck continues to excel. First showing a gloating man, happy for his fame and notoriety over his deed, but soon finding people are not as happy about what he has done as he has hoped. Afterward Affleck makes an amazing transition to a Robert Ford who finally understands himself. This understanding comes to him in a pathetic state and that is what is amazing about this transition. Ford is finally aware of who he is, and what he has done. His final scenes are incredible because he brings Ford to this conclusion perfectly.