Alright, we are coming
right down to it, only 1 week until Oscar night! This means here at Nerd 5 we
are bringing all the coverage that we can (life is crazy and busy for both of
us, but we are never too busy to talk film, or nerd culture in general). With
that in mind we are kicking our coverage into high gear, and talking about the 30
acting performances of the year! Oh, you probably read the title… Anyway let’s
get this show on the road. Diving right in, what you are going to get here is a
combination of all of the acting categories: Best Actor & Actress and Best
Supporting Actor & Actress. Already done the math? Realize that I’m 10
performances over? Well the other 10 are going to what I call wild card performances,
these are performances from actors who have not been nominated for an academy
award but I believe that they should be.
But that’s the joy of the Oscars, lots of disagreement coming. One last
point before we jump in, these lists are not going to be separate; there is
absolutely no reason in my mind to separate them into Actor and Actress. I get
why they do at the Oscars (to award more people and to force some diversity in
voting) but here they are all on the same playing field and will be ranked off
the following qualifications and by my personal favorites.
As some of you readers may know, I am a theater teacher
and director (I love my students, they are honestly the best part of my day),
so looking at actors’ performances and helping them to succeed is my job. Of
course film and theatre are very different. So let’s look at what makes a good
performance, and give some guidelines for what I look for in a performance.
Character Development – is the character fully developed; with a clear history that effects how the character moves, acts, thinks, feels and reacts? Is the character progressing through the story, is their performance layered, showing depth and continuing in a logical path?
Relationships – are the relationships clear and consistent in all their interactions?
Believably – do we believe the actor in the part? Am I looking at the character in the story or at the actor on the screen? It should be the former, not the latter. Does the actor use all available tools (voice, body, and mind) to create a brand new and unique character?
Interpretation – what did the actor bring to the character? Did he make proper choices for the character? Does the character feel organic or forced? Did the actor take appropriate risks? Could you see anyone else playing the character?
Objective – dose the actor understand the goals and objectives of the character in every moment and every scene? (Impossible to know, but sometimes easy to see.)
Progression – does the actor understand and portray the arch, story and development of their character? Are they on point in every moment on screen? An actor is a storyteller, are they telling me the story?
The Top 30 Acting Performances of 2012
The One Who Doesn’t Belong
30.
Sally Field – Lincoln – Best
Supporting Actress – Why am I talking
about Sally Field in Lincoln? Because
she was nominated for an Oscar, that’s the only reason. I would say she belongs
in the Razzies over the Oscars. But Bambi
did teach me “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” So I’ll
try saying something nice. Sally Field… You booked a job in a Spielberg film
opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, Good for you!.
The Group Who I’ve Not Seen
29.
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour – Best
Actress – Again, no desire to
see Amour. I’m sure Riva is “great”, if
you’re into being really sad and dealing with your own impending death. Then go
for it. Enjoy.
28.
Helen Hunt – The Sessions – Best
Supporting Actress – She won an
Academy Award before, I’ve heard mixed reviews on this film. But hey how can I
judge?
27.
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master – Best
Actor – When dealing with The Master I’ve heard that it’s victory
was just getting to be at the party. As a film that is a metaphor about
scientology it is kind of a shock that this film gets any nominations, yet here
it stands with three acting nods and no technical nods. Not a surprise, the
actors in The Academy are saying “we support our fellow actors doing good work
but we don’t support the films message.” Just to be clear, I’m not say that all
of Hollywood is scientologist, but it’s enough of a chunk that I believe this
is an issue when discussing The Master
26.
Amy Adams – The Master – Best
Supporting Actress – Can anyone
else believe that Amy Adams is 38? That shocked me, also that she was born in
Italy. This woman is talented and it shows with her 4th nomination
in 8 years. She not winning this year, but her day will come.
25.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
-- Best Supporting Actor – Has an Oscar
already, looking for a second and could be a real dark horse to take it home.
There has been some really good late buzz for Hoffman here, but I think
Supporting Actor is too wide open for him to take it home. He’ll be back, no
worries.
The Group That I Don’t Agree With
24.
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook –
Best Supporting Actress – Look, Jacki
Weaver is great, all-around awesome, but if you want to see an Oscar-worthy
character from Weaver, go watch Animal
Kingdom. The problem is the part, not the actress. There’s not much for her
to do here.
23.
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty –
Best Actress – I’m not a fan of Zero Dark Thirty, or this character, or
Chastian in general. I also can’t say she is awful, that’s why she falls here. Well
below some far more deserving performances. For more on this go back and read
my article Top 5 Reasons Zero Dark ThirtySucks…Kinda.
22.
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the
Southern Wild – Best Actress –
Alright, I’m going to get guff for this and it might be well deserved, but I’m
simply not as in love with Beasts and
Wallis as everyone else. I will say, THE MOVIE IS GOOD. But speaking to the
performance of Wallis, she was a kid being a kid in that situation. It takes
skill to do that. I work with child actors, and to just look natural while
performing is a skill. I GET IT, she was 6 years old (9 years now). But when
you put her in the same categories with adult actors, I’m going to hold her to
that standard. I was amazed when the performance is put in terms of a CHILD
actor doing great work, but not amazed in terms of an ACTOR doing great work.
The Group Who Have Been Overlooked
21.
Tom Holland – The Impossible – Josh’s
Wild Card Best Supporting Actor –
Speaking of child actors who deserve credit. Tom Holland gives a truly
wonderful performance in this film of family survival. You know what… I just
realized (as I’m typing) how amazingly similar The Impossible and Beasts of
the Southern Wild are. They are both films about family, struggling to
survive and the lessons we learn from life disasters and how they make us grow
stronger. I was hit super emotionally hard by the family of The Impossible and yet found myself
sitting through Beasts going, “well
this is good and I’m supposed to be sad here.” I was just analyzing it rather
getting lost in the film like I did with The
Impossible. This article is not about the films themselves; we’ve got other
articles for that… I’ll try to stay on topic. TOM HOLLAND IS GREAT! And very
overlooked.
20.
Saraj Sharma – Life of Pi – Josh’s
Wild Card Best Actor – It may be his
first film acting role, but this dude carries one of this year’s greatest
films, Life of Pi. Sharma is a joy to
watch and should be getting far more respect than it is getting. Bravo sir,
I’ll look to see what else you do.
19.
Eddie Redmayne –Les Miserables –Josh’s
Wild Card Best Supporting Actor –
Getting brief here. He was awesome. An underlooked aspect of Les Mis. We connect to him instantly and
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was
heartbreaking. Good job sir.
The Duo Who Are Very Good, but Not Quite in the
Elite
18.
Denzel Washington – Flight – Best
Actor – It’s Denzel, he’s
great. He makes bad projects better. And Flight
is a severely average film that was brought up to a high standard because of
two performances, and one of them is by Denzel. His character is spot-on but a
tough watch due his character’s nature. It’s a good performance but nothing
that we have not seen from Denzel before.'
17.
Alan Arkin – Argo – Best Supporting
Actor – Let me start with I
LOVE ALAN ARKIN, and he is very good in Argo.
With that said, this is just Arkin being Arkin. It’s layered and fun to watch,
and one of the top five supporting acting performances of the year, but it is a
solid number 5.
The Group Who is Very Solid
16.
Emily Blunt – Looper – Josh’s Wild
Card Best Supporting Actress –
Well Academy, shame on you for completely overlooking Looper. It’s not a perfect film, and it should not be up for best
picture, but man does it do some things really right (It should have been up
for best Screenplay, one of the bigger snubs). Blunt’s performance is simply
great. She plays the mother of a very troubled son, who comes in contact with
#JGL (the amazing Joseph Gorden-Levitt, yes I refer to him as #JGL and if you
get the reference then you are also a genius like me)
15.
Sarah Silverman – Wreck-It Ralph --
Josh’s Wild Card Best Supporting Actress – Alright, you may be reading this and are like
“what the crap, yo?” (Jeff’s Note: REALLY JOSH? No one talks like that, yo.) If
you are, my first question is: why are you using the word “yo?” Shame on you. (Jeff’s
Note: Oh, I see what you did there.) Second, YES! Sarah Silverman as Vanellipe
von Schweetz is one of the best acting performances of the year. She is the
heart and soul of this wonderful film, you completely forget that you are listening
to a famous person and get lost in her character’s wonderful arc. VOICE ACTING
IS ACTING TOO Y’ALL! Wow… I just used Y’all and yo in the same paragraph. It
must be getting late. (Jeff’s Note: Go to bed, Josh.)
14.
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln – Best Supporting
Actor – You know, I always
forget how good of an actor Tommy Lee Jones is, and then he shows up and I’m
like oh, man, he’s awesome. Jones’s performance as a senator struggling to pass
the 13th amendment is real conflict of Lincoln. You never quite lose the fact that it’s Jones on screen,
which is why I can’t put him higher, but he’s one of the best parts of this
severely overrated film.
13.
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
– Best Actor – Bradley Cooper can
act! Who knew? Luckily David O. Russell did. He does a great job as a man
struggling with bi-polar disorder; he puts heart, depth and consistency to a
character that could very easily get way from even the best of actor. Cooper is
one of the great things in this great ensemble cast.
The Group Who Should Have Gotten a TON More Respect
12.
Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone –
Josh’s Wild Card Best Actress –
Well, Marion Cotillard is really good. That’s not news, she has an Oscar and is
the only person ever to win an Oscar for a performance given entirely in a
foreign language (2007’s La Vie En Rose).
So why in the world is she not nominated for Rust and Bone? I have no idea. She is the complete heart and soul
of this film. I’m going to pretty light on the plot of this because the less
you know the better; just know that Cotillard saves this film, a performance
not to be missed in a film that otherwise should be.
11. Kelly Reilly – Flight – Josh’s Wild Card Best
Supporting Actress – Everyone is
talking about Denzel in Flight (as
they should be) but what makes Flight
is the performance of Kelly Reilly. Reilly plays a woman who at the start of
the film almost dies of drug overdose, watching this character’s arc, growth
and change thoughout the film is far more captivating than anything that Denzel
does. In film with so many name actors giving great performances, it’s Reilly
who steals the show.
10.
Jack Black – Bernie – Josh’s Wild
Card Best Actor – We all know
Jack Black and the “Jack Black” character. But what we forget is that Jack
Black can actually act. In Bernie
Black plays a character that is so different, so subtle, so tragic that it’s
hard to think that this is the same guy who dressed in tights for the atrocious
Nacho Libre (but we all make
mistakes). Black is suffering from a very strong year for lead acting
performances; in most years I think we’d be seeing him with a nomination for
this role. However I can’t help but feel that the dark comedic nature of the
film is what caused voters to overlook him. If you have not seen Bernie, do yourself a favor and do
so.
9.
Aubrey Plaza – Safety Not Guaranteed
– Josh’s Wild Card Best Actress –
If you don’t know who Aubrey Plaza is then you are living a sad life! She is a
very talented actress who is best known as April on NBC’s Parks and Recreation but she also appears in Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Funny People, and Mystery Team. Plaza plays Darius, who is a reporter at a Seattle
based magazine looking to make a name for herself. Looking for a great story Darius
and two co-workers reply to this newspaper ad “WANTED: Someone to go back in
time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring
your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED”
What follows is a beautiful story and Plaza carries us through the entire
thing.
The Group of Runner-Ups
8. Daniel
Day-Lewis – Lincoln – Best Actor – Day-Lewis is an amazing actor, and probably the
best actor that will be alive in my lifetime. He is also a crazy method actor,
to the point that in My Left Foot he
actually would only use his left foot the entire time he was on set. Daniel has
a crazy good success rate for getting nominated for awards; he has made 19
films (movies released to theatres) 17 of them have a rotten tomatoes score of
over 75%. He’s got 7 Golden Globe nominations (3wins), 6 BAFTA nominations
(3wins), and as of this year, 5 Academy Award nominations (2 wins). On top of
that, he was amazing playing our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. He
completely lost himself in the character. It looked like Lincoln was walking,
talking, and breathing again. With all that said: sorry Daniel, you’re not
getting that third statute. Your Lincoln was great on many levels, but you
didn’t make me CARE about the man I should have cared about in this film. Lincoln
himself. You were great, but not great enough.
7.
Naomi Watts – The Impossible – Best
Actress – This little film
shocked the crap out of me, and Watts gave an amazingly heartbreaking
performance as a mother who must try to survive a horrible tragedy and pull her
family through it as well. I don’t want to say too much about this film because
I was so pleasantly surprised by not knowing anything about it. Just go watch
it.
6.
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
– Best Supporting Actor – As someone who
was born well after De Niro started his career, I can go back and look at all
of his performances, but at times it’s hard to remember how great an actor he
really is. I mean, it’s hard to see his greatness when all we get recently are
things like Little Fockers, The Big Wedding, and Analyze That (I’m not against him doing
comedy, Meet the Parents is a great
film and Silver Linings Playbook has
some good comedic moments as well). Amazing
films like Goodfellas, Casino, The Deer
Hunter, and The Godfather Part II
seem so far away, but it’s nice to be reminded how amazing an actor De Niro is.
He plays an overtly superstitious father to Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings and steals almost every
scene he is in. Please give us more films like this and let us see how amazing
you can be.
5.
Leonardo DeCaprio—Django Unchained –
Josh’s Wild Card Best Supporting Actor –
Whoever Leonardo DeCaprio pissed off at The Academy is seriously screwing over
one of the best actors of all time. How he still has not won an Academy Award
is a mystery to me. AND HOW HE IS NOT NOMINATED THIS YEAR? IT’S A CRIME! I mean
not a real crime, but definitely a fake Hollywood crime. In Django Unchained he gives the best performance of his career. This is nothing like
you’ve seen him do before, and probably won’t again for a long time. The only
reason he’s not any higher on this list for me is because I wanted the top 4 to
be my 4 Oscar picks. If I could give out two winners for best supporting actor,
I would. Keeping reading and you’ll see why.
The Group Known as the Best of the Best
With this group there is specifically one from each
category, and the person who I would give the Academy Award to, if I had a vote,
based on who was nominated.
4. Hugh
Jackman – Les Miserables – Best Actor
– The question you must be asking
at this point is why Jackman over Day-Lewis? Simple, Jackman’s Jean Veljean was
just as complete as Day-Lewis’s Lincoln. On every level they are equal
performances, except for one thing. Jackman made me care about him, his story
and his character. That’s what good acting is, allowing the audience member to
be completely lost in the story. ACTORS are STORYTELLERS. Jackman told me a
story, Day-Lewis showed me a character.
3.
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings
Playbook – Best Actress –
I’m a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence. She anchored The Hunger Games and gave that film tons of credibility it didn’t
deserve. But where she really shone was is in 2011’s Winter’s Bone (where she was flawless and earned her first
nomination for Best Actress). Her second nomination should be her first win. In
a film full of great acting performances, it’s Lawrence who stands out. She
hits all the right notes, and really gets to the heart of the story. Playing a
character that is mentally unstable is one of the toughest challenges in acting
and to do it convincingly is an amazingly tough challenge, which she rises to.
2. Christoph
Waltz – Django Unchained – Best
“Supporting” Actor – In a best
supporting actor race that is wide open (2012’s Academy Awards are shaping up
to one of the most unpredictable Oscars in a long time), Christoph Waltz is the
cream of the crop. Why? Because he’s not actually a supporting actor in Django.
Waltz should be in the lead actor category but as I said before that’s very
crowed this year; so he sneaks into the supporting actor category by a
technicality. Waltz’s has won this very award before and did it for another
Tarantino film (he played Col. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds). The beauty of Waltz’s Dr. King Schultz is
that he’s a character that couldn’t be further from Col. Hans Landa and Waltz
is still flawless. Django Unchained
would be a severely average film if not Waltz and DiCaprio, but I believe that
it’s Waltz that’s walking home with is second Oscar and giving us a performance
that will stand the test of time.
1.
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables – Best
Supporting Actress – In what is
less than 15 min of screen time, Anne Hathaway gives the most memorable
performance of the film, of her career, and of the year. If you watch her
performance of I Dreamed a Dream and
are not crying at the end, then I’m breaking out my holy water because you’re a
demon. Hathaway’s Fantine sets the perfect tone for the film and sticks with
you long after you leave the theater. Hathaway has long been one of my person
favorite actresses, I only hope she get to walk home with an Oscar on Feb 24th.
