Movies
My Rankings Of The Five Nominees For Best Actor
My Rankings Of The Five Nominees For Best Actor
No. 5
Colman Domingo – “Rustin”
Feels like every year there is one Actor or Actress who gets nominated for a good performance in an otherwise not well-regarded movie. Perhaps it’s recency bias because Rustin is the most recent film that I’ve seen of these nominees, but Domingo and the movie as a whole are both slightly disappointing.
The baseline for the story is interesting. The behind-the-scenes guy who helped orchestrate one of the most important moments in the fight for civil and social justice is a fantastic log line. But an idea can only get one thus far. Execution wise, Rustin puts 85% of the load on the character of Bayard Rustin, and Domingo is given the chance to toss up as many shots as he wants to move the film forward. There are a few scenes where Domingo is draining back-to-back tough fadeaways, but the movie’s choice to have Domingo to go iso makes the performance a tad predictable. You can forecast when the big speeches are going to come, and they are performative as if for a stage play rather than a camera. That style of acting may work well for you, but for myself, I prefer the quieter Oscar moments rather than the ones attached to a megaphone. It plays a big part in myself having Michael Fassbender nominated over Domingo in my own personal nominations.
This is the first Oscar nomination for Colman Domingo, and it is the only nomination for Rustin.
No. 4
Paul Giamatti – “The Holdovers”
If there was an Academy Award for best chemistry in a movie, then the performances in Alexander Payne’s latest The Holdovers would be frontrunners. Nominated Paul Giamatti and newcomer Dominic Sessa have the intangible watchability factor on lock when they are sharing the screen together. Giamatti is carrying more of the comedic load within the story, and that’s simply because he is a veteran while Sessa is the extremely talented first-time actor.
What makes Giamatti’s performance so fun to watch is you can see The Holdovers star morphing into the likable professor he never thought he would be. It’s like seeing The Grinch’s heart grow bigger. Unlike the alternative holiday classic, the moments of emotional growth are laced with vulgar curse words and outlandish charades to shield the truth of Tully and Hunham’s positions from the public.
Giamatti also has the astonishing talent of making his face seem as if it’s a dog toy where the eyes go LOCO once bitten. When the moment’s called for it, the facial expressions that Giamiatti conjures are just as memorable as a few of his hilarious line readings. I may be stealing “This is your Rubicon. Do not cross the Rubicon.” and put it in my own lexicon.
Paul Giamatti earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination in 2006 for Cinderella Man (2005). The Holdovers is his second Academy Award nod.
The Holdovers is nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing.
No. 3
Jeffery Wright – “American Fiction”
The theme of an actor finally getting a chance to tackle a leading role is a theme amongst this year’s nominees. Colman Domingo, Jeffery Wright, and Cillian Murphy. If only Wright wasn’t going up against an absolute juggernaut.
American Fiction snuck up on me as one of the best comedies of the Oscar race. Perhaps it was my naive lack of knowledge about the film going in, but dramatism is what was rattling through my head going in. There is some drama in American Fiction, no doubt, but it’s Wright’s comedic line delivery and disdain for society as a whole that makes his performance so outstanding.
Looking back on the movie, the highlight has to be when he proposes the book title to change to “FUCK”. He thinks he is pushing the line and ensuring that his charade is coming to an end, yet every ejector button he presses seems to land him a higher paycheck.
The Oscar nominated screenplay written by Cord Jefferson and Percival Everett allows Wright to play in his sandbox with plenty of outstanding talent around him. Perhaps Wright doesn’t have the grandest performance of the nominees, but it’s by far the most surprising of the crew. Not because Wright is untalented, but because the way the role evolves in the story makes him stick out.
This is Jeffery Wright’s first Academy Award nomination.
American Fiction is nominated for five awards: Best Original Score, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.
No. 2
Bradley Cooper – “Maestro”
I know I am being slightly hypocritical here after saying earlier that I love quiet performances, but when a sequence in a film that centers around an iconic performance moves me for years, I have an obligation to pay it respect.
Cooper’s Maestro is a beautiful piece that relies on Bradley Cooper and his partner Carey Mulligan acting their asses off. Thankfully for the entertainment value of the film, the pair are up to the task.
If I care about one thing, it’s effort. Bradley Cooper gives 110% of his body, mind and soul to the part of Leonard Bernstein. I don’t care if some call it an imitation. The scene in Ely Cathedral will stick with me for a long time, perhaps as permanent as the Shallows sequence in A Star Is Born (2018).
Cooper has 12 Oscar nominations, but he has yet to win…yet. In terms of acting nominations, has been nominated five times now. Maestro, A Star Is Born (2018) and American Sniper (2014) have gotten Cooper on the Best Actor ballot. American Hustle (2013) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012) garnered him with best Supporting Actor nomination recognition.
All in all, Maestro is nominated for seven Academy Awards: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
No. 1
Cillian Murphy – “Oppenheimer”
Christopher Nolan’s biographical approach on J, Robert Oppenheimer combines his undeniable ability to create visual spectacles with a surprisingly dramatic and dialogue heavy tilt. The story about the man and the creation of the atomic bomb has no right to be as engrossing as it plays out on screen.
Cillian Murphy and Nolan are no strangers to each other. They have collaborated six times now, but this is the first time the Irishman has the lead role.
Murphy’s ability to convey mental anguish is what elevates his acting in Oppenheimer to the next level. The bulging eyes, sickly body, shaking hands and crippling fatigue of stress all come together in different moments to make you feel empathy for a man who is creating the deadliest weapon to ever be used in the history of warfare.
Oppenheimer was obviously a complex man with a curiosity that attracts heaps of trouble. Yet his willingness to partake in conversations at the start of the film helps establish the character with the patience he needs in the final two acts.
What Murphy did blending ego, curiosity, drive, resilience and sorrowful acceptance makes his transformation into Oppenheimer thoroughly engrossing.
This nomination is the first of Cillian Murphy’s career.
All in all, Oppenheimer is nominated for 13 Academy Awards: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
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