Best Actor 2016
(SoN = Streaming on Netflix // SoA = Streaming on Amazon // SoH = Streaming on HBO)
(SoN = Streaming on Netflix // SoA = Streaming on Amazon // SoH = Streaming on HBO)
Unlike the Best Actress category which contained a battle for the Top Two and a Top Six that could've won the category in any other given year, the winner of this category was the only true standout for me. The other men on this list also gave solid performances, but there was no real competition for the top spot.
Honorable Mentions
(in alphabetical order)
Adam Driver - Paterson
Ben Foster - The Program
Matthew McConaughey - Free State of Jones
Jack Reynor - Glassland
Johnny Simmons - The Phenom
And the Top Ten...
As mentioned when he topped the Best Younger Performer list, Charlie Plummer elevates this average film into something a bit more than the sum of its parts. Portraying a bullied kid, Plummer's hardened exterior masks a melancholic nature that is palpably felt by the audience. (SoN)
As the husband of a woman who is brutally assaulted, Hosseini keeps the outward appearance of his character buttoned up, but displays a inner rage and anger towards his wife's assailant. A third act narrative change pushes Hosseini into territory that sometimes seems unbelievable, but the Iranian actor still captivates. (SoA)
As a Holocaust survivor suffering with dementia, the 87 year-old Plummer is in nearly every scene of Remember and his character's deterioration is incredibly sad to watch. (SoA)
Five Nights in Maine is not a good movie which makes it all the sadder that David Oyelowo gives such a great performance in it. Oyelowo is riveting when his character is told in the opening moments of his wife's sudden death and he's equally compelling in the aftermath when depression rears its ugly head. (SoN)
Affleck is Lee, a thirtysomething janitor whose lonely present life is oppressed by a heartbreaking backstory that has weighed on his for years. Revealed in spurts via flashbacks, the glimpses of his past add to the sullen man's characterization. Affleck nicely balances Lee's past and present, creating two distinct personalities that evolve into one another believably. (SoA)
Much like his counterpart Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling brings an old school charm and panache to his role as a struggling jazz pianist in La La Land. The chemistry between Stone and Gosling is lovely and it's impossible not to smile when they share the screen together. (SoH)
The Founder was underrated when it was released very late in the awards season of 2016 which is a shame because Michael Keaton gives a great performance as Roy Kroc, the founder of McDonald's. Keaton plays the sly, unethically egotistical Kroc with an outward, "aw shucks" cheeriness masking an underhanded though savvy business acumen that helped him create the biggest restaurant chain on the planet. (SoN)
The Light Between Oceans is a film that wasn't loved by many, but should've been praised more in large part due to its two lead performances. Michael Fassbender imbues his character of Tom - a loner WWII vet -- with an icy exterior that melts away when he meets the lovely Isabel, only to return once he realizes the gravity of the crime they've committed.
#2 - Tom Hanks - Sully
Tom Hanks really is the modern-day Jimmy Stewart -- cinema's everyman, cinema's "normal guy." While there may be a simplicity to playing a regular joe character like hero airplane pilot Sully Sullenberger, Hanks creates an effortlessly humbling performance which really isn't easy to achieve. Rather than just be portrayed as an outright hero, Hanks is allowed to layer his performance with humility, anger, confidence, weakness, and strength. (SoH)
While I may not have loved Fences, its two leading performances by Viola Davis and Denzel Washington are more than enough to recommend a watch. Some of said that Washington is too "actorly" or "stagy" in this flick, but I found him utterly captivating as a grizzled man who's done his share of wrong things, but wants nothing more than to create a life for his son better than the life he himself had. This desire is palpable, showing itself in Washington's intense portrayal. Washington plays exquisitely off of Davis in their characters' tender moments, but simply excels when the late August Wilson's script requires them to really explore their truest, basest, and fiercest emotions in the film's second half. (SoA)
No comments:
Post a Comment