Little by little I’m doing my bit to exorcise the past from my regular posts. I’m on the verge of wrapping up those “decade in review” posts I began ages ago. You though I’d already finished, didn’t you? Well, not quite. I’ve already given you the fifteen male performances I’ve admired most this decade, so I’ll unveil the entire fifty. Before I do, though, if you're wondering about the picture of Anthony...he's the actor of the 90s in my book and I just love him in The Remains of the Day.Click on the links for performance reviews of the top 15.
*Albert Finney in Big Fish
*Alfred Molina in An Education
*Ben Foster in The Messenger
Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams
Benicio Del Toro in Traffic
Casey Afleck in The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford
Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
Clive Owen in Closer
*Collin Farrell in In Bruges
Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda
Ed Harris in Pollock
Ethan Hawke in Training Day
*Ewan McGregor in Big Fish
*Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge!
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon
Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children
Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain
*Jim Broadbent in Moulin Rouge!
*Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line
Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean
*Mark Ruffalo in You Can Count On Me
*Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine
Paul Giamati in Cinderella Man
*Paul Schneider in Bright Star
Russell Crow in Gladiator
Tom Wilkinson in In the Bedroom
*Viggo Mortenson in The Road
Willem Dafoe in Shadow of a Vampire
Musings on the list:
- As noted by the asterisk, 22 of these performances were not recognised by Oscar, it’s a shame on the Oscars part. But then again, it’s not really that surprising.
- I've got waaaaaaaaaay to few supporting performances here, don't I?
- I love all the performances above, but the bolded ones are the top half. So they're my twenty-five favourites...Fifty is so much, and I still feel like I left out some exceptional ones.
- Unsurprisingly Leo features the most on the list with his three performances. I did say before he was favourite actor of the last decade. Greats like Day Lewis and Seymour Hoffman among others are there twice.
- I find it so weird that Viggo Mortenson came out of nowhere to give two (perhaps even three, or four) great performances in this last decade. I wonder if we can expect more great things to come from his this decade.
- Ewan McGregor and Mark Ruffalo both impressed in the first half of the decade, but they’ve faltered since. Is a comeback imminent for either?
What do you think of the list? Which performances do you feel I’ve egregiously snubbed here? Which inclusions surprised you most?
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