If I Picked the Oscars - Best Actor

The other day I posted the first round of my personal Oscar picks, from who I would personally nominate and also who would win in the Best Actress category (that post can be found here).

This time around, Best Actor. These would be my five nominees if I were put in charge of the Oscars, and the last one listed is my pick to win the award.

Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Bringing the uniquely brilliant material of Wes Anderson to life seems like it cannot possibly be easy, yet Ralph Fiennes made it look that way in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Displaying perfect comedic delivery and timing, it was an absolute joy to watch Fiennes work throughout this entire film. Despite its intentional absurdity, this movie managed to invoke a certain nostalgic feeling in viewers that clearly resonated, given its critical, box office and award season success. Ralph Fiennes is a major reason why.

Channing Tatum - Foxcatcher

Yeah, that's right. Channing Tatum is a Best Actor nominee in my book. For whatever reason this bright talent remains an actor that people love to hate, as everywhere I look I see negative reactions whenever his name is mentioned as a possibility for a film. I not only don't roll my eyes when I see his name, I root for him to get the part because the richer the material Tatum gets to work with, the better and better he will get. This was proven in Foxcatcher, a film that demanded strong performances from the entire ensemble and they all delivered, yet despite the actual Oscar nominations for both Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo, I felt Tatum's portrayal of Mark Schultz was the strongest piece of this excellent movie. Intense, unnerving, unsettling and just plain awkward, I completely bought in to his character and admired every second he was on the screen.

David Oyelowo - Selma

I would imagine being offered the chance to play Martin Luther King Jr. in a major motion picture would be both a massive honor and an incredibly stressful endeavor. Sure, if it works you will be beloved for bringing the passionate and extraordinary Dr. King to the big screen, but if it doesn't work? That would be a rough moment for any career, being known as the guy who failed at portraying such an important man, the face and the force behind the Civil Rights Movement. David Oyelowo accepted this challenge and he delivered, my goodness he delivered. His work in the film Selma is gripping, emotional, beautiful stuff, and honestly, I still can't believe Bradley Cooper received a nomination over him at the Oscars. Cooper was good, but Oyelowo went to another level.

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

The transformation Eddie Redmayne pulled off to play Stephen Hawking was incredible. It's easy for me to look through a performance like this and see the guy pretending to be the real famous person with an illness, rather than get lost in the role and lose sight of the difference between reality and a fictionalized version. When I was watching The Theory of Everything, I was beyond lost in the heartbreaking nuanced turn by Redmayne. I was in awe of just how real it felt. Hell, even the real Stephen Hawking said he thought he was watching himself after witnessing it. Now that's a hell of a compliment.

and the Oscar goes to...

Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler

Ahhhhh Lou Bloom. While Julianne Moore's performance in Still Alice was the best work I saw in 2014, Lou Bloom is my favorite character of the year, and Jake Gyllenhaal's portrayal of him lands the top spot om this list. Nightcrawler is such an ominous and entertaining delight, and Gyllenhaal absolutely nails the lead role, showing an unsettling amount of range. I found myself quickly going from a genuine laugh out loud to feeling a sinister chill reverberate through my body, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time watching Jake put on a brilliant, inspired show.

Two actors I desperately wanted to include on this list were Michael Keaton was his amazing performance in Birdman and Haluk Bilginer for his subtly beautiful work in Winter Sleep, but alas such is the nature of narrowing down such an amazing crop of performances to only 5. A great year and unfortunately, I couldn't pick them all.

Selma Review

Quiet when it's appropriate and yet fierce when it wants to hurt, and it does hurt. I felt the pain as I watched human beings fall in the streets, beaten under a shroud of darkness, shot dead for no apparent reason beyond the color of their skin. Selma is a film that will effectively resonate with me for those moments that brought tears to my eyes, as if I was transported back to the time when such atrocities really took place rather than watching a modern day cinematic re-creation.

At certain times throughout Selma, the film flat out had me. It had it's powerful narrative wrapped around my soul and was shaking me, refusing to loosen it's grip...and then suddenly it would let go, which is unfortunate. A victim of uneven pacing, just when I thought the film's director Ava DuVernay had a pitch perfect handle on exactly what to do with the material, she would temporarily fall back into the familiar biopic tropes and thus let the foot off the gas pedal. At it's best though, Selma is a film that makes you want to stand up immediately and march right along side the characters on screen, ignoring the hatred and the danger tossed in your direction because you know it's right and you know it is a cause that absolutely means something to humanity.

I can't confidently say that I feel DuVernay was deserving of an Oscar nomination for her direction of Selma, mostly because I think her weaknesses were occasionally evident, but it's undeniable that at times she knew exactly how to make an audience feel the power and importance of this picture, whether it be through framing or brilliant camera angles like when we feel as if we are marching behind Martin Luther King Jr. Granted, if we are comparing her work here with an actual nominee, say the by the numbers, bland and completely underwhelming craft of Morten Tyldum on The Imitation Game, then DuVernay absolutely was snubbed, but dare I say Fincher anyone?

Yes, I felt compelled to take a side swipe shot at Tyldum here. I still can't get over that nomination. But I digress.

What is apparent is the glaring oversight of David Oyelowo in the lead role of Martin Luther King Jr., an absolutely brilliant and measured performance that captivated with every word, every look, every mannerism no matter how seemingly slight. Without a doubt one of the finest efforts of 2014, and it is difficult to discern how he didn't find his name mentioned among the five most elite performances of the year. I can fault various aspects of the film for letting me down because they were glaring due to the rest of the work feeling so faultless, but across the board the acting was rock solid, with Oyelowo leading the way with complete perfection.

At the end of the film Selma, it feels as if a victory had been won and of course it absolutely had been. The events depicted showcase a major moment for the Civil Rights Movement, and it is worthy of a joyous and optimistic tone, but I feel saddened and ashamed that a racial divide still exists in America in 2015.  Is it as tense and hostile as the 1960's and earlier? Of course not, but nevertheless I still occasionally see a proudly waved confederate flag or hear some disgusting rhetoric about "what's wrong with this country" with a finger pointed at a specific race, and it's unsettling to say the least.

The optimistic part of me thinks its possible that my now seven year old daughter will see a world sooner rather than later in which we see far less hatred expressed for such ludicrous things like skin color or religious beliefs, but unfortunately I worry that is far fetched. All I can do is teach her to avoid stereotypes and bias and bigotry, an understanding that all people deserve equal rights and equal treatment. Martin Luther King Jr. marched us down the right path, but we must continue on because the work is not yet done.


4/5