Top 10 Actors of the Decade

With the decade coming to a close, I have decided to compile a list of the top 10 actors of the decade. Factors that went into my decisions to include actors were nominations and wins for the major three awards (Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild), how memorable/iconic their roles were, and my personal opinion. Note that for SAG awards I only included nominations and wins for acting, not best cast. Also, nominations are to date, which means there are no Academy Award nominations included for this year. I have also included notable movies these actors were in during the decade.

10. Viggo Mortensen - ( Lord of the Rings Trilogy, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Appaloosa, The Road)
Academy Awards:1 nomination/ 0 wins
Golden Globes: 1 nomination/ 0 wins
Screen Actor Guild:1 nomination/ 0 wins

Hear me out on this one. He was the key player in the most successful trilogy ever, both commercially and critically. He was snubbed of awards for a father and husband hiding his past in A History of Violence, where he gave us a thrill ride. His best and most liberal performance was in Eastern Promises. He was a freakin' badass, nails the accent, and for pete sake he set a benchmark by being naked for 7 consecutive minutes while having a knife fight. His most recent film, The Road, while not that big commercial has won him some precursors and people are saying this could be the most underrated performance of the year.

9. George Clooney -(O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ocean Trilogy, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Up in the Air)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 4 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 0 wins

The quintessential suave actor, Clooney has had a good decade. That's just it, good. Even though he won an Oscar, I don't really see any his performances as memorable. Most of the time he was just playing himself (Danny Ocean, Michael Clayton, Ryan Bingham). Syriana was a good performance in a weak year for Supporting Actors ( I would have gone Matt Dillon for Crash) However, put all of the good performances together, and it places him 9th on my list.

8. Denzel Washington - (Remember the Titans, Training Day, Man on Fire, Inside Man, America Gangster, The Great Debaters)
Academy Awards: 1 nomination/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 2 nominations/ 0 wins
Screen Actors Guild: 1 nomination/ 0 wins

Perhaps the best actor of the last 25 years (maybe only to Tom Hanks) only places 8th on my list. Any sports fan will always remember Coach Herman Boone and the Titans in perhaps his most family friendly performance. Then, there was Alonzo Harris, the role that made him only the second African American actor to win the Best Actor Oscar. Every guy I know loves Man on Fire, and rightfully so, as Washington shows us what I consider to be one of the most emotionally vulnerable characters of the decade. American Gangster was lackluster for me, but he plays the confident gangster Frank Harris well. The Great Debators was one of the more surprisingly good movies I saw over the past few years, much in part due to his performance.

7. Benicio Del Toro - (Traffic, Snatch, 21 Grams, Sin City, Che)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 1 nomination/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 1 win

One of the most underrated actors of our time, Del Toro has done a lot albeit quietly in this decade. He started off in 2000 with probably the best role of his career in Traffic as Javier Rodriguez, where he played the last straight cop in Mexico. He was the best part of Sin City ( except for Mickey Rourke) and gave a virtually unknown Cannes winning performance in Che, which if you get a chance you should definitely see.

6. Leonardo DiCaprio - (Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Revolutionary Road)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/0 wins
Golden Globes: 5 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 0 wins

DiCaprio may not be the best actor of the decade, but he is certainly the "Golden Boy". Every movie he has been in this decade has garnered critical acclaim, and that is no mistake. He also seems to have an affinity for accents, as his best three roles this decade, Gangs of New York, Blood Diamond, and The Departed, all required him to use a different tongue. He has grown tremendously since 1997's Titanic and will most likely continue to grow. Looking forward to Shutter Island in February.

5. Johnny Depp - (Blow, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Public Enemies)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 0 wins
Golden Globes: 5 nominations/ 0 wins
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 1 win

Depp gave us one of the most charismatic characters ever in Jack Sparrow in one of the most successful franchises of all time. The quirks that Depp gave his character was something that only he could provide, and for that we loved him. His frequent collaborations with Tim Burton seem to bring out he best in him, perhaps because like Burton, he is a bit eccentric. Sweeney Todd may have been his best Burton performance to date, and he even did his own singing in that role.

4. Daniel Day-Lewis - (Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood, Nine)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 3 nominations/1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 2 wins

Day-Lewis was not very active in this decade, but the work he did more then made up for it. It seems Day-Lewis gets off on playing a badass as Bill the Butcher and Daniel Plainview are two of the scariest non-horror characters in movie history. He is loathsome in his roles, but if you love to hate anyone, it's the characters he plays.

3. Phillip Seymour Hoffman - ( Almost Famous, 25th Hour, Capote, The Savages, Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 4 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 2 nominations/ 1 win

Hoffman is without question one of the most talented actors I have ever seen. The way he played Truman Capote was so vivid and meticulous, simply put I think it is the performance of the decade. It seems that every year he does a film and every year he gets nominated for awards. His Oscar nominations were in 2005,2007, and 2008. Such consistency nowadays only lies with two other actors/actresses, Meryl Streep (her whole career) and Russell Crowe (1999-2001)

2. Sean Penn - ( I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, Milk)
Academy Awards: 3 nominations/ 2 wins
Golden Globes: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 0 wins

Penn is the only actor this decade to win two Oscars for Best Actor and only 1 of 9 ever. He is very versatile in his portrayals whether it be a mentally handicapped father ( I am Sam) or a real life gay activist (Milk). While he hasn't done many pictures this decade he is memorable and dynamic in what he's done. If he wasn't a household name for being Spicoli, he certainly is one after this decade.

1. Russell Crowe - (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma, American Gangster)
Academy Awards: 2 nominations/ 1 win
Golden Globes: 4 nominations/ 1 win
Screen Actors Guild: 3 nominations/ 1 win

Russell Crowe in my opinion is the best actor of the decade. Crowe started out the decade strong by winning the Academy Award for his work in Gladiator. His portrayal of Maximus Decimus Meridius may be one of the top three performances of the decade (behind Ledger's Joker, and Hoffman's Capote). He would have most likely won the Academy Award the very next year for his depiction of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (top 5 performance of the decade), but his tirade against television producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting short his acceptance speech at another award show may have turned voters against him. It's important to note that he won the Golden Globe and the SAG that year. Crowe collected many other big nominations throughout the decade for movies listed above. Recently, I believe he outacted Christian Bale in a very good movie, 3:10 to Yuma. He also outperformed the great Denzel Washington in the solid American Gangster.


Honorable Mention (in no order): Joaquin Phoenix, Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Paul Giamatti, Jamie Foxx, Heath Ledger, Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr.

Body Count in Movies

When you think of death in movies, what movies come to mind? Robocop? Saving Private Ryan? Titanic? Well according to moviebodycounts.com the movie with the highest body count in cinema history is Lord Of The Rings: Return of the King (extended version) with 836. Now, anyone who has seen LOTR: ROTK knows that the final battle scene is epic, and this is where the majority of the body count occurs.

It is interesting to think that a film that won 11 Oscars would have this much death in it, but typically war/battle movies do well with Oscars and have many demises in it. For example Saving Private Ryan won 5 Oscar and has a body count of 255, which ranks 12th all time in movies. Braveheart, which also won 5 Oscars, has a body count of 184. This places 20th all time.

Death in movies helps engage the viewer, it helps them connect with the picture and makes the plot more interesting. This is especially true when a main character dies. An example can be Starship Troopers. One would say this is an average movie, but when 4 of the main characters perish in the war with the Aracnids ( I won't list names for sake of spoilers), it shocks you and makes you really think. I believe this is why Starship Troopers is considered a cult classic and has spawned numerous direct to DVD sequels.

So, my point is you may be surprised when you hear that an amazing movie has an exorbitant body count, but that's what draws many of the viewers in. Movies with crazy battles or movies based on wars will never stop being made because of this and I'm glad that's true.

Oscar Predictions - Best Actress

Best Actress (in rank order)

1. Carey Mulligan, An Education - Breakout performance in a very good film. Keeping up with Streep in precursors.
2. Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia - Remember what I said about biopics? Streep portrays Julia Childs with ease giving one of her best performances over the past five years (much better than Doubt in my opinion). However, she will most likely split votes with It's Complicated.
3. Gabourey Sidbe, Precious - Breakout performance in her first ever film. Will get nominated, but will not win. Very rarely does the Academy reward a first time actor ( Jennifer Hudson won, but this was for Supporting Actress and her role depended heavily on her singing voice. She also had a lot of prior exposure due to American Idol)
4. Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side - A-List actress gives career best performance. Scored major nominations in precursors. However, is the film and the role for that matter really Oscar worthy?
5. Helen Mirren, The Last Station - Former Oscar winner plays Leo Tolstoy's wife well (another biopic role). Films reviews are mixed, and film itself isn't too well known, which could hurt Mirren's chances.

Oscar Predictions - Best Actor

Best Actor ( In rank order)

1. Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart - One of the most unappreciated actors of our time (4 nominations, no wins) finally gets it right in this film about country music. Relatively small film, not well known until late, which could hurt Bridges in the end.
2. George Clooney, Up in the Air - Clooney gives his career best performance. Why don't I have him winning? Well, if he didn't win for Syriana in 2006 I may just have him winning.
3. Colin Firth, A Single Man - Gay cinema does not translate well into Oscars (think Brokeback Mountain), but Firth stands out his performance as a Gay Professor in the 1960s
4. Morgan Freeman, Invictus - Perhaps one of the most "baity" roles of all time. The Academy loves to nominate biopic roles (think Ali and A Beautiful Mind to name a couple). However, he has been rewarded rather recently, and accent might not be quite there.
5. Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker - Breakout performer of the year in potentially best film of the year. Does anyone remember this guy from National Lampoon's Senior Trip?
   

Some box office flops of 2009

Time to discuss one of my favorite movie-related subjects: box office tankers. What is it about these movies that make them flop? Is it a generic/overdone plot line? The timing of the release? Terrible word of mouth? A limited marketing campaign? In my opinion it's a combination of all these reasons. Let's take a look for example at the recent box office bomb The Box. There was practically no advertising for the movie. Some people I talked to had no idea it was actually in theaters! Not to mention it has one of the laziest titles ever. I mean really, they couldn't think of anything better than The Box? It really makes me wonder how certain movies can even be green lit by the major studios.

Case in point, Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy. Did they actually think this was going to be a success? Again this is an example of a very limited marketing campaign and a standard/unoriginal plot (a girl who's imagination comes to life) leading to financial failure (about $16 million worldwide on a $55 million budget). This is another addition to his great track record. Who can forget Adventures of Pluto Nash, widely considered to be one of the biggest box office disasters ever. It was made for a budget of $100 million and earned only about $10 million. More recently, Meet Dave, which only grossed about $11 million and had a budget of $55 million. I mean the plot for Meet Dave did seem pretty weak, a spaceship in the shape of a human. This is really a shame because I think Eddie Murphy is a very talented actor, but he has made some bad decisions. Let's not forget that he probably cost himself an oscar by having Norbit and Dreamgirls released so close to each other!

The final box office bomb of 2009 that I am discussing was the Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell. The movie had a combination of terrible reviews, commercials that showed virtually no laughs, and bad timing (opened the same weekend as The Hangover). It grossed only aboout $65 million worldwide on a budget of $100 million. The movie was destroyed by critics. For example, the New York Daily News said it was a "high concept disaster." In addition to the bad critical reception, the commercials were completely unfunny. They were relying too much on Will Ferrell's star power and nothing else. This proves that actor popularity does not guarantee financial success.

Where Have You Gone John Turturro?

If it were the year 2000, John Turturro would be considered my favorite actor. Turturro had great performances in Rounders and the The Big Lebowski, both in 1998 and what I see to be his best performance to date in Quiz Show, which was made in 1995. Quiz Show is one of my all time favorite films, and that has much to do with Turturro's performance (along with Rob Morrow's). What made Turturro so great in this role was his ability to literally become Herbert Stempel, who was a real life game show contestant on the show "21". He was fed answers to questions and then pushed out when the show found a more captivating contestant (Charles Van Doren). Now, I've never seen clips of the real Stempel, but from what I read about who he was and how he acted, the portrayal is golden. Geeky, comedic, and scene-stealing is how I would describe the performance. With lines like "You wanna be worshipped? Go to India and moo." you can't help but love and feel sorry for Stempel when everything and everybody is against him.

The year of 1998 was a big year for Turturro with roles in Rounders and The Big Lebowski. The role I am going to focus on is that of "Joey Knish" (yes, he playing a Jewish man, as he does in Quiz Show) in Rounders. Knish is a veteran poker player and mentor to Mike McDermott (played by Matt Damon), who is having struggles with the world of poker. Tuturro doesn't get as much screentime as I would like, but he certainly stands out. The speech Knish gives McDermott in the Turkish bathhouse is subtly spoken, yet very powerful, powerful enough to make me question the idiotic things I have done in life.

However, since 2000 it seems John Turturro has downshifted gears, trying for more comedy than drama in films like Mr. Deeds and Don't Mess with the Zohan. Both of these films in my opinion fizzled (perhaps because both were with Adam Sandler?). The only particularly good performance I felt Turturro gave in this decade was in "The Bronx is Burning", where he portrayed Billy Martin. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie Transformers, it's just that I didn't feel the performances in that movie as a whole were particularly strong.

I still do consider Turturro to be one of my favorite actors, because nothing can take away his past work, and I know he still has the talent to be a great actor. He must stick with what made him great, which is dramatic roles. Nevertheless, the poor script choice of Turturro has led me to ask where have you gone?

Christoph Waltz

Christoph Waltz needs to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He was phenomenal in Inglorious Basterds. His performance is the kind the Academy loves any way: dark, charismatic, psychotic, humorous, etc. The film was the only American film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival. Waltz won for Best Actor. This is further evidence of his brilliance! If he doesn't at least get nominated that would be a big mistake on the Academy's part!

Oscar Predictions - Best Picture

With the Golden Globe nominations coming out yesterday, now is a perfect time to get started on Oscar predictions, so let’s get into it. *Projected Winner

Best Picture (in rank order)

1. Up in the Air* - This film is definitely the front runner so far in the awards season. Three potential Oscar performances from George Clooney, Anna Kedrick, and Vera Farmiga, throw in some "Kenny Powers" and it's bound to be a classic. Director Jason Reitman got a lot of love for Juno, no reason this film shouldn't exceed that. The film has won Best Picture in 5 precursors already.
2. The Hurt Locker-From January through the summer, this was hands down the best film and war films typically do well with the Academy, think Saving Private Ryan and Letters from Iwo Jima.
3. Precious- Dark subject matter, but great performances from Mo'Nique, Gabourey Sidibe, and surprisingly Mariah Carey. Although, hasn't won many precursors to date.
4. Avatar- I am a big supporter of this film and from the technical perspective (cinematography, visual effects) it could go down as one of the greatest films of all time if it meets current buzz.
5. A Serious Man- Smaller film, but the Coen's are no strangers to the Oscars. Some major critics are really backing this film. Could take award for screenplay. Love Richard Kind in role.
6. Invictus - "Baity" story and the Academy loves Eastwood.
7. Up - Clearly the best animated film of the year. Really benefits with expansion to 10 nominees, and can do what Wall-E couldn't
8. An Education - Carey Mulligan has an outstanding performance, as does Alfred Molina and Peter Sardsgaard ( I am a big Sarsgaard fan myself ever since Garden State). Smaller film, which could hurt it in the end.
9. Nine - Very mixed reviews so far, but the women, particularly Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard steal the show. Fergie has a nice debut as well. Might get in on star power alone, as the cast has 6 acting Oscar winners.
10. Inglourious Basterds – Supposedly Quentin Tarantino called this film his masterpiece, I can’t argue. Good blend of comedy and action, as Christopher Waltz and Melanie Laurent stand out in their performance.
    

Stayed tuned as I predict a new “major 8” category everyday with commentary. Also, look for updates for previous predictions.