Leading Actor 2001

I feel this is never ending and it really is. I've started a new job that takes up so much time that I kinda resent coming home for my 4-6 hours of free time before I go to bed and dedicating it to some movie I know sucks or a movie I've seen 3 times or something that just doesn't make me excited to watch it at that time. You know sometimes I want to come home and just veg out and watch The Office or Bob's Burgers. I don't always want to watch a Holocaust movie or a slow movie that's 2.5 hours long! I dunno. It's just that I kind of expected Oscar movies to be awesome and great and amazing more often than not and that's just not the reality. This is more of just an observation and not an indictment on this category. Just wanted to get that off my chest. Sometimes watching sucks and feels like unpaid work! But I love it so shut up, me! This is a group I've seen a couple of and am looking forward to the rest.

2001 Best Actor

Denzel Washington - Training Day

The first black Best Actor Oscar winner since Sidney Poitier in 1963 and part of a historic 2001 ceremony where both Leading categories went to black actors and even Sidney Poitier got an honorary award. There is a little controversy that maybe this was an undeserved Oscar given simply because Denzel is black and it coincided with a year where the Academy wanted to end the black Oscar drought. You could also argue that Denzel was due for one so to speak. All of that may be true, but there's no denying that Denzel turns in a great performance outside of all that other mess. Try to watch Training Day and not be blown away by his commanding screen presence. The knock on Denzel is that he plays Denzel too much and some said it showed even more so here, but I think he just makes that type of acting look natural for him. You do get the sense that these later performances were cribbed from this one and he kept building off that persona. It looks put on in some of his other roles where he's clearly acting in a familiar way but all of that is not this performance in Training Day. He plays the corrupt and questionably dirty narco cop that has a hell of a day while training Ethan Hawke's new guy. It's a continual series of unbelievable events that just mount and mount and lead to the explosive ending. Denzel does a great job of displaying a man who has a huge ego that believes he rules the streets, can manipulate anyone to do whatever he commands, and is completely untouchable. He's great at taking situations that aren't what he anticipates and instantly rolling with things and coming up with a slick plan or defusing an escalating situation with a laugh and big grin. Part of that is Denzel's charm and he is also able to take some of the dialogue that might otherwise be cheesy or cringe worthy and kick it up a notch into something quotable years down the line. Denzel is at his best in the moments where he's thinking of his next move or not in control of the situation and the bravado gets turned down. I think it's those insights into the true character of Denzel's cop that make the performance really stand out. Yes, the machismo and imposing badass persona is a lot of fun to watch, especially coming from Denzel, but it needs the balance of the quieter instances to fully be appreciated and work for the character. I'm perfectly okay with this being what got Denzel his Oscar, because he definitely deserved one.

Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind

There was very real talk that Crowe could be the first to repeat as Best Actor winner since Tom Hanks did it in the early nineties. This was the tail end of the Crowe heyday where it seemed that everything he did was nominated. It's quite evident that this is an actor that is on top of his game. So there's no doubt that he is a great actor. In A Beautiful Mind, he plays John Nash, a mathematician who cracks codes and eventually develops paranoid schizophrenia.The first thing you notice is that he's too buff and handsome for a nerdy mathematician. And then you'll notice the tics, which is a nice little attention to detail but is it too affected? At times it is. Characters like these always seem to invite this type of affected acting for some reason. That to portray dorky, nerdy, or crazy characters means to have these weird little mannerisms and rapid fire quick witted quips. It would have been nice to see Crowe not stoop to that tired level of acting but he tries to make the most out of it. Crowe is the most convincing when he's playing the crazy part of Nash. It's strong acting that doesn't over do it. It treads a fine line and makes the character more believable. Was it truly deserving of a second consecutive Oscar win? No, I don't think so. Crowe demonstrates why he was and is one of the best but it doesn't entirely work for me. I think some of that blame can be placed on the writer and director who are okay with safe and pedestrian even with the schizophrenia subject. That's to say it's not a bad job by Crowe at all, just not worth a historic win.

Sean Penn - I Am Sam

I've been very interested in finally seeing this Penn performance since it's been lampooned and mocked and even referenced in Tropic Thunder (never go full retard!). It's kinda hard to watch, honestly! It's difficult to separate all the parodies from the real thing because when you watch the very beginning it plays exactly, I mean exactly, like a well shot parody. It doesn't help that the movie is shot in that annoying late 90s, very early 2000s style of constant camera movement and zoom ins and outs and it's almost nauseous how overused it is. I've got to say even though Sean Penn did go full retard in this I can find the charm and warmth of the performance. I think the dedication with which Penn approached the character of Sam is something to be commended (even if Penn can be a scumbag). He gives real humanity to Sam and doesn't actually go full retard, meaning I don't think the portrayal is as exaggerated or overblown as could be. The movie itself is overly sentimental, with saccharine and cloying being better adjectives to describe it. But Penn does tone down the film from being a farce. The movie and performance is very predictable but you know what you're getting hen you watch a movie like this. It's a very easy performance to make fun of and it's an easy character to fuck up. I think Penn is able to keep it from going off the rails and keeps Sam grounded in reality. Is it the best? No. Is it worthy of being included? Absolutely. It's a brave decision that somewhat pays off, although it's still a performance that launched a thousand jokes and bad parodies. That automatically deducts points. I think if people really look at it they won't be as turned off but they'll also get pretty much what the expected.

Will Smith - Ali

This is the role that made the Fresh Prince a legit actor/Oscar possibility. Before this it was the Bad Boys and The Wild West type movies, but Ali made Will Smith into a bonafide Oscar actor. Smith does a really good job with playing Muhammad Ali and you can tell he gave it his all, so I'm not going to be too harsh. Smith is practically in every scene and has the gravitas and charisma to carry every scene he is in, there's no doubt about that. One thing you can't say about Will Smith is that he lacks screen presence. He doesn't look all that like Ali but that's a forgivable thing when it comes to biopics. I do think he's let down a bit by director Michael Mann (who I love) who maintains an uneven pace throughout the film. Some scenes go on for way too long, like way too long. Others aren't expounded on enough. So Will Smith's performance does feel a little uneven and I think it's due to the director/editor. If the film was more tightly focused maybe Will Smith would come off as more in tune with Ali. Which brings up the fact that Oscar winners and nominees are probably more beholden to their editors than the general public gives them credit for. Will is extremely good at the hard stare which might make up a third of the film, seriously! It's where he looks out a window or into the distance like a hard gangster or a troubled man. It really is the most obvious thing about the performance. There's more to acting than looking hard of course and there's way more to Oscar caliber acting than staring off. I think that's where the director and/or editor needed to make some executive decisions regarding Smith's version of Ali and what the script demanded of him. But for a huge biopic such as this about a figure as mythical as Muhammad Ali, Will Smith did a good job in portraying the Champ in this film. It's not a knockout, but I'd say it's a decent split decision.

Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom

It's nice to see the love for Tom Wilkinson from the Academy. This was his first of his two nominations (his other was for Michael Clayton). I always forget that he's British because he plays so many American characters and makes the accents seem natural. Anyway, Wilkinson plays a grieving father in this film and it's such a low key, quiet performance. That's quintessential Tom Wilkinson to me. You're going to get the steady, solid, powerful performances where it looks like he's not doing much but they leave you impressed at the end.  Wilkinson's performance is devastating after his son is killed and we get those simple moments of him walking to tell his wife and looking around his son's room. There's so much going on in these scenes that is quietly unstated with just how he looks and walks and exists, it's powerful without being obvious.The subtleties in Wilkinson's expressions make paying attention to him so rewarding. And with the performance being so subtle and low key, the fight between him and Spacek is mesmerizing. There are year's of frustrations boiling up and over with all the grief that's spilling out. The two actors play off each other so well and not just with the dialogue but with the silences as well. The film shifts more towards Wilkinson's character's perception at the end where he shines as more of a reluctant participant in the revenge carrying out what seems like a necessary fatherly/husband duty to his family. You know the deed changes Wilkinson and we never know if the marriage survives or how well the revenge assuaged their grief but Wilkinson is tremendous in the last part of the film. I love that powerful, engaging acting can be very minimalist in execution. It's probably the style I gravitate to liking much more than any other. Wilkinson was a great fit for In the Bedroom.


This is a tough group to judge. There's a tiny width separating 1 from 5. Will Smith is the newbie and gives a good effort but is let down by his director/editor. Crowe would be next up because I just didn't like the movie and he didn't do much to change my view of it. It's meh. Penn did a better than originally thought job. You think of it and laugh but he gave a pretty good performance. I loved Wilkinson in his film. It was great and underrated, even with the nomination. Denzel is good and powerful and charismatic and just of the moment. I like his win and I'm glad he won for it. Can't deny his magnetism in that film. Like I said 1-5 were super close so I'm kinda not into writing pages about each for this.

Oscar Winner: Denzel Washington - Training Day
My Winner:   Denzel Washington - Training Day
Tom Wilkinson
Sean Penn
Russell Crowe
Will Smith