Leading Actor 2015

Not much surprise here and that's okay. Honestly, I just wanna get these posted ASAP because I'm itching to start 1999 after such a long break.

2015 Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

Leo finally gets his Oscar. At least, that's how it's looking over a month before the actual ceremony. I hope he wins just so all the Leo Oscar memes can finally die down. He also deserves to win, which is the best part about all of this. It's not a pity Oscar or a make up Oscar or a veteran Oscar, it's a deserved Oscar. No one can accuse Leo of not taking on challenging roles because from all accounts this was a very tough challenge for him and everyone working on the film. There's been much talk about how he went fully into this role by actually crawling into a horse (I think) carcass, eating a raw animal liver and a raw fish, crawling through snow and icy water in frigid temperatures. None of it is just for show either. It all adds to the desperation and the survival experience of Hugh Glass. This authenticity shows just how insane and unlikely the survival was. Leo gives a very physical performance, one that's been lambasted for being a lot of grunts, groans, and moans but that's unfair. There's plenty of good performances that are light on actual speaking. Where I think Leo succeeds is in making us believe he is really hurt and in pain and going through all these awful conditions and situations. I mean, just take a look at the bear attack scene as to an example of Leo's powerhouse acting ability. The bear is CGI (and very well done) yet Leo makes it look like he's fighting off a real bear and fighting for his life. He excels at that kind of stuff throughout the film. There's a moment where he's hiding from the natives under a rocky overhang while submerged in freezing water. He's trying to not be seen yet he's also gravely wounded and in obvious peril, yet when he senses he's been spotted the look of sheer terror and adrenaline on his face is something that can't really be taught. It's also what I point to when people say Leo didn't do all that much. Bullshit he didn't. Try and scream and fight an imaginary bear off in terror and not look like a complete buffoon. Try and keep acting while submerged in freezing water. That's why Leo is one of the best actors working today. It also shows that he's a varied actor that can do as much with little dialogue as he can with a Scorsese role. I think this is everyone's clear cut favorite, including mine, and I really hope he gets that Oscar.

Bryan Cranston - Trumbo

I have no idea why this was the hardest review for me to write. I literally thought about it for a few days which doesn't seem like much but every other nominee came very easy to write for me. I feel like I should be honest from the beginning because I really liked Cranston's performance here. It and the character and the film hit all my sweet spots. I like biopics of influential Hollywood screen writers who were part of the Blacklist, who wrote great films, one of my favorite books, and who had an overall story arc that was very enjoyable. I legit like old Hollywood, especially when it's portrayed like this. There might be a little bias here but I also feel like Cranston was able to inhabit the soul of Trumbo and bring him back to life for this film. The whole McCarthyism era is a huge bullshit time in American history and the fact that people were killed, imprisoned, and blacklisted over flimsy accusations is complete bullshit. This country did nothing to step up and shut down the hateful vitriol being spewed by the Republicans at the time and I can't believe things were able to get so messed up. Cranston is a great actor as evidenced by his Breaking Bad awards and he is up to the role here in Trumbo. It does take him a while to get really comfortable with Trumbo the character without turning it into a joke. But Cranston quickly figures everything out and hits his stride by legitimately delivering a performance that needs to eschew the boring biopic in favor of the real portrayal of a Hollywood legend. That's exactly what Cranston achieves eventually. You feel his rage at being blacklisted, the satisfaction of resurrecting a B movie script, the honesty of loving his family, his dedication to his craft even if they weren't Oscar related, his sheer determination to keep writing forevermore. It's what he did best and Cranston created a great character that expressed everything involved with that lifestyle. Cranston is a great and fun Trumbo. It's a performance that makes me smile and nod in sympathy.

Matt Damon - The Martian

Matt Damon in spaaaaaace! That is essentially what this role is and how it is approached by Damon. Matt Damon is the quintessential every man. Put him in a role and you know exactly what you're going to get. He brings his good guy charm even if he plays a villain or other type of role and is always relatable no matter what. That's the strength of Damon's acting and it's why he is so bankable and likable. I could never see Damon going method and gaining a bunch of weight or losing a bunch of weight or playing a character that is totally out of our perceived comfort zone of him. However, the Matt Damon we know and love fits The Martian perfectly and the character of Mark Watney could be called Matt Damon and we wouldn't bat an eye. I think Damon succeeds in this role because this is everything we expect from his performances: the light hearted comedy, the action packed physicality, the moments of pure determinism, and satisfying character arcs. Everyone riffed on The Martian winning Best Comedy at the Golden Globes and obviously it's not so much a comedy as a film with comedic parts but it is at times very funny because of Damon's upbeat persona coping with his situation by rattling off jokes. It's also a very science heavy film and Damon is convincing as a botanist and an astronaut. It's easy to root for Damon to survive and succeed because we've been doing it in films for years and this is no different. I think he got a nomination simply because he's a good actor who did solid work here for a well liked film that made money. That may be a very simplistic view of why he was nominated but I think it's pretty hard to argue otherwise. Damon does carry the film, since he's the only one trapped on Mars, but we do get lots and lots of supporting characters thrown into the mix as well. That means it's not Damon's sole responsibility to make sure the film doesn't fail. If it was Damon onscreen the entire time, maybe the schtick would wane a bit as it stands I didn't tire of Damon in this film. Is this the Best performance of the bunch? I don't think so, but I'm not going to complain about it being among this group.

Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs

It is good to see Fassbender back among the nominees , especially for Best Actor this time. He has had some very worthy performances go overlooked in the past so it's great to see him at least get rewarded with a nomination. Fassbender plays Steve Jobs and well, we all know who he is/was. This rendition of Jobs is a loose interpretation of the man that doesn't quite feel like the real portrait of the man. Maybe that's by design and how Aaron Sorkin wanted his Steve Jobs to come across or maybe a stylistic choice by Fassbender but it doesn't ring as very authentic. That's not a knock on Fassbender who delivers a pretty mesmerizing performance. It's just that this Jobs is kind of a badass who trends more towards being a kind of cool, suave asshole instead of this uber nerd who is ruthless but also a goober. I'm not sure Fassbender is capable of playing someone that is a so-called nerdy type so maybe he defaults to what he does best. We get a slicker version of Jobs than I think is actually warranted which I think hurts the overall feel of his character. When the people around him are pointing out ways that he's being a douchebag, like say when he denies his daughter is actually his, you end up rooting on the side of Jobs instead of his daughter because Fassbender and the character are so magnetic and charismatic. Seeing Jobs in action is kind of fun as well, knowing this man helped change the world for better or worse.There's moments where Fassbender starts putting little plans together in his hand and it becomes some terrific acting. That's the big plus that Steve Jobs has going for it is Fassbender's acting, and to a lesser extent the supporting acting, too. But I'd say even given Fassbender's interpretation of Jobs, this is a very strong Fassbender performance. It might feel a little off, but I'm glad it's on here.

Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Redmayne is back with some more 100% pure Oscar bait. This time ol' Redmayne portrays a Danish artist who awakens his inner woman after dabbling in some dress up for fun. It snowballs into a desire to detach his male form and to possibly transplant a uterus to have a baby and become a complete woman. That description makes it sound absolutely ludicrous but the film itself is not as absurd, though it still can be at times. Anyway, I'm finding out more and more that what I dislike about Redmayne's performance is his inclination for whispering his lines as if it adds some kind of dramatic tension to his scenes and lines. It annoys the crap out of me and is present in his win last year which kinda made sense with Hawking losing his ability to speak but showed up in Jupiter Ascending where he just sounded so comically awful. He continues that trend here where his character is I guess a bit of a shy artist and then uses it mostly to sound more feminine and passable. It's irritating to say the least. There's not much to the male part of his character who we see is a successful artist that likes to bone his extremely attractive wife with some unusual sexual proclivities. He starts getting off on dressing in his wife's clothes and it goes from there. Luckily Redmayne is already a very thin man and very angular in his looks because he's able to not look so out of place as a woman though I wouldn't say he's attractive by any means. Again, I don't know if there's a ton of depth to his performance here as the aesthetic is what seems to take precedence. He/She is tortured with his feelings of wanting to become a woman and alienating his wife who would rather he not but a lot of that subtext is glossed over at the end in favor of showing his transition at the beginning. He plays his woman very demure in public yet flaunts it in private and it seems to treat this transgender component with a superficial idea instead of getting to the true heart and soul of why he transitions other than it being sexual. To me, Redmayne is much more of a physical actor obsessed with the appearance of acting rather than letting his characters come out in a natural way. He is the definition of style over substance.


Another strong list if you look at the names only, but of course when you look deeper into the performances you start to see it's a very thin group. I'm really hoping the Academy has got it's Redmayne love out of it's system because I'd rather a deserving actor get the nod instead another one of his shallow performances. Fassbender makes an interesting Jobs but it's the interpretation that feels out of place when you think about the actual Jobs. I like Fassbender in this performance but as far as in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's near the best. Damon is the safe Academy choice. I'm not upset with it being on the list but if he were replace by anyone else, I wouldn't be vocal about a snub or anything. Cranston is really just my own personal feelings coming out because I think most would put this at 3 or 4 on this list. I enjoyed the hell out of it, though. And of course Leo is winning for a pretty damn great performance so hopefully the Academy doesn't screw that up. I'm already eager for what kind of performances we'll get for next year.

Oscar Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
My Winner:  Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
Bryan Cranston
Matt Damon
Michael Fassbender
Eddie Redmayne