Leading Actor 2019

This is a good mix of actors honestly. A couple veterans, a couple first timers, and an up and coming Academy darling. This has been Phoenix's win from the start as the race never deviated from that. I am happy that Phoenix will win his Oscar but I'm also happy I get to dive into these amazing actors' performances.

2019 Best Actor

Joaquin Phoenix - Joker

I think this performance is utter brilliance by Joaquin Phoenix. Yes, I'm a huge fan of his and believe he probably should have already won an Oscar, but this blew me away with how amazing it was. I love that it's a sort of Joker origin story, but it eschews all the usual Gotham tropes and cliches and gives us this deeply personal film about a deeply flawed person. Arthur Fleck is this guy who is fed up with being beaten down by society and living in a city full of people that don't care about him. It's about rising up and telling those people enough is enough. The physical transformation is impressive seeing as Phoenix went the Christian Bale route and ate like one little meal a day so we would get this sinewy, gaunt looking person to make Arthur look even more pathetic. What's also impressive is how empathetic Phoenix makes us feel towards Arthur. He is deep down a good guy just trying to live in the city and take care of his mother and try to make it big in stand up comedy. Those are dreams we can all relate to and the constant beating down suffered by him at seemingly every turn is one that makes you furious. Arthur is just misunderstood and pushed to his limit. What I like the most about Phoenix throughout the performance is how detailed and nuanced it is. There are so many little flourishes that he puts on it that really drives home how talented he is and how great of an actor he is. Like when Arthur laughs at the wrong times at the stand up club. Or how quickly he will go from his laughing fits to being perfectly normal. Or the subtle comedy throughout the film that Phoenix throws in like in the beginning where he is chasing the kids who took his sign and he screams when running in front of a car all animatedly. And the time his gun falls out of his pants while performing for sick kids at the hospital and he screams and chases it. It's hilarious and there are so many of those little moments in the film where we remember that Arthur wants to make us laugh even if it's in tense or shocking moments. But while there are those funny moments and times where we really feel for his shitty lot in life, there are those times later in the film where he is terrifying and so intense. When he first kills, his newfound confidence and purpose is striking. How Phoenix can play both sides so well is why I think he's one of the best actors going right now, if not the best. He plays the meek, cowardly, run down Arthur with the same verve as the confident, powerful, deadly Joker. The change from one to the other is what I find brilliant about the performance. I love the line where he says all he has are negative thoughts. That whole scene is an amazing masterclass and the whole film is him just taking an established character in the Joker and turning it on it's head and reinventing it and breathing much needed life into it. It says a lot that the Joker has won two Oscars because of how different he can be portrayed. Phoenix's portrayal is my personal favorite, though very different than all the others. Maybe it's because Arthur Fleck is so real, like we could easily see that happening in today's world. I love everything about this performance and think this is Phoenix's best. I hope he tops this, though, because we certainly know he can.

Antonio Banderas - Pain and Glory

I knew nothing of this film going in other than it was a Pedro Almodovar film and I suspect anyone reading this is in the same boat. This project has allowed me to watch a couple of Almodovar's films which is partly why I started doing this. It's allowed me to see films I otherwise never would have and opened me up to a whole new world of film. This film is a sort of reflection on a director's life loosely and tangentially based on Almodovar himself played by Banderas. I'll come out and say it straight away, I don't really like this film much. I don't think it really says anything interesting or insightful and I'm not sure why I should care about it or the characters. It's about a director on the decline both physically and mentally as one of his films is back in the public eye being touted as a classic. He reconnects with his lead actor who he hasn't spoken to since filming 30 years ago and they start doing heroin together. We flashback to Banderas' childhood growing up poor and going to a religious school despite not liking religion. We see one of his first loves as an adult and the breakup and how writing was therapeutic for him. To me, it's a self indulgent mess that wants to be deeper than it is. Banderas does do a good job of playing this conflicted man both internally and outwardly. He's a man transfixed on his past and it's like this keeps him stuck in the present as he trudges along with his physical ailments and his mental degradation. This shows off Banderas's range as we are more used to his charming action hero exploits and here he is being introspective and on a path towards self destruction. Banderas is a great actor who kinda got stuck doing action and romantic films once he hit it big, but he came up through Almodovar. It's fitting that he gets nominated for playing a version of the Director that helped make him a household name. To me, the performance is good but not anything I'd watch and want to tell everyone about. Banderas was better in the Almodovar film The Skin I Live In though comparing the two is kinda silly. It is really great that we can say Antonio Banderas is an Oscar nominated actor and it feel right and just. He's a great actor with lots of great Spanish performances that most people have never seen. If this gets someone curious about those roles, then that is fantastic. I don't love the performance but I love the nomination.

Leonardo DiCaprio - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

I was thinking about this performance for a bit to figure out what to write. And as I thought about it, the more this performance seemed to reflect DiCaprio's career as a whole. I saw little bits of all his other performances and characters in his role of actor Rick Dalton. This is a guy who becomes fully committed to his roles and inhabits his characters and really shows us what great acting is these days. This one is no different, only that he's almost fully invested in being almost like himself but different pieces - Frankenstein like. DiCaprio has all kinds of different roles to play as Dalton. He is the badass, smooth talking cowboy from the TV show. He is the anxiety riddled, self doubting, floundering actor who feels like his career is slipping by. He's a great villain, doing some of his own intense stunts. He's funny and fearful and fearless and frankly incomparable. He's a mess of a guy who doubts his own abilities and is intimidated by a little girl, yet can fry some hippie intruders. There's so much going on in the performance and DiCaprio balances it all so well. He makes it seem like this is all one guy reacting to different things and makes it believable. We can see he's a tortured artist and you wonder how much of himself is DiCaprio putting into this performance. I think it's a just a really good performance of an actor playing an actor that most everyone seemed to really like in the film. It just feels so representative of his work as a whole and is a lot of fun watch him be all these different roles in one. I can't wait for more from him and to see what he does next.

Adam Driver - Marriage Story

I am going to be honest. I am writing this a couple months after watching the Oscar ceremony and watching this film and performance because I got kinda burnt out again trying to cram everything into a short time frame so I can post these. It ends up always biting me in the ass as I lose that spark, but here I am writing it now. I am a huge Driver fan. I think he's one of the best younger-ish actors working today and I love how he was a Marine and then decided to pursue acting. He just seems like a good dude overall and delivers some amazing work film after film and this one is no exception. It's great that the Academy is finally taking notice and it's only a matter of time before he wins one. In this, he plays a husband and father who is going through a divorce that at first seems like it will be a pretty amicable split before reality sets in and it becomes emotionally draining, rough life experience he wasn't expecting to go through. He's a successful theater director with an actress wife who was great but gave it up to start their family and who is now wanting to go out and act and be her own person again. While Driver's character may not be exactly like you or me, he brings a universal truth to the role. We can see ourselves as him, fighting for his son and for himself. What I like about Driver as an actor is how he doesn't seem all that impressive at first. Seems kinda dorky and serious and one dimensional. But then he shows you the depths of his acting ability and we see just how great he can be. Whether it's in scenes like when he and Scarlett argue in a small apartment and yell awful things at each other or whether it's him singing a Broadway song at karaoke and nailing it while also imbuing it with so much emotional heft. He's so authentic in every role, but this one was where he seemed to truly shine and let his acting chops do some flexing. I think it's a great performance and if it wasn't in the year where Phoenix clearly deserved it, I'd probably be voting for him. He will get there soon enough, I believe.

Jonathan Pryce - The Two Popes

Wow! What an incredible performance from Pryce. Interestingly, this was the first real life person that Pryce has ever played due to him looking like Pope Francis and it gets him his way overdue first Oscar nomination. This is a man who has created some amazing characters and been in a number of highly regarded films. He has won two Tony Awards and is an all around versatile actor, which is showcased in this film. He plays Cardinal Bergoglio who later becomes Pope Francis. The film is mostly about Bergoglio as he initially wants to resign from being Archbishop and meets with Pope Benedict, expertly played by Anthony Hopkins. The majority of the film is just these two men talking about life and religion and God and it's a thing of beauty to watch them go head to head. And the great thing is they aren't competing with one another and it's not contentious at all. It's two guys acting in harmony with one another as the Pope eventually let's on that he wants to resign and thinks Bergoglio should stay on because he'd make a good Pope. The other part of the film is about Bergoglio's past in Argentina as a young priest and how he worked with the military junta at the time to try and save some of his fellow priests, though many see him as a traitor for that. Their conversations are about reconciling one's past and about each other's idea for what the Church should be doing for the world and it's people. Pryce is amazing, simply put. He speaks Spanish in the film (which from everything I read was on point for a non native speaker) along with Italian and Latin and English. He plays his character like a regular guy, who doesn't like all the pomp and circumstance. He's a man of the people, atoning for his past sins by living a simple life and foregoing luxury so as to better connect with the people. Pryce shows this in his interactions with every day people like the gardener at the Pope's second home. Pryce exudes this warmth and friendliness that radiates from the screen and makes you like this guy even more. Pryce also has these moments when talking with Pope Benedict where his reactions to things are so raw and real. When told that the Pope wants to resign Pryce lets out an exasperated No! and just looks stunned and hurt. We can tell he wants the Pope to continue because he respects him but also probably because he wants to resign himself. There's this mix of emotions that come out that feel like a natural response to the moment. Even his reactions to when talking about the sexual assault/rape issues in the Church (which are not mentioned enough) are one of anger and despair and frustration that the Pope and others wouldn't just do the right thing. Pryce's performance is the sum of its parts. It's all these little reactions and moments throughout the film that adds up to a complete portrait of the man he is playing. I feel like I know Bergoglio/Pope Francis intimately and that's because of Pryce. I have always liked his work, but this performance is on another level and I'm glad he finally has an Oscar nomination to his credit. Well deserved.



Fuck man, how do you judge this group. I am fully into Phoenix winning his Oscar. He deserves it and is one of the most brilliant actors working today. Banderas being nominated is so cool even if I don't really like the role. He also deserves to be Oscar nominated and more people should check out his Spanish performances. Driver is bound to get an Oscar eventually. This dude is so talented and such a good guy that you can't help but root for him. His performance here is breathtaking. It's so strong and only comes in the middle of the pack. DiCaprio is actually really amazing in his role, too! It's not asking much but he does play the self doubting cowboy to perfection. I'm glad he already got his Oscar because I wouldn't know what to do. Pryce, though. Pryce blew me away. If it wasn't for Phoenix, I'd be shouting from the rooftops and the middle of all the streets that Pryce deserved to win an Oscar. His Pope performance is so friggin amazing. I've always liked him as an actor and I'm so glad he was finally recognized by the Academy. I feel like I'm saying that a lot recently but it's true. Pryce could have won easily if not for the Joker. This was a great group and I hope 2020 offers up the same kind of performances.

Oscar Winner: Joaquin Phoenix - Joker
My Winner:  Joaquin Phoenix - Joker
Jonathan Pryce
Adam Driver
Leonardo DiCaprio
Antonio Banderas