Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Top 13 Best Supporting Actor winning performances.

 #13. Haing S. Ngor-Dith Pran in The Killing Fields-1984. This film is about the Khmer Rouge and their takeover of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Said organization was led by a man named Saloth Sar. Any history buffs would know him better as Pol Pot and know that he killed over 2,000,000 people. Basically anyone who had anything resembling half a brain Pol Pot had killed. Ngor was actually a survivor of Pol Pot's regime. Pictured here is Dith Pran coming across The titular Killing Fields. Enough with the history lesson though, this dude deserved his Oscar. Trust me.


















 #12. Kevin Kine-Otto West in A Fish Called Wanda-1988. Kevin Kline won an acting Oscar? How? He's really really... "DON'T CALL ME STUPID!!!" This is one of the most hilarious acting Oscar winning performances that I have seen. I loved it a lot. The whole movie is hilarious. If you haven't seen it, please do!




























#11. Cuba Gooding Jr.- Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire-1996. When the 2009 Superbowl finally cane around the two teams left standing were the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers had won five Superbowls before this one (two in a row twice in fact) and the Cardinals were the team that had never really even come close to getting into the Superbowl. They were a mediocre team all the way around. Well, the Steelers would eventually go on to win their Sixth Superbowl with a score of 27-23. Well, everyone said going into that Superbowl, that the only Arizona Cardinal that anyone had ever heard of was Rod Tidwell. Yep. This guy right here. If you haven't heard of him, then geez, see the movie and see him in it! You're messing up my Kwan. In fact, if you haven't seen at least some scenes involving Tidwell you have to pay me so "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!"






















 #10. Sean Connery-Jim Malone in The Untouchables- 1987. It's frankly surprising that he didn't win before this one, but he got his Oscar. He finally got it. And it wasn't for some cheap stupid 'I've done this role a million times' role like John Wayne for True Grit. Man, he deserved this thing. He was easily the best part about the film. I mean, the rest of the cast wasn't bad either but ha made the film what it is.

































 #9. Gene Hackman-Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven-1992. Clint Eastwood has a habit of making good movies. The last 2 weren't entirely up to snuff but he did some excellent ones before that. I noticed that despite how weak the film might be, the acting is never less than the best. This shows very well in Unforgiven. Gene Hackman gives a performance that would ultimately give him his second Oscar. He deserved it too. Not gonna lie. If you disagree with this than I'm gonna send 'The Duck of Death' after you.






















 #8. Morgan Freeman-Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris in Million Dollar Baby-2004. The role that Morgan Freeman FINALLY won an Oscar for. he did so great. He plays the role that he was born to play: The wise old Mentor. To both Swank and Eastwood's characters. Maybe it's just Morgan freeman or maybe it's just that he is such an amazing actor, but every character he plays just seems omniscient. Has anyone else noticed this? So, I am confident in this, I say that there are 2 people on this Earth that Chuck Norris (Or Bruce Lee if you prefer) cannot beat up. Morgan Freeman is one of them. He's just too...Morgan Freeman. (The other one is Betty White btw).


























 #7. Robin Williams-Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting-1997.Man, the Supporting category just seems to be a breeding ground for Oscars that are basically "You have an excellent career and you haven't won one yet? Here you go" We got Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery and now Robin Williams. And the best part is that all of them deserved their Oscars. I loved his monologue in this one. One of the best I have heard. This is pretty much the first really serious roles I saw him in (Good Morning Vietnam was hilarious and there was a very lighthearted feel to Dead Poets Society....Oh wait, Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire were really serious. Never mind). Seeing how him and Matt Damon interacted on screen was just amazing so props to both of them.



































#6. Javier Bardem- Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men-2007. If Hannibal Lecter stopped eating people, abandoned all traces of being a normal human being and carried around a silenced shotgun this is probably as close to what that would look like as someone can get. Bardem does an absolutely fantastic job as the cold totally psychotic killer in the Coen's Best Picture winner. He's creepy, but you still love to watch him. he totally deserved the Oscar for this one. 2 things though, he never actually said "call it friendo" and I've seen a video of someone who fired off a silenced shotgun, it actually seemed to make it louder.





















 #5. Joe Pesci-Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas-1990. wow. Another Psychotic Killer on the list. Both me and the Academy are drawn to people like this in terms of giving out Oscars. Joe Pesci did an amazing job in Goodfellas. He was completely nuts. You were never sure which character on the screen he was gonna kill next, but you knew someone was gonna die. It was almost funny in a weird sort of way. "Funny how? How am I funny? Like a clown? Do I amuse you?"
"n..no that's not what I meant at all I...he's gonna kill me anyway. Dang"

























 #4. Kevin Spacey-Roger "Verbal" Kint in The Usual Suspects-1995. No one plays a stupid cripple quite like Spacey did in The Usual Suspects. I'm frankly surprised that A. this film didn't get a well deserved Best Picture nom (I would have been okay with a win really) and B. That Spacey wasn't moved up to the Best Actor category for this one. Maybe it was one of those "everyone knew Cage was going to win but they still needed to give Spacey an Oscar so..." But yeah Nicholas Cage won an Oscar! Best Actor no less! What has he done with it! Nothing! He did National Treasure. Spacey did fantastic. If he didn't he wouldn't be on here. But, on a side note, what's with the flowery shirt he wears under the vest the whole movie? That's something that a grandmother would wear. What's it doing on him? Anyway...


As a side not, if you like Kevin Spacey...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKDKAKNH-k





















 #3. Christoph Waltz-Colonel Hans Landa of the SS in Inglourious Basterds-2009. Waltz did absolutely fantastic in this one. He is Hannibal Lecter (Minus the cannibal bit although...I wouldn't put it past him) in Nazi form. Truly frightening. If you're trying to keep a secret from him odds are he already knows. That's how amazing the performance it. You hate the guy for what he is but at the same time you love him for what he is. And what has Waltz done with his Oscar? keeping in mind he can do anything he wants now? He did The Green Hornet and Water for Elephants. And soon a remake of The Three Musketeers. Hmm. I hope he does better stuff in the future.




















 #2. Heath Leger-The Joker in The Dark Knight-2008.
 Let's be honest with ourselves, he only won because he died. Yes he was truly the best that year but thanks to the politics of the Oscars he wouldn't have won. Those same politics caused him to win because he died. If he hadn't, it probably would have gone to Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt or something like that. The Joker is truly terrifying. Alfred said it best when he said "Some men just want to watch the world burn." That flawlessly describes The Joker. Heath Ledger did a better job than Nicholson with The Joker (Although, the characters were completely different in all fairness). btw, anyone who tells you that the guy who played the Joker and this guy here:








 Is the same person they're probably lying...They're not? No way... there's just no way that's the same guy...wow.















































#1. Robert De Niro-Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II-1974. Yes, I see this one as the greatest Best Supporting Actor winning performance of all time. If I was alive in 1973 I would have said that it was impossible for a sequel and another Don Vito performance to be as good as the originals. Well, if I had guessed that I would have been wrong on both counts. Before he was established as the Don, I would have believed that De Niro was 20 when they were filming. maybe he was but the point is, he looked incredibly young....well, I just looked it up, he was 31...no way. he looked much younger. Anyway, rambling aside, I feel that Robert De Niro's performance as the young Don Vito Corleone is the best Supporting Oscar role to date.

14 comments:

  1. I think there are better choices....... though #1 kind of makes up for overlooking them.

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  2. Glad you like one, but what better choices? (Keeping in mind that I haven't seen all of them and I can only pick winners) Which ones did you disagree with?

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  3. De Niro is awesome, he's my favourite actor ever!
    I actually thought he was better than Brando as the Don...

    I liked your top five choices...Joe Pesci is scary, even scarier than the Joker in my opinion.

    Great work my Lord :)

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  4. Once again I have to say Bravo. Just one thing though. Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People.

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  5. Well first of all I can't remember which ones would be good winners to include, so I'll say what I agree with: #1,2,6, and 10, though #2 is rated way too high (still an amazing performance).

    What I disagree with:
    #3: Great performance, Oscar worthy, but it doesn't stand out as much as the third spot on a list, looking at all the other winners.
    #4: Expendable Oscar win.
    #5: Good, but only because of several overthetop scenes.
    #7: Haven't seen it.
    #8: Expendable Oscar win.
    #9: Expendable Oscar win.
    #11: Haven't seen it.
    #12: Great and very funny and an Oscar well earned, but not list worthy.
    #13: Haven't seen it.

    What should be on your list (beginning Wikipedia search):

    Joseph Schildkraut in The Life of Emile Zola
    (Just throwing this one out there)

    Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach
    (Probably the best comic relief character ever)

    Harold Russel in The Best Years of Our Lives
    (A little stiff, but you have to admit that he gave a very moving performance)

    Edmund Gwenn in A Miracle on 34th Street
    (Santa!)

    Walter Huston in the Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    (Classic performance)

    Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire
    (Plays against his type, and does a great job)

    Peter Ustinov in Spartacus
    (Kind of a throwaway, but he gave an uncomfortable slightly homoerotic air to his character)

    John Houseman in Paper Chase
    (Quintessential portrayal of an intimidating teacher)

    Christopher Walken in Deer Hunter
    (Come on!)

    Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine
    (Cranky old guy at his best)

    Otherwise I haven't seen most of the other winners or I don't think they should be on the list. Those were just some suggestions. I don't know, maybe the best performances were overlooked. Such as Ned Beatty in Network. Who'd that go to? Jason Robards in All The President's Men? He wasn't that great... I mean he was charismatic, but Oscar worthy?

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  6. P.S. Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind better be goddamn #1 on you Best Actress list... if you end up making one.

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  7. Couple of those I haven't seen, but The rest...I dunno, there were some that I deeply considered putting on but just...I dunno. keep in mind this list isn't set. As for Best Actress, I'm waiting for after the Oscars for that one. I want Natalie Portman to be on the list but I'm waiting until she actually wins (If I put her on now Murphy's Law says that she will lose) Don't worry, Vivien Leigh will be on there. I haven't totally figured placement yet.

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  8. Ok I agree with this list far more than the best actor one (I'm the Michael Douglas guy btw). No one will ever beat Deniro's performance for #1 here. With that being said though, where's Benicio Del toro for Traffic, or agree with it or not, Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine? Just think about Arkin's performance...comedic actors rarely get recgonized by the Academy so realize how phenomenal his performance had to be not only to be nominated but also to win!

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  9. I have yet to see Traffic so i cannot say about that one.

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  10. Okay, I'm totally biased, cos I think Kevin Kline is the best thing to come out of the USA since - mmmmm - well, anything really - but don't know how you could have put Oscar as low as 12!!!! Just don't call me stoopid! ;)

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  11. Okay, call me stoopid - got OSCAR confused with OTTO - well, same thing really! ;)

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  12. Martin Landau for Ed Wood.

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