Best Actor 2005: Results

5. Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow- The biggest acting he tries is an accent which he fails with and the rest is just a dull, dull performance.

4. Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line- Phoenix gives an okay dramatic performance I suppose but he does not give one that does Johnny Cash any justice.

3. David Straithairn in Good Night and Good Luck- Straithairn lacks much of a challenge as Edward R. Murrow but I do think he gives good performance despite being almost completely in a functional quality.

2. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain- Ledger gives an incredibly strong performance and mixes in brilliant subtlety with genuine emotion practically perfectly.

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote- Hoffman simply is brilliant from beginning to end in this film. Every single scene he nails completely. He always is Truman Capote I never doubted it which is amazing, and if that was not enough his performance is one of the most powerful performances ever.

Deserving Performances:Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence

Best Actor 2005: Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line

Joaquin Phoenix received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Johnny Cash in Walk The Line.

Walk the Line is a bio pic that I find does not exactly work. One of the biggest reasons is because I never felt it showed any wider influence or importance of Cash, and it always stayed a bit to introverted.

Johnny Cash is an easily seen figure, therefore Phoenix really has his work cut out for him. Phoenix does not try really for a full fledged imitation but he still tries a bit of one which is really a problem. I mean if he did not try to imitate at all he could just focus on giving a strong emotionally convincing performance, but instead he does try to imitate a little bit. He never really at all tries to imitate Cash's normal speaking voice, but he does try to imitate his singing voice. This is odd because his singing voice and speaking voice should be similar but Phoenix only does the imitation with the singing voice. His singing voice is okay it is sort of like Cash's but it obviously is not the real deal. Still his imitation here is better than average and is not complete ineffective. Also he never does any mannerism for Cash except when he is performing. Again he imitates these mannerisms well enough but they never really added in convincing me he was Cash. It seems he only really used performance footage of Cash for imitation nothing else, making it so he never really seems like the real Johnny Cash.

In fact that was a problem I had throughout his performance was I never for a second though he really was Johnny Cash. It is not because he did not look like him, after all Philip Seymour Hoffman did not look like Capote, it was I did not feel he really found the right essence of the man. He only ever tries artificially to be Cash, he never really ever finds the soul of his character which causes his performance to falter for me. I never felt I met Cash or no anything more about him. Now this foes not mean its a terrible performance, if it had been a perfect imitation and if he really felt like Cash it would have been a great performance but that is not the case.

Phoenix also has another problem one of the key points of the film is his romance with June Carter. He is not so much the problem here because I think it would have been rather difficult for any actor to have chemistry with Reese Witherspoon's awkwardly odd performance. But still what he is doing is not anything special either. His performance is okay in fact he does seem like a troubled artist most of the time, not a troubled Johnny Cash but a troubled artist. I find most of the time his performance is okay properly fulfilling the emotions required for the role. He is just satisfactory in doing this never amazing. I do think that this was a challenging role for any actor to take on and he does try but he does not succeed in being Johnny Cash. If he was playing country star John Somebodyelse perhaps the performance would have been a little more satisfying but as Cash his performance falls short.

Best Actor 2005: David Straithairn in Good Night, and Good Luck

David Straithairn received his first Oscar nomination for portraying television journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck.

I like this film well enough because it kept to the story it was telling, and was just a short and sweet film. It was not great but it was pretty good.

The main reasons I like the film is its to the pointless, although makes it so there is barely any  personal stories and Edward R. Murrow is almost always seen in a professional light. Murrow is portrayed as almost perfect in the film, which is well enough since they do not over do it but at the same time it leaves Murrow as a somewhat simple character. In fact the depiction of him is only a little more than in more detailed historical documentary films one might see on PBS or the history channel. In fact I saw one of these on John Oppenheimer where David Straithairn played Oppenheimer in the reenactment footage. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. After all I though his performance as Oppenheimer was quite effective and made that documentary film more interesting.

As Murrow he is good at playing exactly how Murrow must be portrayed for this film's message. As the journalist who fights for what is right and wants television to be used to bring attention to important issues in the world. He handles Murrow well in a straight to the point performance. He does not really look like Murrow but that does not matter in the least. He does not really imitate Murrow voice but he does imitate his unique way of speaking, which is very effective. He has the right rhythm in his clear spoken way that correctly represents Murrow to the affine way of speaking. Straithairn also has the right physical movements that are equally follow Murrow's movements. Now outside of when he is television he acts basically the same, just with the tiniest bit more relaxed, and with a little more personality. He never shows that much emotion and keeps Murrow fact based as he would be in a documentary. I never have a problem with the approach and it works well in the film. Straithairn's'performance is integral to the film, it is not a risky performance or a challenging performance but it is a good one. 

Best Actor 2005: Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain

Heath Ledger received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain.

I thought Brokeback Mountain was okay but a bit overrated, since it turned out to be exactly what I expected, a melodrama about lost love and all that. I hardly thought it was the greatest melodrama of this type either.

Heath Ledger like Philip Seymour Hoffman from this year uses a whole string of mannerisms in his performance, he I felt was not quite as successful. He squints his eyes constantly and does a very specific voice all to prove that he is the ranch hand he is portraying. I think these mannerisms were not entirely needed but they does not mean they are poorly done though. I do think his voice works well but I did not think all the eye squinting works quite as well as he wanted to. Still though his attempts to show where the man comes from never really fails. What he does do shows a clear place where he comes from, it might seem a little forced at time, but never too much.

The film is a rather melodramatic film, which means there are going to be many events to set off people's emotions. Although I do not think this turns this into the greatest film but it does allow for a lot of scenes to show of one's acting skills. An interesting thing about this is the men live in an area where overt showings of emotions are sort of looked down upon, so Del Mar is forced to most of the time internalize his feelings. Ledger handles this aspect of the character incredibly well. Every scene with his wife, or with his kids is brilliantly handled by him. He always just suggests perfectly without telling. He tries to suggest more of himself to his family but he never fully says it. His utmost subtlety is truly effective it makes when he becomes emotional more effecting actually.

The scenes where he shows more emotions are also brilliancy handled by Ledger, because they show the same man as his more withdrawn man, but showing that man truly showing who he is. Ledger is equally powerful showing the very hidden emotions in the man, and also the  confusion the man has due to his difficult relationship with Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhall). Ledger gives many emotional scenes here the shows Ennis's pain along with his love, all made very realistic by both actors. Every difficult emotional scene Ledger does have right on spot whether its his troublesome talk with his wife, all of his time with Jack, the scene when he finds Jack's coat, or his final scene with his daughter. Ledger is always up to the difficult task of this complicated character.

Best Actor 2005: Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote

Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar from his first Oscar nomination for portraying Truman Capote in Capote.

Capote is an interesting film that takes a fascinating look into Capote life and his involvement with two killers to write his book In Cold Blood.

Capote was certainly a strange figure, from his voice to his demeanor. The simple mannerisms of someone like Capote are incredibly difficult for an actor to portray without seeming forced. With Capote one could really go over the top and be completely unbelievable but Hoffman is practically perfect as Capote. He handles his voice very well, even though it could be debilitating since Capote's voice was odd, but Hoffman handles it no only so it sounds natural but also that it does not distract from the rest of his performance either. Hoffman equally excels with his mannerisms. All of Capote's very distinct mannerisms are very well handled, the fact that he takes the extra effort to do these aid his performance greatly, since for me I never questioned that he was Truman Capote despite the fact that Hoffman does not really look like Capote.

This is a brilliant performance depicting someone because the impersonation is brilliant and as is the emotional strength of the performance. He is fascinating as Capote from beginning to end, what helps this so much is that he never plays Capote in a single way even in a single scene. He shows that Capote is an odd man but that is only a feature of his incredibly complex personality. One is extremely feature about Capote is that he always wishes to be the center of the attention, no matter what the situation. Hoffman brilliant infuses Capote's strange energy into all the scene whether it is when he is the life of one of the parties he goes to, or just eating with two people he does not know that well. He is always performing no matter what the situation is and Hoffman is perfect at showing as something Capote simply just must do. He always wants to be even to a child like extent shown so well when Harper Lee (Catharine Keener) makes fun of him a little briefly. His childish reaction is perfect.

Hoffman is especially strong in showing Capote past despite the fact the film has no scenes that show Capote's past but everything in his past is told always by Capote himself. Every scene where Capote tells about his past Hoffman shows so much in these scene far beyond what he says. Hoffman always suggests even more with his face and his eyes adding even more to Capote in every single scene. We never get a flash back of him but we can understand some of this mysterious man due to Hoffman's brilliance. I like how he shows that Capote is both a man who does care about the killer Perry Smith, but will also manipulate him just to make sure he gets his novel just as he wants it. In these scenes he shows a another side to Capote no longer trying to entertain but to rather control. He is chilling in these scene where he shows his cold attitude to get what he wants such as when he leaves Perry early because he will not tell him about the night where Perry and the other killer murdered a family.

Hoffman is simply fascinating in every scene showing such an array of emotions rarely ever shown. He is especially strong in the final scenes of the film where he finally must face the consequences of his actions. His final scene with the killers, where Capote grief is fully shown, is made truly heartbreaking due to Hoffman performance. He shows so much showing his sadness of the soon to be death of friend and of his knowledge he could have possibly prevented his death, but that he did not to be able to give his novel the ending he wanted it to have. He shows that he perhaps wanted above all approval and love for his work, shown magnificently in his reaction to the applause where he reads from his book on stage. He desperately wants to be considered as great, and this is shown splendidly by Hoffman. Hoffman's performance simply is stunning, he shows so much to the man of Capote with his voice, his body, his face and his eyes. He never is false and shows a truly powerful portrait of a man, one that is rarely ever seen on film.

Best Actor 2005

And the Nominees Were:

Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain

David Strathairn in Good Night, and Good Luck

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote

Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow

Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line

Who do you pick? What do you predict my ranking will be?