Best Supporting Actor 2000: Results

5. Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator- Phoenix takes most of his ideas for his portrayal of an evil emperor from those who have played similar parts before him. He is very over the top, and rather obvious in his performance, which would be fine if he was entertaining but he is not.

4. Jeff Bridges in The Contender- Bridges is fine in this film but he really is never anything special or memorable. He has his nice charisma but  besides that his performance really brings nothing that any competent actor could have done.

3. Albert Finney in Erin Brockovich- Finney is better than the main star Julia Roberts in both being more likable, less annoying, and far more believable in his role. In fact if the film had to have the same roles I would have preferred Finney in the lead. Having said all that though his role is still very limited, and unfortunately his character takes a backseat to Roberts' limiting his performance potential.

2. Benicio Del Toro in Traffic- Del Toro gives a subtle but very effective performance as the lone man trying to do something right. He finds a way to get empathy without ever pleading for it, and finds some emotional powerful moments through some very quiet scenes.

1. Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire- Dafoe stands head and shoulders above the rest here in my book. His imitation of the original Max Schreck is uncanny. Dafoe though utilizes his incredible imitation though also to create an odd, and original villain with the right amount of evil delight, but also oddly some sorrow. Simply a terrific performance.

Deserving Performances:
Takeshi Kitano in Battle Royale

Best Supporting Actor 2000: Benicio Del Toro in Traffic

Benicio Del Toro won an Oscar from his first nomination for portraying Javier Rodriguez in Traffic.

Traffic is an interesting fairly effective film, even though I do not think the film is completely even but that happens with films like this.

Benicio Del Toro is the lead of his section of the film which is the Mexico section. I do not mind his supporting placement though because his part still is only in a total of one third of the film, and the film overall is an ensemble piece. Del Toro portrays Javier Rodriguez who seems be like the only honest person in Mexico. He is a Mexican police officer who tries his best to find someone good to turn to in a place where almost everyone is corrupt.

Del Toro's performance is an intensely quiet and subtle performance. This is really required of Javier who must remain quiet in most people eyes to make it so the corrupt think he is corrupt as well. Javier is in a position where he really cannot show emotion to very many people. Del Toro therefore stays very much restrained throughout his performance. Del Toro never underacts though and he simply employs a very realistic approach as Javier.

Del Toro manages to create a good amount of empathy, without seemingly even trying to get it through this simple yet effective performance. Del Toro performance never really seems to have any visible acting most of the time since, Javier is putting on the facade of indifference most of the time. Del Toro though gives slight indications of how Javier really feels throughout his performance very subtly but incredibly well handled.

Javier opens up more fully in a few scenes such as with his Partner's wife, and his scene after the death of his friend. Del Toro is very good in these scenes displaying Javier's emotions quite well although still showing him to be a restrained man overall. I think in particular his scene of driving after the death of his friend is perfectly handled by Del Toro as he slowly emotionally deteriorates although he stops before completely breaking down which goes well in line with Javier as a character. Del Toro overall gives a strong effective performance of incredible realistic subtlety.

Best Supporting Actor 2000

And the Nominees Were:

Willem Dafoe in Shadow of the Vampire

Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator

Benicio Del Toro in Traffic

Jeff Bridges in The Contender

Albert Finney in Erin Brockovich

After finally getting over the trauma of watching Star! I feeling I can finally return to supporting.

Best Supporting Actor 2003: Results

5. Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams- Del Toro surprised me how little he did with his performance here and I never felt he made any sort of emotional connection ever in the film with this performance.

4. Djimon Honsou in In America- Honsou is okay when he is being quiet but when he starts yelling he severely overacts the part.

3. Alec Baldwin in The Cooler- Baldwin is completely competent throughout the film but what he does merely is never that amazing.

2. Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai- Still not an amazing performance but I like what he did with the part which could have been a completely stock role under another actor.

1. Tim Robbins in Mystic River- The only choice in my opinion. Despite an accent that I feel is off, Robbins still gives an incredibly compelling and memorable performance.

Deserving Performances:
Kevin Bacon in Mystic River
Sean Astin in The Return of the King

Best Supporting Actor 2003: Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams

Benicio Del Toro received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Jack Jordan a born again ex convict whose life turns for a worse after a tragic accident.

21 Grams I found to be a strange film, since it has many scenes that should be emotional but are oddly distant. It never becomes interesting or effective and the odd structure is unnecessary rather than effective.

Del Toro's performance I was surprised and found it to be completely disappointing. Like the film Del Toro's performance seems like something interesting and emotionally powerful but instead is oddly distant. Del Toro underplays his role, and if you read my reviews you probably know I really like subtle acting but here Del Toro is not subtle he merely is basically nothing most of the time. Most of the time he just has the same depressed face almost throughout the entire performance. I found he did nothing with his eyes or face int his performance. He just kept the same face almost throughout and really did nothing with it.

Del Toro is not terrible but he is never interesting in this performance. He really failed to resonate at all. I found his choices odd and that he was never fully able to make his character understandable. He never made me believe the way he acted toward his children so harshly, or really why he gives up on life. He never really made me understand the character's initial faith than loss of faith. He just mostly kept him with that one face that made him nothing to me. He has only one scene where he loses that face when he yells at one scene he is okay at this but he still adds no more complexity to the character. I think Del Toro and this character could have made a great performance but for some reason almost every thing in the film came off the same way so maybe it really was all the director's fault, I am not sure. Either way what is on screen never impressed me and merely left completely surprised with an actor who I usually find is far better than this.