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: Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow

Terrence Howard received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Djay a pimp who wants to become a rapper in Hustle and Flow.

Hustle and Flow is a film that I never became very interested in and most of the time it bored me, although this may partially come from my distaste for rap.

Terrence Howard's performance here is one of those performances that never is really obviously bad, except for the fact that his accent seems to be completely arbitrary. He never is doing a bad job in a big over the top way but his performance here fails anyways. The problem I found throughout this performance was he never really made his character come alive very much. For some reason to me it seemed like he was just going through the motions, and never created a very interesting or energetic screen presence.  He never achieves the normal point of a performance which is to be a compelling character.

He never becomes interesting in the least. I followed Djay as he went into rapping but I never became interested by his journey because Howard never made his character come alive. I did not know what to really make of his character because Howard never really suggested who are what his character was. He made no suggestions to what Djay might think or who he truly is. He just is a boring character, Howard never really showed what Djay was thinking about what he was doing or his life. He has some scenes where he yells at people that show more emotions that his standard emotions. His yelling scenes are just yelling he again adds nothing about Djay. I knew barely anything about Djay about watching this film, since Howard really did basically nothing with this character. He was a pimp who wanted to be a rapper, yeah but what else was my question the whole time I was watching this.

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?