Best Lead Actor is a Decades Long Disappointment*

-



While musing in one of my favorite blogs 1001plus' comment section, I was reminded of one of the most long standing disappointments for me when it comes to Oscar wins; Best Actor in a Leading Role. So to air my grievances, I figured I'd put together a quick Who won/Who should've won list going as far back as I need to in order to fill out a Top 5. 

2024 
Who won: Adrian Brody - The Brutalist
Who should've won: Ralph Fiennes for Conclave or Colman Domingo for Sing Sing

2023
Who won: Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
This was correct! Cue "it's been 84 years" meme. We've got a bit of a gap until we hit #2

2022
Who won: Brendan Frasier - The Whale
Who should've won: Colin Ferrell - The Banshees of Inisherin 

2021 
Who won: Will Smith - King Richard
Who should've won: Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog 

2020
Who won: Anthony Hopkins - The Father
Who should've won: Riz Ahmed for The Sound of Metal, or Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

2019
Who won: Joaquin Phoenix - The Joker
Who should've won: Adam Driver - Marriage Story

2018
Who won: Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody 
Who should've won - Bradley Cooper - A Star is Born 

2017
Who won: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour
Who should've won: Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name

2016
Who won: Casey Affleck - Manchester by the Sea
Who should've won: Denzel Washington - Fences

2015
Who won: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
Ding ding! Leo deserved this one. He should've won it earlier, but I digress. I'm just glad he finally has an Oscar. 

2014
Who won: Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
Who should've won: Michael Keaton - Birdman

2013
Who won: Matthew McConaughey - The Dallas Buyers Club
Who should've won: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street

2012
Who won: Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
#3! DDL was great in this film, but I have to admit this just barely edges out Joaquin Phoenix in The Master for me. I have a feeling if I rewatched The Master again, this could flip.

2011
Who won: Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Who should've won: Damian Bichir for A Better Life 

2010
Who won: Colin Firth - The King's Speech
Who should've won: Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network 

2009
Who won: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Who should've won: George Clooney - Up in the Air

2008
Who won: Sean Penn - Milk 
#4! This was a tough race between Penn and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, but I preferred this performance and film over all. 

2007
Who won: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will be Blood
And we round out our top 5 with a repeat winner. This might be my favorite performance on this entire list. I love the character of Daniel Plainview. He's so despicable. 

BONUS!
2006
Who won: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
I love this win too, and the fact that I had 3 in a row is pretty impressive. Maybe, if Timothee Chalamet wins this year, he'll start me on another three-in-a-row.

(Don't even get me started on 2005, which was a blood bath of talent and Terrance Howard was there too)

I imagine this list might be a bit controversial, but I'd love to hear you make your case with any of my choices. Or to agree with some of them, because that's nice too.



Comments

Post a Comment

If you're reading this message you should leave a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But...
Read more

Review: The Ugly Stepsister

-
Image
Official synopsis : Follows Elvira (Lea Myren) as she battles against her gorgeous stepsister, Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss)  in a realm where beauty reigns supreme. She resorts to extreme measures to captivate the prince ( Isac Calmroth)  , amidst a ruthless competition for physical perfection. It's no coincidence that some of the best body horror films are ones that are about the ridiculous beauty standards placed upon women. "Beauty is pain" after all. The two go hand in hand.  Here, first time director Emilie Blichfeldt takes a classic fairy tale that we all know and dials it up to eleven. Prepare to cringe. Poor Elvira goes to serious lengths to be deemed "beautiful." Nevermind that Elvira IS already beautiful, but she has *gasp* braces and a bump in her nose. ( allegedly) Her mother doesn't support her daughter and tell her she's fine the way she is, instead she encourages the painful procedures Elvira goes through. It's hard to watch on multipl...
Read more