Best Actor 2007

1998 through 2007

Best Actor 2007

George Clooney - Michael Clayton
2
4%
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
31
67%
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2
4%
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
7
15%
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
4
9%
 
Total votes: 46

flipp525
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by flipp525 »

Day-Lewis but I really enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones for this year as well.
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nightwingnova
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by nightwingnova »

Mortensen and Clooney were excellent.

Depp was quite good but wasn't able to fully live the passage of time, the world weariness and the madness.

Day-Lewis? Powerhouse.
Dien
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by Dien »

Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Steve Carrell - Dan in Real Life
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
koook160
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by koook160 »

My nominees:

Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford *WINNER*
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Lookout
Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I know it's blasphemy to have any other person than DDL for the win that year, but Affleck bowled me over. I could have been dishonest and put him in Supporting, but let's face facts, he wasn't. Gordon-Levitt gave a brilliant performance that sadly no one saw. Shame, cause it's a great film as well.
FilmFan720
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by FilmFan720 »

The two best performances of the year belong to the mis-nominated Casey Affleck and the unbelievably overlooked Gordon Pinsent. I will never get how not one group managed to even mention him in any awards ceremony, while so frequently citing his lovely co-star. Pinsent is the heart and soul of that film, and as great as Christie is (and I voted for her here), her performance means nothing without his work. No one here has yet mentioned Michael Shannon in Bug, either, who gives his best film performance and one of the most terrifying screen portrayals of madness I have ever seen).

I have not been shy here in my hatred for Sweeney Todd the movie, and Johnny Depp capitulates everything that is wrong with the film. He has none of the worn weariness of a man who has been locked up for 15 years, he can't sing, he doesn't sell the transition of the film and there is no chemistry between him and Helena Bonham Carter. He isn't funny, he isn't grand, he isn't scary, and like the rest of the film, misses the boat completely.

George Clooney and Viggo Mortensen are both fine, but nothing really special in movies that fall flat.

I like Daniel Day-Lewis' work, but do not see it as the grand acheivement most do. It fits in the film, which works for the most part, but there is much too much "acting" going on. I never for once believed this was a real person, only a character in a movie. Michael Shannon did this much better this year in Bug (see above).

Tommy Lee Jones is straddled with some bad dialogue in a movie that doesn't work, but he works it perfectly and brings real depth to the page. I don't discredit a performance because of the movie surrounding it, and would honor this great American actor here. Still, he comes in fifth for the year in my book.
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Cinemanolis
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by Cinemanolis »

1. Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
2. James McAvoy – Atonement
3. Tommy Lee Jones – In the Valley of Elah
4. Sam Riley - Control
5. Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by Big Magilla »

ITALIANO wrote:
dws1982 wrote:
ITALIANO wrote: I had never really understood, before, why Tommy Lee Jones was considered to be so good by so many - but after In the Valley of Elah I can't deny his power anymore.
I think that for the most part, his appeal is a specifically American thing.
Exactly - and this is why I never understood why he was given an Oscar for The Fugitive (in an extremely competitive year, by the way). Now I do - though I still think he's been much better in the three more recent movies you have mentioned.
I always thought he won for The Fugitive because voters thought it would be cool to give an Oscar to the college room-mate of the then Vice President of the U.S.

Tommy Lee Jones has always been a good actor, with Coal Miner's Daughter the first film he should have been nominated for. He was nomination worthy in JFK and The Fugitive, though other than the cool factor mentioned above I don't see how they could give him that year's Supporting Actor Oscar over two others to be discussed when we get there in the Supporting Actor polls. This year, for me, he and Viggo Mortenson are a toss-up for the fifth slot, but since we also had the option of nominating Jones in support for No Country for Old Men, that's where I placed him.
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by OscarGuy »

2007 had quite a few good to great performance. I for one proudly support Daniel Day Lewis and his win for There Will Be Blood.

Other wonderful performances I saw that year: Gordon Pinsent in Away from Her, Joseph Gordon Levitt in The Lookout, Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men, George Clooney in Michael Clayton and Ryan Reynolds in The Nines. (all in that order)
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ITALIANO
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by ITALIANO »

dws1982 wrote:
ITALIANO wrote: I had never really understood, before, why Tommy Lee Jones was considered to be so good by so many - but after In the Valley of Elah I can't deny his power anymore.
I think that for the most part, his appeal is a specifically American thing.
Exactly - and this is why I never understood why he was given an Oscar for The Fugitive (in an extremely competitive year, by the way). Now I do - though I still think he's been much better in the three more recent movies you have mentioned.
Jim20
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by Jim20 »

Off the shouldabeens...

BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Chris Cooper, Breach
**Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood**
Gordon Pinsent, Away From Her
dws1982
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by dws1982 »

ITALIANO wrote: I had never really understood, before, why Tommy Lee Jones was considered to be so good by so many - but after In the Valley of Elah I can't deny his power anymore.
I think that for the most part, his appeal is a specifically American thing. I think you would have to be American (or have lived in America for a long time) to totally get it. The kind of man he often portrays (Coal Miner's Daughter might be the key example)...I think you'd have to spend a lot of time around those "simple" men from rural America to see how spot on it is. I think that The Tree Burials of Melquiades Estrada, No Country For Old Men, and In the Valley of Elah are the three best performances he's ever given (give or take Lonesome Dove), because that simple American man has been refined and deepened into something more universal.

Another one I forgot for my best of 2007 is Frank Langella in Starting Out in the Evening. I'd actually probably put him just behind Tommy Lee Jones for the year.
bizarre
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by bizarre »

1. Simon Pegg / Hot Fuzz
2. Casey Affleck / The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
3. George Clooney / Michael Clayton
4. Tony Leung / Lust, Caution
5. Adam Goldberg / 2 Days in Paris

6. Ryan Reynolds / The Nines
7. Joaquin Phoenix / We Own the Night
8. Ricky Gervais / Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale
9. Daniel Day-Lewis / There Will Be Blood
10. Richard Jenkins / The Visitor
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by Okri »

Damien wrote:First of all, to state the obvious, Daniel Day Lewis gives the most atrocious, godawful, ridiculous winning performance in Oscar history. And more than that, it’s one of the most hideous, ghastly, ludicrous performances in film history. Not a single second of it is compelling or makes sense, even within the context of the stupidity of Paul Thomas Anderson's "artistic" temperament. An obnoxious performance only a pinhead could like and admire. I get nauseous just thinking about it.
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Reza
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:First of all, to state the obvious, Daniel Day Lewis gives the most atrocious, godawful, ridiculous winning performance in Oscar history. And more than that, it’s one of the most hideous, ghastly, ludicrous performances in film history. Not a single second of it is compelling or makes sense, even within the context of the stupidity of Paul Thomas Anderson's "artistic" temperament. An obnoxious performance only a pinhead could like and admire. I get nauseous just thinking about it.
Can't agree with you more !!
ITALIANO
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Re: Best Actor 2007

Post by ITALIANO »

There's nothing really wrong with the work of Mortensen, Depp and Clooney, except that none is Oscar-nomination worthy, and others here have explained why better than I could.

Daniel Day-Lewis's performance is an amazing display of technical virtuosity, by a not only talented but by now very experienced actor: it has to be seen and admired, and I must also admit that if it's not affecting it's because, of course, it doesn't want to be.

It's also a typical case of something we were discussing in another thread - I recognize its value, and I understand why he won and he's winning even here... but unfortunately, it has completely vanished from my memory, and I'm not sure that it's only my fault (plus, I'm too young for Alzheimer). I see it as a purely intellectual exercise, which in itself could be a very good thing (and Brecht or, to mention a more recent example, Haneke can prove it), but, I mean, still an exercise.

The one who's still with me is Tommy Lee Jones. Is his movie a masterpiece? No - but I'm afraid that if it was such a big box-office flop in the US (unlike some much worse films), and if it's so hated on this board (more or less by the same people who were so relieved by Bin Laden's murder) it's not because of its quality, but because of the sad but true things that it tries to say, and that some Americans aren't ready to accept yet (they prefer The Hurt Locker). It's still, I guess, Paul Haggis's best, and mainly because of this actor's intense, restrained yet explosive presence. I had never really understood, before, why Tommy Lee Jones was considered to be so good by so many - but after In the Valley of Elah I can't deny his power anymore.
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