1998-2007 Best Supporting Actor Winners

[Sabin]

There’s only two people I’m considering: Javier Bardem’s memorable psychopath (who set off a run of baddies winning) and Chris Cooper’s memorable oddball. As I write this, I don’t know why I’m even framing it as a hard choice. Yes, Bardem is a perfectly cast killer and a revelation in the role, but Cooper was an even bigger one. Breaking free from “Bad Dad” roles and playing a true eccentric. One of the questions I ask myself when deciding who to choose for an Oscar win is “how well did I know the person?” Well, I knew John Laroche.

[Big Magilla]

The supporting actor winners during this decade were , like their female counterparts, highly problematic for me.

I never liked James Coburn. I thought his contemporary Donald Sutherland should have been nominated and won instead for1998's Without Limits.

I always like Michael Caine, but not in The Cider House Rules. I thought Christopher Plummer should have been nominated and won in his place for 1999's The Insider.

I agreed with Benicio del Toro's win for 2000's Traffic, but it was a very weak year.

2001 they got all wrong. Jim Broadbent should have been nominated for Moulin Rouge!, not Iris, and the non-nominated Steve Buscemi should have won for Ghost World.

Chris Cooper was the best thing about the overpraised Adaptation for which he was justifiably nominated, but the 2002 award should have gone to yet another non-nominated actor, Dennis Quaid for Far from Heaven.

Tim Robbins was fine in Mystic River but to me this was a makeup Oscar for his being snubbed for a Best Director win for Dead Man Walking. My choice to win for 2003 was Djmon Hounsou in In America.

Morgan Freeman deserved to win for Million Dollar Baby both for his performance and for the career recognition it gave him.

I liked George Clooney in Syriana but Jake Gyllenhaal should have won for 2005's Brokeback Mountain.

I liked Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine but 2006 was an uncommonly strong year for supporting actors and he failed to make my list of nominees. My award went for the sixth time this decade went to an actor who wasn't nominated, and for the fifth time to one who was nominated by me when the Oscar winner wasn't - Adam Beach in Flags of Our Fathers.

I liked Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men but my choice for 2007 was Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild.

With the choice for me narrowed to Bardem and Freeman, it's an easy pick for Freeman as the best and most deserving winner of the supporting actor award this decade.

[Reza]

Competition in most years was pretty weak so most winners deserved their wins.

Both Coburn and Arkin were the best of the nominees but also got votes for their long and pretty distinguished careers (I still fondly remember Coburn's outing as Flint). Happy to see both won Oscars - Coburn was ferocious and despicable while Arkin was wise and daffy.

Never understood why Caine or Clooney won. Tom Cruise deserved to win for Magnolia - the welcome audacity of Cruise to step away from his usual action oriented fare. Jude Law was equally good that year. Caine's best screen performance was in The Quiet American which he lost to Adrien Brody. And Jake Gyllenhaal should have won for Brokeback Mountain. I've seen Syriana twice. What was so special about Clooney's performance?

It was easy sailing for Del Toro, Broadbent, Cooper, Robbins, Freeman and Bardem. Not only were they all good but their competition was pretty weak.

Voted for Del Toro.

[Big Magilla]

And the winner is...