Re: Best Supporting Actor 2009
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:55 pm
For a year with a done-deal winner as early if not earlier than Heath Ledger the previous year (and because both Inglourious and No Country both premiered at Cannes, I suppose you can say the same thing about Bardem as well), this roster baffled me pretty early on. I had written The Messenger off pretty early on. Turns out it was messier than I thought it would be, and in truth Woody Harrelson is fine enough in this role, but when he won the award from The National Board of Review he locked up what I thought was the fifth spot in a race that would otherwise seat front-runner Waltz, Alfred Molina for An Education, Anthony Mackie for The Hurt Locker, and Christopher Plummer for The Last Station, with deserving winner Christian McKay for Me and Orson Welles skirting around the margins. Sadly, Peter Capaldi for In the Loop and Paul Schneider for Bright Star wouldn’t be making it in. All in all, a solid lineup. Not much of a fan of Alfred Molina in An Education, but whatever. Then the Golden Globe nominations came out and Mackie and Molina were out in favor of Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (flop) and Matt Damon for Invictus (nothing performance). I could understand that. They’re always a bit on the star-fucker side. Matt Damon looked a bit likelier to me than Tucci in the final stretch because getting voters to sit through The Lovely Bones would be a slight chore. But the Screen Actor’s Guild followed suit. I tried to deny this would crossover to the Academy, but then it did. Truly one of the weakest lineups of my lifetime.
Matt Damon’s nomination for Invictus is still confusing to me. It’s not that he’s not good in the film. He’s not really anything. He just looks awestruck at Morgan Freeman in what is essentially a filmed book-on-tape. Since his breakthrough in Good Will Hunting, he’s been exceptional in a string of films that I would have loved to see him nominated for – including The Informant! that very year! Pretty sad that Matt Damon’s second acting nomination is for this dud. Also pretty sad that the wonderful Stanley Tucci’s sole acting nomination is for The Lovely Bones, which is too interesting to be terrible but Tucci’s uber-creep is even worse than Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children. If they had to pick a 2009 performance for Tucci, why not Julie & Julia? I spoke about Woody Harrelson. I like the actor quite a bit and I’m glad that he’s found a streak of good luck as of recent. Nobody seems to associate him with Cheers anymore. But it’s a rather boring hard-ass role that he brings quite a bit too, but not enough. The Last Station is certainly elevated by Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer, but with Beginners on the immediate horizon there’s no pressing need.
Hans Landa’s motivations in Inglourious Basterds are a bit confusing at times, but Waltz is incredibly fun to watch. As I was filling out my list, I realized that in the final slot, I could just as easily choose Fassbender from Basterds or the very underrated Daniel Brühl who manages to craft a truly sympathetic lovestruck Nazi you kind of root for. That guy is awesome. Or I could have gone with Anthony Mackie for The Hurt Locker or even better Brian Geraghty whose nervous Specialist never comes across as cowardly. Probably the most difficult role in the film.
Best Supporting Actor
1. Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
2. Peter Capaldi, In the Loop
3. Paul Schneider, Bright Star
4. Christopher Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
5. Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds
Matt Damon’s nomination for Invictus is still confusing to me. It’s not that he’s not good in the film. He’s not really anything. He just looks awestruck at Morgan Freeman in what is essentially a filmed book-on-tape. Since his breakthrough in Good Will Hunting, he’s been exceptional in a string of films that I would have loved to see him nominated for – including The Informant! that very year! Pretty sad that Matt Damon’s second acting nomination is for this dud. Also pretty sad that the wonderful Stanley Tucci’s sole acting nomination is for The Lovely Bones, which is too interesting to be terrible but Tucci’s uber-creep is even worse than Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children. If they had to pick a 2009 performance for Tucci, why not Julie & Julia? I spoke about Woody Harrelson. I like the actor quite a bit and I’m glad that he’s found a streak of good luck as of recent. Nobody seems to associate him with Cheers anymore. But it’s a rather boring hard-ass role that he brings quite a bit too, but not enough. The Last Station is certainly elevated by Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer, but with Beginners on the immediate horizon there’s no pressing need.
Hans Landa’s motivations in Inglourious Basterds are a bit confusing at times, but Waltz is incredibly fun to watch. As I was filling out my list, I realized that in the final slot, I could just as easily choose Fassbender from Basterds or the very underrated Daniel Brühl who manages to craft a truly sympathetic lovestruck Nazi you kind of root for. That guy is awesome. Or I could have gone with Anthony Mackie for The Hurt Locker or even better Brian Geraghty whose nervous Specialist never comes across as cowardly. Probably the most difficult role in the film.
Best Supporting Actor
1. Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
2. Peter Capaldi, In the Loop
3. Paul Schneider, Bright Star
4. Christopher Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
5. Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds