By Chris Luckett
This year, almost all the actors nominated
for Oscars truly deserved the nods. Even so, there were many brilliant
performances that didn’t get any attention from the Academy. These ten (listed
in alphabetical order) all deserve just as much attention as the twenty actors
ultimately nominated for Oscars this year.
Honourable Mentions:
Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into
Darkness), Alexis Denisof (Much Ado
About Nothing), Idris Elba (Mandela:
Long Walk to Freedom), Hugh Jackman (Prisoners),
Brie Larson (Short Term 12), Carey
Mulligan (Inside Llewyn Davis), and
Joaquin Phoenix (Her).
Daniel
Brühl (Rush)
Rush’s advertising made the movie seem like Chris Hemsworth was the star
of the movie, but Brühl was his equal in every way and gave a layered
performance as the egotistic and brilliant F1 racer Nicki Lauda.
Adèle
Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour)
Few performances covered as much territory,
time, and emotion as Exarchopoulos’s in Blue
is the Warmest Colour. Playing a young woman discovering and exploring her
sexuality while also experiencing the pains of first love, Exarchopoulos was stunning.
(Warning:
NSFW language)
Jake
Gyllenhaal (Prisoners)
Playing an obsessed detective on the trail
of a child abductor, while also dealing with a tormented father (Hugh Jackman)
and his own psychological issues, Gyllenhaal was a living time bomb. His
character’s tic of blinking when he’s stressed about something was an
especially brilliant choice.
Tom
Hanks (Captain Phillips)
As Captain
Phillips went from beginning to end, it became a greater and greater movie.
The same can be said for Hanks’s performance, which started out excellently and
ended with one of the most riveting scenes in 2013. His work in Captain Phillips was some of his best.
Oscar
Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Struggling folk singer Llewyn Davis is such
a grumpy, self-centered jerk that few actors could really have made him
bearable. Isaac did it better than anyone else probably could have, giving
Davis a resigned attitude and misanthropic sardonicism that skilfully walks a
line between evoking pity and admiration.
Scarlett
Johansson (Her)
In the past, there have been vocal
performances that have stirred up the idea of nominating voice acting for an
Oscar, but they were all for relatively simple performances in animated movies.
Scarlett Johansson managed to create a three-dimensional, believable, and
memorable character with just her voice, as the artificially intelligent
Samantha in the live-action fable Her.
Mads
Mikkelsen (The Hunt)
Known to most North American audiences as
the villainous Le Chiffre in the 2006 James Bond reboot Casino Royale, Mikkelsen gave a heartbreaking and haunting performance
in The Hunt as a kindergarten teacher
falsely accused of sexually assaulting a child.
Robert
Redford (All is Lost)
Arguably the greatest acting all year was
Redford’s in the nearly silent, slow-burn, one-man-show that was All is Lost. As the only actor on screen
for the entire movie and with barely two minutes of talking, Redford gave a
physically and emotionally powerful performance as a man fighting against the
odds to stay alive, adrift at sea.
Sam
Rockwell (The Way Way Back)
The single funniest performance all year
was Rockwell’s portrayal of the layabout manager of a seaside town waterpark
who takes a mild-mannered and bullied teenager under his wing and mentors him
on life, while not doing much with his own. It’s a great role and Rockwell was
cast perfectly in it.
Shailene
Woodley (The Spectacular Now)
Two years after crying underwater in The Descendants, Woodley returned with
an even more interesting performance as the perpetually optimistic Aimee. At
first, her character seemed like the smart, quiet love interest in every other
teen movie, but much like The Spectacular
Now itself, she became more and more interesting as her story unfolded.
(Warning:
NSFW language)
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