Act the Fool

So, I said that I'm not as obsessed with awards shows as I once was... but I still can appreciate an excellent performance and film. I haven't seen a tonne over the past year, but here are a few performances that I thought were really good last year (a few of which I saw this weekend... so this post is still timely :))

Jeremy Renner- The Hurt Locker
This movie was pretty amazing... probably the best film I've seen all year. Renner's performance is quite powerful; he walks a line between psychotic thrill seeker and loyal soldier with rare skill.

Christoph Waltz- Inglorious Basterds
Sociopath. Flawless.

Gabourey Sidibe- Precious
Mo'Nique is getting all of the accolades for her performance in this film (and she's excellent-- she deserves the praise for sure) but for me, the standout is Sidibe. My reaction to her character was visceral-- as was her performance. It's raw, it's not pretty, but it's probably the best debut by an actress I've ever seen.

Anna Kendrick- Up in the Air
As Natalie Keener, Kendrick is supposed to be calm, cool, collected, and icy-- after all, her job is to fire people via online technology. But what Kendrick accomplishes in her performance is letting the audience in to the fact that although she so desperately wants to be controlled and frigid, she can't be.

I still have several films I want to see, but if I was picking the Oscar winners right now, the above four would win.

I'm in awe of actors, not always for the fame and the celebrity, but how they have this ability to totally transform themselves. And in turn, they often make us think about what's going on in our world. I spend most of my professional time at work trying to get people to think, and they can do more in a few minutes on screen than I can some weeks! That's impressive.