~ The 15 Greatest Movie Performances That Didn’t Receive Oscar Nominations ~

[MysteRy]

The 15 Greatest Movie Performances That Didn’t Receive Oscar Nominations (2010-2014)



We love movies and all those talented folks who help create the wonderful worlds we can momentarily inhabit. So naturally film audiences love award shows devoted to honoring the best of the best.

How many times have audiences tuned in to check out the academy award nominations being announced only to come away feeling someone had been sorely omitted from the list of nominations that have been announced? Robbed would be the popular term that is often used when describing it.

People talk about it every year. How this person wasn’t nominated for this or that. Again and again it is brought up and discussed after the nominees are announced. The main categories that seem to garner the most complaints are for acting. There is always someone left out in every category, but, acting seems to be the one that everyone comments on the most.

Film goers love a real competition between actors and films. Cinephiles can enjoy debating which of their favorite actors deserved to be nominated, win, and who was severely overlooked. There are countless websites, blogs, and forums dedicated solely to just complaining about how the academy got it so wrong again. So here we go with 2010-2014.



15. Javier Bardem in Skyfall



When the producers introduced a new James Bond almost ten years ago we were given a brand new relativized James Bond. And “Skyfall” was probably the best true Bond film in years if you go by word of mouth. The film captured the old school feel of a film like “Goldfinger” or “A Spy Who Loved Me”. All the trappings of a classic Bond film are present here, gadgets, quips, henchman, Q, Moneypenny, and a villain that oozes villainy right from the start.

Bardem’s Silva is manically calculated sadist who wants nothing more than to see MI6 burn to the ground, along with M herself. Many Bond fans have called Silva “the Joker” of the Bond franchise. Clearly the filmmakers wanted to introduce a character that could math Bond. Javier Bardem relishes the opportunity to play up each scene he is in with glee.

[MysteRy]

14. Richard Gere in Arbitrage



Richard Gere is an actor who can exude cockiness like behavior so well. Few actors can do this with such ease. Here he is given the opportunity to play one of the more challenging roles of his career. It is such a fantastic portrayal of a narcissist that it is absolutely astounding that he was not nominated.

Gere plays a man who has everything it seems in the way of money, the perfect business, friends, and wife. So it is only natural that he adheres to the tradition of rich men having a mistress whom he really loves and wants to leave his wife for. But one fateful night will change his life and those closest to him forever.

[MysteRy]

13. Sam Shepard in Blackthorn



Sam Shepard is probably one of America’s best kept secrets when it comes to what he has delivered as an artist. Not only is he an accomplished playwright, but he is also an actor who comes across in every role as someone whom is simply being and not acting. He encompasses that southern Tennessee Williams like quality in his performances. A man from another time and place who has been dropped into our time.

This is wildly on the display in the criminally under seen film, “Blackthorn”. Here he plays Butch Cassidy living in the mountains of South America as James Blackthorne. He has surprisingly having survived the Bolivian army thought to have killed him and the Sundance kid. A letter from a former lover soon comes and informs him of a son he never knew of. What comes next is man willing to risk death in order to see his son before time finally catches up with him.

The performance is subdued and filled with pain and angst. Not only that, but this film just happens to be a great western on top of all that.

[MysteRy]

12. Julianne Moore in Don Jon



“Don Jon” is the debut film of Joseph Gordon Levitt’s hopefully long career as a director as well as an actor. For a first film it boasts many fine elements. And although film itself is lacking in certain areas it does boast some terrific performances from its actors.

With Mrs. Moore being the standout as a woman overcome by grief over the death of her husband and child. She is filling the empty void in her life with empty sex. Knowing that people are out there who actually experienced this in their life really adds another element to her performance.

And while Joseph Gordon Levitt may be the star of this film, all eyes are own Moore in every scene she is in. She inhabits a woman uncomfortable in her own skin who is dealing with her grief in the only way she knows how, by Sorrying the pain away. One of the best scenes involves her telling Levitt’s character what happened to her that lead to her becoming a person who feels nothing and deals in empty sexual acts like it is a simple shaking of the hands.

[MysteRy]

11. Kate Winslet in Labor Day



Critics lambasted Jason Reitman’s film, “Labor Day”, but, gave Winslet some of the best reviews of her career. Kate Winslet gives one of her best performances to date as a single mother who has been completely destroyed by her husband’s leaving her some years prior.

Leaving her young son to basically raise her and himself. Soon an escape convict, played by a brooding, but kindly Josh Brolin enters their lives. The two people damaged by their pasts embark on a love affair that is formulaic in its concept, but, beautiful in its execution.

What carries this is the chemistry between Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet. With Kate Winslet being the standout. She embodies a person who is depressed, confused, and filled with sadness. Only to be suddenly given hope of a future love in the most unlikely of lovers in Josh Brolin. What exists here onscreen is an honest portrayal of love and sadness.

[MysteRy]

10. Christopher Walken in Seven Psychopaths



Christopher Walken is a fan favorite of sorts. Known for playing strange and odd characters throughout his career. Delivering his lines with no sense of punctuation, however, with intense purpose. Many have felt that he has spent a career giving performances that are worthy of award consideration.

In Martin McDonagh’s, “Seven Psychopaths”, Christopher Walken plays Hans, one of the aforementioned psychopaths. It is a weirdly poetic and loving performance of a man who is witnessing the love of his life slip away and is contemplating his own mortality.

In a film full of great turns by all involved, it is ultimately Walken who comes away giving an honest portrayal of a psychopath. Christopher Walken inhabits crazy, sad, confused, and whacky better than most and he is at his Walken best here. In recent years most could make an argument that he has played mostly crazy characters because of past roles influencing his casting. And while that may be the case here as well, the viewer cannot help but get lost in those crazy eyes of Walken’s.

The scene that really earns his place here comes late in the film while visiting his wife in the hospital. It is a spoiler for those whom have not seen it. On display here, is probably some of his calmest most calculated acting.

[MysteRy]

9. Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained



DiCaprio has spent a career being nominated only to see that he loses time and time again. And with each new role he brings something new. This is the kid that many joked about being just a pretty boy with no talent and he is now one of the premiere actors in Hollywood.

DiCaprio has made a living on playing likable do well sorts, a con man, a shut in billionaire philanthropist, a mental patient, and countless other fantastic roles. Here he plays Calvin Candie owner and operator of the largest slave plantation in the South right before the start of the Civil War. He owns the aforementioned title character’s wife and he is one sadistic SOB.

DiCaprio shows great range here as the manically obsessive slave owner who relishes the use of his male slaves in Mandingo fighting. Maybe it was the character’s obvious flaws or the sadistic nature of the performance but something clearly turned off academy voters. There is a scene involving a skull of a former slave that is so chilling that it in itself should have garnered the nomination.

[MysteRy]

8. Scarlett Johansson in Her



Voice acting is often forgotten and treated as the redheaded stepsister of the industry and those who perform in this art form deserve much respect. Many believe that voice acting should have its own category. Much of a case for the creation of said category could be made after seeing Scarlett Johansson’s performance as Samantha in Spike Jonze’s film, “Her”.

In the film she portrays an operating system that simulates a person that can be used for companionship. Joaquin Phoenix’s character Theo becomes enamored immediately with Samantha and so begins their often sweet but odd relationship.

Each scene involving these two invokes so much emotion and sweetness. Her questions of life, love, sex, relationships, and quest for knowledge is quite amazing. The scene that really solidifies her place on this list is one that involves Samantha and Theo off vacationing together.

[MysteRy]

7. Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips



Tom Hanks is not only regarded as one of the finest actors of this generation, but of all time. Often referred to as the James Stewart of today. Here Hanks plays real life Captain Richard Phillips whose ship was the first US cargo shipped to be hijacked in nearly two hundred years.

The 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama and what exactly went down has caused quite a stir since the film has come out. Many of the men who were on board with Captain Phillips stated that possibly the actions portrayed on film by the Captain may have been exaggerated for cinematic purposes.

Whether that is true or not, here is a performance that is so emotionally draining that the audience cannot help be feel for the man involved in these horrific experience of sacrificing himself as a hostage to save his men. What follows is an intense latter half of the film that showcases one of Tom Hank’s finer turns. The final scene, obvious spoilers, is so emotional that it had me in tears along with him.

[MysteRy]

6. Hugh Jackman in Prisoners



Known mainly by most for his wonderful turn as hot headed and conflicted Wolverine in the X-Men franchise. Hugh Jackman has made a career out of doing some interesting films when he is not donning the metallic claws, mutton chops, and chewing on cigars while slicing through everything and anyone. He is one of those actors who has been unfairly recognized for mainly just the role as Wolverine.

Which do not get me wrong, those are fun films and he is great, but, most of us cinema fans would say that he has really given so much more outside of that series. In this film, it is Thanksgiving and two families have gotten together for the annual meal only to find that each of their young daughters have gone missing after investigating a RV sitting outside the house.

Jackman plays one of the fathers of the two girls whom have gone missing, the other being played by Terrance Howard. What follows is a grueling gruesome affair that shows Jackman’s character going to great and violent lengths to find out what has happened to his daughter. There is a seething sense of raw emotion being held within by Jackman on display in this scene.

[MysteRy]

5. Albert Brooks in Drive



When we think of scary intimidating actors we normally don’t find ourselves going directly to comedian Albert Brooks as a frame of reference. So when you go into the Nicolas Winding Refn’s film, “Drive” for the first it is a surprise to find not only the best performance in the film to be Brooks, but also that he plays just a frightening person.

All at once within seconds this guy goes from warm to menacing. There is something about the first time we actually see this character that you just know that below the surface is a man who is capable of doing unspeakable things if necessary. And he does just that in fact. His character is cold, calm, collective, and exudes pure charm and evil at times. Brooks delivers one of the more underrated onscreen villain performances in recent memory.

[MysteRy]

4. Michael Fassbender in Shame



In Steve McQueen’s film “Shame”, Michael Fassbender stars as Brandon a successful business man who suffers from sex addiction. Living in New York City, he has niched himself out a place where he can indulge all of his fantasies. When his sister comes to visit unexpectedly, everything about his solitary lifestyle begins to unravel.

This is a film that really requires a person to indulge the director and his material. If the viewer has ever encountered people whom jokingly refer to sex addiction as the “best addiction” to have, then it would lead you the viewer to believe that those people do not seem to generally understand addiction.

A piece of a film like this that showcases an addiction that is oddly ignored by most in the medical community can only help bring new light to a disease that surely afflicts many in the world. And a performance that evokes such despair and inner turmoil given by Fassbender that it leaves the viewer feeling completely exhausted and drained emotionally.

Fassbender’s clear uncontrollably urges lead him to places in this film that most of us would never even think or dream of going. It is a man’s own personal nightmare being laid out right before our eyes.

[MysteRy]

3. Michael Shannon in Take Shelter



Powerhouse performance artist is all I can say about Michael Shannon and his art. This is a man who takes acting to whole other level in all of his roles. None more evident than the role of Curtis in Jeff Nichol’s “Take Shelter”. This film finds Shannon’s Curtis plagued with visions of an impending apocalyptic event. We the audience finding out along the way the history of mental illness that has plagued the people in Curtis’ family and even his own mother who lives in a home because of it.

He question his own sanity as do others when he begins to pour the family’s money into a storm shelter to save them from the impending doom. As the film goes on Shannon brings so much unrequited tension and moodiness to each scene that we cannot help weaving back and forth between whether he is crazy or possibly right. This is a tour de force performance.

[MysteRy]

2. Joaquin Phoenix in Her



Joaquin Phoenix has built a career around playing zany, weird, and quirky characters. He is a character actor who is a leading man. Which is really hard to imagine in today’s world of film.

In Spike Jonze’s film “Her” he plays Theodore. A man who works for a greeting card company that creates cards for people who do not have the words to deliver. The time all this takes place in is the near future and is to be believed simply for the dependence on apps, programs, and others for our “own” words and feelings being conveyed.

Emotions are something that Theodore can express for others, but hardly for himself. Phoenix has Theo so introverted that he cannot even see the person that may be interested him romantically. Yearning for some sort of a connection he finds himself drawn to a new operating system that allows for a person to date basically a program that can feign human qualities, but lacking the physical intimacy that is ultimately needed for a loving romantic relationship.

He needs this solely because of the recent end of his marriage and with no desire to be hurt in the real world again. Soon we find Theo lost in this program and in love. The great thing about this performance is that with anyone else I honestly do not think it would have worked.

It could have come off weird and uncomfortable. Instead, the performance allows the viewer to witness a developing warm relationship that really is helping Theo come back to reality once again and has him finding love he never thought was possible to find again. Phoenix displays so much range here that it is almost unforgivable that he was not given a nod by the academy.

[MysteRy]

1. Charlize Theron in Young Adult



There are few characters that can incite such a wide range of reactions from a viewer like Mavis Gary. Charlize Theron inhabits the aforementioned Mavis in Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult”.

Mavis is the ghost writer of a semi-popular failing young adult series of books. Years prior she had dreams of being successful and always having her high school boyfriend Buddy Slade (played by the always welcome Patrick Wilson), since their break up and her leaving town some years back both have made lives for themselves.

In Buddy’s case he is married and has a child on the way. Mavis, well, her life involves drinking, her dog, screwing random strangers, drinking, her dog, and well, drinking. She is an unhappy person who wants what she so desperately can probably never have, a real life. After receiving an email from Buddy about the upcoming birth. She decides to go back home and break up their marriage. Taking the email as some sort of cry for help from Buddy. What transpires next is painstakingly awkward to witness.

Theron received the Oscar for “Monster”, and deservedly so. But, here as Mavis she creates a person so despicably awful that you cannot help but hang on every gesture and word that comes out of her filthy mouth. She goes to great lengths to show how terrible Mavis really is and how she is completely oblivious to her alcoholism and how she treats others. Is this the best performance so far in this decade?