Monday, February 22, 2016

Ranking the 2015 Oscar Acting Nominees

Where do the ladies of Carol rank?

Sorry I haven't been around these parts lately. Since the Oscars are upon us, I'll have my winner predictions posted later this week. In the meantime, I finally saw 45 Years and Trumbo, so here's how I'd rank the acting nominees. Note: I've included my rating (out of 5) of each performance in each photo caption.

20. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
2.5/5

19. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
3/5

18. Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
3/5

17. Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
3.5/5

16. Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
3.5/5

15. Christian Bale, The Big Short
4/5

14. Matt Damon, The Martian
4/5

13. Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
4/5

12. Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
4/5

11. Sylvester Stallone, Creed
4/5

10. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
4/5

9. Brie Larson, Room
4/5

8. Tom Hardy, The Revenant
4.5/5

7. Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
4.5/5

6. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
4.5/5

5. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
4.5/5

4. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
5/5

3. Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
5/5

2. Cate Blanchett, Carol
5/5

1. Rooney Mara, Carol
5/5

18 comments:

  1. DROOL!

    So happy you are back, my friend. I LOVE that the ladies dominated here with the only 5/5!

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    1. LOL, I'm not sure I ever really left. ;) Yeah, the ladies were amazing this year!

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    2. You know what I mean!!!

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  2. The top 4 performances are absolutely amazing! I love Rooney a lot even if I might prefer Cate. My ranking would probably be:
    1. Blanchett - 5
    2. Mara - 5
    3. Ronan - 5
    4. Rampling - 5
    5. DiCaprio - 5
    6. Hardy - 5
    7. Leigh - 5
    8. Stallone - 5
    9. Fassbender - 4.5
    10. Larson - 4.5
    11. Rylance - 4.5
    12. Damon - 4.5
    13. Winslet - 4
    14. McAdams - 4
    15. Vikander - 4
    16. Ruffalo - 2.5
    17. Redmayne - 2
    I've yet to see the others. I personally thought Fassbender (an actor I really really love by the way) was better in Macbeth than in Steve Jobs and Alicia Vikander was way better in Ex Machina than in The Danish Girl.

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    1. Nice list. Mara is clearly #1 for me, but I could easily have given her and Blanchett a tie for the top spot. I can't wait to see Macbeth, and I agree that Vikander is much better in Ex Machina.

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  3. Leo, Saoirse, and Brie would easily by my top three. I haven't seen a few of these, but I agree with putting Redmayne at the bottom. lol

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    1. Love that top 3, even if Brie barely makes my top 10. Ha, it's terrifying just how "locked" Redmayne's nomination was.

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  4. Love that you have the Carol girls and Charlotte Rampling ranked so high. Also, yes to Redmayne being last!! I thought he dragged the film down quite a bit.

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    1. It was a great year for female performances - arguably the finest Best Actress lineup ever. (Though, I know not everyone would rank JLaw's performance as highly.) Vikander stole The Danish Girl from Redmayne, kind of like Tremblay did to Larson in Room.

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    2. I thought Tremblay was phenomenal as well. Although, I would still give Best Actress to Larson. I'd welcome Blanchett, Ronan, or Rampling winning. But Larson was tops for me.

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    3. Larson was great, but I think her performance is a little uneven in some scenes, especially once they leave room.

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  5. I'm glad someone else here doesn't like Eddie Redmayne's vain attempt at winning another Oscar.

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    1. Yeah, his performance in The Theory of Everything is masterful compared to what he did in The Danish Girl.

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  6. This is a very surprising list! I actually thought Jennifer Jason Leigh gave one of the best performances of the year, but I doubt (unfortunately) that she'll win any gold. I have to agree with you that Ronan and Blanchett performed 1000x better than Brie Larson. I don't understand the hype around Larson. I'll be very surprised if she gets upstaged by another actress, but that's unlikely to happen.

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    1. I'm thrilled that JJL finally got nominated, but her performance disappointed me. She kind of failed at hamming it up, if that's possible. :/ My biggest issue with Larson is that she's upstaged by Tremblay. I'd rather Ronan win, since Brooklyn rests on her lovely performance.

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  7. What a fantastic idea for a list, Josh! LOVE that you have Saoirse Ronan and Charlotte Rampling in your top 5! I haven't seen CAROL yet but not surprised the two actresses made your top 2.

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    1. Thanks, Ruth! Ronan and Rampling are magnificent. They're pretty much interchangeable with Blanchett for #2.

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