Best Actor of the Decade Tournament

Round 2 - Top 64

Patrick Wilson vs. Will Ferrell
Quantity: Wilson's been pretty busy since 2000, starring in 13 films while Ferrell has been even busier, starring in 28. Round - Ferrell.
Quality: Unfortunately for Ferrell, he seems to always play the same character. The exception being, of course, the great Winter Passing. He was even very good in Stranger Than Fiction. However, Wilson was great in Evening and Little Children and superb in the underrated Hard Candy. Round - Wilson.
Oscar Nominations: Neither have been nominated.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen.
Extra Curriculars: Wilson was in the cable movie Angels in America but Ferrell, of course, has done Saturday Night Live as well as great guest starring roles on great TV shows like Eastbound and Down and the amazing Undeclared. Round - Ferrell.
Winner = Ferrell.

Jake Gyllenhaal vs. Tom Cruise
Quantity: Gyllenhaal and Cruise are very close in the quantity category. Gyllenhaal has done 12 films and Cruise only 11. Round - Gyllenhaal.
Quality: Cruise's best work, unfortunately is pre-2000. Since then, the only really great performance he gave was his hilarious turn in Tropic Thunder. Meanwhile, Gyllenhaal has been killing it in indies (Donnie Darko), war films (Jarhead), thrillers (Zodiac) and, of course, romantic art films (Brokeback Mountain). Round - Gyllenhaal.
Oscar Nominations: Cruise hasn't been nominated this decade and Gyllenhaal got his first nomination for Brokeback Mountain. Round - Gyllenhaal.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen.
Extra Curriculars: Tom Cruise is crazy as hell. Round - Gyllenhaal.
Winner = Gyllenhaal.

Ian McKellan vs. Javier Bardem
Quantity: Starring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy AND the X-Men trilogy helped McKellan's 12 beat out Bardem's 9. Round - McKellan.
Quality: Unfortunately for McKellan, I've never seen either of those series so I can't tell how great he was in them. However, Bardem was AMAZING in No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Round - Bardem.
Oscar Nominations: McKellan was nominated for the first Lord of the Rings film while Bardem was nominated for Before Night Falls and won for No Country for Old Men. Round - Bardem.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen.
Extra Curriculars: McKellan is a Sir! Round - McKellan.
Tie Breaker: I like both of these actors very much. McKellan is definitely one of the coolest actors on the planet. However, Bardem gave one of the best performances of the decade in No Country for Old Men and that has to count for something. Round - Bardem.
Winner = Bardem.

Don Cheadle vs. Ryan Gosling
Quantity: Gosling has only done 10 films in 10 years while Cheadle has been busier, doing 21. Round - Cheadle.
Quality: They've both been great in a lot of films. Gosling's got The Believer, Half Nelson and Lars and the Real Girl to pair up against Cheadle's Traffic, Crash and Hotel Rwanda. However, Cheadle was also in the Ocean's films and you know how I feel about them. Round - Gosling.
Oscar Nominations: They were both nominated once. Cheadle for Hotel Rwanda and Gosling for Half Nelson. Tie.
Shared Screen: They went head to head in the indie film The United States of Leland. Cheadle was great as a morally ambivalent social worker but it was Gosling's film playing a troubled youth. Round - Gosling.
Extra Curriculars: Cheadle's appeared on ER and Gosling's got a kick ass band called Dead Man's Bones. Round - Gosling.
Winner = Gosling.

Ben Affleck vs. Denzel Washington
Quantity: It seems like Affleck has been laying low lately but he's still done 20 films compared to Washington's 12. Round - Affleck.
Quality: Affleck's best work in films like Boiler Room and Hollywoodland don't even compare to Washington's best work in Training Day, Inside Man and American Gangster. Round - Washington.
Oscar Nominations: Affleck hasn't been nominated this decade but Washington won for Training Day. Round - Washington.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen.
Extra Curriculars: Affleck directed the great Gone Baby Gone, plus he proved he has a sense of humor about himself by appearing in Jimmy Kimmel's 'I'm F**king Ben Affleck' AND he's a Red Sox fan! Round - Affleck.
Tie Breaker: I may actually prefer Affleck although he's ultimately given me little reason to like him. However, Washington is clearly the better actor, even if he hasn't been doing his best work lately. Round - Washington.
Winner = Washington.

Paul Giamatti vs. Ben Kingsley
Quantity: Both Giamatti and Kingsley have worked a lot this decade. Giamatti has appeared in 20 films while Kingsley has appeared in 22. Round - Kingsley.
Quality: Giamatti's best work in American Splendor, Sideways and Duplicity vs. Kingsley's best work in Sexy Beast, House of Sand and Fog, You Kill Me, Transsiberian, Elegy and The Wackness? Round - Kingsley.
Oscar Nominations: Giamatti was nominated for Cinderella Man (although he should have been nominated for Sideways) while Kingsley was nominated for both Sexy Beast and House of Sand and Fog. Round - Kingsley.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen.
Extra Curriculars: They both did great work in cable films. Giamatti in John Adams and Kingsley in Mrs. Harris. But Kingsley is way awesome and he's a sir! Round - Kingsley.
Winner = Kingsley.

Sean Penn vs. Daniel Day-Lewis
Quantity: This is the throwdown and ultimately should probably be the final showdown. Lucky for Penn, Day-Lewis doesn't work very much at all. He's only done three films in the last ten years whereas Penn has done 12. Round - Penn.
Quality: Day-Lewis is always great and proved it in the three films he appeared in (Gangs of New York, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, There Will Be Blood). Meanwhile, Penn is always great as well even if the material doesn't always live up to standards. Penn's best performances this decade were I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, The Assassination of Richard Nixon and Milk. Round - Penn.
Oscar Nominations: Day-Lewis was nominated for Gangs of New York and won for There Will Be Blood. Penn was nominated for I Am Sam and won for both Mystic River and Milk. Round - Penn.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen... but they should!
Extra Curriculars: Penn directed the amazing Into the Wild. Round - Penn.
Winner = Penn.

Liam Neeson vs. Forest Whitaker
Quantity: Neeson has appeared in 14 films while Whitaker has appeared in 20. Round - Whitaker.
Quality: Neeson was best in Kinsey while Whitaker was best in The Last King of Scotland. However, I felt he wasn't even the best thing about Last King (that would be James McAvoy) so... Round - Neeson.
Oscar Nominations: Neeson hasn't been nominated this decade while Whitaker won for The Last King of Scotland. Round - Whitaker.
Shared Screen: They have not shared the screen.
Extra Curriculars: Whitaker appeared on The Shield. Round - Whitaker.
Winner = Whitaker.

On Wednesday, the big guns (Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken and Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and the box office kings (Ben Stiller, Will Smith, Nicolas Cage).