Best Lead Actor 2013

Honorable Mention - Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station, Oscar Issac in Inside Llewyn Davis.

05. Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips - For much of Captain Phillips running time, Tom Hanks is a consummate professional. As the captain of a sailing vessel overtaken by Somali pirates, its his job to remain calm. And he does so. He is the essence of calm, cool and collected. He is a heroic man who does everything in his power to save his crew. He is smart and savvy, an ordinary man put in extraordinary circumstances. And then we get to the final ten minutes or so, when Captain Phillips is rescued from his ordeal and finally takes it all in and goes in to shock. In that moment, Hanks rips your heart out. His performance to that point is so subtle and refined, and then he lets his emotions pour out of every fiber of his being. That scene alone is worthy of Oscar number 3 for Hanks.

04. Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave - The power of this years male performances is this: any other year Ejiofor would get my top honors. His performance is incendiary, a revelation, a star making performance. But this year has been a great year for male performances, supporting and lead, and Ejiofor has dropped a few spots from the number 2 position he held for months. That's not to take anything away from his heart breaking performance as a free man, kidnapped and sold into slavery. His performance has such an urgency, an intensity that makes it shine. This is a very special performance and, although the film is difficult to watch at times, its more than worth it for the performances alone.

03. Joaquin Phoenix in Her - When you think joyful, jovial, sweet, good-natured, and adorable, the first actor that comes to your mind is probably not Joaquin Phoenix. But he is all those things in Her, and so much more. I think Joaquin Phoenix, like Casey Affleck, is one of the most underrated actors working today. Phoenix completely loses himself inside his characters and you never, ever get the sense that you are watching an actor play a part. This is a 180 degree turn from his performance in The Master last year, and its hard to believe that the same man could play two vastly different characters. But in Her, Phoenix is absolutely stunning, and the fact is, he's mostly acting by himself. He has very few scene partners. It's mostly just him which makes it all the more impressive. Bonus points for those super sweet dance moves near the end!

02. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street - Speaking of dance moves! Leo has got some sweet ones in The Wolf of Wall Street. But besides dancing, this is a side of DiCaprio we have never, ever seen before. He absolutely unleashes a part of himself that is so far removed from Jack Dawson and Romeo and Billy Corrigan. As the drug addicted, sex maniac, party animal owner of a Wall Street stock company in the late 80's and early 90's, this is a completely free, fun, uncontrollable, ferocious Leonardo DiCaprio. He has swagger, he snorts coke off of hookers asses, he does physical comedy, he does nudity, he does James Brown dance moves, he is bigger than life. It's an epic, masters class in acting, and possibly the best thing he's ever done, or ever will do.

01. Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club - For me, the movie Dallas Buyers Club had some flaws, but those flaws in no way included the performances, especially McConaughey as a good ole' Texas boy who is homophobic and hateful and misogynistic and, basically, a terrible person, until he gets diagnosed with AIDS and becomes the most unlikely of crusaders. His friendship with transvestite with a heart of gold Rayon (Jared Leto) humanizes him, and his crusade for the health of AIDS patients everywhere makes him heroic. But this isn't a movie about dying so much as its a movie about living, and McConaughey imbibes his character with so much life that it seems nothing can extinguish him. It's an amazing performance and just the latest in this brand new exciting phase of McConaughey's career. The icon of my life Liza Manelli recently said that if McConaughey doesn't win an Oscar, she'll give him hers. Here's hoping we don't have to resort to those drastic measures.