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.

12 Years a Slave

If ever there is a movie getting a lot of buzz, it's this one. Not only are people saying it's the best film of the year, but also that it's one of the best films ever made. While I agree that this film had the potential to be a masterpiece, I don't quite think it's there. That's not to say I don't think it's a pretty damn good movie. But I also think all the hype is just a tad on the hyperbolic side.

12 Years a Slave is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in New York who accepts the job offers of two seemingly nice white men who want him to travel to Washington D.C. and play fiddle for their circus. Instead, they get him drunk and sell him into slavery. After his seemingly never ending journey into the South, he goes to live with a plantation owner who is as nice as plantation owners can be (Benedict Cumberbatch). But after a violent run-in with his overseer (Paul Dano), he is sold to another plantation owner where the master (Michael Fassbender) is as violent and nasty as you can imagine.

Directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame), 12 Years a Slave is raw, gritty and unflinching. It's an emotional, devastating depiction of slavery, a subject that hasn't ever really been tackled well on film. Sure, it's a terrible subject matter but so is Nazi Germany and there is at least one iconic movie about that subject matter. It's a beautiful, artistic film that is also heart-wrenching. McQueen directs the hell out of this movie, and I'd say he's our second shoo-in for Best Director at the Oscars next year. In fact, there's a good chance that this movie could win ALL the Oscars next year. It's that devastating, and beautiful and the performances are that sensational.

Some of the actors don't have very much screen time at all (Dano, Brad Pitt, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti), but still manage to give great, three-dimensional performances. This movie is very likely to get three nominations in Oscar acting categories. First, obviously, there's Chiwetel Ejiofor in the main role of Solomon. He is in just about every scene and he quietly carries this entire film on his shoulders. His name may be difficult to pronounce, but everyone should probably learn it because this guy is amazing in this movie. He is absolutely unforgettable and heartbreaking, strong and mesmerizing. Then there is newcomer Lupita Nyong'o as put-upon slave Patsy. I've been hearing a lot of buzz about her performance, but I wasn't all that impressed at first. However, there are a few key scenes near the end where she absolutely blows it out of the water. But, best in show, however, goes to Michael Fassbender who is so good I'm not even sure I can find the words to adequately describe just how good he is. He is a gift to this movie, because when he's on screen, the movie is so much better. His performance is a force of nature, menacing and maniacal, but somehow still almost likable. He manages to convey nearly every emotion while on screen, and the movie is so much better because he's a part of it. This is, in my opinion, the single best performance of the entire year. That's just how sensational he is, and he deserves every award you can possibly imagine, and probably a few more that we may need to invent just for him.

So, it seems like I'm praising the hell out of this movie, right? The acting is all great, featuring THE best performance of the year. The director is a rock star. I even want to praise the score, which is jittery and anxious and perfect. So, what's the problem, then? Because I wasn't as over the moon about this movie as I should be, I guess. It's not that it's difficult to watch, although it is. It is unflinchingly violent and horrid and hard to watch, but it should be. It's about the darkest time in this history of our country. It's just that there are a few moments that keep this from being a masterpiece and they are all the more obvious because this is such a great movie, with such potential to be a complete game changer that it's sort of disappointing that someone didn't reign in McQueen's more pretentious moments. For instance, there is about a two minute close up of Solomon's face where he is simply standing still, doing nothing, that is completely off putting and serves no purpose other than to be "artistic." There are a few moments like this, where the shot is held for far longer that it needs to be. This sort of stuff typically doesn't bother me, but, like I said, this movie had the potential to be a game changer and all these little self-indulgent moments take away from what it could have been. If they had edited about twenty minutes out of this, it could have been something near perfection. Instead, it has to settle for being just a damn good movie, which isn't so bad.

Grade: A-