The best films rarely win, the same goes for the best performances. 'Best' being of course totally subjective, but I think most reasonable people can agree that Crash was not the Best Picture of 2005 or that Gary Oldman was the Best Actor of 2017 or I could on and on.
Some of my very favorite performances in some of my favorite films weren't even nominately, even when they absolutely plausibly could have been. The kinds of roles that win has evolved. Although there is still a preference for playing real life figures or people with some kind of physically or mental condition -- there are nice, unexpected, atypical wins from time to time.
For instance, Brad Pitt's career-defining, career-capping work in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood would never have screamed Oscar role 20 years ago, but he was so note perfect in that part that I believed he richly deserved his win. But here are just a few of my favorite performances that Oscar forgot:
Best Supporting Actor:
Paul Dano, There Will Be Blood: His sniveling boy preacher character (technically a dual role since he also plays Eli Sunday's twin brother) is the perfect foil to Daniel Day-Lewis' monstrous lead character. He more than holds his own with one of the greatest actors of all time and performs with a wisdom far behond his years.
Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet: It's kind of insane that Hopper was only nominated once in his career for the maudlin but moving Hoosiers. He could have easily been a supporting nominee for his wackadoo but unforgettable turn in Apocalypse Now, and especially for this film where he created one of the most unforgettable and horrific villains of all time -- the unhinged Frank Booth.
Robert Shaw, Jaws: One of the most memorable characters ever? Check. One of the greatest monologues ever delivered in a film? Check. One of the most iconic demises in movie history? Check. Jaws was nominated for Best Picture, so how on earth was the film's most dynamic performance completely forgotten? It practically screams Best Supporting Actor!
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network - The one hurt because early on it looks so assured. The one almost likable character in David Fincher's epic about the making of Facebook was a real star turn for Garfield, who has been hit or miss since. But in this film he still shines as maybe Mark Zuckerberg's only true friend.
Albert Brooks, Drive - Not sure what happened here, especially since he won or was nominated for every major critics award for this hyper stylized crime film. His shockingly violent villain was one of the most surprising turns in recent memory and a great capper to one of the most underrated careers in movies. I hope he gets one at least more role of this caliber soon.
John Cazale, The Godfather Part II - Character actors from Godfather II totally dominated this category back in 1975 with Robert DeNiro (the eventual winner), Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg all scoring well-deserved nominations. But they left out this film's best supporting performance! The late John Cazale's brilliant work as the perpetually pathetic Fredo is the engine the makes this movie work.
Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther - One of the worst snubs in recent history -- Jordan keeps getting overlooked time and again despite delivering one fantastic performance after another. His work here was unlike anything he'd done before and light years ahead of what the Marvel universe normally offers in terms of villain roles. Complex, even sympathetic, his character was the one that haunts you when the credits rolled.
Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner - Speaking of complex villainous roles, this was the high water mark of this wonderful actor's career and a performance that has only become more legendary as the film containing it continues to be embraced as the masterpiece it is. He is the unexpected warm heart of this cold film.
John Goodman, The Big Lebowski - Insane factoid for you -- John Goodman has never been nominated for an Oscar! I know, it's insane. Especially when I can easily name about a half dozen performances that are worthy off the top of my head. But favorite may be his batshit crazy, Vietnam-obsessed character in this Coen brothers' classic, a comedy tour de force.
Best Supporting Actress
Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns - Back in 1992, the idea of anyone being nominated for a performance in a superhero movie would have seemed ludicrous, but with time and distance, who could deny that Pfeiffer turned in the definitive Catwoman performance (although i did really like Anne Hathaway's) but also a light years ahead of its time feminist characterization of an antihero.
Sandra Bernhard, The King of Comedy - It's taken a very long time for people to come around the brilliance of this 1983 Scorsese black comedy and Bernhard's wild, unpredictable performance as a Jerry Lewis superfan is part of what makes it so special. Just her singing to a trapped, taped up Lewis was worth a nomination alone.
Kelly McGillis, Witness - A case could be made for Best Actress here too, although the narrative is far more focused on Harrison Ford's big city cop going undercover in Amish country. A lovely, quiet performance invested with so much feeling. McGillis deserved to be a bigger star with a longer career but Top Gun seems to have derailed her.
Best Actress
Lupita Nyong'o, Us - Easily one of my favorite performances of the past decade and a real game changer. Nyong'o had already established herself as a great dramatic actress, but this bravura dual performance showed just how much Hollywood has been wasting her in mostly animated roles. It's insane that she got snubbed.
Pam Grier, Jackie Brown - Tarantino has said he cast Grier in part so that she might become the first black woman to win the Best Actress Academy Award (something that still, insanely, has only occurred once). It would have been a fitting part. Grier has grit, gravitas and great cool under pressure chops here that get better with every viewing.
Charlize Theron, Mad Max Fury Road - Totally atypical Oscar fare to be sure, but so was the movie she was in which turned out to be a critical darling and multiple nominee. Tom Hardy is great fun in the lead, but Charlize Theron is the real star (and emotional center) of that film. Her performance has become iconic.
Maria Schneider, Last Tango in Paris - Another example of a great lead performance overshadowed by a co-star, which is inevitable when your co-star is Marlon Brando. But Brando's performance, which I believe is his best, wouldn't work if Schneider were not such an able, and giving scene partner. The deeply problematic production stories aside, her work here is brilliant and deserved recognition.
Best Actor
James Caan, Thief - One of the coolest, most searing leading man performances of the 80s simply didn't get the love it deserved when it came out 40 years (!) ago. Caan was operating at the peak of his coked out powers here, and while Michael Mann many more great movies (and directed many awards caliber performances), this one is still my favorite.
Richard Pryor, Blue Collar - The legendary stand up comic showed flashes of his potential as a dramatic actor with his heartbreaking turn in Lady Sings the Blues. But the full force of what might have been is here where he is both funny and furious as an autoworker who is fighting to gain power and influence in a demonstrably white man's world. A really interesting performance.
Harrison Ford, The Fugitive - Tommy Lee Jones, who won the Oscar, had the showier role, but Ford's emotional and physical performance is peerless here. The scene where he breaks down while being interrogating about the death of his wife is one of my favorite acting moments ever, period.
Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems - Sandler proved a lot of haters wrong with this one. He really could be one of our greatest living actors if he only applied himself more. But no matter what this movie and his performance in it, will always be the stuff of legend. Such a great portrait of a pressure cooker gambling addict. He'll likely never top it.
Harry Dean Stanton, Paris Texas - I could also just as easily shout out his supporting turn in the same year's Repo Man, but this quiet drama -- in which his character is wordless for much of its opening, is the best role of this incredible character actor's career. A haunting story about a broken man trying to piece his life back together
Jack Nicholson, The Shining - Totally unappreciated back in 1980, this very theatrical performance was idiotically dismissed as over the top. Now, it looks like one THE GREAT performances of all time, tragically informed by turmoil in Nicholson's own personal life and an infamously demanding shoot. The result is funny, terrifying and exciting almost in equal measure.
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