RIP Charles Grodin: A master of deadpan comedy will be missed

Charles Grodin, a stellar underrated comic actor has died at 86 years old. It would be a shame if he was best remembered for the surprise hit family comedy Beethoven. I haven't seen that film since I was a kid so I don't want to knock it too much but I just know that Grodin has several other stellar performances under his belt.

I'll remember his best for his marvelous mop of wig, which he sported in nearly all his movies, and his knack for dry, deadpan comedy characters -- an unsung skill that probably led to being overlooked, even though he played beautifully opposite bigger name comic actors like Steve Martin, Albert Brooks and Chevy Chase. 

He was definitely a bit of an oddball, as evidenced by his iconoclastic talk show and mock-offended persona he would play during talk show appearances on The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman. In later years, he would re-emerge, most memorably as Louis CK's doctor on his acclaimed show Louie. But he's always be a favorite of mine from the following movies:

Midnight Run - The most iconic and fully satisfying Grodin performance. He was not the obvious choice to play a neurotic white collar criminal being sheparded across country by Robert De Niro's grizzled bounty hunter, but once you see the movie it's hard to imagine anyone else in the part. One of the great '80s comedies, thanks to Grodin's perfect timing.

Seems Like Old Times - A real distillation of the put-upon Grodin persona here, as he plays the husband of Goldie Hawn whose life is turned upside down when her ex-husband (played by Chevy Chase) stumbles (literally) back into her life. A showcase for Neil Simon's dialogue and Chase's physical comedy for sure but it's Grodin who grounds the madcap silliness in a comic-infused reality.

Heaven Can Wait - Once again Grodin is the foil, this time to Warren Beatty's sweet, naive hero (really an NFL player who's died and whose spirit is inhabiting an older, wealthy man -- whose fortune Grodin is conspiring to steal. Grodin is mostly the befuddled straight man but he is memorable everytime he is on screen opposite Dyan Cannon as his partner in crime.

Real Life - This underrated, oft-overlooked gem from Albert Brooks -- his first film -- is as much a Grodin movie as it is his. Grodin plays the head of a household being profiled in a faux documentary directed by Brooks (playing an obnoxious caricature of himself). Grodin brilliantly plays an uptight veterinarian, shamelessly aware of the cameras and who has a bleakly funny mishap during a procedure on a horse that plunges the mockumentary into chaos. A must see.

The Lonely Guy - A largely forgotten Steve Martin comedy that I have a lot of affection for. Grodin steals every scene he's in as a hilarious sad sack of a man who befriends his own fern plants and talks to them as if they're people. I watched this movie after a particularly bad break-up and it really lifted my spirits. I will always cherish Grodin's exaggerated version of a perpetually single man.

Ishtar - Even this infamous flop's detractors would concede that Grodin is a lot fun as a put-upon CIa agent trying to make heads or tails of two idiotic singer-songwriters (played with aplomb by Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty) who become embroiled in international intrigue. Again he's the deadpan grounded one amid the chaos, and you appreciate his being the funny adult in the room.

Clifford - A deeply strange and polarizing 'comedy' features Grodin opposite a totally manic Martin Short playing a something akin to a demon child. Grodin is hilarious throughout this grating comedy that is best enjoyed as a cult film than as the broad family comedy it was probably intended to be. Still, there is no funnier line delivery on the planet than "I wanna say... Mason?"

The Heartbreak Kid - The rare film where Grodin gets to play a fully realized lead and he's excellent. This is probably Elaine May's most accessible and successful film as a director, and it's sadly hard to find today, but it's a wonderful little romantic comedy (about a nebbishy man who falls in love with another woman on his honeymoon) that is ripe for rediscovery.

'Spiral' is bad, but there might have been a good movie in there

I am not by any means an aficionado of the Saw franchise. I saw the first one, after all the hype in its initial release and I was underwhelmed. I never bothered with the sequels because my understanding is they offered more of the same -- but only with the gore factor heightened.

I'd always resented how they purported to be trying to be about something -- sort of morality horror plays -- which allowed audiences to justify their delight in watching other people get tortured, because they had transgressed in some way,

Chris Rock, who seems ageless at 56, came up with an almost clever idea for this new spin-off Spiral: make the 'victims' of a sadistic serial killer corrupt cops. What ensues could have been (and occasionally flirts with) a kind of timely social commentary on the national debate around policing but the movie also glorifies the kind of toxic, swaggering brutality that reformers hate. Hell, it even features an admittedly funny Rock monologue about how Forrest Gump wouldn't have survived cancel culture.

That scene actually sets up a lot of what is wrong with the movie. Chris Rock is starring in this presumably because he came up with the concept. And when he is first introduced he is funny, likable, incisive Chris Rock and had the movie been about a wisecracking cop plunged into a battle of wits with a mind-fucking murderer that might have been something but as the film goes on Rock's weakness as a dramatic actor is all full display and his performance is drained of the humor that sporadically enlivened it. The rest of the cast save for Max Minghella and a largely wasted Samuel L. Jackson (improbably cast as Rock's father) is made up of stock cop caricatures.

Most ridiculous of all of them is wooden, inexplicably glammed up captain who is simply not credible in any scene and is afforded one of the most heinous deaths.

That's the other thing -- this didn't need to be a Saw movie. All the scenes of brutal torture, which feel very rote and I am sure are nothing shocking for longtime fans of this series, are sort of tacked onto what otherwise feels like a low budget police procedural. There are some references to Jigsaw, the villain of the earlier iterations but ultimately this could have been just another thriller.

Ironically, the film is set in a vague, unnamed city -- which I suppose is meant to be symbolic but instead it feels lazy like a lot of the movie. I was bored frankly throughout until the last act which is at least laughably ludicrous and entertaining. I did find myself thinking this film might have worked better with an actor with more range, like Jackson quite frankly, in the lead. I also think the politicized subject matter could have worked better in better, more grounded movie.

But alas chalk this one up to being fooled by the trailer which at least promised an original spin or take on a played out franchise. At the end of the day, this is dumb movie that thinks it's smart, which is the worst but also sometimes the best when you're talking about bad movies.

There is some fun to be had here in the movie's ineptness, if you can stomach the grotesque stuff, which I surprisingly could. And ultimately it just felt really good to be back at the movies again.

Top underrated from my favorite decade of movies

Today I did a rewatch of Mike Nichols' masterful satire of sex and male-female relationships Carnal Knowledge. It holds up incredible well as perhaps one of the greatest films ever exploring the topic of toxic masculinity, in my opinion. It's also a movie that's routinely overlooked when the great films of the 1970s are listed. Film buffs know it and I understand it was a buzzy sleeper hit when it came out in 1971.

But the fact that it's so overlooked (it's streaming on Amazon Prime right now, go see it, but make sure the kids are safely out of sight, it's not a family movie) got me thinking. What are some other flicks from my favorite era of cinema that deserve to be promoted.

Here's 10 off the top of my head:

Prime Cut - A deeply strange and terrible cool action movie starring two great tough as nails leading men -- Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman. Darkly funny with a very weird premise involving sex slaves kept in a barn. Come for Marvin and Hackman macho antics, but stay for a young Sissy Spacek in a scene stealing role as a spunky survivor.

An Unmarried Woman - Although it's written and directed by a man (the great Paul Mazursky) this is a wonderfully observed, deeply feminist film featuring one of the decade's most honest performances (regardless of gender) in Jill Clayburgh who has to suddenly reinvent her life after learning of her husbands infidelities.

Lady Sings the Blues - It's a shame that Diana Ross didn't have much of cinematic career, this film proves that with the right material and director she could have been not just good but great. She totally inhabits the role of Billie Holiday in a performance that should have won an Academy Award. Meanwhile, Billy Dee Williams establishes himself as a sex symbol and Richard Pryor establishes himself as a credible dramatic actor.

Night Moves - One of the great, moody character studies of the era, featuring another unsung Gene Hackman role. It's got a terrific scumminess and cynicism, with a truly shocking ending that is keeping with the period's less earnest aesthetic.

The Candidate - One of the all time greatest movies about politics and the mostly men who control it. Robert Redford has maybe never been better in a leading role as a sincere liberal who sells out to win. He gets to show some of his range here and the movie's commentary still holds up.

The Gambler - I've never understood why this isn't one of the beloved character studies of the decade. It's James Caan at his best as an obsessive, self destructive gambler in this no-holds-barred drama, which is one of writer James Toback's best.

The Driver - A hugely influential although largely unknown minimalist thriller, with a nearly silent Ryan O'Neal as a badass getaway driver. Nicolas Winding Refn brilliantly cribbed the movie for his own Drive, but it still has plenty of flair on its own.

Klute - Jane Fonda's iconic greatness as an actress is often overshadowed by her incredible courageous activism, but don't sleep on her talents. In this chilling thriller in particular she is electric throughout and her big scene at the climax is some of the best acting I've ever seen.

Shampoo - Warren Beatty's sex comedy is also a droll satire on the creeping conservatism of the late 1960s. It might be my favorite Beatty performance and he's got an incredible cast around him. One of those movies that appears to be about nothing at first but then it's actually about everything.

Blue Collar - I know I put this movie on almost every list, but it looms that largely in my mind as one of the most emblematic movies of the decade even if it's not as well known as a Taxi Driver or a Jaws. Dark, authentic and unpredictable. It's what I look for in a movie.

'Without Remorse' is a wash when it comes to Michael B. Jordan

There was a time when the name Tom Clancy really generated excitement for me as a moviegoer. I grew up on the early Jack Ryan films and still remember them fondly. I was also immune to those films' politics -- or rather Clancy's -- which were far more right wing than my own.

Today, it feels a little strange to be revisiting his oeuvre, given the current geopolitical climate. I haven't seen the Jack Ryan television series, starring John. Kransinski, so I am not sure how it fares, but the new movie Without Remorse doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel.

The producers had the good sense to cast Michael B. Jordan, in the decidedly anglo named character John Kelly. He's a prototypical Clancy hero type -- taciturn, efficient and far from fully fleshed out. And yet, Jordan is such an empathetic actor, he makes what largely feel like a forgettable exercise in style worth watching.

It's a brooding, bleak movie -- heavy on shadowy sets and even more shadowy characters. There are double crosses, lots of gunplay and an overly plotty script that I found hard to invest in. At its center is a particularly grisly murder which sets Jordan's character off on a revenge plot, but unlike the John Wick films, which have a welcome sense of humor, Without Remorse is a somber affair, and therefore a bit of a drag.

Jordan isn't given much to do besides look and act badass, which he does ably, but he's a more interesting actor than that. He doesn't really play a character here, he plays a type, and it's a type I feel like I've seen before in better movies.

There are some very nifty action scenes and the movie looks great for the most part (albeit a bit too dark at times) but it doesn't really amount to much. There are occasional ambiguous nods to cynicism about America and what it means for these kinds of tough guys (and gals, Jodie Turner Smith pops up as one of Jordan's compatriots) to serve -- but I never fully understood what the film wanted to say and to whom.

As for Jordan, this isn't a step back for his progression as a star as it is kind of a holding pattern. He's lost none of his cool and presence as an actor, but it'd be good to see him stretch a little more the next time he gets a leading role.

It might be interesting to see him play a lighter role, maybe even a full blown comedy, especially after starring in this dreary affair, which is decidedly downbeat and rather joyless.

The best revenge movies, even if they are grim like this one is, still have a kind of gallows humor and satisfying punch to them, but because Jordan's foes are so murky and ill-defined, you never get that cathartic thrill of them getting their just desserts.

This even comes with a sequel set up that no one really asked for. I didn't have high expectations for this so I didn't walk away supremely let down, but I just want better for Michael B. Jordan, since he's one of the last great new movie stars we have,

The best actor-director partnerships off the top of my head

Yesterday I revisited Martin Scorsese's imperfect but still very strong Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator and besides being struck by what svelte baby Leonardo DiCaprio appeared to be in the role, it also got me thinking about his multi-movie collaborative arc with the director which began with 2002's Gangs of New York and culminating 20 full years later (!) with the legendary director's next feature. 

Here are a few more of (in my opinion) the best actor-director duos in no particular order:

Ryan Coogler & Michael B. Jordan - They've only done three movies together (although they already have plans for a fourth, but Jordan has clearly established himself as this exciting young director's muse. What's particularly impressive to me is the range of work they've already crafted from the intimate character study of Fruitvale Station to the blockbuster villainous role in Black Panther. Jordan is one of the most exciting young leading men in movies and his work with Coogler is a the biggest reason why.

Elliott Gould & Robert Altman - The unconventional leading man only collaborated with the late iconic director three times (unless you count his brief cameo as himself in 1975's Nashville) and I wish they worked together more since their offbeat rhythms are a perfect fit. Gould became a superstar with M*A*S*H, plumbed the depths of gambling addiction in the criminally underrated California Split and best of all they reinvented the detective genre with their brilliant The Long Goodbye

Denzel Washington & Spike Lee - The epic Malcolm X is a career peak for both Washington and Lee which they may never surpass but all their other collaborations are excellent too. Their first collaboration -- Mo' Better Blues -- is one Lee's most underrated. He Got Game is another near masterpiece. And Inside Man is the rare overtly commercial work from Lee that was a smash for both the actor and director. Here's hoping they find another project together soon.

Jimmy Stewart & Alfred Hitchcock - The master's work with Cary Grant is almost as good but there's something very vulnerable and haunting about Hitchcock's work with Jimmy Stewart. Although Hitchcock was very dismissive of actors and their process he clearly tapped into something darker in the usually squeaky clean Stewart, especially in his greatest film Vertigo, which was light years ahead of its time.

Philip Seymour Hoffman & Paul Thomas Anderson - The late Hoffman left behind a formidable body of work, but his collaborations with Anderson were something special. His range was on full display in Anderson's films. You almost can't fathom that the same actor who played a socially awkward porn crewman in Boogie Nights would also be playing the leader of a cult in The Master. It's devastating that they won't be able to keep making movies together.

Samuel L. Jackson & Quentin Tarantino - Tarantino likes toot his own a little too much about the brilliance of his own dialogue but he isn't wrong when he says few actors have a way with his words more than Jackson. Because he's so ubiquitous, audiences can sometimes take for granted what a great actor Jackson is. Luckily whenever he works with Tarantino he tends to have a lot to make a feast out of. It's criminal that he didn't win the Oscar for Pulp Fiction and that he wasn't even nominated for Jackie Brown. And The Hateful Eight (which he was always excellent in) has grown on me more and more with time.

John Wayne & John Ford - For better of worse, director John Ford is responsible for establishing Wayne's swaggering and problematic cinematic archetype. But to his credit, he wasn't content to tell the same story and to use the lumbering star the same way. Hence his sneakily subversive latter day films like The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which pushed Wayne as an actor and gave more depth to the genre they helped popularize.

Kurt Russell & John Carpenter - Speaking of swagger, it doesn't get better than Kurt Russell's beloved collaborations with horror/sci-fi guru John Carpenter. A whole generation of filmgoers would have only known Russell as a cherubic child star if Carpenter hadn't refashioned him as an all-time badass for the 1980s and beyond. The most ironic part is that none of their films were exactly big hits when they first came out but they've endured as some of the more influential films of their time.

Michael Keaton & Tim Burton - Not the obvious one. God knows Burton worked with Johnny Depp a lot more -- some would argue too much (I would). But the thing is his work with Michael Keaton is nearly flawless (I'm overlooking their recent, forgettable Dumbo). The first two Batman films remain pop culture landmarks and the gold standard for big budget superhero films and then there's Beetlejuice, which may still be the purest and best distillation of everything that is appealing about the Tim Burton aesthetic.

Robert De Niro & Martin Scorsese - And last but certainly not least what can you say about these two that hasn't already been said? Their names and legacies go hand in hand. Nine movies, with only one being an out and out disappointment-- 1977's New York, New York (which I keep trying to like -- it's an unbelievable track record. We had to wait forever between Casino and The Irishman, but it was worth the wait. They bring out the best in each other.

Flashback 1991: My favorite movies from 30 years ago

And... we're back with another top 10 list, because I just can't resist them. 

Ah 1991, a kindler gentler time. The time of the first Gulf War. How naive we were. I was 9, definitely becoming a big movie buff. I still vividly remember seeing movies like Hook and The Addams Family in theaters (although neither make my top 10). This is definitely a strong year in my opinion, with a handful of movies that became some of my all-favorites.

This was of course the year of Silence of the Lambs, which became the rare horror thriller to not just win Oscars but to sweep all the major awards, deservedly so. Ironically, enough Anthony Hopkins was invited back to the winner's circle again this year for his very late career comeback film The Father, but back in 1991 he was a relatively fresh face in his mid-50s!

Ok less yapping and more listing:

10) The Fisher King - One of the most emotionally accessible Terry Gilliam films is no less ambitious and stuffed with ideas. Jeff Bridges is terrific as a gone to seed shock jock whose life is redeemed by an unlikely friendship with a quirky homeless man (with a dark past) played to perfect by Robin Williams. The jarring shifts and tone may make this a hard film for some to embrace, but it's a film that works because of its eccentric flourishes.

9) Barton Fink - One of the Coen brothers' most esoteric films clearly comes from a personal place since it centers on a put upon screenwriter (played wonderfully by John Turturro) who wants to create pretentious art but keeps getting steered towards commercial pablum. Some fascinating detours -- including a scene stealing turn by John Goodman -- give this one an epic feel even though it also works as pure Hollywood satire.

8) What About Bob? - A family favorite of mine, and I suspect many other people of my generation. Bill Murray never played a character like this one before or since, which is a shame, since it's a delight to see him inhabit a wild eyed innocent who becomes the perpetual foil for a slow burning Richard Dreyfuss. The two stars reportedly really hated each other which only lends their comedic clashes more authenticity and excitement. one of the great '90s comedies.

7) Terminator 2: Judgment Day - If it weren't for some of its more cloying aspects, this film would be seriously in the running for greatest action film of all time. It certainly was a game-changer in terms of its special effects and this is Arnold Schwarzenegger operating at the peak of his movie star powers. A surprisingly dark blockbuster, thanks to Linda Hamilton's fearless performance. And who could forget Robert Patrick's all-time great villain here. The franchise has never been able recapture this one's sense of discovery.

6) Defending Your Life - Perhaps the perfect Albert Brooks movie, certainly his most audience friendly. Here he plays a more sympathetic than usual character who's life goes under review after he dies in a kind of trial which will determine whether his soul will move onto heaven. Hilarious but also frequently touching, with Meryl Streep making a lovely scene partner and romantic interest for Brooks. Just a very smart, beautifully rendered comedy. Should have been a commercial hit, but inexplicably wasn't.

5) Boyz N the Hood - The John Singleton masterpiece is a high water mark for a certain kind of incendiary urban drama. From start to finish this is a visionary work about inner city violence and coming of age effectively delivers on its message but also contains searing performances from the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It's themes and vignettes remain powerful, maybe even more impactful today. If Singelton never made another film his legacy would be set with this one. 

4) Bugsy - Warren Beatty gives perhaps the performance of his career as the volatile and eccentric gangster Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel. I don't know if I buy the movie's narrative that Siegel was the true spark behind Las Vegas becoming the gambling Mecca it is today, but I also sort of don't care. The period detail is exquisite. The combative romance with real life Beatty flame Annette Bening is sexy. And it's got a phenomenal supporting cast, including great, Oscar-nominated turns from Ben Kingsley and Harvey Keitel. But this is Beatty's show. He never got to play a character this ferocious before or since and he's unforgettable.

3) JFK - One of my favorite dramas of all time, but I have to dock it a couple points for its myriad of credibility issues. And yet, how can you deny the power and scope of its filmmaking. Director Oliver Stone brilliantly (and yes, manipulatively) weaves archival footage with re-creations, employs an insanely deep cast to bring this conspiracy thriller to life and hangs it all on Kevin Costner's reliable leading man shoulders to land this plane. Big Hollywood movies don't get more ambitious than this.

2) The Silence of the Lambs - Oft quoted and parodied, and not helped by all the sequels and spin-offs -- but this film is still a stone cold classic. It works so well because not a single scene or piece of dialogue is wasted. Director Jonathan Demme took all the storytelling and timing skills he honed in his signature comedies and employed them to perfection in a totally different genre. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster make great music together as scene partners. And the ending is simply one of the best in movie history.

1) Cape Fear - Director Martin Scorsese has always been very dismissive of this movie, labeling a pure experiment with whether or not he could make a commercial hit. Yes, this is an entertaining thrill ride, but you can't sell its psychological themes and dark brooding heart short. Although I would have been curious to see an originally proposed version of this film which had Harrison Ford in the Cady role opposite De Niro as the good guy, I have zero complaints about this movie (which also inspired my favorite Simpsons episode). It's a great revenge movie, darkly funny and dangerous. All you could ever want. And it's kind of movie I am ALWAYS in the mood to watch.

PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS

1970 #1 movie - M*A*S*H

1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II

1975 #1 movie - Nashville

1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver

1977 #1 movie - Star Wars

1978 #1 movie - The Deer Hunter

1979 #1 movie - The Jerk

1980 #1 movie - The Shining

1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters

1985 #1 movie - Fletch

1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet

1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables

1988 #1 movie - Coming to America

1989 #1 movie - Batman

1990 #1 movie - The Grifters

1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction

1995 #1 movie - Heat

1996 #1 movie - Fargo

1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights

1998 #1 movie - The Big Lebowski

1999 #1 movie - Eyes Wide Shut

2000 #1 movie - Nurse Betty

2001 #1 movie - The Royal Tenenbaums

2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence

2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale

2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood

2008 #1 movie - The Wrestler

2009 #1 movie - Inglourious Basterds

2010 #1 movie - The Social Network

2011 #1 movie - Drive

My favorite performances that Oscar forgot

The Chadwick Boseman loss at the Oscars, the total snubbing of Delroy Lindo and the former president's bizarro meltdown about the ceremony (he apparently is incensed that the Academy Awards is nicknamed the Oscars) got me thinking -- randomly -- about how the awards almost always leave virtually no one satisfied. 

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.