The Oscars: Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role

And the nominees are:

George Clooney - Michael Clayton in Michael Clayton

George Clooney a Hollywood darling, and as such gets the benefit of the doubt a lot of times. I will admit that he is a good solid actor and I like him in most things that he does including this movie. Clooney plays Michael Clayton, a lawyer that is known for "fixing" problems. In this case he has to fix Tom Wilkinson (also nominated) who freaks out during a deposition and takes his clothes off as hilarity ensues. He also butts heads with Tilda Swinton (also nominated) who is lead counsel for the company Clooney and Wilkinson's firm work for. This is the first of three understanded subdued performances in the category. To me Clooney is just acting pensieve and looking forlorn through the entire movie. Maybe that is just what the movie needed and I don't know what I am talking about but he is just kind of blah.

Daniel Day-Lewis - Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day-Lewis is the favorite. He plays a charismatic and ruthless oil prospector, driven to succeed by his intense hatred of others and psychological need to see any and all competitors fail at ensuing hilarity. It definitly is an over the top performance. Day-Lewis is one of those actors that completely loses himself in a role. He becomes Plainview. The performance itself should be able to win the Oscar for him but he will also probably be helped in the fact that most people think he should have won the 2003 Oscar for his role as Bill The Butcher so this has the elements of being a make-it-up-to-you-for-a-past-loss Oscar that the Academy seems to give out sometimes.

Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

I have no problem whatsoever in saying that Johnny Depp is my favorite actor. Except of his three turns as Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp has never played a charactor even remotely like any of the other characters he has played. The man has range. In this one he plays one of the most evil characters in literature, a vicious serial killer who butchers his victims with his straight razor with pretty much no remorse at all and then hilarity ensues. He and his accomplice Mrs. Lovett get rid of the bodies by baking them into pies and selling them to the public. Oh yeah, he gets to sing too. Now he wouldn't have a chance on American idol but he does a decent job on the vocal side and his ruthless protrayal is great.

Tommy Lee Jones - Hank Deerfield in In The Valley Of Elah

Tommy Lee Jones is another one of the actors I like to see because hilarity always ensues. This is the second of the understated subdued performances nominated this year. The film tells the story of war veteran Hank Deerfield and his search for his son, a soldier who recently returned from Iraq but has mysteriously gone missing. Hank's investigation is aided by a police detective (Charlize Theron) who becomes personally involved in the case. TLJ really plays this one quietly with a lot of sad looks and consernation on his face. He seems to be tired and beaten up emotionally throughout the whole film.

Viggo Mortensen - Nikolai in Eastern Promises

Viggo Mortensen turns in the last of the three subdued performances with his role as a Russian Mafia enforcer with a small concience working his way up through the ranks of the Russian Mob in London. Mostly he just stands around waiting for his bosses to tell him to do something but when he has to do anything, he does it full on. Which leads us to the most talked about scene of the movie. Viggo goes full throttle as well as full frontal in a steam bath fight for his life. I could have done without seeing little Viggo and out of the five films nominated in this category, this is the weakest.

Well, there you go, tune in tomorrow for the big one, Best Picture.