list-o-mania
from the cluttered wishing to be categorized brain of Nathaniel R
Compiled in February 2006 using a complex mathematical formula [snort] involving number of films, clarity of obsession, quality of work, and other *undefinables* (such as previous films, awards show appearances, publicity, tv, & stage work) that influence me even though the list is meant to be about 2000 through 2005 only for more on the workings of this list -check out the introduction
Actors of the "Aughts" 30-21 |
30 Hugh Grant
I can't recall when it was exactly but Hugh Grant threatened to retire earlier this decade. The comment provoked an instant "No!" inside of me and I started to realize how much I value his unique star persona and how grateful I am when he shows up to elevate a film. He doesn't have the biggest laughs in Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks (2000) --those belong to Elaine May and Tracey Ullman but I was glad for his presence anyway. In sharp contrast to his usual good guy comic stammer he proved an unexpectedly fine and smooth cad in Bridget Jones Diary (2001). And then with About a Boy (2002, FB nomination) Grant hit what will probably remain his peak. It was one of those lovely and rare cinematic blessings: the perfect role for an undervalued actor arriving at the perfect time in their career. It's a real shame Oscar wasn't looking.
29 Heath Ledger
You know that moment in Brokeback Mountain (2005) when the boys are first leaving their mountain idyll and Jack Twist asks Ennis Del Mar, with all that desperate but unspoken hope in his eyes, if Ennis will do this again the next summer? It's heartbreaking. I feel that way about Heath Ledger now. I find myself unexpectedly quite in love with his performance and fearful that I'll never see its like again. I don't want this one monumentally moving star turn to haunt me for decades until I'm bitter, graying, and developing a paunch. It's not that I doubt Ledger's talent --I'd seen it four years earlier in Monster's Ball (FB Bronze Medal, 2001) and saw his range confirmed again with Brothers Grimm (2005) --just that I know roles as great and iconic as Ennis Del Mar are uncommon. If Brokeback remains his peak, I'll hope to be less damaged than Jack by the abandonment and continue to enjoy the small if less fulfilling reminders of his considerable charms (Casanova, Lords of Dogtown, 2005)
28 Denzel Washington
I'm cheating a bit with this placement for Denzel Washington. He was not this high in the rough draft. But as I was happily counting down and typing away, I caught Inside Man, and my intermittent love for this actor was renewed. [See, this list is supposed to reflect 2000-2005 only. There are a few casualties of that decision ...chief among them Chiwetel Ejiofor and Aaron Eckhardt, both of who I hadn't seen enough work from as 2006 began and both of whom would have made the list had I waited until right now to draft it. But anyway, back to Denzel] It wasn't that I didn't enjoy his work in the past few years... it's just that other than his deservedly Oscar winning star turn in Training Day (2001) it didn't thrill me like it used to. I felt that he was getting too bogged down in overly earnest fare (John Q and Antwone Fisher, 2002) or lackluster films (Manchurian Candidate, 2004). I felt that Denzel the esteemed, Denzel the legend was getting a little predictable (again, Training Day being an obvious exception) and then along came this bank robbery lark to remind me of his considerable charisma. To paraphrase a famous line from Training Day if he's having fun as an actor, which he clearly was in Inside Man, '...King Kong ain't got nothin on him.'
27 Javier Bardem
It's hard to picture a Hollywood actor as masculine as Javier taking two gay roles back to back but that's just what this Spaniard did at the turn of the decade. I should add that it's hard to picture both because Hollywood actors don't seem half as virile as Bardem and because they're afraid of gay roles (Brokeback aside). The first of the two to be released here was his passionate and Oscar nominated Reinaldo Arenas biopic Before Night Falls (2000). That was followed (stateside at least) by Second Skin a lesser film and role but his sympathetic star quality was obvious again. He followed that with the international film The Dancer Upstairs (2001) and the first of two Spanish Oscar submissions this decade Mondays in the Sun (2002) Two years ago in The Sea Inside, a foreign language Oscar winner, lovingly shot flashbacks of the actor at the beach made the film's suicidal drama more poignant merely by amplifying the loss of such a perfect human specimen. When he finely went Hollywood in an uncharacteristically small role in Collateral (2004) he was still working his vivid magic as an actor, the star of his own scenes as if a whole parallel movie were to be found should the camera linger with him.
26 Orlando Bloom
How long has it been since we had a movie star who looked this good in swashbuckling mode? Forever. I think it's the first time in my lifetime that someone has become this famous by combining heart stopping beauty with sword and arrow athleticism. Lots of men look fine with buzzed hair and military gear as did Orlando in Black Hawk Down, 2001. But Orlando also looks delicious wearing big plumed hats (Pirates of the Caribbean, 2003) and long blond braids (Lord of the Rings 2001-2003) and really, friends, how many men can pull those looks off? Plus he's giving engaging performances while doing it. Don't try to argue it. Everyone loves elf-warrior Legolas and very few people had any gripe with Will Turner as he discovered that it would be the pirate's life for him. It was 'Paris' in Troy (2004) that started the backlash against this young actor. But I say it's a credit to him that he played the character as written; selfish, cowardly, myopically horny. The character is hard to like, I'll give you that. But that doesn't mean the actor is doing bad work. There are naysayers out there who think he's a terrible actor and maybe they're right... the career is young. But I don't think so. At best we're just starting to see what he can do. At worst he's this new generations Keanu Reeves, a divisive but stunningly handsome actor who manages a giant career filled with loveable but wobbly performances.
VOTING ENDS IN ON FRIDAY, JUNE 2ND ON THIS CURRENT POLL
25 Brad Pitt
When I did my combined list of favorites actors of the 90s, Brad Pitt was the top ranking man. Given what he's been up to since that indelible Tyler Durden spin brought his last decade to its close, #25 is too generous (I'm well aware --consider it an accounting error) but this list is meant to reflect both their cinematic worth and my particular devotion in the given time frame. When it comes to Pitt, I'm a loyalist. I scratch my head and chalk it up to prejudice when people question his skill as an actor (let's just say beauty doesn't grant male actors automatic respect like it does their female counterparts). How can anyone think this man can't act? OK...if you've only seen Troy (2004), you're forgiven. I have no idea what he was doing there, I confess. For my money Pitt is a better Tom Cruise than Tom Cruise: he's got the major movie-star mojo AND range as an actor. The fun but pointless cameos in Full Frontal and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and the voicework in Sinbad (2003) are neither here nor there. Pitt's effortless charm and light comedy skill is in ample evidence in The Mexican, Oceans 11 (2001), and Mr and Mrs Smith (2005). As if in answer to the naysayers who conveniently forgot all about his fine work in the 90s, Pitt will return to heavy drama twice later this year and prove everyone wrong (again).
24 Dennis Quaid
Somebody go ahead and pinch me. Quaid gets my vote for the single most unlikely but welcome comeback of the decade. The 90s were awful to him despite a strong if failed run at superstardom in the 80s. But so far, things are looking up....way up. I didn't much care for Frequency (2000) but he was appealing and shiny with stardom again therein. He was smart to join a solid ensemble in Traffic (2000) too --perhaps the secret to his comeback is that he's been relying on his talent rather than the lothario charm that powered his ascendance in the 80s. 2002 was even better. He carried The Rookie into sleeper hit status as its likeable and solid star and turned his grinning sexed up persona on its ear with terrific furious work in Far From Heaven. If it seemed like the year was too good to be true, well, it was. Oscar ignored the comeback despite numerous kudos. (Quaid has in fact never been nominated for an Oscar). Most recently Quaid shone again in the blink-and-miss run of In Good Company (2004) as a middle aged man with a career crisis. His talent sure is aging well.23 Ed Harris
Speaking of Oscar blunders. Here's a perennial alsoran for you. There are few people as overdue for the statue --particularly if you're talking entire careers into account. Harris is just two years shy of his 30th anniversary with the cinema and the best part of that long marriage is that the love is still strong and reciprocal. It's impossible to imagine someone better suited to star in the screen version of Pollock (2000, my review) and the performance he delivered was masterfully potent. Even if the role isn't much and it wasn't in A Beautiful Mind (2001) or when he is arguably miscast, as some feel about his participation in The Hours (2002), Harris always delivers with conviction. My favorite thing about Ed Harris in the first half of this decade is that he started it amazing me with the simple grunts of a famous but inarticulate artist and ended it amazing me with head spinningly interesting line deliveries as a somewhat stock criminal in A History of Violence (2005). Silent or chatty this actor is always speaking volumes.22 Cillian Murphy
Irish thespian Cillian Murphy has the most recent arrival to place the highest on this list. But perhaps I should explain. He has actually been making movies since 1997 but some of them were shorts and none had any major release in USA outside of festivals or tiny runs. For most American filmgoers the first sighting of this in demand actor was in June of 2003 when the camera introduced him disoriented, naked, and sprawled out on a hospital bed in the zombie flick 28 Days Later. A new actor couldn't hope for a better way to be introduced. You have no idea who this character/actor is but that setup made you want to know everything about him. Right. That. Second. It wasn't long before those icy blue eyes were popping up everywhere on movie screens. Supporting bits in Cold Mountain, and Girl With a Pearl Earring followed later that same year ("Breakthrough" Silver Medal, FB Awards). In 2005, Cillian made good on that promise both as an actor and a showman, exhibiting fun range in roles as diverse as a mad scientist (Batman Begins "Best Villain" Gold Medal, FB Awards), a seductive killer (Red Eye), and a motherless transsexual (Breakfast on Pluto). He was clearly having a good time with all three scenery chewing characters. Next up for this industrious new screen presence? The lead role in the Cannes winning Ken Loach drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley.
21 Tom Wilkinson
This actor pops up regularly in small bits, doing his thing solidly whether or not the role has much depth. Usually you can sum up the roles with a quick descriptive: general (The Patriot, 2000), mob boss (Batman Begins, 2005), priest (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 2005). But when the role has a cool hook or any depth at all watch him work magic. I still marvel at his incongruously befuddled doctor in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and all the ways in which he spins the characters own selective memory while in the business of memory selection and erasure. His delicately spun and evasive dance with Kirsten Dunst does exactly what the screenplay needs it to, turning the B plot into a richly textured mirror of the A plot. So, yes, you can trust this man with crucial film hanging moments. But chances are it's his rare turn in a lead role for which he'll always be remembered. I'm speaking, of course, about 2001's In the Bedroom a performance both subtle and giant. Subtle in that there's no grandstanding and you don't see it's full depth until after the film has ended. Giant in that the character still haunts you vividly, years afterwards. I recently read the masterful story upon which In the Bedroom is based. His performance came rushing back to me. It's as if he xeroxed every microscopic speck of character detail and nuance and transferred it, without losing any resolution, from page to screen.
next page: 20-11
The Complete List for The Films of 2000-2005
100 -91 / 90-81 / 80-71/ 70-61 / 60-51 / 50-41
40-31 / 30-21 / 20-11 / 10-6 / 5-1
