Best Supporting Actor 2014

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Who was the best supporting actor of 2014?

Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
3
10%
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
3
10%
Robert Duvall in The Judge
0
No votes
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
17
57%
Edward Norton in Birdman
7
23%
 
Total votes: 30

flipp525
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by flipp525 »

FilmFan720 wrote:
flipp525 wrote:
FilmFan720 wrote:I also think Jeremy Renner does some really interesting work in The Immigrant that no one else on the planet seems to have noticed.
Um, excuse me, I did and you agreed with me!
Sorry, I had forgotten about that!

Let me say, "no one else on the planet besides flipp and I seem to have noticed. I guess they just don't have the impeccable taste the two of us do!"
Haha! Well, too many here might disagree with you if you went that far...

Jeremy Renner (who I normally think is just a big blah on-screen) was fantastic in The Immigrant as was Joaquin Phoenix. I was surprised that Cotillard was cited for the less Academy friendly Two Days, One Night, but I thought her near silent film work in this was one of the year's best performances. And that cinematography (including that final shot) was just breathtaking.
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FilmFan720
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by FilmFan720 »

flipp525 wrote:
FilmFan720 wrote:I also think Jeremy Renner does some really interesting work in The Immigrant that no one else on the planet seems to have noticed.
Um, excuse me, I did and you agreed with me!
Sorry, I had forgotten about that!

Let me say, "no one else on the planet besides flipp and I seem to have noticed. I guess they just don't have the impeccable taste the two of us do!"
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
flipp525
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by flipp525 »

FilmFan720 wrote:I also think Jeremy Renner does some really interesting work in The Immigrant that no one else on the planet seems to have noticed.
Um, excuse me, I did and you agreed with me!
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
FilmFan720
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by FilmFan720 »

I'm finally catching up on my last few Oscar nominees from 2014, and can finally close out this category. Although it has been covered by most everyone the same way I would.

Robert Duvall is an embarrassing nomination for a legend sleepwalking through a horrible film. In his place I would have nominated Riz Ahmed, although I also think Jeremy Renner does some really interesting work in The Immigrant that no one else on the planet seems to have noticed. If the Love Is Strange guys were demoted down here, I would also slot either of them in.

Mark Ruffallo is very good in Foxcatcher, but I feel like that is mostly while fighting with a film that doesn't know what to do with his character. I don't begrudge his nomination, but I don't think he is given enough to merit a nomination.

Edward Norton is a lot of fun in Birdman, although I'n not sure how "great" of a piece of work it is. Like everyone else, he is always "acting" and that isn't always the most impressive style to me.

On the other hand, you have Ethan Hawke, who never seems to be acting and therefor is easy to take for granted. Yet again, though, he gives a powerhouse performance and I am so glad he got a nomination for it. His performance is calculated to perfection, warm and wise yet never losing the idea of disappointment hanging over it. In many ways I think the real heart of the film might lie with Hawke, both as Linklater's surrogate (again) and as the figure of both aspiration and warning for Mason.

As much as I want to vote for Hawke, though, I have to go with the global consensus and vote for Simmons. I saw Whiplash late in the game, right before the ceremony, and was prepared to backlash against J.K. Simmons. Here, though, is a great character actor giving his all and turning out an iconic performance from the moment he steps on screen. It is exactly what everyone claims it is, and a deserving winner in this category.
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Sabin
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by Sabin »

My favorite acting of the year is Edward Norton's first scene where he effortlessly supersedes Michael Keaton's directorial authority in this play. He's both bullshitter and genuine. The rest of the film neuters his edge by giving him that impotence subplot that I have no use for but he's so good early on as the nightmare of Riggan's life that I'm tempted to go with him. I'm going with Simmons, a different kind of would-be artist's nightmare. I'm still in love with the fact that J.K. Simmons won an Oscar. How often is this category a haven for movie stars slumming it in second leads? J.K. Simmons is such a character actor that even his name feels seventh billed. If you were to ask me a list of ten deserving actors who have no chance of ever winning an Oscar, he would be on it.
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flipp525
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by flipp525 »

dws1982 wrote:My picks will be among the following:
Corey Michael Smith, Olive Kitteridge
Thanks again for reminding me of this performance. If Olive Kitteridge had been a theatrical release, I think both Smith and McDormand would have won Oscars. They were both so good.
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-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by dws1982 »

Duvall is fine in The Judge on a basic level. He's a pro, and he gets the job done, but it's hard to call it a supporting performance when every one of his scenes is pretty much written and staged as his Oscar clip. I feel like the movie supports him more than he supports it. Plus the movie is, as everyone said, really bad, and I've already voted for him twice, I think. Norton's fine. Hawke is pretty good as the dad who kind of grows into the job. Even though I think movie overall is fairly overrated, I do like the way Hawke and Arquette portray what ultimately becomes an amicable divorce. Ruffalo is very good I think--grounded and humane, while Carrell and Tatum remain (by necessity) odd and aloof. I can kind of see an argument that Whiplash hands scenes over to Simmons just like The Judge does to Duvall, but I'm also not sure if it's just the case that Simmons is so dominant in his line delivery and body language that it only seems like they're all just trying to get out of his way. He's an actor I've admired for years, ever since he turned up on Law & Order as the psychiatrist, the kind who should win this award, and I don't think I can bring myself to take his award away.

My picks will be among the following:
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler
Erich Bergen, Jersey Boys
Rupert Friend, Starred Up
Ciaran Hinds, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
Ben Mendelsohn, Starred Up
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Corey Michael Smith, Olive Kitteredge

With some more still to see. Feel like I'm forgetting someone though.
The Original BJ
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by The Original BJ »

I didn't mean to sound down on Ruffalo's work -- I think he's the clear acting standout of Foxcatcher, and generally strong throughout the movie. I just meant that he didn't have a ton of moments that stood out at the level one scene after another do for competitors like Simmons and Norton.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by Big Magilla »

I agree almost completely with B.J.'s assessment of this category.

Riz Ahmed should have been nominated in place of Robert Duvall. Edward Norton, as good as he was, was better in earlier days. Ethan Hawke does more than just tag along. J.K. Simmons, as good as he was, wasn't all that much better than the competition.

I do, however, disagree that Mark Ruffalo doesn't do much. I was underwhelmed by Steve Carell in Foxcatcher, but I thought Channing Tatum and Ruffalo were spot on as the Schultz brothers. They're both mesmerizing with little dialogue. Having just watched the newly released Blu-ray and the interviews with Tatum and Ruffalo I am even more convinced that they, and not the aloof Carell, were the film's true best assets.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by The Original BJ »

For the most part, this is the slate I would have chosen -- with the obvious exception of Robert Duvall, a default nomination for a terrible movie. Riz Ahmed in Nightcrawler would have made a much more exciting choice.

Mark Ruffalo creates the most fully human character in Foxcatcher, but aside from the terrific interview scene, doesn't have all that many really memorable singular moments. (In fact, I was surprised something OTHER than the interview was chosen for his Oscar clip.) I voted for him last time, for another of his relaxed sad sacks, and I'd probably wait to choose him again for something more outside his usual range.

Ethan Hawke was viewed by many as basically a tag-along to the Boyhood train, but I think he's excellent in the movie, juggling a genuine attempt to try to be a good parent while at the same time making it seem to his kids like he's the "cool" parent. I think he's nearly as good as Arquette, in much the same type of performance, and at least merits consideration for my vote. But this role, too, seems well within his established lackadaisical wheelhouse.

I'm not sure if Edward Norton's Birdman work is quite at the level of his Primal Fear/American History X/Fight Club run, but it's by far the most exciting thing he's done since. Like all of the actors in Birdman, he spins comic gold out of a character who is, deep down, tremendously sad, and in a movie full of riffs on actors personae, his difficult thespian was a great send-up of his own reputation. He's another nominee I'd consider choosing, and I hope this marks a return to form for the once-promising actor who's been widely MIA over the past decade.

I don't think J.K. Simmons towers over the competition to the degree that he should have been essentially a de facto winner from the moment the season began. But I can't deny that his performance makes a striking impression, and contrary to some criticism, I don't find it remotely one-note. He has the obvious change-of-pace scenes designed to make him appear more sympathetic (which he delivers beautifully, by the way), but even within his tyrannical teacher scenes, there's a live-wire mix of madness, control, humor, ego, and generosity, so you never really know how his character is going to behave at any given moment. And given that his competitors are all basically leading men, it's hard for me to root against a longtime character actor who has always been an enjoyable film presence but who finally got the role of his life and knocked it out of the park. He gets my vote.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by Big Magilla »

Kellens101 wrote:Sorry if I'm not supposed to be posting these right away. Who is the best supporting actor of 2014?
No problem with the timing, although we usually pace them out a little more to give people time to put their thoughts together. However, since we've already discussed this year's nominations to death, there probably isn't a whole lot more anyone wants to add.

Choices, though, should be in alphabetical order. Too late to fix that as corresponding votes would not transfer with the name.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by CalWilliam »

Not a weak line-up, but a not very exciting one.

The Judge is a dreadful film, and Robert Duvall is a great actor, but this citation is quite frustrating. Next.

The second time I watched Boyhood I appreciated Ethan Hawke's performance better. Maybe it's not an award-worthy turn, but he is charming, natural, affecting and as comfortable as it gets, but there's better competition.

J. K. Simmons is good, and Chazelle cares in giving him some more range in you know which scenes, what's saving him of being one note, and he's an intelligent actor, but in the end this is not that different from what Louis Gossett, Jr. or John Houseman did, and even the latter is more subtle to me.

I could vote for Mark Ruffalo, in a very expert performance and far from this category's standards (he's way better than Christian Bale in The Fighter, just for trying to find a resemblance), but Edward Norton is extremely well-used in Birdman, and of course he's a very good actor, in a very funny performance, a very self-conscious one, and very brave too. It doesn't matter he's just playing himself. Few others would have done it that good. He gets my vote.
Last edited by CalWilliam on Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by mlrg »

Simmons
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Best Supporting Actor 2014

Post by Kellens101 »

Sorry if I'm not supposed to be posting these right away. Who is the best supporting actor of 2014?
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