BEST of the Best Actor Oscar Noms (Only The '90s Edition)

Just fooling and pretending. Spacey kills me in American Beauty. To me it's a much better comedic performance than 99% of actual allegedly comedic performances. I think he gets just the right balance of contempt for his job, contempt for his family (but also love, at least for his daughter), and Play It Again, Sam-level abject helplessness when it comes to Mena Suvari.

For me, it's not a strong list--which could mean it wasn't a strong decade, or could just mean (and probably does) they missed all the good stuff. (Somebody I'd like to see on there based on recent viewing: Matthew Broderick in Election.) I think a list of supporting nominations might be stronger.

Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story

Great performance in an overlooked film.

Broderick's supporting actor, no?

Maybe he was nominated as such, but I'm positive he'd be lead in terms of actual screen time--certainly compared to Travolta or Hopkins above.

One more thought about Spacey. I would hope that even people who hate the film--because of they think it's pretentious, because of the paper-bag stuff, because the kids are cretins (not for me; I'm trying to argue the other side)--I would hope they'd at least find Spacey funny. Or am I wrong; is he one of the reasons people hate the film?

Steve Shasta, make sure you actually vote--Farnsworth will be in the lead!

clemenza- hate the film, but yes spacey is good (and funny) in it- and yeah i agree that supporting turns would be a stronger list for the 90's

That makes more sense to me.

i hate american beauty but i do think spacey gives a good performance in it (would've given it to penn or farnsworth that year though). best/biggest piece of ham: deniro in cape fear, pacino in hooah, hopkins as nixon, or nicholson in as good as it gets? deliberately left out hoffman there.

Took a quick look, and for me, definitely supporting: Pesci in Goodfellas, Jackson in Pulp Fiction, Macy in Fargo, Forster in Jackie Brown, and Reynolds in Boogie Nights (missing the best of all, Jackson in Jungle Fever). Anyway, I know it's a lead-actor thread.

lol at De Niro getting consecutive nominations for two of his worst films and performances.

macy should've gotten lead for fargo really.

Cape Fear for sure--dreadful.

COWNSLUH

Fargo is about as lazy and cynical as American Beauty.

btw it was a plastic bag, clemenza.

Cape Fear has its moments, and DeNiro is funnier than you seem to be claiming Spacey is.

will take cape fear over as good as it gets or scent of a woman a million times (obv never over nixon).

I only saw Ulee's Gold the one time on release, but I remember Fonda being very good (although one of those characters who'd be annoyingly humble to some people).

god when deniro dresses up as the housekeeper

De Niro definitely wins best...worst tattoos.

xp
that was robin williams?

I did think Cape Fear was MS's low at the time, but I could never have imagined Shutter Island.

adding to omissions: terence stamp in the limey, marky mark in boogie nights (maybe)

saw casino again a week ago and it holds up

ie still a huge disappointment

Stamp, Fonda, and Warren in The Limey def.

hell if clooney's gonna get regular nominations i'll sure as fuck take him in out of sight over that awful awful up in the clouds movie every time.

oh shit -- I forgot Stephen Rea!

Not that it was ever going to get him a nomination, but Keitel in Smoke would be near the top of my list (arguably a supporting role, now that I think about it).

lol i found out the 'twist' in the crying game when the oscar nominations were announced that year. also took a girl on the first date to the crying game. lol 90s.

OH FUCK - keitel in bad lieutenant, add that shit to omissions

When the audience learned The Secret, an old biddy seated in front of us turned to her companion and says triumphantly, "OH, see, THAT's the surprise!"

nice turn by giancarlo esposito as a young morbs in smoke

hell if clooney's gonna get regular nominations i'll sure as fuck take him in out of sight over that awful awful up in the clouds movie every time

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ok ok so which ones are in you guys' top fives then?

is the crying game the origin of twist mania in hollywood? i was thinking it didn't really kick in until sixth sense but usual suspects, david fincher's career are before that so maybe not.

Haley Joel Osment is another victim of Award Fraud (i.e. he shoulda been Best Actor).

I was going to add, "But thank god he wasn't nominated for Bad Lieutenant..." It's been ages, I should probably give it another chance.

Did anyone else think that Cage's winning performance was just a lot of anguished histrionics?

Cage's specialty up to that point was in histrionics. The film is more histrionic than Cage and Shue are. At the time I thought Penn should've won the Oscar and let Shue beat Sarandon.

These are all quite good performances:

Woody Harrelson - The People vs. Larry Flynt
Robert Duvall - The Apostle
Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold
Sean Penn - Sweet & Lowdown
Nick Nolte - Affliction

eh top of my head in no particular order based on somewhat distant memories

irons in reversal of fortune
penn in dead man walking
penn in sweet and lowdown
travolta in pulp fiction
denzel in malcolm x

Mike Figgis may be the only person breathing who adores Sting the solo artist.

thought leaving las vegas was awful flick but cage and esp shue were great in it. i do wonder how those careers are different if he loses and she wins though.

i know for a fact that marilu henner is a huge sting fan.

cage would've been incredible in hamlet 2

Irons' acceptance speech is class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXFl6IKpyI

He thanks Cronenberg for directing him in his best un-nominated performance.

Sting might be the only person breathing who likes Mike Figgis films.

Sarandon's finally winning the Oscar marked the moment when she jumped the shark and lost her snap.

i think her snap runs a ping pong themed nightclub or something now.

snap

all time fave oscar speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Q_nyjuEak

^^^^ oddest supporting actor lineup ever?

Pacino's mullet!

I liked Cage in Valley Girl, [i]Peggy Sue Got Married, and Raising Arizona, but yeah, he was pretty over the top in Wild at Heart.

wonderfully understated imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfcvPFpXUnI

i was aware that brenda fricker won an oscar for my left foot, i'm aware that the previous year's best supporting actress winner gives away the best supporting actor award and yet it still felt very weird to see brenda fricker there.

i really dig these:

Denzel Washington - Malcolm X
Woody Harrelson - The People vs. Larry Flynt
Billy Bob Thornton - Sling Blade
Robert Duvall - The Apostle
Sean Penn - Sweet & Lowdown
Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking
Nick Nolte - Affliction

i guess sling blade was a gimmick perf, but it was a good one!

thinkin i'll vote for woody, duvall or nolte

Brenda Flicker's win, although deserved, was classic coattails win.

I finally saw Sling Blade last year; it doesn't move at all! The movie only really picks up whenever Dwight Yoakam and John Ritter enter.

yoakam's fucken great in it! now that's a guy who never really gets his due. still a hard movie to put in context w/rest of billy bob's career (well maybe not so hard considering all the pretty horses)

yeah Yoakam should've gotten a supporting nod.

Irons, Duvall & Nolte (affliction) are the only ones I rate highly

awww @ Cronenberg getting a little ovation in the Irons clip. (Dead Ringers is probably my fave of his.)

still gutted and baffled that Ray Winstone wasn't even nominated for Nil By Mouth. just about wipes the floor with this lot.

eastwood imo

Cage's winning film impressed hetero men who've seen too much porn.

d/ling now

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Vote, you hippies.

Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
Denzel Washington - Malcolm X
Daniel Day-Lewis - In The Name of the Father
Robert Duvall - The Apostle
Russell Crowe - The Insider

would be my shortlist. voted for irons in the end.

he's right though that he shoulda won for dead ringers.

jess and I in mindmeld shockah

I want an audio recording of all of Irons' monologues from ROF ("All Sunny ate for dinnah was a sohn-DAY").

Reversal of Fortune[ is one of my favorite courtroom movies, despite a sorely underused Anabella Sciorra (I guess Hollywood had room for only one Italian-American young actress after Marisa Tomei won her Oscar two years later).

Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking
Edward Norton
Woody

Voted Hopkins

Joe Pesci's wasnt the shortest speech though:
Hitchcock just said thank you.
still waiting for the guy who would say only "thanks" - or- say nothing

Of those I've seen, Cage, Day-Lewis, Penn (DMW), Nolte, Harrelson, Washington, Hopkins (SOTL) and Hawthorne. Never saw Reversal of Fortune, but sounds like I should.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

whoa!

A pretty good top five.

Wow--never would have guessed Farnsworth would win.

I didn't know Eastwood's perf had defenders -- he's at best not bad; prefer him in In the Line of Fire.

Hopkins working way harder in that movie than Karloff or Rathbone. (in 20 mins' screen time)

last time he worked hard in anything

he worked as hard as Nixon did.

Dick a way more convincing cannibal.

Watching Reversal of Fortune again, I'm amazed Oscar went with the black comedy/farcical role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrxenZhf78I

Scrolling through this, I feel it necessary to clarify that my second-place Nolte vote was for Affliction, not for the one where he cried a lot.

I tried settling the matter.