I would vote for veterans, Bruce Dern or Robert Redford. Robert Redford and Bruce Dern have never won the Best Actor nods. (Robert Redford has won the Best Director Oscar.) Redford, now in his 70s, took on a physically demanding role that is unique, and I feel he deserved a Best Actor Oscar consideration as one of Hollywood's most enduring and formidable actors. The movie is a single actor-action film. But the Academy snubbed Redford's performance.
The Academy has also overlooked Tom Hanks in two performances for Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks. Tom Hanks is very good in Captain Phillips. But.... the docu-film angered me because it's the true story of a US vessel taken by Somali pirates. Serious subject matter and painful. From an acting standpoint, excellent. From a historical standpoint, bitter and hard to take. It drives home the critical compromise the US has had to face in dangerous piracy.
Other considerations overlooked:
The Butler (excellent film, but doesn't surprise me that it's passed by for Oscar consideration)
|