Favorite Performances Since 2000

Here are some of my favorite acting performances since 2000.  I didn't start really watching films until high school, which is why there is a cut off year.  I didn't think it was fair to include all the classics I have seen.  So this is a more contemporary list.  May do a classic one in the future.  

I tried to rank them, but found it impossible.  So here they are, in alphabetical order by film name.

Carey Mulligan in "An Education"

Mulligan was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for this role, but lost to Sandra Bullock.  Still can't believe that.  Such a powerful performance, as you can see in this clip.  This role really makes you think, but doesn't preach, which I really appreciate.

Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

The best female villain character I have seen outside of a Disney film.  Weaver is slyly powerful as the mother of a group of criminals.  You think her sons are bad?  They get it honest.  How Melissa Leo won the Oscar over Jacki Weaver is a mystery to me.  People must not have seen this movie.  That's all I can think of.

Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Departed"

I have found DiCaprio to be a little over the top for my tastes as of late, but I will always love his performance in this film.  So conflicted, but ultimately, a truly good person who wants to go the right thing.  You can't help but root for him.

Meryl Streep & Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt"

I was rooting for Kate Winslet this year in the Best Actress Oscar race, but for the life of me, now I don't know why.  Meryl Streep is one of the greats, sometimes nominated just because she is Meryl Streep.  But she really is very good in this one.  My favorite of hers, I believe.  And Philip Seymour Hoffman can do not wrong.  For some reason, his shouting voice makes me happy.  Haven't figured out why, but it does.  He's good.

Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"

Heard a story that Amy Ryan was kept from entering the movie set because someone thought she was a Boston citizen, not an actress in the film.  That's how good she was.  She made you hate Helene for the way she treated her daughter, then sympathize with her in another scene.  You don't know how you feel about her until the end.

Marion Cotillard in "La Vie En Rose"

Breathless.  I was completely breathless after watching Cotillard in this film.  It was a complete accident that I saw the film in the first place, and then when she was nominated and eventually won the Oscar for this performance, I was so elated.  The recognition brought so many more roles to her, which I am grateful for.  I'm a huge fan of hers.  I couldn't embed the clip.  You can watch it at the link below.  Worth the detour.

http://youtu.be/qlKujrTom2w

Guillaume Canet & Keira Knightly in "Last Night"

I am a big fan of subtle acting.  When the pauses mean as much as the words.  I totally bought into the story between these two characters, and really cared about what happened to them in the end.  I believed their history, and enjoyed reading in between the lines.  They are two of my favorite actors, and I would absolutely love to see them do something else together.  Love their chemistry.

George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"

Another fine piece of subtle acting.  He lost the Best Actor Oscar to, what I consider, an over-the-top performance.  But that's fine.  I'll enjoy it on my own, without validation from the Academy.  This is a film I can watch over and over again, mostly because of Clooney's performance.  Also, just because it's really really good.

Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road"

How do you steal a movie starring two of the greatest actors of the past decade?  While you're out of focus on screen?  You'd have to be Michael Shannon.  Only in the film for two scenes, he completely grabs your attention and doesn't let go.  Haunting performance.  One that stays with you long after the credits roll.

Paul Newman in "Road to Perdition"

My favorite actor of all time, in his last performance in the big screen, unless you count his voice work on Pixar's "Cars."  One of his finest.  I feel he got better with age, though his performances in the 1950s and 1960s are some of the best I have ever seen.  I can't get enough of him.  Even a depressing scene like this makes me smile, just because I'm watching him.

Colin Firth in "A Single Man"

He should have won the Oscar for this, not "The King's Speech."  But that's my opinion.  I found this to be a truly daring performance.  One that not all audiences can sympathize with, which makes me sad.  The grief he feels from losing his boyfriend, though fictional, is some of the best proof of real love that I have ever seen.

Michael Fassbender in "Shame"

I've seen few performances in my life where the look on the actor's face tells me more than the words they have spoken.  This is one of them.  I remember the expressions of his face more than I remember anything he said.  I don't know where such emotions come from.  He made me sympathize for the character, even pity him in some cases.  Something I wasn't expecting, to be honest.

Joel Edgerton & Tom Hardy in "Warrior"

I really couldn't choose which one I liked best.  They were so different.  Edgerton was subtle.  Hardy was fierce.  They were both brutal fighters, but very human and even broken on the inside. I don't know how they were each such bad asses, but also so relatable as well.  You felt their hurt and knew where they came from.  Brothers, but so different.  And you understood it.

John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"

Hawkes is now one of my favorite actors.  He took this character, a violent meth-addict, and made him likable.  How does that happen?  I'm still confused by it.  Don't get it.  But he did it.  And I love him for it.  He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but lost.  To someone who played a drug addict that was completely unlikable.  It goes without saying that I disagree with the decision, but oh well.  Like with the others on this list that lost or weren't even nominated, I'll just enjoy them myself.  The Academy can shove it.  :)