Best of 2009 - Best Actor

Its easy to get excited about a collection of great movies. Its rare to get excited about a collection of great performances. The best actor catagory this year is full to the brim and while that makes it hard to compile a list, it meant there was a lot of entertaining work to see this past year. There was no Daniel Day Lewis type performance this year but in luei of one legendary one, there was a lot of great ones.

Best Actor:

5. Souleymane Sy Savane - Goodbye Solo
Narrowly beating out Jeremy Renner is the star of Goodbye Solo. Unlike the Jamie Foxx, driving a cab in Collateral and pining for something he'll never make happen for himself, (not discrediting anything about that movie or Foxx's performance) Souleymane Sy Savane plays the eternal optimist. He loves everyday no matter what he's doing, yet still strives for bigger and better things.



4. Sharlto Copley - District 9
Without the performance of Copley, District 9 would have gone from an above average summer movie to Transformers 2. He created a depth of character that is so often absent from this type of movie and he made it more than just a movie with CGI, car chases and explosions. Credit the writing, yes, but credit Copley with really making a movie more than it perhaps was worthy of being.




3. Nicolas Cage - Bad Lueitenant - Port of Call: New Orleans
The good Nic Cage came to play this year and its always a pleasure when he does. The critiques of Cage's work is strange to me because, yes, he makes bad movies, but no one says you have to see those. Skip them and see movies like Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation and most recently Bad Lueitenant where an off the hook Cage really is, well, so good at being bad.





2. Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
The most emotional and likely Oscar winning performance of the year is that of Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake. Like Copley, Bridges made a mediocre movie worth watching. Having seen over the years the range of Bridges, its no surprise that he was able to accept this role, but to flesh it out and define it in the context of a script that didn't give him a whole lot to work with is his greatest achievement.


1. Patton Oswalt - Big Fan
Unconventional as it this pick may be, Patton Oswalt turned in the best performance of 2009. His innocence masks his crazy and we only know that both exist thanks to the way he carries this movie. The movie unfolds in a way that would not be necessarily believable had it not been for Oswalt convincing me. Part, crazed sports fan, part sad lonely man, makes an interesting character and one that Oswalt nailed.