As we continue our week-long salute to what the cinema had to offer us in 2015, today we focus on our favorite performances of the past twelve months. There was a nice, wide range of favorites as selected by the mxdwn staff. A few of our favorites are clearly awards-bound as we barrel through yet another Oscar season, yet a few others are names absolutely nowhere in sight on terms of end of the year plaudits. With a salute to a terrific year of acting behind us, let’s celebrate the performances that made the deepest impression. Take a gander.
Cate Blanchett, CAROL
Read our review.
Blanchett’s elegantly polished acting style is perfect match for the role of Carol and there is no actress in Hollywood better suited for the role. She expertly balances the perfectly idealized version of womanhood and a more vulnerable, relatable person falling in love.
-Alyssa Merwin
I’m still waiting for a bad performance from Cate Blanchett.
-Leo Zielger
Rose Byrne, SPY
Read our review.
Bless the Utah Film Critics Association for being the sole awards body to acknowledge the absolute genius of Rose Byrne’s tremendous comedy in Paul Feig’s Spy. So far that is, but comedy doesn’t win awards. No worries though, since Byrne’s marvelously contemptuous Rayna Boyanov is such a delicious creation, its enough reward in itself. Decked with an opulent wardrobe, out-of-this-world hair and a whiff of derision for one and all, Rayna showcases Byrne’s gift for comedy while dispensing a nifty character trajectory- she nobody’s fool but knows when she’s been beat. Intimidating, vulgar and riotous yet somehow multi-faceted all at once, it’s nearly startling considering Byrne’s performance is ever so still. To close I offer one of Rayna’s most inspiring bon mots: “When I was a little girl growing up in Bulgaria, which is the worst by the way, poor people everywhere and cabbages constantly cooking- there was this woman who was kicked out of her house and she lost all her money. She couldn’t even sell her body. So she became a clown on the streets. She would perform all her tricks standing in mud, and just cry and cry. You remind me of this woman.” Byrne made “sad Bulgarian clown” a thing and delivered the performance of the year.
-James Tisch
Leonardo DiCaprio, THE REVENANT
Read our review.
DiCaprio’s performance in The Revenant was like no other he has delivered in my opinion. His performance was well-rounded and he delivered such a multi-faceted performance, challenging more so considering he has so little dialogue.
-Mickey Elizondo
Michael Fassbender, STEVE JOBS
Read our discussion.
Michael Fassbender doesn’t really look like the late tech pioneer, yet in Danny Boyle’s film, he embodies the frustrating spirit of the well-known figure. Fassbender channels Jobs’ passion, genius and unwavering ego and turns it into the performance of the year.
-Matthew Passantino
Oscar Isaac, EX MACHINA
Read our review and discussion.
I should really hate Nathan Bateman. He’s a crass, smug, pompous, sexist douchebag who knows he’s smarter than you and isn’t shy about letting you know it. And I do hate him; I hate him a lot. And yet, whenever he’s on screen explaining how he uses the internet to look at your porn searches, or confirming that the robot women he builds do indeed have working lady parts and explaining how it’s okay if you were thinking about screwing them, I hang on his every word. Whenever he’s offscreen his presence is missed. The main reason I almost-sort-of like this Mark Zuckerberg meets Lex Luthor evil genius is because Oscar Isaac plays him with a little loneliness, a bit of vulnerability, and a whole lot of humor and creates one of the most memorable onscreen villains in years.
-Erik Paschall
Rooney Mara, CAROL
Read our review.
Both Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett’s performances are so contrasted that it’s hard to really tell which one gives a superior performance. However, I have to through my towel in for Mara, although Blanchett is nothing short of a revelation as well. Mara’s character is the more difficult one to play, as she struggles with indecision, not only in her career, in her relationships but with her overall direction in life. It is a performance about turning points, and Mara plays it with an intriguing combination of innocence and wisdom.
-Kristen Santer
Jason Mitchell, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
Read our discussion.
There’s something wildly tortured and charismatic in Mitchell’s rendering of the late rapper Eazy-E. This is especially impressive as Eazy was a wildly divisive person in real life; one that courted as much animosity as he did fandom. Here we get the best look at the man behind the persona and how much a toll the life he helped champion took on him.
-Raymond Flotat
Shameik Moore, DOPE
Read our review.
In a film as kinetic and tonally difficult as Dope, the one thing holding it all together is Shameik Moore’s performance as Malcolm. Without his performance, the film goes from being one of the year’s best to being an insensitive embarrassment. Moore effortlessly maneuvers the film’s radically shifting tones, proving himself adept at comedy, slapstick, and genuine dramatic heft. Malcolm is a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders; it’s a role that demands an actor who can carry that burden. Shameik Moore proves himself more than capable of carrying a film, and is one to watch.
-John Wedemeyer
Saoirse Ronan, BROOKLYN
Read our review.
Ms. Ronan is a luminous revelation in this film. She brings her character to life with her remarkable use of her eyes, facial expressions, manner of speaking and overall look. She is as precise as a surgeon in marking off the character’s stages of evolution throughout the film.
-Karen Earnest
Mark Ruffalo, SPOTLIGHT
Read our review and discussion.
Ruffalo is an absolute phenomenon here. He commits so much to every one of his characters’ idiosyncrasies that it’s truly hypnotizing.
-Ethan Brehm
Jason Segel, THE END OF THE TOUR
Despite this year not being all that great for movies, it has had a wide collection of great performances. Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina, Elisabeth Moss in Queen of Earth, Matt Damon in The Martian, Benicio Del Toro in Sicario, even Gregg Turkington as the man behind Neil Hamburger in Entertainment, among others. But the performance I especially want to single out is Jason Segel in The End of the Tour. While some people seem to swear by David Foster Wallace (the author of Infinite Jest), I am admittedly not one of them. I’ve enjoyed his books, but never really found him the “voice of a generation” as others paint him as – I actually find his essays more compelling. And maybe this lack of deification of the writer is why I enjoyed Segel’s performance so much. The movie, which is about Rolling Stone writer David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) spending five days with Wallace at the end of the Infinite Jest book tour, provides a rare intimacy that you rarely see in biopics. As the author, Segel creates a multi-faceted character that has a humanity often missing in this genre. It’s a welcome reminder that biopics can present subjects – warts and all – who are a more complex and fascinating than the traditional “greatest hits” format allows.
-Brett Harrison Davinger
Kristen Stewart, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA
Read our review.
In Olivier Assayas’ film, Kristen Stewart plays Valentine, the personal assistant to a fictional world renowned aging actress, Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche). Through rehearsing together for Maria’s next role, the two explore the roles of youth and age within Hollywood and whether or not a movie told in space or featuring werewolves can be of any value. Stewart essentially satirizes her own career at certain points and does so completely within the bounds of her character. Although she plays an actress’ assistant, their rehearsing has Stewart also stepping into a dominant role as she directs Maria and acts as her character’s emotional superior within each scene, leading to some expert character changes by Stewart at a moment’s notice.
-Rachel Lutack
Charlize Theron, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Read our review and discussion.
In a story was that is completely geared towards Tom Hardy’s character, the film was stolen by Charlize Theron’s performance as Imperator Furiosa. In a seemingly direct disregard to standards that have come to define feminine beauty, Theron’s performance says to hell with those expectations and delivers a gritty character that has us begging for a sequel based entirely on her.
-Danny Zepeda
We’ve had some great performances this year, particularly from actresses including Brie Larson in Room, Rooney Mara in Carol, Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina, Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Kitana ‘Tiki’ Rodriguez in Tangerine. None of them have stuck with me in the same way as Theron’s turn as Imperator Furiosa. Theron takes over the film as the Guzoline runner who wants to free her bosses ‘wives.’ Most importantly, her performance follows the films’ suit by not spelling out the character but leaving us to figure out what we need to know the further we follow her on her rescue plan. When I saw the film, the theater cheered loudest when Furiosa had her moment towards the end because Theron made us a part of that character’s journey.
-Tyler Lyon
Jacob Tremblay, ROOM
Read our review.
Nine-year-old actor Jacob Tremblay is an absolute force in Room. Told from his character’s five-year-old perspective, the film manages to capture through his eyes all the wonder, innocence, and curiosity of childhood. Tremblay is able to play the sorrow, suspense, and confusion just as well as any adult actor in the film and is also the movie’s main source of emotional punch. Although he is actually several years older than five, Tremblay immerses himself into Jack’s mind while also bolstering the other actors around him.
-Rachel Lutack
Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments.
Also be sure to check in all week for continued Best of 2015 coverage. Previously covered:
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