+2
Yeah, I know that Gideon set this thread up for worst performances that we think didn't deserve Oscars, and for the most part everybody's posted some really good...er, that is, bad performances. I know it's all subjective, but it's hard to be subjective sometimes when you're watching the Oscar nomination announcements and they call out the nominees and you go, "Huh? Really?"
But...invariably we disagree with our fellow MoFo'ers and defend a peformance here and there. Thanks, Rauldc, for your props. I hear you about Sinatra, but I've watched From Here to Eternity many times, and although I like Sinatra outside of this movie, I don't think it's his best performance. In fact, I thought everyone else in the movie outshone him, like Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Ernest Borgnine. But I respect your opinion on this. A lot of people liked his role here. It doesn't hurt the movie at all, but I just kind of gloss over him and concentrate on the others.
TylerDurden, I completely agree with Juliette Binoche winning the Oscar. I really love Binoche but I couldn't get into any performance in this movie. I was hoping that Lauren Bacall would win that year for The Mirror Has Two Faces. I saw that one at the cinema (at the behest of the wife---I'm not a big Streisand-as-actress fan), and I thought she really deserved it. She was the funniest thing in the movie. No "winning for her body of work" thing here at all, just damn fine acting.
Gideon started this thread off with some spot-on picks, except, like mojofilter, I loved Pacino in Scent of a Woman, but I will add that he should have gotten the Oscar years before for Serpico or Dog Day Afternoon, which are my two favorite Pacino starring performances.
And I'll disagree with you, mojofilter about Jamie Foxx in Ray. I thought he totally embodied the role without sinking into just impersonation. That said, I totally agree that he's overrated. I can't help but see his ugly woman he played on In Living Color...was she called Wanda? LaWanda? Don't remember. Oh, well.
And mojofilter, I'd forgotten Peter Finch beat De Niro for Taxi Driver. What a crime!