Thursday, April 1, 2021

Thursday Movie Picks #351: Oscar Winners Edition: Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress



Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Oscar Winners Edition: Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress

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I'm picking the most recent winners that I like and it's a theme within a theme. Can you guess what it is?

 


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
 
Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Rockwell plays the immature, not-that-much-brain-cells and violent police officer who clashed with anyone to do with the billboards.  
 
J. K. Simmons in Whiplash (2014)
Not a fan of the movie; it was over the top and trying way too hard to shock us. Still I thought Simmons was good as the demanding and terrifying instructor.
 
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)
A meaty role and Ledger played it really well. If he had lived, maybe he would have gotten a spinoff movie.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
 
Allison Janney in I, Tonya (2017)
I, Tonya was a surprising gem for me, I really enjoyed it. Janney was great as Tonya Harding's mother, a hard working class woman who was emotionally and physically abusive towards her daughter.
 
Mo'Nique in Precious (2009)
I really like this movie which had a lot of good performances including Monique who also plays a bad abusive mother; another one up for worst mother ever.
 
Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton (2007)
Love this movie. Once again a lot of really great performances here including Swinton who plays the stressed and cold lawyer.

 
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12 comments:

  1. Good picks, Wanderer. We match with Rockwell but I'm yet to see Precious and Michael Clayton. Allison Janney was excellent in I, Tonya.

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  2. I love your theme within a theme! And you picked terrific performances.

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  3. We match! I like the picks I've seen here, I just went with the two. The theme within the theme is nice, I haven't seen all the movies but I assume they all played the antagonists, right? I mean just shows that the meatier roles and bad guys really do win.

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  4. We match on Monique and Heath! These are all wonderful performances.

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  5. I love the villain theme going on here. I still have to see Precious which will not be an easy watch..hence why I keep putting it off. I have yet to see Michael Clayton but i bet Tilda is great. Whiplash is another to see. I had a feeling Heath Ledger would be popular this week because he was just so good in this film and he is right up there with John Candy and Robin Williams for stars we still mourn. Sam Rockwell was so good in 3 Billboards and I really like this film. I, Tonya is a film I didn't think I would like but I do, it was quite engaging and Janney was brilliant as that a-hole mom.

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    Replies
    1. Yes Precious was a difficult watch, but it has terrific performances.

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  6. Hey we matched one each in the actor and actress category! As I mentioned in my post, villains do make for some terrific performances, and the right actor can make it iconic!

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  7. Love a theme within the theme.

    I've seen all six except Precious, it just strikes me as too harrowing to be entertaining, and all are fine pieces of work. I would have rather seen Sam Rockwell win for one of his other performances though. He's fine in the film but I think he's been better in many other films, it seems like he won because it was felt to be his "time".

    I also went with three from each category.

    The Razor’s Edge (1946)-Anne Baxter-Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) disillusioned by WWI drifts through Europe looking for life’s meaning. In Paris he becomes reacquainted with childhood friend Sophie MacDonald (Baxter) who he remembers as a happy wife and mother. Having lost her family when a drunk smashed into their car Larry finds her a broken, drug addicted prostitute and tries to help her but her sorrows run too deep.

    The Last Picture Show (1971)-Cloris Leachman-In the slowly dying North Texas town of Anarene high school senior Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) drifts into an affair with the coach’s wife Ruth Popper (the recently departed Cloris Leachman). Though it commences more out of ennui than true feeling their involvement soon causes profound changes to both.

    The Year of Living Dangerously-Linda Hunt-Well connected photographer Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt) takes inexperienced correspondent Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) under his wing upon Guy’s arrival in Jakarta. As political tension roils and then escalates to the boiling point both their lives as well as that of diplomat Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) hang by a thread.

    The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)-Harold Russell-At the end of WWII three servicemen return to their hometown to find their way of life radically changed. One of the men Homer Parrish has lost his hands in an explosion, while he has adjusted to living with the hooks that replaced them, he finds the world is a vastly different place for him. Russell, who had suffered the same sort of injury, was not a professional actor but his performance is naturalistic and immensely impactful.

    All About Eve (1950)-George Sanders-In the Broadway world of stage star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) urbane, venomously acerbic and powerful theatre critic Addison DeWitt (Sanders) is tolerated but not liked. Still when Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) insinuates herself into Margo’s good graces it’s Addison who sees through her sweetness to the vicious climber underneath. My favorite Supporting Actor winner, a perfect meeting of actor and role.

    They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)-Gig Young-In the soul crushing world of Depression era marathon dances resides opportunistic promoter and emcee Rocky Gravo (Young) a man devoid of scruple or compassion. He sees the contestants-including hard bitten Gloria (Actress nominee Jane Fonda), glamour girl wannabe Alice (Supporting Actress nominee Susannah York), broken down Sailor (Red Buttons) and audience surrogate Robert (Michael Sarrazin)-as so much fodder to be made money off until they lose their usefulness and are thrown away. The deeply troubled Young (he ultimately killed himself and his fifth wife in a murder/suicide) was a preeminent comic actor for years before this revelatory performance.

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    1. Has Rockwell been nominated before? Was he nominated for Moon? I really like that one.

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