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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2005: Ed Harris in A History of Violence

Ed Harris did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Carl Fogarty in A History of Violence.Ed Harris portrays the Philadelphia gangster who comes looking for diner owner Tom Stall who recently killed two men trying to rob his diner..

Best Supporting Actor 2011: Nick Nolte in Warrior

Nick Nolte received his third Oscar nomination for portraying Paddy Conlon in Warrior.Warrior details a winner take all mixed martial art tournament whose two main combatants are estranged brothers (Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton) fighting for their own difficult reasons.

Alternate Best Actor 2011

And the Nominees Were Not:Ryan Gosling in DriveRobert Wieckiewicz in In DarknessMichael Fassbender in ShameMichael Shannon in Take ShelterBrendan Gleeson in The Guard..

Showing posts with label 1985 Alternate Best Actor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1985 Alternate Best Actor. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

Alternate Best Actor 1985: Results

5. Tim Curry in Clue- Tim Curry gives a very enjoyable performance where he infuses a great deal of energy in every scene as well as works wonders with the rest of his cast.
4. Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo- Daniels gives a very strong performance as both as the actor and his character. He does a particularly wonderful job portraying the subtle differences between the two.
3. Jonathan Pryce in Brazil- Pryce has a difficult role being a film very much controlled without question by the director. Nevertheless Pryce stands as the solid straight man of the film, giving a likable as well as moving portrayal of a normal man in an overly complex world.
2. Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future- Fox tempted me greatly into giving him the win with his absolutely terrific performance in this film. He carries the film brilliantly with his perfect performance that adds both weight and humor to the film.
1. Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman- This is an especially shameful year for the academy who nominated several mediocre performance when they could have nominated this terrific line up instead. This was also particularly hard to decide on my ranking on the bottom three, the top two, and even the overall number one. Julia though I give both the win here, as well as the overall along with his co-star Hurt, because what makes both of their performances as tremendous as they both are because of the truly fascinating relationship they create with each other. Both are completely amazing in their roles, but I still should say Fox is right behind them with his equally great even though very different performance.
Overall Rank:
  1. William Hurt and Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tie)
  2. Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future
  3. Jonathan Pryce in Brazil
  4. Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo
  5. Tim Curry in Clue
  6. Harrison Ford in Witness
  7. Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 
  8. Paul Reubens in Pee Wee's Big Adventure
  9. Jeff Bridges in Jagged Edge
  10. Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club  
  11. William Peterson in To Live and Die in LA
  12. John Getz in Blood Simple
  13. Sylvester Stallone in Rambo First Blood Part II
  14. Emilio Estevez in The Breakfast Club
  15. Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV
  16. James Garner in Murphy's Romance
  17. Jon Voight in Runaway Train
  18. Robert Redford in Out of Africa
  19. Roger Moore in A View To Kill
  20. Jack Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor
Next Year: 2008

Alternate Best Actor 1985: Michael J. Fox in Back To The Future

Michael J. Fox did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Marty McFly in Back To The Future.

Back To The Future is one of my favorite films as I can watch it time and time again, and enjoy it every single time that I do. For those who don't know Back to the Future details Marty McFly's efforts to get back to the present after using his friend Doc Brown's time machine (Christopher Lloyd) as well as act matchmaker for his parents (Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson) after he inadvertently stopped the event that originally brought them together.

Michael J. Fox certainly is not an actor when his name is mentioned one thinks of acting greatness, but I would say many myself included think firstly of Marty McFly. Marty most certainly is his most memorable, and most iconic role, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Marty might not be the most dramatically weighty role ever, but it still is a challenge in its own right. Also this is one performance that I would never ever want to sell short since Fox carries one of my favorite films on his shoulders, and really he is responsible  for making many of elements of the film come together as well as they do.

Marty is really not suppose to be an excessively unusually high school student. He is just pretty normal actually he has a girlfriend, has the occasional discipline troubles, has some greater dreams that he is not so sure about, and family that may not be in perfect condition but still love him. The only really peculiar element to Marty is his friendship with the wild eyed scientist inventor of sort Doc Brown, which puts him in the situation that eventually causes him to travel back in time. In the way he is written in lesser hands Marty really could have not sat well if played too straight, such as apparently that is why Eric Stoltz replaced, Fox though knows exactly how to portray McFly in an original fashion.

Fox is a very charming in this film, and he portrays the part of Marty in a rather low key fashion. He early on has a certain style in the role that is very watchable, and makes Marty very likable and easy to follow through his entire journey of the film. Fox was originally cast because of the slightly sitcom like approach he took to the part, and that actually what does work so well about his performance. Now it should be said this is a good performance in that style, and he most certainly does not go over the edge with it either. Fox uses it just the right fashion to be able to always bring a bit of humor to the role at almost all times, but he keeps the right tone to bring the weight to the scenes that need them as well.

Fox is both fun in the role, but still he portrays Marty as really a real person before anything else with actual problems. Fox never fails to bring the right method to any scene that he is in, no matter how strange the scenes may be in regards to his character. The strangest problem being that his mother becomes attracted to him after a mishap following Marty pushing away his father away from the fateful car that brought them together, where he gets hit himself instead. A mother being interested in her son, even though she does not know any better technically speaking, certainly is very tricky material, but the film deals with it wonderfully as written and particularly by Fox's portrayal of Marty's reactions to it.

Fox knows just how to play these scenes that certainly build up the awkwardness within Marty himself, and keeps the film from becoming so itself. His reactions to this are carefully comedic, but all the while Fox still manages to show the very real troubles that Marty feels over having to deal with such a situation. It is a very effective portrayal of this because Fox never overplays it, or underplays it. He never tries to make it too funny that it takes it out of the character, nor does he ever make too heavy of a situation. Fox keeps the whole complex situation grounded, as well as keeps it tasteful while still having fun with it as well.

Fox is just effective in bringing us through the whole time travel story when he first arrives into the past and is quite taken aback by what he sees. Again Fox really is just perfect here in bringing us to the past, as well as doing the same by reflecting what would be most anyone's reaction to being in the same exact situation. He effectively conveys Marty's distress by finding him in such an odd situation, that is in many ways disconcerting. Fox again though brings humor in some of the moments as Marty for example makes some of his 80's references that are unknown in the 50's. He again does not overplay them but keeps them in just that perfect tone that both brings the appropriate weight and humor to these scenes.

Two key relationships in the film are the ones with Marty's father and with Doc. Fox quite interestingly portrays Marty's own relationship with his past father. What is interesting about it is that Fox actually makes Marty the mentor of his father, and Fox does this believably so. The greatest difference between the father and son is that Marty will stand up for himself and his father will not. Fox and Glover have a really great chemistry with again a slight comedic edge since Marty is teaching the father life lessons. Fox again maneuvers this brilliantly by actually showing that Marty very much does care for his father and desperately wants to help more than just for his own preservation, but as well Fox realistically creates the relationship but has fun with the whole strange affair as well.

His relationship with Doc though which is most important to the series as a whole is also particularly well handled by both Fox and Lloyd. Although you never see Doc and Marty meet for the first time, and you never learn why they became friends but nevertheless both actors have natural chemistry and create a moving relationship between the two. Both actually show just an honest friendship that work because both actors are so comfortable in their scenes together. Fox is quite good in his scenes with past Doc as there is always the hanging feeling of dread suggested over the fact that the present Doc has been killed, Fox portrays this well portraying a genuine concern and care for his friend that is quite meaningful. Once more I must say that they are also a great comic duo as well as they place each other's style marvelously in the way Lloyd will up play a moment, and Fox will effectively downplay his own. The sorta mentor, sorta protege relationship just works wonderfully, so much so that it not only manages to carry this film but the other two as well.

This really is just a great performance by Michael J. Fox and brings to life his character Marty McFly brilliantly so. It is an entertaining, enjoyable, and very likable portrayal by Fox, and never once does he take the wrong approach to a scene. He is always absolutely on the mark in every scene, and his style works absolutely perfectly. He can go in in one scene of showing the harrowing moment in which he is starting to be erased from existent and he can seemingly carry this to his hilarious rendition of Johnny B. Goode. There is never a disconcerting effect to any moment in his performance and he seamlessly blends the various types of scenes of the film in complete harmony. This is truly strong work by Michael J. Fox that succeeds completely with his part which brings this great film together.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Alternate Best Actor 1985: Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo

Jeff Daniels did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Tom Baxter and Gil Shepherd in The Purple Rose of Cairo.

The Purple Rose of Cairo is an enjoyable film but also horrifying in its depiction of film characters who are sentient but still forced to reenact the same scenario over and over again. Anyway it is about a woman Cecilia (Mia Farrow) who tries to escape the troubles of the great depression by escaping in films, but finds one of the characters notices her and walks right out of the screen.

Jeff Daniels portrays both the character who comes out of the screen Tom Baxter, and Gil Shepherd the man who portrayed the character of Tom Baxter for the film. Tom Baxter really is not based on any particular character as the Purple Rose of Cairo is not poised as any sort of masterpiece. Instead it is shown to be clearly an especially lightweight piece of work, which is reflected well in the character of Tom Baxter. Something that is interesting actually about Daniels's dual role is that he does not portray them especially differently like say Peter Sellers plays his three parts in Dr. Strangelove. This is not a criticism though, because although his portrayals are not massively different they are not the same either.

As Tom Baxter Daniels portrays a very simple character who is suppose to be simple by the nature of that he is suppose to be a fairly simple character in the film within a film. Daniels is quite believable as this character within this film, which is just a character who is suppose to be a wide eyed optimist. Daniels plays up this fact in his portrayal as that is exactly what Baxter does. He looks at things in a wide eyed almost always happy fashion, and with a constant interest with his new surroundings once he finally decides to go and leave film. Daniels manages to bring the charm what is fitting in the role by just playing up how simple and nice the character of Tom Baxter is suppose to be.

Daniels actually has a very particular posture and style of movement for when he is Tom Baxter that emphasizes the fact that he is a film character, and not a really person. He always is very much proper in his posture, and his movement are always tight and distinct very much like the way the actors would move at the time. One thing he never does is ever really convey his emotions with his body more of just fairly simple facial expressions. He is always proper as the character's in those films were so often portrayed as there is not a hint of method acting in Tom Baxter. This actually a brilliantly handled aspect by Daniels, as he never brings to much attention to it, but still manages to show how Baxter is otherworldly.

Now of course Daniels also portrays Gil Shepherd the actor, and as I said he does not portray them all that differently. The truth is though he really should not portray him in an exceedingly different fashion though since Gil Shepherd is not suppose to be any sort of Laurence Olivier, in fact in many ways is suppose to be a fairly stock actor therefore he is not an actor with a great degree of range who becomes inseparable from a role. He is not even suppose to be a star actually, and Daniels therefore only really has small subtle differences between his two performances. One of these being his posture is more lacking, as well as he does express his emotions with his body quite often something that Tom never really does.

It is quite amazing actually the way Daniels so carefully pulls off the difference between the performance and the performer but he does it marvelously. Their other main difference comes in their attitudes and Daniels shows their differing personalities well. Gil is not a simple optimist in anyway instead he is a very self involved actor. Daniels is quite good here as well because he does not overplay this and make Gil some sort of self indulgent pompous jerk. Instead he portrays him fairly realistically downplaying the whole ego aspect, but still making it clear that Gil is always contemplating in his head his thoughts about his career first.

This is particularly well handled in his scenes with Mia Farrow. Daniels still has a certain charm as Gil, but there is always a particular drive in his performance that always seems to move toward something about himself. Daniels shows that even when Gil is talking to her pleasantly enough he only really comes to life whenever there is something mentioned about how great he was in something. On the other hand Daniels portrays that Tom is always light up in every moment he shares with Cecilia no matter what the situation. He never loses that simple outlook and his romantic love he shows for her is always absolutely genuine even if rather simple.

Jeff Daniels performance here is quite an achievement actually because of how carefully he does portray the two different men. He creates an interesting portrait of both a fantastical creation limited by the constraints of the black and white world he comes from which contrasts well with his realistic portrait of an actor who is very concerned with his own image and career. Both of his characters are both interesting in their own right, and Daniels manages to never overplay either character even though both could have been heavily. This is a strong performance that manages to bring  life to this quite peculiar story.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Alternate Best Actor 1985: Tim Curry in Clue

Tim Curry did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Wadsworth in Clue.

Clue is a very enjoyable film based on the board game about a group people stuck in a mansion one storming night who try to find the murderer of their own blackmailer, but the problem is anyone of them could be murderers.

Clue is a film that probably has the greatest comedy ensemble period. I have heard some feel that Curry here is not lead in the film but rather supporting since the group of Wadsworth and the pseudonym using guests could all be leads. The problem is there are so many of them therefore it is a film where there is no true therefore everyone is supporting. I can understand this point especially in the middle of the film where Curry very much is just among the others, and seems to have equal importance. The reason I don't subscribe to this feeling though is the beginning and the end of the film Curry becomes the ringmaster of the circus, and absolutely leads the film.

Tim Curry portrays not one of the board game characters but rather the butler Wadsworth who invites everyone to the mansion to air out the secrets of everyone, as well as invite their apparent blackmailer Mr. Boddy. Tim Curry's role actually is quite a mystery and at first he just seems to be a butler who is doing his duties while getting all of the guests settled. He is certainly prim and proper enough to be the butler role, and there is no reason for us to assume that he is anything but. Soon enough though it appears Wadsworth is the one who in fact invited everyone to in fact expose Mr. Boddy as the blackmailers of the rest.

When Curry begins to expose the others' various weaknesses that cause them to be blackmailed it is here that Curry takes his very proper place within the arrangement of the cast. That placement being always the smartest one in the room, as well as the one who always stands on top in any battle of wits the others attempt to muster up. Curry is excellent in portraying the sharpest mind and he never has a missed timing when making Wadsworth seem smarter on the other seeming a lot dumber. He is sufficiently superior without  ever seeming smug or obnoxious in any way. Instead Curry in fact comes off as the most likable of the entire cast.

Curry is just great in the role and has a terrific chemistry with the rest of the cast. His method of bringing every little quip, and reaction into perfect harmony with who ever he is working with is simply wonderful. Curry in the role never fails to bring the laughs into every scene, with his perfect timing throughout the film. He is incredibly entertaining, and really in a way he is the glue that keeps everything working as Wadsworth does stay in charge for almost the entire film. There is not a moment where Curry is for a moment lacking, he brings something humorous to almost anything that he says. He even does this when talking about Wadsworth's wife suicide by the hilarious delivery of his line that said his wife had friends who were socialists.

This is an extremely energetic performance by Curry which livens every scene that he is in certainly, but even more so this sort of portrayal is what makes the final act of the film work. The final act consists of Wadsworth recounting the whole night, and coming to the conclusion of who the killer is. This is one big recreation of the whole night, and really it is a strange idea for a rather short film to spend its ending recounting the rest of the film, but it works. The reason it works is because of Curry's portrayal of it. He never loses a minute of time with his manic method of telling the story that is constantly funny and very entertaining the whole way through. Whether it is constant almost crazed physical movements, or his quick humorous impressions of rest of the cast it is just a joy to watch.

Eventually the finale comes three times with a different ending each time. Curry in the first two keeps up that same comedic energy, and the reveal about his character is not really any sort of stretch and makes sense considering Wadworth's action and Curry's portrayal. The final time though it is very much different and it turns out that in fact spoilers, that Wadsworth is in fact Mr. Boddy the black mailer all along. Well I must say Curry certainly can pull of suddenly being the villain, since after all he's Tim Curry, but frankly he really does not lead up to it technically speaking the first two endings fit in more accordingly to Curry's portrayal.

Nevertheless this is not a big deal being a comedy, since it would have been impossible to have really have both ways anyways, and plus Curry still remains enjoyable particularly his very funny delivery of his final line.This is just a fun performance from Curry throughout that adds considerably to his film. In the scenes where he needs to act with the rest of the cast he plays off of them marvelously, on the other hand when he needs to lead the film he handles it just well never leaving any question about his ability as well as doing it always with a great deal of comedy. This may not be an overly complex performance, but it is a very entertaining one which is exactly what it needed to be.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Alternate Best Actor 1985: Jonathan Pryce in Brazil

Jonathan Pryce did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sam Lowry in Brazil.

Brazil is a fascinating film about an excessively complex world where a bureaucrat has an extremely hard time attempting to fix an administrative error.

Brazil is pretty much the definition of a director's film. Every inch of the film is in service of Terry Gilliam's vision of the film, and with these sort of films a great performance can be difficult. The reason is that performances are usually not their for the actor really explore their character and show off their abilities. Instead their performances are just used for the director's vision and only to enhance his projection. In this case most of the performances are very much as strange as the backgrounds just like many of the supporting players in A Clockwork Orange, and they are completely absurd. This is not to say these are bad performance, they most certainly are not, but they are simple and to the point.

Just like A Clockwork Orange though these limitations on the actors does not carry over to the lead performance here with Jonathan Pryce as Sam Lowry the bureaucrat who attempts to fix an error. Jonathan Pryce is the non absurd character actually, and instead stands as the straight man for the entire film. His character rather being just part of the environment as most of the others seem to be, Lowry stands as the man that we see in the environment. He is not comfortable with it like those who seem perfectly natural in it, and he is the only character that the audience can really identify with.

Jonathan Pryce actually has a surprising important role here because he is necessary for the success of the film. If there was this character who we could go along with the film might become maybe too much of a cluster to understand. Pryce knows that his character needs to be an anchor for the audience, he needs to be a normal person, and that is exactly as Pryce portrays him. Pryce does not go for any sort of flashiness in his performance. He takes a down to earth approach for his character, and just tries his best to show how an average man who behave given the circumstances of all the madness that is going around him at all times.

Interestingly enough Jonathan Pryce's Sam Lowry just like the leads from Kiss of the Spider Woman also spends a great deal of time escaping his current reality with fantasy and dreams. Pryce though even in his imaginary scenes where he is dressed in a gaudily made costume with giant wings flying where he tries to save a damsel in distress and fights various monsters puts on emphasis in reality. Even in these completely bizarre moments he still is completely straight forward in the matter, he portrays these scenes even as simply a down to earth hero, Pryce always keeps a straight face in these dreams no matter how odd they get.

Pryce is really perfect in the role as he acts just as anyone would given the situations he gets involved in. Even in the scenes that are really pretty much acts of physical comedy. In these moments Pryce does not overplay them and in fact allows them to be humorous well still stressing the more disturbing qualities of that is around him. He grounds every scene in a realism even when everything around him is anything but. Pryce realizes the stresses of these situations as a combined degree of stress, fear, and exhaustion as well. Although Pryce does suggests that Lowry is partially used to this structured madness, he still gets across the idea that the lunacy can still surprise him.

Due to this down to earth approach it is very easy to sympathize and follow along Sam's attempts to try to wade through the curious bureaucracy and save the literal woman of his dreams. His largely romantic adventure is extremely well portrayed by Pryce with a great deal of genuine truthful love in his performance showing that Sam's intentions are purely love. He though does have a nice degree of humor to when she fakes her own attraction to him, and Pryce reaction is just perfect. Pryce though is terrific because he absolutely is convincing in this love Sam has for this woman he barely knows, and actually makes what he does for her believable.

Jonathan Pryce with this straight forward approach makes a likable protagonist, and a moving portrayal of a man moved by emotion in a world that is moved along by anything but. It also succeeds in making the eventual fate of this normal man truly something heartbreaking. In his very final scene his final look on his face and the way he sings the song Brazil at the end is something that is truly haunting. Pryce really is essential to this film's success because of he is the central figure we can attach to within all of the over complexity around him, and stands as a man who the individual who falls victim to machinations of the state. Pryce's work here may not be a performance that forces attention upon itself, but it is one that absolutely serves its much needed purpose to its fullest extent.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Alternate Best Actor 1985: Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman

Raul Julia did not receive and Oscar nomination for portraying Valentin Arregui in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Raul Julia despite nominated for the golden globe with William Hurt as well, as winning the National Board of Review for Best Actor along with him, Julia found himself without an Oscar nomination. I don't think he suffered from category confusion either, since back than the academy would nominate two actors from the same film as they did just the previous year with Amadeus. He was in a Best Picture nominee yet he still was forgotten by the academy, although thankfully Hurt reminded them, but it certainly is a huge misstep by the academy. This is made especially true considering the lackluster nominees as well the fact that William Hurt's performance depended greatly on Julia's.

Raul Julia's Valentin and William Hurt's Luis Molina are from completely opposite worlds and lives even though at the moment they both share the same cell in the same South American prison. We see the incredible difference of these two men from the opening scene of the film. Starting out we see Hurt as Molina making broad gestures in a decorative robe telling dramatically a tale of romance, but on the opposite side we see Valentin on his bed crawled into a ball in darkness with sweat and blood stains on the back of his rather ratty shirt. In all of Hurt's long elegant description of the romantic film, Julia tears through into the scene from the darkness with a simple decidedly unromantic cynical joke.

Raul Julia role early on is that of the cynic against the romantic of Hurt's Molina, and their dynamic together is what makes the film as special as it is. Julia is excellent here bringing to life fully Valentin here who at first is a very bitter, and angry man. Valentin who is in prison as a political prisoner for his involvement in an underground movement against the government, and just before we first see him has repeatedly been tortured in the prison as a form of interrogation. Julia is intense as he portrays the angers and frustrations he has over being treated the way he has been, and Julia effectively shows how it really does consume in a way that brings out his cynicism as well as his own way of lashing out at Molina, and his beloved Nazi propaganda film.

In every way that Hurt portrays the sentimentality found in Molina's dreams and fantasy Julia comes back with Valentin's harsh realities. Every statement by Molina, Julia fires back with a cold efficiency showing Valentin's discontent in the cell.  Julia is blunt and to the point all the while in his performance that contrasts Hurt's performance perfectly. Where Hurt early shows Molina's head seems to be in the skies, Julia though always shows that instead Valentin cannot escape the present. There is always a certain drive there that makes always on target as a man for his cause. Julia is especially good in the way he shows that Valentin is at times very much on the watch for tricks, as he sharply questions whenever something seems slightly off.

What is so special in the film though comes in the way both actors move away from their initial ways early on where Molina starts to open up more about his own realities, whereas Valentin does start to indulge a bit more in the fantasy expressed by Molina. Julia is excellent here because he makes this transition subtle one, that never just moves his character one way. He never cheats his character of Valentin, he moves Valentin's transition to opening up about himself slow deliberate very much fitting a character who endured great torture just to keep his secrets. Whenever Valentin does open up a little Julia realistically portrays it, it never feels forced in any way, because even in these moments he never completely lets go the harsher tones brought upon from Valentin's history.

In the moments when Valentin does open up more later on Julia creates a complex and moving portrait of the man. He creates a somber showing of where the anger really does derive from that is seen so strongly in his other moments as he opens up to Molina about one of his lovers. Just like Hurt, he makes this man's past something that both comforts and haunts him as well. There is a depression in Julia's portrayal over not being able to see the woman he truly loves ever again, but interestingly shows even a bit of shame in his performance as well because the woman is technically against his own revolutionary ideals. Julia realizes this past in just a few moments brilliantly, that really brings to life where this man came from.

The most powerful moments of course come from the interactions between the two men. Their relationship is never made simple by either actor. Both actors are pitch perfect in creation of the relationship. At first they are, as I said before, opposites as Julia makes Valentin tower emotionally over Molina in his way by either attacking him in petty or more proper fashions, that Julia does show result both from Valentin's background as well as just his state that is forced upon him. Slowly but surely the men come closer together, but what is so fascinating about the two actor's portrayal of this is that it is not one sided. Both men influence each other to really open up into their deepest needs, and desires, as well as it changes more toward the other's view without completely giving up on their original feelings either.

Julia shows that Valentin comes to understand Molina's own love of the fantasy, and the escape that it provides from their difficult realities. It is a beautiful transformation that Julia shows as he expresses so well the relief the troubled Valentin finds in the fantasies created by Molina and himself. It is a truly wonderful sense of awe both actors create in showing how the men create these adventures in their own minds. Eventually the two men come to an understanding among one another, and begin to really understand one another. Again the both Hurt and Julia are marvelously in showing the two coming together. The two never simply the relationship but rather than ease into to naturally.

The two actors turn their relationship into something truly special. It is a deeply moving portrayal as the men find themselves finally understanding the others. Julia just as Hurt does show that the two connect in more than any attraction actually, since Julia never really ever portrays it that even though technically speaking it becomes sexual that is not really the important part of it. It is instead frankly purer understanding he portrays that he has with Molina that brings him into truly loving the man. Their relationship in the end is not made memorable through their single sexual scene, which the film carefully and quickly deals with anyway, but rather the mark they leave on one another that the actors brings to life so well. Raul Julia's performance is simply incredible, absolutely succeeding with every aspect of his character, and as well working with perfect harmony with William Hurt to create an unforgettable impression.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Alternate Best Actor 1985

And the Nominees Were Not:

Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future

Jonathan Pryce in Brazil

Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman

Tim Curry in Clue

Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo 


A year without a single actor yet to be nominated for an Oscar, good luck on your predictions.

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