Best Supporting Actor 1995: Results

5. Ed Harris in Apollo 13- Ed Harris gives a very standard performance that never turns into anything special.

4. Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys- Pitt's performance is somewhat interesting in his first few scenes even if over the top in his craziness, but as he continues to appear his performance just become repetitive.

3. Tim Roth in Rob Roy- Tim Roth gives an appropriately flashy villainous performance with a certain slimy charm, but in the end he just isn't that memorable.

2. James Cromwell in Babe- James Cromwell gives a wonderful performance that is genuinely moving and heart warming. It is a unique performance that finds just the right tone, and creates the right presence throughout the film.

1. Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects- Good prediction Dinasztie. Kevin Spacey gives a great performance that perfectly conveys the right sort of mystery with his character without ever giving away too much or too little through the course of the film.

Deserving Performances:
Patrick McGoohan in Braveheart
Kevin Spacey in Se7en

Horrible Bosses

Expectation is a funny thing. Just when I wasn't expecting much from Horrible Bosses, it surprised me by being a pretty good comedy. Most of the credit for me liking Horrible Bosses goes to the cast. There is a barrage of familiar faces from TV and film including Bob Newhart (remember watching the Bob Newhart show growing up), a couple of people from The Wire, Jamie Foxx, and of course the main cast of Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Collin Farrell (in a pretty awesome role), Jason Bateman... you get the idea.

The story of the movie is simple. It's sort of a modern take on Strangers on the Train (and it doesn't hide away from that fact) with three friends out to kill their respective "horrible" bosses and pretty much everything going wrong, or right in some cases. The film could have taken two directions. It could easily have turned into something dark, more black-comedy, but rather it stays with the juvenile comedy that is ever so popular nowadays. As much as I would have loved to see the film go dark, it does well in its present state. It's like how everyone enjoys kids using swear words in films, well the film is adults acting like kids using a lot of swear words. Obviously, the actors seem to be having more fun than the audience, but eventually it's contagious.

Performance wise, Kevin Spacey resurrects his Swimming With Sharks boss from hell, but a more somber version. Collin Farrell is brilliant, but it's becoming common now to take on over-the-top roles where the appearance of a well known actor is changed ever since Tom Cruise did it in Tropic Thunder. Jennifer Aniston brings about certain sassiness, but it was more like watching Rachel Gone Wild than anything else. Jamie Foxx was an opportunity gone waste, but then most of the fun in the movie is derived from his name which I shall not mention here. The reminder of the cast brings nothing exciting to the table, but it is fun when every few minutes you end up saying "Hey! I know him/her. They were in...(Insert TV series)".

Horrible Bosses makes for a fun movie if you are having a few beers with friends on a movie night. It's light comedy that entertains, but is equally easily forgetful.

Rating 3/5 Stars.              

Best Supporting Actor 1995: Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects

Kevin Spacey won his first Oscar from his first Oscar nomination for portraying Roger 'Verbal' Kint in the Usual Suspects.

The Usual Suspects tells the story of a fallout from five criminals who got together for a series of heists, and their association with an elusive underworld bogeyman Keyser Soze.

In this review it is absolutely necessary to divulge the spoilers of the film since the twist of the film is pivotal to Spacey's performance, although I must say most people probably know the twist to this film already. Kevin Spacey Verbal Kint one of the criminals in the film who appears to be rather meek and simple fellow who seems to just stand behind and around the other criminals. He does not seem to make the major decision and always somehow seems like the least important among the group.

I must say Kevin Spacey is a strange actor for me as many of his performances always seem to lose their strength for me on each viewing after the initial viewing. After initial viewing of his performance in American viewing for example I thought he was simply a strong performance, but rewatching the performance his theatrical style he has comes more and more out, as he seems to mix both film style acting and stage acting in the same performance. That does not make his performances complete failures, after all I still liked him in American Beauty but they can detract from the overall effect.

As Kint he is very mannered he always seems to be putting on a bit of an act. He is always obviously talking too much for his own good and he seems to almost purposefully make himself seems extra pathetic with his disabilities, and manner of speaking. Kint is most certainly an oddity about Spacey he is as fidgety and as expressive in his overall meekness as possible. Spacey makes Kint into a rather weak willed man, who only seems to be among the criminals because they happened to ask him.

Kint It is a theatrical display by Spacey, but it is one that works for a multitude of reasons. For one thing he most certainly comes off as pathetic and as meek as Kint should be actually. He is both believable as the utterly pathetic Kint, but Spacey abilities in both the theatrical and the subtle actually creates a sort of mystery about Kint, and it is hard to put one's finger on the mystery of who this man is. His theatricality for example suggests one of two things that is merely what Kint does to get back in the criminal world, or that he is really hiding something by pretending to something he is not, Spacey allows us to see it either way.

The same goes for some of Spacey more subtle moments in the group scenes with the other criminals. Spacey portrays Kint just right is it that he is dumb and stupid just, and that is the sole reason he stays silent most of the time, or again is there something more going on in his head, which there may be in a few brief moments from time to time. Spacey keeps the mystery of Kint that could go either way that he really just is a nothing or, there is far more than one could possibly think about Kint.

Well the truth in the end is that there is far more to Kint in that he is in actuality the criminal mastermind known as Keyer Soze, or at least most certainly is not the meek individual he portrayed for the rest of the film. Spacey's slightly off but effective portrayal for the rest of the film absolutely works with the eventual twist making the twist believable in the end without giving away the twist early on either since he keeps Verbal just the right sort of mystery with his performance.

Spacey's performance was absolutely key to the film as a whole, after all what is most remembered about this film is Spacey's performance and the twist he brings to life. Spacey is the one who makes the twist work through his odd but effective characterization of Verbal Kint. I particularly love his single moment we he turns from the pathetic Verbal to a man of confidence and strength in a single moment. He managed to make a character that one could be suspect and doubt equally. Yes it has the combination of theatrics and some subtly as usual with Spacey in this film though in this instance it absolutely works.

031. Margin Call

031. (25 Jan) Margin Call (2011, J.C. Chandor) 41



Despite the fact the characters work in a financial firm, they're constantly asking one another to dumb things down. It's just bad writing that Kevin Spacey's character has been in his position for 34 years, but has no idea how to read a projection. While it makes sense that this is just a terrible narrative device to make the financial crisis digestible for a mainstream audience, it's rather insulting.

So much time is spent clumsily, broadly indicting greed that there's no time to develop characters or give them arcs. Only Kevin Spacey's character comes close; he's burdened with a dying dog, a hilarious metaphor for his failing company. Chandor's attempts at stylizing his film, usually with off-center framing, occasionally distract from his scripting issues.

Best Supporting Actor 1995

And the Nominees Were:

Ed Harris in Apollo 13

James Cromwell in Babe

Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects

Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys

Tim Roth in Rob Roy

American Beauty

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 American Beauty 1999
Directed by Sam Mendes
Nominated for 8 Oscars, Won 5<!- google_ad_section_end ->

Lester Burnham is depressed. His life is boring and ordinary, and his marriage and relationship with his only daughter is strained and almost non-existent. But then, he swoons and falls (lustily) for Jane's good friend Angela. Meanwhile, Jane is striking up a relationship with a drug dealer next door, who films everything he sees, and his wife is also looking for a way to break out of this boring life she has.

I'm just going to throw it out there now, but I didn't particularily enjoy this film. Granted, I'm not particularly enthused by the story of a 42 year old man fantasizing and lusting after a 16-18 year old girl. I'm also not into drug dealing, affairs and swearing. So this movie wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

I'm not sure if it was the fact I'm not good at watching films the whole way through on my own (which I did for this one) or if I just didn't like the film in general, but I found it went by very slowly, and wasn't all that exciting. Lester Burnham I was found very embarassing. I felt embarassed for him when he couldn't stop staring (obviously) at Angela when they first meet, or just how obvious he is about everything else about his obsession. But I guess that was the point?

What made this film sad was the attitudes of every single character in this movie. I just don't understand how someone can let their marriage fall apart, and then proceed to complain, even though they didn't even try to save it, like we see in this movie. Or how daughters complain that her father doesn't care when she isn't making any effort at all. Or how people can have affairs and be attracted to younger women and not be ashamed of themselves.

It saddens me to see how selfish every single character was in this movie. And that's just whats so wrong with America, and North America, and so many other places, today. We're selfish people, and blame others when things go wrong. And I didn't like that about the movie. They didn't realize how much they themselves were at fault and continued to blame others.

There was just too much sexual references/content, drugs, swearing, and selfishness for me to even feel sorry a single character in this film. Harsh, but true.
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While I thought Thomas Newman wrote an excellent score, and Annette Benning was great, overall, this movie wasn't exactly my thing, nor did I enjoy it, though the ending was a twist, and was suspenseful. Sorry, unpopular opinion, I suppose.
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Rating: 5/10 stars. (Yep, stars are much less vague than letter grade!)
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MARGIN CALL

Written and Directed by J.C. Chandor

Starring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany and Zachary Quinto

With most of Wall Street and the world’s major financial sectors being occupied by protestors and ordinary citizens, who can no longer sit idly by while the global economy is destroyed from within, there could be no better timing for J.C. Chandor’s first feature film, MARGIN CALL, to hit theatres. An all-star cast, ranging from veterans like Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons to relative newbies like Zachary Quinto and Penn Badgly, make this debut a memorable and effective contemplation on what seems more and more like the inevitable collapse of the financial system. If you’re feeling a little lost about the world’s financial woes at the moment, occupying Margin Call should clear up those last lingering questions for you.