Best of 2008: Top 10 Performances by a Supporting Actor

Top 10 Performances by a Supporting Actor

Looking at my list for the best supporting actors, there's not really a system or a commonality between them except eight out of the ten played off-their-rocker psychopaths, killers, molesters, or schizophrenics. The two sane ones weren't so over the top, but sweet and gracefully filled the stage with presence.

Dev Patel in "Slumdog Millionaire" captured the essence of unstoppable determination in the name of love. He wasn't over the top or under-performing - he was perfect in a crucial age-role of the film. The other lucid character was played by James Franco in "Milk." Franco - with "Pineapple Express" under his belt - had a tremendous career, jump-starting a future in great films. In "Milk," he was more like the housewife to Harvey Milk, a Jackie Onassis to her JFK.

Eddie Marsan, who was pitch-perfectly creepy as the driving instructor in "Happy-Go-Lucky," begins the eight crazies. He contrasted Sally Hawkin's character so masterfully that sometimes you weren't sure if she's ever leave the car alive. In "Revolutionary Road," Kate and Leo go head-to-head, but in the few scenes with Michael Shannon - the only role who understands the couple's escapism dream - are brilliant. The man out-performs DiCaprio in every which way. A possible child molester, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a priest in "Doubt" who must defend his sexuality and position at a 1964 Catholic school in the Bronx. Like the feuds in "Revolutionary Road," Hoffman clashes swords with Meryl Streep - if only we could have a sword-duel to see who would truly win. In "Burn After Reading," Brad Pitt, releasing his inner-Keanu, blooms as the bouncy/screwball gym trainer who teams with Frances McDormand to uncover a possible government secret, while John Malkovich goes ape-shit on the Coen Brothers set as the man McDormand and Pitt are after. Also starring in the same film are Tom Cruise as the foul-mouthed, rapping movie producer and Robert Downey, Jr. as the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude. Cruise was off-the-charts crazy, while you had to look beyond the character-over-character/skin-over-skin to find the insanity of Downey, Jr.'s character.

And then, in a whole other universe of caliber, there is the unreachable Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight." All I have to say about his performance is that it is the best performance of the 21st century, and one of the best in cinematic history. Transcendent. Sinister. Perfect.

And now, the list of the 2008 Top 10 Performances by a Supporting Actor:

10. Dev Patel as Jamal Malik in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

9. John Malkovich as Oscbourne Cox in BURN AFTER READING

8. Brad Pitt as Chad Feldheimer in BURN AFTER READING

7. Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in TROPIC THUNDER

6. Michael Shannon as John Givings in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

5. James Franco as Scott Smith in MILK

4. Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in TROPIC THUNDER

3. Eddie Marsan as Scott in HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

2. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Brendan Flynn in DOUBT

1. Heath Ledger as The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT

Doubt

Doubt
Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams & Viola Davis

John Patrick Shanley's 2005 Pulitzer and Tony-winning play, "Doubt, a Parable," comes to the big screen with a smaller name (just drop the "a Parable" part) breathing life into the four-character original. Next to "Hamlet" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Shanley has written one of the best plays of all time - no over-exaggeration. It is perfect. So, it's worrisome to watch a sheer masterpiece on the big screen with big names: Streep, Hoffman, Adams. "Doubt" in the cinematic form is not perfection, however Shanley's screenplay portrays St. Nicholas Catholic School in a way the play only imagined, said with both approbation and uneasiness.

This story is a tricky one to adjust. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Father Brendan Flynn, a cordial, jolly priest who gains the trust of the community, the audience and his colleagues. This role is thrown into a sticky situation due to Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), and must be interpreted with much care. Aloysius, the school's principal and Flynn's inferior, speculates that he has involved himself in inappropriate relations with one or more of her students. Hoffman's job is to gain the trust of the audience by seeming... normal. Shanley's script allows for slight creepiness to ooze out of Flynn (i.e. long fingernails and Kool-aid and cookies), but it must be subtle enough for the trust to remain. Hoffman succeeds in this task. Though many doubted the casting for Flynn, this man tackles the role like he always does.

Sister Aloysius is another role that can go terribly in the wrong direction. Honestly, the previews showed her loud, vicious side which should only come out a few times. Streep keeps her character in control, but also gives Aloysius more humanness than expected, which was very pleasing. She did not become an unbeatable force. She has weaknesses, hidden through a clouded window. The Queen of Holloywood illustrates that age will never bring her down, and I hope she earns her third Oscar for this terrific and commanding performance.

As for Viola Davis' Mrs. Miller (formerly known as Muller in the play) and Amy Adams' Sister James, Adams wins by a long shot despite all the critics' opinions. We know Adams can play the innocent, naive character ("Junebug," "Enchanted," and "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"), and she delights us one more time as the young nun who is the go-between for Aloysius and Flynn. Though she has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a SAG, just like Davis, Adams is still underrated. Sister James is the keystone to "Doubt." She represents the audience. She embodies the adjective, "wishy-washy," which may seem like a weakness, but is in fact the essence of this movie. To doubt yourself and others is to think anew. One can either keep on believing the same thing, doing the same routine, remaining innocent, or one can change. James' psychological transformation is beautiful and sad. Because Aloysius brought the woman into a world of doubt and uncertainty, a world she can never revisit, James has new ideas and thoughts - she doubts. We, the audience, are the same as she. We are unsure of Flynn and Aloysius. We follow James, and maybe believe her more above her superiors.

Mrs. Miller, the mother of the black boy supposedly involved with Father Flynn, commands one single scene. Viola Davis arrives as the only character completely sure of themselves, even if everything else is askew. The virtually unknown actress dominates Streep, but only because the script allows her too. The woman is excellent, but overrated with the world of cinema. This woman gave a powerful performance, full of profundity on countless levels, but deserves no award over Adams as the supporting lady.

The play was Shanley's masterpiece, his baby; he had to take control in the film adaptation. Any sane person would have. However, some of his decisions in the adaptation took the story down different paths. It was the slight changes that stirred in me. The lines he cut that should have been savored and a few actions that weren't played out. Perhaps they were minuscule items that bothered him. With polished cinematography and angles that can only be defined as tipsy, the feel of the film serves as excellent and a bit unnerving.

In bringing a jewel of the stage to life on the screen, there will be some stains and spots, however, Shanley and the eternally memorable cast keep "Doubt" priceless.

Grade: A

Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War
Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Amy Adams

Mike Nichols (director) swiftly pours us a vibrant shot of comedy and drama in the very first scene. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), naked, relaxes in a hot tub with three naked women and another man. They talk about some movie the one girl's starring in, but Wilson is disinterested; he's only interested in the news on the television - the Soviet Union is taking over Afghanistan. As the story continues, we follow the playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent (Hoffman) and a Houston socialite (Julia Roberts), who band together and pull off one of the greatest covert missions in history, which eventually aided the dismantlement of the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. We know Nichols can do drama ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Closer"), but I wasn't sure about comedy. However, with his incredible cast - though Roberts is a tad overrated, but still edgy - he knocks down that barrier.

Hanks leads the way through a series of awkward, hilarious situations and also through periods of anguish and loss. It's a perfect mixture. His office is run by bombshell women, all bearing cleavage, save Amy Adams who is Wilson's backbone secretary. She's smart and, though a bit pure, understands Wilson's scandalous ways. Hoffman is a complete lunatic and fits the role to a "T," and Roberts delivers a half-and-half, milked up performance.

There are scenes in "Charlie Wilson's War" that astound us. Emily Blunt plays a blouse-buttoned professional daughter of some not-so-important Texan, and as she sits in Wilson's office, she is disturbed by the sexiness of his office gals. In the next scene, however she is clad in bra, panties and stilettos, in Wilson's suite, with the Washington stud. It's hilarious! Also, as Wilson and Hoffman's Gust Avrakotos team up, trying to gain funds from other countries, the duo use lap dance persuasion tactics to draw the mullah from the countries leaders. Once again, we are dealt a double flavored shot of comedy and drama.

Yet, the truly dramatic scenes in which Hanks and Adams venture to Afghanistan to see the horrible warfare going on there is very touching. Their working relationship is great and nothing is pushed to the limits. It shows Wilson's softer side, never flirting with his secretary or going over her wall.

Though Wilson was able to boost funds from 5 million dollars to $1 billion annually, there is great tragedy in the film, for our government, once the Soviets were out, pulled out of Afghanistan, and as a result, we are now fighting the country we should have stayed to educate.

Grade: A-