Completed Category: Lead Actor

 This is one of the two categories I completed by watching The Apprentice, which was 100% not on my radar until the Golden Globes nominations came around. 

Actor In A Leading Role

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet - A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo - Sing Sing 
Ralph Fiennes - Conclave
Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

All of the men nominated in this category are men! Isn't that interesting! It shouldn't be, but it is. 

Anyway, the first of these films I saw was Sing Sing, a few months ago. While I really loved it, and Colman Domingo gave a commanding performance, I don't think this is his year to win. He is definitely going to rack up a bunch of nominations over a few years, though, which is great. He's great. The movie is a fantastic look at creating art and being human, even when locked up, and so this is like a 10 out of 10 for triumph of the human spirit. Some are sad that no Supporting Actors were nominated, but to me it was an ensemble triumph above all else. Humans need to be better than we are, and some of us are trying to be. Go watch Sing Sing. 

The next one I saw was Conclave, the pontiff-icating movie.  Will Ralph Fiennes win an Oscar, finally?  Perhaps.  He drives this spectacular conclave weekend and it's a doozy.  I had read the book and knew everything, and still felt all the requisite tension and emotions. I am 100% OK with him winning. 

After that I saw A Complete Unknown, and here we have some major competition for Ralph, because Timothee Chalamet contains multitudes, and one of those multitudes is now Bob Dylan. This is not a standard biopic, as I have mentioned elsewhere, rather a depiction of a period of time when some amazing strong personalities and talents came together in various ways with our man, with wondrous as well as heartbreaking results. Timothee is so very good, along with several other performers in this film. For a while, the buzz was that this was his award to lose. 

But then there's Adrien Brody. Is The Brutalist a juggernaut? Is it going to crash and burn?  Is it going to go off the rails mid-triumph, like its main characters?  Who's to say? I don't want to discount the work that Adrien Brody did, but this film really pummeled me, including his performance. (Don't do drugs, kidz.)  I want The Brutal-est to win some awards (mainly to stop the lunacy of certain other film) but in this category he really is in about 4th place for me. I don't think this is a common opinion, though. 

And finally, I saw The Apprentice. You know, not only was this movie not on my radar, but I didn't even know who Sebastian Stan was, so there's that. Why, what's that you say? No, I don't really follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or I haven't - but actually I've recently launched a project to watch it all in order and catch the ones I've missed. I'm only on Iron Man 2, though, so no Sebastian. But! Apparently he starred in I Tonya. Oops - I remember those guys, but I'll have to go back and look at it again to really realize who he was/is. At any rate, now I've seen him doing The Donald, and I have to say, this was quite a performance. It isn't just about nailing the mannerisms or whatever, but he really took us on a journey. I couldn't look away.  (And I am VERY capable of looking away from the actual current events.)  But, I think it's an honor for him to be nominated. 

Order I want them to win:
Ralph or Timothee, Sebastian, Colman, Adrien

Order I think they will win:
Adrien, Timothee, Ralph, Colman, Sebastian 

Who was your favorite Lead Actor performance?