Image via Complex Original
Oscar predictions are usually a piece of cake (or garbage, depending on how you look at them), at least in the big categories. A Best Picture front runner is often helmed by the Best Director favorite who, in turn, worked with the Best Actor or Best Actress. Though this structure is by no means rigid, the public knows who is supposed to win. If the identified favorites don't, it's a surprise; if they do, it's deserved.
But this year there's hardly a straightforward narrative to speak of. While there were plenty of great performances (and more than a few great films) during 2014, often those two things didn't seem to happen in the same movie. It's a trend the goes beyond the actual Oscar nominations: Jennifer Aniston was a revelation in Cake, a not-so-good drama that would have otherwise been forgotten; Jake Gyllenhaal blew people away in Nightcrawler, and the Michael Mann rip-off would have been dead in the water without him.
While some of the following movies are better than others, 2014 may be remembered as the year actors made the movie, rather than the other way around. Here are 10 examples from 2014 where actors transcended the movies around them.
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
American Sniper is a sensation at the box office, but the movie itself is a clunky and overly simplistic portrayal of the American military. Cooper, however, is fantastic as U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, embodying the role with a determination and intensity that few other actors could muster. (If anything, he's more riveting to watch in the scenes that take place off the battlefield.) It's a shame Eastwood's direction wasn't more assured or the storytelling more nuanced. At the very least, someone could have sprung for a real, live baby.
Jennifer Aniston in Cake
Directed by: Daniel Barnz
Cake doesn't really work as a movie, but it's not for Jennifer Aniston's lack of trying. The story follows a woman, Aniston, who suffers from chronic pain and attends a support group. When one of the group's members commits suicide, Aniston's character becomes obsessed with her decision, ultimately leading her on a path to recovery. While that may sound like it has the makings for a riveting drama, the plot is filled with tired clichés and undeveloped characters. Still, Aniston gives her all to a largely unlikable and difficult character.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler
Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Nightcrawler sans Gyllenhaal's wide-eyed turn as Lou Bloom would have been nothing more than a (pretty mediocre) Michael Mann rip-off. Instead, Gyllenhaal turns Bloom into a riveting weirdo that we can't take our eyes off of. Imagine Tom Cruise's character in Magnolia merged with a creepy office IT guy, and you're halfway to the bizarre sociopath that Gyllenhaal embodies. Even if the movie doesn't hold together, Gyllenhaal's performance makes the film an undeniably affecting experience.
Scarlett Johansson in Lucy
Directed by: Luc Besson
I'm a Luc Besson apologist through and through, but Lucy is just too ridiculous to take seriously. The movie loses you somewhere between the "we only use 10 percent of our brain" explanation and the dinosaur time travel part, and it doesn't reel you back in. Let's talk about Scarlett Johansson though. If there's going to be regular woman who becomes a god-like uber being, what better actor to play the part? The fact that she could come halfway close to anchoring a film this patently ridiculous is a testament to her limitless charisma.
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Some people really like Foxcatcher, and that's not unreasonable—it's an expertly crafted film. Personally, I find it to be overly cold and clinical, if fascinating to watch. The performances, though, are universally fantastic, with one standing out above the rest. Though Carell is fantastic in all his prosthetic-nosed glory and Channing Tatum's charisma is a much-needed blast of on-screen energy, it's Ruffalo's portrayal of Dave Schultz that steals the show. While the role could have been a simple supporting turn, Ruffalo's furtive, wholly believable portrayal of a former champion is completely mesmerizing. Come Oscar day, I'll be rooting for him.
Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
I get that The Theory of Everything is adapted from a book written by Stephen Hawking's ex-wife, but I still can't fathom why they made a marriage drama about the smartest living person on the planet. Sure, Hawking's family life was unconventional, but so are many other people's. The true magic powers of Hawking are his discoveries. What makes The Theory of Everything more of bummer, though, is the fact that Eddie Redmayne is so fantastically good. They found a guy who could truly embody Hawking, from his gangly youth to his near completely immobilized adult self. And what do they do with it? Make what's essentially a Lifetime movie about a not-quite-polyamorous family. What a shame.
Edward Norton in Birdman
Directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu
I've written at length about why I don't think Birdman quite works as a movie, but I'd still see it a third time just to watch Norton play Mike again. While the meta-ness of Keaton's character is obvious (we get it, he used to play Batman), Norton's more subtle self-evisceration as an egomaniacal actor is infinitely more interesting. Everyone knows Norton is supposed to be difficult guy to work with, and Norton plays into that idea in full force. Mike is the person people fear Norton might actually be, only funnier and more fiendish than we could have imagined. He's a method acting maniac for the ages.
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Directed by: Morten Tyldum
My brain knows that The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game are different movies, but I can't help but lump the two together. Both are paint-by-numbers historical films that shed the light on a "misunderstood" genius. I would heartily recommend either for a long flight. But while Redmayne's Hawking may have stolen the show between the two, Benedict Cumberbatch is also truly great as troubled mathematician Alan Turing. Even as Cumber-mania begins is waning, the smooth-faced Englishman is impossible to take your eyes off of. If only the rest of the movie were the same.
Bill Murray in St. Vincent
Directed by: Theodore Melfi
In St. Vincent Bill Murray plays a gambling-addicted drunk with the bitterness of someone who can see death coming sooner than they'd like. Unfortunately, the film itself is a mostly forgettable, as the other characters never manage to compete with Murray's sad-sack magnetism. But while the film will probably be forgotten, Murray's portrayal of the titular character will remain pleasant riff on the aging depressives that Murray has cornered the market on late in his career.
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Into the Woods is what it is, which is to say if you're looking for a Disney movie with a bunch of Stephen Sondheim songs and an almost comically-stacked celebrity cast, then that's what you'll get. Of course, as Meryl Streep is wont to do, she steals every scene she's in as The Witch. While Into the Woods often plays like a Disneyland ride from fairytale to fairytale and song to song, Streep is legitimately frightening in her scenes. It's enough to make you wonder why she doesn't play the villain more often.