I agree, it was certainly a fine performance, but I have to say he stands out in the Best Actor nominations as having a marginally less intense performance than the rest. If anything, I think Shareeka Epps should have garnered any praise for acting. She was superb.

I just received a few movies from Blockbuster online...

Man of the House - hated it (not surprisingly)
The Unknown - not nearly as good as the cover implied it would be
Running With Scissors - also didn't enjoy this one

This weekend was a trifecta of movies I didn't enjoy. I'm going to rent some of the films discussed in earlier posts since I clearly cannot choose well for myself!

I had to watch Brick with the subtitles on so I could catch all the noir-y slang, but I really loved it. Brilliant soundtrack too.

Are you talking about the movie with Tommy Lee Jones and the cheerleaders, or the one where Chevy Chase plays off of...Home Improvement kid. I forget which one. Which I guess is like asking whether you breathed in mustard gas or consumed asbestos.

I loved Brick too. I really loved Joseph Gordan-Levitt. And I also though Megan Good was really good as the femme fatale ex. I watched it twice though and the second time it really clicked for me. And I liked Half-Nelson and thought Ryan Gosing was fantastic. Not a showy performance though.

I watched Hysterical Blindness the other night. It was a sad movie, but very well acted. I am surprised she didn't get assaulted! ALthough maybe the character could have been off-line, meaning outside the movie parameters.

Which is exactly why I thought it was so brilliant and strong, Gosling didn't feel it necessary to eat the scenery to convey his characters drug addiction (and I'll refrain from insinuating why he was so good at it), it was a beautifully nuanced and heartbreaking performance, I thought Ryan, Shareeka, and the movie were completely wonderful. I teared up during the scene you know is coming for the whole movie yet still hope won't happen.

Besides Half Nelson, I also watched The Science of Sleep which I liked alot even though it doesn't really hold together as more than a flight of melancholic romantic fancy, and Hollywoodland which was the biggest waste of a great performance by Ben Affleck I've ever seen. Christ was that boring and pointless, I would have much preferred a straight up biography of George Reeves, with mere hints about his death being a murder vs. a suicide. Ben and Diane Lane had a lot of chemistry though, and Ben was super charming/hearbreaking

I loved that remark by Kevin Smith. That was right on the money.

Overall, I liked the documentary. It made a lot of important and interesting points. I like the idea of a descriptive rating system, which would guide you on content rather than on a meaningless omnibus rating given in questionable fashion.

I have to say though that John Waters contention that all teenagers look at porn on the Net, and so what is the big deal with putting a lot of sex in movies, bugged me. I still think that there is some content that shouldn't be made easily acceptable to younger audience in movie theatres, even if you can find it on the Net. Although, I would say that the content to be highly restricted would have to do with extreme violence and rape rather than consensual sex. (Because the whole discussion about how female orgasms seem to push movies up to NC-17? What a sad thing to hear.) If the current system were not changed, I must say, I don't necessarily have an issue of some movies being given NC-17 if studios still backed those movies, not banishing them, just considering them not appropriate for some younger viewers.

I think you have a very valid point. Sometimes it's difficult to lump all of these various actors' performances into one category and decide who was the "best" of the last year, because (for example) what Whitaker was asked to do with Idi Amin and what Ryan does with Dan Dunne require such totally different approaches to acting, and both come through admirably, to say the least. I've been critical in the past when actors have failed to get recognition for more nuanced performances (like Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd) that I guess I should be less hypocritical and acknowledge Ryan's work in Half Nelson for what it was: outstanding.

YES, to the first part. And which one, to the second part. There were a few.

Well I speaking to the scene that is foreshadowed the whole movie >>Dan having to get a fix directly from Drey, that little half smile of shamed surrender from Dan, and Drey looking like her last hope in the world just died wrecked me..<<

Ah. Yes, I thought that was the one you meant.

I really, seriously, deeply need to rewatch this movie, like, now.

What didn't you like about it? I had low expectations for the movie myself since I loved the book, but I was surprised by how good it was (the book is far better). Not as funny as the previews would have you believe, though...

I've got The Devil Wears Prada and Mysterious Skin for this weekend.

I agree, blixie, that Ryan Gosling deserved the Oscar nod. And I also agree with you about Hollywoodland. I thought it was fine little movie, but Ben Affleck was far more interesting than anything else for me. And I also thought all the other actors in the flashbacks were fantastic, whereas I didnt like the non George Reeves parts and thought that Adrien Brody was uncharacteristically ..not good.