The Muriels: Male Performance of the Decade

20 Responses to “The Muriels: Male Performance of the Decade”

1. Alison Flynn - Feb 8 '10, 11:02 am

   LOL, no surprise there. I love that screenshot.

2. Paul C. - Feb 8 '10, 11:18 am

   Draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaainage!!!

3. Paul C. - Feb 8 '10, 11:18 am

   “There’s a whole ocean of acting awards under my feet! And no one can get at them except for me!”

4. sartre - Feb 8 '10, 11:30 am

   The Muriel Awards judges certainly know a thing or two about what to honor with their awards. I can’t think of a more towering performance of the decade.

   I like too that the pic above captures the complexity of emotions playing across Daniel Plainview’s face as he sees Muriel running away from the flaming oil well.

5. joel - Feb 8 '10, 11:35 am

   I can’t argue with that #1 choice but I’m a little (no check that, A LOT) disappointed in the Muriel voters for giving Viggo Mortenson only 1 vote. When we’re talking about great work in the last decade, Viggo definitely deserves to contend for the top five. The LOTR trilogy, History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Appaloosa, The Road…WTF does this guy have to do to get some respect?

   For shame, people, for shame.

6. Craig Kennedy - Feb 8 '10, 12:09 pm

   Outside of my #1 pick (DDL), I don’t really stand by my own votes for performance of the decade. It’s hard enough picking a best film, but there are too many performances to be fair about it.

   None of those Mortensen performances made my Top 5, though they were all terrific.

7. Chuck - Feb 8 '10, 12:14 pm

   DDL loomed large over the decade, and, being that he has my # 2, I definitely get it. I went with Paul Giamatti for American Splendor for my # 1 because he’s a great actor who is able to actually play a life-size person. (That’s not a ding at DDL, as that clearly wasn’t the intention with him.) Add Sideways the year after, and you’ve got my full confidence as the actor of the decade.

   Joel, I wanted one of those existential, pared-down manly-man roles represented in my five, I went with Daniel Craig for Casino Royale at # 5.

   (For anyone who cares, 3-4 were Nicholson for Schmidt and Hoffman for Almost Famous.)

8. sartre - Feb 8 '10, 12:59 pm

   After DDL in TWbB I wouldn’t know where to begin. So many lead performances seemed pitch perfect, and then there is the richness of great character acting. But all those mentioned here are among my favorites – Mortenson, Hoffman, and Giamatti.

9. Ari - Feb 8 '10, 1:02 pm

   day-lewis had my #1 and #2 of the decade. I’m glad to see Bill Murray’s work in “Lost in Translation” make the top five. Lots of good choices on the list, though I guess I’m surprised to see I was the only one who voted for Benecio Del Toro’s performance in “Che”.

10. Steve C. - Feb 8 '10, 1:34 pm

    I was the one lonely vote for Viggo (that HISTORY OF VIOLENCE performance is a real stunner, even more so on repeat viewings). I was also one of the few to not vote DDL. So it goes.

11. Dorothy Porker - Feb 8 '10, 1:41 pm

    DDL’s performance still feels as if it was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. The only one that feels remotely close is Ledger’s in “Brokeback Mountain. Other than that, I would need to search my brain for more contenders. But yeah, Muriel got it right!

12. joel - Feb 8 '10, 1:42 pm

    I can appreciate all the choices that were made, but I’d have to grade an actor (or director, or any individual technical effort) based on their total effort over the decade rather than for a single film. Hard enough to crown a single film the “best” of a decade for me, but to pick a single performance or technical achievement is even more difficult. It is, after all, an award for the decade and as was made abundantly clear in Nugent’s comments, DDL had a very impressive decade that surpassed any single performance he gave.

    Hence I think Bill Murray is great, I loved him in Lost in Translation (as well as a few other films this decade) but I have to admit I thought the range of his work was thematically redundant so I probably would not have included him in my top five.

    Chuck, I liked Daniel Craig in Casino Royale too and he was also very good in Munich and Road to Perdition. I don’t think he’s nearly as talented as Mortenson as an actor in general, but if you’re picking a “manly man” then he would be good.

13. Chuck - Feb 8 '10, 1:50 pm

    Joel, it is about single performances, not body of work throughout the decade (though I partially took that into consideration too). I picked Craig because it represented the best of pared, mainstream, icon-ish acting for the men. I love Mortensen, but this Bond was the way to go for me. And Craig was also great in two Roger Michell movies this decade: Enduring Love and, particularly, The Mother. (The mother herself, Anne Reid, was one of my top female performances.)

    I like Murray, but his best performances happened in the 1990s.

14. Paul C. - Feb 8 '10, 1:53 pm

    Don’t feel too bad, Steve- as you know, I’m one of the others who didn’t include DDL in this category. That’s not to say I didn’t love the performance. In fact, had there been room for ten nominees on the ballot he almost certainly would’ve made the cut. However, when you only have five picks to encompass ten years’ worth of great performances, ya gotta be choosy. So I decided that rather than pick someone who would get plenty of votes even without my help, I figured I’d toss some votes to others who might not get any love otherwise. As it turns out, three of my five selections (Damian Lewis in KEANE, Sam Rockwell in JOSHUA, and John Hurt’s golden voice in DOGVILLE) were the only votes these guys got. The other two- Olivier Gourmet in THE SON and Christoph “It’s a Bingo!” Waltz.

15. joel - Feb 8 '10, 2:04 pm

    Joel, it is about single performances, not body of work throughout the decade

    Then you all did it wrong. Ha, kidding, just kidding. I get it, but I wish it had worked out differently. Oh well.

16. sartre - Feb 8 '10, 2:16 pm

    Joel, you walk a lonely road.

17. Steve C. - Feb 8 '10, 2:59 pm

    As it turns out, three of my five selections (Damian Lewis in KEANE, Sam Rockwell in JOSHUA, and John Hurt’s golden voice in DOGVILLE) were the only votes these guys got.

    Rockwell makes my second five, for what it’s worth. :-)

18. Andy - Feb 8 '10, 7:23 pm

    Cliched as it is:

    I…. DRINK….YOUR… MURIELS! I DRINK IT UP!

19. Pierre de Plume - Feb 8 '10, 10:55 pm

    I’m gratified to find Ledger on the list not just once but twice.

    But where’s Jean-Claude Van Damme for JCVD? (kidding of course)

    No argument with DDL, of course.

    I was glad to see Casey Affleck and Christophe Waltz score some points, but where’s Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls)?

20. Craig Kennedy - Feb 9 '10, 10:37 am

    And with the same caveat as with the actresses, here’s my manly top 5:

    1. Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
    2. Nicolas Cage, Adaptation
    3. Tony Leung, In the Mood
    4. Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenenbaums
    5. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

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