Well, it took me a while to make this thread because I needed to catch up on several 2005 movies that were released here fairly late, gut I think it's better late than never. What I am asking about are performances that passed pretty much unnoticed by Oscars, Globes and most reviewers awards. So someone like Maria Bello for AHOV doesn't count because she got her fair share of acclaim and a Globe nom.


My picks:

Diane Keaton (The Family Stone) - Probably the most underrated and overlooked female performance of 2005
Craig T. Nelson (The Family Stone) - Excellent supporting turn, calm, yet powerful
Val Kilmer (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) - Best Supporting performance of 2005, hilarious beyond belief
Robert Redford (An Unfinished Life) - One of his career-best and shamefully overlooked. Should have been up there for Best Actor
Johnathan Rhys-Myers (Match Point) - Much better than Johansson in Match Point, a very impressive turn


These five I consider to be the most overlooked performances of last year. Your turn now...

Jonathon Rhys-Meyers definitley should've got some attention.

I actually thought Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds was very strong. He shouldn't have gotten an Oscar nod, but being slapped with a Razzie nom was a totally disgraceful move. That role is hard to play too, there was lots of lines and actions that could've been cheesy or ridicoulous if done wrong. He did fine though, right up there with Naomi Watts in King Kong in blockbuster performances of the year IMO.

Anthony Anderson in Hustle and Flow, definitley a career best for him and a big step forward from the roles he normally does. Taraji P. Henson from that movie can also be thrown in.

Isla Fisher in Wedding Crashers. Pure comedic performances are difficult, she played it to perfection. Of course comedy is always getting overlooked though.

Johnathan Rhys-Myers and Diane Keaton were both overlooked.

Also, Q'Orianka Kilcher.

Kevin Costner in The Upside Of Anger

Kimberly Elise in Diary Of A Mad Black Woman

Neither of those is a joke!

Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence) - don't really remember him getting anything, really, which is a shame
Q' Orianka Kilcher (The New World) - got the breakthrough award at BFCA..
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin) - I'd have to look up, but I think he got completely overlooked by everyone, except for a few critics' personal awards/film festivals...
Val Kilmer (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) - a Satellite win, I think..
Joan Allen (The Upside of Anger) - she got a couple of critics circle awards and a BFCA (and Satellite) nom, don't know if that counts...
Kevin Costner (The Upside of Anger) - ditto
Diane Keaton (The Family Stone) - a Satellite nomination
Craig T. Nelson (The Family Stone) - a Satellite nomination too...


EDIT: Took out Maria Bello, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pierce Brosnan and Cillian Murphy because of the Globe noms.

possibly even Rachel McAdams for The Family Stone, since I thought she was great (the opening of the presents scene is probably her best scene yet and would make a great oscar clip)



I still need to see films like Shopgirl and An Unfinished Life...

and Ashton Holmes, of course...

Yeah, I forgot Q'Orianka Kilcher as Best Actress on my list. She deserved at least a nom.

I agree!

She managed to pull off some really effective scenes in an otherwise crazy film.

She kept the film going, even when it should have crashed. She's the most underrated actress working today.

I'd say that's a good pick except that I think Scott Wilson, who had a similar stoic performance in Junebug as the supportive father, was a little better.

Rest of my picks:

Anne Hathaway, Brokeback Mountain
Q'Orianka Kilcher, The New World
Naomi Watts, King Kong
Boris Yeskin, Everything Is Illuminated
Donald Sutherland, Pride & Prejudice
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious Skin
Glenn Close, Nine Lives

-Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Mysterious Skin
-Naomi Watts, King Kong
-Eric Bana, Munich
-Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Match Point
-Jennifer Connelly, Dark Water
-Michael Caine, The Weather Man
-Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof
-Terrence Howard, Crash
-Sandra Bullock, Crash

How could I forget that one? Excellent performance! One of the very best female turns last year.

Hm, no. As much as I loved Batman Begins (now it did deserve a Best Picture nom!) and as much as I like Bale...it was not even one of his career-best performances. He was better in American Psycho. Hoffman, Ledger, Ganz, Bana...they were all better than Bale last year.

Not much was overlooked, imo. Kilcher? Sure.... That girl from Hustle & Flow, too... she was (apparently) pretty awesome.

He got nominated for a Razzie for that movie? How stupid. Of course, I always thought the Razzies were complete shit, and only nominate the biggest bad movies (or celebrities they hate) and not neccessarily the worst movies of the year.

Joan Allen deserved an Oscar nomination for The Upside of Anger.

Looking back at it, 2005 was such a stacked year. You could take out everything that got nominated for awards and insert five other names in, and they would still be awesome. Here's mine:

Best Picture
A History of Violence
Cinderella Man
Jarhead
King Kong
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Best Director
Sam Mendes, Jarhead
Shane Black, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Peter Jackson, King Kong
David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins

Best Actor
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead
Viggo Mortenson, A History of Violence
Eric Bana, Munich
Jonathon Rhys-Meyers, Match Point
Robert Downey Jr., Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Best Actress
Yeah...I got nothin. Haven't seen The New World, In Her Shoes, Upside of Anger, or the Family Stone. I really like the noms this year.