Bold Predictions Because C'mon Bill O'Reilly

Huckabee? C'mon Bill

The leaves are changing (they really aren't), the temperature is getting cooler (that definitely isn't happening), and school is back in session (that's true), but unlike in previous years this semester brings with it one major advantage: I'm three credits from my masters!  It's a great feeling to nearly be done with my MFA, but it does bring with it a few disadvantages.  One, which caused me to write this post.  I have too much free time.  Free time to ponder things like, I wonder if Sia understood how many syllables there are in the word "chandelier" because it feels like she's running out of room when she's singing.  Ponder things like: Maybe I should drive to Macon, GA (no reason, just cause), or maybe I should build a mini dirigible (they taught me how to on a british comedy show) or maybe I should write a book on aardvarks (I know nothing about them, I was lucky I knew they were spelled with a double "aa" at the front).  Extra time will do that to a person.  Although to be fair, I don't "really" have extra time.  In fact, I'm still super busy, but sometimes I forget because I don't have the same hectic schedule reminding me.  This leads to things like the dreaded disease known as "you tubing".  I have been afflicted with this illness since mid April and it has led to some costly developments.  One such development led to to watching hours on end of old news shows from 2004 when they predicted who would be the 2008 nominee.  It seems that if your name is Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, or Wolf Blitzer you can be as popular as ever even if you screw up your prediction.  I mean c'mon Bill, Huckabee?  But isn't this the case in everything.  Mel Kiper Jr makes the wrong calls for the draft, Joe Lunardi's brackets are burst, and Indiewire gave golden statues to the wrong people.  Heck even Paul the Octopus who predicted the 2010 World Cup was sushi by the time 2014 rolled around.  But isn't that the tread, other than Paul, if you predict something wrong there are zero consequences for your actions.  With this information, along with my "extra" time, I present my list of "Bold Predictions" for 2014, eight months into the year, and some will happen in 2015…or 2016.  Let's get started.

First things first: Sports!

Football Season.  Iowa goes 8 - 4 and the Irish go 10 - 2 going to a formerly known as a BCS game.  

NFL:  NFC:  Division Winners: The Giants (That's right I said the Giants), The Packers, The Saints & The Seahawks.  Wild Cards:  The 49ers and The Lions (That's right I said The Lions).  

Best division in football last year was the NFC West but due to off the field issues and injuries the Niners are down this year (though are still a playoff team).  NFC West is still packed with the upstart Cardinals but the best division will be the NFC North where my Packers are going to be in a blood bath with the Lions and Bears.  Naturally the Packers will escape the division, because they are "my" Packers and because they have Aaron Rodgers (hey aardvark and Aaron).  Top seeds are the Seasucks and the Packers.  Giants upset the Lions and the Saints handle the Niners.  Packers over Giants, Saints teach the 12th man a few lessons, and the Packers rip off the Saints halos.  

AFC:  Division Winners:  The Patriots, The Bengals, The Colts & The Broncos.  Wild Cards:  The Steelers (although The Ravens could upset them) and the Chargers.  

As Spencer Tripp told me last year in fantasy football, "I wouldn't take Philip Rivers with -$6." the Chargers with their top ten QB roll into this season with a sense of purpose and they will, mark my Bold prediction, challenge the Broncos for the division.  Nothing really surprising in the AFC.  The Patriots are soft this year but so is their division.  If Geno goes down and Vick shows spurts of brilliance something magical could happen.  Top seeds are The Colts and The Broncos.  The Pats steal a game against Pittsburgh and the Chargers beat up the Bengals.  Continuing their hated brilliance The Pats take down the Broncos in a major upset and the Colts dispatch the Chargers.  AFC champ is a rematch of The Pats and the Colts but unfortunately without a Manning in sight.  The Patriots win.

Superbowl:  Much like we did in Superbowl XXXI, the Patriots don't have a chance over the Packers.  Game is over before mid fourth quarter.  The commercials suck again, the Republican party gets mad over a soda ad, and the halftime show (Rihanna) is unimpressive.  

Baseball:  It seems that despite their miraculous comeback (two game winning streak) the Cubs will miss the playoffs once again which makes these predictions rather boring.  Though 2016, Cubs fans, I'm telling you it's going to be magical.  National League:  Nationals, Cardinals, Dodgers.  WCs:  Giants & Brewers.  Brewers win the one game playoff just to piss off my friend Dan Anderson and then lose to the Nationals.  Dodgers beat Cards in six.  Nats take out the Dodgers in six.  American League:  Orioles (go figure), Tigers, Angels.  WCs:  A's & Royals (Go KC).  Pitching beats the Royals.  Orioles beat Angels in seven and in what will be the best series of the post season the A's pull off a seven game pitchfest upset over the Tigers.  Then in a toss up with the Orioles win in six.  World Series:  A's win.  This wonderful analysis brought to you by the fact that I like the A's and Billy Beane.  I'm sure they'll still find a way to screw it up.  

Basketball:  Some stuff will happen, Love will have a bad championship series, and a team other than the Heat, Spurs, Thunder or the Cavs will win the finals.  College Basketball:  Iowa finally wins a tournament game.  

Hockey:  Who cares, it's football season.  

With sports dispatched with lets move on to politics:

#1.  A bunch of idiots will get re-elected because their opponents were either a) equally idiotic b) poorer, or c) idealists.

C'mon Bill

#2.  Mike Huckabee will win Iowa and then go on to lose every other state in the union.  I mean, C'mon Bill O'Reilly, Huckabee?

#3.  The Democratic Party already cares more about the 2020 election than they care about 2016.  Because that's logical.  Thanks DLCC for making a $70 million guarantee to Advantage 2020.  Forget policy and government, let's worry about gerrymandering and redistricting.  

#4.  Republicans will not stop trying to impeach, sue, or otherwise legally befuddle the Obama Administration and will continue to blame things on him after 2016.  

#5.  Rep Steve King from Iowa will accidentally blurt out that he is a bigoted racist confirming his stances in a politically correct fashion.  (Wishful thinking).

#6  GOP Candidates for 2016 will be as follows:  Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal who might be actually insane, Rick Perry and his glasses, & Jeb Bush.  

#7.  Mitt Romney will joke about running again and it will be in the news for weeks.  Bernie Sanders will run as an independent and although he will have good ideas the media will forget about him, and Joe Biden will legitimately think he has won a state even after it has been declared a victory for Hilary.  

#8.  A bunch of Democrats will run for president.  Who cares.  Hilary Clinton will be the nominee.  She will select Martin O'Malley (hopefully) or Joe Manchin as a VP.  

#9.  Hilary will be elected president in 2016 much to the dismay of the GOP, sexist men, and surprisingly me. (First time I have lumped myself into a sentence with the GOP and sexist men, although not the first time those other two things have been together :).  

#10.  My prayers won't be answered and my dream ticket of Howard Dean/Elizabeth Warren with Dennis Kucinich in the cabinet and the ghost of Paul Wellstone as Attorney General won't happen.  

On to Movies:  

*Predictions based on basically nothing.  Although I guarantee that the "best" movie of the year won't win best picture.  

Best Picture:  Foxcatcher, Boyhood, Mr. Turner (Which will be nominated because it is British and not at all because we will finally acknowledge Timothy Spall's brilliance), Unbroken, Birdman, Interstellar, Gone Girl, Inherent Vice, American Sniper & Fury.  

Foxcatcher

Best Actor:  Steve Carrell (Foxcatcher), Michael Keaton (Birdman), Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice), Eddie Redmayne (Theory of Everthing), Ellar Contrane (Boyhood).  

Best Actress:  Shailene Woodley (The Fault in our Stars), Reese Witherspoon (Wild), Amy Adams (Big Eyes), Jessica Chastain (Either Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby or A Most Violent Year), Meryl Streep (Into the Woods).  

After even writing down these predictions, much like Chris Matthews, I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong.  But here is what I do know.  

#1.  Best actor will be one of the best competitions in a while and the winner will be a first timer.  

#2.  Best actress will be one of the worst competitions in a while and the winner should be a first timer.

#3.  Meryl Streep will be nominated although theatre people everywhere will hate "Into the Woods".

#4.  JK Simmons will lose the Supporting Actor Oscar even though he looks F%#%ing fantastic in Whiplash.

#5.  Transformers will be an Academy Award Nominee.  

With Politics, Sports, and Movies over with, let's go random:

SEVEN RANDOM PREDICTIONS (For those of you who are still reading).  

1.  Jon Hamm will win an Emmy.  With the Emmy's done for this season, I must be talking about next year.  Jon Hamm will finish his role as Don Draper on "Mad Men" and then, like Kyle Chandler before him, win a much deserved Emmy award.  And if for some reason he doesn't win, like Weird Al said, "Oh who cares, he's still Jon Hamm."  

2.  George R.R. Martin will die midway through writing the final book.  It would be beautiful and Soprano-esque if in the middle of the final book Martin killed himself off.  

3.  The Middle Class won't see a flying car in my lifetime.  It's not going to happen.  I was promised a jet pack in the early nineties and that's not coming to me either.   

4.  Although there is now a playoff system, the fifth team is going to bitch about missing the playoff.  That's college football for you.  Oh and speaking of college football…

4b.  College players will get paid in the next decade to play football.  Which will lead other sports to complain but really should lead kids in departments such as theatre to complain.  

5.  Gay Marriage will be legal nationwide before Marijuana.  

6.  WW III will occur and it won't end the world.  But rest assured, humans still will.  

7.  I'm going to get into a PhD program, a program that at one point or another I made fun of their football team.  

Mike Huckabee, really Bill?

C'mon Bill, Huckabee?

Speech & The Mountaintop

In 1863, a tired man stood atop a podium in the small town of Gettysburg.  He uttered words to commemorate an immeasurable loss, the worst of his country's history.  He said, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."  Unbeknownst to him, the words lived on to represent the honor and bravery of those that fought for a free, united nation.  In 1963, a tired man stood atop a podium underneath the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.  He uttered words not of commemoration or commiseration, but of inspiration and desire, for another kind of free, united nation.  "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last."  His

words, much in the same light, live on as a beacon for the future.  A beacon of hope that shines brightest when put in the darkest of times.  These two men do not stand alone atop their podiums.  Pericles, Demosthenes, and Alexander the Great join them.  They stand on mountains (Jesus), in churches (Patrick Henry), and before the House of Commons (Churchill and Wilberforce).  They inspire great nations (MacArthur, Kennedy, Gandhi, Chief Joseph), they inspire great action (Roosevelt, Anthony, Douglass, Guevara), they inspire our hearts (Benazir Bhutto, Jimmy V, Barack Obama), and they inspire us when inspiration is all that keeps us together (Catt, Reagan, Truth, Washington).  Speeches have the ability to last much longer than the poor bodies in which we inhabit.  As my great great Grandfather once said, "Monuments, not of bronze or stone, builded like the oration of Pericles over the Athenian Dead in the Peloponnesian War, or the three minute talk of Lincoln at Gettysburg, will prove more enduring than granite or bronze, but all evidence the same feeling, all are creatures of men stirred by the same human impulses, with hearts beating warm the same human sympathy and gratitude."  
 
I gave my first speech when I was three years old.  I thought it unfair that the girls got to play with the blocks before the boys.  I'm sure the speech went over quite well, although as I recall, the girls still got to play with the blocks first (revenge was mine when I returned to the school in 6th grade and took one of the blocks home; Grant 1, Preschool 0).  However, powerful the speech may have been, I'm quite sure that it was barely understood by my fellow classmates.  You see, of the many things that I talk about, I rarely discuss the fact that I was born with a speech impediment.  As I am told, it was very hard for anyone to understand me before the age of six.  It was around that time when I received help from a wonderful woman named Mrs. Cannon.  By the fourth grade I was writing speeches, by the fifth I was

Fifth Grade

giving the Gettysburg Address and by the ninth grade I was taking part in speech competitions.  To this day, although I have done many things with my voice, public speaking is something that still terrifies me.  Luckily, it also invigorates and excites me.  I still worry that I will flub my words together (by the way, anytime you see me getting frustrated that I pronounced something wrong, it is for this very reason) or forget my train of thought.  The major difference is that as a kid I was scared, as an adult I relish that fear. 
 
A big reason for my success was due to three extraordinary teachers.  The first, Sarah Richardson, helped me find my voice as a writer.  The second, Tawnua Tenley, helped me find my voice as a student.  The third, Maggie Ellison, helped me find my voice as a person.  "The Art of Finding Your Inner Voice," is the main goal of all the Speech classes that I teach and it came from Maggie Ellison.  For me, Maggie served as much more than a teacher, but as a mentor and a friend.  On the day before the opening of my first produced play, Maggie died in her sleep, and although the world lost an incredible educator, she still lives on in the words that she imparted to her loving students.  Her gift to me was her knowledge and most importantly, her words. 
 
Today, I've come a long way from the incoherent three-year-old standing for block privileges.  Today I am a college instructor of Speech.  Along with the earning of my MFA, I find teaching Speech to have been the highlight of my VCU experience.  As I write this blog, I am taking breaks to review my syllabus for the Business Speech class I will start teaching in two weeks.  I think that the power of words is the single most important thing that we have left in our modern society.  So many of our problems, if not all of them, are all based around the fundamental properties of miscommunication.  Learning how to talk to one another is one of our most basic human traits right along with breathing, eating, and sleeping.  In a professional sense, we learn public speaking to get ourselves jobs, work within them, and strive to do better for ourselves and for our world.  Speech quite simply is as basic of a human necessity as water.  On larger level, well it is hard to get larger than human necessity, so on a more specific level, speeches of all forms have so many qualities, some of which are listed in the first section.  Barack Obama's Speech at the Democratic National Convention in '04 was the beginning of his run at the White House, whether he knew it or not.  In similar fashion, the Lincoln-Douglas debates were the foundation for Abraham Lincoln's presidential bid.  JFK's words put a man on the moon, Washington was given the throne, but his word's honored the nation that he had fought and bled to create, Caesar inspired his troops to cross the Rubicon, and King did more with words than perhaps any other American to date.  Speeches can change lives.  As simple as that.  I know one changed mine.
 
My brother, Nate Freeman, wrote a choral reading (group members recite from a script, at times in unison, with movement and vocal choices used for effect.  In essence, a story told by a chorus) called "The Crucifixion of Innocence."  The piece was on the nature of war and the struggle for piece.  When he competed with the reading at All-State for an association known as the Iowa High School Speech Association, or IHSSA, I was blown away.  His team didn't win the Banner (a banner goes to the school that is rated the highest for their specific competition), but when it was over, I remember Maggie Ellison taking time away from her team to tell me what had just happened.  She told me that one-day I might be able to follow in my brother's footsteps.  So when I reached High School I joined the speech team.  Over the course of three years (I didn't compete my sophomore year for personal reasons) I competed in Group Speech, twice in Improvisation, once in Reader's Theatre; and I competed in Individual Speech, once in After Dinner Speaking, Expository, Public Address, Spontaneous Speaking, and Review.  Although I never won that banner, I did make it to All-State twice, finally competing as an individual during the last days of my senior year.  Speech memories are my fondest memories from High School and rehearsals were my saving grace from tumultuous years.  In college, I would always come home during Winter break to help out the team.  It was a choral reading group that helped me recover from the shooting in Arizona and I took time out of my schedule to Asst. coach the team.  Then in the summer of 2011, Maggie Ellison approached me once again.  She said that Mike Moran was leaving the speech program and that I should apply for the job.  Although I was moving to Olympia, WA, I changed my plans and spent a year as the Head Coach of the MVHS Speech team.  I love that program.  And I will always love that program.  But no matter how many words you speak, eventually you should back up what you say with action, and my action involves my pocketbook. 
 
This is why I am supremely excited to announce that starting this upcoming school year, the Mountaintop Scholarship will now be offered to the Speech students at Mount Vernon High School.  It has been a lifelong dream of mine to give out a Scholarship to my alma mater and I am so very happy that I have decided to do this.  The Mountaintop Scholarship (because Grant's Grant wasn't professional enough) is named in honor of one of the great speeches of the 21st century made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Mountaintop Speech  Its dual meaning is to represent the great accomplishment that the student will have done while inferring that high school is just the top of many peaks one has to climb in their lifetimes.  The award will be given each year to the student that best exemplifies the speech program through their work ethic, their professional representation, and their earnest teamwork and dedication.  My hope is that in a small way this honors the student that has given their time for something that will dramatically impact the rest of their lives.  In the same way that any competition of sport affects one's body, speech competition enriches the mind.  Speeches can and do change lives.  It is my honor to create the Mountaintop Scholarship.

2012 MVHS Individual Speech Team

The Best Movies of 2013, Part III

Part I was a short novel, Part II was the sequel, but Part III will most certainly be a short story.  After dealing with the best movies of the year in Part I and the best performers and their performances in Part II, the final section of this year in review ties up the loose ends.  Rather spending time on cinematography, makeup, or screenplay I offer my final few thoughts on this year in movies.  This is a collection of those ramblings along with the final award for this year:  Most important movie of 2013.  So without further ado, I present:

The Most Important Movie of 2013

The following movie did not make my best of 2013 list.  I have not mentioned it previously and it didn't have amazing acting performances.  It is by far the most disturbing movie that I have ever witnessed.  It is the first time in my life that I have seen a movie so unsettling that I had to stop it four times just to get through it.  There are many problems with the film ranging from implementation of the subtitles (hint: it's foreign) to the structure of the story that it portrays, but due in part to its subject matter and in part to the ingenuity that it took to create it, this is by far the most important movie of the 2013 and one of the most important of the decade.  It tells a story that few of us know through the eyes of the terrible men who created it.  It goes to the theory that once and for all, history is written by the winners.  The most important movie that you need to see from 2013 is Danish Documentary The Act of Killing.  

The Act of Killing looks at the horrific Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966 that claimed between 500,000 and 1,000,000 lives.  In particular the documentary focuses on a former gangster, Anwar Congo who lead one of the worst death squad's the Eastern World has ever seen.  Congo admits to killing more than 1000 people personally, usually with a wire, as he re-enacts multiple times throughout.  And that is the important facet of the film, "re-enacts" as the film's director Joseph Oppenheimer, who we never see, invites the former torturers to re-enact the gruesome scenes of murder and despair in their attempts to create a movie.  While some of the squad members look back on the times with despair, others find great pride in their accomplishments.  Eventually, Congo is asked theatrically and personally to deal with his inner demons and what comes out is simply astonishing.

This is not a happy movie.  I do not suggest watching it with a full stomach, but it is so damn important that everyone sees this film.  It is haunting, terrifying, and downright sickening, but it looks at the deepest depths of human depravity and it comes out seeing villains with differing levels of villainy.  At times you feel sorry for the former murderers and the feeling that is created as an audience member is equally disturbing as the first thought.  It is raw but deals directly with the power of the cinema and lasting affects it can create.  As I said, I believe their were some editing mistakes making it difficult to follow at some points but in the end, in terms of story, it is a masterpiece.  It is the best foreign film, best documentary, and is the most important movie of the year.

Other final ramblings:

As the year wound to a close I noticed a few things that I thought I might impart, because I am sure you all love hearing me ramble.

The Danes know how to make movies.  Along with the monumental success of The Hunt, the documentary The Act of Killing is also Danish as well as another lesser known triumph from this year in that of the gritty crime thriller Northwest.  They are all fantastic films with the third, non nominated Northwest, nearly being more complete a film than that of the first two.  Nearly.

Claiming that you're partially Cherokee is not a good enough reason to make a shitty, racist film.  Without a doubt, the biggest flop, the worst movie, and the heart crushing of little boys from my parent's generation, was Disney's The Lone Ranger.  Even without its subplot of mythical werewolf highwaymen (that's right, Fitchner's character was actually a werewolf which explains the psychotic rabbits) the movie ran off the rails before it was even completed.  When Depp made his plea that he was partially Cherokee (although he claims he "might be Creek) that was the straw that broke the racial back.  Horrifically acted, produced, and directed, this mind-numbing POS movie is Racist at best.  Early in the Summer, Depp admitted that he was partially blind and was considering retirement.  Sorry for the eye JD, but it's been 10 years since Finding Neverland, hang it up.

Young Actors are on fire.  Already established names like Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, and Brie Larson welcomed Onata Aprile, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Tye Sheridan this year.  It was a great year for them and now with the early reviews for the upcoming Joe with Nicholas Cage and Tye Sheridan it looks like he is the key to career resurgence.  

Frozen was overrated.  There I said it.  If you want to know, you can look at one of my many Facebook rants.  It wasn't bad, just drastically overrated.  

Watch a documentary.  There may be only five documentaries nominated this year at the Awards but there are so many good choices out there from this year including Blackfish, 20 Feet From Stardom, God Loves Uganda (SEE THIS FILM), A Band Called Death, Cutie & the Boxer, At Berkley, Stories We Tell, We Steal Secrets, The Square, Dirty Wars, Sound City, Salinger, and of course The Act of Killing.  There is one other movie that was made this list which I would like to give special mention.  Simply shot and told is the movie Bridegroom based on a widely popular post on Youtube about the death of a young artist and his partner's isolation from the hospital and the family of the deceased.  It is a beautiful film that encapsulates what it means to be in love.  I strongly suggest it not just because it is a great film, but because the stories' protagonist, Shane Bitney Crone is a friend of mine and is a truly great human being.

R.I.P. Dolores (Annette Funicello), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), Melville Crump (Sid Caesar), Gen. Marshall Carter (Ed Lauter), Col. Winter (James Gandolfini), Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina), Jett Jackson (Lee Thompson Young), The Quarterback (Cory Monteith), and of course Lester Bangs, Lancaster Dodd, Paul Zara, Truman Capote, Caden Cotard, Andy, Father Brendan Flynn, and George Willis, Jr. aka Philip Seymour Hoffman.  PSH you were a fantastic actor and contributed to many of my favorite moments on screen as a kid.  I am sorry that you lost your battle with addiction and I hope that you are happy wherever your ethereal being lies.

Thanks for reading this and thanks for a great year in film.  I look forward to the next one.  One final thought before I go.  For me, going to the movies is a great experience.  It allows me to escape from my busy, stressful life, and just sit in awe of the cinema.  I love a good movie when I'm down and alone, but even better I appreciate a good movie when I am with my friends.  Thank you to Zak, Brandon, Stephen, Duane, and Paul for an evening unlike any other with a double billing of The Man of Steel (which I maintain was terrible) and This is the End.  

"Music, you now, true music - not just rock n roll - it chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone listening to your headphones, you know, with the cast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain. It's a place apart from the vast, benign lap of America." ~ Lester Bangs in Almost Famous.  

The Best Movies of 2013, Part II

Originally, The Best Movies of 2013 Part II had many categories and was quite detailed but then my computer died before I published it and now I have lost all my files.  Pretty sure that I am burying the lead considering that I also lost two years of my portfolio and part of my thesis, but yes, I also lost an unfinished blog post.  Moral of the story:  Make sure your backups have backups.  

Moving on.

Part II of this article shall focus on individual achievement and in particular acting.  Although I could talk about individual cinematographers for a while there won't be much of a competition in this category because Gravity will win hands down.  With that dispensed with, I have compiled a list of performances and performers that look at this year through the works of the actors, no matter how big or small their part is, no matter what their sex is, no matter how many lines that they had.  So without further adieu, I humbly present my best acting performances of 2013:

The Best Acting of 2013:

At the Oscars they'll win a statue, here they'll win a shout out.  Truthfully, I think we all know which award is better. 

To begin with, this was a great year for acting.  There were so many movies this year which seemed like solo films, movies which for lack of a better term, great "acting" was occurring by individual actors carrying their films.  There are a lot of actors that could make this list and I admit that there are a few that are left off of mine that are not left off of anyone else's list.  So with that in mind I will make three caveats: 1) I never saw Before Midnight.  I am currently watching Before Sunrise and I wanted to watch them in order, therefore both Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke are left off this, apologies for what has been said was two great performances.  2) I didn't love American Hustle, in case it wasn't apparent when I left it off my Part I of the best movies.  I thought it was a fine movie but I found myself bored at times and I thought the script needed a lot of work.  That being said you will still find an actor from that movie on my list, but not Bale, Cooper, or Lawrence.  I love Jennifer Lawrence but I frankly don't get her in either Silver Linings Playbook or American Hustle.  She claims she is playing strong independent women but I just saw a whiny 23 year old.  Oh and Cooper's scene where he imitated Louie CK was hilarious.  3) I didn't like Blue Jasmine.  This one has to be addressed because I am sure Blanchett will win for best actress.  I don't understand the acclaim for both the movie and the two actresses.  Maybe it was the state I was in when I watched it, but it took me three sittings just to get through it.  I know plenty of critics have called this a modern Blanche Dubois, but although I am a Cate Blanchett fan, in this movie, she is certainly no Vivien Leigh.  So…there are a few opinions.  Let's get on with the list.  

25.  Cate Blanchett For Blue Jasmine

There are you happy?  I admit that she did well in a movie that I despised.  (Truthfully I should've put Greta Gerwig for Frances Ha here but I didn't).  (I can't even be nice in parenthesis).  Though since I have the space used for Cate Blanchett I will mention one of her lesser known movies which is an absolute gem.  Her performance in 2003's Veronica Guerin is really good.  It reminded me of Kevin Costner in The Untouchables meets Cillian Murphy in The Wind that Shakes the Barley.  Good Movie.  So go Cate Blanchett.  

24.  Domhnall Gleeson & Bill Nighy for About Time

I know, but trust me.  Although this is a romantic comedy (more romantic drama) it still packs a punch in the heart department.  There are many problems with this movie namely all the illogical steps taken within the idea of time travel, but the relationship developed between Gleeson and Nighy is really something else.  I had to check at the end of the film to make sure they weren't related.  I have to admit that I rarely tear up during a movie, but I was balling by the end of this film, all in part to this love story about a father and son.  

23.  Alfre Woodard for 12 Years a Slave

She is in this movie for maybe 5 minutes.  Her scene is 2 and 1/2 pages long and is adapted from just two sentences in Solomon's memoirs, but it is one of the best scenes in the entire movie.  Woodard mixes spirit and levity to bring a quite and cold, but spiritual truth that there might be a better tomorrow and that to make it there you must survive.  

22.  The Entire Cast of What Maisie Knew

This includes Steve Coogan, Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgard, Joanna Vanderham, & Onata Aprile.  The movie was number fourteen on my list of the top thirteen movies of the year.  Based on the story by Henry James it looks at a parental separation entirely from the point of view of a little girl.  Everyone is very good, very subtle, even Moore who plays a rockstar (I know), but the film is stolen by the chemistry between Nanny Vanderham and little girl Aprile.  This was smaller film that should've gotten a lot more universal credit.  

21.  Sandra Bullock for Gravity

I thought I was going to hate her in this film, surprise, I didn't.  Bullock does a fine job of carrying a movie that is almost entirely about her.  She would've been higher on the list, but in a "solo" movie there needs to a level of give and take between the character and the overall film and while there existed a connection, there was never really a moment when I thought she was a standout character; rather I thought this was a standout film.

20.  Daniel Brühl for Rush 

If F. Murray Abraham could drive, he would've been Daniel Brühl.  Rush is an action packed drama that falters in story, but is in the driver's seat with character.  Brühl plays a Salieri-esque character (Abraham reference) to the Mozart flamboyancy of Hemsworth.  It is self obsession vs. high octane self expression at its peak.  

19.  Miles Teller for The Spectacular Now 

Obviously, The Spectacular Now was my favorite movie of the year.  I re-watched it on DVD tonight and I stand strongly by my opinion with one small amendment.  This isn't at all a love story.  It's a story in which there is love, but it is a story about Sutter and therefore about Teller.  Most people would point to Teller's breakdown in the car as the scene that defines this movie, but I would look closer at a shorter, more intimate moment between Odenkirk and Teller when Odenkirk offers Teller a job with a catch and Teller has to turn it down.  That scene sums up the movie in a nice little bow and Teller's performance.  I predict that both Teller and Woodley will become major Hollywood players in the years to come.  

18.  Joaquin Phoenix for Her

The reason Phoenix only manages eighteenth on this list is two-fold.  Her was a brilliant idea that came two weeks too late for me and while I still felt its theatrical impact I couldn't resonate with the character as much as I would've been able to just a few weeks before.  The other reason which allows me to take the decision off my own personal shoulders comes from the writing at around the 2/3rds mark.  Although Phoenix's character is on an amazing arc it seems to stop moving and then go backwards as the film draws to a close.  I think of the scene in the snow where he is dealing with the feelings that this "relationship" has created but the movie moves onward without dealing with what Sam has told him about multiple partners and about moving on.  A good performance to be sure, but one with baggage.  

17.  Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave

I have a confession to make.  Unlike the critical acclaim for Nyong'o, I was not enthralled by her performance and actually was rather surprised by how much acclaim she was receiving.  I am quite sure she will win the Oscar for best Supporting actress (more power to her).  Obviously, I didn't think she was bad, but I wonder if it was her performance or the situation the character was placed in that was more important.  Although a lesser actress would've taken away from the character, I felt that it was the writing more than the acting that carried the day (And the effects of seeing the blood splatter when she is whipped).  Perhaps I am wrong, but I was far more impressed (and I was impressed by Ridley) by the screenplay than by the acting.  

Oh selfie!

16.  Julia Roberts & Margo Martindale for August: Osage County

Now I know people will think I have thrown my credibility to the wind by saying this was better than Nyong'o, but screw it.  If I was the academy, I would give best supporting actress to Julia Roberts, words which I might add, I never thought would come from my mouth.  When I saw the casting for this film I was angered that Roberts would be playing the stalwart eldest daughter but she most certainly pulled it off.  And by no small measure was the film without other good performances namely from Martindale who brought charisma to a character that is charisma-less in the play.  I didn't recognize Roberts in this film.  She didn't provide us with any of her typical whimsical asides, looks, or gestures.  I would go as far to say that she outplays Meryl Streep in her scenes and manages to capture an innocence to her brash exterior.  Nyong'o has the better character, but I think Roberts does more with the role.  Either way, both actresses do a fine job.  

15.  Steve Coogan in Philomena

Not a lot to say.  Coogan was acting up a storm in 2013 and he wrote a rather good screenplay for Philomena.  I really liked his portrayal of real life writer Martin Sixsmith, and I think he manages to stay true to the real person rather than hollywood-ing the ending to fit the overall feeling.  

14.  Bruce Dern for Nebraska 

Bruce Dern is able to make the descent into dementia quite funny, heartfelt, and tragic.  He interweaves these qualities to turn a doddering old fool into an everyman of the midwestern plains.  Dern manages to turn in a tour de force acting performance while still maintaining real continuity with the rest of the cast namely his family made up of Squibb, Forte, and Odenkirk.  This movie touched me not just because I grew up in similar circumstances, not just because I knew people like this family, and not just because I watched my grandmother go from English Scholar to an empty human in a few years, but also because it reminded me of a simple human truth:  We will always strive for greatness.  You just have to realize that others have a different definition of greatness than you.  

13.  Mads Mikkelsen for The Hunt 

The descent into madness is always compelling for an audience to watch when it is in the hands of a great actor.  However, unlike other films like it, The Hunt looks at the descent into madness of someone who you know from the beginning is innocent.  Mikkelsen carries this very difficult subject matter on his back and unlike hollywood movie climaxes, Mikkelsen delivers a climax that is understandable as well as disturbing and not in the way that the rest of the movie is disturbing but in the way that all of us can feel this dreadful uneasiness.  I highly recommend this movie and this performance.  Once again, thanks to Alex Doser for finding me this gem.  

12.  Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

Leto is really good in this movie despite the minor controversies that are being claimed by members of the LGBT community on how he portrays transgendered people.  I would go as far to say that Leto is better than McConaughey in this film (although McConaughey is higher on this list, but that'll be explained).  I can't think of any actors who are living (I think Heath Ledger would've been great) that would've pulled off the tragic charisma that Leto completes in award winning fashion.  Although he is not my pick for best supporting actor, he is a damn close second.  

11.  Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips

Because Barkhad Abdi is my first.  He most definitely should win the award for best supporting actor.  He might fall a little into the category that Nyong'o faces in that it might just be the story behind him as an actor or the character's writing that carries over more than his performance, but unlike Nyong'o, I thought Abdi brought much more to his character to make him authentically artistic.  I was a big fan of this movie and a big fan of Mr. Abdi, who I hope can find a career on the back of this film and not just as a stereotype.  

10.  Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips 

I told you that I liked the film.  I think Tom Hanks got screwed this year along with another one of my favorite performances (coming later).  If you want to see what I thought of Hanks you need to only look at the review I gave in Part I, but let me add one thing.  If you want to see truly great acting, watch the final scene of Captain Phillips in which Hanks allows the emotion of the moment to carry over rather than the emotion of the presumed moment.  It makes the character raw, flesh open, part ugly, part astoundingly beautiful.  

9.  Amy Adams for American Hustle & Her

I found Amy Adams to be rather good in American Hustle, one of its biggest redeeming factors, but what impressed me the most was her small role in Her in which she plays a next door neighbor friend, love interest, who is as wacky and weird as Phoenix.  In both roles she mixes dramatic elements with a certain level of spunkiness to create characters that are so superbly different from each other.  When I look back on this year I will certainly remember her in Her.  

8.  Judi Dench for Philomena 

One of the best performances of her career.  I believe that this movie and Notes on a Scandal are her best roles.  And this one might take the cake.  I am pretty sure she won't win, but she damn well should.  Watching this movie, you, as the audience are allowed three views.  One as the outsider looking in, one from Coogan's perspective, and one from Dench's.  I choose Dench, who shows a character mired in sadness but with such a wonderful expression for life.  If the real Philomena is anything like the character that Dench portrayed than I would certainly like to meet her and experience the world through her eyes.  Even in a moment of extreme sadness, I, much like Coogan became very angry with the Catholic Church.  I know because I yelled out loud at the screen, but Dench is too cool for that, she reacts as one who has seen it all both as an actress and a character.  Really a superb movie.  

7.  Tye Sheridan for Mud 

It is hard to carry a movie on your own.  It is harder when you are fifteen.   Idealism clashes with reality in this film which left me wondering whether or not Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone or Sheridan gave the better performance (There are many similarities between the characters).  This is a movie that is built on heart, but is strung together by resilient trust, a trust in something that is never spoken between the characters, but is understood by all.  This is the power of love, but not the hallmark card love, but the power of an individual's love for another that is rarely ever reciprocated.  Along with Woodley, Teller, and the next person on my list,  I will gladly go see anything that his kid makes.  

6.  Adèle Exarchopoulos for Blue is the Warmest Color 

The movie runs into some problems and the editing was very much needed but no one can deny the impact that Exparchopoulos has on this film.  This film is a miracle in that when filming occurred she was merely 18 years old and had to film a touching story about love that is much more mature than her age range.  Many focuses on the explicit sex in the film, but I looked at how she captures loss as such a more important take away.  This movie leaves you with a massive pit in your stomach, a queasy feeling that no matter how hard you try, you can never fully get over a certain kind of love.  This is a mature performance that gives an actress who is far beyond her years the chance to shine.  And she glows.  One of the best acting performances I have ever seen by a woman of her age.  She is an actress to watch.  

5.  Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave

Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night

Most of my closest friends know that over the last decade, Chiwetel Ejiofor along with Djimon Hounsou, Don Cheadle, Tom Hanks, and the late greats Marlon Brando & James Stewart are my favorite actors.  Actors of which I have seen the bulk of their movies.  Take Cheadle for instance, of the 35 major films he has been in I have seen 28 of them.  I first became a fan of Ejiofor when I saw him in Amistad and later a big fan when I saw the made for tv version of Twelfth Night.  I am so very happy that he is getting his dues this year for an extraordinary role that he performs brilliantly.  Although there are a few actors who I believe gave better performances than he, it is only due to the great jobs of the other actors and not due to the fact that Ejiofor did anything wrong.  His performance is flawless.  In two scenes, he figuratively made my heart jump into my stomach.  In both the hanging (which I believe is one of the best filmed sequences in the history of motion pictures) and the confrontation at night with Fassbender, Ejiofor showed what so many of his fans have seen for years.  His performance is simply put astounding and I cannot wait for his next film Half of a Yellow Sun which should garner him another nomination.  

4.  Matthew McConaughey for Mud/Dallas Buyers Club

And for ten minutes of The Wolf of Wall Street.  If anything is known from this year in films it is that "Alright, alright, alright," is on top of the world.  Finally over his slump of horrible rom-coms, McConaughey has released back-to-back-to-back-to-back films that have showcased the talent we all thought he might have, but needed to refine and re-find it.  In last year's Killer Joe and then in his three films this year, McConaughey has shown a resiliency to make good choices and profitable ones.  I loved him in Mud, thought Dallas Buyers Club was great, but the performance that did me in this year was his one monologue from his ten minutes of screen time in The Wolf of Wall Street.  McConaughey is back.  And I hope that he is here to stay.  

3.  Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street 

And although Ejiofor and McConaughey were great, nothing can touch DiCaprio.  I understand the controversies surrounding the movie, but they cannot take away from his performance which I believe to be the best of his career.  DiCaprio is unbelievable as a joyful, psychotic, sociopath.  DiCaprio doesn't phone in a single second of this film which I have to believe was exhausting.  I could make a top ten list for scenes in which DiCaprio is brilliant in this film alone.  The stairs scene, the Boat scene, the conversation with Reiner, the monologues in the office are all picks that will be memorable.  I think it is easy to cheer for a villain, but when we cheer for a villain we look for his good qualities so that we can understand his villainy.  DiCaprio manages one better in that he shows us a true villain who you cheer for all the while you see his demented, egotistical, destructive personality ruin his life, his families' lives, and thousands of others.  It is rare when you can equally care about a person as well as hate them.  DiCaprio walks this line.  And he and Jonah Hill work great together.  I look forward to their next collaboration which will be about the Atlanta Olympics bombing.  DiCaprio is my pick, Oscar-wise, for best actor of the year.  

2.  Oscar Isaac for Inside Llewyn Davis

Unless, your name is Oscar, in that case Oscar Isaac should win best Oscar.  I do not understand why this movie and this performance did not get the praise it so deserved.  Isaac turns in the role of a lifetime as a troubled Odysseus journeyman.  Every good actor has subtle nuances that make their roles special but often times those subtleties are cliche ridden or overused.  Not in the case of Isaac who uses every second of his stage time to fill in all the little corners and lines that make up his character.  His singing is equal parts beautiful, haunting, and painful.  Through his voice we can hear the lost generation or dreams squelched by misinterpreted talent.  Isaac carries the weight of the broken record forever to remain turning without fail, and without consequence until it is removed from the player forever.  Isaac brings a calm, coexistence with a tumultuous exterior to the screen in this unbelievably good movie and performance.  

1.  Brie Larson for Short Term 12/The Spectacular Now/Don Jon

Let us Dream!

Grace is a quality that all human beings strive to control.  Grace under pressure, grace in the face of pressure, when the onslaught of life gets too hard, we strive to live through it, embracing it on each and every side.  Sometimes having grace gets to a point where having it makes us fierce but fragile, victorious but broken.  This is the best way to describe Brie Larson in the movie Short Term 12 where she plays the character Grace, a supervisor at a foster care facility.  She managed to win a Gotham award and has a nomination for best actress from the Independent Spirit Awards (which is actually a really great ceremony usually hosted by a rather funny comedian).  If there is any justice in the film industry, she will win.  She gives one of the most emotional, physically draining performances I have ever seen on film.  Unlike previous characters in Scott Pilgrim, 21 Jump Street, & The Spectacular Now, Larson shows a vulnerability that immediately puts you on her side, even, and especially when you know she's wrong.  She is incredibly watchable and makes this short movie seem like a lifetime.  The movie touched me personally, but her performance touched me professionally, and I plan to tell all of my students in the years to come about this performance.  Hands down the best of the year.