Oscars glory: Leigh Paatsch reviews this year’s Best Actor Academy Award nominees

They say it’s an honour just to be nominated, but winners are grinners. Our film reviewer Leigh Paatsch gives his Best Actor tips ahead of this year’s Academy Awards.

In a year of standout movie performances, there are several worthy choices for the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.

But one actor’s brilliant portrayal should put him at centre stage on Oscars night.

Best Performance by an Actor In a Leading Role

THE NOMINEES

Christian Bale, Vice

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

Overall calibre of nominations: Moderate.

Viggo Mortensen (foreground) and Mahershala Ali in Green Book. Picture: Universal Pictures/AP

Rehearse that fake smile: Cooper and A Star is Born will be copping rejection after rejection all night. This one really smarts, though (and not just because it is his fourth Best Actor nomination in the past seven years). An incredible performance that deserved better. Mortensen is great in Green Book, but has most been a non-winner on awards circuit this season. Dafoe’s inclusion here is rather baffling. No chance for him.

Christian Bale as Dick Cheney in Vice.

Deserves To Win, But Won’t: This is a very soft year, lacking the major firepower we often see in this category. Therefore more than a few names are unlucky not to be here (see list below). As for actual nominees, only Bale has the fuel in the tank to stop the Rami Malek Express. Vice ain’t much of a movie, but Bale’s dynamic disappearing act as Dick Cheney is without peer. In a just world, he would be the victor.

Rami Malek as rock icon Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Picture: Twentieth Century Fox

And the Winner Is … Rami Malek. That deeply transformative depiction of the late lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, dragged the rest of Bohemian Rhapsody behind it like a string of tin cans. This was impact acting at its most irresistible, all the more remarkable for how few movies Malek has under his belt. A hot fave because of his Screen Actors Guild win, which has supplied 12 of the last 13 victors here.

UNLUCKY NOT TO MAKE THE FIELD:

Ryan Gosling, First Man

Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

Lucas Hedges, Ben is Back

Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther

John Krasinski, A Quiet Place

RECENT WINNERS:

2018: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

2017: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

2016: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Originally published as Oscars glory: Leigh Paatsch reviews this year’s Best Actor Academy Award nominees