Top performances of 2009 (alphabetical)

As Bad Blake in CRAZY HEART


You forget he's Jeff Bridges and all you see is Bad Blake, who can make you laugh, make you angry and tug at your heartstrings, all within a short expanse of scenes. Bridges elevates what would've otherwise been a conventional movie about a country singer into something much more special than that.

Review of CRAZY HEART: www.listal.com/viewentry/648337

As James Brennan in ADVENTURELAND


I get incredibly pissed off every time I read a post on a message board saying "Bah, he's just like Michael Cera!" or "OMG, they probably wanted Michael Cera for this role but couldn't get him, so they got this guy!" Let's start off with the simple stuff: where did this idea that Cera and Eisenberg LOOK ALIKE come from? They're both white and skinny. I don't see any other similarities (the hair and facial structure are all completely different). But even more importantly... it's a mistake to say that these two actors play similar characters in their films. Cera plays awkward, shy guys and uses blank stares to convey humor (and he generally does all of that effectively), while Eisenberg tends to play overly-intellectual yet emotionally conflicted characters (which is much better and much more interesting than Cera's roles). Watch Eisenberg in Adventureland and notice how authentic and spot-on every look on his face is and the staggering perfection of his line delivery. Oh, and for anyone who is still skeptical of the Michael Cera thing, this is verbatim from the Adventureland DVD commentary by Greg Mottola, who directed both Superbad and Adventureland (meaning he's worked with both actors): "Just for the record, I knew Jesse Eisenberg as an actor before I ever worked with Michael Cera." It may also be helpful to know that Adventureland began filming in the early summer of 2007, which is slightly before Superbad had its theatrical release. Therefore, when Adventureland started filming, Cera was really only well-known to fans of Arrested Development, and he wasn't quite yet known in the movie community, so it's ridiculous to think that Mottola wanted Cera instead, because Cera wasn't even that popular at the time that ADVENTURELAND started filming.

Review of ADVENTURELAND: www.listal.com/viewentry/644141

As Natalie Keener in UP IN THE AIR


What a shocker. "That girl from Twilight" shows up in this movie and totally steals the show. The best thing about Anna Kendrick's character in Up in the Air is that, in the first scene we see her, she looks like this frigid, calculating over-intellectual bitch, who thinks it's okay to fire people over a webcam chat, as if firing people in person weren't bad enough already, yet as we get to know her we get to witness her incredible warmth and vulnerability. It's a perfect depiction of the front that some of us put on in the workplace when we have to make decisions for financial reasons even if they don't make us look like we're humane. Kendrick reminds us that even someone who pretends to have a heart of stone can't go long without eventually crumbling. I can't wait to see what she does next, and by that, I don't mean the next Twilight movie, but well, you know, her next REAL movie.

Review of UP IN THE AIR: www.listal.com/viewentry/648327

As Laura in FUNNY PEOPLE


This movie has been largely forgotten because Judd Apatow chose to take a risk with it that many didn't appreciate (though I did). Leslie Mann is even more endearing and hilarious here than she was in Knocked Up. What elevates her performance, though, is that she goes beyond the comedy. Her dramatic work in Funny People is excellent, and several of the scenes in which she shares the screen with Adam Sandler alone are fantastically performed.

Review of FUNNY PEOPLE: www.listal.com/viewentry/644183

As Mary in PRECIOUS


Precious may not be the astounding, groundbreaking movie that many are hailing it to be... but its last 15 minutes feature the most astounding, groundbreaking, jaw-dropping performance of the year. Some won't think much of Mo'Nique's work during the early scenes in which she's angry and abuses her daughter, but the avalanche of emotions that comes during the movie's final moments all thanks to her bravura performance is almost too much to take.

Review of PRECIOUS: www.listal.com/viewentry/648320

As George Simmons in FUNNY PEOPLE


As excited as I was about Judd Apatow's next directorial project, Sandler's presence is what I was most afraid of before watching FUNNY PEOPLE. Sandler hasn't done much but mug at the camera in the endless spree of dumb comedies he's starred in. Who knew that he had this in him? The immediate reaction when we hear that a character in a movie is dying is to feel sorry for them, but what Sandler does here is brilliant, because even though we know George is dying, he still makes the audience laugh their ass off whenever he says something funny AND he also makes the audience angry whenever he gets too smug or conceited as a result of being a wealthy celebrity.

As Clareece Prez Jones in PRECIOUS


It's probably easy enough to feel sympathy for a character like Precious, because of the abuse she goes through and the horrible life she has to live. But Gabourey Sidibe gives us much more than that. She makes us have such an urgent desire for Precious to find happiness. When there are twinges of hope in the film and Precious smiles, the immense satisfaction that the audience gets as they smile with her is all thanks to Sidibe's pitch-perfect work. She made herself incredibly vulnerable with this performance, but the result is amazing.

As Julia Child in JULIE & JULIA


Yes, it's too "obvious" to include Meryl Streep on this list, but it'd also be completely dishonest not to include her, because her work as Julia Child is fantastic. She is as hilarious here as she was frightening in 2008's Doubt, and once again, the accent, mannerisms and facial expressions are all spot-on.

Review of JULIE & JULIA: www.listal.com/viewentry/644184

As Lawrence Gopnik in A SERIOUS MAN


What an amazing combination of hilarious line delivery, frustration and desperation. Much like the film, Michael Stuhlbarg's performance may not be most people's cup of tea, but it sure as hell is mine. The Coens sure knew what they were doing when they cast this guy.

Review of A SERIOUS MAN: www.listal.com/viewentry/648335

As Julia Harris in JULIA


It's a shame that Julia is such a small movie that most people haven't heard of, and if they heard the title, they may even confuse it with Julie & Julia and say "Oh, I saw that already." It's not just that it was one of my favorite movies of 2009, but if I had my pick for the winner of the Best LEAD Actress category of that year, it would've gone to to Tilda Swinton for her mind-blowingly fiery, paranoid work as the title character here.

Review of JULIA: www.listal.com/viewentry/644187

As Colonel Hans Landa in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS


There's so much to say here. The range of Waltz's performance is mind-blowing: from the fear we experience during his first few minutes of villainy in the film, to his quiet-yet-deadly way of interrogating people, to his multi-lingual prowess, to his snorting and laughing endlessly when a German movie star tells him she broke her leg mountain-climbing, to the hilarity of "BINGO!!! HOW FUN!!!!!" We've gotten terrific villains in the last few years, with Javier Bardem, Heath Ledger and now Christoph Waltz, and what's great is how different those three villains are, even though they're all freakin' delightful. Waltz is only one of the masterful aspects of Inglourious Basterds... but holy scheisse! What an incredible and sophisticated performance.

As Danny Gopnik in A SERIOUS MAN


The Coen brothers' latest cinematic effort may not have worked as amazingly as it does if it didn't have great performances from its two most important characters, so thank God that this kid is so great. Performances from child actors aren't always easy to judge because you wonder how much editing came into play, but there's no doubt that Aaron Wolff is perfect in every scene he has in A Serious Man. Danny's reactions to the things that befall him are constantly authentic, a tough task for any actor to take on when the "things that befall him" are so unorthodox and hard to know what to make of them.

As Melodie in WHATEVER WORKS


I've always liked Evan Rachel Wood a heck of a lot, and I think she's one of the best young actresses out there, but what she does in Whatever Works is different from what we've seen before (and VERY different from what she did recently in The Life Before Her Eyes and The Wrestler). She plays this ever-perky, oblivious Southern girl with so much charisma and so convincingly, you forget about her other, more serious roles. I'd be thrilled if Woody Allen took a break from Scarlett Johansson and started using Wood as his muse instead.

Review of WHATEVER WORKS: www.listal.com/viewentry/644175