There were many interesting performances in Hollywood movies in 2016. Some were great, some were legendary. According to us, these were the absolute best!
When actors and actresses portray a character on screen as brilliantly as these men and women did, we forget that they are anything but these characters in real life as well.
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the sea
Strongly character driven, emotional to the extent of making you vulnerable as an audience.
Manchester by the sea is about Lee Chandler, a janitor in Boston who has the obligation to take care of his nephew, who after his father’s death has no family around. It’s a raw tale of how a family comes together – it isn’t perfect, it isn’t ideal – but it’s what life throws at you. Affleck’s emotionally driven performance puts him in a strong position for his first Oscar in the category of best actor in a leading role.
Watch Manchester by the sea trailer
source: YT / StudioCanal UK
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Tough acting, true portrayal of love, challenge of being in an interracial relationship.
Story of Richard and Mildred, who fall in love but the challenge of being an interracial couple soon begins to unravel into a sequence of events that were unforeseen and this all leads up to a legal battle that goes up to the supreme court.”
Watch Loving trailer
source: YT / Focus Features
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Charisma of Gosling, a classic with a modernistic touch, story of a pianist and an actress.
Playing a pianist, Gosling falls in love with an actress (Emma Stone), the movie is an ideal example of how classic musical can be turned into modernistic movie marvel.
Watch La La Land trailer
source: YT / Lionsgate Movies
Tom Hanks, Sully
Emotionally driven portrayal, a strong-spirited pilot who saved many lives, the gruesome performance includes the wild accusation and investigation that questioned Sully’s heroics.
The real life hard-hitting tale of a pilot who fought death and saved all aboard on his plane, the events take a turn for wrong as an investigation is established that threatens to question his integrity and life-earned respect. Is he a savior or a cheater?
Watch Sully trailer
source: YT / Warner Bros. Pictures
Denzel Washington, Fences
A complicated fight of life and race in USA of 1950’s, Washington shines as an expressive father who is coming into terms with his lives events.
Story of a father who fight the complexities of racism against blacks in pre Martin Luther era of United States – Washington playing Troxy Maxson suddenly brings a baby into his home; a child he had through an affair.
Watch Fences trailer
source: YT / Paramount Pictures Australia
Ethan Hawke, Born to be blue
Destroying self with heroine, the movie moves you with this sad story of self-destruction, portrayed with incredible empathy from Hawke.
Actor plays legendary jazz tumpeter in biopic by director Robert Budreau. In late 1960’s, a jazz player (Ethan Hawke) falls in love with an actress- the movie surrounds his aspiring musical comeback and with it the self-destructive lifestyle of dependence of drugs.
Watch Born to be blue trailer
source: YT / Movieclips Trailers
Julianne Moore, Maggie’s plan
Complication of extra-marital affair, Moore is at the end of seeing her husband falling in love with another women. This caustic performance leaves the audience in amazement with Moore as Georgette.
Georgette played by Moore has a husband that is having an affair with a woman named Maggie – the love affair soon results in complications and heartbreaks. Moore portrays a woman that is both willful to fight the odds and yet vulnerable with the situation that she faces.
Watch Maggie’s plan trailer
source: YT / SonyPicturesClassics
Colin Farrell, The Lobster
A portrayal of utter loneliness, Farrell keeps the performance in check and not overboard, the sad and shy portrayal channels you to see different shades of one character.
In a story of near future, single people are put in a hotel room and told to find a partner in 45 days or be sent into the woods. Farrell plays a man that is desperate, frustrated and lonely.
Watch The Lobster trailer
source: YT / A24
Ellen DeGeneres, Finding Dory
Seriocomic that works with balance, DeGeneres gives weight to the life of Dory, the voice-art gives the movie emotion and awe.
Story of a fish that suffers severe memory loss and is yet determined to be brought together with her long missing parents; DeGeneres gives Dory a soul – on which begins the exploration of Dory to find love and family.
Watch Finding Dory trailer
source: YT / TheEllenShow
Ralph Finness, A bigger splash
A rockstar on vacation with a film maker in Italy is soon turned into an unexpected and awkward visit of an old friend and his daughter.
Ralph Finness (Harry Hawkes) rekindles with an old friend in Tilda Swinton (Marianne Lane) but is it just friendship or more than that? Finness portrays a character like no other in his illustrious career, one that passion, loss and disaster awaiting.
Watch A bigger splash trailer
source: YT / FoxSearchlight