Best Acts of 2006

As the year is coming to close, there are certain performances attracting the audiences' attention. These are the people making movies worth while. Of these, I'm looking at the mainstream. Let's face it, we love Michael Sheen in 'The Queen,' but we can't find it in theaters unless we look for it. Emily Blunt is getting two nominations for Best Supporting Actress, which I support both of, but everyone else has only seen her in one and didn't think much of it.

This list if primarily for performances that made the movie. Marketability is a small factor. Performance on actor's fame/reputation is a large factor. You'll notice each of these are tied into a big movie over the past year, which there performance was essential to.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order:

1.) Sacha Baron Cohen. One word: Borat. A one man reality show. The actor was Cohen, the reality was America. He carried the entire movie, and whatever points were made, it was a seller for what he was doing. What he was doing was acting, not being Jackass or Will Farrell being generic. Ali G and Cohen's other parts show us there's more than Cohen being Borat.

2.) Leonardo DiCaprio. If you asked me a year ago, I doubt I would be writing this. A year ago, I won't have. Until recently, Leo's been getting in the way of my movies. Titanic, Catch Me if You Can, and the Aviator didn't give me a positive opinion of Leo. However, Blood Diamond and The Departed are changing that. He has some acting ability. Some. The other strength of his performance comes from his already established name and appeal provided by GQ and teen girl magazines. Of course, I could say this is the fault of Dijmon Hounsou and Jack Nicholson for stealing the scenes. But then again, I'm not a Leo fan.

3.) Judi Dench. She's M in the past decade of Bond films, and she's most interactive with Bond in the most recent installment. But that's not why she's on the list. Breaking into Notes on a Scandal as the psychotic friend. Dench lives up to her performances as Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love and the wide variety of characters she's done, both large and small.

4.) Dijmon Hounsou. Blood Diamond gave Hounsou to show what he's been doing with smaller roles since Amistad and Gladiator. He stole the movie from DiCaprio, trolling thru a war-plagued Sierra Leone looking for his son in the diamond camps. If you've seen him before, you know his acting. This year, he had a role to fill out, and when he fills his face with tears, he's exceeded expectations.

5.) Jack Nicholson. As I said before, we could say DiCaprio has acting ability, but his scenes are side-by-side with actors that 'steal' (probably rightfully so) the scene. Nicholson is what made The Departed worth seeing. Hell, I knew I had to see the movie when Nicholson started pacing in the preview, talking about the difference (there isn't any) between cops and criminals. Think about A Few Good Men. The movie is about Tom Cruise and Demi Moore's case, but Nicholson is what you remember. Here, Nicholson has a larger role, and he's what you remember.

6.) Will Smith. He carries Pursuit of Happiness. He's brought home I, Robot, Ali, and Men in Black, none of those match up to the level of what Denzel Washington is. This movie, this role, solidifies Smith as one of three unquestionable top five marketable black actors (the other two are Denzel and Wesley Snipes).

7.) Meryl Streep. Devil Wears Prada was bold. Real bold. They're only preview was opening scene thru the first encounter between Streep and Hathaway. And it sold. It was a hit at $124.6 million, just above The Break-Up, below Mision Impossible 3, and alittle short of Talladega Nights and Click. Streep, as Editor-in-Chief of Runway magazine, pulls off the evil witch (put nicely) of fashion. It's to girls what Marlon Bando, Jack Nicholson, and Robert DeNiro are to guys: enjoyable bad guys. Yes, she's hatable, yet we sympathize with her, and Streep is anything but contradicting and uncomfortable with the character.