The Top Ten Performances of 2013

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Just because a movie isn’t great doesn’t mean that the performances in it aren’t. Six of the performances below weren’t in movie that I put on my best of the year list. Some might receive honorable mentions but they’ll mostly be carried there by the impact of these actors. And for the great performances in great films? Well, we can only hope for classic territory.

 10. Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines in The Butler

The Butler and Oprah are pretty much forgotten at this point, and even though I loved the film, it’s not making my Top 10 list this year. But credit where credit is due: Oprah Winfrey is phenomenal in this movie. Lee Daniels has a history of getting great performances out of his supporting female cast members, and Oprah’s here is no exception. The characters just demand outstanding acting. Oprah had ever opportunity to overact in this showy role, but doesn’t. She brings a subtlety to this grand character that makes her sympathetic even when she’s least likeable.

9. Greta Gerwig as Frances in Frances Ha

I didn’t love Frances Ha, but I couldn’t help loving Greta Gerwig. While some might say that doesn’t make sense when Gerwig is the film, but Baumbach’s obvious obsession with Gerwig is distracting. Still, she manages to be an awkward delight. And the scene where she prances and spins down the street to Bowie’s “Modern Love” is Gerwig at her finest.

8. James Franco as Alien in Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers is Harmony Korine’s masterpiece, if there can be such a thing, and James Franco’s performance as Alien is a major reason why. It’s as balls-to-the-wall crazy as the movie itself.

7. Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld in American Hustle

In a movie the just couldn’t articulate the motivations of most of its characters, Jennifer Lawrence easily stood out. Her performance as the wife of a con man had all of the manipulative angst it needed and then some. Like Oprah’s, it’s a showy role, but Lawrence plays it like it’s a walk in the park. Effortless, funny and just about the only thing exceptional in an otherwise unexceptional motion picture.

6. Sandra Bullock as Ryan Stone in Gravity

It’s easy to forget just how good an actress Sandra Bullock is. When she does films like The Heat we recognize her comedy chops, for sure. But Bullock is a great dramatic actress as she demonstrated by commanding the screen in her nearly solo movie Gravity.

5. Jared Leto as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club

Jared Leto, where did you come from? Before DBC, the last thing I really remember Leto doing is Requiem for a Dream. And before that Fight Club. He’s good in both movie, but I never thought I’d see Leto knock one out of the park like he did the role of Rayon, a drag queen with AIDS. What’s more spectacular, in a movie that should have been owned by Matthew McConaughey for a number of reasons, weight lost not being the least of things, Leto stole every scene and created the film’s most dramatic moments.

4. Tom Hanks as Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips

If skip the last scene in Captain Phillips, you wouldn’t understand why Tom Hanks is here. Hanks is very good throughout the true-life film, but nowhere near outstanding. It’s those final moments, where shock and relief set in at the same time after the Navy SEALS rescue Phillips, that define the strength of the character in ways we wouldn’t understand otherwise. The scene is pivotal and Hanks delivers.

3. Matthew McConaughey as Mud in Mud

If you read this blog occasionally, you already know about my love for Matthew McConaughey. He’s my favorite actor at the moment because he’s doing such amazing stuff. While Dallas Buyers Club is obvious, it’s his other movie this year, Mud, that really defines just how great McConaughey is. His performance as the fugitive in love in Jeff Nichols’ film is subtle and nuanced in ways we’ve never seen. And outside of Killer Joe, it may just be the best damn thing McConaughey has done his entire career.

2. Brie Larson as Grace in Short Term 12

You may not have heard of Short Term 12 or only heard of it in passing on end of the year lists like these, but I’m here to tell you, you need to see this movie. And Brie Larson’s emotional, heartbreaking performance as the counselor at a youth home is the primary reason to see it. She’s hardly the only person in the film, but she brings a tenderness and vulnerability to the story as a whole that couldn’t be told without it. It would be the role of the year, if not for….

1. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street

What can you say about Leo in The Wolf of Wall Street? Well, how about this: Jordan Belfort is as good a role as any Leonardo DiCaprio has ever had and his performance is as tremendous as anything Scorsese and De Niro did together, including Raging Bull. Is it as iconic a performance as either De Niro’s Travis Bickle or Jake LaMotta? That only time will tell. But DiCaprio certainly makes the case for it. He’s never been better than he is in The Wolf of Wall Street.