Performances: The Top 25.

25. HALEY JOEL OSMENT (The Sixth Sense)

Holy shit.



24. MADELINE KAHN (Clue)

Flames.... Spoilers.



23. RUSSELL CROWE (A Beautiful Mind)

Awwww.



22. JULIANNE MOORE (Far From Heaven)


Craze-a-ly good. Very emotional and very raw. A fine performance.

21. DON CHEADLE (Hotel Rwanda)

Haunting, powerful, commanding. Should've won out of the nominees.


20. CLARK GABLE (Gone With the Wind)

You need kissing, badly.



19. KATE WINSLET (Sense and Sensibility)

Weep You No More Fountains.



18. PATRICIA CLARKSON (Pieces of April)

Photos. *Spoilers*



17. Q'ORIANKA KILCHER (The New World)

Running around the garden. *Spoilers*


16. AUDREY HEPBURN (Breakfast at Tiffany's)

Moon River.



15. PETER O'TOOLE (Lawrence of Arabia)

They'll be coming for Damascus.



14. CLIVE OWEN (Closer)

Gentler. Umm...spoilers? If you haven't seen the movie, wait because it has so much more of an impact.

Performances: #31 - 26.

31. GREG KINNEAR (Little Miss Sunshine)

There are two kinds of people in this world.



30. MARGARET HAMILTON (The Wizard of Oz)


Deliciously evil. Hamilton makes the Wicked Witch of the West one of the baddest of the bad in excruciating detail. A prize-winning supporting performance.


29. TONI COLLETTE (Little Miss Sunshine)


She could just as easily be YOUR mom. Collette makes Sheryl a dedicated and loving mother exactly on pitch. Earned her BAFTA nom!

28. JUDE LAW (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)

You held my hand.



27. TONI COLLETTE (The Sixth Sense)

Someone died. Spoilers.




26. SARAH BOLGER (In America)

My third wish. Spoilers.

Performances: #43- 32.

43. JIM CARREY (The Truman Show)

"I predict..."



42. JOHNNY DEPP (Edward Scissorhands)

Ice Dance.



41. HELEN HUNT (As Good as it Gets)

A normal boyfriend. Spoilers.



40. DUSTIN HOFFMAN (Tootsie)

You were a tomato.



39. ORSON WELLES (Citizen Kane)

Campaign Speech.



38. SAMANTHA MORTON (Sweet and Lowdown)


Without a word of dialogue, Morton gives an illuminating and heartbreaking performance.

37. MERYL STREEP (The Devil Wears Prada)

A Pile of Stuff.



36. HELEN MIRREN (The Queen)

The Queen's Tribute.



35. RACHEL WEISZ (The Fountain)

Together We Will Live Forever- Spoilers.



34. JENNIFER CONNELLY (A Beautiful Mind)

Meeting Nash.



33. JUDY GARLAND (The Wizard of Oz)

There's no place like.....



32. GEORGE CLOONEY (O Brother Where Art Thou)

Beginning: Escape!

Performances: #49- 44.

Uhoh. I overlooked the fact that I'd be gone ANOTHER week soon, so I'm booking as fast as I can on theese.

49. ROBERT DE NIRO (Awakenings)

Awesome. As Leonard Lowe, De Niro is heartbreaking as he awakens from his comatose state and starts to live life.

48. VIRGINIA MADSEN (Sideways)

In such a short amount of time, Maya is vibrantly portrayed and electrifying by Madsen. Worthy of an Oscar.

47. ZIYI ZHANG (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Zhang holds her own as an amazingly athletic and tough Jen Yu, a confused criminal.

46. BILL MURRAY (Groundhog Day)

Murray's a gas in his immortal performance of Phil Connors. Truly, one of the finest comedic performances ever.

45. SHIRLEY MacLAINE (The Apartment)

Funny, but heartbreaking-- seems odd right? MacLaine makes Fran both, somehow in a seemless performance.

44. NATALIE PORTMAN (Closer)

Freaking amazing. Alice is a true gem of a character with great wit and a very inner sadness. Should've won over Cate.

Clip from 'CLOSER': "I don't need things."

Performances: #52 - 50.

52. ABIGAIL BRESLIN (Little Miss Sunshine)

Awwww. Breslin is absolutely adorable as little Olive Hoover with big dreams of winning the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Breslin is surprisingly good, with warm emotions and an extremely likeable feel to her. Was definitely better than J.Hud at the Oscars.

Clip from 'LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE': Am I pretty?


51. JACK LEMMON (The Apartment)

Lemmon is C.C. Baxter, an average citizen like you or me, stuck in a dillema. Lemmon does just enough where he is believable as the "everyman" but doesn't let things get out of hand. Not to mention he has perfect comedic pace and timing.


50. SERGI LÓPEZ (Pan's Labyrinth)

The exact opposite of Abby and Jack, Lopez is malicious and crude as the evil Captain Vidal. He is extremely merciless and extremely evil- definitely the villian of the year. (And robbed of the coveted Oscar nom.)





Just want anyone to know, (if anyone's out there....) that I won't post for the next 7 days, because I'll be in Indianapolis on a trip. I'll be back on Sunday the 17th, and my Top 100 performances list will continue!

-Movie Geek.

Performances: #55 - 53.

55. CATHERINE ZETA-JONES (Chicago)

Wow! Zeta-Jones is brilliant as Velma Kelly, the sedusive and deceitful murderess/jazz singer. She is captivating every moment, and the strongest singer/dancer of the trio of central characters. Well-developed and great, but not worthy of her Oscar in such a strong year.

Clip from 'CHICAGO': All That Jazz




54. MARIBEL VERDÚ (Pan's Labyrinth)
Verdu is entrancing as Mercedes, a woman caught between sides in the fierce battle in Fascist Spain. Verdu slowly turns from prim and drawn in to wild and loose in order to save the ones she loves. A fine, fine performance.

53. JACK NICHOLSON (As Good as it Gets)



Nicholson is delightful (as always) as the spastic Melvin Udall, an uncaring and paranoid author. He is heartless, crude, and somehow lovable to the very core. An engulfing performance with a lot of development inside. Worthy of the Oscar it won.

Clip from 'AS GOOD AS IT GETS': Don't come knocking.

Performances: #58- 56.

58. SHARON WARREN (Ray)
What a powerful performance. Warren is Aretha, Ray Charles's mother. Seen only in flashbacks, Warren is strong and the camera nearly demands her presence. She steals all of her, albeit few, scenes and was bluntly robbed of an Oscar nomination-- for her first performance.

I'm really bummed out, because YouTube has no clips of this fine performance. :(

57. BARBRA STREISAND (Funny Girl)
Another very headstrong performance from (at the time) film-noob Streisand. She commands as Fanny Brice, transforming vividly from a shy girl to a famous starlet, to a snooty heiress, and ultimately a confident woman. Worthy of the Oscar she won (shared? It was a tie.)

Clip from 'FUNNY GIRL': Don't Rain on My Parade!




56. TOM HANKS (Forrest Gump)

What can I say? Classic performance from a classic actor. Hanks made Forrest a delight to watch and he instantly lept into the heart of many Americans. Fantastic.

Clip from 'FORREST GUMP': People call me Forrest Gump.

Something off performances.

I really, really, really want to see Paris, je t'aime. It looks amazing.



18 sketches in one film? Um, yes.

I'm most eager to see:

-"Tour Eiffel"- a piece by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) about two mimes in love.

-"14th arrondissement"- directed by Alexander Payne, starring Margo Martindale (Million Dollar Baby and The Hours.)

-"Tuileries" - 1. Ethan & Joel Cohen. 2. Steve Buscemi. 3. Bruno Delbonnel. Enough said.

and I'm most excited for

-"Faubourg Saint-Denis"- From Tom Tykwer (Perfume) and starring Natalie Portman.


This movie basically looks like a giant orgasm. I can't wait until it comes to my city - if it ever does, that is.

Performances: #61 - 59.

61. JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Walk the Line)
Phoenix is great as the immortal Johnny Cash. He brings frustration, drug addiction, alcoholism, and unrequited love to the screen fantastically and justly earned the Oscar nomination he recieved.

Clip from 'WALK THE LINE': Folsom Prison Blues recording



60. JACK NICHOLSON (Batman)


Nicholson is absolutely the core of the film as the Joker in Burton's comicbook adaptation. I honestly think without his nutty-ness and the utter chaos he made, the film would be a complete snoozefest.

59. LIZA MINNELLI (Cabaret)

Minnelli shines as Sally Bowles, the iconic star of the Kit Kat Club in Germany. Minnelli is bubbly and fun but also harrowing and soul-filled. A fine, memorable performance.

Clip from 'CABARET': Maybe This Time

Performances: #64- 62.

64. SAMANTHA MORTON (In America)


















Heartbreaking. As mother Sarah, Morton makes running a family genuine and sad. A brilliant performance.



63. TOM HANKS (Cast Away)
























Without using barely any/no words for a good 2/3 of the film, Hanks as Chuck Noland is never misunderstood, due to his brilliant body language and facial expressions. It's harrowing as he converses with a volleyball, and even sadder when he confronts his love back on main land.



62. JULIE ANDREWS (Mary Poppins)



A classic! Andrews is Mary Poppins, making funtime and discipline go hand in hand as the carefree magical nanny. One to be remembered for the ages - especially due to her Oscar win.

Performances: #67-65

67. LESLIE NIELSEN (Airplane!)




Nielson is absolutely hysterical in possibly the best comedic performance ever. As "Dr. Rumack," Nielson makes his hilarious lines even funnier when he delivers them in perfect deadpan. A knockout!

Clip from 'AIRPLANE!': "You can tell me, I'm a doctor."




66. TIM CURRY (Clue)



Another fine comedic performance. Curry is Wadsworth, the butler who's actually the one running the show - and he makes it quite clear. His manic actions and controlling ways are great as they interact perfectly with the six other bumbling guests.

Clip from 'CLUE': No there is, or no there isn't?




65. JANET LEIGH (Psycho)



















A very memorable performance. Leigh is (doomed) Marion Crane, making her genuine and quite relatable. Not to mention, her facial expressions are golden. (Also not to mention the "little-known shower scene," below.)

Clip from 'PSYCHO': Rrr, rrr, rrr, rrr...