HLS Movie Awards Nominees: Best Actor

 

    Welcome back to HLS Movie Awards Nominees, this weeks nominees come are those in the Best Actor category! Now the HLS Movie Awards differ from other awards, we do not split the category into best supporting and best lead actor or actress. Best Actor is a singular award given to THE best performance of the year, and it does not matter if they appeared on screen for two hours or five minutes. The best performance is the best performance. This does not mean we cut back on nominees, we include as many as necessary. For instance, this nominee list contains twelve nominees and we do not put a cap or minimum to that number when selecting.

    Now a couple further reminders. This is for the second annual HLS Movie Awards (on April 16th) and we have strict rule of we only deal with movies that come out within the year, therefore this list only includes movies that were released to the public IN 2020. This means movies like Minari, Nomadland and Judas and the Black Messiah are not eligible because they came out in February 2021.They will be eligible next year.  This list is also not a ranking, but will be in alphabetical order. 

    Please share this with your friends and hit that subscribe button at the top so you do not miss out on any new blogs! On to the actors! 

Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal

    Riz Ahmed put on a powerful, heartbreaking, inspiring performance as Rueben in Sound of Metal. It truly was a special performance by all the main actors in this movie, as Olivia Cooke and another actor on this list all three put on all star performances.

Kenneth Branagh - Tenet

    

    The response to Tenet has been so weird. It is obviously a very excellent movie but there has not been a public push by Warner Brothers supporting it or the actors in it or even propping up other departments like visual effects across award season. Which is a shame because I truly believe Kenneth Branagh put on an award worthy performance in a role we do not see enough from him. Branagh as Sator was this beautiful performance of this psychotic powerful man who is truly terrifying at parts.

Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

    Something that was a knock for the film is a positive for Chadwick Boseman; I thought this movie felt so much like a play instead of a movie as the very obvious set locations looked beautiful, the lack of movement between them broke the illusion for me. Until the movie turns and Chadwick Boseman's Levee starts going into these multiple long soliloquies that felt like I was watching a powerful drama on stage. Boseman's tragic passing  has many people negatively putting out there his nominations like this one are undeserving and are only being given out to honor him, watch this movie he deserves every once of praise it is getting.

Sope Dirisu - His House

    This is another movie I wish a lot more people saw. It is a reasonably low budget thriller with absolutely incredible acting out of the two leads. I talked about Wunmi Mosaku in the Best Actress Nominees list and Sope Dirisu deserves praise as well. Dirisu carries a lot of the scenes in this movie as  Bol Majur a refugee from the war torn South Sudan as it is about him being cursed and him losing his mind. He does an outstanding job in both the larger moments of fright and the calm moments of someone trying to fit into their new surroundings in this severely underrated movie. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt - 7500

    Joseph Gordon-Levitt IS this movie, you are either in for a strong performance of an actor chewing the scenery in the very small confined area. Only a very small portion of the movie is filmed outside the cockpit and the director said they just let the camera roll for sometimes as long as 40 minutes at a time as JGL powerful performance really soaks into the film and the viewer. 

Hugh Grant - The Gentlemen

    Talk about scenery chewing, Hugh Grant's Fletcher is a dialogue machine as he spouts of stories as he carries the plot along via flashbacks, talk of the future, and the dirty blackmailing present. Fletcher is this fast talking slimeball and that was never a role I thought I needed to see Hugh grant play but it was incredible.

Hugh Jackman - Bad Education

    Slimeball feel to be a theme. Hugh Jackman brought the real life slimeball Frank Tassone to the screen in this biographical movie dealing with the single largest public school embezzlement scandal in United States history. Hugh Jackman perfectly balances that line of, I understand why people would like him, and, oh wow he is just a bad person threatening a student. 

Caleb Landry Jones - The Outpost

    Caleb Landry Jones plays SPC Ty Carter he alone is worth price of admission. This supporting role was easily one of the most powerful of the year. The trauma and turmoil these soldiers went through is exceptionally brought to life by Caleb Landry Jones in an incredible way. Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood were the reason a lot of people watched this movie to begin with, Caleb Landry Jones is the reason we will be watching this movie years from now.

Delroy Lindo - Da 5 Bloods

    We will  not be following in the misguided footsteps of so many award shows who have failed to give this man his due credit. Delroy Lindo put on an elite performance that elevated really an average to sub par movie to something worth rewatching over and over. Every moment he is on screen he owns the stage. Put some respect on this mans name.

Mads Mikkelsen - Another Round

    

    Mads Mikkelsen is another actor just lost in the award season buzz. He has consistently put on amazing performance one after another and this movie should have been the brilliant film that people use as almost an excuse to shower him with praise. But alas both Another Round and Mikkelsen seem to be forgotten in the Best Picture and Best Actor categories. Rent Another Round, watch it tonight it is great.

Gary Oldman - Mank

    Gary Oldman is wonderful as always, this time portraying Herman J Mankiewicz the popular/infamous in his day alcoholic screenwriter of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Gary Oldman delivering usually drunk, sometimes very drunk, rarely sober witty dialogue will always be a fun watch. 

Paul Raci - Sound of Metal

    

    If we get nothing out of this awards season but more Paul Raci is more movies it will be a win for all of us. Paul Raci's powerful and emotional performance completed the trilogy with Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke of the tentpole performances that were not hurt or over shadowed by the others. Paul Raci really brings this extra layer of realness and heart to this movie that is just wonderful.

    Thank you so much for reading this penultimate HLS Movie Awards Nominees list! Let me know in the comment section below if I missed your favorite performance. Next week is the final nominees list with Best Picture nominees. We then will have HLS Movie Awards the following week on April 16th.

EDIT: Here is the 2020 HLS Movie Awards

    Hit subscribe at the top so you do not miss a single blog! Also be sure to share with your friends and follow me on twitter @HaroldLStokes.