My Picks for Best Actor

Best Actor is really stacked this year. If these five roles were nominated over the course of five different years I could see each one winning. Unfortunately, there can only be one.

5. Morgan Freeman- Invictus
Morgan Freeman is clearly the only working actor allowed to play Nelson Mandela, and he does a perfect job. If he had not already won two Oscars I would say he was a shoo-in but alas, he is surpassed by flashier and career-defining performances this year.

4. Jeff Bridges- Crazy Heart
In a few long hours he will probably be crowned Best Actor, but not for this role. Mr. Bridges has had such a wonderful career that his fellow actors will probably have decided that "it's time" for him to win. It's unfortunate that it is for this and not something else (The Dude!) but I'm not too bitter, and on the bright side it is not as similar to The Wrestler as I feared it would be.

3. Jeremy Renner- The Hurt Locker
When he first comes onscreen (replacing Guy Pearce, no less) I was convinced he was going to play his role the cowboy caricature way, but he quickly dispelled any thought of that. I cannot imagine any other actor playing his role, and giving it the kind of treatment he does. He redefines the American soldier cowboy formula by making his character intense and modern enough where you truly cannot tell whether or not he really is suicidal, or just an addict who has picked a horribly dangerous drug.

2. George Clooney- Up in the Air
This is his career-defining him-at-his-peak performance, and it's a damn shame he won't win. He makes it look effortless, which may be to his disadvantage, but he somehow makes a movie about firing people funny (at least to me). His character could have easily been villain of the year but he makes Ryan Bingham multi-dimensional and, in the process, likable and human. Whereas most voters are looking at Jeff Bridges's entire career when they vote for him, those voting for Clooney are looking singularly at this performance, perhaps as it should be.

1. Colin Firth- A Single Man
I consider Colin in this role a firm career resurgence, as he was previously as likable as could be in romantic comedies and dramas, but he never really got to stake a movie on his performance alone. He brings such a soul to this character that you forget that he is, in fact, trying to kill himself, and instead focus on the fact that he is reuniting with his one true love, however backward that may be. His marriage with Matthew Goode is easily the most believable coupledom of all those onscreen marriages this year (beating out my number 2: Meryl & Stanley), which makes his thought-process all the more believable. Again, I cannot imagine another actor performing this role to the level that he has.

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