Four days till Oscar.
This season brings us multiple four-timers. It's round quatro for a full 25% of our acting nominees: Brad Pitt, Renée Zellweger, Saoirse Ronan, Joaquin Phoenix, and Kathy Bates. They're all on their fourth nomination for acting (though Brad has additional nominations for producing).
Let’s rank their 20 nominated performances for fun after the jump, shall we? Yes, let's...
Was this really necessary, Academy?
20 Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain … the stench of this performance lingers for years
19 Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell … the tearful supportive mom with one good clip
18 Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator ...'are you not entertained' by this over the top villain performance?
17 Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button … this man is so pretty but the performance is too blank.
Very solid. Nominations are understandable for various reasons even if we ourselves might not have nominated them…
16 Kathy Bates, About Schmidt - Funny, memorable but over those that were shut out? No way
15 Saoirse Ronan, Little Women - Moving. She’s such a star. But “Best”?
14 Renee Zellweger, Judy - Very good at some parts of the role.... not so strong in others (where is the star magnetism considering you’re playing “the world’s greatest entertainer”?)
13 Brad Pitt, 12 Monkeys -- Very memorable and AMPAS was impressed that he steered clear of his own beauty but is there much here beyond the uninhibited performing and the weird tics?
12 Kathy Bates, Primary Colors - This performance is a distant memory but we remember it being strong. Have any of you seen it recently?
11 Joaquin Phoenix, Joker - Boy is it showy. But does this character cohere? We’d argue not quite.
10 Renee Zellweger, Chicago - A classic case of really selling an “unlikeable” character with aplomb… even if she can’t sing or dance all that well.
Yes please. We bow down. “Best” citations totally deserved.
09 Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line - Reese wasn't the only one nailing this duet.
08 Saoirse Ronan, Atonement -it's not every year that a performance by a child is THIS good AND it's even less common that a performance that good from a child is just them warming up.
07 Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - We're happy he'll finally have an Oscar but it's annoying that it took Category Fraud to do it and that they'd never give something this effortless a leading nomination.
06 Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn - Saoirse forever
05 Joaquin Phoenix, The Master - His best performance?
04 Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones Diary -is it controversial to say that this is (by far) her best performance? Though we also love her in Nurse Betty and Jerry Maguire.
Win worthy though only one of them did
03 Brad Pitt, Moneyball - The star magnetism comes off this in waves. But he makes it look too easy and the Academy likes to see your effort.
02 Kathy Bates, Misery - One of the all time weirdest Best Actress wins.
01 Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird -If only the Academy could understand the skill and depth of non-biopic style performances and comedic ones, too.