5. Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken, Seven Psychopaths
For years, I've worried that Christopher Walken had become a parody of himself. And although I honestly cannot hear the sound of a cowbell without the Pavlovian response of shouting I got a fever!, recent overexposure and misguided collaborations with David Spade, Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler had threatened to tarnish a career I once cherished. With Martin McDonagh's follow-up to 2008's sleeper hit In Bruges, Walken has been reborn a new man. Taking a backseat in the one-liner category to the charmingly verbose Sam Rockwell, Walken is afforded opportunities to show off subtle acting chops in this film that harken back to visions of red bandanas and Russian roulette games of old. In a particularly moving scene, Walken and Woody Harrelson sit across from each other in a hospital waiting room. With only the subtlest facial expressions, Christopher Walken manages to purge any residual doubts of his abilities that may have lingered from Gigli.