10. Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inexplicably, no actor from a Wes Anderson film has ever received an Oscar nomination, but that unfortunate statistic may change this year with Ralph Fiennes' performance in Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel. Fiennes' performance as the consummate hotel concierge, Gustav H. is the heart and center of Anderson's beautifully whimsical movie. In fact, the whole success of the film essentially relies on Fiennes' ability to create a truly indelible character, and Fiennes, mostly known for heavily dramatic work thus far in his career, displays shockingly apt comedic timing that rivals that of the likes of William Powell as Nick Charles in The Thin Man. Despite the brilliance of Fiennes' performance, his chances at receiving a nomination are a bit of a long shot. Comedic performances have a notoriously difficult time receiving their due from the Academy in competitive acting races, and like most years in contemporary cinema, the 2015 Best Actor race looks to be jam-packed with heavy hitters. Fiennes though has proven popular with the Academy in the past, receiving two nominations for his performances in Schindler's List and The English Patient, and ironically, the fact that Fiennes isn't a comedian may actually help his chances at getting a nomination for a comedic turn. This far out, predicting a race as competitive as Best Actor is a fool's game, but if Fiennes manages to crack the list when the nominees are announced, you can now act smart and say you saw it coming all along.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
