20 Best Movie Performances Of 2019

5. Al Pacino - The Irishman

Somehow, The Irishman was Al Pacino's first time working with Martin Scorsese, and the two artists certainly made the most of it.

Pacino's performance as unflappable union bigwig Jimmy Hoffa is without question the actor's finest work in decades, a full-tilt depiction of a man defeated by his own stubborn ego.

There are many classic Al Pacino freakout scenes in this movie, but the actor also ensures to make Hoffa entirely believable as a human being in the film's quieter moments.

Pacino strikes a perfect balance between making Hoffa an oddly likeable, even sympathetic charmer, and having the audience watching his self-annihilating behaviour through splayed fingers.

When Pacino gets his first Oscar nomination since 1993, it'll certainly be well-earned.