20 Best & Worst Movies From 2017 Oscar Nominees
14. Michael Shannon
Best: Nocturnal Animals (2016)
He might not get a great deal of screen-time, but Michael Shannon proves beyond a doubt in Nocturnal Animals that his impact is in no way diminished by time constraints (see also, Groundhog Day). As Detective Bobby Andes, he ruthlessly goes about stealing his every scene, even as the film as a whole is a little bit of a mess.
His Andes is brutal and grotesque, but there's a weird sort of empathy to him, and a perversely likeable - perversely essential, even - heroism that the film absolutely needs.
Worst: 13 (2011)
13 is a bad movie that happened to a lot of good people. Unfortunately, it also happened to Jason Statham and 50 Cent, who were improbably both given way too much to do in it. The film is a mess - the concept laughably macho and brutally stupid - and Shannon is just causally dropped into a glorified bit-part as an evil organiser of Hunger Games' style Russian Roulette games.
Frankly, it's a wonder he even bothered showing up.