20 Best & Worst Movies From 2018 Oscar Nominees

20. Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day Lewis Gangs Of New York
Miramax

Best: Gangs Of New York (2002)

While there are lots of issues with Gangs Of New York as a film, Daniel Day-Lewis performance as Bill The Butcher Cutting is incredible. And for an actor who has steeped himself in the art of the Method for his entire career, anything that stands this far above the rest of his work is astonishing.

He's been brilliant elsewhere, of course - how else would he be such an Academy darling? - but Cutting is visceral, charismatic and devastating in equal measure. He's a tour de force of villainy and he's impossible to drag your eyes from.

Worst: Nine (2009)

Day-Lewis has very few actual missteps on his CV, but Nine definitely stands apart as his worst work. Perhaps because it's a musical, he's shorn of his usual ability to really find the truth of his character - this time director Guido Contini (based on Federico Fellini) - and it's the weakest of his performances in a trite, uninspiring movie.

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