Oscars 2014: Ranking The Best Actors From Worst To Best

3. Bruce Dern €“ Nebraska

Bruce Dern is proof that there is more to delivering a phenomenal performance than getting down dialogue, as even have that much in Nebraska aside from the reoccurring lines about collecting his $1million. He is still able to mesmerise audiences though. Part of the reason why comes from his humanistic facial expressions and mannerisms that truly do represent a man stricken with a severe case of dementia. Dern appears as if he's shifting his conscious between a man that understands the world around him, to an incredibly distant shell of a man that hasn't the faintest idea what he's doing. Every time his son or wife says something to him, he responds with a look of bewilderment before something clicks in his mind, allowing him to respond with a shred of sense. All of this and more - especially his turtle-paced stilted walk - results in a performance that is wholly sympathetic, and honestly pretty depressing to watch. When watching Nebraska there's just no shaking the feeling that pretty soon we'll all have a Woody in our lives. Bruce Dern's performance is a rare one that will probably hit close to home with anyone that watches it; and that's the biggest compliment anyone can give his performance. So why isn't he number 1? To be fair, the final two competitors just barely edge him out and arguably had a tougher role to portray.