Right off the bat, it needs to be said: thank you Canada. The country that gave us maple syrup and Celine Dion, often gets a bad wrap, and here in America, you're the butt of many jokes, but, without you, we wouldn't have one of cinema's finest young actors, the terrific Ryan Gosling. The former Mickey Mouse Club star hails from the northern land, and though we have to thanks Uncle Walt to a certain extent, it's his homeland that deserves the lion's share of the praise. Ry, as those of us who pretend to be in his inner circle like to call him, has film roles that date back to the late '90s, and television credits that go back even further, but it wasn't until 2004's The Notebook that he became everyone's dream guy, including a surprising number of otherwise straight guys. Don't get it twisted, though, despite his beauty, it was obvious that he had some acting chops, and that fact was made even more clear just two years later with Half Nelson, the movie that earned him his first Oscar nomination. With that movie, Gosling strode into those treacherous waters that play home to those labelled The Next Big Thing, proving his acting ability was more than a match for his physical appearance. It has been seven extremely successful years for The Gos, and now he's back, this time sporting a Metallica tank top, in Derek Cianfrance's epic crime saga, The Place Beyond the Pines. The film reunites star Gosling and helmer Cianfrance after their prior collaboration on the ineffable Blue Valentine (but we'll get to that later), and features a wonderful cast that also includes Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Bruce Greenwood, Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelsohn, Dane DeHaan, and Emory Cohen. It tells the story of a motorcycle stunt driver (Gosling) who resorts to robbing banks to provide for his family, which puts him on a collision course, of sorts, with an ambitious young cop (Cooper), and sparks a feud that spans multiple generations. The praise that Ryan Gosling is getting for his performance is overwhelming, and it makes me that much more excited for his future projects. But, for now, let's take a look back at five of his most awesome performances, and five that sucked. First up, the awesome performances...