First award worthy acting performances

Well, it's December 1st and I have probably seen half of the Oscar buzzed about performances. Most have lived up to the hype and there have been also some surprises.

Let me get this out of the way right out of the shoot. People are still remembering Snow Angles, The Visitor and Frozen River. And I'm glad and a little surprised. I was taken by the Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo performances, and if you didn't see The Visitor or Frozen River, do yourself a favor and rent them when you can.

There are about 10 buzzed about films I have yet to see, but as of now, Sean Penn's take on the late Harvey Milk is easily the best. I am also glad to see Josh Brolin get a Golden Satellite for his portrayal as George W. Bush. He disappeared in that role and I applaud his effort as he was very reluctant to taking on that role in the first place.

We are now seeing Robert Downey Jr's. name popping up on many lists for possible Oscar nomination for his method acting performance playing a method actor. A performance that one would never tire of. Funny, but at the same time, sublime.

At the end of the month I'll come back and my choices will probably be different, but as of now I'll mention performances I felt were impressive, regardless of lead or support as of today.

Male performaces ? Sean Penn-Milk, Josh Brolin- W., Richard Jenkins- The Visitor, Hugh Jackman- Australia, Heath Ledger- The Dark Knight, Rob Brown- The Express, Sam Rockwell- Choke & Snow Angles, John Malkovich- Burn After Reading, Jason Butler Harner- Changeling, Don Cheadle- Traitor, Dev Patel (debut ) Slumdog Millionaire, Philip Seymour Hoffman- Synecdoche, New York, Danny McBride- The Foot Fist Way, Brendan Gleeson- In Bruges, Leonardo Di Caprio- Body Of Lies, Luke Wilson ( career best ) Henry Poole Is Here, Ed Norton- Pride and Glory, Mark Strong- Body Of Lies, Bill Erwin- Rachel Getting Married.

As for the female performances... Mery Streep- Mamma Mia, Melissa Leo- Frozen River, Angelina Jolie- Changeling, Kate Beckinsale- Snow Angles, Angelica Huston- Choke, Penelope Cruz, Elegy, Kathy Bates- Bonneville, Frances McDormand- Burn After Reading, Elizabeth Banks-W., Julianne Moore- Savage Grace & Blindness, Amy Poehler- Baby Mama, Keira Knightley- The Duchess, Rachel McAdams- The Lucky Ones, Emma Thompson- Brideshead Revisted, Saffron Burrows- The Bank Job.

More to be added come the first of the year obviously, this is just a little golf clap for performances I personally thought were good.