Performer of the Year: Michael Shannon

2008 was a strong year for actors. Women in particular from Sally Hawkins in "Happy Go-Lucky", to Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" to Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" were all very impressive. Then there was Kate Winslet's memorable turns in both "The Reader" and "Revolutionary Road".

As for the men we had the triuphant return of Robert Downey Jr. as a movie star with his unconventional super hero role in "Iron Man" and his no-holds barred comedic role in "Tropic Thunder". His performances in those two films made them worth watching. Three of the best male performances themselves came from one movie "In Bruges" with Colin Farrell never better along with Brendan Gleeson and a mean and nasty Ralph Feinnes. You could say Feinnes had somewhat of a banner year with his trio of supporting roles in "In Bruges", "The Dutchess", and "The Reader". But above all those performances which I think were primo, it was Michael Shannon who I was most impressed with this year with his one-two punch in "Shotgun Stories" and his supporting work in "Revolutionary Road"

In "Shotgun Stories" Shannon plays Son, the oldest brother in a family who's father was mean and abusive to them then ran out on them only to get re-married and start a new family. When Son and his two youngest brothers find out their father died, they crash his funeral which infuriates the other family and a spiral of violence occurs.

"Shotgun Stories" is for my money one of the best films of the year, and part of the reason it is so great is Shannon's subtle and nuanced performance. Shannon never does too much to gain our attention, he never has a giant meltdown or a big emotional scene, but we always know what he's thinking and feeling, and that's what great film acting is all about. We know all we need to know about Son and his family, not much is said in the film, but everything is implied. Son is the rock who holds his brothers together, and Shannon does the same thing with this film.

In "Revolutionary Road", Shannon only has a handful of scenes as John Givings, the mentally unstable son of Kathy Bates' reality worker. We learn John was once a brilliant mathematician, but after he was sent to a mental institution, electrical shocks have erased his gift forever. In the film, Givings is the one character to speak the truth all the time. "Revolutionary Road" is a film about the failing marriage of Frank and April Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) as they grasp onto their fading dreams of leaving the suburbs and moving to Paris. John Givings rips through their facade right away telling them exactly how he feels about their whole life.

"Revolutionary Road" in my opinion was somewhat average, but whenever Shannon is on screen he lifts the film up to a new level, he brings the film's tragic/comic outlook home for us to. Unlike "Shotgun Stories", Shannon's performance in this was not overlooked and he certainly deserved his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Michael Shannon has been under the radar for awhile now. He gained some notoriety in the play "Bug" and was then cast in the film. He has just been cast in a new HBO series produced by Martin Scorsese, so here's hoping he stays on top for awhile, I can't wait to see what Shannon has in store in the future.