Halfway Mark Pt 3 (Finale): Twenty-Five Favorite Performances (Continued)
Thursday, July 17, 2025 at 10:44PM by Nathaniel R
Olivia Colman in PADDINGTON IN PERU
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POSTS
In part one we looked at favourite films and favourite craft achievements from January through June-ish releases. In part two we moved to the beautiful people to list 25 performances we adored in one way or another. The first dozen included Dakota Johnson as a conflicted matchmaker, Jack O'Connell as an Irish vampire, and Brad Pitt as a race-car driver.
So let's pick up where we left off and wrap up with another dozen performances to complete that list including two film-stealing Oscar winners, a Twilight star who keeps surprising, and a former superhero playing against type. We rejoin that 'favs of the year' (thus far) list in progress with four fast-rising stars...
Jonathan Bailey & Scarlett Johnasson in JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH
Jonathan Bailey as "Dr Henry Loomis" in Jurassic World Rebirth
No, I did not support Bailey's silly SAG nomination last season for Wicked. Yes, I love him as much as the rest of the internet does. Maybe more. I've legit been a fan for seven or eight years -- around the time I chanced upon the amazing comedy series Crashing (2016) and chased it with Broadchurch (2013-2017). While this is not a "Best" performance it is still an absolute winning one, proof that his starpower works anywhere -- stage, small screen, musicals, ...and even in a giant f/x driven blockbuster. Bonus points for those "slutty little glasses" and playing the clarinet on the film's soundtrack.
Lewis Pullman in THUNDERBOLTS*
Lewis Pullman as "Bob" in Thunderbolts*
Almost nothing bores me as much in this particular genre as the all-powerful character. They're created to up the ante, of course, but as when 'saving the city / a group of people' eventually metastasizes into every threat being a 'saving the entire world / universe / the entire multiverse high stakes start so feel like a very low bar. But Pullman helps Bob/Sentry work because he balances everything so beautifully on a high wire stretched between regular human-size pathos of feeling insignificant and the bewildering comedy of existential crises.
Louisa Jacobsen as "Charlotte" in Materialists
Confession: Jacobsen annoys me on The Gilded Age so it was a delight to guffaw at the pinpoint comic precision of her shameful confession as a shallow bride with cold feet. How did Dakota Johnson make it through that scene with a straight face?
Lukas Gage in COMPANION
Lukas Gage as "Patrick" in Companion
Sophie Thatcher leads this fun B thriller well as a sexbot who can't quite grasp the fact that she isn't human when an accidental death exposes her enslavement to a gaslighting asshole. Still, I want to shout out her in-film counterpart Gage, also a sexbot, who is further along in his self-awareness, but scarier and also more believable for not resisting his programming but leaning into it. (I fully admit that it's possible my affection for this performance is due to a love hangover from his A+ supporting work as "The Cat King" in the sadly cancelled Dead Boy Detectives series.)
Nahuel Perez Biscayart in KILL THE JOCKEY
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart as "Remo" in Kill the Jockey
It's always exciting to check in on this huge-eyed polyglot actor who continues to meet the tone of any film from any country or auteur. In this surreal shape-shifting comedy about an enormously self-destructive gender-fluid jockey, he's alternately hilarious, sad, maddening, horny, and enigmatic. As usual it's impossible to take your eyes off of him when he's onscreen. Biscayart has been a frequent staple of the Best International Feature Film Oscar submission list but unfortunately none of his films have been nominated (yet). Consider...
- 2005: The Aura (Argentina) - supporting role
- 2016: Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (Austria) - supporting role
- 2017: BPM Beats Per Minute (France) -lead. This film didn't even get shortlisted but it should have won the whole category. Grrrr.
- 2020: Persian Lessons (Belarus) - lead ...disqualified
- 2021: The Intruder (Argentina) - lead
- 2022: The Employer and Employee (Uruguay) - lead
- 2024: Kill the Jockey (Argentina)... lead
Kill the Jockey was a 2024 release for much of the world, but just arrived in US theaters two weeks ago. If you like Biscayart, I highly recommend seeking out the underseen but endearing experimental film The Future Perfect (2016) about a Chinese immigrant who enrolls in Spanish language classes in Buenos Aires. Biscayart has a small role (the only professional actor in the cast). It's a wonderful film and short, too, at just 65 minutes.
Naomie Harris in BLACK BAG
Naomie Harris as "Dr Zoe Vaughan" in Black Bag
My experience with Steven Soderbergh films is often the same. I am often intrigued at first but disappointed as a whole, like they're rushed and underrealized (like the prolific director is already thinking of the next film halway through shooting). That said, Black Bag has three riveting scenes (a dinner party, a lie detector montage, and a therapy scene) and Harris is just fantastic in all of them. How many actresses can go toe to toe with Cate Blanchett (in full intimidation mode), as formidably as Harris does in their sour combative therapy duet?
Ngan Khanh as "Psychic" in Viet and Nam
Another film with a few scenes that are so mesmerizing that the film around them can't quite keep up. In her enthralling long scene set in a infamous battleground from the war, Khanh (a famous singer/actress making her first film appearance in several years), plays a psychic preying on OR actually supernaturally helping (you decide) grieving tourists locate the bodies of family members lost in the war.
Olivia Colman as "Mother Superior" in Paddington in Peru
A nightmare horror scenario: You wake up in a world and realize that Olivia Colman had never become a star and you didn't get one brilliant performance after another for the past 16 years or so. The Oscar winner steals the show yet again, this time with a hilariously SUSPICIOUS (all caps intended / winking) nun at a retirement home for aging bears.
Ricardo Teodoro in BABY
Ricardo Teodoro as "Ronaldo" in Baby
Teodorow won five festival prizes stretching from Cannes (May 2024) through Festival Écranz Mixtes (March 2025) so it was time to see what the fuss was about when the film was finally released (albeit only on VOD) in the US this year. He's utterly believable as a longtime sexworker realizing that the jig is up in this tough and tender performance.
Robert Pattinson is MICKEY 17
Robert Pattinson as "Mickey" in Mickey 17
Many of the 25 actors featured in this two-part list, won't be Film Bitch Award nominees at year's end (Hollywood always saves the stuff they perceive as "Best" -- perceive being the key word-- until the year's back half) but whatever comes our way from right now through year's end, I suspect it'll be hard to unseat Pattinson from any Best Actor ballot that I personally cast (though I suspect everyone else will blank him, since the performance is comic, in a genre film, and was released early in the year -- three things awards voters of all stripes typically stiff even when they aren't combined). This game, versatile, weird, and funny-sad star turn as a frequently dying clone is easily his best performance to date. He's clearly been building to this for years, having consistently challenged himself with every project from Cosmopolis (2012) onward.
Simu Liu in LAST BREATH
Simu Liu as "David Yuasu" in Last Breath
There was something curiously non-engaging about this underwater rescue drama despite the incredible truth of the story. One thing that did very much work, though, (at least for this viewer) was Simu Liu's against type work as a killjoy diver who cares more about his team than he'll ever let on. The character is no-fun at all but Liu never 'cheats' to dazzle us with his familiar and innately playful charisma; he wins us over anyway.
Han Gi-Chan and Youn Yuh-Jung and Kelly Marie Tran in THE WEDDING BANQUET
Youn Yuh-jung as "Ja-Young" AND Han Gi-Chan as "Min" in The Wedding Banquet
The Oscar winner (of Minari fame) steals the show again, this time as a matriarch who is much wiser to her grandson's American life than he realizes. Meanwhile her screen grandson, Han Gi-Chan (discovery!) is aces juggling the film's heart-on-sleeve emotions and it's occasionally farcical comedy. The press might have focused on Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lily Gladstone but these two were the heart of the thing.
P.S. Of the fav performances chosen, only 35% were from women which I find VERY alarming and disappointing as a devout actressexual. I promise I haven't changed but it's been slim-pickings this year in terms of female-led films so we can only hope the second half of the year is stronger in this regard.
P.P. S. Apologies to these dozen or so who were just outside the door when the list venue hit its self-imposed capacity of 25. Anyway, love you, too!
Ane Dahl Torp as "Rebekkah" in The Ugly Stepsister
Anna Mouglalis as the voice of "Mamma Creeper" in Mickey 17
body-double penis for Malte Gårdinger in The Ugly Stepsister
Catherine Front as "Martine" in Misericordia
Daniel Giménchez Cacho as "Sirena" in Kill the Jockey
Duy Bao Dinha Dao as "Viet" in Viet and Nam
Joan Chen as "May Chen" in The Wedding Banquet
Jodie Comer as "Isla" in 28 Years Later
Lea Myren as "Elvira" in The Ugly Stepsister
Liza Minnelli as herself in Liza: An Absolutely Terrific True Story
Michael B Jordan as "Smoke" and "Stack" in Sinners
musicians onscreen and off (all) for Sinners
Remy Edgerly as the voice of "Glordon" in Elio
Scarlett Johansson as "Zora" in Jurassic World Rebirth
stuntpeople as zombies in 28 Years Later
Ursula Corberó in Kill the Jockey
Wunmi Mosaku as "Annie" in Sinners
Zoe Winters as "Sophie" in Materialists
P.P.P.S And here are few performances I missed that I suspect I might like. Hope to catch up with some of them soon...
Eva Victor in Sorry Baby
Kathleen Chalafant in Familiar Touch
Megan Fahey in Drop
Mia Threapleton in The Phoenician Scheme
Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme
Sally Hawkins in Bring Her Back
This concludes our survey of the best of January through July 10th or so. We hope YOU will share your favourite performances to date. Which films are still on your watchlist? Which do you hope more people catch as the year continues? Do let us know.
Reader Comments (9)
You and the rest of the internet may have fallen for Mr Bailey but to me he just seems like another fairly handsome well educated british actor with a good stylist and great lighting who Hollywood is trying to make happen and I don't see what the fuss is.
Agreed! Youn Yuh-jung as Grandma in The Wedding Banquet. I didn’t see her Oscar winning role in Minari (2021) so I’m late to appreciation of this witty nimble actress.
Companion: Sophie Thatcher, so endearing and utterly sympathetic. Lucas Gage with his exquisite timing and easy shifts of tone. Rupert Friend, a consummate professional whose few scenes provided the narrative glue.
Ballerina: Catalina Sandino Moreno (Best Actress Oscar nominee for Maria Full of Grace, 2005). She leaps off the screen with a “who is That!?” energy. So beautiful. And I think, finally! Please let the movie be about her.
The Friend: Naomi Watts (2 time Best Actress Oscar nominee) and Carla Gugino, both reliably wonderful and yet somehow under appreciated. Also Bing, the Great Dane.
Mission Impossible Final Etc: I’m always so glad when Henry Czerny shows up in a movie. I so admire his ability to give a quick précis of the narrative so that it almost makes sense. He both grounds a movie and gives it narrative impetus. Also fun: Rolf Saxon and Lucy Tulugarjuk.
M3GAN 2.0: Amie Donald and Jenna Davis are a dynamic duo creating the character of Megan. Such wonderful teamwork creating a terrific character.
Mickey 17: Robert Pattinson is great in one of his best roles. Naomi Ackie does a refreshingly unexpected take in her delirious delight in the possibilities of clone sex.
One movie I regret having not seen (yet) is My Dead Friend Zoe. I keep getting the feeling this is one we’ll be talking about in future years and wondering how we ever missed it.
So glad to read your love for Pattinson in Mickey 17 - he's SO GOOD in it. And it had been so long since I'd seen him on the big screen, it was a nice reminder.
Also co-sign to your love for the women of Materialists. It's not Past Lives, but I think it's a pretty special movie nonetheless, with its 90s-era cynicism.
The world beyond the internet has loved Jonny for decades, even before Crashing, on the stage and small screens (see Chewing Gum and Leonardo and W1A and Company and The Last Five Years and and and). It's just taken the internet a while to catch up to the first wave of fans.
I think Robert Pattinson is genuinely great in Mickey 17. Shame the performance doesn’t stand a chance in hell come awards season.
I’m also really glad to see someone else defending Dakota Johnson in Materialists. She has a sly quality that actually reminds me of Celine Song’s past leading lady, Greta Lee.
Sinners and Black Bag are both stuffed with excellent performances, if I had to pick from the former I’d single out Mosaku, Lindo, and Steinfeld. Abela and Blanchett were my favorites in the latter.
Other performances I loved:
Rachel Brosnahan - Superman
Billy Barratt - Bring Her Back
Keke Palmer and SZA - One of them Days
Naomi Watts - The Friend
I haven't seen Materialists yet but Louisa Jacobsen is so distractingly bad in The Gilded Age I'm delighted to hear she might just be miscast and not totally without talent.
Nathaniel, any chance you will finish the 2024 FB Awards?
Joseph Quinn in Warfare
and once again, TARAJI in Straw.
Absolutely agree with so many on this list -- Lukas Gage, Olivia Colman, Robert Pattison (!), Youn Yuh-jung, Han Gi-Chan!
For BLACK BAG, I must submit a different actress: Marisa Abela. She really went toe to toe with that all-star cast. I think it was also lowered expectation on my part since I was deeply unimpressed with her in BACK TO BLACK (where I saw her the first time). I've just started INDUSTRY and she's great. So that biopic is a blip I guess.
And Michael Cera is shockingly great in PHOENICIAN SCHEME. You must see it.
Bursting onto the scene with a poignant debut in Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers" (released late 2023, but truly gaining momentum this year), Sessa has quickly proven his talent. His upcoming role as Anthony Bourdain in Christopher Storer's biopic is generating significant buzz.
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