In a reversal from most years, the 2018 Best Actor race is far less competitive than that of Best Actress. I struggled to come up with ten names to consider for my personal list of the year’s best lead male performances.

Granted, I have yet to see several performances that have a good chance of cracking the lineup in this category, including the two frontrunners.

Here are the ones I’ve missed:

Christian Bale – Vice
Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
Ryan Gosling – First Man
Lucas Hedges – Boy Erased
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody

All of these have a shot at cracking the Oscar lineup (which is announced this morning, incidentally) and Bale and Malek will likely duke it out for the win. Continue reading →