AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the twenty-second category of the 13th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions: Allison Janney (Bombshell), Darci Shaw (Judy), Kate McKinnon (Bombshell), Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

The winner:
Caitlin McGee (Standing Up, Falling Down) brought a sweet sincerity to a character whose late appearance helped her film find a kind and endearing note on which to end.

Other nominees:
Liv Hewson (Bombshell)
Brigette Lundy-Paine (Bombshell)
Merritt Wever (Marriage Story)
Martha Kelly (Marriage Story)

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the twenty-first category of the 13th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions: Alec Baldwin (Before You Know It), Benedict Cumberbatch (1917), Colin Firth (1917)

The winner:
Ray Liotta (Marriage Story) burst onto the scene with a tremendous ferocity, demonstrating just how vicious divorce can be even for those not seeking to be at all contentious.

Other nominees:
Andrew Scott (1917)
Mark Strong (1917)
Jesse Plemons (The Irishman)
Richard Madden (1917)

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance

This is the twenty-first category of the 12th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Bill Heck (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Billy Eichner (Most Likely to Murder), Glenn Fleshler (The Seagull), Grainger Hines (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Jack Dylan Grazer (Beautiful Boy), Kaitlin Olson (Arizona), Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther), Zoe Kazan (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)

The winner:
Stephen Root (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) made an incredible impression in mere moments as a bank teller not willing to go down without a fight.

Other nominees:
Jason Isaacs (The Death of Stalin) arrived with bravado and a hilarious arrogance to stand out among an enormously talented cast. Tatiany Maslany (Destroyer) gave her all to a minor character whose arc might have been throwaway if not for the intensity of her turn. Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) imbued the title cowboy with an unflappable absurdity that truly made the part – and the vignette – work. Elizabeth Gillies (Arizona) was memorable in a tangential roles that, given her talents, could have been far more prominent in this over-the-top film.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance

This is the twentieth category of the 11th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Angelique Cabral (Band Aid), Brookyn Decker (Band Aid), Bruce Greenwood (The Post), Cheryl Hines (Wilson), Hannah Simone (Band Aid), Jeremy Strong (Molly's Game), John Cho (Literally, Right Before Aaron), Judy Greer (Wilson), Lea Thompson (Literally, Right Before Aaron), Luis Guzman (Literally, Right Before Aaron), Margo Martindale (Wilson), Michael Cera (Molly's Game), Nelson Franklin (Band Aid), Peter Gallagher (Literally, Right Before Aaron), Tracy Letts (The Post)

The winner:
Elisabeth Moss (The Square) enlivened a lackluster foreign film with her decidedly American journalist who quickly got very intense when things became intimate.

Other nominees:
Jonathan Tucker (Sweet Virginia) made a strong impression as a character who could easily have been the focus of a film that he didn’t end up seeing. Vella Lovell (The Big Sick) was an important part of her film as the only true romantic possibility for its protagonist out of a sea of options presented by his mother. Brian D'Arcy James (Molly's Game) had a great time playing dumb, just enjoying poker for the company despite his incredible lack of skill. Caleb Landry Jones (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) channeled his signature wild energy into his most focused and formidable role, the eccentric owner of said billboards.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the nineteenth category of the 10th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mention:
Anne Consigny (Elle)

The winner:
Kathy Bates (Complete Unknown), well-known as a spectacular scene-stealer, did it again opposite Danny Glover in a mesmerizing scene that stood out as the best part of her film.

Other nominees:
Christine Woods (Dean) made a great impression amid showier talent, showing her tremendous contributions to cinema of all genres. Alice Isaaz (Elle) stood out in a cast of many for a fierce and convincing turn as a truly horrible and unkind woman. Maya Rudolph (Maggie’s Plan) continued to make her mark in a supporting role as a dependable friend with plenty of advice to offer. Cloris Leachman (Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?) proves that, at nearly ninety years old, she’s still capable of stealing a scene and making her mark on a film.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the eighteenth category of the 10th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Jonas Bloquet (Elle), Charles Bering (Elle), Christian Berkel (Elle), J.K. Simmons (La La Land)

The winner:
Danny Glover (Complete Unknown) was an immensely memorable part of a murky film as a clear person of character in one long and impactful scene.

Other nominees:
Rhys Darby (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) contributed his usual comedy to an already lighthearted film with a portrayal of a paranoid forest-dweller. Travis Fimmel (Maggie’s Plan) was so strange and far-out that he somehow managed to work as a minor character. Bill Hader (Maggie’s Plan) has done a great job mastering the role of the good male friend in semi-serious comedies, and his latest was on par with his previous work. Nicolas Cage (Snowden) was an unexpected standout providing some sense of stability and honesty in an otherwise shadowy world.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the nineteenth category of the 9th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Amanda Peet (Sleeping with Other People), Chloe Grace Moretz (Clouds of Sils Maria), Connie Britton (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), Dascha Polano (Joy), Juno Temple (Black Mass), Katherine C. Hughes (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), Marcia Gay Harden (Grandma), Meryl Streep (Suffragette), Natasha Lyonne (Sleeping with Other People), Perla Haney-Jardine (Steve Jobs)

The winner:
Judy Greer (Grandma) was a formidable and believable opponent for Lily Tomlin’s torrential girlfriend, a young woman with aspirations and a handful of hurtful academic slurs to disparage her offender.

Other nominees:
Molly Shannon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) was one of the best consistent oddities in her film, always ready to share a glass of red wine with her daughter’s friends and live in her own version of reality. Dakota Johnson (Black Mass) felt like she fit in as a mobster’s wife but revealed in just a few scenes what she truly held valuable. Heather Lind (Mistress America) stole the show from a number of other talented players as a remnant of the title heroine’s past not too eager to let her live her mistakes down. Katherine Waterston (Steve Jobs) was a consistent thorn in her film’s protagonist’s side, there to remind him that he didn’t control anything and that she wasn’t willing to be forgotten.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the eighteenth category of the 9th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which is sometimes split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Bryan Brown (Kill Me Three Times), Corey Stoll (Black Mass), David Harbour (Black Mass), James Badge Dale (The Walk), John Slattery (Spotlight), Jon Bernthal (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), Luke Hemsworth (Kill Me Three Times), Michael Chernus (Mistress America), Peter Sarsgaard (Black Mass)

The winner:
Stanley Tucci (Spotlight) accomplished a careful balance between rightful paranoia and legal incompetence, crafting a believable and magnetic character in the process.

Other nominees:
Billy Crudup (Spotlight) was one smiling face assuring everyone that nothing was wrong, a perfect friendly symbol for the monstrous coverups of misdeeds, while Jamey Sheridan (Spotlight) painted a more human picture of the difficulty of deciding what to do in impossible situations. Nick Offerman (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) was hilariously obsessive about his strange meats and odd outlook on life, perfectly cast for a peculiar part. Michael Chernus (People, Places, Things) delivered a wonderfully funny and fresh take on the “other man” and all the awkwardness that comes along with that.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance

This is the twenty-first category of the 8th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which has on occasion been split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Alice Olivia Clarke (Land Ho), Chris O'Dowd (St. Vincent), Lena Dunham (Happy Christmas)

The winner:
Lindsay Duncan (Birdman) epitomized the critique of star culture in her film with a brilliantly on-point and unbridled dose of unforgiving disgust.

Other nominees:
Karrie Crouse (Land Ho) and Elizabeth McKee (Land Ho) infused the perfect non-masculine energy into their film as the token females who proved that the humor and attitude of two old men truly was harmless. Matt Damon (Interstellar) and Wes Bentley (Interstellar) both lent a certain realistic gravitas to their roles as those on the verge of major explorations and discoveries.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the twenty-second category of the 7th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which has on occasion been split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Jessica Alba (A.C.O.D.), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Kill Your Darlings), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Spectacular Now), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (The Spectacular Now)

The winner:
Jane Lynch (A.C.O.D.) contributed her signature zany energy to a role that was a crucial part of her comedy’s storyline.

Other nominees:
Cristin Milioti (The Wolf of Wall Street) was one of the only pure characters in her film, and she was a sweet and sadly doomed addition. Alma Jodorowsky (Blue is the Warmest Color) was the first and much less significant romantic interest for her film’s protagonist, but left a deep and lasting impression. Amanda Peet (The Way, Way Back) distinguished herself in a crowded ensemble as a party-oriented, moral-free beachgoer. Kyra Sedgwick (Kill Your Darlings) brought a certain disinterested gravitas to the role of a mother with absolutely no idea what her child was up to.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the twenty-first category of the 7th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which has on occasion been split into male and female and sometimes been combined.

Honorable mentions:
Hank Azaria (Lovelace), Bobby Cannavale (Lovelace), Chad Michael Murray (Fruitvale Station), Michael C. Hall (Kill Your Darlings), David Cross (Kill Your Darlings), Michael Shannon (Mud), Paul Sparks (Mud), Kyle Chandler (The Spectacular Now), Paul Giamatti (12 Years a Slave), John Malkovich (Warm Bodies), Rob Corrdry (The Way, Way Back)

The winner:
Rob Corddry (Warm Bodies) stole the show with a performance focused first and foremost on being indisputably hilarious.

Other nominees:
Benedict Cumberbatch and Paul Dano (12 Years a Slave) both made important contributions to a crowded film as an inherently good and inherently bad man, respectively. Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby) gave his small but vital role his committed all. Kevin Durand (Fruitvale Station) had a tough job to be part of such a breathless extended scene, and he excelled with a chilling and unforgettable turn.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance

This is the eighteenth category of the 6th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category, which in the past has been split into male and female.

The winner:
James Badge Dale (Flight) was haunting in just one short scene as a patient dying of cancer with words of wisdom for Denzel Washington’s Whip and Kelly Reilly’s Nicole.

Other nominees:
Mark Strong (Zero Dark Thirty), a nominee in this category last year, shone as a hotheaded government employee dealing with bureaucracy and the war on terror. Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas (Ruby Sparks) were the perfect complements to the younger generation as the eccentric parental unit of author Calvin. Diane Farr (About Cherry) was formidable as Heather Graham’s better and less forgiving half.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the twenty-second category of the 5th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category. Due to a surplus of nominees this year, I’ve decided to split it into two categories, male and female.

The winner:
Charlotte Rampling (Melancholia) was by far the most engrossing wedding guest, denouncing the institution of marriage in an awfully off-putting marriage toast and owning each of her scenes.

Other nominees:
Marisa Tomei (Crazy Stupid Love) made her flirtatious and semi-insane school teacher one of the most memorable parts of a winning comedy. Kat Dennings (Thor) fired off hilarious remarks and innuendos with gusto, stealing many scenes from heartthrobs Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. Christina Hendricks (Drive) was alluring, irresistible, and mysterious without uttering more than a few words. Brittany Snow (Janie Jones) got the chance to play against type in a small role as a rocker girlfriend.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the twenty-first category of the 5th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category. Due to a surplus of nominees this year, I’ve decided to split it into two categories, male and female.

The winner:
Stanley Tucci (Margin Call) was instantly unforgettable as the only truly relatable character and the first major casualty of the whirlwind events of this film.

Other nominees:
Mark Strong (The Guard) was immensely memorable and hilarious as a particularly intellectual henchman in this entertaining crime film. Stellan Skarsgard and John Hurt (Melancholia) were captivating party guests, each making their mark in different ways. Eddie Marsan (London Boulevard), always superb, was a terrific corrupt cop in this off-kilter dramedy.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the twenty-first category of the 4th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category. Due to a surplus of nominees this year, I’ve decided to split it into two categories, male and female.

The winner:
Jessica Barden (Tamara Drewe) portrayed a young girl with a major crush who was very believably willing to take her feelings way too far.

Other nominees:
Rooney Mara (The Social Network) did a magnificent job of delivering Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue as a jilted girlfriend incredibly capable of chewing out her egotistical ex-boyfriend. Charlotte Christie (The Social Network) was a great foil to Barden’s more proactive character, providing plenty of sarcastic commentary. Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island) delivered a fantastic blend of haunting and tragic as a mysterious patient. Alexandra Maria Lara (The City of Your Final Destination) was short, cruel, and completely compelling as a woman with considerably little faith in her partner.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the twentieth category of the 4th Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category. Due to a surplus of nominees this year, I’ve decided to split it into two categories, male and female.

The winner:
Ted Levine (Shutter Island) was the perfect degree of mysterious and chilling as a very creepy security guard.

Other nominees:
Hiroyuki Sanada (The City of Your Final Destination) did a marvelous job of conveying humility and gratitude in the midst of extreme wealth and comfort. Garrett Dillahunt (Winter’s Bone) provided a cautionary voice of reason and safety net amid dangerous characters. Jackie Early Haley (Shutter Island) played a volatile prisoner whose insanity may not have been entirely an act. Campbell Scott (Handsome Harry) was subdued, heartbreaking, and most of all forgiving as a man whose life was affected by a cruel act.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Female

This is the twenty-first category of the 3rd Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category. Due to a surplus of nominees this year, I’ve decided to split it into two categories, male and female.

The winner:
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Away We Go) was a whole ball of crazy as a mother with a particular dislike for separate beds and strollers, and by far the most entertaining stop on Burt and Verona’s trips.

Other nominees:
Margaret Colin (The Missing Person) was vibrant and energetic as a duplicitous flirt, and the only refreshing thing about this otherwise abysmal film. Allison Janney (Away We Go) let herself go completely as the ultimate portrait of a woman without any sort of boundaries or filters. Olivia Thirlby (New York, I Love You) was alluring and artful as a girl in a wheelchair who gets the chance to go to a high school prom. Cloris Leachman (New York, I Love You) shined as a woman still deeply in love with her husband after many decades in her film’s most moving segment.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance – Male

This is the twentieth category of the 3rd Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category. Due to a surplus of nominees this year, I’ve decided to split it into two categories, male and female.

The winner:
Denis Menochet (Inglourious Basterds) was the less showy one in the terrifying first scene where his dairy farmer is interrogated about hiding Jews, but his stoic face said so much.

Other nominees:
Eric Bana (Funny People) kept his Australian accent for once in an American film and enhanced this otherwise troubled and unfunny comedy. Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker) necessarily had to go in the first few minutes, but his bomb diffuser was just as intense and emotive as his replacement. J.K. Simmons (Up in the Air), a Jason Reitman regular, stood out as the most moving fired employee to talk back about the people who axed him. Christian Camargo (The Hurt Locker) was calm and kind in the face of danger, though perhaps a bit too trusting.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance

This is the twentieth category of the 2nd Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them.

The winner:
Thekla Reuten (In Bruges) had a brilliant small part as the pregnant hotel head whose unwillingness to lay down got her caught in the middle of the film’s most edgy and violent characters.

Other nominees:
Peter Sarsgaard (Elegy) was perfect to play Ben Kingsley’s tortured son desperate to share his problems with the father who always neglected him. Amy Ryan (Changeling) has been doing so many diverse things lately (from “Gone Baby Gone” to “The Office”), and she’s great as a fellow psychiatric ward patient who is not prepared to put up with what the doctors do to her. Emile Hirsch (Milk) teamed with Sean Penn for the second year in a row, and showed that his interactions with people are actually quite entertaining – the look makes the part. Marie-Josée Croze (Tell No One) was the focus of her film, but was hardly in it, but for the moments she was, she was entirely refreshing and real.

AFT Awards: Best Limited Performance

This is the sixteenth category of the 1st Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order by film title. Winners will be announced in late February.

Some actors make an impact with just a scene or two and precious little screen time. This category is for those performances like that of Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed” last year, which in my opinion does not amount to a large enough role to merit an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. If I had thought Ruby Dee was remotely good or memorable in “American Gangster”, this is where I would recognize her. Marisa Tomei straddles the line for “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”, but I think she belongs in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Runners-up:
PAUL SCHNEIDER, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES
ANDY GRIFFITH, WAITRESS
PAUL RUDD, WALK HARD
JONAH HILL, WALK HARD

The nominees:
EMILY BLUNT, DAN IN REAL LIFE
The harried, frantic assistant gets a shot here at playing the surprisingly beautiful and charming girl with whom Dan is unwittingly set up. She has but one major scene but she makes the most of it. In her few minutes on screen, she lights it up as the most fascinating and impressive member of the (large) ensemble cast.

J.K. SIMMONS, FIRST SNOW
The character actor is given a wonderful role here as the fortune teller who predicts Guy Pearce’s inevitable death. He seems like a hack, yet there is something undeniable about the look of horror and fear he gets when he first sees Pearce’s future. Simmons injects this minor yet important character with all he has got.

TINA BENKO, PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS
People often dread bringing their significant other to meet their friends – and in this case, Allegra is right to be afraid. Benko, as the immutable Nell, never gives Philip a chance and immediately begins ripping him to shreds. It is a nice treat to see the vulnerable, devoted girlfriend from “Brotherhood” really show some stones and refuse to back down.

JULIANNE NICHOLSON, PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS
She appears at the very beginning as the strong, overbearing girlfriend of the neurotic Allegra. Nicholson, whose talent has recently been wasted on the likes of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, shines through in just a few brief scenes here and makes her frustrating character sympathetic. Coming off of last year’s “Flannel Pajamas”, she does not share a scene with Justin Kirk, but her performance is just as strong.

JOHN CARROLL LYNCH, ZODIAC
Lynch is hardly in “Zodiac” but he easily gives it its single best moment as a suspect believed to be the Zodiac killer. Lynch is best known for his comic work on “The Drew Carey Show” and as the stamp-making, doting husband in “Fargo”, but it is chilling delivery of one line that makes it here: “I’m not the Zodiac, and if I was, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.” For a film that is not sure of where it wants to go, Lynch certainly keeps the mystery alive spectacularly in this scene.