Top 5 Performances: Emma Stone, Steve Carell

With Battle of the Sexes set to come out this Thursday, let's take a look at the greatest hits of its two stars...

Stone

5. The Amazing Spider-Man films 

Pretty poor films, the second installment being particularly dreadful, but you've got to give it to Stone for giving it her all in severely lackluster blockbusters. She has great chemistry with Andrew Garfield, who is at his best in scenes with her, and has a very good grasp on the sometimes wavering comic tone of the films, while also really making the audience care a great deal for Gwen Stacy.

4. The Help 

A low-key, reactionary performance to some of the 'bigger' performances in the film, this is nevertheless one of Stone's most effective performances. She fits perfectly into the specific time period of the film, retaining that everpresent charm of hers, and also showing how the racial attitudes of the time disturb and encourage her to help her town go in the right direction.

3. Easy A

Don't like the film all that much, and the recent somewhat similar The Age of Seventeen has only served to diminish my appreciation of it, but Stone is really great in it. Though she might be a bit hard to buy as a kooky outsider, nevertheless you really grow to care and laugh with her character. She's really funny, hits the dramatic beats very well, her narration is particularly catchy, and she develops her character perfectly even when the film around her falters.

2. Birdman 

A brief but great performance, in a great film. The 'recovering drug addict daughter' may be a bit of a trope, but Stone gives a devestating, entertaining and incisive performance as Michael Keaton's Riggan Thompson's daughter, with her hard-hitting monologue to her onscreen father about how all he does is futile hitting particularly hard. She disappears completely into the role, and to cap it all off her final reaction shot is mesmerizing.

1. La La Land 

Just an all-round fantastic performance. On re-watches I've found myself liking the film more than loving it, but my appreciation for Stone's performance hasn't diminished one bit. It's just the perfect sort of charisma-filled performance where both singing and dancing is infused with such dynamic energy, her chemistry with Ryan Gosling is pitch-perfect, and she can turn from the funniest to saddest thing on the screen in an instant. A very well-deserved Oscar, I must say.

Carell

5. The Big Short 

A pretty mediocre film on the whole, but I'll admit that Carell is pretty great in it. He plays essentially the moral conscience of it, and though the role as it is, is a bit paper-thin and he occasionally dips into caricature, he nails the crucial dramatic moments very well. Plus, he probably is the only cast member who manages to make the somewhat awkward screenplay work in a natural fashion

4. Foxcatcher 

A performance that I've grown to like a lot more over time. John du Pont was never the most subtle figure, and nor is Carell's performance, but I've grown to appreciate it more in contrast against the very cold and methodical film it is set against. Though it doesn't work the whole time, Carell is genuinely quite menacing, chilling and even heartbreaking at moments in the film, and creates a fascinating dynamic with both Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. Good, if at times flawed, work.

3. Anchorman

A simplistic performance that nevertheless completely works, the whole time. Brick is probably the most loveable idiot out of Ron Burgundy's posse of manic reporters. Almost every moment Brick is onscreen is used to set up a joke, now occasionally one or two of them don't quite hit the mark, but when it works, like his love for a lamp, a poorly phrased pick-up line, or perhaps best of all his performance on a reporter's battlefield, it's a great comic performance. The second film, though, perhaps overused him, showing that sometimes too much of a good thing is a bit 'meh'.

2. Last Flag Flying

I was thinking of saving my thoughts on him till the end of the year, but seeing how the Lead Actor category is shaping up, I don't think he'll get in for this film (we'll see how good he is for Battle of the Sexes). Carell is great, though, as the grieving father of a son lost in the line of duty. He balances the grief and pain of his character with the more lighthearted moments with such ease, and makes for the most sympathetic character he's played. You really grow to care for him, and though the ending is not some upbeat, rousing finale, feel moved by him being at peace at it's conclusion.

1. Little Miss Sunshine

A brilliant performance, though really the whole film is filled with great ones. As the depressed gay Proust scholar Frank, who comes to live with the Hoover family after a suicide attempt, Carell actually gives the most low-key performance in a role that could've been horrendously overacted. He's great in just playing off the rest of the cast, whether it's Greg Kinnear's intentional obnoxiousness, Alan Arkin's uncouthness, or Abgail Breslin's sheer idealism. He shows the slow recovery of Frank from his depression, to a growing optimism, beautifully, handles the few comedic moments he has very well, and nails his heart-to-heart with Paul Dano's Dwayne perfectly. A great performance, and I can't wait to see how this new collaboration with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris pans out.