4. Julianne Moore, Still Alice and Seventh Son

4. Julianne Moore, Still Alice and Seventh Son

The best thing that can be said about five-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore’s role in Seventh Son: At least she doesn’t do an English accent. (No one in the movie does—not even the many English members of the cast—which is odd, considering that it’s an adaptation of an English novel set in a fantastic version of medieval England.) Unlike star Jeff Bridges—who fully, bizarrely commits to his role as an aging witch-hunter—Moore doesn’t put much effort into her performance, opting instead to evoke generic sinister sultriness while wearing what looks to be the most expensive Sexy Witch costume at the local Halloween store. After two years of delays, the movie finally hit American theaters this February, not long after Moore’s Oscar nomination for Still Alice, a modest drama that’s as driven by Moore’s presence as Seventh Son is indifferent to it. [Ignatiy Vishnevetsky]

5. J.K. Simmons, Whiplash and The Rewrite

J.K. Simmons, the veteran character actor and J. Jonah Jameson of everyone’s hearts, is the favorite to win this year’s Best Supporting Actor award for his exceptional work in Whiplash. It’s his first Oscar nomination after decades in movies and television—and getting high-profile awards recognition while working as a character actor virtually guarantees that the prestige film will be chased by something less impressive. For Simmons, who appeared in half a dozen 2014 movies (and has nearly that many on deck for 2015), that chaser is The Rewrite. This Hugh Grant/Marisa Tomei semi-romantic comedy casts Simmons in a supporting role as Grant’s English department head at Binghamton University. Simmons, a formidable comic actor in the right setting, is reduced to doing lame shtick about how he’s the only man in a family full of women. Then another layer of shtick emerges when it turns out he’s a secret softie who loves his girls. The Rewrite’s wan college shenanigans are a far cry from the uncompromising educational intensity of Whiplash—but the mainstream-friendly Grant film appears to be receiving an even smaller release than Whiplash. [Jesse Hassenger]