Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road

While the film itself left us feeling suffocated and trapped (an intentional mirror of the suburban ‘50s marriage it chronicled) Leo lit up the screen with an incendiary turn as Frank, a 30-year-old mind-numbingly bored corporate salesman at a life or death crossroads. Despite having suffered through the trappings of the ultimate 90’s pin-up boy, he’s emerged into a true-blood character actor who can, without effort, slip into the skin of anyone. Are we still nostalgic for when he gazed longingly through a fish tank at an angel-winged Claire Danes? Yes, but he had to grow up, and he did it with grace and confidence. Leo’s performance in Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road deserves that ultimate reward: a glistening golden trophy.

Heath Ledger for Dark Knight

Heath’s turn as the Joker was shocking, eviscerating, and haunts us to this day. Forget the childhood crushes we possessed ever since he wooed Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You. Dark Knight took him from teen bedroom posters and blond-actress arm candy to the stuff of Hollywood legend. With or without his untimely, tragic passing, this was Heath’s tour-de-force performance. It lacked the vanity or self-awareness of a Hollywood actor, and when he thrashed us over to the dark side, willingly we went.

Sally Hawkins for Happy Go Lucky

Initially Sally Hawkins’ character, Poppy, comes across as aggravatingly happy and frustratingly naive. Eventually, though, it’s the viewer who feels like the fool. You see, Poppy’s got it all down. She’s turning lemons into lemonade, while the rest of us are just sucking on ‘em ‘til we turn sour. Hawkins plays her character with love, complexity and whimsy, and encourages the strong, irrepressible woman to rise in all of us. She teaches us the invaluable lesson that or without direction or a plan in life, don’t forget to stop and smell the poppies.

Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

You want to hate someone as gorgeous, talented, and dynamic as Cruz, but as María Elena, she sizzles with seductive, insane, and passionate female power, and we were left utterly spell-binded. In Woody Allen’s tale of lust, love, and Barcelona, it is Cruz, even paired next to the dangerously curved, husky-voiced Scarlett Johansson, from whom you can’t look away. María is so passionate she’ll kill for love, and never bore herself with regrets. Cruz continues her reign as crazy, sexy, and cooler than the rest.

Iron Man

The hardest part about choosing between Oscar contenders for Best Picture is that they are all so wildly different. How do you compare the friend who will always be there for a shoulder to cry on, versus the girl who will pull you out of bed to hit the town when you’re blue? At the end of this bleak, turbulent year, we’re choosing our life- of- the- party- friend, who made us laugh, teeter on seat’s edge, and gasp in thrill. Iron Man, the biggest, baddest, blow ‘em up blockbuster of 2008, takes the prize. Robert Downey, Jr. was brilliant (quel suprise) and Iron Man gave us everything we could have asked for big budget Hollywood production; and then it just kept giving, and giving and giving…we’re stoked for the sequel.