Ready to Take the Stage

Best Actor in a Leading Role Austin Butler, "Elvis" Baz Luhrmann's biopic of this legendary rock star employs the larger-than-life, maximalist aesthetic that's come to define the writer-director's work; but it's Butler's performance that solidifies it as an effective approach to capturing the King. Ke Huy Quan, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" Considering that he's rarely acted on camera since the 1980s, Quan's return to the screen as Waymond-the timid, goofy husband of Yeoh's Evelyn-feels especially triumphant. Once the sci-fi twists begin, Quan is equally comfortable playing a gritty martial-arts warrior and a brooding, tuxedo-clad movie star. Queen Ramonda evokes the devastating burden of her son's death when she tearfully asks a United Nations assembly, "Have I not given everything?" You can't help but associate the emotional heft of Ryan Coogler's sequel with the tragic passing of the first film's star, Chadwick Boseman; only a performer of Bassett's caliber could bring such intensity to a franchise built for crowd-pleasing entertainment.