As the awards season really ramps up, it’s time to look back at what happened in darkened theaters in 2009, starting with the best supporting work of the year. We’ll get to the best films, best lead performances, and worst films over the next few weeks, but today is dedicated to the men and women who did the best work outside of the main spotlight.

As has happened far too often in recent years, the category of Best Supporting Actor is actually a little difficult to fill in 2009. It's not so much that there weren't a lot of contenders, but rather that few stood above the pack. There were two spectacular supporting performances by the men of the film industry and about eight or nine "good" ones competing for the other three spots in a traditional five-nominee system that so many groups use. Honestly, after a clear winner and personal favorite runner-up, the choices were nearly as difficult as throwing darts at a board. And they were more diverse than usual. From more relatively obscure performances like Red West's striking work in Goodbye Solo to mainstream work like Jackie Earle Haley's movie-stealing portrayal of Rorschach in Watchmen. From small scene-stealers like Peter Capaldi in In the Loop and Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles to the great Alec Baldwin, an actor who delivered in films both big (It's Complicated) and small (Lymelife). And while Matt Damon rocked in The Informant!, both Joel McHale and Scott Bakula were vastly underrated as the G-men who had to deal with his stream of consciousness existence. But none of them made the cut. These are the five who did:

After a period in the mid-1990s when it looked like Harrelson had moved up to the A-list segueing smoothly from Cheers and roles in mega-hits like Indecent Proposal and White Men Can't Jump to critically acclaimed work in Natural Born Killers and his Oscar-nominated turn in The People vs. Larry Flynt. Woody continued to work with some interesting directors, but he took four years off between movies (1999 to 2003) and then made some bad choices. But the talent was always there. We first suspected an A-list comeback was in the works when he popped up in No Country for Old Men. But 2009 was the year of Woody. He had his biggest hit in years with his iconic character (and underrated performance) in franchise-starting Zombieland and nearly stole 2012, but his most notable performance was a dramatic one in The Messenger. Harrelson gives arguably the best performance of his career, truly supporting the dramatic arc of his fellow lead actor, Ben Foster. Will Montgomery is an emotional powder keg, a young man with fire in his eyes that resembles a fuse waiting to be lit. Conversely, Harrelson's Stone is all bottled up, a man whose fire has been replaced by procedure and, more importantly, sadness. There's a deep well of loss right there in Woody's eyes. The shot I think of first when I think of The Messenger is Woody sitting on a couch as years of emotion begins to rise to the surface. What's most remarkable is how genuine it feels. It doesn't feel like “take 12” on a long day of shooting but like someone actually letting down an emotional wall, even if just for a minute. Let's hope that Woody doesn't disappear again. He's capable of delivering work like this every year. He's the aforementioned runner-up, the other spectacular supporting actor performance from 2009.

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& Stanley Tucci as George Harvey in The Lovely Bones

Call it cheating, but I just can't choose. Like Molina, Stanley Tucci is one of those "hey, it's that guy" character actors who gave two of the best performances of his already-great career this year in vastly different films. Paul Child and George Harvey couldn't have less in common. The former is the supportive husband to Julia Child and Tucci gives new meaning to the word supporting. Not only does he often serve as the subtle support in scenes with the more showy (not through any fault of her own but simply a part of the character) Meryl Streep but his arc of the film is easily the most successful thing about it. An underplayed subplot of Julie & Julia is that no one can make their dreams come true without the support of a loved one pushing them to do so. Tucci shines in one of the most subtle supporting actor performances of the year. Far less subtle is his work in The Lovely Bones but it's also incredibly memorable, the most effective performance in the film. With George Harvey, Tucci takes a true villain, an absolute scumbag, and makes him feel uncomfortably three-dimensional. Like a lot of great supporting performances, it's in the eyes, most notably in a scene in which he converses with the father of the girl he murdered. With incredibly subtle cues, he plays a man both trying to cover up his own nerves and figure out how much this man knows about what he's done. Nearly every movie could use more Stanley Tucci.

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Maybe it's something in the water, but the competition for this five-slot category was just as heated as the men. Once again, the amazing ensemble in An Education needed to be considered but acknowledge Emma Thompson, Olivia Williams, or Rosamund Pike? All three are fantastic and I'll be happy when the film gets a SAG Best Ensemble nod (and hopeful win), but I can't pick a favorite here. Marion Cotillard gave two spectacular performances this year, both turns that I liked more than her Oscar-winning work in La Vie en Rose. She nearly stole Public Enemies and, well, you'll find the other performance below. Rachel Weisz delivered decent work in The Lovely Bones and even better work in The Brothers Bloom, but neither are top five material. Samantha Morton has made a splash in this category several times and proves yet again with her work in The Messenger that she's one of the most subtle actresses of her generation. On the other end of the subtlety spectrum, there's Mo'Nique and her highly acclaimed turn in Precious. Unlike most people, I don't have a strong opinion either way on Mo'Nique, but I do think she's given one evil mother speech too many and her character in Precious somewhat turns into a caricature, something closer to Mommie Dearest than the realism the film really needed in its final moments. She's good but not in my five. This quintet of ladies is:

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If Cotillard is the emotional foundation of Nine, Penélope Cruz is the sexual fire. Introducing her character with a raunchy, lingerie-clad number that will have men wondering why they fought going to see a musical on date night, Cruz steps into the world of Nine with the sexual firepower that won her an Oscar last year for Vicky Cristina Barcelona intact. But, as she's done so often lately with great work in Volver and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cruz finds the vulnerability underneath the flawless facade. As Guido hides Carla from the rest of the world, putting her in a sleazy motel by the train station, Carla realizes that she'll never have the status that she so desires by being acknowledged as the muse of one of the great cinematic voices. Her breakdown after confronting Guido at his fancy hotel is a film highlight. It is the rare actress who can play as sexy as Penélope Cruz but also register as something so much deeper than a pretty face. If they hadn't given her the Oscar last year, she'd be more of a frontrunner in this one.

Speaking of sexy, how many American actresses are as in as much confident control of their sexuality as Vera Farmiga? And what the hell is it going to take for people to recognize the ability of this amazing actress, who should have been nominated already for The Departed and Nothing But the Truth? Maybe the third time is the charm. Farmiga brilliantly plays Alex Goran as a woman totally in control of every element of her life. That's what George Clooney's Ryan Bingham is drawn to. He's a man who has long thought (and preached as a speaker) that the only way to have true control over leading the life you want, you need to "empty your backpack" of traditional elements like family, friends, and even a job. When Bingham fires people, he even encourages them to find what they want in life. Alex is a woman who has what she truly wants and that confidence draws Ryan in and, ultimately, shatters his worldview. His oh-so-confident life model may not be the only one out there. Farmiga is funny, confident, sexy, and perfectly cast.

I'm usually loathe to picking small, cameo-sized roles for supporting actor or actress consideration but I'll make an exception for what Ms. Moore does with just a few minutes in A Single Man. The entirety of her part probably doesn't total much more than ten minutes, but it's such a crucial ten minutes to the arc of the lead character and the mood of the overall film that it defines "supporting." Colin Firth's acclaimed performance and the overall melancholy of the film aren't the same without the choices made by one of the best actresses alive. Moore plays a woman who is desperately trying to cling to youth and happiness that have left her behind while also still dealing with the tragically unrequited love for her gay best friend (Firth). We don't see her too much, but Moore telegraphs so much with so little. Charley drinks too much and, when she does, she laments the life that she doesn't have any more and the one that she never did. She's borderline tragic without being at all melodramatic.