Today the Los Angeles Film Critics Association did a fine if startling thing by giving Tom Hardy their Best Actor trophy for two excellent 2014 performances — in Locke, a solo turn about Hardy’s urban contractor dealing with personal problems as he drives along a British highway in the wee hours, and The Drop, in which Hardy plays a low-key, New York-area bartender. I’ve posted riffs two or three times about Hardy being one of the most deserving actors in this 2014 awards race, but the idea didn’t have a great deal of traction until today. Cheers, back-pats and high-fives to Hardy, who’s now shooting The Revenant with Alejandro G. Inarritu and costar Leonardo DiCaprio.
