The Hunger Games—both books and movies—have a lot going for them. Zeitgeisty dystopian premise? Check. Strong and complex female protag? Check. Love triangle that makes those teen hearts (and teen-at-heart hearts) go pitter-pat? Double check.

That’s all there in the movies. The premise is still the series’ main draw, along with the protag, excellently played by Jennifer Lawrence, and of course the two hotties rounding out the series’ romantic subplot.

But what struck me when I watched the newest movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, is that what’s really starting to distinguish the movies is not the excellence of the leading characters, but of the supporting ones. Aided by some truly inspired casting choices, a host of minor characters have been brought to glorious life on the screen, including a handful who were nothing more than dull walk-ons in the books.

So here, without further ado, I will attempt to rank the best supporting actors in the Hunger Games movies.

Honorable Mention: Amanda Plummer as Wiress. Anyone who’s seen Pulp Fiction has to love the jolt of recognition when Honey Bunny appears on screen as Wiress, a District 3 tribute. Too bad she isn’t given much to do other than look crazy and mutter “tick-tock.” The excellent casting alone deserves an honorable mention. Love you and your crazy eyes, Amanda. Now give me my wallet, please. It’s the one that says “Bad Motherfucker” on it.

8. Woody Harrelson as Haymitch. Truth be told, it was a bit difficult for me to let go of my ideal casting for this role—I would’ve loved to see Robert Downey Jr. as Haymitch. But Harrelson was a great choice as well, and he’s done fantastic in the role of Katniss’s drunken mentor. Haymitch isn’t an easy role to play—at different points in the story, he’s a buffoon, a leader, a fighter, a moral conscience, and a guide via his explanations to Katniss and the audience of how the Hunger Games work. Woody pulls it off admirably, finding the right mix of comic relief and gravitas for every scene.

7. Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. Not everyone appreciates Kravitz’s performance as Cinna, and I grant you that he’s not the most complex actor, or character, in the world. But I think that casting Kravitz was an inspired choice. He’s a real-life icon of cool, so it’s not such a stretch to imagine him as the designer who shows Katniss how fashion can be a tool of dissent as well as oppression. He also brings an unexpected gentleness to the role, which made one scene in particular just as gut-wrenching as it needed to be.

6. Donald Sutherland as President Snow. Thought experiment: consider for a moment who might have been a better choice to play President Snow than Donald Sutherland. Who else might be able to convey this character’s silky, slithery charm, his mixture of sophistication and menace? Can’t think of anyone? Me either. In Catching Fire, Sutherland is especially great in an early scene with Katniss, some great stuff with Plutarch Heavensbee, and an absolutely chilling scene with his own granddaughter.

5. Jeffrey Wright as Beetee. Jeffrey Wright is one of those guys who, whenever he comes on screen you recognize from…somewhere. He’s one of those character actors who owns every scene he’s in. In the books, Beetee was a bit of a cipher, a plot device in the guise of a character, but Wright puts flesh on him, turning the character into a collection of careful tics that signify a brilliant mind at work. Just watch the way his hands steal up to adjust his glasses, the way his eyes dart this way and that as he’s making a plan. Like his CIA operative in the recent Bond movies, he may be the guy standing behind the lead—but he’s the one who really knows what’s going on.

4. Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. Banks is a great actor, and a great choice to play Effie, the District 12 handler who’s barely visible as a real person behind the over-the-top fashions of the Capitol. It’s not an easy role, but Banks gives the character as much depth as she can. Effie may be brainwashed, but she still has a heart. The transformation she goes through in this film doesn’t exactly rise to the level of true enlightenment—the best she can muster are the complicit crocodile tears of the oppressor, the sad shake of the head that wishes things were different while doing next to nothing to make them so. Still, it’s what Banks was given, and she gives her character as much depth and conscience as the part allows.

3. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee. When Philip Seymour Hoffman first appeared in Catching Fire to dance with Katniss at a party, it looked to me like he’d wandered in from another movie. His clothes looked rumpled, and he mumbled his lines as if he was reading them off cue cards. This sounds like an insult, but it’s not—I can’t describe it, but his presence was so foreign to the world of the movie up to that point that his presence had a jarring effect that somehow raised the stakes. The best word for his Plutarch Heavensbee is wily: his laid-back line delivery and wry facial expressions gave you the sense that this guy is hiding something.

2. Jena Malone as Johanna Mason. If you’d told me a few weeks ago that one of the best characters in the new Hunger Games movie would be Johanna Mason as played by young Jodie Foster from Contact, I would have laughed in your face—but there it is. Malone steals every scene she’s in. I don’t know how. It’s something about her voice, her eyes, her anger. Forget Katniss, I thought as I watched, why don’t you give us Johanna’s story? Spinoff, perhaps? Suzanne Collins, if you’re out there, please please PLEASE consider an Ender’s Game/Ender’s Shadow-style spinoff series in which we get the story of how Johanna Mason came to the point where she could deliver a line as devastating as “There’s no one left I love.”

1. Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman. The Tucc. Gotta love him. And you’ve got to love him even more when he sinks his teeth into a role as delicious as Caesar Flickerman. And don’t tell me for a minute that he’s just playing comic relief, chewing the scenery. Tucci’s performance is a masterclass in deception—he’s playing a character who is himself playing a character, deceiving others and perhaps himself. His Caesar Flickerman is nearly schizophrenic collection of pantomimed attitudes and expressions: his bleached smile, his faked humanity, his panicked, almost manic laugh. Beneath the clownish, robotic expressions, Tucci gives each expression, each reaction shot, two or sometimes three shades of meaning. Flickerman is a tool of the Capitol, a hollowed-out shell of a man, but there’s something else behind that smile. Terror? Compassion? Panic? I don’t know, but as a performance it’s hilarious, extremely entertaining—and a bit unsettling.

What do you think? Did I get anything wrong? Does Sam Claflin as Finnick need some love? How about Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth? Share your opinion in the comments.