Brian's Oscar pics
Best Picture
Best Director
What will win - Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
What should win - Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
What was not nominated but should have been - Hustle and Flow or Mysterious Skin
Crash, Good Night & Good Luck, and especially Munich were all great films. Capote was good, but not great -- Hustle and Flow had a harder trick to pull off (no pun intended) in making a pimp we could root for. And no one who's seen Mysterious Skin could deny it's raw power. But Brokeback Mountain was my favorite film of the year. I walked in expecting just to have the cinematic pleasure of watching Jake and Heath make out. But, walking out, I was haunted by the sadness, the tenderness that came out of nowhere, the rich symbolism (the scene with Enis and Jack's parents was rife with the dualities of our current society), and the depth. Once in awhile, the winner of Best Picture is actually the best film. This is such a year.
Best Actor
Who will win - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Who should win - Terrance Howard, Hustle and Flow
Who was not nominated but should have been - Eric Bana, Munich
And Eric Bana would win my vote for best performance of the year. Terrance Howard's quiet tears when he and his prostitute are listening to a hymm makes you FEEL that this is a man worthy of redemption. In that one moment, all the expected places you think this movie will take you flies out of the window. Joaquin Phoenix was incerdible as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, but you always knew where he was going, which robbed the film, as it does all bio pics, of its power.
Best Actress
Who will win - Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Who should win - Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Who was not nominated but should have been - Maria Bello, A History of Violence
This is the weakest catagory for me. Keira Knightly did nothing in Pride and Prejudice that Kate Winslet, or Emma Thompson didn't already do in Sense and Sensibility. Being charming is not acting. It's personality. Felicity Huffman was fine in Transamerica, but the film wasn't. Judi Dench is always fun to watch, but it's just fun. And clearly people are thrilled Charlize Theron can act - something no one knew she could do before Monster. Reese gets this one sheer degree of difficulty. But Maria Bello gave the heartiest, toughest, fiercest female performance of the year.
Supporting Actor
Who will win - George Clooney (Syriana) or Paul Giamatti (Seabuscuit -- oops, I mean Cinderella Man)
Who should win - Jake Gyllenhall, Brokeback Mountain
Who was not nominated but should have been -- Matt Damon, Syriana; Donald Sutherland, Pride and Prejudice; Jospeh Gordon Leavett, Mysterious Skin.
Loved Leavett's performance in 'Skin'. But, for me, Jake was the heart of Brokeback Mountain, not Heath Ledger. It takes the bright spot of hope to make a tragedy truly a tragedy and Jake came through BIG. I am thereby stunned that this category is coming to Clooney's rote performance in an otherwise stellar film, (Matt Damon had the most interesting journey in the film) or Giamatti's least inspired, been there, seen that from Rocky to Million Dollar Baby performance ever. And I like Giamatti. He's a completely wonderful actor, but it would be a crime if he wins for Cinderella Crap -- overheated, overrated, and yet still completely deserving of it's status as a flop. It's as if Hollywood can't make films about inspiration through poverty unless its set in the Great Depression and all people of color are either invisible or beaten to a pulp by Russel Crowe. My pick for worst film of the year.
Supporting Actress
Who will win - Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Who should win - Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Who was not nominated but should have been - Tajari Henson, Huslte and Flow
When Henson first hears her vocal playback on "It's Hard Out There For a Pimp", she brightens through what feels like years of repression and degredation, and realizes she's a woman of soul and talent. That is such an impressive thing to do without words that I am shocked she didn't get more attention. But in the world of the nominated, no one breathed life into a film more than Rachel Weisz. Whether picking a fight with drug companies or her diplomat husband, or pretending to sell herself in order to expose a cover-up, she was a pulse of energy in a film where many actors walked around being wayyyy too british.
Best Director
What will win - Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
What should win - Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
What was not nominated but should have been - Hustle and Flow or Mysterious Skin
Crash, Good Night & Good Luck, and especially Munich were all great films. Capote was good, but not great -- Hustle and Flow had a harder trick to pull off (no pun intended) in making a pimp we could root for. And no one who's seen Mysterious Skin could deny it's raw power. But Brokeback Mountain was my favorite film of the year. I walked in expecting just to have the cinematic pleasure of watching Jake and Heath make out. But, walking out, I was haunted by the sadness, the tenderness that came out of nowhere, the rich symbolism (the scene with Enis and Jack's parents was rife with the dualities of our current society), and the depth. Once in awhile, the winner of Best Picture is actually the best film. This is such a year.
Best Actor
Who will win - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Who should win - Terrance Howard, Hustle and Flow
Who was not nominated but should have been - Eric Bana, Munich
And Eric Bana would win my vote for best performance of the year. Terrance Howard's quiet tears when he and his prostitute are listening to a hymm makes you FEEL that this is a man worthy of redemption. In that one moment, all the expected places you think this movie will take you flies out of the window. Joaquin Phoenix was incerdible as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, but you always knew where he was going, which robbed the film, as it does all bio pics, of its power.
Best Actress
Who will win - Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Who should win - Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Who was not nominated but should have been - Maria Bello, A History of Violence
This is the weakest catagory for me. Keira Knightly did nothing in Pride and Prejudice that Kate Winslet, or Emma Thompson didn't already do in Sense and Sensibility. Being charming is not acting. It's personality. Felicity Huffman was fine in Transamerica, but the film wasn't. Judi Dench is always fun to watch, but it's just fun. And clearly people are thrilled Charlize Theron can act - something no one knew she could do before Monster. Reese gets this one sheer degree of difficulty. But Maria Bello gave the heartiest, toughest, fiercest female performance of the year.
Supporting Actor
Who will win - George Clooney (Syriana) or Paul Giamatti (Seabuscuit -- oops, I mean Cinderella Man)
Who should win - Jake Gyllenhall, Brokeback Mountain
Who was not nominated but should have been -- Matt Damon, Syriana; Donald Sutherland, Pride and Prejudice; Jospeh Gordon Leavett, Mysterious Skin.
Loved Leavett's performance in 'Skin'. But, for me, Jake was the heart of Brokeback Mountain, not Heath Ledger. It takes the bright spot of hope to make a tragedy truly a tragedy and Jake came through BIG. I am thereby stunned that this category is coming to Clooney's rote performance in an otherwise stellar film, (Matt Damon had the most interesting journey in the film) or Giamatti's least inspired, been there, seen that from Rocky to Million Dollar Baby performance ever. And I like Giamatti. He's a completely wonderful actor, but it would be a crime if he wins for Cinderella Crap -- overheated, overrated, and yet still completely deserving of it's status as a flop. It's as if Hollywood can't make films about inspiration through poverty unless its set in the Great Depression and all people of color are either invisible or beaten to a pulp by Russel Crowe. My pick for worst film of the year.
Supporting Actress
Who will win - Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Who should win - Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Who was not nominated but should have been - Tajari Henson, Huslte and Flow
When Henson first hears her vocal playback on "It's Hard Out There For a Pimp", she brightens through what feels like years of repression and degredation, and realizes she's a woman of soul and talent. That is such an impressive thing to do without words that I am shocked she didn't get more attention. But in the world of the nominated, no one breathed life into a film more than Rachel Weisz. Whether picking a fight with drug companies or her diplomat husband, or pretending to sell herself in order to expose a cover-up, she was a pulse of energy in a film where many actors walked around being wayyyy too british.