Onward with my crowd-pleasing series looking at the Oscar nominations. You can find previous installments here.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman in 'Doubt'
Robert Downey Jr. in 'Tropic Thunder'
Josh Brolin in 'Milk'
Heath Ledger in 'The Dark Knight'
Michael Shannon in 'Revolutionary Road'
THE NOMS: Maybe the most accurate and intriguing group of nominations this year. One of the best ever, really. Downey gets the rare comedy nod for his amazing and groundbreaking performance. Shannon gets a nom despite only a few minutes of screen time with a great performance. Brolin and Hoffman are among the best character actors working today. And Ledger, well, what can I say that hasn't been already regurgitated 1,000 times by everybody in the entertainment media?
WHO SHOULD WIN: Brolin and Hoffman were great, but probably only nom-worthy. Shannon was special in his role, but is out-classed by deeper performances which had much more screen time, and carried their films to a much greater degree. I'd love to pick Downey, who in any other year would deserve it, but honestly, a nom for a broad comedy is as impressive as a win. I'll never know how much Ledger's death had to do with my enjoyment of his performance, but there's no way it wouldn't have ben recognized as great no matter the circumstances. As soon as I heard he'd be the Joker, I knew it had a chance to be special, and it blew my expectations way out of the water. He has to be the pick.
WHO WILL WIN: Are you kidding? The only mystery is who will pick up Ledger's statuette. Vegas has Christopher Nolan at even money.
No comments:
Post a Comment