IT’S GAY LENT AGAIN“TIME TO GIVE UP SOMETHING YOU CRAVE, light a few candles, and say a few prayers. This is very important stuff! It's so that your favorite actor, director or movie wins an award on the Highest of Holy Nights, the Academy Awards, airing Feb. 26 on ABC.2011 was an interesting year, one in which the actors were often much stronger than the movies they supported. Meryl Streep is nominated for The Iron Lady, a film that”except for her stellar performance”has little to recommend it. Moneyball is another one”with Brad Pitt's fantastic portrayal in the middle of a story more about statistics than people. (And I have no earthly idea how Jonah Hill earned a nomination!)
Perhaps the best example is The Help. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are flat-out amazing. However, the thinly developed white people”especially the stock racist ones”weaken the impact significantly. This year wasn't completely bereft of artistic daring. There's Terrence Malick's under-nominated film The Tree of Life. Martin Scorcese gave us Hugo, one of the most interesting children's films made this decade. Finally, we saw a wonderful black-and-white movie that defied expectations by hearkening back to the silent era: The Artist.
I always root for daring.
BEST PICTURE
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is somewhat manipulative. The Help is white people ending racism. The Tree of Life? Many people think you're pretentious (not me). Moneyball, your stats-heavy plot still bores me. War Horse, I love you, but no one else seems to. For small films like Midnight in Paris and The Descendants: if Brokeback Mountain was too tiny to win, you have absolutely no chance at all.
WHO SHOULD WIN: I vote for the unique: Hugo or The Artist.
WHO WILL WIN: Oscars will vote like the Producers' Guild: The Artist.
BEST ACTOR
It's our theme loud and clear: these performances lift films from mediocrity. Demiin Bichir definitely pulled it off with A Better Life, an American immigrant redux of The Bicycle Thief. Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Brad Pitt in Moneyball also accomplished this. However, The Descendants was quiet and delightful, and so was George Clooney!
WHO SHOULD WIN: I loved The Artist so much that I want Jean Dujardin to win.
WHO WILL WIN: The Academy will agree: Dujardin.
BEST ACTRESS
None of the Best Actress films were perfection, though most of these women's performances were. The one exception was Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (I like the acting in the Swedish version better.) Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs was great, but Michelle Williams was a showstopper in My Week with Marilyn. Meryl Streep is brilliant, but The Iron Lady mostly reduced the powerful and hated Margaret Thatcher to a doddering old woman.
WHO SHOULD WIN: Viola Davis is the glue that held The Help together.
WHO WILL WIN: Give the gold to Davis.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
I may never understand how Jonah Hill (Moneyball) got here. His performance is miles below wonderful Kenneth Branaugh as Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn. Hill also shows no depth when compared to Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Nick Nolte in Warrior.
WHO SHOULD WIN: Christopher Plummer as a 70-something who comes out of the closet in Beginners.
WHO WILL WIN: I think the Oscar voters will keep agreeing with me: Plummer.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Ouch! Don't make me pick. The only one I'd dismiss is Jessica Chastain in The Help (though I love her in other flicks.) Melissa McCarthy is brilliantly funny in Bridesmaids. Bérénice Bejo is radiant in The Artist. Janet McTeer lifts Albert Nobbs, as does Octavia Spencer in The Help.
WHO SHOULD WIN: I want to hear Melissa McCarthy's acceptance speech.
WHO WILL WIN: Spencer has it.
BEST DIRECTOR
If the Director's Guild doesn't nominate you, Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), you're not going to win here. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris was cute but not perfect. Alexander Payne may have been too subtle in The Descendants.
WHO SHOULD WIN
WHO WILL WIN: The Director's Guild gave it to Hazanvicius.
