Aside from being a dog freak, my wife is also a movie freak. I didn't realize how much I knew - and didn't know - about movies until I met her. Suffice it to say that only the most hardcore movie buffs dare play "Scene It" with her.
We have three must watch days in our house: Emmys, Oscars and Golden Globes. We get Hooter's take out and watch the festivities, hoping for a repeat of Liz drooling out "Glaaaaaadiaatoooooor" or (even better) Adrien Brody doing the two-lip tango with Halle Barry. Oscar night two years ago we were coming back from a weekend at my Mom's and (long story short) ended up picking up a stray cat at the state line rest area. The cat's new name? Oscar. It's a female. Very confusing.
So, in honor of our shared movie mania and our screening of Sideways last night I'm going to list our picks for some of the main awards. Up first: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
The nominees are Cate Blanchett in The Aviator, Laura Linney for Kinsey, Virginia Madsen in Sideways, Natalie Portman for Closer and Meryl Streep for The Manchurian Candidate.
Firstly, Meryl's nom is pretty much a courtesy from the HFPA. The movie got decent reviews, but none of the true over-the-top raves that might ease her into the win.
Laura Linney got nominated last for You Can Count on Me and scored some points for last year's Mystic River. However, Liam Neeson will reap the rewards for Kinsey, so Linney's got the dark horse thing going on here.
Natalie Portman's work in Closer is heroic, daring, exposed - all those adjectives the reviewers love (and she cut her hair!!). Unfortunately for her, she's coming off of the Star Wars movies and that hurts her with this crowd. Closer should push her into good standing with the critics (as this nomination shows), but she doesn't have enough weight yet to support a win.
So we're down to Virginia Madsen and Cate Blanchett. Cate's obviously got the edge having already won a Globe for Elizabeth. However, Sideways is one of those small movies that the HFPA loves. Cate plays Katharine Hepburn - a Hollywood legend. Virginia's Maya is an educated, self-starting, sexy, strong woman, just the type of character Hollywood movies need. It's a tough call, but I think Cate has an edge here. Virginia's my personal choice (hey, she won a Saturn Award in '92 for Candyman! She was in Dune!), but Cate will get the trophy.
All that said:
My wife loves to point out that if any upset's gonna happen, it'll be in the supporting categories. In the case of an upset, I'll go with Laura Linney. See how I covered all my bases there?
1 comment:
My husband, one of our best friends, and I always play a great Oscar game. First we do predictions for all the main categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. We each get 10 predictions in each category, which are divided into two tiers. The first 5 (first tier) are our main picks (worth 2 points), and the second 5 (second tier) are our back-up picks (worth 1 point). When the nominations are announced, we score accordingly.
Then we get 2 predictions in each category from the 5 nominees. Same scoring for first and second choice. At the end of the night, we tally up Oscar night points and pre-nomination points, and whoever wins has bragging right for the next year.
I've had bragging rights for 10 consecutive years. No one will play Scene It with me, either!
My first tier for Supporting Actress this year are: Virginia Madsen for Sideways, Kate Winslett for Finding Neverland, Monica Belluci for Passion of the Christ, Laura Linney for Kinsey, and Cate Blanchett for The Aviator. I don't think Monica Belluci (who I generally like as an actress) deserves a nomination, but part of the game is of course trying to discern the idiocy of the Academy. There are no points for who you *want* to win. :-)
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