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Mar.6,2005 -Mar.13,2005 |
Who will win and who should win
This year's Oscar nominations feature Hollywood films with big names in the spotlight
By Angela Baldassarre
Originally Published: 2005-02-27
Last year the hobbits conquered the Oscars, and deservedly so. Not that The Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King was the best of the trilogy (in my opinion it was The Two Towers, the second installment), but the franchise itself had to be recognized in some manner. Perhaps it wasn't fair for the other pictures nominated, but no one would argue that Peter Jackson and his cast/crew hadn't changed the art of filmmaking in a magnificent and fantastic way. So with the Ring tucked away safely in cinematic history, where does that leave this year's Academy Awards?
With Oscar going blatantly Hollywood with its nominations, there is no clear winner this year, though Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby may sweep some of the major prizes. Not that there weren't worthy pictures and performances (it's shameful Al Pacino's exceptional Shylock in The Merchant of Venice wasn't mentioned), it just seemed the nominating committee went with the big-name directors and actors with only a few indies (Sideways, Hotel Rwanda, Vera Drake) sprinkled here and there.
Morgan Freeman has played the wizened old man before, and played it well, so his nomination for Best Supporting Male Actor for Million Dollar Baby seems rote. Thomas Haden Church's nomination for Sideways is deserved, and Clive Owen has been involved with Closer for so long (both onstage and onscreen) that his fine performance comes as no surprise. While Alan Alda puts on a fine show as Leonardo DiCaprio's foil in The Aviator, he delivers it in the sort of subtle and understated manner that is, regrettably, often overlooked by the Academy. Jamie Foxx, on the other hand, seemed to come out of nowhere with Collateral well before his turn in Ray, and in doing so delivered something great for its unexpectedness. To this scribe, however, Foxx's was more of a lead than a supporting part. This is a close race. I predict Freeman will get it, but my preference is Owen.
In the Best Supporting Actress category, Laura Linney had some really good moments in Kinsey, as did Virginia Madsen in Sideways. Natalie Portman was miscast in Closer, so not deserving of the nomination at all, while Cate Blanchett's caricature of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator was unimpressive. That leaves Sophie Okonedo, who delivered a heartwrenching performance in Hotel Rwanda. A very close race, and I predict either Blanchett or Madsen will win it, but my preference is Linney.
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