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Friday, March 05, 2010

G’s Oscar Picks Pt.2- The Actors

More Oscar picking to do, this time focusing on the thesbians…

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon- Invictus-Didn't see it…

Woody Harrelson-The Messenger- Didn't see it, but heard he was good…

Christopher Plummer- The Last Station- Didn't see it, never heard of it…

Stanley Tucci- The Lovely Bones- Didn't see it…

Christopher Waltz- Inglorious Basterds- (Predicted Winner + My Choice) More than being the only nominee that I saw, more than the fact that he's won every other supporting actor award known to man for his performance as the elegantly brutal Col. Hans Landa. There's not one but two iconic scenes that Waltz pulls off; the opening 20 minutes where he politely, smoothly, slowly tightens the screws on a French farmer that is harboring a Jewish family. Then there was that "strudel scene." Waltz speaks German, French and English flawlessly (as far as I can tell, which isn't very far), and is delightfully chilling throughout. As much an iconic performance as Heath Ledger's Joker the year before, you don't need to see the competition to know a winner when you see one…


 

Best Actor

Colin Firth-A Single Man- Didn't see it…

Morgan Freeman-Invictus- Didn't see it…Don't know how I missed a Clint Eastwood movie about Nelson Mandela, with Freeman as Mandela, but I did…

George Clooney-Up in the Air- I really liked this movie, and really liked George Clooney in it. Just because he's playing a character that is close to his persona doesn't mean that the man isn't acting. I thought that made some great, subtle choices for a character that isn't going to be very outwardly expressive. The cast is what made this movie so much more than the sum of its parts, and Clooney was the center of this cast. Still, I have to give a little bit more love to…

Jeff Bridges-Crazy Heart- (Predicted winner) I didn't that this movie was particularly great, unique or interesting (and apparently, neither did the Academy, since it couldn't even make the new 10 film Best Picture list) but Jeff Bridges (and to a lesser extent, Maggie Gyllenhaal) were great, unique and interesting. "Bad Blake," as played by Bridges, is that train wreck that you can't help watching, with a little charm sprinkled on top. You cringe as Gyllenhaal's Jean Craddock starts to fall for him, but you also believe that she is falling for him, a credit to both actors involved. He's won every other award you can win, so pencil him in for Oscar (in pen), but he don't win around these parts…

Jeremy Renner-The Hurt Locker- (My Pick) Unlike the rest of this list, Mr. Renner may not come to mind when you think of the great actors in Hollywood today, but if he gives off a couple more performances like this one he will. While I've called the film itself a bit of a "one trick pony," Renner's performance as SSG William James had more layers than an onion. He's the cocky, reckless bomb tech ready to jump into danger, but he still is scared shitless at the most intense moments. His biggest fear however is the normal life that awaits him back home. He's so scared of the adjustment back to a life with the "drug" of war that he doesn't adjust at all, just gets on the first plane smoking back to Iraq and more bombs to disengage. Not one bit of this performance feels fake or unreal, an especially challenging feat to achieve when dealing with unreal scenarios and a character that likes to take them on in over the top ways. Renner gets it done, and gave the best performance (of the ones I saw) last year.


 

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz- Nine- Didn't see it, don't do musicals. I may make an exception for Penelope via Netflix though…

Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick- Up in the Air- Thought they were both great parts of a solid cast overall, but this was Clooney's movie and neither one really stole the show from him. I can't say one outshined the other, so how could either of them have possibly outshined everyone else this year?

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Harvard-Westlake represent!)- Crazy Heart- I talked a little bit about how she and Jeff Bridges rose above the material earlier. Bridges' charm, and the unmistakable, irresistible attraction that Gyllenhaal's character has towards him makes the horrible decision to get involved with this train wreck of a man believable. She makes us able to sympathize with her when trouble comes as a consequence of this decision, and Maggie's so likeable, she's always fun to watch. But the Oscar goes to…

Mo'Nique- Precious (Predicted winner/My choice)- Sometimes it's easy to play a monster, but not when the monster is this horrible, this real, this tortured herself. One of the major criticisms of Precious is that it doesn't delve deep enough into why Monique's character is as horrible as she is. If the movie were "Precious' Crazy Mama and Why She That Way," I'd agree, but since we're not telling her story, but instead, her daughter's story, the motivations for the tormenter aren't as important as the torment that she metes out to our protagonist. Regardless, those criticisms would be even louder without Mo'Nique's performance, because within every vile angry, hateful action towards Precious you can see and feel the pain at the core of this character that is causing it. Mo'nique, the main reason that I was reluctant to see this film (besides the Tyler/Oprah connection) became one of the main reasons to celebrate it. The Oscar will be, and should be Mo'Nique's


 

Best Actress

Helen Mirren- The Last Station- Did I mention that I never heard of this til I looked at the nominees??

Sandra Bullock- The Blind Side- (Predicted winner) Saw the last 10 minutes after watching A Serious Man, and waiting to sneak into An Education. Ummmm, no…. It does feel like her year for some reason though.

Meryl Streep- Julie and Julia- Does Meryl Streep just get an automatic Oscar nomination when she signs on to do a film? Yes, she made Amy Adams' half of the film downright annoying in comparison to her part, and mimicking and iconic figure like Julia Child that we all know already has got to be extremely difficult, but is this even in her top 10 performances? It sure isn't the top one of the year…

This leaves us with the newcomers…

Carey Mulligan- An Education- I have heard the hype about this performance constantly. It really made me want to hate on her as I snuck into the second half of my ghetto double feature to check her out. Bottom line is, I couldn't hate. While the performance may not have been the breathless "revelation" and "second coming of Audrey Hepburn" that some critics have proclaimed, Mulligan was charming and fun to watch, and damn good. To play a 16 year old when you are 10 years past 16 is a challenge, the challenge grows when you are playing a 16 year old that desperately wants to be 25. The plot brings "Jenny," the character Mulligan plays, back to Earth hard and fast, and Mulligan then has to play a 17 year old, accepting the fact that she's still 17, while carrying the experiences that she's had living like she was 25. A confusing, challenging task is placed before Carey Mulligan, and she glides thru it with ease.

Gabourey Sidibe- Precious- I do not know how an inexperienced actress can pull this role off so triumphantly. The movie starts with a bitter, closed destructive and self-destructive girl that hates her color, her size and her life to the point that the only joy that she can find comes from daydreams about living a glamorous life with a "light skinned" boyfriend. Step by step, Precious grows stronger, more confident and more determined, even as the rug keeps getting pulled out from under her, in more and more heartbreaking ways. Precious emerges determined to guide her own destiny, even if most of that destiny has already been cast in stone. The cast, script, and director all help to make this tale come to life, and feel triumphant in the midst of despair. The triumph doesn't come though, without Gabourey's ability to play that despair, and the joy (both the imagined real ones) with equal authenticity. Despite all of the support and love along the way that she receives, Precious is the ultimate heroine of the story by virtue of carrying the burden she's given, and keeping on. Gabourey should be an Oscar winner for showing every ounce of that burden, and the heroine that still carries on with it.


 


 


 

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