BEST PICTURE -- Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Two Towers and The Pianist
I've seen all of these films except for 'The Two Towers' and I can't say I'm offended by any of these choices. 'Chicago' isn't worthy of 13 nominations, but it just missed my top ten films of the year list. 'Gangs' suffers from a muddled final act, but Daniel Day-Lewis' performance alone lodged it at #10 on my list. 'The Hours' is totally overrated, but not insufferable -- at least it wasn't for me, though I freely admit to being won over by the charm of the book's author, Michael Cunningham, during the post-screening Q&A I attended here in Chicago. The only film that truly deserves to be on this list, however, is Roman Polanski's 'The Pianist.' There are a handful of scenes that are so emotionally scarring that I still play them over in my head about once a day. As pointless as the Oscars are in the grand scheme of things, it's nice to know that more people will be influenced to seek out this film thanks to the nomination.
BEST ACTOR - Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Michael Caine (The Quiet American), Day-Lewis (Gangs), Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt).
I haven't seen 'Schmidt' or 'The Quiet American' yet (the latter just opened in Chicago last weekend), so I can really only comment on the other three. Then again, I don't care if I ultimately think 'Schmidt' is the best film of all-time, there's no way I'd root for Jack to win another award. His win for 'As Good As It Gets' has to be one of the biggest Oscar crimes since Roberto Benigni's win for 'Life is Beautiful.' Everyone except Brody has won at least one Oscar before, either as a lead or supporting actor, so I'm tempted to root for him just on that basis alone. Of course, you can also root for him because he delivers an amazing performance -- intense and emotional, but subtle. I thought Cage was probably the best thing about 'Adaptation,' but I'm rooting for Brody or Day-Lewis. Curiously, Lewis' role as Bill the Butcher never struck me as a lead role. Granted, he towers over DiCaprio in the film and is without a doubt one of the most fascinating characters in recent memory, but he isn't the main character of the story -- DiCaprio is. I always assumed Lewis would get a supporting nod. Not that the Academy has ever really had a clear criteria for this. Donald Sutherland was nominated for Best Actor in 1980 for 'Ordinary People' despite the fact that newcomer Timothy Hutton -- who is in probably 95% of the movie -- was the clear protagonist. Hutton won for Best Supporting Actor, but Sutherland only got the Best Actor nomination because he was Donald Sutherland and nobody knew who Hutton was.
BEST ACTRESS - Salma Hayek (Frida), Nicole Kidman (The Hours), Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven) and Renee Zellweger (Chicago)
I saw all of these performances except for Hayek's and, again, I'm not offended by any of the choices -- though I guess I would be disappointed if Zellweger won simply because she's just a little to winsome as Roxie Hart. I think Kidman, Lane and Moore are all three great actresses and are deserving of the honor as a sort of lifetime achievement award, if not necessarily for the performances in question. But if I was voting I'd give it to Moore. I thought her 'Mrs. Magnatech' was as complex and real a character as you could expect to find in a post-modernist marvel like 'Far From Heaven.'
More to come...
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