I was also a little surprised not to see United 93 listed. It seems to be a title that has gotten much discussion over the past months. Perhaps I shouldn't be so shocked. It is a touchy matter, and probably not one that the Academy would like to deal with had it been nominated. One final note on this category regarding Little Miss Sunshine — it is a fine film to be certain, but I am thinking that it may be slightly overestimated by its crowd-pleasing indie status, kind of like the token indie in the land of giants. It may even be considered a front runner based on that. I would have much rather have seen Brick in there for the indie cred, but I think that it is a little more odd and not much of a crowd pleaser.
The actor category has a couple of surprises in it. One of those shockers is Leonardo DiCaprio being nominated for Blood Diamond -- as good as I thought he was there, I would have given him the nod for The Departed. Then there is Ryan Gosling joining the big leagues. Half Nelson didn't have much of a stay in the theater, and is one of the ones that I missed. I would have swapped him out for the fine performance from Clive Owen in Children of Men. Peter O'Toole was also something of a surprise, but probably shouldn't have been with the steam that Venus has been gathering. It is nice to see Will Smith recognized, his performance was wonderful. This category, though, is owned by Forest Whitaker for his electric portrayal of Idi Amin.
The actress category is a two-woman battle, barring any unforeseen upset. This is down to Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep, and I am fairly confident Helen Mirren will take the top prize. The rest of the noms are consolation prizes, although I think that Kate Winslet probably has a smirk after being snubbed at the Globes. One overlooked role that I would have fit in there somewhere is Gretchen Mol for The Notorious Bettie Page, although the other nominees gave strong performances, or so I hear as I missed a couple of the films.
In the supporting categories, I was very happy to see Djimon Hounsou recognized, he was incredibly charismatic in Blood Diamond. Although I think that Eddie Murphy may be able to repeat his Globe win here, but I wouldn't count out Alan Arkin's work. As for the women's side, there is only one name you need to know, Jennifer Hudson. That's it, she will be walking away with Oscar. Beyond that, Adriana Barraza gave a touching performance in Babel. As for the overlooked, Geraldine Hughes (Rocky Balboa) and Maribel Verdu (Pan's Labyrinth) gave memorable performances that are not to be missed.
Article comments
1 - SolShine7
It looks like Kate Winslet is going to get snubbed again. One day...
2 - Jane
If you had seen Ryan Gosling's performance in Half Nelson, then you would not have been surprised this morning. He has been getting buzz since September when the film was released in selected cities. He received a Spirit Award Nod, a Sag Nod and Critics Nod. Where have you been? The only reason why he did not get a Golden Globe is because the Foriegn Press is able to nominate the same actor for two different roles (Leo). Don't mean to be smart, but you need to see the movie and read up before you comment. I say the biggest surprise is Brad Pitt not getting a nod.
3 - Chris Beaumont
I do not think my comment was all that mean, I didn't imply his performance was bad or completely unworthy. But he didn't strike me as one of the more obvious choices. Besides, I am just a little disappointed over Owen's snub, and the Children of Men snub for Best Picture. Quite frankly, I could have been much "meaner" in my comment, but why should I? If you get nominated you must have had a good performance. Everyone has their favorites. This will hopefully lead to bigger and better for Ryan.
4 - Ty
"Half Nelson didn't have much of a stay in the theater, and is one of the ones that I missed."
Once again the fact you are in the middle of nowhere rears its ugly head in your opinions.
Nice...
5 - Chris Beaumont
Nice to see you haven't abandoned me, Ty. Also, the comment is rather baseless as I did not say it did not come to my area, but I missed it. It is impossible for me to see everything that I want to, whether it comes to my area or not. I keep myself quite busy doing what I do in addition to my fulltime job. I have seen enough to have an opinion of who I would like to see nominated, and I was in no way belittling Gosling's performance.
6 - Chris Earp
I very much agree with your comments about Children of Men. That was my favorite film of the year, with Pan's Labyrinth a close second, and I was also appalled at the snub. After just watching the Oscars, I am even more disheartened with the Academy for the fact that it didn't win any of the three it was nominated for, especially cinematography, which I thought it was meant to win well before the nominees were announced. I may be a little bias because it is my favorite film genre (sci-fi noir) and the kind of film I hope to make in the future, but looking back at the past Oscars, I can tell the Academy has a problem with Sci-Fi in general. Many of the greats have been snubbed big time, and this particular situation is reminiscent of how it was with my favorite film of all time, Minority Report, which was praised by critics (and even gained the top spot on Roger Ebert's best of 2002 list), but was almost ignored by the Academy. Spielberg is a good example for the Academy's refusal of Sci-Fi because he about half of his films are Sci-Fi, but only his non-Sci-Fi films have ever won. If I do every make the great Sci-Fi noir films I hope to make, I will not expect any recognition from the Academy. Critical and viewer acclaim should be enough for any filmmaker.