We continue the countdown to Oscar Night with a look at the nominees. For today, let’s look at Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. (For a printable list of nominees click here).
My movie-going has been a bit lax for the past few months, so I haven’t seen all of the nominees. I’ll make some comments where I can, and make my best guess for who I think will win (or should win), but feel free to put in your two cents (and also mention who else should have been nominated).
Performance by an actor in a leading role
- George Clooney in “Michael Clayton”
- I haven’t seen this, but I’ve heard good things. But there’s no way George is winning this one.
- * Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood”
- The movie was amazing, and so was Daniel Day-Lewis. Some have criticized him for repeating his “Gangs of New York” role, but I think this role was much more nuanced. He won once for “My Left Foot”, and got nominated for “In the Name of the Father” and “Gangs of New York” and I think he gets another. Besides this one, I’ve only seen Eastern Promises, but the buzz on all of the other movies just isn’t as strong. And really, this should go down as one of the all-time great performances on film.
- Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
- Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah”
- Again, haven’t seen it but I’ve heard good things. He may be playing similar characters, but he’s been getting some great roles lately (with this and No Country).
- Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises”
- Viggo really was superb in this movie, but I think the movie wasn’t widely seen.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
- Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
- * J
avier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men”
- I have no clue why he’s in the supporting category - there must be a complicated algorithm to determine it, but I figured he and Daniel Day-Lewis would fight it out for the Best Actor prize. Since he’s here, he’ll get this one easily. One of the most terrifying characters we’ve seen in awhile.
- Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War”
- I liked him here, but the movie was pretty bad, which I think made Phil seem even better.
- Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild”
- Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton”
I really haven’t done a good job of seeing these movies, particularly in the supporting role category. So I think my two choices are pretty standard. Can anyone add some comments? I’m especially curious about the Casey Affleck nomination, and what you thought of “Into the Wild”.
