Everybody nominated is experiencing their first taste of the Oscar fun, except for Jaoquin, who embarassingly was nominated for his embarassingly over-the-top silly work in
Gladiator. Even sillier and much more embarassing,
Gladiator won Best Picture. But Phoenix did lose in the Supporting category, to Benicio Del Toro in
Traffic. The good news is this time he very much earned his slot, as he was fantastic as Johnny Cash in
Walk the Line, from the singing on down. The bad news for him is, he did it in the wrong frippin' year. As good as Phoenix is, there ain't no way he's beating out P.S. Hoffman. No way.
Heath Ledger is in the hottest movie of the year, and what's more is he's astoundingly good in the lead. He really hadn't show that he was capable of too much until
Brokeback, but my goodness. He gives such a nuanced, controlled, perfectly subtle performance as Ennis. It's like a graduate study course in screen acting watching him in this flick. He's going to get so many better scripts for the next few years, and I hope he picks others that showcase what he's really capable of. Major kudos indeed......Oh, and there's no fu*kin' way he's going to beat P.S. Hoffman.
David Strathairn is an actor I've loved since I saw him in John Sayles'
Matewan in the late '80s. He's been in seven of that great writer/director's films thus far, and he's always perfect. He has numerous other great roles in good films to his credit too, and he's the type of actor who is so talented that even if he's only on screen for a scene or three in support, you always notice him - and you always respect what the man can do. Strathairn just turned fifty-seven, and with the exception of a couple of the Sayles greats this is the first time somebody else gave him a starring role. It's like he had been waiting all this time just to get the call to play Murrow. Great work from a great actor, and long overdue recognition. And no, he ain't got a chance either.
Terrence Howard. That he got nominated as Best Actor is sooooo cool on so many levels, and the best thing about it is he just carried that great film
Hustle & Flow (for those of you who bothered to take a chance on it beyond the basic plot outline) and man oh man did he ever earn it. Terrence has been ready to break out for a couple years now, and between
Crash (which just as easily might have netted him a Supporting nod as well), the HBO movie
"Lackawana Blues" and most especially
Hustle & Flow, Howard just plain blew up! Everybody in that showbiz town knows who he is now, and he's going to get better and better parts as a rule from here on out. If he handles them like he handled
Hustle & Flow, he'll be back again and again as an Oscar nominee. Which is good news, because as elated as I am that the Academy recognized his work with this big nomination, there ain't no way in ***** he's gonna get past P.S. Hoffman.
Yes, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote is
that good. This race was over in October after
Capote was released. If the bean counters over at Price/Waterhouse ever decide to publically release the voting totals, this is going to prove to be one of the biggest margins of victory ever. And not at all because it's a weak field. All four of those other performances might well have won in other years, that's how good they are. But Hoffman gave the performance of the year, and of the millenium so far. It is definitely one for the ages. Plus on top of the sheer brilliance of his Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman has been a damn good actor for lots of years now, toiling without a nomination of any kind. I don't think he was ever even in the serious running, as far as the Academy is concerned. But Gah-damn, he impressed the heck out of
EVERYbody with
Capote.