Oscar Nominations

Here are my predictions for the upcoming Academy Award nominations, along with a list of the people and films that I would nominate if I were in charge. Caveat: I have not yet seen The Reader or The Wrestler.

Best Supporting Actress

Predicted Nominees

• Kate Winslet, The Reader
• Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
• Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Viola Davis, Doubt

I Would Nominate...

• Amy Adams, Doubt
• Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married
• Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Sophie Okonedo, The Secret Life of Bees
• Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

In a just world, the subtle, layered performance of Amy Adams in Doubt would be rewarded ahead of the flashier work of Viola Davis in the same film. Debra Winger acted circles around her younger co-stars in the Rachel Getting Married. And Penelope Cruz is unique among contemporary actors: no one else can generate such intensity, simultaneously comic and deadly serious.

Best Supporting Actor

Predicted Nominees

• Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Josh Brolin, Milk
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
• Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder

I Would Nominate...

• Danny Glover, Blindness
• Emile Hirsch, Milk
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Josh Brolin, Milk
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt

I’m hoping that instead of rewarding the likable but inexperienced Dev Patel for his work in Slumdog, the Academy will give an extremely well-deserved nomination to Danny Glover, who was transcendent in Blindness. That he still hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar despite decades of first-rate performances (Places in the Heart, The Color Purple, The Saint of Fort Washington, Beloved) is mystifying.




Best Actor

Predicted Nominees

• Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
• Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
• Sean Penn, Milk

I Would Nominate...

• Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Synecdoche New York
• Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
• Sam Rockwell, Choke
• Sean Penn, Milk
  
  This year the Academy has the chance to honor a wonderful performance by Richard Jenkins, who brought so much emotional complexity, warmth and sadness, exhilaration and devastation, to his career-best performance in The Visitor. But instead they will throw yet another bone to Clint Eastwood for playing an ignorant old crabby-crab. Dear Clint: Ethnic stereotyping is not cute! Racist epithets are not endearing!
  
  I was impressed by Frank Langella’s performance in Frost/Nixon, though it wasn’t perfect. The key scene with the late-night drunken phone call didn’t ring true for me. But he still deserves a nomination. However, if anyone other than Sean Penn wins this award I will explode into a billion pieces.

Best Actress

Predicted Nominees

• Angelina Jolie, Changeling
• Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
• Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
• Melissa Leo, Frozen River
• Meryl Streep, Doubt

I Would Nominate...

• Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frances McDormand, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
• Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
• Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
• Meryl Streep, Doubt

Anne Hathaway’s beautiful smile, cheery demeanor and vocal advocacy for LGBT rights make her one of my favorite celebrities. And I really, really wanted to like her in Rachel Getting Married. Too bad she proved unable to convincingly portray a recovering drug addict from a well-to-do family. But Hollywood loves her, so she’ll likely get a nomination anyway. I will pretend it is really in recognition of her far superior work from a few years ago in Brokeback Mountain.

As for Angelina Jolie, her lips were the best thing in Changeling (well, perhaps after Amy Ryan’s brilliant cameo appearance as an electroshock patient).

By far the most impressive performance of the year for me was by Kristin Scott Thomas in I’ve Loved You So Long. That movie should be shown in acting classes. I also loved Frances McDormand’s quietly endearing work in Miss Pettigrew.

Best Director

Predicted Nominees

• Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
• Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
• David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Gus Van Sant, Milk
• Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon

I Would Nominate...

• Gus Van Sant, Milk
• Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park
• Patricia Riggen, Under the Same Moon
• Tomas Alfredson, Let the Right One In
• Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Once again this year there isn’t a single female director with any shot of getting a nomination. Why not Patricia Riggen, who brought such emotional richness to the heartbreaking Under the Same Moon?

Best Picture

Predicted Nominees

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• Slumdog Millionaire

I Would Nominate...

• Let the Right One In
• Milk
• Synecdoche New York
• Under the Same Moon
• The Visitor

The likely nominees for Best Picture are all movies that I appreciated, but (with the clear exception of Milk) they didn’t have that special quality that makes a good movie into a beloved favorite film. I feel that Milk is by far the best movie of the year, but of course I am biased as a gay San Franciscan. Synecdoche New York is imperfect but so totally unique that it must be recognized here. The Visitor and Under the Same Moon each provide insight into the complex debate on immigration policy by showing its effects on individuals and families. And Let the Right One In scared the beJesus out of me.

The nominations will be announced Thursday, January 22 at some ridiculously early hour of the morning.