[NE] Nomination Elim Game ('79- OSCARGUY)

[FilmFan720]

Oh, there is lots to do in the Best Director category.

[Big Magilla]

Don't forget that in addition to figuring out what to do with that last supporting actor slot, there's the question of whether Michael Mann deserves to keep his slot in the director category.

I did forget, but it's cool that there are still two slots open. Since I go after Okri I'll get to make the final decision, whichever slot remains untouched.

[Big Magilla]

Double post.

Huh?

[Sabin]

Double post.



Edited By Sabin on 1289637699

[rain Bard]

Don't forget that in addition to figuring out what to do with that last supporting actor slot, there's the question of whether Michael Mann deserves to keep his slot in the director category.

[Big Magilla]

Have you guys seen seen Chris Cooper as Jake Gyllenhaal's strict coal miner father in October Sky? That was his best 1999 performance regardless of what you may think of his work in American Beuty which I didn't care for.

My theory is that Christopher Plummer wasn't nominated for anything for his spot-on portrayal of Mike Wallace because nobody wanted to piss off the then still powerful Wallace who hated the film and Plummer's interpretation of him.

As for Malkovich, well, he was playing himself. How much acting was required for that?

[Sabin]

Wes Bentley gives one of the stronger performances of Tobey Maguire's career. I will say that one of the areas in which Sam Mendes absolutely fucks up Alan Ball's script is in his portrayal of Thora Birch and Wes Bentley as kind of angelic loners who find each other. Birch's performance is dead-on, but Wes Bentley plays a drug dealing voyeur who lights Janey's lawn on fire. The film never reconciles why he does the latter...it doesn't fit his detached MO. In a film that thrives(?) on showing two sides to every person, he is one dimensional from beginning to end. The film feels almost creepily otherworldly when we first look at him. I think this is the wrong take. He's a stoner Jesus of Suburbia, but really he's just a burn out, and I think his caricature undermines this film, which has gone from overrated to a little underrated at this point. It's not great. It doesn't deserve the Oscar. But it's pretty funny IMO.

Cooper does outstanding work. It's the rare instance where you can watch an actor get pigeonholed forever, and yet he finds a way to humanize this ugly stereotype, and it works. This was a strong year for supporting actors in contention (how did neither Plummer nor Malkovich get nommed for a Globe or SAG?), so it's kind of a shame that the year's best leading male performance (Osment) went slumming in support. I hope someone preserves him in some form.

[FilmFan720]

Wes Bentley has never been an actor I've much cared for, and I find him real distancing in American Beauty. I just don't believe much of what he says. Cooper, on the other hand, is one of those actors who never tells a lie, and is heartbreaking in American Beauty (I think he finds a warmth and soul in a film where no one else really has one).

[Big Magilla]

I won't argue the lead vs. supporting actor thing, but in my estimation Chris Cooper's Oscar worthy performance this year was in October Sky, not American Beauty in which Wes Bentley gave the best supporting performance.

[FilmFan720]

I have a hard time with Haley Joel Osment in supporting actor (it is a lead performance!), and Chris Cooper does deserve a citation for American Beauty. However, I think I will instead preserve Julianne Moore, and let Okri figure out the supporting actor category.

[Big Magilla]

It's up to Film Fan and Okri to close out the year. Will they preserve Julianne Moore and Haley Joel Osment or go in a different direction? Keep checking back to find out!

[The Original BJ]

Preserve Spike Jonze in Best Director. Cause Being John Malkovich is awesome!

[rain Bard]

replace Sam Mendes. With whom? so many options, but I think I gotta go with Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for Rosetta.

[Cinemanolis]

Preserve Jude Law

[Sabin]

GROUP 1
Michael Caine is replaced by John Horatio Malkovich, Being John Malkovich.