"And the Winners are..."

Alright, yesterday I saw four more films at the AMC Best Picture Showcase, more fully rounding out my 2008 moving viewing. I'd share my picks and rationale for each category, but since I'm running out of time and it's my wife's birthday, I'll just share the essentials. So here are my pics for tonight's awards...

Leading Performances.
For Best Leading Actress, this is a really tough call. I'm torn here worse than anywhere else. I really (really, really, really, really) want Anne Hathaway to win for her emotional roller coaster role in Rachel Getting Married, but I don't think she'll win. Honestly, all five women here did an amazing job. Angelina Jolie and Melissa Leo played incredibly strong women pushed in life's most difficult circumstances. And Meryl Streep's vicious character in Doubt made me as furious as any other could. But at the end of the day, it is Kate Winslet who steels the show and will take the award with here incredibly complex portrait of an SS guard in The Reader. Winslet's win is secured by her additional strong performance in Revolutionary Road and the fact that this is her sixth Oscar nomination and still without a win. Tonight will be her night!

For the guys, strong performances here as well. Richard Jenkins was as lovable as he was pathetic. I kind of want Mickey Rourke to win for his comeback victory with The Wrestler. Brad Pitt's role was also complex and well-done. I'm torn slightly between the winner and Frank Langella, who plays Nixon superbly. But the winner will doubtlessly be Sean Penn, playing Harvey Milk in the biopic Milk. Penn captured the role from every angle. It was magnificent.

Supporting Performances.
For the ladies, I really liked Amy Adams in Doubt, though the role seemed a little too close to much of the same for her. Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson likewise showed strong performances. In the midst of it all, I would really like to see Marisa Tomei win for her role in The Wrestler. Though she is my personal favorite, I think in the end she'll lose out to Penelope Cruz in Vicky Christina Barcelona, who will win because in the eyes of many "she's due" and Tomei has already one an Oscar that was thought by some at the time to be a joke.

And for the men, I am at a somewhat of a disadvantage here because I still have not seen Revolutionary Road. Yet I don't think it really matters because Heath Ledger seems to be a shoo-in. For good reason... He could not have played a more terrifying and electrifying Joker in The Dark Knight. The tragedy of his death simply reinforced the inevitability of his win. Nonetheless, Philip Seymour Hoffman was brilliant as usual. Robert Downey, Jr. gave an unpredictable suprise in Tropic Thunder, definitely urning him (together with Iron Man) my own personal award from "Most Entertaining Actor of 2008." I was not impressed with Josh Brolin in Milk, and, as mentioned, did not see Michael Shannon. But again, it's all somewhat pointless discussion because Ledger's legacy has this in the bag.

Best Picture and Director
Oscar history testifies that these two winners almost always go together. And for good reason since the success of the movie is due to the works of the director himself. This year all five nominations are the same for each of these categories. Again, I'm running out of time, so I'll cut right to the chase. Danny Boyle and his Slumdog Millionaire will take both of these and the large share of all awards tonight. Though I personally enjoyed Frost/Nixon the most of the five, the concept is not nearly as fresh as with Slumdog. Let me also say, that of all films of 2008, I thought Rachel Getting Married was the best, over all Oscar noms. But none of that matters anymore. Milk's breathtaking optimism, The Readers' complexity and depth, Frost/Nixon's precision, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's glistening wonder will be no match for the fresh, energetic, invigorating, superbly crafted (though disappointingly predictable) Slumdog Millionaire. The fact that it is an Indian picture simply raises its attractiveness.

Anyway... I gotta put some candles in a birthday cake before the Oscars begin. Talk to you later!