The Weigh In #42

And the winner is.. (part one)

This week and over the next three weeks I am going to take a look at the each of the contenders for the top six categories for the upcoming Oscars. This week we are going to look at best supporting actor and actress.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Paul Giamatti-Cinderella Man
The problem with watching one of the top character actors in the industry is that you really don’t want to notice him. He should meld into the character and you really shouldn’t be able to pick him out from his other movies. Although this is a great performance (one of many in the film but the only one nominated), I don’t think it is even his best. He plays a mainly one dimensional character and the only thing he seems to be hanging onto through most of the movie is a New Jersey accent. But it isn’t really his fault. I don’t think there were too many places he could have gone with the character. This character could have been played by a number of actors with the same result.

George Clooney-Syriana
George Clooney plays a deep cover agent involved in gathering intel from Hezbollah and reporting back to the state department. When he is double-crossed by one of his contacts and misinformation is fed about his true motives to Hezbollah, he is sandbagged by his country to save face. This is George Clooney’s finest film. An adult role that you would normally see played by much more mature actors. His trademark smirk and good looks are of no use here. He isn’t trying to be cute or adorable or whatever women want to call him. He is a broken man and you can very easily tell that every time he is on screen. Sometimes I actually forgot I was watching him.

Matt Dillon-Crash
Matt Dillon plays a bigoted cop that makes no bones about his attitude toward minorities, and in fact has no problem blaming his less than fulfilling personal life on interference from those people. For some reason this didn’t seem that big a stretch. He always seems to play morally corrupt people. The only difference is, his character has an epiphany that leads to a better understanding of himself, and forces him to look at his life for what it is. His own damn fault. For a Matt Dillon role this is a breakthrough and probably his best work. My problem, this ensemble film was full of incredible individual acting, and I don’t see why his was any better than the others.

William Hurt-A History of Violence
William Hurt was in this movie? If his voice wasn’t so completely recognizable I wouldn’t have believed it. He plays a crazy assed Philadelphia Mob Boss looking to kill his little brother. He is only in the movie for all of about 10 minutes. But man, he can sure play one crazy assed fuck. In probably one of my favorite movies of the year his role certainly stands out and I am sure I will remember it for quite a while. The mild mannered actor goes crazy assed wild and I for one would love to see more.

Jake Gyllenhaal-Brokeback Mountain
Jake Gyllenhall plays Jack Swift, a Texas rancher in Wyoming making ends meet in Wyoming by herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain. I’ve enjoyed him in pretty much anything I have seen him in (Donnie Darko, The Good Girl), but I don’t really think this was any kind of breakthrough performance that deserved to be recognized. Although he is a heterosexual mainstream actor who as willing to make out with another guy and do some nude scenes, and Oscar voters always seem to go gaga over anyone willing to do a little extra for a movie, (please see Robert DeNiro for gaining 60 pounds, Halle Berry and Charlise Theron for going full on ugly, and Nicole Kidman for wearing a prosthetic nose) I have to disagree. Of course I suppose making out with another guy goes above and beyond all of those things.

My pick for best actor in a supporting role: George Clooney-Syriana

Who will probably win: George Clooney-Syriana

Actress in a Supporting Role

Rachel Weisz-The Constant Gardner
Anyone here madly in love with Rachel Weisz? (raises hand emphatically)!!! She is the most adorable woman on the planet and this movie only enhances her love appeal. Her story is told mostly in flashback and through the eyes of the man that loves her, but you can’t help but fall in love with her too. And she is just sooooo perfect. Ok, I’ll stop gushing.

Frances McDormand-North Country
The only female with any power in a town full of red-necked bigots, Frances McDormand plays the friend of Josey Aimes, lead character in the movie. In the space of a two hour movie Frances McDormand’s character goes from fun loving and able, to near death from throat cancer. Frances plays this character like most of her other ones. Very well. By the end of the movie you feel for her struggle and the choices she has to make in support of her friend.

Michelle Williams-Brokeback Mountain
Michelle Williams plays the lonely wife and mother of two who learns that her husband actually has a thing for his “fishing buddy”. As a regular on Dawson’s Creek I really figured she would have kind of fallen into obscurity and ended up doing Burger King commercials, or teaching acting classes at the nearest community college learning annex. But I suppose I am allowed to be wrong occasionally. She can really act. As the jilted wife to a forbidden lover, she has range, and she makes you feel her life falling apart around her.

Amy Adams III-Junebug
You may remember her as Leonardo De Caprio’s little southern bride in Catch Me If You Can and the perky little nemesis cheerleader from the underrated feaux-documentary Drop Dead Gorgeous. In Junebug, she plays a naïve little girl about to give birth. Despite a distant husband and a family busy with their lives, she manages to be light up everyone around her. That makes her tragedy all the more painful to watch.

Catherine Keener-Capote
In the film, she plays Nell Harper Lee, author of “To Kill A Mockingbird”, associate editor, and friend to Truman Capote. For me, the name Catherine Keener has always been synonymous with “smarmy bitch”. But I really loved her in this movie. She played a very understated supporting character to Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s incredible performance and played off him perfectly. Most importantly she didn’t rub me the wrong way. She was a very sympathetic character (one I am glad to see her pull off) and actually elevated the entire movie without really being noticed.

My pick for best actress in a supporting role: Michelle Williams-Brokeback Mountain

Who will probably win: Rachel Weisz-The Constant Gardener

Next week stay tuned for my analysis of best actor and best actress nominees. I will have reviews for each of these movies and the others listed in these articles, spaced out over the next month or so.


This week at your local metroplex (2/17/2006)

Freedomland-Thriller
Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore
Plot: Julianne Moore plays a woman who claims her car was hijacked with her daughter inside by a black man from the projects. The accusation stirs up racial tension and Samuel L. Jackson is the detective who is assigned to find the missing child.
Buzz: The trailer for this movie looks totally cool and hints and a nice twist-a-plot ending. I am kinda on the outs with Ms. Moore after her last twist-a-plot movie The Forgotten. But hey, everyone gets a bad movie every once and a while right Samuel L. (The Man)? Anyways, they are both top notch actors and what are the chances of both of them picking 2 crap-tastic films in a row?

Eight Below-Family/Adventure
Paul Walker, Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodsgood
Plot: A team of scientists in Antarctica are forced to leave their dogs behind after a severe accident and this is the story of the dogs survival. Based on a 1957 Japanese Antarctic expedition.
Buzz: Yawwwn, huh, oh yeah, a Disney movie with dogs that have to survive a freezing cold winter (eight below freezing I am guessing). Wild fun for the kids, unless of course there are rabid wolves with laser beams that… oh never mind. Take the kids. I am sure it is safe.

Date Movie-Comedy
Alyson Hannigan, Adam Campbell, Eddie Griffin, Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge, Sophie Monk
Plot: A spoof of romantic comedies.
Buzz: If you liked other movie parodies like Not Another Teen Movie, and Scary Movie I, II, and III, then you may like this one.

This week on DVD (2/14/2006)

Saw II
Proof
Nine Lives
Mirrormask
Zathura
Comedy Central’s: The Roast of Pamela Anderson
Grey’s Anatomy (season 1)
Fresh Prince of Belaire (season 3)
Golden Girls (season 4)
Living Single (season 1)
Overhaulin’ (season 2)
The Pretender (season 3)
Charles in Charge (season 1)
Gimme a Break (season 1)
Who’s that Girl?
The Andy Griffith Show (season 5)
Quick Change
Zombie Honeymoon

As always, you can drop me a line or dip into the well that is my knowledge at DPlace76@yahoo.com. Also, you can check out my random ramblings at www.livejournal.com/users/bigdpimpin.