The popularity of ensemble films created an anomaly this year: None of the best-picture nominees has a best-actor nominee in it. This makes things tough on your humble Oscar blogger: that many more movies to see. I've made it to all five best-picture nominees, but of those nominated for best actor I've seen only one: The consensus favorite to win the Oscar, Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland.
A bit of a mini-anti-Whitaker backlash has been building since he began sweeping the best-actor awards. His depiction of Idi Amin is just a caricature, they say; you don't see the depth of Amin's evil. I disagree. The childlike enthusiasm and ruthless control were two sides of the same coin; that is what makes him so scary. He attracts and repels at the same time.
The most likely candidate to pull off an upset: Venus' Peter O'Toole, who has never won an Oscar (except for an honorary one) despite his many nominations. But any sentimental groundswell for O'Toole will be at least partly canceled out by the fact that Whitaker is also extremely well-liked as one of the nice guys in Hollywood.
Best actor: Forest Whitaker
Tomorrow: Best actress
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment