Oscar Poker #13
The usual intriguing conversation, except the tech snuff wasn’t up to snuff. I was in a bedroom in Fairfield, Connecticut, and talking into a 1997 cordless phone. Phil was in his usual spot. And Sasha was handling her end from her mother’s place in Ojai, California. No intro or close-out — Sasha couldn’t figure out how to record one with the laptop she had. Sound, face it, is bad all around. You know how it goes — we reach for perfection and don’t reach it.
I loved TRUE GRIT. I may see it again. I think Bridges gave the best acting performance of the year; and Hailie Steinfeld should be nom’d for best actress. She could take the place of Jennifer Lawrence.
Late to the game, but I finally saw ‘The Fighter’.
Are they really going to give an Oscar to Christian Bale for doing Eric Roberts with a Boston accent? I’d like to believe this is the year of Bill Murray’s upset, but I just hate ACTING like that so much…
Melissa Leo’s Oscar, however, is assured, and Jeff’s dismissive take on her (comparing her to Mo’Nique’s or Amy Ryan’s performance) is stone cold wrong. She has a degree of pathos that neither of them had (I thought they were both good). You can see the pain that causes her to lash out. Maybe I’m being unfair to Bale, maybe it’s the terribly cliched stuff he’s forced to do, but I can’t believe anybody can take that performance (or that movie) particularly seriously after the scene where he gives the cake to the junkies.
Online Film Critics nominations… Jeff can shudder over the inclusion of Kim Hye-ja:
http://www.ofcs.org/2010/12/2010-online-film-critics-society-award.html
Regarding THE FIGHTER and Bale: first of all, it’s a juicy flashy performance, which the Academy always seems to like. (I also though he was a lot of fun to watch, but tastes vary.) Secondly, though, just from the few seconds that ran after the credits, it seemed like he basically nailed the real Dicky’s personality. In fact, didn’t Jeff mention on one of the podcasts that some ESPN guys who knew Micky and Dicky pretty well were very impressed with both Walhberg’s and Bale’s performances?
Chicago48 is right. I sincerly hope the Academy does not fall for the Supporting Actress gambit. They should do with Steinfeld what they did with Kate Winslet in The Reader. Call bullshit on the supporting nonsense and put her in lead where she belongs.
Of course she has a better chance of actually winning in the Supporting category, but that’s too bad. Seen Paper Moon lately? No way was Tatum O”Neal supporting.