Oscars done

As always, I'm grateful for the thoughtfulness and the insight of my commenters; there's some very good stuff below my previous post.

As of last night, my  beloved and I have completed our task of seeing all of the Oscar-nominated films prior to the handing out of the Academy Awards.  (For the record, until I moved to Los Angeles, I wasn't nearly as interested in such things.)  Not that it's of interest to anyone else necessarily, of the five films nominated for best picture, here's how I'd rank them:

1.  "Sideways" (Like last year's Lost in Translation, a film with dialogue so accurate about the male soul it took my breath away)
2.  "Finding Neverland" (Glorious and moving.  Of course, I'm  a very biased Johnny Depp fanatic).
3.  "The Aviator"(I didn't want to like it, but I did)
4.  "Million Dollar Baby" (Good, but somehow I just didn't buy it)
5.  "Ray"  (I loved the acting, but found the film much too long and utterly unengaging)

And I'd very much like to see Annette Bening and Johnny Depp win the Best Actor and Actress Oscars, and Sophie Okonedo and Thomas Haden Church take home the Supporting awards.   No dramatic physical transformations, no evidence of extreme use of the Method, just pure craft.

Comments

[Amy]

Of the movies that you've seen during your Oscar-viewing quest, do you have a favorite for best picture among those not nominated for it?

[Hugo Schwyzer]

Oh, sure: of those not nominated for best picture, I'd say these five were richly deserving:

1. "Hotel Rwanda" (that will make Amy happy, right?)
2. "Being Julia"
3. "The Passion of the Christ"
4. "Vera Drake"
5. "Maria, Full of Grace"

I still need to see Kinsey and Motorcycle Diaries.

[me]

Hugo, do you really think that Depp deserves the Best Actor nod over Don Cheadle from Hotel Rwanda? I have a feeling that Jamie Foxx is going to win it anyway, however...

[Hugo]

I think Depp deserves it, yes, because it is such an extraordinarily subtle performance. (As last year in "Pirates of the Caribbean.") Cheadle's was the most heroic, ala Adrien Brody two years ago. I'd rather see Cheadle get it than Foxx, of course, but I am afraid you're right.

[Amy]

Yes, it does make me happy to see "Hotel Rwanda" on your list. I don't get to the movies much, but based on what I've heard from you and others (and my love of Annette Bening), I feel I must see "Being Julia."

[cmc]

I loved the first 3/4 of Million Dollar Baby-- the boxing parts. Just saw it last night. How refreshing to see women violently pummeling each other without it being 1) prettied up or 2) without the movie making that big deal about the fact that these were women boxers. It was presented primarily as a boxing story and a story about a woman and her coach without gender being the primary issue. I am only 33, but we seem to have come a hell of a long way just in my lifetime.