One Category at a Time: Supporting Actor

In most instances, the foundation of support behind Best Picture nominated films is a considerable factor in predicting Oscar winners in other categories. And in some instances, a completely different narrative takes hold that makes such things irrelevant. We may be seeing that this year in Best Supporting Actor, which houses four performances from Best Picture nominees, yet the frontrunner represents his movie's sole nomination.

One Category at a Time: Actor

What a tight year it's been for leading actors. We all knew that with such a glut of competition, someone was gonna be unpleasantly stiffed on nomination morning, but few of us probably anticipated that two of the season's top contenders (Robert Redford and Tom Hanks) would end up on the outside looking in. Since then, a clear frontrunner was established who it would be unwise not to predict. However, with an extended waiting period between nominations and voting, not to mention a strange BAFTA snub, there's still a lot of wiggle room. But first, the foremost candidate:

Review - American Hustle

American Hustle opens, as one might expect from a movie about scammers and con-artists, with a con job; But not a con job that has anything important to do with the plot. The con job in question is a man's toupée. Spending several meticulous minutes brushing on paste, applying the shabby tuft of a hairpiece, and then elaborately combing over his side hair so that every follicle is in precisely the right place, this man, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), is attempting to con the world at large into believing that he has no bald spot.

American Hustle, the latest from writer-director David O. Russell's career reinvention as a helmer of madcap character pieces, can itself be described like that toupée: A tangled, messy, unruly concealment of a script littered with bald spots, and yet we can't help but stare in enjoyment at the sight of it. That wig, however insubstantial, is a lot more fun to watch than a head of real hair.

Review - The Dark Knight Rises

Batman faces his greatest challenge yet in The Dark Knight Rises, in which Gotham city is threatened by potential nuclear Armageddon at the whim of a coldly calculatory and brawny terrorist, forcing the reclusive billionaire to dust off his batsuit after eight years out of the saddle. How to move on from the emotional and physical scars incurred from that fateful clash with The Joker and Two-Face, unaware of the even greater emotional and physical hurdles to come? As it proves the greatest challenge yet for Batman, so too does The Dark Knight Rises prove the greatest challenge yet for the trilogy's writer-director-producer Christopher Nolan. How to follow up the unprecedented commercial and critical success of his 2008 hit The Dark Knight with a third and final chapter that can satisfy geeks, general audiences, and critics alike? Well, he may have stumbled across that finish line somewhat, but cross it he has, giving his franchise the epic and stirring conclusion it deserves.

Compositing numerous character arcs and plot threads with which Batman aficionados will already be familiar, The Dark Knight Rises takes off with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) been shaken from vigilante retirement upon the appearance of a new villain in town; the mask-wearing international master criminal Bane (Tom Hardy) who enacts an ambiguous plot which Wayne's concerned butler Alfred (Michael Caine) suggests might be connected to foes from Batman's past. It doesn't help matters that the Caped Crusader's list of allies is as flimsy as his injured right leg. The city wrongfully holds him responsible for the death of Harvey Dent eight years earlier, but he still has friends in GCPD Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a young cop named John Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt), and wealthy socialite Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) whose investment in Wayne's company have yielded a clean energy source which could be weaponized if allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Also along for the ride is anti-heroine Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a slick cat burglar whose allegiances are in question and flux as she tries to steal and slink her way out of an increasingly dangerous Gotham.

Sunday Top Ten: Batman characters; the movies + The Animated Series tag team

With the recent release of a teaser poster and trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, I can't be the only one who's had Batman on the mind lately.

Everyone has a favourite Batman character (well, except for people who don't care about Batman, but they're just an urban legend), but with so many different incarnations of all the heroes and villains having been contributed over the decades, it's hard to give a consistent assessment of each one. Do you have a favourite continuity? The 1960s Adam West TV series, maybe? Any of the films by directors Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, or Christopher Nolan? I can tell you right now my definitive Batman canon is the fantastic Warner Brothers cartoon from the 1990s, whose dark and mature treatment of the material made for an atypically grown-up childrens program. For kicks, I'm appraising ten character combos that team up the performances from the major motion pictures with their animated doppelgangers.

One Category at a Time: Supporting Actor

What more is there really to say about this category? Or any acting category for that matter? The same four performers have won the BFCA, Golden Globe, and SAG awards and will all probably continue on to take the Oscars.

There's only one possible scenario I can envision in which Christian Bale does not win this; a bona fide sweep for The King's Speech. If the voters really are as lazy as that when they have their ballots in hand, and vote for the film in every category, Geoffrey Rush can ride that pony all the way to podium. But that's not gonna happen. Performances are one thing that Academy members will vote for based on their own merits, rather than the merits of the film. That, or they vote for whichever star they like, and the way Bale's been walking the rope line and charming his way through the circuit, I can't see him not winning this. It also helps that his performance is by far more complex and fully realized than Rush's good-humoured but comparatively thin one.

Oh yeah, John Hawkes, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo are all nominated too, but they're just along for the ride, which is too bad because they delivered some of the finest performances of the year, all of them making my own top five. Renner had us on edge all the way, Hawkes nailed nastiness and goodness all at once, and Ruffalo made easy-going look so much easier than it truly is! I really wish any of them could have won something this year, but you can't derail Bale!

Will win: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Runner-up: Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Should win: Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Should have been nominated: Ed Harris, The Way Back

SAG winners

Well, went a perfect 6/6 with my predictions, although that's hardly saying much given the incredibly predictable nature of the nominees this year... or any year, for that matter.

So obviously The King's Speech is the one to beat for Oscar's top honours, but the question is to what extent will it sweep? How many of its overly generous six craft nominations can it capitalize on? Art Direction, Costume Design, Score... probably. But there's such more deserving work to choose from in those categories. How many people honestly think Desplat's work is better than Zimmer's or Powell's or Reznor & Ross'? Will they actually go for Beaven's subtle threads over Atwood's "look-at-me" wardrobe? Is this just my own personal bias clouding my judgment? Or are there still cases to be made for the other nominees?

Too many questions. I hate all this uncertainty!

Anyway, the SAG winners, not that you need me to remind you.

Best Ensemble: The King's Speech Best Pic is a done deal.

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech All hail the King.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan All hail the Swan Queen.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale , The Fighter Moving right along...

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter I'd say the Oscar is pretty safe now.

Best Stunt Ensemble: Inception Predictable, but well deserved.

My Award nominations: Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actor:

CHRISTIAN BALE in The Fighter:
I can't fault Bale for stealing the show away from its own central character, Micky Ward, because he just steals it so well! He delivers a memorable portrait of drug addiction, blind selfishness, and staunch denial that stem from years of living with unfulfilled dreams. He plays brilliantly off of his costars, as they play brilliantly off of him.

MICHAEL FASSBENDER in Fish Tank:
This is a slippery, tightrope-walking performance that constantly shifts and wiggles around in our mind. It's easy for us to love Fassbender's character at first, and it's still hard for us not to love him as the film's sticky sexuality starts to play itself out. It's simultaneously bold and understated work from one of the finest actors working.

ED HARRIS in The Way Back:
In an age where awards are naturally attracted to performances that live by flash and overt displays of emotion, it's so satisfying to behold a settled, sincere performance that's more emotive because it's so understated. Harris' lived-in portrayal of Mr. Smith is as calm but layered as any performance I've seen this year.

JEREMY RENNER in The Town:
The live wire of The Town's sprawling ensemble, Renner makes you tighten your grip on your armrest every time he's on screen. The unpredictability of his performance pays off in numerous and surprising ways, from the tensely soft-spoken conversation he has with Affleck and Hall, to his comedic final actions in the climactic shootout.

MARK RUFFALO in The Kids Are All Right:
Ruffalo's performance is relaxed and naturalistic, slipping into the character with a disarming ease that misdirects us from his own insecurities, namely his reluctance to truly grow up and start the family he wants but lacks the commitment to create. His crushing final scenes perfectly convey his character's vulnerability and regret.

Just missed: John Hawkes, Winter's Bone

Review - The Fighter

I really wanted to like David O'Russell's The Fighter. Who wouldn't? An uplifting true story about boxer Micky Ward's triumphant comeback after years of being held back by his family; should be riveting stuff, and make no mistake, there's plenty to like about the film, but I ultimately found it to be a relatively underwhelming exercise in listless filmmaking.

Mark Wahlberg plays Ward, a struggling boxer trained by his crack-smoking half brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) and managed by his mother (Melissa Leo). But the under-confident Ward gets a shot in the arm when his new girlfriend (the quite terrific Amy Adams) spells out how his family has been more of a hindrance than a help, all of them more concerned with attaching themselves to Micky's potential glory.

The film has a lot going for it on paper, but an uneven pace and lack of structure subdue its strengths. The first half is more about the charismatic Eklund than it is Ward, removing focus from the central character. Not that Dicky Eklund isn't fascinating to watch, and indeed, Bale delivers an impressive portrait of addiction, but it does prevent us from really getting to know or care about Micky Ward. The stirring title bout at the film's finale is strong enough to leave a good taste in my mouth leaving the theatre, but it doesn't exactly undo the indifference I felt for the rest of it.

All that said, the recent bevy of Golden Globe and SAG nominations shows a clear base of support for the film that will probably translate to a number of Oscar nods: Picture, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress (probably two) at the least, with a possibility of Film Editing as well.

**1/2 out of ****