Oscar Index: Social Network, King's Speech Resume Steel-Cage Death Match
The Nominees:
1. Natalie Portman, Black Swan
2. Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
3. Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
4. Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
5. Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Notes: This remains pretty much the same race it's been all along, with Hailee Steinfeld and Julianne Moore officially dispatched to Supporting Actress and oblivion, respectively. One worthwhile piece of analysis has emerged, however, from Sasha Stone, who lays out the complex dynamics of the race between Portman and Bening, including this hard reality: "[Y]ou can't find 10 people to agree on which is best. You can find 10 people who agree about who is the most beloved and likable. And that is often the way a win is formed." We still both like Portman, but hey.
The Nominees:
1. Colin Firth, The King's Speech
2. Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
3. Jeff Bridges, True Grit
4. Javier Bardem, Biutiful
5. James Franco, 127 Hours
Notes: "Delete the layer 'Ryan Gosling'?" YES, PLEASE. For all of Bardem's inspiring dark-horse flair and Jeff Bridges' prolonged Academy goodwill, this is another category where the favorite has such a lead that he'd be best just to stand there, shut up, look handsome, and let his Oscar trading card do the rest. The alternative is, well, James Franco, the kind of candid fellow I love yet who may have just gabbed his way into little more than a awards-hosting gig. Still, did I mention I love him? At least he didn't offer Jesse Eisenberg's less-than-endearing nomination reaction "I don't actually own a television. What is there to watch?" Oscar fail, Jesse, seriously. The Index has its eye on you.
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Comments
I think this might be an Oscar makeup year. The four acting winners, by your analysis, will likely be people who should have won in a previous year but got overlooked -- Leo, Firth and Benning for sure, Bale, who deserved to be nominated once or twice but was not. Take heart, Mr. Nolan, your day(s) will come.
I think it's up between Speech and True Grit, both great movies, while the smoke clears on Social Network and people realize it was very good but not great.
I know it is an unpopular opinion, but "The Social Network" did nothing for me. It just brings together so many things that I find annoying - Facebook, Aaron Sorkin, entitled rich nerds, Justin Timberlake (yes I know there are overlaps in these categories) - that no matter how well-directed it was I just wanted to get the fuck out of the theater.
I think I was right behind you! Kudos, I was holding back. Everything you said, plus throw in a talky, pretentious bore.
There's a reason for the bruhaha over why no one can agree on who should win Best Actress: the woman under consideration who really did give the best screen performance of the year wasn't nominated. Did you see Paprika Steen in Applause? She was in every scene of the film and gave a nuanced yet gritty look into the life of a narcissistic, not-so-recovered alcoholic mother. Sure it was a foreign film, but should that have mattered? She rocked!