Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Well, Judd is really wonderful in Ruby in Paradise. I was about to mention Freaky Friday, which many people cite as one of Curtis' best works, but I think she's just adequate and only a little imaginative.

Two names from the world of English-language cinema I haven't seen mentioned: Ashley Judd (so fine in so many roles) and Jamie Lee Curtis (deserved consideration for A Fish Called Wanda, Trading Places, True Lies).

her role in Therese Raquin is supporting I've checked and yes, she will be Madame Raquin, the character so memorably played, of course, by Sylvie in the otherwise disappointing Carnè movie. On paper it's a great, pivotal supporting role, but I've learned to be skeptical when it comes to English-lan...

I can't say I'm a huge fan of this particular performance but Octavia Spencer comes across as an incredibly intelligent, charismatic woman whenever I've seen her in interviews this past season. She also seems to be very talented. If anything, I'm hopeful that she will get more substantive roles as a...

Wonderful – NYT just published an article about Damien yesterday. http://nyti.ms/y5Cy7z Damien Bona Dies at 56; Creator of Guide for Oscar Buffs By DENNIS HEVESI Flip to just about any page in “Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards” and something fascinating is bound to pop up. ...

I have been lurking this board for years, and, though I did not get to know Damien personally, I was drawn to (and, not being a regular of this board, at first a little repulsed by) the candidness of his writing. He truly had a distinctive, well-refined palate that I can only hope to develop as I co...

I'm not predisposed to hate on child actors, but I really hate Anna Paquin in The Piano . I think she's every bit as grating as that child in The Blind Side or that girl in Mrs. Doubtfire . (I think she's a terrible adult actress too.) This. I'm perplexed by the love for her performance, which I fo...

Chuckling at the Bryce Dallas Howard mention.

Vanessa Redgrave's snub absolutely confounds me. Kristen Wiig over Elizabeth Olsen? At least Marion Cotillard got a (singular) mention somewhere – she was the bright spot of a painfully simplistic film.

I feared this would be one of those movies I actively loathe. The film is so simplistic in the way it deals with human emotions that its central thesis really becomes "rich people suffer too". Humanistic my ass. Someone said that this movie's critical inflation was really a reaction to/den...

...And this leaves us with, of all people, Karina Longworth.

And honestly, a Best Actress race that will probably include names like Meryl Steep, Glenn Close and Tilda Swinton (and Michelle Williams) is objectively one of a very high level. See, no, I don't buy this. It's a comforting idea but I find it totally wrong-headed when applied to 2011. Even if each...

Moving on...bizarre, I'm really hoping you're right about Olsen. For some reason the buzz since Sundance so early in the year has been too strong for me to fully believe that she's fallen completely out of the consciousness of some voters. I also do think it's the kind of ingenue performance that in...

Happy Holidays to you all. Thank you for being so kind and gracious as to accept newcomers like me onto the board.

I thought this was impressively misguided. At best, it is an interesting failure, though interesting is too strong a word. It was "deep" only under the pretenses of its expository dialogue, the relationships between the three principals devoid of the complexity this material deserves. Cron...

VAGUE MINI-SPOILERS AHEAD: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK Impressed with this. It's a very well-done piece of work, though I don't want to overstate its achievements. I didn't "get it" about Up in the Air – I thought it was particularly unsubtle, going to great lengths to show Clooney's inability t...