By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@thecitizennews.com

The Academy Award nominations came in last week and, like every year, there were a few surprises.

There was no Spielberg epic to tear through all categories and even the independent film suffered an off-year (Maybe it was the curse of the Blair Witch). I have yet to see all the films represented this year, but I have seen, heard and read enough to make an educated opinion.

The nominees for best film are “American Beauty,” “The Cider House Rules,” “The Green Mile,” “The Insider” and “The Sixth Sense.”

This one is a toss-up between “American Beauty” and “The Sixth Sense.” Both films were directed by first-time directors, featured strong performances all around and had excellent original screenplays. I was moved more by “American Beauty” but I thoroughly enjoyed the thrill ride of “The Sixth Sense.” Go with “Beauty.” If it wins a few more of the categories it is nominated for, it will be impossible not to give it Best Film.

The nominees for Best Actor are Russell Crowe — “The Insider,” Richard Farnsworth — “The Straight Story,” Sean Penn — “Sweet and Lowdown,” Kevin Spacey — “American Beauty,” Denzel Washington — “The Hurricane.” Washington won the Golden Globe for “The Hurricane” and the Academy likes a role where wrongs are righted and love is the answer.

Spacey is a formidable opponent, though. His performance in American Beauty was as strong as he has ever given and he has won an Oscar before.

My gut feeling is that Washington takes it for “The Hurricane,” breaking up an “American Beauty” landslide. On a personal note, my vote would have gone to Jim Carrey for “Man on the Moon.” I guess the Academy wants Jim making dumb movies again, though — someone to mold into the vacancy left by Jim Varney's passing.

The nominees for Best Actress are Annette Bening — “American Beauty,” Janet McTeer — “Tumbleweeds,” Julianne Moore — “The End of the Affair,” Meryl Streep — “Music of My Heart,” Hilary Swank — “Boys Don't Cry.”

Every year either Streep or Susan Sarandon gets nominated, just to make things interesting. “Music of my Heart” was not that interesting, though, so Streep goes home empty-handed this year. Hilary Swank won the Golden Globe for her role as a girl living as a boy, which is not a popular theme that will win the favor of people on the Academy.

This one goes to Bening. They probably started the engraving for this one back in October. However, Julianne Moore had three excellent performances this year and is deserving of recognition for her body of work in 1999 (“The End of the Affair,” “Magnolia,” “An Ideal Husband”).

The actors nominated for Best Supporting Actor are Michael Caine — “The Cider House Rules,” Tom Cruise — “Magnolia,” Michael Clarke Duncan — “The Green Mile,” Jude Law — “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Haley Joel Osment — “The Sixth Sense.”

I know, we want to give it to the little boy, but this one is for Cruise. He has never won an Academy Award before, though he has been very deserving, and his performance as Frank T. J. Mackey in “Magnolia” was one of his best and certainly the year's best. Though very crude at the beginning in the seminar scene, his scene with his estranged father (played amazingly by Jason Robards) will go down in cinematic history.

The Best Supporting Actress category is filled with some of the best new talent in Hollywood. The nominees are Toni Collete — “The Sixth Sense,” Angelina Jolie — “Girl, Interrupted,” Catherine Keener — “Being John Malkovich,” Samantha Morton — “Sweet and Lowdown,” Chloe Sevigny — “Boys Don't Cry.”

Jolie took the Golden Globe and has certainly been everywhere and everything the past few years, but my vote goes to Collete. She took the role of Cole's mother in “The Sixth Sense” and made it her own, more than just a worried mother in a horror film. Her accent was dead on, which will surprise you if you ever saw her in the Australian hit “Muriel's Wedding.” Let's hope that we see lots more from all of these nominees though.

There are a lot of first time nominees and directors in the Best Director category. The nominees are Sam Mendes — “American Beauty,” Spike Jonze — “Being John Malkovich,” Lasse Hallstrom — “The Cider House Rules,” Michael Mann — “The Insider,” M. Night Shyamalan — “The Sixth Sense.”

Jonze should get it for making a wonderfully imaginative film and actually getting it made, but this one will probably go to either Shyamalan or Mendes. “The Sixth Sense” energized audiences, giving them something they hadn't seen in quite a while — an intelligent thriller. Mendes, though, found the beauty in suburbia and in people's foibles and dysfunction. There are very few films where a floating plastic bag can bring tears to your eyes. I personally go with Mendes, but will applaud Shyamalan if he wins it.

The last category I would like to weigh in on is “Best Song.” You may have heard that “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” got nominated for its song “Blame Canada.” Well, that's got my vote, but the other nominees are: “Music of my Heart” from the film of the same name, “When She Loved Me” from “Toy Story 2,” “You'll Be in My Heart” from “Tarzan.”

The “Toy Story 2” song is really pretty and fit the movie well, but “Blame Canada” is representative of a really fun and exciting score. “South Park” was the best musical of the year and it is time to recognize the musical talents of Trey Parker (who also wrote the music for “Cannibal: The Musical”).

The Academy Awards will be presented March 26 on ABC. Billy Crystal will once again host the ceremony. Check your local listings to see where the nominees are playing.

Back to the Top of the PageBack to the Weekend Home Page