12 The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 24, 2000
FRIDAY Focus
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How the contenders match up
for Hollywood's big night
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The missing statuettes were found
early this week in a Los Angeles dump-
ster. The wayward ballots showed up in
postal service hell after replacements
had already been mailed. Goodbye Gon-
zaga and Seton Hall, hello Paul Thomas
Anderson and Alexander Payne. It's
Oscar time - and this March, Holly-
wood's answer to the NCAA basketball
tourney ain't nothin' but madness.
Airing this Sunday on ABC with
host Billy Crystal, the 72nd annual
Academy Awards are just two days
away. Slated to begin at 8 p.m., it's
guaranteed to be a star-studded event.
And, yes, the nominees will be
around as well. Some races are proba-
bly tighter than others, some categories
you've never heard of and some you'll
wish you'd never heard of by the tenth
time Gwyneth Paltrow quivers her way
to the stage. The only sure thing is that
Robin Williams' rendition of "Blame
Canada,' the resounding responsibility
anthem from this summer's "South
Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," will
probably offend many. The Academy
folk also missed a golden opportunity
to have uber-Oscar songstress (and
Quebecois) Celine Dion belt out the
tune backed by a symphony dressed in
"South Park" costumes.
What about the stars who didn't get
invitations to the dance? Regular Oscar
favorites are here as usual, leaving a
great number of more worthy candi-
dates out in the cold. It's less a question
of who's hot and who's not than a ques-
tion of the nature of default and habit.
Like anyone else, we've got our list of
shoulda-coulda-woulda-beens. Here's a
run down of the main categories and
the nominees' chances.
Best Actor: Denzel Washington ("The
Hurricane") and Kevin Spacey ("Ameri-
can Beauty") are running neck and neck
for the prize. Russell Crowe is a dark
horse third for "The Insider." Remaining
nominees Sean Penn ("Sweet And Low-
down") and Richard Farnsworth ("The
Straight Story") have no chance. Who
got left out? This makes two years in a
row that Jim Carrey has
been cruelly snubbed for
his work in pictures that
don't fit the "Ace Ventu-
ra" mold. While his lack
of a nomination last year
for "The Truman Show"
could be considered a
fluke, the fact that Car-
rey was passed over
again this year for "Man
on the Moon" is a true
slap in the face. Winner:
Kevin Spacey. Alternate:
Denzel Washington.
Best Actress: Reese
Witherspoon's razor-
edged, sugar-sweet turn
as goody two-shoes with
a heart of depravity
Tracy Flick in "Election"
was discarded in favor of
YAMSON (Yet Another
Meryl Streep Oscar
Nomination). It's small
consolation that Streep is
undoubtedly fifth in the
field of five nominees.
The gradual accumula-
tion of awards for Hilary
Swank ("Boys Don't
Cry") places her at the
front of the race. Swank
picked up nearly all the
major film critics awards
in addition to winning a
Golden Globe - but lost
the Screen Actors Guild
contest to Annette Ben-
ing ("American Beauty"). This leaves
Streep, Julianne Moore ("The End of the
Affair") and Janet McTeer ("Tumble-
weeds") out in the cold. Winner: Hilary
Swank. Alternate: Annette Bening.
Best Supporting Actor: As usual, this
category had the deepest pool of poten-
tial nominees - and as usual, the wrong
ones were nominated. As much as I'm
loath to admit it, Michael Caine has
emerged as the likely winner - and I'll
go to my grave maintaining it's because
Tom Cruise's woman-eating Frank T.J.
Mackey of "Magnolia" and Haley Joel
Osment's haunted little boy of "The
Sixth Sense" split the vote and allowed
Caine to sneak in the back door. Those
on the outside looking in include
Christopher Plummer ("The Insider")
and John Malkovich ("Being John
Malkovich"). Malkovich's pride-swal-
lowing work was a wonder to behold.
Ignoring Malkovich was a misstep for
the Academy, as was failing to tap
Chris Cooper of "American Beauty"
and Philip Seymour Hoffman of "Mag-
nolia." Nominees Michael Clarke Dun-
can ("The Green Mile") and Jude Law
("The Talented Mr. Ripley") will finish
out the night without a trip to the podi-
um. Winner: Michael Caine. Alternate:
Tom Cruise.
Best Supporting Actress: The first
award of the evening to whet our
appetites for the majors is nearly as
tough as the supporting actor category.
While Angelina Jolie is the favorite
after picking up both a Golden Globe
and a SAG trophy, every nominated
perfonmance save Samantha Morton in
"Sweet And Lowdown" was superior -
and every performance, period, was in a
better movie than Jolie's "Girl, Inter-
rupted." The two wrecked women of
"Magnolia," Melora Walters and the
ubiquitous Julianne Moore, were left
out of the running, as was Cameron
Diaz's homely turn in "Being John
Malkovich." If Jolie doesn't take it,
Catherine Keener ("Being John
Malkovich"), Chloe Sevigny ("Boys
Don't Cry") and Toni Collette ("The
Sixth Sense") will be waiting to snap
up the Oscar. Winner: Angelina Jolie.
Alternate: Too close to call.
Best Original Screenplay: It's been a
plum year for screenwriting, with not a
weak nomination in the original field
(okay, so Mike Leigh didn't actually
write but improvised "Topsy-Turvy" -
we all make mistakes). Alan Ball's
"American Beauty" should have no
trouble destroying the competition as
it's likely to be an evening full of
awards for the film. But the rest of the
uouiesOT Iioucnione5I
nominees are daringly original as well:
Charlie Kaufman's tripped-out "Being
John Malkovich;" M. Night Shya-
malan's spine-tingling, heart-wrenching
"The Sixth Sense;" and Paul Thomas
Anderson's magnum opus "Magnolia."
Winner: Alan Ball. Alternate: Charlie
Kaufman.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Not as
strong as the original screenplay cate-
gory, the adapted race has a clear
deserving winner in Alexander Payne
and Jim Taylor's "Election" - and a
clear undeserving one in "The Cider
House Rules." The latter was adapted
by author John Irving from his own
novel, a trick that the Academy loves
to recognize. Also in the race but lag-
ging far behind are Frank Darabont
for "The Green Mile," Anthony
Minghella for "The Talented Mr. Rip-
ley" and Eric Roth and Michael Mann
for "The Insider." Not much to com-
plain about since it's a weak field to
begin with. Winner: John Irving.
Alternate: Alexander Payne and Jim
Taylor.
Best Director: The choices in this
category are almost perfect - until you
run your finger down the list and get a
paper cut when you see Lasse Hall-
strom for "The Cider House Rules."
Recognizing Hallstrom not only plays
directly into Miramax's grubby market-
ing hands, it insults the work done by
the likes of Alexander Payne ("Elec-
tion"), Paul Thomas Anderson ("Mag-
nolia"), Kimberly Peirce ("Boys Don't
Cry") and even Stanley Kubrick's swan
song, "Eyes Wide Shut?' What's next,
nominating Joel Schumacher? At least
we're safe with Sam Mendes ("AmeMi-
can Beauty"), Spike Jonze ("Being
John Malkovich"), M. Night Shya-
malan ("The Sixth Sense") and Michael
Mann ("The Insider") rounding out the
noms. Winner: Sam Mendes. Alternate:
M. Night Shyamalan.
Best Picture: We're going to keep our
mouths shut on "The Cider House
Rules" for this one. You know the drill.
Dreamworks and Miramax repeat last
year's best picture high noon show-
down, but this year Dreamworks will
walk away the winner. "American
Beauty," despite Harvey Weinstein's
best efforts, should have no problem
taking home the gold. "The Sixth
Sense," "The Insider" and, for some
bizarre reason known only to the Acad-
emy, "The Green Mile" make up the
rest of the nominees. This means no
"Being John Malkovich," no "Magno-
lia" and no "Boys Don't Cry." But that's
not the worst of it. The worst is the
complete Oscar dis of "Toy Story 2,"
one of only two sequels in history to be
better than the original (for the record,
the first was "The Godfather: Part II").
Hey howdy hey, Academy, what's your
beef? Winner: "American Beauty."
Alternate: "The Sixth Sense?'
And so ends another year of rash
predictions and rationalizations. Check
back Monday morning to see how it
all went down.
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Courtesy ofT wentieth Century Fox
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Matthew Barrett
1) Magnolia
2) American Beauty
3) Three Kings
4) For Love of the Game
5) The Insider
6) Being John Malkovich
7) Toy Story 2
8) Election
9) A Map of the World
10) The Limey
Leslie Boxer
1) Being John Malkovich
2) American Beauty
3) Three Kings
4) Election
5) Boys Don't Cry
6) Run Lola Run
7) Fight Club
8) Ben's Bar Mitzvah Video
9) A Map of the World
10) Notting Hill
Chris Cousino
1) Magnolia
2) American Beauty
3) Boys Don't Cry
4) Election
5) The Sixth Sense
6) Toy Story 2
7) Run Lola Run
8) Three Kings
9) Man on the Moon
10) Eyes Wide Shut
Laura Flyer
1) All About My Mother
2) Being John Malkovih
3) Boys Don't Cry
4) American Beauty
5) Run Lola Run
6) Besieged
7) Toy Story 2
8) Sweet and Lowdown
9) The Insider
10) Go
Erin Podolsky
1) American Beauty
2) Magnolia
3) Boys Don't Cry
4) Run Lola Run.
5) The Sixth Sense
6) Election
7) Toy Story 2
8) Being John Malkovich
9) Fight Club
10) Eyes Wide Shut
Aaron Rich
1) Three Kings
2) The Insider
3) Mr. Death
4) American Movie
5) Magnolia
6) The Winslow Boy
7) Election
8) Twin Falls Idaho
9) Felicia's Journey
10) Cruel Intentions
DavidVictor
1) The Matrix
2) American Beauty
3) Fight Club
4) Being John Malkovich
5) Magnolia
6) The Sixth Sense
7) Run Lola Run
8) Three Kings
9) Iron Giant
10) Splendor
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And the winner will be .
Matthew Barrett
Leslie Boxer
Chris Cousino
Laura Flyer
Erin Podolsky
Aaron Rich
David Victor
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