  Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Departed."
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Chat with Toronto Sun film critic Bruce Kirkland about the 79th annual
Academy Awards on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 12:30p.m. EDT. Ask a question in advance here.
Stay tuned for Mark's final Oscar predictions on Monday!
The Super Bowl? Check. The Grammy's? Finished. The Police? Reuniting. That leaves... Oscar.
With a little less than two weeks to go before rookie-host Ellen Degeneres pops the cork on the 79th annual Academy Awards, a slew of Oscar-nominated films are vying for your attention at local multiplexes and video stores. And with this year's most-nominated pic - "Dreamgirls" - shut out of many of the major categories, one thing's for certain: This year, the field is wide open.
Having nixed Brad Pitt and Jack Nicholson for their lauded supporting roles in "Babel" and "The Departed," the Academy has chosen to shine the spotlight on a quintet of actors whose critical background performances have ended up being career milestones.
So far, Eddie Murphy, despite on-camera parts that have veered all over the map in recent years, has nabbed a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild statuette for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and, barring a possible upset from journeyman Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine," conventional thinking says he'll be walking home with Oscar.
But with Nicholson, DiCaprio and Damon squeezed out of the supporting category by Mark Wahlberg's role as a determined cop in "The Departed," it's possible that director Martin Scorsese's formidable return to crime drama will start its trophy run here, netting the 35-year-old Bostonian his first-ever win.
Next door, in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, "Dreamgirls'" American Idol alumnus Jennifer Hudson has too pulled off Golden Globe and SAG wins for her spot in the highly praised ensemble.
And though she's the odds-on favourite to be joining Mr. Murphy in press gallery, if you've seen "Babel," you no doubt agree that Adriana Barraza's performance as the well-intentioned housekeeper to a family of wealthy San Diegans and Rinko Kikuchi's troubled deaf teenager living a world away in Tokyo are two of the most absorbing characterizations in recent years. An Oscar going to either one of them shouldn't shock anyone.
With three nominations under her belt and nary a win, Helen Mirren's embodiment as Queen Elizabeth following the death of Princess Diana in 1997 is the stuff awards ceremonies salivate over.
Although director Pedro Almodovar told a throng of reporters at last fall's Toronto Film Festival that he dreamed Penelope Cruz would be walking home with Oscar gold, and though Kate Winslet is still looking for her first win after five tries, oddsmakers say Mirren's Queen should be returning home with a hefty little prize in her suitcase.
But if she doesn't, don't be surprised if Meryl Streep capitalizes on her recent Golden Globe and NSFC wins - for her role as the ghastly Miranda Priestly in the surprisingly good "The Devil Wears Prada" - and ends up front and centre for her third time. After all, with 14 nominations in her decades-long career, she is one of the most nominated actresses in Academy history.
Sure, five actors will hear their names being read aloud from the stage of the Kodak Theatre when Reese Witherspoon announces the nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but this category is a two-man rumble.
In one corner sits Peter O'Toole, a seven-time loser who was handed an Honorary Award in 2002 when his career had all but flatlined. Standing opposite, is veteran character actor Forest Whitaker's harrowing portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
Whitaker is already ahead in the race with numerous trophies under his belt, but Oscar loves an upset. He also really loves an underdog. So while Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Will Smith are tagged here with being the under-underdogs, Academy voters just might decide that that Honorary Award from a few years back needs a companion on Mr. O'Toole's mantelpiece.
In 2005, host Jon Stewart got plenty of laughs when he ribbed Martin Scorsese for his seemingly endless losing streak. His masterful "Goodfellas" bested by Kevin Costner's sappy "Dances With Wolves" in 1990, this is Scorsese's sixth invitation to the Oscar's in the category of Best Director. And though Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" delivered a knockout punch in his last go-around with 2004's "The Aviator," the 64-year-old New York native is the closest thing this season's Academy Awards has to a sure bet.
If you read my year-end picks for the best of '06, then you know that my favourite flick of last year was "The Departed." If you haven't seen it, it hits video stores tomorrow, so do yourself a favour and check it out. My unabashed cheerleading aside, the Oscar-race for this year's Best Picture is real toss up.
The chatter that's followed "Little Miss Sunshine" since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival early last year has been infectious, while Mirren's role in "The Queen" has help propel Stephen Frears' compelling melodrama beyond its built-in art house audience.
Brad Pitt lent some star-power to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's deeply affecting "Babel," and the film ended up sparking the some of the most interesting conversations I've had this year. With its multi-storied plotline, once us journalists got past the brouhaha that trailed Pitt into last year's press conference at the Sutton Place Hotel during the Toronto International Film Festival, the film served as another reminder that though the politics of race, class and economics are dividers, it is the relationships closer to home that make us one and the same.
But it's Clint Eastwood's late-career renaissance that still has tongues wagging. Months after dropping "Flags Of Our Fathers," which told the stories of the men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, the prolific director returned to tell the same story from the perspective of the Japanese in "Letters from Iwo Jima." Collected together, it's a penetrating and definitive look at a major turning point in WWII.
Lucky for Oscar, the Academy can have its cake and eat too by giving Scorsese the director prize that's eluded him thus far in a near-perfect career, while bestowing Clint with yet another gold statute for what many consider to be his most towering filmmaking achievement.
If you haven't seen all of the nominated films - I didn't even mention the delightful animated features "Happy Feet" and "Monster House" - don't panic. There's still plenty of time to play catch-up. And if you can't make it out to the theatres, there are plenty of Oscar-nominated films that are available at your local video store for rental including, "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Departed," "The Devil Wears Prada" and "United 93."
Chat with Toronto Sun film critic Bruce Kirkland about the 79th annual
Academy Awards on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 12:30p.m. EDT. Ask a question in advance here.
