Garbage

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes & More Go For Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill & Joseph Cross All Circling Holy shit. Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field were announced in tiny little drips of information, but the faucet on Steven Spielberg‘s dream project “Lincoln” is on full blast with a massive cast angling for parts. THR reports that (take a deep breath) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill and Joseph Cross are in negotiations for the upcoming film. Based on the best-selling book, “Team of Rivals,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and featuring a script by Tony Kushner (”Angels In America”), the film will focus “on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War.” Jones will play Republican Thaddeus Stevens who supported the abolishment of slavery and wrote legislation that helped fund the Civil War. Gordon-Levitt will be Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd, the only one to survive past his teenage years. Or put it another way: Daniel Day-Lewis is gonna be JGL’s Dad. Amazing. No word yet on the roles for the rest, but they will be slotted into supporting roles. Lensing is set to begin this fall in Virginia with an Oscar-season 2012 release in the works. So, with Quentin Tarantino gearing up “Django Unchained” and Spielberg finally getting “Lincoln” rolling it looks like we’re gonna have two high-profile slavery films taking very, very, very different approaches. But if you want Oscar-glory Spielberg sooner, your wait won’t be long. He’s got “War Horse” coming on December 28th.

Mel Gibson?! O que ele tem haver com a cientologia?!

ROMAIN DURIS!!!!

Saiu os indicados ao Bafta....NO Melissa Leo entre eles. http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/2011-film-awards,1572,BA.html

O IMDB postou Fincher como vencedor de melhor diretor, confere Beckin? Confere.Garbage2011-01-15 00:27:56

Não houve,é que eu to acompanhando através de um forum e soltaram isso, mas já foi desmentido. Desculpem.

Gente, esquece o que eu disse, ta uma loucura isso! Garbage2011-01-15 00:00:26

Todo ano tem que ter uma piada gente, relaxem.

Que preminho mais meia boca.

Concordo em gênero, número e grau com o Stradivarius. Que horas vai ser o anúncio do Globo de Ouro amanhã?

Natalie ganhando três de uma vez, o guri do The Social Network crescendo e Bale, como já disseram, limpando tudo, isso me lembra o Daniel Day-Lewis em 2008. Garbage2010-12-12 21:16:13

Bale, pelo menos, será indicado. Black Swan sendo esnobado nas principais categorias (exceto melhor atriz), Benning perdendo o buzz e a dupla de The Social Network ganhando forças.

The Social Network pode até levar melhor filme, mas roteiro original fica com Inception. Considero o segundo superior que o primeiro em tudo, não que o filme de Fincher seje ruim, longe disso, mas não causou tanto impacto quanto o do Nolan a mim.

Bale levando o segundo, Firth um.

The looming Oscar smackdown var cnnOmniPartner = "The Daily Beast"; By Nicole LaPorte Natalie Portman is the star of Darren Aronofsky's nightmarish ballet drama "Black Swan." Can Natalie Portman's psycho "Black Swan" ballerina snag the Best Actress Oscar from Annette Bening, a veteran nominee who caused audiences to swoon in "The Kids Are All Right?" (The Daily Beast) -- It may only be December, but the Best Actress race is already shaping up to be the most competitive in years, with everyone from back-from-obscurity Nicole Kidman to indie darling Tilda Swinton to newcomer Jennifer Lawrence causing a stir. It's a pity that the race has already boiled down to a smackdown between just two of the divas: Annette Bening, for her role as an uptight lesbian in Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right," and Natalie Portman, the star of Darren Aronofsky's nightmarish ballet drama, "Black Swan," which opens this weekend. It causes déjà vu, of course -- last year, the elder stateswoman versus ingénue-y battle lines were drawn between Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia") and Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side"). And the same arguments that were made on behalf of those actresses are being repurposed, almost verbatim, this season: that the older Bening has been nominated thrice before (for "The Grifters," "American Beauty," and "Being Julia"), and thus "deserves" to win. That Portman has, Bullock-like, "surprised" us by playing a part no one knew she was capable of. In "Black Swan," the 29-year-old Portman graduates from turns in cute indie movies ("Garden State") and unapologetic blockbusters (the "Star Wars" prequels) to play a Type AAA professional ballerina who wins the lead role in "Swan Lake" and becomes embroiled in an "All About Eve"-like war with a brazen new arrival (Mila Kunis) to the dance company. Like Jodie Foster's Oscar-winning performance in "The Accused," the role demonstrates a new range and maturity for Portman, who trades in her saccharine cuteness for a quiet intensity that teeters on the brink of hysteria. Like a glass doll perched on a precarious ledge, she seems always this close to falling over the edge and self-destructing. Even her rail-thin body has a severity to it, the result of a year-long, daily training regimen of five to eight hours of ballet work, swimming a mile, and eating next to nothing. The process, Portman recently told the New York Times, sent her into "complete physical distress." The academy, and the acting branch in particular, which votes on Best Actress, adores such admissions of self-inflicted torture for the sake of Art, and under normal circumstances, it would be time for Portman to start thinking about her acceptance speech. Also in her favor is that over the past decade, youth has been rewarded in the Best Actress category -- with the exception of 2006 winner Helen Mirren and Bullock, who was 45, all of the winners have been in their late twenties or thirties. "One pattern that has been clear in the Best Actress category in recent years with the old boys in the academy is that they treat it like a beauty pageant," Tom O'Neil, who runs the awards website GoldDerby.com, told The Daily Beast. "When you look at the parade of lovelies that have won, it's Charlize, Julia, Nicole, Halle ... This year the babe of the year is Natalie Portman." But 52-year-old Bening, who has twice been denied an Oscar by the same starlet (Hilary Swank, who won for "Boys Don't Cry" when Bening was nominated for "American Beauty" and for "Million Dollar Baby" the year of "Being Julia"), is not about to step aside and let another whippersnapper steal the spotlight. If anything, she is using her age and experience as a weapon. At Q&A screenings of "Kids" for guild members, she has made a point to remind fellow thespians that she is an actor's actor, one with a long body of work both on the stage and screen. It's also been made clear that playing a middle-aged mom required its own kind of suffering. Portman may have starved herself, but Bening was willing to do something that in Hollywood is considered far more unthinkable: not wear makeup. It's maybe not as extreme as Oscar-winner Charlize Theron's transformation in "Monster," but it still falls under the "going ugly" category, which has always been Oscar catnip. And it's sure to strike a chord with female voters of a certain age. Something else Bening is doing is working it. During these all-important weeks of non-stop schmoozing before Oscar ballots are due, Bening has been a red-carpet regular. In August, she was honored at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association luncheon (the HFPA votes on the Golden Globes). In October, she was given the absurdly titled "Hollywood Actress Award" at the Hollywood Film Festival, one of the most ridiculed awards ceremony in a land of dubious festivals and awards shows. And in January, she's set to receive the American Riviera Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival -- another thinly veiled opportunity to hobnob with Oscar voters. (Last year, Bullock took home the Riviera Award.) Another one of Bening's weapons is husband Warren Beatty, a Hollywood dean who knows a thing or two about Oscar campaigning (he's been nominated 10 times and won Best Director for "Reds") and is one of the town's most well-connected citizens. "Warren can call [Jack] Nicholson up and start having screenings in living rooms, dinner with their friends -- that's how they're going to get her the nomination and win," noted another Oscar consultant, referring to a less formal, more insidery schmoozing tactic known as the Bel Air circuit. But observers add that however aggressive Bening is being, she's ultimately waging a graceful battle. "She campaigns as classy as anyone I know," said the consultant. "She handles herself in an exemplary manner. There are people who campaign in such a way that it makes many of us feel uncomfortable, but it's a very thin line to walk." As for Portman, her lesser visibility is in part due to the fact that "Black Swan" has not yet been released and is only now starting to be screened for Academy members. Fox Searchlight has kept the film and its stars under tight wraps since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September. There have been the obligatory spreads in major newspapers and magazines in recent weeks, and Portman and the rest of the cast were on hand last month when Aronofsky presented "Black Swan" at the AFI Festival in L.A., but otherwise the film has been relying more on buzz (which has been intense, and largely rapturous) than showboating. Though on the eve of its release, the reins are loosening. On Wednesday night, Searchlight threw a lavish Oscar party on the rooftop of the trendy Thompson hotel in Beverly Hills, attended by Portman et al. Expect more such rollouts -- and Portman face-time ops -- in the coming weeks from Searchlight, which has a reputation as a big spender this time of year. (In contrast, Focus Features, "Kids'" distributor, tends to rely more on a grassroots approach and savvy, as opposed to extravagant marketing.) Something else that will tip the scales in either Portman or Bening's favor is how "Black Swan" is received by Oscar voters. Unlike "Kids," which, though it deals with tough issues, is ultimately a warm-hearted crowd pleaser, "Black Swan" is dark to the point of being a quasi-horror film, and includes an incredibly graphic sex scene between Portman and Kunis. At this stage, the reaction from the academy has been "divisive," the Oscar consultant said. "I've heard people say it's amazing, and others have hated it." But whatever's going on behind the scenes, in public, everyone is being graciously judicious. When I asked "Black Swan" producer Mike Medavoy about the Bening-Portman rivalry, he said, "They both give great performances, and they should be proud of their work. I would say to both of them, 'Good luck.' They're both great actresses. We'll see how it all goes." Garbage2010-12-02 19:01:36

Christian Bale levando a primeira....acho que vou ver o filme só por ele.

28/11/2010 - 13h02 James Franco e Natalie Portman são apontados como favoritos ao Oscar 2011 ANTONIO MARTÍN GUIRADO DA EFE, EM LOS ANGELES Faltam exatamente três meses para a 83ª edição dos prêmios Oscar e as apostas pelos favoritos que almejam conquistar a desejada estatueta ainda está no ar, embora já despontam como garantidos Colin Firth, James Franco, Annette Benning e Natalie Portman. Acompanhe a Folha no Twitter Conheça a página da Folha no Facebook No dia 14 de janeiro, a Academia de Hollywood revelará os candidatos aos prêmios máximos do cinema, e dois dias depois serão divulgados os vencedores do prêmio Globo de Ouro, conhecido como a antessala do Oscar. Os nomes dos aspirantes ao Globo de Ouro serão apresentados em 14 de dezembro e dois dias depois serão os dos candidatos aos prêmios do Sindicato de Atores dos Estados Unidos. Para saber a lista dos indicados ao Sindicato de Diretores dos EUA será necessário aguardar até o dia 10 de janeiro. Até lá, as previsões da imprensa especializada já servem como indicativo das preferências dos membros eleitores da Academia de Hollywood, e obras como "A Rede Social", "A Origem", "The King's Speech", "127 Hours" e "True Grit" parecem ter suas candidaturas como certas na categoria de melhor filme. Após as modificações realizadas em 2009 pela Academia, esta categoria voltará a contar com dez longas candidatos, portanto, têm chance filmes como "The Fighter", "Atração Perigosa", "Winter's Bone", "Minhas Mães e Meu Pai" e inclusive "Toy Story 3". Na categoria de melhor ator se dá por certo a presença de Colin Firth ("The King's Speech") e de James Franco ("127 Hours"), e não se descarta o trio Robert Duvall ("Get Löw"), Ryan Gosling ("Blue Valentine") e Jesse Eisenberg ("A Rede Social"), segundo o site Awards Daily. Outros portais especulam a possibilidade de o espanhol Javier Bardem voltar a estar entre os candidatos, desta vez por seu papel em "Biutiful", do mexicano Alejandro González Iñárritu, onde dá vida a um homem que ouve os mortos, com dois filhos e uma relação difícil e intermitente com sua mulher, que é bipolar. Damian Dovarganes/Darren Calabrese/AP O ator James Franco e a atriz Natalie Portman, dois dos apontados como favoritos ao Oscar do ano que vem Esse filme, além disso, pode estar entre os finalistas como melhor filme estrangeiro, um sonho que também têm o espanhol "Y También la Lluvia", de Icíar Bollaín; o argentino "Carancho", de Pablo Trapero; o brasileiro "Lula, o Filho do Brasil", de Fabio Barreto; o chileno "A Vida dos Peixes", de Matías Bize; o colombiano "Crab Trap", de Óscar Ruiz; e o costarriquenho "Do Amor e Outros Demônios", de Hilda Hidalgo. Também foram pré-selecionados, entre outros, o nicaraguense "La Yuma", de Florence Jaugey; o peruano "Contracorrente", de Javier Fuentes-León; o uruguaio "La Vida Útil"; de Federico Veiroj, e o venezuelano "Hermano", de Marcel Rasquin. Entre as mulheres está prevista uma luta inflamada entre Annette Benning ("Minhas Mães e Meu Pai") e Natalie Portman ("Black Swan"), embora possam encontrar concorrência nas complexas interpretações de Jennifer Lawrence ("Winter's Bone"), Michelle Williams ("Blue Valentine") e Tilda Swinton ("I Am Love"), como aponta Pete Hammond, do blog Deadline. Entre os intérpretes que disputarão o Oscar de melhor ator coadjuvante sobressaem as atuações de Christian Bale ("The Fighter"), Geoffrey Rush ("The King's Speech") e Andrew Garfield ("A Rede Social"), e no campo feminino, segundo o portal Movie City News, Helena Bonham-Carter ("The King's Speech"), Hailee Stainfeld ("True Grit") e Miranda Richardson ("Made in Dangenham") são as que têm o maior número de votos. Parece claro que o Oscar de melhor filme de animação voltará a recair sobre Pixar, desta vez por "Toy Story 3", embora os críticos reconheçam a qualidade de outras obras como "Enrolados" e "Como Treinar o Seu Dragão". E o de melhor diretor, as opções sairão majoritariamente do grupo de indicados a melhor filme, como costuma ocorrer. Neste caso soam com força os nomes de Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"), David Fincher ("A Rede Social"), Christopher Nolan ("A Origem"), Danny Boyle ("127 Hours") e os irmãos Joel e Ethan Coen ("True Grit"). A 83ª edição dos prêmios Oscar será realizada no dia 27 de fevereiro no teatro Kodak, de Los Angeles, e será transmitida nos EUA pela rede ABC. Garbage2010-11-28 17:52:10

BOMBA O Oscar de melhor ator de 2013 já tem dono. Day-Lewis set for Spielberg's 'Lincoln' Actor to star in DreamWorks picture By Dave McNary Steven Spielberg's tapped Daniel Day-Lewis to star as Abraham Lincoln in Spielberg's long-gestating "Lincoln" project for DreamWorks. Friday's announcement -- made by Spielberg and Dreamworks co-chairman and CEO Stacey Snider -- came nine years after Spielberg first launched development of a Lincoln biopic and five years after he'd held talks with Liam Neeson to portray the 16th president. Spielberg noted in the announcement that he's never worked with Day-Lews previously. "Daniel Day-Lewis would have always been counted as one of the greatest of actors, were he from the silent era, the golden age of film or even some time in cinema's distant future," Spielberg said in a statement. "I am grateful and inspired that our paths will finally cross with Lincoln." Project's based on the 2005 book "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin with the adaptation by Tony Kushner. Spielberg will direct and produce with Kathleen Kennedy. Story's focused on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War. Filming is expected to begin next fall for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 through Disney's Touchstone distribution label. Kushner had previously worked with Spielberg on "Munich" for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category. Spielberg has been working on the movie about Lincoln since 2001, when DreamWorks bought rights to Kearns Goodwin's book, then tentatively titled "The Uniter: The Genius of Abraham Lincoln." "Team of Rivals" focuses on Lincoln's presidency between 1861 and 1865 with a focus on the three Cabinet members who ran against Lincoln in the 1860 election -- Edward Bates (Attorney General), Salmon Chase (Secretary of the Treasury) and William H. Seward (Secretary of State) -- and Lincoln's ability to deal effectively with the profound political and personal conflicts during the Civil War. Spielberg had announced last month that he'd direct futuristic drama "Robopocalypse" for DreamWorks with principal photography starting in January 2012 for a release in via Disney in 2013. The announcement about "Lincoln" won't change the start of "Robopocalypse," which explores the fate of the human race following a robot uprising. "It won't impact Robopocalypse," studio spokeswoman Kristin Stark said. "He'll shoot them back to back, which he has done with other films before." Spielberg has been in London shooting the bigscreen adaptation of WWI story "War Horse." Disney and DreamWorks will release the film Dec. 28, 2011, one week after Universal and Sony release another Spielberg-directed project, "The Adventures of Tintin: Secrets of the Unicorn." Friday's announcement of the "Lincoln" project coincides with the anniversary of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address in 1863 at the dedication of a new cemetery to honor the soldiers who perished in the battle. Neeson said in an interview this summer that he was no longer interested in the role. As for Day-Lewis, "Lincoln" will be the first film he's done since last year's "Nine." He's been in only three other pics -- "There Will Be Blood," "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" and "Gangs of New York" -- in the past decade

Like a Hurricane: The Actresses Own 2010 A look at this year’s best actress race, with a quick look back at the Best Actress winners for the past 30 years It’s been said before, but let it be said again, 2010 is marked by an uncharacteristic tsunami of women. Sure, there are still some male-driven films that have risen to the top of the pile, namely Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech, Jessie Eisenberg/Andrew Garfield/Justin Timberlake in The Social Network, the brilliant James Franco in 127 Hours, (though I haven’t yet seen it) Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale in The Fighter, and the upcoming True Grit with Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. But let’s face it, this year it’s raining women. The Oscar for lead actress is going to be competitive this year, which always makes for an exciting Oscar run. Even before I’d seen Black Swan, I felt like three women had a real shot at taking it: Natalie Portman, course, Annette Bening and Jennifer Lawrence. Natalie Portman versus Annette Bening – this is a familiar dynamic. It feels a little like Marion Cotillard versus Julie Christie, or Halle Berry versus Sissy Spacek. One is a Category 5 hurricane, and one is a cool breeze on a lake. Both have their value, both are vital and necessary – it is just a matter of what the voters are looking for this time around. Unlike Spacek and Christie, though, I do feel Annette Bening gives a career-best performance with the Kids Are All Right. But, as thoughts of Black Swan continue to flood my consciousness, I can’t help but think Portman’s is the more difficult, the more affecting, and ultimately, the more sympathetic. It is also, I dare say, one of those moments in an actor’s career you don’t turn away from. If it is Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, or even Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote – if it is on that level, if the actors agree with that assessment, Portman cannot lose. What we know about Bening already is that she is way overdue. She may be the Sean Penn (Milk) to Portman’s Mickey Rourke. She may so embody her character that she deserves to win, but moreover, her status in the industry is such that she becomes the more compelling choice. The irony that they are both straight actors playing gay characters is not lost on me either – it is considered a difficult transformation. Funny that it isn’t considered that much of a transformation when it’s a gay actor playing a straight character. Finally, as my friend Tom O’Neil is always saying, when confronted with older versus younger, Oscar almost always chooses younger. Not to put too crude a point on it, but we must combine the forces of the general obsession with youth coupled with the majority of Academy members being straight, white middle aged men and you don’t have to be a rocket science to figure that out. This is why the “f*ckable” aspect is almost always the immovable object in the Best Actress race. It isn’t everything. Sometimes the performance is powerful enough, the actress popular enough (particularly in the era of Sally Field) to overcome it. Lately, though, the pendulum seems to swing in one direction. Some comparisons: Julia Roberts — Ellen Burstyn Halle Berry — Sissy Spacek Charlize Theron — Diane Keaton Hilary Swank — Annette Bening Marion Cotillard — Julie Christie Kate Winslet — Meryl Streep (probably doesn’t really count) Sandra Bullock — Meryl Streep The one major exception to the rule seemed to be when Helen Mirren won, though Mirren is absolutely f*ckable by most anyone’s standards.. So, we have an unfair advantage to Natalie Portman just on the surface of it – her looks, her youth. But a lot still has to happen. Black Swan has to open, and it has to be met with rave reviews. It has to not have any sort of major backlash. And finally, Portman has to work the line like Marion Cotillard did. She has to bloom on the red carpet — she has to become a black swan, in other words. The normally reserved and poised Portman might have a slight problem with this. Does she have the desire to win this thing, the same desire her character had to dance Swan Lake? Does Bening? If Annette Bening is out there as Jeff Bridges was last year, it being at last “his time,” she has a much better chance of slowing the momentum Portman will gain in the next few weeks, as Black Swan opens. Bridges was everywhere. He was unavoidable. He was on every talk show, being lauded at with a standing ovation at every awards show. Is this Bening’s time? Will she at last be celebrated and rewarded for her entire career with this, her best role? Or will she become like Michelle Pfeiffer, Sigourney Weaver, Glenn Close and the countless other brilliant actresses who have yet to win for their body of work? What defines that moment in time and what doesn’t isn’t something that can be explained: it just is. In looking back over the past Oscar winners for Best Actress, sometimes it’s more clear than others when it was the performance, versus when it was “the time,” or when it was both. But more importantly, what becomes clear is that what gets the vote is usually more about how much they end up liking the character. Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter vs. Mary Tyler Moore for Ordinary People — The Performance Sissy Spacek can do no wrong in my book and she thoroughly deserved to win for this. But something about Moore’s performance continues to pull me back. It was anything but likable, the complete contrast to her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, for instance. By all rights, that performance should have won. But it couldn’t have because, in the end, they liked Sissy’s Loretta Lynn more. Katharine Hepburn – On Golden Pond – The Performance, and Her Time, Likability of Character and Actress (not that she ever needed another Oscar). Her only challenger would have been Diane Keaton in Reds, I suppose. But even that. Meryl Streep, Sophie’s Choice – The Performance (full stop). Her main competition would have been Jessica Lange, who won in Supporting anyway, and then went on to win lead much later because it was “her time.” Shirley MacLaine – Terms of Endearment – The Performance, and Her Time. She had some competition with Meryl Streep, turning in yet another great performance in Silkwood, but also Debra Winger from Terms and Julie Walters from Educating Rita. Sally Field – Places in the Heart, Likability of Character and Actress. This one gets my “oh for godsakes” prize for WTF happened there. She had no real competition, likable character, good performance. If there had been a better one, though, she wouldn’t have won. The closest you get to a more deserving actress would have been Judy Davis for A Passage to India (Davis still has never won, despite the many times she should have). Geraldine Page – The Trip to Bountiful - Likability of Character and Actress. Whoopi Goldberg probably deserved it for The Color Purple but I think Jessica Lange might have been the main competition. Marlee Matlin – The Performance, Likability of Character and Actress, and no real competition. Cher – Moonstruck – Her Time, Likability of Character and Actress. Any of the other four actresses would have been a better choice, but most especially Holly Hunter for Broadcast News (although Glenn Close is phenomenal in Fatal Attraction). Jodie Foster – The Accused – The Performance – Her Time. And no real competition. Jessica Tandy – Driving Miss Daisy – Her Time, Her Time, Her Time. Her only real competition was Michelle Pfeiffer for The Fabulous Baker Boys and that was just okay, not great. Maybe Isabelle Adjani. Kathy Bates – Misery – The Performance and Her Time, and there was Meryl Streep popping back up yet again for yet another great performance in Postcards from the Edge. Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs — The Performance, Likability of Character and Actress although this is one where I think Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis split their votes – both of them were more deserving than Foster, and you all know how much I love The Silence of the Lambs (“his pulse never got above 85, even when he ate her tongue.”) Emma Thompson – Howards End – Her Time, Likability of Character and Actress - she really no competition, though. And here is another case where they just liked her a lot, liked her character. Holly Hunter – The Piano – The Performance – Likability of Character and Actress - this was a great year for actresses, and in fact, Emma Thompson gave a great performance in Remains of the Day, but her Oscar was already won. Angela Bassett would have been another worthy winner. Jessica Lange – Blue Sky – Her Time. And she had ZERO competition. Jodie Foster had already won twice. If she hadn’t, she would have won for Nell. Susan Sarandon for The Client? Really, AMPAS? Susan Sarandon – Dead Man Walking – Her Time, Likability of Character and Actress. To my mind, Elisabeth Shue gave the better performance. I feel like Sarandon won for this because she hadn’t won so many times before. It was a very good performance. But Shue’s was beyond good. Here is a very good example of what might happen between Bening and Portman. Frances McDormand – Fargo. The Performance – Likability of Character and Actress – This was a very small part to win an Oscar on. It is still one of the more memorable incarnations ever put to screen. It helps if you happen to love the Coens, and it doesn’t always follow that a great performance must be emotionally wrenching. Sometimes it can just be great. Her biggest competition was probably non-star Brenda Blethyn for Secrets & Lies, maybe Emily Watson for Breaking the Waves. Helen Hunt – As Good as it Gets – The Performance Likability of Character and Actress – but this too gets the “oh for godsakes” prize for WTF happened there. What happened was that she was incredibly likable and f*ckable, and she had no real competition. Gwyneth Paltrow – Shakespeare in Love – Likability of Character and Actress. Everyone who reads AwardsDaily must know how much I love Shakespeare in Love, and especially all of its stars. I have no problem with Paltrow winning, but it is absolutely the standard vote of liking her, and wanting to sleep with her that had her beating out Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth, the far more deserving performance. Hilary Swank – Boys Don’t Cry – The Performance (full stop) Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich – Her Time, some competition from Ellen Burstyn and Joan Allen. Halle Berry – Monster’s Ball – The Performance, Her Time (and the time for any black actress to win lead) - her competition was fierce – Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge, Sissy Spacek for In the Bedroom, Renee Zellweger for Bridget Jones’s Diary… Nicole Kidman – The Hours – Her Time. Kidman delivered many great performances before she won for this. It was good, but a supporting part and supported by a fake nose. Her competition was mainly Julianne Moore in The Hours (deserved to win), and Renee Zellweger for Chicago, who was also very good. Charlize Theron – Monster. The Performance (full stop) . Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby – The Performance, The Film. She beat Annette Bening again for Being Julia, and Kate Winslet for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but otherwise, not much competition. Reese Witherspoon -Walk the Line – The Performance, Her Time. It was good enough to ride the wave. Felicity Huffman for Transamerica was her main competition. Helen Mirren – The Queen – The Performance, Her Time. No competition. Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose – The Performance (full stop) . Main competition was Julie Christie for Away from Her. Kate Winslet – The Reader – Her Time. A Jeff Bridges moment. A good performance, not her best. No one begrudges her win. Her main competition would have been Meryl Streep in Doubt (thought there was some rumbling about Anne Hathaway). Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side. Her Time. Her competition was Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia. Passable to decent performance, extremely likable character and actress. Sandra Bullock won the same way those before her won, especially Winslet, Cotillard and Mirren – by working the line, doing lots of press, showing up happy and bubbly and deserving. Bullock gave great speeches whenever she won. She was always funny, looked great and mainly acted gracious and humble before the powers that be. It didn’t hurt that she was the $200 million girl. But you have to admit, being the World’s Greatest F*ck doesn’t hurt either. Many of the women that have won in the list above did so by stripping down, making love while also giving a great performance. There are exceptions, of course. But you have to admit, there is a commonality there. This year, the three actresses – Bening, Portman and Lawrence – can wrestle the beast if they decide to play. If we’re going on sheer performance, all three women are still in fierce competition. But the fact remains that Natalie Portman delivers what is probably the best performance by any actor this year, male or female. It isn’t just that she becomes someone else. It is the way she connects with the material, much the way Jessie Eisenberg does in The Social Network – becoming such a necessary part of the film’s success that losing them would make the whole thing collapse. No one else could have played Nina. We don’t know what direction the race will take. Still, of the three of these women, Jennifer Lawrence plays the most likable, admirable character – someone who is a teenage hero trying to do nothing but save her family. She went above and beyond what was necessary to bring Ree to life and there is always the chance that she could win as a dark horse. Bening and Portman give strong performances. Bening has time on her side. Portman has the bravura performance of a lifetime. It seems like an easy call to make, but of course, as we know, there are always surprises waiting as we head into the thick of Oscar season. The other two slots may go to Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole and Lesley Manville for Another Year, unless she goes into supporting, in which case I would probably think Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right, or Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine the fifth slot. Here are some other performances to keep in mind: Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine. Tender, sweet, heartbreaking — but Williams goes deeper than that. She must find in her the competing emotions of disgust and guilt as she tries to fight her own evolution out of a relationship. Great work by both Williams and Gosling. Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole. Kidman frees herself for this role, and it’s supposed to be a real tearjerker. She’s a big star, even still, which makes her worth considering. Lesley Manville – Another Year. One of the strongest performances of the year, even if the buzz seems to be quieting a bit since it made a splash at Cannes. This is the problem in the day and age when all of the critics and bloggers go to Cannes, fall in love with films, and then months pass – by the time Oscar season runs around there isn’t much left to talk about. But the performance is the performance, and Manville’s is one of the best. Tilda Swinton in I Am Love - Swinton plays a woman under the influence of love and lust. In an extremely graphic sex scene that makes Blue Valentine look like a Disney movie, Swinton pulls out the stops. But is there time for her to be recognized? If the Academy members know there is some Postman Always Rings Twice kind of sex in it they might put it in the old Blu-Ray. Naomi Watts, Fair Game - a powerhouse performance by Watts, who captures Valerie Plame’s conflicting emotions perfectly. Sally Hawkins, Made in Dagenham – Hawkins plays one of the most heroic characters in the race. Is it enough? Hilary Swank, Conviction - Swank did months of research to play Betty Anne Waters. Reviews were mixed and the heat seemed to settle on Rockwell, despite Swank’s willingness to publicize. But she’s a two-time Oscar winner, thus, a threat. Awards Daily

The King's Speech http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=70072 Made in Dagenham http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/madeindagenham/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFupkIgVgXQ

Trailer de Rabbit Hole: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid90807759001?bctid=645363492001