Who does ThirdAge think should win the Oscars? In some categories it is easy: Champagne for Meryl Streep! But in other categories it is hard, very hard. For example, are any of the movies nominated for Best Picture really that terrific? In fact, ThirdAge wonders how many people, including the Academy voters, have really sat through all nine pictures in this category, which includes some real stinkers like “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”
Best Actress: Now, there are some who think Viola Davis, who has the leading role in “The Help,” might—we are not saying should –win in the Best Actress category. Others probably think it is about time that Glenn Close, who plays a woman who plays a man in “Albert Nobbs” should stop being the also-ran to Streep. But that seems unlikely.
As for the other two nominees in this category, ThirdAge thinks Michelle Williams, who is in “My Week With Marilyn,” is a good actress, but she is no Marilyn Monroe. She looks okay, but she doesn’t look like Marilyn even with padding in the right places. And Marilyn Monroe, after all, was more about the way she looked than about anything else. As for Rooney Mara in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”: Let’s face it, that movie was virtually incomprehensible unless you had read the book and even having read the book, it was still a bit of a muddle. No, ThirdAge thinks Meryl, who was terrific and managed to submerge her own many distinctive mannerism as she inhabited the Iron Lady, should win. We will be disappointed if she doesn’t.
Best Actor: We liked Gary OIdman in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” but acknowledge he is not going to be called onstage. Colin Firth won last year and we need a sabbatical for Oscar-winning British actors. We think George Clooney will possibly win for playing against type in “The Descendants.” What do we mean by playing against type? Well, Clooney plays a dull, out-of-shape, middle-aged guy who wears Hawaiian shirts. Besides that, he’s being cuckolded by his wife, who is having an affair with a real creep. Definitely a stretch, since we all know Clooney is about the best-looking and sexiest 50-year-old man in the entire world.
But Clooney just may lose out to Jean Dujardin in “The Artist,” a silent movie that the critics at big-city newspapers just adored. To be honest, “The Artist” is kind of cute, that’s all, and Dujardin, who is French, is expressive, very, very expressive. The dark horse in this race is Clooney’s pal, Brad Pitt, who stars in “Moneyball,” which, unless you know a lot about baseball, is almost as dull as Clooney’s character and almost as hard to understand as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”
Supporting Actress: Probably it will be Octavia Spencer in “The Help,” even though another “Help” performer, Jessica Chastain, is also nominated in this category. But Octavia has the showiest part in the movie, and her character, dare we say, makes the most impact in a significant way. If you saw the movie you know what we mean. Berenice Bejo in “The Artist” is, no surprise, very cute and also very, very expressive. And Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids” has to do things that are just as disgusting as what Octavia’s character does in “The Help.” Maybe McCarthy will win if the Academy wants to give a rousing cheer to chick flicks that are as revolting as buddy movies and make big bucks.
Supporting Actor: There are a couple of old guys in this category: Christopher Plummer and Max Von Sydow. Plummer has been winning all the runup-to- the-Oscar awards. In “Beginners,” another rather lousy movie, he plays a man who has come out as gay after his wife dies and is now in the last stages of cancer, both circumstances that are usually extremely appealing to Academy voters. Max Von Sydow doesn’t talk at all in his movie. No, he is not in “The Artist” but is silent in the irritating “Extremely Loud.” Kenneth Branagh plays Laurence Olivier in “My Week with Marilyn,” but as we have already concluded, it is a bad year for the Brits. Nobody but nobody saw Nick Nolte in “Warrior,” and Jonah Hill (“Moneyball”) is very young compared to the rest of the pack and so has lots more opportunities. Plummer, after all, is 82.
Best Picture: As ThirdAge has already pointed out, that’s the really hard one. We are leaving “War Horse,” “Hugo,” “The Tree of Life,” “Moneyball” and, of course, ”Incredibly Loud,” all on the cutting room floor. Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” would win for best travelogue, if there was really such a category. Gorgeous shots of Paris. “The Help” and “The Descendants” are in a tie for the Most Sincere, and “The Artist” takes the Most Creative accolade. But darn if we know which is Most Likely to Succeed, which may be one reason to tune in and stay awake-- besides watching Billy Crystal show ‘em that only a boomer host really knows how to do right by the Oscars.
Myrna Blyth is editor-in-chief of ThirdAge.
