Nominations All Around

It's getting to be that time of year again. The time when the studios start putting out the movies that they think should win awards. Golden Globes. Oscars. All those little statuettes looking for new homes. I've seen a lot of movies this year. Some good. Some not so. This afternoon I saw "Sideways." It's a fairly "small" movie, but I wouldn't really call it an indie. It was outstanding. Well-written. Beautifully shot. Great performances by the entire cast, but the real standout was Paul Giamatti. It will be a fucking crime if he doesn't get a Best Actor nomination for this film. Paul has always been a great character actor, but this is really a breakout performance for him. Thomas Hayden Church was great as well, but I don't think he was strong enough to garner a nod and his part was too big to really be considered a "supporting" role.... So, with Giamatti thrown into the mix, here's my take on who should get best actor nominations come awards season. First up, there's no way in hell Jamie Fox won't get nominated for "Ray." That's sorta the no-brainer. Then I'll go with Giamatti for "Sideways" and Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland." I think that's it for performances so far, but there are some big movies coming out in the next few weeks that might get some attention. Hopefully "Beyond the Sea" will be as great as it looks and Kevin Spacey will get another nomination... but then of course I'm always pulling for Kevin :) Based on what I've heard, both "Alexander" and "The Aviator" have some serious issues so I don't think we're looking at noms for DiCaprio or Farrell. That opens the door for some more independent stuff to get a look. Maybe Christian Bale for "The Machinist" or Zach Braff for "Garden State." In a perfect world, GS will get a bunch of nominations, but I don't know that I'd be willing to lay bets on it. If nothing else, Zach better get nominated for best screenplay. So there it is. Just some rambling thoughts on how I think the awards race is starting to shape up...

Along with my plans to start including "fuck" in all of my blogs, I think I'm going to start including more quotes as well. I've got a huge collection of interesting quotes I've picked up over the years and figure this might be a good place to share them. The challenge may prove to be finding ones that are at least semi-relevant to my post for the day. So in honor of great performances by actors everywhere, here's one for all the dreamers out there who have the balls to live their lives on their own terms:

"live with imagination.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this is all there is."

-- Mary Anne Radmacher