Sulmoney’s Oscar Predictions – Best Actor

Hans got a compliment from his training teacher; he was commended on his ability to read. High five!

From a two woman race in the Best Actress category, we move on to a two man race for Best Actor. From a career resurrection, to another fine performance in his resume, the other nominees need not come Sunday night. The nominees include Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk),  Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler). (Full disclosure: I still need to see The Visitor, don’t judge me!)

Who Will Win

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Hollywood loves a redemption story, and there is none hotter right now than Mickey Rourke’s. Poised to be the biggest Hollywood star of the 80s and 90s, Rourke took a well documented detour and became Hollywood poison. Slowly working his way back into everyone’s good graces, Rourke completed his comeback with perhaps his finest and most authentic performance to date as a broken down, aging wrestler out for one last hurrah, a role that critics point out was not hard for him to pull off as it is his story. Nonetheless, it was the best performance of the year by anyone, and one that will studied for years.

Who Should Win

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Mickey has this on lock. I hope. If it is not going to be Mickey Rourke though, it will be this guy…

Sean Penn in Milk

Sean Penn gives another amazing performance as Harvey Milk, and is just as deserving as Mickey Rourke for the grand prize. As awful as it may sound to say it, I feel that there may be some sort of homophobic backlash against Penn’s performance, and it may have rubbed some of the voters the wrong way, similar to how Brokeback Mountain and Heath Ledger were seemingly locks a few years back but came away empty handed, save for Ang Lee’s win. Penn is deserving of it, and becomes Harvey Milk, and it is another iconic performance.

Who Was Snubbed

Colin Farrell in In Bruges

Anybody who has followed this blog knows my love and admiration for In Bruges, and at the core of this great picture is a performance from Colin Farrell that will change his career. He earned a Golden Globe for it, and he was an outside shot at getting the nomination, but fans of the film will be rooting for Martin McDonagh in the Original Screenplay category. If you still have not seen this gem, definitely make the effort to see it, and treasure the performance by not only Colin Farrell, but also Bredan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.

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Sulmoney’s #1 – In Bruges

Well, at least we can agree on a couple things here: 1) Hans went with the uber-trendy pick of Slumdog Millionaire for his #1, and 2) Danny Boyle is going home on Oscar night with a little statue that says Best Director on it. But in all seriousness, I truly wish and believe that Slumdog Millionaire will go down in history as the winner of the Best Picture come February 22, and wish that the smear campaigns that have been raging against the film stop, and that people appreciate it for its wonderful story.

Alas, we finally come to the end of the top 10, and I am here to save this list with another Sulmoney original, my pick for the best of 2008, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges.

 

In Bruges

Release dates are everything when it comes to awards season, and getting recognized. In Bruges, a film that not many people I know have even heard of, came out way back in January 2008, and has easily been my favorite, and the best movie I have seen in the past year. Similar to how Hans has said that Slumdog Millionaire has reached the level of his all time favorite films, In Bruges has done the same for me. Here is a film that despite its January release date, has managed to lay relatively low, but found a way to get nominated for 3 Golden Globes (including a well deserved Best Actor win for Colin Farrell), and landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Martin McDonagh, who I am emphatically backing to add a second Oscar to his resume, after only his first major motion picture. 

 

"Did you see Hans' top 10 list? What a joke!"

While In Bruges may not have been about a slain gay politician, Nazis having sex with minors, a not really that important television interview, a biography of a man born under unusual circumstances, or wanting to be a millionaire, it is a profane, politically incorrect, and shockingly gruesome at times look at how one lives with the mistakes that they have made, how they are to be judged for eternity, and if they have the capacity to change for the better. Making full usage of his background as a prestigious playwright, Martin McDonagh presents In Bruges as a character study of Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), two English hitmen who have been sent to Bruges (it’s in Belgium) by their boss Harry (the delightfully devilish Ralph Fiennes) after a hit goes horribly wrong. What follows is an often hilarious, often touching look at the interactions between the two who are on opposite ends of the hitman spectrum. Oh yeah, there’s a midget as well thrown in for good measure.

 

The bullet wound would probably be in the chest

Without spoiling anything, as unlike many of the films on the list, you probably have not seen In Bruges, Ray has done something truly awful, and it is something that he will seemingly not be able to live with for the rest of his days. There is a moment in In Bruges when the two are killing time at the museum awaiting further instructions from Harry, when Ray comes upon a painting of the Day of Judgement, and he, along with the audience, realize that his time in Bruges is his Day of Judgement: his fate is being decided, and he is being judged solely on his actions in a very black and white manner. However, another side is trying to interject itself into his outcome, by showing his intentions and his nature, and trying to change those blacks and whites into shades of grays. Coming from an upbringing with a strong background in religion and a firm belief in the Hereafter, this questioning and analysis of how we are to be judged when our time comes struck a particular chord with me, and is what elevates In Bruges above any of the other films of 2008.

 

Want a discussion on race wars amongst the vertically challenged? In Bruges' got it.

 

I professed my love for Guy Ritchie and RocknRolla earlier, but In Bruges is all of his movies and the countless other English gangster flicks grown up. While they offer style and no substance, McDonagh offers both in what is (still) shockingly his feature film debut. Having won an Academy Award already for Best Live Action Short Film in 2005 for Six Shooter (starring Brendan Gleeson again), McDonagh establishes as a young director and writer to keep an eye on in the future. The much maligned Colin Farrell shows us what he is fully capable of as an actor with his very emotional portrayal of Ray, a man who is now just simply going through the motions of life. Gleeson, also nominated for  Golden Globe for his role alongside Farrell, is wonderful as the grizzled veteran of the hitman business who does all that he can for Ray to help him out. McDonagh’s greatest directorial decision may have been in keeping the scene stealing Ralph Fiennes off camera until the third act, leaving his presence in the story float throughout the first two thirds of the film through a telegram or a phone call. His absolute view on the business, as a man with principles is a noble one. Supporting roles from fellow Harry Potter film franchise alum Clemence Poesy, and the now legendary Jordan Prentice round out some of the performances that make In Bruges my #1 film of 2008.

Hopefully you have had as much fun as we have in writing up our respective top 10 lists, and we hope to have turned you onto some of our favorite films of the year, including some that you may not have seen or even heard of before. I know Hans’ list definitely made me check out some films that I had missed out on, and I am sure he would say the same. Stay tuned to The Feature Preachers as we continue spreading the good word!

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