With so many of the acting races already sewn up at the Oscars this year, Missy Schwartz and I decided to turn the spotlight on four underdog nominees that we’re rooting for with passion…and not a little futility. True, these four performers don’t have a shot in Hades to reach the Kodak Theatre stage on March 7, but that doesn’t mean they’re not deserving of our love. Check out our choices below—and let me know who’s your favorite also-ran this year.
If we’re not counting Meryl, then my picks are:
Jeremy Renner, Gabourey Sidibe, Woody Harrelson & Anna Kendrick
I am so upset that Sandra Bullock might win best actress. I hope that Carey Mulligan will be the winner!!(Oprah needs to get her on her show and start a campaign!!).Colin Firth was quietly wonderful, and Jeremy Renner was excellent, but it is Jeff Bridges’ year==he has been great in so many films. Jullianne Moore was robbed of a supporting actess nomination for “A Single Man”, and was fantastic a while ago in “Far From Heaven”. I recently saw “District 9″, and although the two front runners are “Avatar” and “The Hurt
cker”, “District 9″ was completely origial and thought provoking!! The lead acor in that film should have been nominated!! “Up”, which will win for best animated film, is one of the best films of all time!!
Is it just me or has the hype over Sandra died down a little? I think Carey has a great chance.
Carey mulligan did not give anywhere near an oscar worthy performance. The movie sucked as well.
Anna Kendrick!”% The girl couldn’t act herself out of a paper bag!
I really think Sandra’s time has come…. Don’t forget, Oscar loves to surprise! Speaking of Sandra, if you’re thinking of celebrating by watching,I found this really funny
youtube Oscar Nomination Food video!
No joke! Completely funny!
(And Jeff Bridges is my other pick…..)
Vera Farmiga. Hands down.
First: Dave is a hottie.
Second: I think Colin Firth has a great chance. He did win a Bafta after all. I would love to see him get the Oscar instead of Jeff Bridges, even though they both gave amazing performances.
And I’m rooting for Carey. Sandra’s performance was great, but I don’t think it’s Oscar worthy. Meryl has already got an Oscar and she gets nominated every year. She will get another chance.
I thought Gabourey was way better than Carey, Sandra and Meryl!!!
Anna Kendrick, A Serious Man for screenplay, Up in the Air for picture, and Bright Star for costumes
Anna Kendrick really wasn’t that good; overdid the whole Ivy League-goody two-shoes thing.
ummm, just wondering..am i the only one who thought that A Serious Man just flat out stunk?
Yes.
Ive been especially good this year at watching almost 90% of the nominated movies. and i still think that Precious is just an amazing movie and I think it sucks that its pretty much only winning one award. I know Im in the minority here. I saw The Blind Side (luckily for free), and as impressive as Bullock is for NOT being Sandra Bullock, I still wouldnt have nominated her, so the fact that she’s gonna win is disheartening. Meryl was great and I wouldnt be upset if she won, because technically, it Was the best performance but very showy. I cant comment on Helen Mirren or the Last Station since I havent seen it. I’m rooting for Gabourey Sidibe and Carey Mulligan in that category.
I agree with you. It’s a difficult film to watch, but it was brilliantly directed and acted. There wasn’t one part of it that didn’t hold my attention.
Hi Celia. Couldn´t agree more with your take in the best actress race. My only problem with Meryl winning for this role is exactly that, it is showy and she has done better with less. But that is just my opinion of what acting should be…of course you could argue that Meryl does what the movie demands of her to do…but still she has done better in the past (and lost…p.e. Adaptation). I am going for Mulligan…
I’m going for Carey as well. And I completely agree about Meryl. Her performance in Julie and Julia was fantastic, but she was much better in Doubt and Devil Wears Prada and the other 10 roles that she was nominated for, but didn’t receive an Oscar. I think Meryl is a genius and will no doubt will be nominated again soon. I want a newcomer like Carey to get it.
I don’t think the “showy” criticism is entirely fair. Julia Child was a bigger-than-life (not talking about her height here) personality with very distinctive style and mannerisms. I don’t think there would have been a way to play her and really capture her essence that wouldn’t have come across as showy. Meryl did capture her beautifully and, I think, had the best performance of the five nominated. Although she gets a lot of nominations, I think people often overlook her at voting time just because they think, Oh of course she was brilliant because she’s Meryl but let somebody else have it, even if she might have taken the win if she’d not won before.
Hey! I saw “The Blind Side” “for free” recently too. I could be wrong, but it sounds like you executed a Ceballos-style sneak-in!
actually i didnt! a co-worker gave me a site to watch bootleg movies, so last friday i saw The Blind Side, monday An Education, Tuesday A Serious Man and yesterday I was watching Crazy Heart and then one-by-one all the videos were being removed
what you thought of the blind side and the bullock?
oooh the site has the videos again! im gonna finish watching crazy heart now lol
It’s funny that you mention “Crazy Heart” – that’s what I paid to see before Ceballos-ing my way into “The Blind Side.”
As for “TBS”, going in I thought it was kinda insulting (and it still is) that the movie didn’t so much focus on the Michael Oher character and instead appeared to focus mainly on the saintly white family that saved him. But after seeing Bullock’s forcible performance, it made sense – I think she did a nice job carrying that movie. I’m actually pretty ok with her nomination.
What I’m much less ok with is her being the clear frontrunner to actually win. I’m also not that ok with the movie’s nom for Best Picture. I can be a big sap (and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get choked up once or twice), but the football scenes were a joke , there are WAY too many cliches and, though it’s a nice crowd-pleaser, it’s simply not Best Picture material, in my opinion.
Also, you need to find a way to hook up an Ew.com brotha up with this magical site – I’d especially like to check out “Precious” (which comes out the Tuesday AFTER the Oscars) and “An Education.” (I could always rent “A Serious Man” and complete to complete my Best Picture nominee sweep.)
*cough*quicksilverscreen.com*cough*… so after watching The Blind Side and not totally hating it-even though knowing it IS a lifetime original movie- I decided to throw Bullock a bone. She has never been better- ever. She was better in this than Julia Roberts was in Erin Brokovich. Bullock stretched as an actor and commanded the screen yadda yadda yadda… still dont think she shouldve been nominated lol… dont get me started on best picture
Yeah, that really was Bullock at her best (admittedly, not the highest bar to clear).
Still, as far as being nominated, that just seems to be how it works for pretty much every major actress in Hollywood – they get their Oscar moment (Julia in “Erin Brockovich”, Halle in “Monster’s Ball”, Reese in “Walk the Line”, Gwyneth in “Shakespeare in Love”, etc.) and they typically end up taking the statue home. “TBS” seems like as good a chance as any for it to be Bullock’s turn.
As for the movie itself…yeah, it has no business being up for Best Picture.
What’d you think of “Crazy Heart”?
I appreciate the Jeff Bridges ads
My underdog picks:
Best Actor: I would love to see Colin Firth pick it up, but after the BAFTA win, I don’t know how much of an underdog he is. George Clooney was amazing in Up in the Air, but my underdog pick is Jeremy Renner. What a stellar performance. So glad he is getting recognized. My general pick is Jeff Bridges.
Best Actress: Definitely my underdog pick is Carey Mulligan. I would vote for her in a heartbeat. Loved her performance.
Best Supporting Actor: I would pick Woody Harrelson as my underdog, but Christoph Waltz gave the performance of the year. Loved it.
Best Supporting Actress: I have been championing Anna Kendrick’s performance since I first saw Up in the Air. I would love to see her win. http://thejoshuacentre.com
I thought Jeff Bridges was great, as were George Clooney & Jeremy Renner, but Colin Firth’s performance was heartbreakingly beautiful and sad – I am rooting for him.
I believe I have seen everything that Colin Firth has starred in. I always find him compelling and still cannot believe that ‘Valmont’ didn’t kick the heck of out ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ at the box office or the awards shows. There was no comparison at all – Valmont was so far superiour.
LOVE Colin Firth. I’m rooting for him too. He gives a great performance. My second choice would be Jeff Bridges.
Haven’t seen Valmont…I’ve seen Dangerous Liaisons (which I liked, but Keanu Reeves? wtf,) and, um, Cruel Intentions when I was in high school. Another movie to add to my “must-watch” list!
Love to see Sidibe take Best Actress, no way does Bullock deserve it over her.
ANYBODY BUT S.BULLOCK! PLLLEEEAAASSSEEEEE!!!
Sidibe had one great scene and that was it. Sandra carried the entire movie.
Dave u are insanely hot
can´t you be any cuter? u have to be gay jaja just kidding
now focus maybe i am minority here but i find Vera Farmiga really overrated in that movie….Up in the air is amazing one of my faves but it should be Anna Kendrick,Julianne Moore or Melanie Laurent….not her….i am all for Sandra and Jeff but Carey was amazing in a education…..
I completely agree. I think Vera was much better in The Departed. I agree with them about her being an American WOMAN and that’s refreshing considering most lead actresses these days are in their 20s or early 30s.
Agreed: Dave is a hottie!
Also, love your picks. Was very moved by Colin Firth and Vera Farmiga’s performances.
And Jeremy Renner was a real revelation. I remember him best from SWAT for some embarrassing reason and always knew he had a truly great performance in him.
“Up in the Air” was the best film of the year. Clooney, Vera and Anna are all worthy of awards.
Definitely agree about Colin Firth. In my opinion, he deserves Best Actor more than any of the other nominees. Jeff Bridges was awesome, but Firth was spectacular in A Single Man. It’s really sad that he basically has no shot. Also loved Jeremy Renner. Definitely a powerful performance. But I gotta stick with Firth.
Dave for the best actor race I love Collin and Renner but if it is not going to Jeff Bridges I think George Clooney might have a say. For Best Actress I couldn´t agree more Carey Mulligan all the way and that would settle the Bullock/Streep “war” (Meryl being superior to Bullock, as you would expect; Bullock just won the heart of people with a good, strong performance but with an obvious different level of demand comparing it to Meryl´s performance – bottom line: what a shame Carey is not getting it…). For the Best Supporting Actress I also agree Vera Farmiga is great and a performance so different from Monique´s but that has a magical quality to it…if she won auh!!!
As for my own personal underdog although I am a Hurt Locker supporter I would love to see Quentin win the Best Original Screenplay award…
Sandra Bullock DOES NOT DESERVE the win…they are only going to give it to her cause she has never won, and she gave her first decent performance, Streep deserves it…I would love to see Tarrantino take the Director Oscar, he really deserves it.
Did Reese Witherspoon deserve her oscar for her so called performance that was largely a supporting role? Where was all the uproar then? Give me a break, at least Sandra gave a great performance.
Oh yeah…Burma VJ deserves the documentary oscar, but unfortunately The Cove will win.