I haven't been shy about my disappointment with this year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar Ballot, a lineup lacking in narrative oomph (which shouldn't be a factor in judging "best" but still makes Oscar way less fun to follow when he eschews it for old favorites) and missing several electric, fresh, film elevating and moving performances in favor of merely solid work from Oscar winners in popular films. I'm all in for Tommy Lee Jones winning since he's the only nominee Oscar & I agree is worthy to hold a place in this particular shortlist. [While we're on the subject of votes, you should cast yours in the poll]
Will he win? That's another matter entirely. I'd wager he still has the lead by virtue of a very long one (since November when he took it from Matthew McConaughey... who never really had it *sniffle* in the first place) even if the precursors have never quite settled on a frontrunner and even if his no-show at SAG didn't exactly help his cause. Christoph Waltz's BAFTA win for his leading role in Django Unchained (which might more accurately be called Schultz Unchains Django Who Only Takes Over the Film-Carrying Duties For the Final ½ Hour of a 2½ hour Film) suggest that the tide has shifted but in the end with Argo and Silver Linings Playbook campaigns both fighting so hard in the final weeks for wins, I'm not so sure that votes won't still be all over the place in this category, letting Tommy take turn two at the podium.
So herewith my choices for Best Supporting Actor and lineups from year's past.
A Note on Category Fraud: My saddest exclusion this year is Garrett Hedlund in On the Road who deserved a much stronger film around him for what could have been a star-making performance. I had initially deemed him supporting (as the campaign did) but the more I thought over the film the less I could see him as such we begin an end with the narrator obsessing over him and the camera even switches POV occassionally to make sure we're also tracking his feelings, too. I can see the arguments either way (as with Helen Hunt in The Sessions) but in the end I only have myself to answer to so I had to go with lead. I also view two of the Oscar nominees Waltz & Hoffman as leading players this year. As for the lineups below, if you don't see a major character somewhere don't freak. They might have been in *lead* since I'm stricter about those designations. Sometimes to the point of silliness, I'm aware. I went a little crazy for a few years in reaction to Oscar's flagrant disregard for narrative truth... the Casey Affleck Jesse James & Jamie Foxx Collateral & Cate Blanchett Notes on a Scandal years sent me over the edge and trapped me in a self-built barricade against Category Fraud. For example: I would no longer be so adamant about deeming Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight or Christian Bale in The Fighter leads... I'd probably go with the flow in retrospect even if both are borderline cases. Next year I will attempt to turn over a new leaf and not be so freaked out about it ....unless it's just embarrassingly untruthful.
Film Bitch Award Nominees in Alpha Order
JUST ANNOUNCED
Michael Fassbender, Prometheus
Samuel L Jackson, Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Jude Law, Anna Karenina
Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike
*see the chart for the honorable mentions and reasons why
previous years...
Gold: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Silver: Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
Bronze: Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Also Nominated
Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
Corey Stoll, Midnight in Paris
for more on this field
Gold: Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Silver: John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Bronze: Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Also Nominated
Michael Fassbender, Fish Tank
Jeremy Renner, The Town
for more on this field
Gold: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Silver: Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Bronze: Paul Scheider, Bright Star
Also Nominated
Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
Stanley Tucci, Julie & Julia
for more on this field
Gold: Robert Downey Jr, Tropic Thunder
Silver: Bill Irwin, Rachel Getting Married
Bronze: Josh Brolin, Milk
Also Nominated
Benoît Magimel, A Girl Cut in Two
Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading
Gold: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Silver: Max von Sydow, The Diving Bell and Butterfly
Bronze: Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Also Nominated
Irfan Khan, A Mighty Heart
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Gold: Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine
Silver: Greg Kinnear, Little Miss Sunshine
Bronze: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Also Nominated
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Gold: Jeff Daniels, The Squid and the Whale
Silver: Donald Sutherland, Pride & Prejudice
Bronze: Mickey Rourke, Sin City
Also Nominated
Kevin Costner, The Upside of Anger
Frank Langella, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Gold: Jude Law, I ♥ Huckabees
Silver: Mark Wahlberg, I ♥ Huckabees
Bronze: Thomas Hayden Church, Sideways
Also Nominated
Paul Bettany, Dogville
David Carradine, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Gold: Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass
Silver: Paul Bettany, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
Bronze: Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams
Also Nominated
Geoffrey Rush, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai
Gold: Chris Cooper, Adaptation
Silver: Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven
Bronze: Barry Pepper, 25th Hour
Also Nominated
Andy Serkis, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Naseeruddin Shah, Monsoon Wedding
Gold: Jim Broadbent, Moulin Rouge!
Silver: Sir Ian McKellen, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Bronze: Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast
Also Nominated
Jude Law, A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Owen Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums/Zoolander
Gold: Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire
Silver: Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count on Me
Bronze: Benicio Del Toro, Traffic
Also Nominated
Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich
Ian Holm, Joe Gould's Secret