Carpetbagger is an Oscars blog by New York Times critic David Carr. It has included both informative and amusing writing in the lead-up to today’s nominations. You might want to bookmark it. In the meantime, I liked this little summary:
This is the year that serious films about real stuff captured a city built on selling fantasy. And while the pert little movie stars are in the race — let’s retool that speech Reese and Kiera; insouciance has its upside, no? — grown-ups who have been annealed by countless roles and time’s winged feet are in there too. Anything that gets Felicity Huffman near a microphone is a good vote, and Judi Dench’s elegant durability is something to behold. Schlubs are having a big year, which is heartening for the Bagger to see. Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are guys who know their way around hitching up pants being forced toward earth by ample midsections. The Academy knows a good ambassador when they see one, which may be part of the reason that Terrence Howard made it into the Best Actor category. He may not be a big movie star yet, but his willingness to engage in the awards season absent archness and with a clear enthusiasm for the craft has made everyone’s job easier, including the Bagger’s. And he can rap, too, if “Hustle and Flow” is to be believed. Russell Crowe is nowhere to be seen, which is too bad for the business and not such a good thing for audiences. Tantrums aside, he combines real curb appeal and the kind of acting muscle that rarely comes along. But you can’t really doubt the process. This is the first time since 1981 that the best director and best picture categories contain the same five pictures. The Academy is of a single mind, including the fact that studios might want to try something new, like making better movies.