Sam Juliano…Predicts Best Actor Oscar@ Winner and Announces His Personal Choice…

 

Oscar@ Statues 

[Editor’s Note; The Poll Will Change or Close After Each  Oscar@ Category Is Posted.] 

Sam Juliano’s Predictions For Best Male Actor… 

In the category of ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ the 2009 short list doesn’t really have a weak link, though had I been a voter I would have replaced Morgan Freeman with the lead actor in the Coen’s A Serious Man: Michael Stuhlbarg. But in a year when the cream rose to the top, one could hardly dispute some of the high-profile turns delivered, nor what is generally considered the ‘consensus choice’ to bring home the gold. 

 

As Nelson Mandela, the venerated South African leader who fearlessly won in a decades-long political showdown with the nation’s white leadership, Morgan Freeman was actually Mandela’s own choice to play himself. With a glimmer in his eye, and a perfect replication of the leader’s sing-song cadences, Freeman injected a depth and spirit into the character, but the performance was more of an impersonation than an actual interpretation, always a prospective issue in situation where real people are portrayed. Still, Freeman was memorable and accomplished, and his nod is by no means undeserved, though I would myself have cast a vote for Stuhlbarg, who plays a most peculiar father is a dysfunction Jewish American family in Minnesota, patterned after the Coens’ own upbringing. 

 

As Staff Sgt. William James, a skilled bomb detonator in Iraq, who, as part of an army explosive ordinance disposal team who deactivates explosives with icy precision, Jeremy Renner is the acting cornerstone in Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, delivered a focused and tight performance in a role that almost called for a lesser-known actor, who would be less apt to adversely affect the role with any degree of personal vulnerability. Renner, who was Bigelow’s first choice, has won numerous awards from film critics groups, including the New York Film Critics Circle for his intense work, and he still maintains a long-shot possibility for the Oscar, should the film sweep the ceremony. 

 

Popular George Clooney is generally considered as Bridges’s closest competitor, as he is a widely revered Hollywood figure, who even recently became involved in the cause for earthquake victims in Haiti. As Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer who fires people and delivers inspirational speeches while spending an inordinate amount of time on a plane, Clooney is the central character in the well-received Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman, though his critics have charged that is again playing himself. Yet there are some similarities here to the performance he gave in Michael Clayton, and the film’s admirers are huge fans of Clooney’s work. If the vote splits all over the place it’s conceivable that Clooney could emerge victorious, but Bridges is still the man to beat. 

 

The final nominee is British actor Colin Firth who plays British college Professor George Falconer, who is struggling to find meaning in his life after the death of his long-time partner Jim in Tom Ford’s moving A Single Man. The “events” of the film, which boasts the year’s best musical score by Abel Korzeniowski, are played out in a single day, a day in which the extraordinarily-gifted Firth exhibits a haunting blend of despair, frivolity, humor, lust, regret, terror and melancholy, and contemplates suicide leading up the shocking conclusion. Firth, another actor with a distinguished career, manages the most introspective of the year’s performances, and he would get my vote if I could cast one. 

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The Nominees For Best Male Actor…
Nominated Role

Jeff Bridges  portrays Bad Blake, a washed-up country-western singer whose meeting with a young journalist may help him to turn his life around. 
in…Crazy Heart. 
Academy Awards History
This is the fifth Academy Award nomination for Jeff Bridges. He was previously nominated for:
The Contender (2000) — Nominee, Actor in a Supporting Role
Starman (1984) — Nominee, Actor in a Leading Role
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot  (1974) — Nominee, Actor in a Supporting Role
The Last Picture Show (1971) — Nominee, Actor in a Supporting Role 
Nominated Role:
 
As Ryan Bingham, George Clooney plays a man who makes his living firing people and who prides himself on the absence of emotional connections in his life. 
in…Up in the Air. 
Academy Awards History
This is the fifth Academy Award nomination for George Clooney. He was previously nominated for:
Micheal Clayton (2007) — Nominee, Actor in a Leading Role
Good Night,  and Good Night. (2005) — Nominee, Directing
Good Night, and Good Night.  (2005) — Nominee, Writing (Original)
Syriana (2005) — Winner, Actor in a Supporting Role 
Nominated Role:
 
Colin Firth plays George, a gay man in the early 1960s who must hide his grief over the death of his lover 
in…A Single Man. 
Academy Awards History
This is the first Academy Award nomination for Colin Firth. 
Nominated Role: 
 
Morgan Freeman portrays Nelson Mandela, the South African president who seizes on the chances of the national rugby team in the World Cup as a means of uniting his troubled country.
in…Invictus. 
Academy Awards History
This is the fifth Academy Award nomination for Morgan Freeman. He was previously nominated for:
Million Dollar Baby  (2004) — Winner, Actor in a Supporting Role
The ShawShank Redemption (1994) — Nominee, Actor in a Leading Role
Driving Miss Daisy(1989) — Nominee, Actor in a Leading Role
Street Smart (1987) — Nominee, Actor in a Supporting Role 
Nominated Role: 
 
Jeremy Renner portrays Staff Sergeant William James, a bomb defuser in Iraq who thrives on the risk and danger of his job. 
in…The Hurt Locker. 
Academy Awards History…This is the first Academy Award nomination for Jeremy Renner.
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Sam Juliano…Predicts the Winner Will Be: Jeff  Bridges for Crazy Heart…
 
…As Bad Blake, veteran Jeff Bridges, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his first role in The Last Picture Show in 1971, the distinguished star plays a chain-smoking alcoholic, whose country-western singing career and personal problems are threatening to bring him down for the count. Whether it’s speaking to his manager or performing, Bridges has this character down perfectly, and his avoids the stereotypical interpretation that might too closely recall other takes on this kind of character, like the one by Robert Duvall, in 1983’s Tender Mercies, which won him his own Oscar. 
Bridges’s work here has won him several critics’ awards nationwide, and last month he won the Golden Globe. But most tellingly, his win at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) several weeks ago seemingly has really bolstered his prospects, since the actor’s branch are all Oscar voters too. That said, generally the SAG and Oscar choices are the same. After four other nominations, it’s expected Bridges will now win on his sixth try, both for the excellence of his turn, and for his distinguished career. 
The Trailer For The Film “Crazy Heart.”
 
Sam Juliano…Predicts  Winner: Jeff  Bridges for Crazy Heart
Sam Juliano…Personal Choice: Colin Firth for A Single Man 
Once again…Now that Sam Juliano, have announced his prediction…Now it’s your turn to go over to the poll and vote too! 
Do you agree with Sam Juliano’s prediction? If  not, tell the Wonders in the Dark readers, Why not…or tell them why you do agree with Sam Juliano’s prediction? 
Thanks, 
The images are courtesy of  Oscar@.com