Did you know Saturdays have a 9am too?

I am now aware.

Ok, in the midst of catching up on my Football Free Agency ESPN Sportcenter updates (BTW – A certain prognosticator who called Ben Roethlisberger Despicable for a certain reason – well, Gina, your right) i am considering my picks for best supporting actor and actress.

Best supporting? Shouldn’t the best person in the movie be the star? Yes – generally. But If Mark Wahlberg is the best part of a film, I will never watch it. But it goes deeper then that – the best supporting help make the lead(s) look better by comparison. It is my feeling and belief that this is the film definition of chiaroscuro, giving the lead in the film additional depth and elements. To help those who didn’t take Comm 110 as a freshman at Fitchburg state – another shameless plug for my Alma Mater – chiaroscuro is contrast between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition, typicized as depth through shading.

Man – that last line was pretty cool. And very applicable to the Best Supporting picks.

Since I have literally 10 to get through here, I am going to group together the ones I don’t think will win, and only focus on the top 5 total. Why? Because I am writing this, and your not – so I can do as I please.

Why shouldn’t Matt Damon win? Other then François Pienaar is 6″ taller, 60 pounds of muscle heavier and dominating in a sport that most Americans do not comprehend… well, thats reason enough there. What About Penelope Cruz? in A musical film full of an all-star casting – she did not get enough screentime to warrant a win. Both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick in “Up in The Air” did nothing to really wow me. And Woody Harrelson showed as much dramatic range as any other character he has done, but wasn’t quite enough to move you emotionally.

So who is left?

Col. Landa – Christoph Waltz’s Character in “Inglourious Basterds”. I was in awe of him, his transitions character wise from Italian to French to German to English, all while having a strict, strong confidence, depth of character within a proper gentlemanly context of a Nazi Officer. Even after I learned he was from Vienna (making his German Accent authentic) and studied acting in New York (making him 100% fluent in English) I was still impressed.

The same can be said for my impression of the chameleon that is Stanley Tucci. Just go back and read his resume. Go. Now. Ok – how many times did you see a movie, Like Deconstructing Harry, or America’s Sweethearts and go – Wait? He was in that?! Oh Yea.. I didn’t recognize him! Thats part of the chameleon aspect of him – instead of blending into the background, he blends into the person on the page, and creates something so believable in the shadows that you feel it IS him. Don’t believe me? Go watch Julie & Julia again – and see if you can pick him out.

The comedienne that is Mo’Nique ranks head and shoulders above the rest of this group, in a weak year for female supporting nominations. In fact – I would have to go back to the 70th academy awards in 1998 to find a Supporting actress class that is as weak as I feel this one is (Judi Dench won for Shakespeare in Love – Totally deserving) and Mo’Nique for “Precious” takes the cake on this. Her haunting, troubled mother on welfare ranks the highest praise from me out of this group.

So – Who Wins?

MY PICK: Stanley Tucci
ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO: Christoph Waltz

MY PICK: Mo’Nique
ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO: Mo’Nique

Best Adaptive Screenplay.
Best Adaptive Screenplay? Doesn’t it just sound a little less then Best Original? It almost feels like that friend you had in High School; you know what friend I am talking about – not quite as attractive, not quite as funny or smart, the friend that always copied your homework, cheated off you in biology, and copied your tests in english. You remember that friend? If you don’t – its because YOU WERE THAT FRIEND!

Best Adaptive Screenplay is kind of like the little brother trying to fill the shoes of their older sibling; the one that tries to keep up but can’t. Thats what I Get for a feeling from Best adaptive – like the writer could not come up with their own creative idea, and had to use someone else’s thoughts. Like an accepted form of plagerism, you can credit your idea from someone else’s tale, yet reap the benefits.

On second thought – Welcome to the American way!

Lets dive right in, shall we? The first film I saw, way back on August 22nd, I knew, KNEW is was an oscar caliber film. The plot was twisting and turning, complex, character driven and well developed. Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tachell’s “District 9″ was based off their own short film “Alive in Joburg”, which I feel honestly qualifies it more for Best Original then Best adaptive – but they Academy has yet to listen to anything I say – but this wonderfully intertwined Sci-Fi/Action/Drama has all the poise and balance needed to strike an emotional chord with the viewer

In the same vein, “In the Loop” is a big budget, feature length spinoff of the BBC’s “the Thick of it”. Again, adapted by the creator into a feature, “In the Loop” tells the satirical tale of Britain stuck between a rock and a hard place with Hard liners in the UK and USA pushing the more moderate people to go to war. This subtle, satirical comedy has all the touchs of the BBC’s version of the office with the humor of an absurd transition of characters intermingling to create a mismanage movement for war. Though scripted, the film is shot in such a way to feel completely off balance, unpredictable, and (in an Arrested Development sense) awkward.

Looking to novels – there are 3 on the list. Lets start with my favorite author-turned-screenwriter on the list – Nick Hornby. I feel there is little he can do wrong in life – after writing and adapting Fever Pitch (Based partially on his life – please ignore any 2004 references to this film. I promise, that did NOT happen.) and writing such novels as “About a Boy” and “High Fidelity”, I feel it poor to question him ever. Hear that, world? EVER. Alas, I do. in “An Education”, he has adapted the memoirs of Lynn Barber, and created a lovely, compleling 85 Minute story. Unfortunately, the run time on the film is 95 minutes – giving the view a feeling like there is a hppy ending because there has to be one, and as a result, a mish-mashed 10 min short has been spliced onto the end (Please note – this was brought to my attention after 1 viewing – I had to watch the film a second time, and was so glaringly obvious I felt like an idiot for missing it).

“Push” by Sappphire is the basis for the film “Precious”, telling the tale of an illiterate inner-city New York Teenager who, when pregnant with he second child at 16, is pushed into an altenative education system. This tale of sadness within the cycle of abuse that not only haunt, but follows 16 year old Precious is one that is hard to foget. The adaptation for film feels almost imcomplete – it might have every major plot twist, and every major interaction, but it almost feels as though the gaps that exist leave it feeling more hollow then the subject matter should. It is my belief that this is an excellent example of a film that should have stayed as a book, allowing people to draw more from it.

Even now, a full month after the fact, I am still enthralled with the film “Up in the Air”. The story has some sweet, powerful and poignant characters, all with the emotional ups and downs, twists and turns that we all face (sometimes daily). The plot of being a travelling termination specialist in the day and age of burst dot-coms (Booredatwork will never be that!) and the 2008 financial crisis creates an amazing backdrop of regret and fear, mirroring Ryan Bingham’s own fear of job security. The most glowing endorsement on this script with when the author, Walter Kim, watched the film, and was overjoyed to not only see most of his project and characters still there, but the spirit of them holding true, while the plot was only tweaked for film.

The gut check time on this tells me that “District 9″ and “An Education” do not have the legs to stand among this group. While it was the film that moved me the most out of this category, niether does “Up in the Air”. So – that leaves two.

MY PICK: In the Loop
ACADEMY AWARD GOES TO: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Bill Simmons (Page 2 writer for ESPN.com) equates different game situations to what he calls “Levels of Losing”, each one is a different level of loss that your own sports team goes through now and again. Specifically, there are (in his most recent update) 16 levels of loss, Ranging from the “Princeton Principle”, when your team is expected to lose the big game against a vastly more talented foe, all the way to “Stomach Punch” (The sudden gut punch situation that leave you breathless, in writhing pain with no idea what you do next) and The “Goose/Maverick Tailspin” (taken from Top Gun, it is when you are watching terrible things unfold with no power to stop them, yet you’re along for the ride because your a part of this en masse).

The reason I bring these are up is because I see a personal connection with the people Ryan Bingham (Played by George Clooney) meets with daily face one of those two inevitable ends. I have been there in both – One job I watched it for 2 weeks going down the drain and could have possibly stopped it by begging and pleading for my life, the other was as harsh as a straight shot of moonshine down a sober man’s throat – harsh, burning, gut wrenching to the core. Your job is your relationship, for better or worse – sometimes it leaves you, sometimes you leave it. Sometimes it is amicable; most of the time, someone is left in pain.

Clooney plays a Termination specialist (Jokingly referred to in the office as “Terminators”) flying around the country firing people from their jobs for companies he is contracted to do terminations for. He spends 300+ days a year on the road (he states that the previous year he spent only 43 days in his apartment). he keeps everything separated – the people he sees in a day he will never see again, never stays in the same city 2 nights in a row, is always on the move isolated from the rest of the world, even a stranger to his own family.

I sat here, enthralled by all this and moved by my own sense having been on the other side of this and wondered: Why is Clooney nominated for an academy award? I wondered this for exactly 45 minutes and 30 seconds. Finally I see – Clooney gives a speech about how having relationships with anyone can weigh you down. Funny and impassioned (in a presenter-esque way) my first instinct was this was George Clooney’s “Greed” Speech (Parallel between Michael Douglas in his Academy Award winning role as Gordon Gecko in 1987′s “Wall Street”)

It was as if my eyes had opened.

I felt like I looked at Clooney differently for the rest of the film. Finally, for the first time, I can see his solace, his vulnerability, his sorrow, his sweet and poignant side that I have been waiting for years to see. I have known he has has a role like this in him, and I simply cry out for “More!” – though his role didn’t change much begining to end, it is instead you change perceptions for the better.

Jason Reitman has a touch as a director not often seen in this day and age. Young, Still evolving, he is learning how to let the seen grow on his own – the screenplay is the seed, the talent is the water and fertilizer, he is simply the gardener, letting the flower bloom. He adds a soft touch and grace to this, allowing it to take you emotionally through the story, not just being wrapped up in the characters.

Vera Farmiga (as Alex Goran) and Anna Kendrick (as Natalie Keener) do well sharing not only the screen but occasionally stealing the spotlight from Clooney (not an easy task) but they are not academy worth in these roles. Though both strong and capable, neither is true an Oscar worthy performance.

Those of us (and I certainly hope I am not the only one) who can remember when Planes, Trains and Automobiles came out, remember the follies of travel well; this film takes up back with fond memories to that time. 23 years later, we finally have a film worth to live up to that. A finely woven story, with solid to superb performances with only the hint of touches needed by the director.

Even now, 1 hour after the film ended, I still have these swirling emotions inside, and a tear in my eye – I might need to watch it again just to try to figure out why.