And the Winners Are -

With the exception of Finding Neverland, I've seen most of the major motion pictures up for Academy Awards in one or more categories, no small task for a man living in a little house on the prairie. Yet, I would imagine I've seen more of the flicks than the the majority of the voting academy members who will decide the 'best' of the lot among the year's movie offerings.

This year's motion pictures and performances do present some tough choices since several of the pictures and actors offer outstanding, if not exceptional, performances. Often the choice between a winner and an also-ran is a matter of nuance, a small consideration that differentiates one sterling movie from another, one masterful acting shtick from another.

Best Motion Picture: Million Dollar Baby
The choice here is between The Aviator and MDB, and MDB is the clear winner. While Aviator has much to reccommend it for award status, it lacks a clear focus. It could benefit from more judicious editing, to cut some of the fat from the final cut. Like Ray, it is a bio-pic, and as such does not, again like Ray, delve very far into its character. We have a better image of the oddities of Katherine Hepburn, for example, than the eccentricities of Howard Hughes. MDB, on the other hand, offers a coherent clearly focused view of its subject matter.

Most people no longer view boxing as a noble sport, but rather as a vicious bloodletting that reveals the animalistic instincts in man. MDB has been criticized for its glorification of boxing as a sport, as well as its ready acceptance of euthanasia as the final solution to Maggie Fitzgerald's anguished mental and physical suffering. The movie is telling a story, not agruing principles of life or death for mankind. In the context of the story, Maggie's choice to die makes perfectly good sense, in keeping with her character.

Best Actor: Clint Eastwood
The nominees for Best Actor are all superb in their respectives performances, but making a choice means one has to look at the subtle and distinctive differences that separate one from the bunch. Leonardo DiCaprio's turn as Howard Hughes in The Aviator, good as it is, is nevertheless uneven, just as Jamie Foxx in Ray doesn't get beyond imitating Ray Charles. They are both good impersonations but lack the depth that distinguishes a great performance.

The two actors who make their movies 'an experience' rather than mere entertainment are Don Cheadle and Clint Eastwood. The true-life Paul Rusesabagina comes to vivid screen-life in Cheadle's nuanced portrayal in Hotel Rwanda, but it is a performance which will go largely unnoticed by the voting Academy members.

My choice for Best Actor is Clint Eastwood. His role as Frankie Dunn, the tired, gruff boxing manager goes beyond the stereotypical Clint Eastwood tough guy image, particularly in the last third of Million Dollar Baby to show a truly empathetic character in tune with the concerns and needs of his charge, Maggie Fitzgerald. Here, it is the little hesitations in delivery, the slight movement of a hand or finger that gives Frankie Dunn a dimension that stays with the viewer long after the film is over.

Best Actress: Annette Bening
Annette Bening is Julia Lambert. Being Julia is the ideal vehicle for Bening, a film in which she is the character she portrays. One can say almost the same for Hilary Swank in MDB and Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, but Bening, like Eastwood, is true to her character throughout, providing the audience deeper insights into Julia's character as the drama progresses.

Staunton comes in a close second with her characterization of Vera Drake, a cleaning woman in 1950 London who performs abortions for "young girls in trouble" and who runs afoul of the law, despite her sense she has done nothing wrong according to her class mores. It is a powerful, moving performances backed by a fine cast and excellent direction.

Best Supporting Actor: Jamie Foxx
While Foxx's performance in Ray lacks depth and sublety, his cab driver caught in a vicious night of murder and mayhem in Collateral is one that deserves the Oscar. True, Morgan Freeman turns in a fine job as Eddie 'Scrap-Iron' Dupris in MDB, but the audience never forgets that the voice-over is that of Freeman and not Eddie.

Alan Alda from The Aviator and Thomas Haden Church from Sideways suffer the same flaw as Freeman: Despite who they try to be, the audience knows who they really are. They never get beyond their own personna, especially Alda, still the bitter, sarcastic Hawkeye from MASH days.

Best Supporting Actress: Sofie Okonedo
Sofie Okonedo deserves the Oscar for her outstanding performance as Tatiana, the supportive wife of Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda, and the devoted mother of their children. She and Cheadle work wonderfully well together in the scenes they share.

Cate Blanchett is the odds-on favorite for her dynamic impersonation of Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, but she falls short in the same ways that DiCaprio and Foxx do in their respective turns as Hughes and Charles. The surface show is excellent but the depth of character is lacking.

Best Original Screenplay: Vera Drake
See the film and the screenplay speaks for itself. The Aviator and Eternal Sunshine pale in comparison.

Best Director: Clint Eastwood/Martin Scorsese
I could accept either Eastwood or Scorsese, but my impulse is to go with Eastwood because Million Dollar Baby is better focused in terms of character development, progression of thematic material, and editing. These are director-driven characteristics of movies, and here, I believe, Eastwood outshines Scorsese.