The Citizen Review " A man goes to the movies. A critic must be honest enough to admit that he is that man." -Robert Warshow

The Academy Awards are in one week and with such little time, I would like to reflect on this year's nominees. There is much to say about some categories and very little about others. There are some upsets and some shoo-ins as well. Let's start with Best Supporting Actress.

Well actually, it's not really called Bes Supporting Actress this year. Nope, in my mind this category is owned and dominated by Mo'Nique as Mary Jones in Precious. It's been this way for a long time. No, I have not seen the film but one does not need to see the whole film to understand the power, the villainy and the conviction of Mo'Nique's performance.

If any one else wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, it will not only be an upset, it will be unfair. The rest of the actresses in this category just look better by having Mo'Nique amongst them.

Next, the Best Actress category. This one is less simple and straightforward. There are two nominees that completely deserve the Oscar. There are two others that don't deserve it. And then there's Helen Mirren, sorry Helen.

Gabourey Sidibe for Precious and Carrey Mulligan for An Education deserve the award, but neither of them has any chance of really winning. However Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (whom I love, but she doesn't deserve it) and Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side are both the current contenders for Oscar gold. This is ridiculous. It is so obvious that Carey Mulligan (a resurrected Audrey Hepburn) and Gabourey Sidibe (a dramatic force of nature on and off screen) have the best performances of the year.

Very rarely do I feel so strongly about two actresses but these two women deserve the award, either one of them. Now, Meryl Streep is obviously an amazing actress, probably the best actress alive but Julie & Julia is not her best performance nor the best performance of the year. It's a shame that she was nominated so many other times for so many other great movie and Julie & Julia had to be the won to win her another Oscar (um...Doubt?)

Sandra Bullock is another very talented artist. She has been in some other good roles and has proved herself worthy of a nomination. But for The Blind Side? The sappy, predictable, cheap feel-good movie? No. It wasn't a bad performance, it was very good. But she doesn't deserve an Oscar. It's a complete sham that the Academy would recognize these performances from these actress from so many other good ones they've had over the other two nominated. It's criminal.

So who will win? My money is on Bullock. She won the Golden Globe and her 'Oscar-winning campaign' is too revved up to be denied. I have a small, microscopic, infinitesimal hope that either Sidibe or Mulligan will get the Oscar this coming Sunday.

The saddest part is that this is a worthy host of great actresses: Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren and now these budding stars in the making. It's not a battle of worthiness, but of material.

Sincerely,

Jack for The Citizen Review