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Oscar_bestsupportingactor.appFooter = "Paige Newman is the Movies Editor at MSNBC.com, who hopes Djimon Hounsou will get better roles in the future.";
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Oscar_bestsupportingactor[i-1].body = "If there’s a key to winning the best supporting actor Oscar, it’s this: Have a great story. Be the person no one expects (Haing S. Ngor, a real-life captive of the Khmer Rouge, who won for “The Killing Fields), or the old guy who makes a comeback (Jack Palance, “City Slickers”), or the actor who’s done good work but gone unappreciated for years (Tommy Lee Jones, “The Fugitive”), or the newcomer who looks like he’s going to have a long storied career that will begin with this award (Kevin Spacey, “The Usual Suspects”). You can even be hilarious in a comedy (Kevin Kline, “A Fish Called Wanda”) or be a comedian stretching in a drama (Robin Williams, “Good Will Hunting”). And you don’t have to be young and beautiful — unlike best supporting actress, which has turned into best ingénue.
This year is full of great stories, from Jackie Earle Haley’s unexpected comeback to Eddie Murphy’s parole from family-film hell. Will the best story win the best supporting actor statuette? You’d better believe it.";
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With his role as James “Thunder” Early, Murphy not only created an incredible character, he practically re-invented himself. Yet his nomination has sparked some of the most contentious debates among bloggers and critics. Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeff Wells is openly campaigning against Murphy, while Oscarwatch.com’s Sasha Stone has defended his nomination. Meanwhile, Radar Online reports that Jack Nicholson is angry with David Geffen for campaigning so hard for the actors in “Dreamgirls” and thus squeezing some of the other potential nominees out (um, like Nicholson).
Previews for Murphy’s latest film “Norbit” bring to mind the Eddie Murphy of old: The once-funny, once-edgy comedian who, like many other funny men (Robin Williams, Steve Martin) has been looking neutered lately. Guys who have made themselves nice and comfortable in safe, family fare that gets crowds to the box office, but chews away at their reputations like so many termites.
For Murphy fans, the raw energy — not to mention sexuality — he displays as Early in “Dreamgirls” feels like a gift. This is the guy we were promised back in the ‘80s. The funny, sexy, “I’ll do anything” comedian who wasn’t afraid to strut around in skintight, red leather pants. As Early, Murphy steals every scene he’s in. In fact, one of the film’s faults was that it didn’t spend enough time developing Early’s relationship with Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose), which would have made his fall all that much more tragic.
That said, of all the acting “locks” from this year, Murphy is on the shakiest ground. Though loved by fans, he has a reputation for being prickly within the industry (Bill Murray faced a similar problem when he was nominated for “Lost In Translation”). Could all the online squabbling actually have an effect on the Oscar outcome? Probably not. In fact, it will just add to Murphy’s story. ";
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Arkin is most likely to spoil Murphy’s golden night. The actor’s last Oscar nomination was 30 years ago for 1966’s “The Russians are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” And he has come out publicly and proclaimed that he wants to win an Oscar for acting, and not a lifetime achievement award. Coming off the SAG awards, “Sunshine” has some momentum behind it that could drip down into this category.
The role of Grandpa in “Little Miss Sunshine” could have been played a lot more cutesy (image someone like Chevy Chase in the part), but Arkin didn’t care about being likable. One of the criticisms the film faced was that it was sitcomy, but Arkin can’t be accused to adding to that factor. As Grandpa, he spewed out profanity, growled at his son (Greg Kinnear), and gave off-color sex advice to his grandson (Paul Dano). But the best moment came when Olive (Abigail Breslin), asked if she was beautiful. He replied, “I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality.” Now that’s a good grandpa. ";
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The best off-screen story belongs to Haley, and it’s hard not to wish this “Bad News Bears” and “Breaking Away” star would win. It would just be wonderful to hear his acceptance speech. Considering that his last performance of note took place 1980, it’s hard not to imagine that his shock at his own comeback would radiate through his speech with emotion that would trump anyone else who could possibly take the stage on Oscar night.
Haley gives the best performance among those nominated in this category. As pedophile Ronnie J. McGovery, he faced a fantastically hard challenge. He had to play a character who hated himself, who knew that he was not going to be given a second chance (ironic, considering Haley’s own second chance), and who was both sympathetic and frightening — someone co-star Kate Winslet’s character would not want to meet on a dark night.
Of any actor in any category this year, Haley’s comeback story is the one that really resonates. He showed that even if Hollywood forgets you for a while, you never lose the actor inside. ";
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Though many thought that Jack Nicholson might grab this spot for his work in “The Departed,” it was refreshing to see the honor bestowed on Wahlberg instead. Though he was fun to watch, Nicholson was basically just doing Nicholson with a Boston accent.
Of course, you could argue that Wahlberg was just doing Wahlberg — what with his being a Boston native. But in his role as Dignam, Wahlberg’s background only made the character richer and more real. Profanity-spewing Dignam was the movie’s moral center, and Wahlberg had to make viewers believe that among the film’s many rats, he was the one person who could be trusted. He brought a touch of lightness to a movie that, without Wahlberg and the wacky Nicholson, could have become amazingly dour.
Because of his Funky Bunch, underwear-modeling past, Wahlberg often is not taken seriously. But with his roles in this film, “I Heart Huckabees,” and “Three Kings,” he’s really shown he’s more than just those photos in his Calvins. ";
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Hounsou is the least deserving nominee. The emoting-through-yelling technique that he used as Solomon Vandy in “Blood Diamond” is something out of the Tom Cruise, Samuel L. Jackson school of acting. He yells when he’s mad. He yells when he’s sad. If there had been a moment when he’d felt happy during the film, he probably would have yelled there as well.
Hounsou’s done much better, much more subtle work (“In America”), but here, he felt incredibly one-note. And because the film itself isn’t that good, this nomination feels doubly strange (as does DiCaprio’s for this film instead of “The Departed”). Hounsou’s role as a Mende fisherman who tries to save his son by searching for a rare pink diamond feels by-the-numbers. Mediocre work, in a mediocre film. ";
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Helen Mirren is getting all the accolades, but Sheen stands toe to toe with her as British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Viewers see the Queen through Blair’s eyes. We react with him to her. Sheen has to work hard to create a balance: Blair respects the tradition of British royalty, yet has a modern, common-sense view of how to deal with Diana’s death, all of which must be juggled with his own career ambitions. It’s masterful work from an actor we’re sure to see more from.
It’s particularly interesting to compare Sheen’s confident Blair with the real Prime Minister, who finds himself so under fire these days. Here’s hoping that Frears and Sheen continue their look at the man (they’ve already made one previous film about Blair, “The Deal”) by giving us a look at his downfall. Maybe that will be the one that scores Sheen the deserved nomination."; // END editorial data