Did the Oscars Get it Right? Best Actor

Okay, let's wrap up this look at the acting Oscars since the year 2000 with a look at Best Actor, a category where if you play a historical figure, any historical figure, you're probably gonna win. You don't even have to play him particularly well, you just have to play a historical figure and then get your acceptance speech ready. I'm being slightly facetious, but seriously, 14 of the wins this century have been for a biopic of some kind (including Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer). 

Quick recap: I'm going to look at the five nominees and decide if they got it right or not. The four answers to that question are Yes, Probably, Debatable, and No. What's the difference between Probably and Debatable? I don't know! One last note: I'm not going to deal with performances that got snubbed because then this turns from a fun little exercise into A Thing. And I'm not here to do A Thing. Let's get into it.

2000 Winner: Russell Crowe, Gladiator. Nominees: Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls; Tom Hanks, Cast Away; Ed Harris, Pollock; Geoffrey Rush, Quills.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Are you really going to argue with Maximus Decimus Meridius? He's father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and he will have his vengeance in this life or the next. It is wild that this is to date the last time Tom Hanks was in the field of nominees for Best Actor. He's the quintessential American leading man for his generation, but he hasn't been able to land a Best Actor nom in nearly a quarter century.

2001 Winner: Denzel Washington, Training Day. Nominees: Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind; Sean Penn, I Am Sam; Will Smith, Ali; Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Denzel gets his Leading Actor Oscar. You could say that Training Day isn't the greatest film Denzel has made, but he carries it, and you can't argue with his win.

2002 Winner: Adrien Brody, The Pianist. Nominees: Nicolas Cage, Adaptation.; Michael Caine, The Quiet American; Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York; Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Brody has had an interesting career and he was very good in The Pianist, but man does he stick out like a sore thumb in this group of nominees. There are some heavy hitters in this lineup. Day-Lewis and Cage were probably the men vying for win here.

2003 Winner: Sean Penn, Mystic River. Nominees: Johnny Depp, PotC: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog; Jude Law, Cold Mountain; Bill Murray, Lost in Translation.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Sean Penn is talented actor and he's got two Oscars. So we will let him keep one of them, but man, it would be cool to live in a world that is inhabited by Academy Award winner Bill Murray.

2004 Winner: Jamie Foxx, Ray. Nominees: Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda; Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator; Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. I've talked about this in some of the other posts, but this is a You've Had a Great Year Oscar. Foxx was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, so he was probably going to win something. He's also a great leading man. Yes, Ray might not be the best biopic, but an Oscar for Foxx is right.

2005 Winner: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote; Nominees: Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow; Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain; Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line; David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. HOWEVER this is what I'm talking about when I joke about how this is a category is about being in a biopic. Hoffman was a phenomenal actor and he was great as Truman Capote, but the same can be said about Ledger. And sometimes it feels like this category recognizes a physical transformation to look like someone else more than just rewarding acting.

2006 Winner: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland. Nominees: Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole, Venus; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness. 

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Good for Forest Whitaker, but this was a supporting role. This is an Oscar that could've gone to either DiCaprio or Gosling. Or we could have finally given O'Toole an Oscar win. Yes, it would've been overdue and a career-achievement Oscar, but c'mon.

2007 Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood. Nominees: George Clooney, Michael Clayton; Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah; Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Daniel Plainview is one of the great film monsters and DDL is perfect in the role. 

2008 Winner: Sean Penn, Milk. Nominees: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor; Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Look, I let Sean Penn keep his first Oscar, but he's not a two-time winner. You could either take away the Mystic River win or the Milk win. I'm taking away this one and giving it to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.

2009 Winner: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart. Nominees: George Clooney, Up in the Air; Colin Firth, A Single Man; Morgan Freeman, Invictus; Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. Jeff Bridges gets a career-achievement Oscar here, and it's a fine win. But Clooney and First are both right there with award worthy performances. To me, though, the big miss here is Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker, his breakout role as the wildman, SFC William James.

2010 Winner: Colin Firth, The King's Speech. Nominees: Javier Bardem, Biutiful; Jeff Bridges, True Grit; Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network; James Franco, 127 Hours.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. This is a case of a make-up Oscar. As I briefly touched on, Firth could've been a deserving winner the year prior. Also, hey, Jeff Bridges is here again! Feels like some people just checked the same names two years in a row. But the performance here that should've won is Eisenberg for The Social Network. His version of Zuckerberg is the lasting impression of one of the most influential people in our world. I know I'm falling into the trap of rewarding an actor for playing a real person, but this is kind of the inverse, since we didn't know much about Zuckerberg at the time (we kind of still don't) and this performance has defined who he is for a lot of people.

2011 Winner:  Jean Dujardin, The Artist. Nominees: Demian Bichir, A Better Life; George Clooney, The Descendents; Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Brad Pitt, Moneyball. 

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. I get that there was a wave of enthusiasm for The Artist, but this is a performance that just doesn't stand out any more. Part of me thinks that Clooney cast Dujardin in The Monuments Men just so he could kill his character off. Anyways, it's too bad for Clooney to lose Lead Actor again, he's had some bad luck the year's he's been nominated. I could see giving it to any of the men nominated. If I have to pick one, I'll go with Oldman.

2012 Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln. Nominees: Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook; Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables; Joaquin Peonix, The Master; Denzel Washington, Flight.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. I mean, Day-Lewis is Lincoln. I feel bad for Cooper who was right there step-for-step with Jennifer Lawrence in making Silver Linings Playbook  work so well.

2013 Winner: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club. Nominees: Christian Bale, American Hustle; Bruce Dern, Nebraska; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street; Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Sadly, the McConaughesaince overwhelmed the Oscars. I am glad McConaughey found his passion for acting again and he's given us some great performances, but, to be honest, his work in The Wolf of Wall Street would've been more interesting in the Supporting category. Speaking of The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio should have picked up his Oscar here.

2014 Winner: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything. Nominees: Steve Carell, Foxcatcher; Bradley Cooper, American Sniper; Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game; Michael Keaton, Birdman.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Redmayne wins for an ok biopic. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but there have got to be better ways to showcase lead performances. I'm sort of a hypocrite because one of the two actors I'm thinking about is Carell for playing John du Pont, which was another role the required physical transformation and imitation. You could also go with Keaton for Birdman where he played an actor on the brink of a breakdown.

2015 Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant. Nominees: Bryan Cranston, Trumbo; Matt Damon, The Martian; Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs; Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. There was very much a "it's time" feel to DiCaprio's Oscar win, but if he's already won for playing Jordan Belfort, we can look elsewhere. For my money, Matt Damon is the winner. The Martian isn't a life-changing movie, but it's a lot of fun and very rewatchable and a lot of that is due to Damon's no frills lead performance.

2016 Winner: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea Nominees: Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge; Ryan Gosling, La La Land; Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic; Denzel Washington, Fences.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. There is a great debate here between Affleck and Washington. I love Manchester by the Sea, and feel this was the right call, but if you're telling me Denzel should have won, I won't fight you on that.

2017 Winner: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour Nominees: Timothee Chalament, Call Me By Your Name; Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread; Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out; Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. I get in the real world that Gary Oldman was due for a win, but we gave him the win for playing George Smiley. So we are free to go in a different direction. I'm going with Kaluuya for Get Out, a film whose impact and legacy keeps growing and growing.

2018 Winner: Ram Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody Nominees: Christian Bale, Vice; Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born; Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate; Viggo Mortenson, Green Book.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Malek is a fun and interesting actor, but this ain't it. I'd go with either Bale or Cooper. Both men are due for Best Actor wins, but since Bale has an Oscar for Supporting Actor, I'll go with Cooper, who so far has always been a bridesmaid at the Oscars.

2019 Winner: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker Nominees: Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory; Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; Adam Driver, Marriage Story; Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. I can totally see this a career-achievement Oscar. I wasn't the biggest fan of Joker, but I can see how he was due for a win and don't have a huge problem with it. But maybe Rick Dalton was DiCaprio's Oscar winning role? Or maybe the Oscar should've gone to Adam Driver for Marriage Story.

2020 Winner: Anthony Hopkins, The Father Nominees: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal; Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom;  Gary Oldman, Mank; Steven Yuen, Minari.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. We all know this was supposed to Chadwick Boseman's Oscar. The producers of the telecast knew it, everyone knew it except for the Academy. Anthony Hopkins didn't show up for the ceremony and released an acceptance video a few days later where he seemed confused and slightly embarrassed. Hopkins gave a great performance, but this was sadly Boseman's final performance and it is excellent. This is one of the weirder Oscar loses ever.

2021 Winner: Will Smith, King Richard Nominees: Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos; Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog; Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick... Boom!; Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. This is so sad because what should have just been an either/or choice has become something everyone is embarrassed by because of the The Slap. This was a two-man race between Smith and Cumberbatch, with Smith coming out on top. But everything is just weird.

2022 Winner: Brendan Fraser, The Whale Nominees: Austin Butler, Elvis; Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin; Paul Mescal, Aftersun; Bill Nighy, Living.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Fraser made his comeback with this this film, and while it's to be determined what he does with his return to acting, it feels deserved. I think Butler and Farrell could have been legitimate winners, but the story of Fraser coming back combined with his performance made this something that couldn't be stopped.

So what did we learn? Eleven times the Oscars didn't get it right! I think it's because there is a formula for winning the Oscar: play a real person, get an award. I don't want o be cynical, but this is pretty cynical.

Okay, we will wrap this up by looking at the this year's winners next time.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Best Actress

Whoops! I missed my chance to get this done before the Oscars. Oh well. But let's continue my look at whether the acting awards went the right way or not since 2000. Today, I'll look at one of the big ones: Best Actress. a category where big names and narratives might be more important than the nominated performance.

Quick recap: I'm going to look at the five nominees and decide if they got it right or not. The four answers to that question are Yes, Probably, Debatable, and No. What's the difference between Probably and Debatable? I don't know! One last note: I'm not going to deal with performances that got snubbed because then this turns from a fun little exercise into A Thing. And I'm not here to do A Thing. Let's get into it.

2000 Winner: Julia Roberts, Erin Brokovich. Nominees: Joan Allen, The Contender; Juliette Binoche, Chocolat; Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream; Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. You could make a case  for Burstyn to win this award, but this is Roberts' crowning achievement. One of the biggest stars of the '80s and '90s gets her award. 

2001 Winner: Halle Berry, Monster's Ball. Nominees: Jude Dench, Iris; Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!; Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom; Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones's Diary.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. On the one hand, no one watches Monster's Ball anymore. It just doesn't have the cultural staying power of Moulin Rouge! or Bridget Jones's Diary. And Berry's career has been very scattershot since her win. However, she is still the only black actress to win lead actress and her performance is a good one. I'm not going to take Berry's Oscar away.

2002 Winner: Nicole Kidman, The Hours. Nominees: Salma Hayek, Frida; Diane Lane, Unfaithful; Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven; Renee Zellweger, Chicago. 

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Based on the performance, Moore should've won in 2002 rather than having to wait another twelve years to get a statue. Instead Kidman gets the Oscar and a possibly earlier than expected career-achievement win.

2003 Winner: Charlize Theron, Monster. Nominees: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider; Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give; Samantha Morton, In America; Naomi Watts, 21 Grams.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. This was the moment Theron arrived as more than a pretty face. I know some people hold this up as an example of deglamming to win, but Theron has shown over the years that she takes the craft of acting seriously and she deserves the win.

2004 Winner: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby. Nominees: Annette  Bening, Being Julia; Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace; Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake; Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Ok, so look at the list of women who have won multiple Best Actress Oscars and Hilary Swank is maybe a bit out of her depth. And then you've got Winslet. This is where she should have won. Her not winning here sets up a bigger travesty a few years later.

2005 Winner: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line. Nominees: Judi Dench, Mrs Henderson Presents; Felicity Huffman, Transamerica; Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice; Charlize Theron, North Country.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Witherspoon is fine as June Carter Cash, and if we're looking at legacy, then Witherspoon does deserve an Oscar at some point, but the luster is kind of off Walk the Line ever since Dewey Cox decided to Walk Hard a few years afterwards. Knightley probably has the biggest gripe about losing in 2005.

2006 Winner: Helen Mirren, The Queen. Nominees: Penelope Cruz, Volver; Jude Dench, Notes on a Scandal; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet, Little Children.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Helen Mirren being one of the great actors of her generation is taken as gospel. The Queen  might not be the best movie, but her performance is really good.

2007 Winner: Marion Cotillard, Le Vie En Rose. Nominees: Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Julie Christie, Away from Her; Laura Linney, The Savages; Elliot Page, Juno.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. I always find it fascinating when a performance in a foreign language gets nominated. It's even more fascinating when a foreign language performance wins. So I'll give props to Cotillard for her win, but Page's performance in Juno is the performance from this group that sticks with me the most after all these years. I have no idea how Page feels about his performance at this point in time, but good work is good work.

2008 Winner: Kate Winslet, The Reader Nominees: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie, Changeling; Melissa Leo, Frozen River; Meryl Streep, Doubt.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. 

The Reader/I haven't seen The Reader/I was gonna see it later but I fell behind/My Batmobile took longer than I thought to design. The Reader/I know I need to see the Reader/I even went to down to theater but there was a line/Of all the people watching Iron Man a second time 

This was from Hugh Jackman's opening number at the ceremony. Everyone knew this was a makeup for past mistakes. To pick a winner for this year, I would point to either Streep or Hathaway. I love Doubt, so I may be biased, which is why I gave two options for who should've won.

2009 Winner: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side. Nominees: Helen Mirren, The Last Station; Carey Mulligan, An Education; Gabourey Sidibe, Precious; Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Ok, we're getting off the rails here. Best case, The Blind Side was simplistic look at life in football-obsessed America. Worst case, it was an outright manipulation. And we now know the story behind the film and book are pretty close to the worst-case scenario. Sandra Bullock got her career-achievement Oscar here, but Carey Mulligan should've won. Mulligan is still chasing her Oscar and is sadly trending towards Glenn Close and Annette Bening territory this rate.

2010 Winner: Natalie Portman, Black Swan. Nominees: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right; Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole; Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone; Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. This is a strong field of nominees and any of them would be a deserving winner. But Portman proved to be a strong center of gravity for the bonkers Black Swan, giving a performance that holds the whole picture together.

2011 Winner: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady. Nominees: Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs; Viola Davis, The Help; Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Streep seemed to win by default here. Sometimes, I wish they would release the vote totals because I would imagine this was a pretty close race. I think Mara is probably the deserved winner, but Dragon Tattoo was probably too out there for some voters. Her performance wasn't nominated in the SAG awards or BAFTAs that year. Maybe Viola Davis should've won? I don't know, I do know that this is not some of Streep's best work.

2012 Winner: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook. Nominees: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty; Emmanuelle Riva, Amour; Quvenshane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild; Naomi Watts, The Impossible.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Lawrence is so good in Silver Linings Playbook so no complaints here. The thing that stinks is that Chastain is so good in Zero Dark Thirty. This is a case where either win would've been justified.

2013 Winner: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine. Nominees: Amy Adams, American Hustle; Sandra Bullock, Gravity; Judi Dench, Philomena; Meryl Streep, August: Osage County.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Blanchett is one of the best around and this spin on A Streetcar Named Desire gives Blanchett a lot of great opportunities. Still, I can see alternate universes where Adams, Bullock, or Streep walk away with the win. (Adams needs a win at some point here, people).

2014 Winner: Julianne Moore, Still Alice. Nominees: Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night; Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything; Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl; Reese Witherspoon, Wild.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Pike should've won for Gone Girl and her performance as Amazing Amy. Instead, the Oscar went to Moore for a career-achievement win. But if she'd won back in 2002, there wouldn't be an obligation to make sure Moore has a win. I know, this is a lot of what-if, but that's what we are doing here.

2015 Winner: Brie Larson, Room. Nominees: Cate Blanchett, Carol; Jennifer Lawrence, Joy; Charlotte, Rampling, 45 Years; Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn. 

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. This was a close call for me, but I ultimately, yes, this win is the right call. Although, Blanchett and Ronan had very strong cases for the win this year.

2016 Winner: Emma Stone, La La Land. Nominees: Isabelle Huppert, Elle; Ruth Negga, Loving; Natalie Portman, Jackie; Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Emma Stone in La La Land makes so much sense. It's just right. Of the other nominees, Negga got overlooked.

2017 Winner: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Nominees: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water; Margot Robbie, I, Tonya; Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird; Meryl Streep, The Post.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. Frances McDormand enters the chat, getting her second Best Actress win (and first in 21 years) for her performance in the polarizing Three Billboards. I've got no problem with the win, but this was a deep field of nominees. I'm partial to Ronan in Lady Bird, but you can make strong cases for each performance. This is debatable in the best kind of way.

2018 Winner: Olivia Colman, The Favourite. Nominees: Yalitza Aparicio, Roma; Glenn Close, The Wife; Lady Gaga, A Star is Born; Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. Again this is debatable in the good way. Colman gives a great performance in The Favourite (and every actress is telling her agent to get them on Yorgos Lanthimos's radar today, however, Emma Stone is going to fiercely fight to keep them all away, but that's a discussion for later). But what a good field of nominees. Gaga and Close probably came nearest the win, but this was a good, fun race for the Oscar.

2019 Winner: Renee Zellweger, Judy. Nominees: Cynthia Erivo, Harriet; Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story; Saoirse Ronan, Little Women; Charlize Theron, Bombshell.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Ugh. What a bummer. After two years of stellar winners and nominees, the Academy follows it up with Zellweger winning her second Oscar for Judy? Really?!? Maybe it was a career-achievement win, but Zellweger already has an Oscar at home. Judy is a mess of a movie. I don't know what was going on here. This Oscar should've gone to either ScarJo or Saoirse. ScarJo had a great year, she was also nominated for Jojo Rabbit (speaking of messy movies...) and Ronan capped off a great run of three nominations in five years. Either of them would be a deserving winner.

2020 Winner: Frances McDormand, Nomadland. Nominees: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday; Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman; Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Whoa. Frances McDormand becomes the woman with the second-most Lead Actress Oscars behind only someone named Katherine Hepburn. (Anyone ever heard of her?) You can make a strong case for Davis (she did win the SAG award), but it's hard to quibble with McDormand here.

2021 Winner: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Nominees: Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter; Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers; Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos; Kristen Stewart, Spencer.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Jessica Chastain does deserve an Oscar, but for this fairly by the numbers biopic of Tammy Faye Baker? Pass. I think either Colman or Cruz would have been interesting choices here. But at least Chastain makes up for missing out on the 2012 Best Actress prize.

2022 Winner: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Nominees: Cate Blanchett, Tar; Ana de Armas, Blonde; Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie; Michelle Williams, The Fablemans.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Yeoh finally gets to do all the things that she is capable of in an American film. Blanchett and Williams probably got robbed a bit here, but no one was going to win over Yeoh.

So what did we learn? With eight no's Best Actress has the most confusing decisions of the categories we've looked at so far. This makes sense to an extent because we all have strong opinions about lead performances. With supporting roles, a good role in a less than stellar film can be appreciated or good performance in a great movie can be lifted up. But when you're number one on the call sheet, there are going to be a lot more criticisms. However, I do tally up nine yeses, with three probablies and three debatables. And the debatables all could have been yeses. So it is not like Best Actress has a terrible track record. Next I'll look at Best Actor and then I'll finish up by looking at the this year's winners (which I kind of hinted at by talking about Emma Stone in the 2018 writeup.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Best Supporting Actor

Okay, back with part two of "Did the Oscars Get It Right?" my look at whether the acting awards went the right way or not since 2000. Today, I'll look at Best Supporting Actor, a category that is divided between everyday, regular Joe character actors just doing the work and leading men slumming it amongst the little people. 

Quick recap: I'm going to look at the five nominees and decide if they got it right or not. Tthe four answers to that question are Yes, Probably, Debatable, and No. What's the difference between Probably and Debatable? I don't know! But it feels like  One last note: I'm not going to deal with performances that got snubbed because then this turns from a fun little exercise into A Thing. And I'm not here to do A Thing. Let's get into it.

2000 Winner: Benicio del Toro, Traffic. Nominees: Jeff Bridges, The Contender; Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire; Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich; Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Del Toro's win for his performance as Mexican police officer caught in the Drug War was very much deserved. Traffic has faded from memory in recent years, but when it came out, it was a pretty big deal and of the many performances in the film, del Toro's was the one that stood out the most. But let's give credit to Dafoe for getting a nom for the truly bonkers Shadow of the Vampire.

2001 Winner: Jim Broadbent, Iris. Nominees: Ethan Hawke, Training Day; Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast; Ian McKellen, LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring; Jon Voight, Ali.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. This one pains me to type because Broadbent is one of those character actors doing the work and he finally got rewarded and beat out four actors who have all been number one on the call sheet on different projects. However, no one has seen Iris and Jim Broadbent gives off major "Who?" vibes. David Letterman even did a top-10 about how unrecognizable Broadbent is. And then Gandalf the freaking Grey is right there, guys. Ok, is Gandalf Sir Ian McKellen's best work? Probably not, but it's a pretty iconic role. Who hasn't done "You shall not pass!" at some point? 

2002 Winner: Chris Cooper, Adaptation. Nominees: Ed Harris, The Hours; Paul Newman, Road to Perdition; John C. Reilly, Chicago; Christopher Walken, Catch Me If You Can. 

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. This Cooper's moment to step into the spotlight, and he nailed it. Hard to argue with the Academy on this one.

2003 Winner: Tim Robbins, Mystic River. Nominees: Alec Baldwin, The Cooler; Benicio del Toro, 21 Grams; Djimon Hounsou, In America; Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. This is probably a career-achievement Oscar for Robbins more than anything else. He's good in Mystic River, but looking back at things, that film really hasn't had any staying power (of the Dennis Lehane adaptations that followed in the wake of Mystic River, it's definitely been passed by Shutter Island, and probably passed by Gone Baby Gone). So Robbins gets a reward for his years of work, that's fine. But maybe this award would be more interesting going to Watanabe or Hounsou? Or wouldn't it be cool to live in a world where del Toro is a two-time Oscar winner?

2004 Winner: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby. Nominees: Alan Alda, The Aviator; Thomas Haden Church, Sideways; Jamie Foxx, Collateral; Clive Owen, Closer.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Million Dollar Baby is another Clint Eastwood film that hasn't had the staying power one would've thought when it was released. But just because no one really revisits the film doesn't mean we should take away Freeman's Oscar. Among his fellow nominees, maybe Haden Church has the best claim if we're revising history. Foxx was nominated for Best Actor that year, so he wasn't going to win this. Closer works better as a play, and Alda is a television guy. So Freeman gets his overdue Oscar and that seems right.

2005 Winner: George Clooney, Syriana. Nominees: Matt Dillon, Crash; Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man; Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain; William Hurt, A History of Violence.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. So we've discussed career-achievement Oscars here and in the Best Supporting Actress post, but now we get to something related, but a little bit different: the You've Had a Great Year Oscar. This is the Oscar that you for performance, but it's actually for something else you've done that year. Now some of it comes down to weird timing. You get movies released in the same year despite working on them in different years. It happens, making movies is weird. Clooney won his Oscar for his very good portrayal of a jaded CIA officer in Syriana, but he also won an Oscar in 2005 because he directed, co-starred, and co-wrote Good Night, and Good Luck. He was the fifth person ever to receive acting, writing, and directing nominations in the same year and the first to do across two different films. So he had a very good year. Tough luck for Jake Gyllenhall.

2006 Winner: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine. Nominees: Jackie Earle Hailey, Little Children; Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Look, Arkin is very funny in Little Miss Sunshine. And he also has interesting subtle moments in this film as well, so I can't argue with Arkin's win. But maybe an Oscar gets Eddie Murphy to take more roles. Maybe Wahlberg's performance is just as effectively profane as Arkin's was. Maybe Hounsou deserved more credit for Blood Diamond. There are some interesting what ifs, but Arkin's win makes sense.

2007 Winner:  Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men. Nominees: Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War; Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild; Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton. 

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Anton Chigurh is one of the most iconic characters in modern movie history. The only bummer here is that in any other year, all of these other performances would have been very worthy winners.

2008 Winner: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight. Nominees: Josh Brolin, Milk; Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt; Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Ledger's performance as the Joker was phenomenal and it has a very strong, lasting cultural impact. His take on the Joker is most people's definitive take on one of the most iconic characters in pop culture. But damn, Downey and Hoffman gave great performances that year that went unrecognized.

2009 Winner: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds. Nominees: Matt Damon, Invictus; Woody Harrelson, The Messenger; Christopher Plummer, The Last Station; Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Wow, what a three-year run for iconic villains. Hans Landa belongs right up there with Chigurh and the Joker. While there are some good performances among the other nominees, no one is touching Waltz.

2010 Winner: Christian Bale, The Fighter. Nominees: John Hawkes, Winter's Bone; Jeremy Renner, The Town; Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right; Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. This is what I'm talking about when I mentioned that leading men slum it to get an Oscar. Look, Bale deserved an Oscar for something, but I don't The Fighter is just kind of a movie that exists. Good for him, but Hawkes and Ruffalo were definitely robbed. And Renner could make a case as well. And Rush probably wins this award if this category jumped into a time machine back to the 1980s. I'm glad Bale has his Oscar, but he probably deserved it as a lead actor for Vice. But we will get to that later.

2011 Winner: Christopher Plummer, Beginners. Nominees: Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn; Jonah Hill, Moneyball; Nick Nolte, Warrior; Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Probably. Simultaneously a deserved win for the role and a career achievement win. Plummer is very good as a gay man who is finally able to come out and explore his sexuality following the death of his wife. Plummer became the oldest man to win Best Supporting Actor with the win, and it is deserved. But I do want to give Nolte credit for his performance in Warrior as another father filled with regrets.

2012 Winner: Christoph Waltz. Django Unchained. Nominees: Alan Arkin, Argo; Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook; Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master; Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Someone was going to get another Oscar this year, and, for some reason, the Academy picked Waltz for creating a character who was essentially the inverse of Hans Landa. Waltz is very interesting and Dr King Schultz is a good character, but, for me, this Oscar should've gone to either De Niro or Hoffman. De Niro got his first nomination in 21 year for Silver Linings Playbook and brought equal force to his scenes with Bradley Cooper. And Hoffman was mysterious, dangerous, and fascinating in The Master. I think this one feels wrong because Hoffman would be dead less than a year after the Oscars ceremony, so it really feels like a missed opportunity to honor him.

2013 Winner: Jaren Leto, Dallas Buyers Club. Nominees: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips; Bradley Cooper, American Hustle; Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave; Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Leto was fine in Dallas Buyers Club, but it kind of feels like McConaughey dragged him to his nomination and win. And the win justified Leto's more whack-a-doo Method acting tendencies. Cooper or Hill would've made sense here. But Fassbender should've gotten the win here.

2014 Winner: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash. Nominees: Robert Duvall, The Judge; Ethan Hawke, Boyhood; Edward Norton, Birdman; Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Simmons is so good in a lot of roles, but he got the role of a lifetime in Whiplash. Sure, he might be more recognizable as J. Jonah Jameson, the yellow M&M, or from his Farmer's Insurance commercials, but he deserved this Oscar over a very stacked field of great actors.

2015 Winner: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies. Nominees: Christian Bale, The Big Short; Tom Hardy, The Revenant; Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight; Sylvester Stallone, Creed.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. Look, I know that Mark Rylance is a "better" actor than Sylvester Stallone, but we're talking about Rocky Balboa here. One of the most iconic characters of the last 40 years and we couldn't give Stallone an Oscar for it. You can track multiple eras of filmmaking through the lens of Rocky and it's just wrong that Stallone wasn't given a capstone award for it. And beyond all of that, Stallone gives a good performance as a broken version of Balboa. 

2016 Winner: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight. Nominees: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water; Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea; Dev Patel, Lion; Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Ali was excellent as Juan, a stand-in father figure for the protagonist in Moonlight. 

2017 Winner: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Nominees: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project; Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water; Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Debatable. I'm not even sure that Rockwell gave the best nominated performance in Three Billboards. Harrelson did great work as cancer-stricken sheriff who is just trying to keep everything together while he still can. Dafoe also gave a great performance in The Florida Project as the manager of a cheap motel in Orlando who tries his best to help the lower-class residents that essentially live there.

2018 Winner: Mahershala Ali, Green Book. Nominees: Adam Driver, Blackkklansman; Sam Eliot, A Star is Born; Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Sam Rockwell, Vice.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? No. This is a tough one. Green Book is a cynical, bad movie. As good as Ali was in it, should we be rewarding it? I don't know. This award probably should've gone to Driver, but the Academy couldn't exactly give him an Oscar while snubbing John David Washington for a film that pointed out the differences between what black men and white could and couldn't do. Sam Elliot or Richard E. Grant would've been worthy winners as well.

2019  Winner: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Nominees: Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood; Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes; Al Pacino, The Irishman; Joe Pesci, The Irishman.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. One could argue this is a career-achievement Oscar. Maybe it is. But Cliff Booth is just such a good laid-back Brad Pitt role that it's also a deserved one. Now, there are/were questions about the misogyny of the character and perhaps the film, but giving an Oscar to a performer isn't an endorsement of the actions of the character.

2020 Winner: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah. Nominees: Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami...; Paul Raci, Sound of Metal; LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah.  

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Kaluuya deserved this Oscar. If anything, he should have more than the two nominations he currently has. (Supporting Actor for Widows and Actor for Nope if you're curious) So this Oscar is very much deserved.

2021 Winner: Troy Kotsur, CODA. Nominees: Ciaran Hinds, Belfast; Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog; J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos; Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. There aren't a lot of opportunities for deaf actors, and Kotsur took advantage of his moment. Let's shed a tear for the two nominees from The Power of the Dog, though.

2022 Winner: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Nominees: Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin; Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway; Judd Hirsch, The Fablemans; Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin.

Did the Oscars Get it Right? Yes. Quan was the beating heart of the film that swept the Oscars. And for a movie all about the multiverse, there is a little bit of justice for Quan to get an Oscar after he took a long hiatus from acting due to lack of opportunities. It's a good thing that he's back in the film business.

So what did we learn? With 11 yeses, Best Supporting Actor is a category that gets it right more often than not. Even the seven probably and debatable wins feel right. Which is a bit surprising to me. I figured there would be more wins in this category that felt like guys chasing an Oscar, but there really are only a few instances of that. I've got my work cut out for me to wrap up this retrospective before the Oscars Sunday night, but I can do it. Tomorrow, I tackle Best Actress, which I think will have a few more controversies.

Wordle 993: Round and Round

I was going to open with TRAIN, but I don't know, it just didn't feel right. So I deleted it and then decided to go with CARVE for my opening guess. I got green tiles for AR and a yellow for E. This information led me guess EARTH for my second guess and what I was sure was a solve in two. I was feeling that this was a great way to start the weekend, but then what?!? The answer wasn't EARTH? But the first three tiles were all green! How could this be? Then I realized the answer was EARLY. A solid solve in three, but damn, getting it in two would've been awesome.   

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Best Supporting Actress

Ok, mixing things up here. I want to do something Oscar related, so I figured I'd answer the age-old question: Did the Oscars get it right? But it's not really the age-old question because I'm only looking at the acting categories and I'm only looking at winners since the year 2000 (the year 2000!)

I'm only going back to 2000 because I'm not a film historian, 2000 is a nice, round number, and most of these nominees are still alive and working so joking about their wins and loses feels like it is ok for some reason. 

I'm going to look at four acting awards starting with Supporting Actress. I'm going to look at the five nominees and decide if they got it right or not. Right now, the four answers to that question are Yes, Probably, Debatable, and No. What's the difference between Probably and Debatable? I don't know! One last note: I'm not going to deal with performances that got snubbed because then this turns from a fun little exercise into A Thing. And I'm not here to do A Thing.

Let's get started with the weirdest of the acting categories: Supporting Actress, a place with random winners, It Girls, Old Ladies, performers who never were this good ever again, and the dumbest urban legend in Oscar history.

2000 Winner: Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock. Nominees: Judi Dench, Chocolat; Kate Hudson, Almost Famous; Frances McDormand, Almost Famous; Julie Walters, Billy Elliot.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. See this is why there is a distinction between Probably and Debatable. A lot of people think that Kate Hudson should have an Oscar for Almost Famous, but should she? She's never really hit this level again (although there is probably a think piece about why Matthew McConaughey was able to get out of Rom-Com land, while Hudson wasn't). Harden on the other has been nominated for multiple awards across film, tv, and stage. So, yeah, this was probably a good and deserved win. Harden is currently turning in a good (maybe great?) performance in So Help Me Todd over on CBS where she gets to be zany, smart, goofy, uptight, unhinged, sexy, steely, and so much more all while solving the case of the week. It's an interesting procedural is what I'm saying.

2001 Winner: Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind. Nominees: Helen Mirren, Gosford Park; Maggie Smith, Gosford Park; Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom; Kate Winslet, Iris. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. Look, you could make a case for any woman in this field, probably most strongly for Tomei, but we all know that Connelly won this award for Requiem for a Dream, but her statue happens to say A Beautiful Mind on it. Eh, sometimes that happens.

2002 Winner: Catherine Zeta-Jones; Chicago. Nominees: Kathy Bates, About Schmidt; Julianne Moore, The Hours; Queen Latifah, Chicago; Meryl Streep, Adaptation..

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. We tend to forget just how big a star Zeta-Jones was because she hasn't released a movie since 2016(?!) but there was a time when she was at the pinnacle of Hollywood and I guess Chicago was the peak of the mountain for her. So I can see why she won, but is Velma a supporting role or a co-lead? Also, what happened to nominating two performers from the same project for the lead award? Also, Kathy Bates and Meryl Streep are right there with really good performances in good movies. See, I told you there was a difference between Probably and Debatable! 

2003 Winner: Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain. Nominees: Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog; Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April; Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River; Holly Hunter, Thirteen.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. This was almost a "Probably", but none of the other performances pop or are thought of fondly today. Zellweger was the best (or just most memorable?) part of movie that was well respected at the time, and she had lost an Oscar the year prior, so yeah, sure this feels right.

2004 Winner: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator. Nominees: Laura Linney, Kinsey; Virginia Madsen, Sideways; Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda; Natalie Portman, Closer.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. No disrespect to Blanchett, who is one of the best actors around. But Virginia Madsen should've won for Sideways.

2005 Winner: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener. Nominees: Amy Adams, Junebug; Catherine Keener, Capote; Frances McDormand, North Country; Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. Weisz was really good in this John Le Carré adaptation. But so was Keener in Capote. But so was Williams in Brokeback Mountain. You could go any of those three directions and give the award to deserving winner.

2006 Winner: Jennifer Hudson Dreamgirls; Nominees: Adriana Barraza, Babel; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. No notes on this one. Ok, fine, you can quibble that Hudson won because she nailed her songs, but that's part of acting, depending on the project. A deserved win.

2007 Winner: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton. Nominees: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There; Ruby Dee, American Gangster; Saoirse Ronan, Atonement; Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. Swinton nails this role. Some interesting nominees this year (2007: A good year for film!), but she's the clear winner.

2008 Winner: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Nominees: Amy Adams, Doubt; Viola Davis, Doubt; Taraji P Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. I love Doubt. I think the script for it is phenomenal and gives actors so much room to play and explore. It shows because all four principal cast members got Oscar nominations for their work. Tomei was also excellent in The Wrestler as an aging stripper, giving a performance that dovetailed with the work Mickey Rourke did in that film. But Cruz in VCB? She's pretty tough to go against. I could see changing the results here, but I can also see leaving things as they were.

2009 Winner: Mo'Nique, Precious. Nominees: Penélope Cruz, Nine; Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart; Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. Precious probably hasn't aged well, but it was a force and Mo'Nique was the most forceful thing in it portraying a truly monstrous mother. So, yeah, it was probably the right call. Although, I could hear an argument for either performer from Up in the Air.

2010 Winner: Melissa Leo, The Fighter. Nominees: Amy Adams, The Fighter; Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech; Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit; Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Um... Probably. Wow, this is a tough one. These are all pretty good performances, but this is maybe the weakest field of nominees in this exercise. It's certainly fighting with '01 and '03 for that title. The thing I recall most from this Oscar race was the Melissa Leo ran her own "Consider" campaign for the award and that was a controversy for some reason, which kind of sums up the silliness of awards. But I guess you could swap Leo for Adams or Steinfeld without ruffling too many feathers. 

2011 Winner: Octavia Spencer, The Help. Nominees: Berenice Bejo, The Artist; Jessica Chastain, The Help; Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids; Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. So this one comes down to Spencer and McCarthy and the question of why don't we give out awards for comedies? I think you can make a very well reasoned case for giving the Oscar to McCarthy and we should be giving more awards to comedy performances because making people laugh is hard, dammit. But if we take away Spencer's Oscar here, we're going to have to give her something for one her two upcoming nominations. A three-time nominee shouldn't go home empty handed.

2012 Winner: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables. Nominees: Amy Adams, The Master; Sally Field, Lincoln; Helen Hunt, The Sessions; Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. Hathaway has some stiff competition in this field, but I think her role as Fantine deserved the win.

2013 Winner: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave. Nominees: Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine; Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle; Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; June Squib, Nebraska.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. No question about this one, Lupita Nyong'o deserved her Oscar. I know I said I wasn't going to talk about snubs, but Nyong'o being snubbed for  Us was criminal.

2014 Winner: Patricia Arquette Boyhood. Nominees: Laura Dern, Wild; Keira Knightly, The Imitation Game; Emma Stone, Birdman; Meryl Streep, Into the Woods.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. Ok, confession time: I didn't like Boyhood. I was impressed by the ability to maintain the production over the years, but I didn't really find much to like about the actual movie itself, which seemed to take "Huh, my parents have problems and tried their best, I guess" to be some grand meaning-of-life revelation. I think Emma Stone could have and should have been the winner this year.

2015 Winner: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl. Nominees: Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight; Rooney Mara, Carol; Rachel McAdams, Spotlight; Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. Maybe this is a case of right performer, wrong performance. If this Oscar were for Ex Machina, then no one complains, but The Danish Girl is, um, not good. Vikander as Ava in Ex Machina? Mysterious, alluring, charming, unknowable, terrifying. Alas. If I have to pick a winner from among the nominated performances, I think this is a race between Mara and Leigh, although McAdams does nice understated work in Spotlight. Maybe all these other performers negated each other and that's how Vikander got the award.

2016 Winer: Viola Davis, Fences. Nominees: Naomie Harris, Moonlight; Nicole Kidman, Lion; Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures; Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. But maybe there was category fraud? This is tough because when Mary Alice originated the role on Broadway, she won the Tony for Featured Actress. Ok, it's the right category. HOWEVER, Viola Davis played the role in a revival on Broadway and won the Tony for Lead Actress. I don't know. Look, it's a game, and Davis played it to get her Oscar. The only downside is that Michelle Williams' supporting turn in Manchester by the Sea which features a scene that is guaranteed to make me cry goes unrewarded.

2017 Winner: Allison Janney, I, Tonya. Nominees: Mary J Blige, Mudbound; Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread; Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird; Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Debatable. I'm not one to begrudge Janney, I grew up on The West Wing and I am firmly on CJ Cregg's side. But... Laurie Metcalf was right there. And, honestly, Lady Bird is the better film. I vote for Metcalf.

2018 Winner: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk. Nominees: Amy Adams, Vice; Marina de Tavira, Roma; Emma Stone, The Favourite; Rachel Weisz, The Favourite. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. This was the right choice. If Beale Street Could Talk probably deserved more love than it got.

2019 Winner: Laura Dern, Marriage Story. Nominees: Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell; Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit; Florence Pugh, Little Women; Margot Robbie, Bombshell.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Probably. Look, this one is a career achievement award, I think. There's nothing wrong with getting a career achievement Oscar. You have to do a lot of good work to get one! But I think maybe Florence Pugh as Amy March was a bit more deserving for this individual performance. Bookmark the 2019 Oscars as a ceremony where I might be eating my words about career achievement Oscars because I think you could argue all the acting winners that year were for career achievement.

2020 Winner: Yuh-jung Youn, Minari. Nominees: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy; Olivia Colman, The Father; Amanda Seyfried, Mank. 

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. I could understand an argument for Colman, but Minari was such a beautiful film and Youn was a big part of its success with her role as the grandmother.

2021 Winner: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story. Nominees: Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter; Jude Dench, Belfast; Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog; Aujanue Ellis-Taylor, King Richard.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? Yes. Of course, the Oscars got this right. Anita is a great role and it makes sense that two powerhouse performers have won Oscars for it. 

2022 Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Nominees: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Hong Chau, The Whale; Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin; Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Did the Oscars Get It Right? No. This one should've gone to Angela Bassett. Wakanda Forever works as both a superhero movie and as a meditation on grief and Queen Ramonda shines in both aspects of the film.

So what did we learn? The Best Supporting Actress category has a better track record than I thought! I've got 9 yes, 5 probably, 5 debatable, and 4 no. Not bad, Academy. I also found that Debatable was more interesting  category than Probably. Cool, cool, cool. Tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday) I'll do the same thing for Best Supporting Actor.

Wordle 989: Lucky Guess

I haven't written on here in while because... I don't know, I didn't feel like it. For those who are curious, I've kept playing, just haven't written. I started today with with PRINT because my printer isn't working and I'm trying to print something for work. I guess Wordle and my printer got together because I got all grey tiles for my guess. Damn. So I wanted to pivot to a word that had A and E since I got nothing on my first guess. PRINT was a really good guess to get nothing on (at least for me) because it kept me away from -ARE words. I thought about SLAVE, but decided against that and went with FLAME for my second guess and a solve in two! 

I'm going to get back in the saddle with writing these more frequently. I promise. I'm also going to work on something completely different this week for the Oscars just because I can. Stay tuned.