March 15, 2000

Anybody's Oscar: Unusually suspenseful awards show looms

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

Some years it's all too obvious which movie is going to get the Oscar for best picture.

Take last year, for example. Everyone knew "Saving Private Ryan" couldn't lose. It had Tom Hanks starring as a noble but self-effacing American GI, and a cast of thousands acting out director Steven Spielberg's wrenching paean to the sacrifices of Allied soldiers in World War II.

The only thing it didn't have, as it turned out the night of the awards, was the brass ring.

Because "Shakespeare In Love" - a rather frothy melding of farce and romance in a faux-Elizabethan English vein - somehow carried the day.

Usually, though, the conventional wisdom hits the Oscar nail right on the head. The classic and definitive example, of course, is 1997's "Titanic," which took all the major marbles.

"Titanic" was Oscar's dream come true: a gigantic production with a period coating and breakthrough heartthrob performances. The fact that its box-office take was roughly equivalent to the entire Third World debt didn't hurt.

And then there was "Dances with Wolves" (1990's best picture) and "Braveheart" (1995's best picture). Both were directed by well-loved Tinseltown thespians cum money machines (Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson, respectively), and both had that elaborate period thing that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finds so irresistible.

Which is also why Bernardo Bertolucci''s "The Last Emperor," released in 1987, managed to win. True, the film was a Marxist parable by an avowedly Marxist filmmaker, but Oscar couldn't see past the splendid locations, costumes and photography.

This year, it's different. Although "American Beauty" and "The Cider House Rules" are bruited as the top contenders in the top category, neither one has "best picture" written all over it in the manner of "Schindler's List" and "Titanic."

Below we list all the nominees in the major categories, with our own highly biased choice for the winner in each one.

Best supporting actress

TONI COLLETTE - Spooked and doesn't even know it in "The Sixth Sense"

ANGELINA JOLIE - A scrumptious sociopath in "Girl, Interrupted"

CATHERINE KEENER - A really fatal femme in "Being John Malkovlch"

SAMANTHA MORTON - Cat's got her tongue in "Sweet and
Lowdown"

CHLOE SEVIGNY - Has the world's most understanding boyfriend in "Boys Don't Cry"

OUR PICK: Chloe Sevigny Best supporting actor

MICHAEL CAINE - Compassionate doc has a high old time in "The Cider House Rules"

TOM CRUISE - Studliness on wheels in "Magnolia"

MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN - A gentle giant in "The Green Mile"

JUDE LAW - Bop fan with a death wish in "The Talented Mr. Ripley"

HALEY JOEL OSMENT - A magnet for dead people in "The Sixth
Sense"

OUR PICK: Jude Law

Best actress

ANNETTE BENING - Swims with the real-estate sharks in "American Beauty"

JANET McTEER - Has less than no luck with men in "Tumbleweeds"

JULIANNE MOORE - Throws over her lover for the Big Guy in "The End of the Affair"

MERYL STREEP - Fiddling around in "Music of the Heart"

HILARY SWANK - Doesn't have to worry about five o'clock shadow in "Boys Don't Cry"

OUR PICK: Hilary Swank

Best actor

RUSSELL CROWE - Behind Big Tobacco's 8-ball in "The Insider"

RICHARD FARNSWORTH - Completing the life cycle in “The Straight Story”

SEAN PENN - Pickin',  grinnin', and shootin' rats in "Sweet and Lowdown"

KEVIN SPACEY - The worm turns (on) in "American Beauty"

DENZEL WASHINGTON - Coulda been (and is) a contenduh in "The Hurricane"

OUR PICK: Sean Penn

Best picture

AMERICAN BEAUTY - The lighter side of sick behavior

THE CIDER HOUSE RULES - As American as apple pie and abortion clinics

THE GREEN MILE - A big fella takes the big fall in the big house

THE INSIDER - High drama, with Mike Wallace as comic relief

THE SIXTH SENSE - How can your loved ones miss you if you won't go away?

OUR PICK: The Sixth Sense"

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

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