Predictions for the red carpet and hugs for those snubbed

It’s that time of year. Snow is on the ground, football is over, at least in Pittsburgh, and… It’s that time of year. Snow is on the ground, football is over, at least in Pittsburgh, and for those of you who’ve been paying attention, award shows are revving their engines. Oscar nominations were announced this week with what everyone expected in most categories, but there were definitely snubs, as there always are.

First, congratulations to Jamie Foxx for receiving a Best Actor nom for his portrayal of the late-great Ray Charles in the musical bio-pic “Ray” and one for Best Supporting Actor as the cab driver who picked up the wrong fare at the wrong time in “Collateral.” If he happens to capture the gold man for both, it’ll be the first time that one actor has won both categories in the same year.

“The Aviator” captured 11 nominations, including Best Actor, Best Picture and Best Director. But should it win in all of those categories, there may be a huge stink after the fact. Going up against the big guns like the hit maker Clint Eastwood and his new hit “Million Dollar Baby.”

Now, you might hear people claiming that Michael Moore was snubbed from the Best Picture category with “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Don’t listen to that garbage. It cannot stand up against great pictures like “Sideways” and “Million Dollar Baby.” Moore should have taken his Best Documentary nod so he would be able to walk away with the Oscar and have another chance at bashing the Bush administration in his acceptance speech. Actually, it might be a good thing that he doesn’t get to speak this year.

If you want to feel sympathy for someone for being snubbed, give a hug to Paul Giamatti. Snubbed in 2003 with “American Splendor,” he finds his name off the list yet again. This year, “Sideways,” which Giamatti helped in its success, received nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, but its leading man will be sitting without an Oscar to possibly call his own.

Another hug deservedly goes to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” What may have been one of the best films of 2004, “Sunshine” finds its name off the list for Best Picture. And Laura Dern, who played a distressed, cheating wife married to a cheating husband in “We Don’t Live Here Anymore,” was also snubbed in this year’s nominations.

So after all of the disappointment, there will be winners in this whole mess. Past years have shown that a good showing at the Golden Globes usually means a good showing at the Oscars. So that’s good news for either Leonardo DiCaprio or Jamie Foxx, who both walked away with Best Actor Globes. Similarly, Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank walked away with Globes for Best Director and Best Actress for “Million Dollar Baby.”

My personal pick for Best Actor would have easily been Giamatti, but since his name isn’t on the list, I’d like Foxx to sweep the actor categories. He has stiff competition, though, especially in the supporting category, where Clive Owen was nominated for his role in “Closer.”

In the actress categories, Kate Winslett for “Eternal Sunshine” and Hilary Swank have to be the front-runners for Best Actress, and if Natalie Portman doesn’t get the Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Closer,” then that might be the biggest award-night snub of them all. Clint Eastwood is the obvious front-runner for Best Director for “Million Dollar Baby,” so let’s see if he can pull it off two years in a row.

With still a month to go before the walk down the red carpet, look for some of these films to be re-released to try to garner support. And if you missed any of these flicks when they were originally out, don’t miss them again.

Brian Palmer is the A’E editor and would love to walk down the red carpet on Oscar night. If you have a red carpet he can walk on, e-mail him at bkp8@pitt.edu.