Oracle Online

Despite early affections that were showered upon Phoenix, the race essentially boils down to Hoffman and Ledger, both of whom have taken in a bulk of the critics prizes.

Hoffman is much more of a Hollywood veteran than Ledger and has worked with dozens of Academy members, so I suspect that when the envelope opens, his name will be read, despite the fact that his deft mimicry doesn’t really translate into fine acting.

In all truthfulness Ledger turned in the best performance of the year in any category, and should the Academy ignore him on March 5, they’ll be committing a snub that will stand alongside losses like Brando’s for A Streetcar Named Desire and Nicholson’s for Chinatown.

Ledger can, of course, take heart in the fact that both Brando and Nicholson went on to win multiple Oscars.

Hopefully the same will be said for Ledger’s fellow snubbed thespian, Ralph Fiennes, whose esteemed work in The Constant Gardener was second only to Ledger’s remarkable work.

While the men were overcome with biopics once again this year, the ladies had a wider palette of nominees.
Indeed only Reese Witherspoon’s June Carter (Walk the Line) was based off a real-life identity, whereas Felicity Huffman’s traveling Transamerica transsexual, Keira Knightley’s spirited Englishwoman (Pride and Prejudice), and Judi Dench’s wealthy dowager (Mrs. Henderson Presents) are all imaginary. Charlize Theron’s hard-up miner (North Country) is based on a true story, but the character she plays never exised.

This lineup of actresses may be the weakest that Hollywood has put together in years. (Seriously, the stars of Domino and Aeon Flux are up for Oscars?) But the slipshod assembly will serve its purpose in crowning Reese Witherspoon the new queen of Hollywood.

Some may say that Felicity Huffman’s wooden, rather meager portrayal of a transgendered mom might be a lock, but in this situation, Hollywood will pick the best out of the five and give it to Witherspoon’s country gal.

It seems rather tragic, considering the lightweight nature of this category, that Naomi Watts homage to the Silent Era of Hollywood in King Kong didn’t garner a mention. At least then Witherspoon’s ascension would have been a little more exciting.

Finally, in the quest for the title of Best Picture of 2005, we have Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, Capote, Brokeback Mountain, and Munich; tales of race relations in Los Angeles, fear-mongering in the Fifties, an author’s take on the death penalty, a love story of two cowhands, and a series of assassination attempts.

It’s a pity that, due to some arcane Academy rules, Downfall, a claustrophobic German masterpiece, isn’t also included in this roster.

While there may be rumblings of a Crash upset in the making, Oscar will go with its frontrunner Brokeback Mountain. In a rare treat, it will actually chose 2005’s finest film, the story of two men falling in love on the snowy slopes of Wyoming, to rank against Casablanca and Gone with the Wind not just as an epic romance, but as a fellow Best Picture.