And The Oscar Goes To... Part 4

It’s the penultimate day of Oscar predictions so that means only two more sleeps till we find out who wins… or eleven if you count my naps. Unless you’re desperate to find out who collects Best Documentary Short Subject or Achievement in Sound Editing, the RHM© theory’s predictions have probably saved you around three hours of viewing on Sunday night.

Best Supporting Actor
This is the only category in which I’ve seen all the nominated performances and I believe it’s the tightest race to call, especially since the RHM© theory did not have a lot to work with.

Apart from Damien Rice’s songs, Clive Owen is the best thing in “Closer”. But if the voters are anything like the elderly couple who stormed out of the screening I attended complaining about the extreme language, then his chances are slim.

Jamie Foxx (again) gives a great, understated performance as a taxi driver in “Collateral” but he’s unlikely to win twice in the same night.

Thomas Haden Church was plucked from TV sitcom obscurity to play an actor with spookily similar issues in “Sideways”. He’s good, but not as good as Paul Giamatti.

Alan Alda is excellent as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster who battles Howard Hughes in “The Aviator” but then Alan Alda is excellent in everything and his appearance in this three-hour epic is a little too brief.

So the best supporting actor Oscar will go to Morgan Freeman in “Million Dollar Baby”. There really is no such thing as a bad Morgan Freeman performance; acting at its effortless best. It’s also his fourth nomination so see Tuesday’s observations about sentimental voting.

Tomorrow, Best Supporting Actress