A Look at Best Actor

Today's category is Best Actor, the most...hmm...what's the word?...race. The nominees are...

Leonardo DiCaprio-Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling-Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole-Venus
Will Smith-The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker-The Last King of Scotland

I've seen Venus, Happyness and Last King. One by one...

DICAPRIO-No one was predicting him for THIS, but now they're saying he's the most likely upset. That might be true. Sorta. It's clear that the Academy loved the film, but enough to have it surprise? Possibly. He just hasn't won any notable precursors. It's looking like Whitaker's race to lose.

GOSLING-Everyone loves the film, specifically his performance, but underexposure will be a major factor. He should just enjoy being nominated-it's not even a race that's worth being a part of. It's so unexciting.

O'TOOLE-He deserves to win not only for his career, but for this performance. He is outstanding as Maurice and the film itself is fantastic. He should have been nominated in Musical/Comedy at the Globes, the film is NOT a drama. If people would just watch the movie he'd be the frontrunner. Sadly, he won't win. Or will he...? No.

SMITH-This performance was waaay better than I thought it would be, as was the film. He has something like a 5% chance, but who really knows? I mean, there has to be some surprise this year (but for this category, that surprise would be O'Toole or DiCaprio).

WHITAKER-I loved the movie, and I think that Forest Whitaker is definitely worthy of a nomination, but certainly not a win. He'd be something like third, with Peter O'Toole and Will Smith coming before him. But, winning just about every precursor has to add up to something, which, for him, will be a win. But the movie hasn't been very popular (but if it were judged by how many people saw the movie, Smith would dominate). He's more the frontrunner by default than by deserving it.

WILL WIN: Forest Whitaker-The Last King of Scotland
SHOULD WIN: Peter O'Toole-Venus
IN ORDER OF LIKELINESS:
1. Whitaker
2. O'Toole
3. DiCaprio
4. Smith
5. Gosling

Tomorrow: Best Director