Writing in The Wrap This Morning …
… film critic Steve Pond offers some prescriptions on how the 94th annual Academy Awards might still surprise us.
For instance, when it comes to Best Actor, Pond writes that George Clooney was considered a lock for his turn in “The Descendants.”
Yet …
“Then ‘The Artist’ juggernaut began to pick up momentum, and Jean Dujardin won one award after another: the Golden Globe, SAG Award, BAFTA Award …
Now Dujardin is the clear favorite, picked to win by all but two of the 12 pundits on Movie City News’ Gurus of Gold. And Clooney will have to console himself with the one Oscar he already has, and those two People magazine Sexiest Man Alive awards that he loves to talk about.
Or will he?
One of the reasons that “The Artist” has become a near-prohibitive favorite in the Best Picture race is that no other film established itself as the clear-cut alternative, the movie to vote for if you don’t want the silent movie to win.
In the Best Actor category, though, Clooney is that alternative. He’s one way to slow the “Artist” train, one way to say that black-and-white charm only goes so far
Read the full story here.
The Cineaste's Lament. 