Well, yeah, but I love Paper Moon.

Totally agreed! Still...not a reward for the craft, but rather for the novelty.

Peter Finch was awarded an Oscar posthumously for Network, the difference being that he passed away after he was nominated, but before the ceremony.

I can see that. Still...even Miss America has a runner up if she can't 'perform the duties'.

Though, I suppose I would not want to be known as the 'also ran' and simply making the choice behind the scenes would be just like Batman bugging everyone's cellphones regardless of privacy laws for the 'greater good.'

Ironically parallel example.

Still, I'm not sure I would have come on Lucius' side of that argument either.

More thought required.

Well, yeah, but I love Paper Moon.

There should be a golden ascot award!

Heaven forfend!

I think I've made my stand on ascots quite clear.

I think you deserve an oscar if you're one of my favorite actors and I forget that's you on the screen while I'm watching the movie.

This. If I didn't KNOW that was Heath, I doubt I would have figured it out.

Hm. If I hadn't known that Gary Oldman was Jim Gordon, I wouldn't have figured it out. I don't think that makes him Oscar-worthy. It makes him fucking awesome in that role, but Oscar-worthy? Nah.

And really, I don't find the Joker an Oscar-worthy role. (Plus, I didn't forget for one moment that the Joker was Heath Ledger. I'm sure that was due in large part to the inescapable notoriety of his death, but still.)

(And it's not like I was aware of Heath-the-actor in the same way that, say, I am always, ALWAYS aware of Jim-Carey-the-attention-whore within a role. [Yes, even the mindwipey movie.] Totally different vibe.)

bonny, um.... maybe some spoiler font on that comparison? I'd call that a bit of a plot surprise...

It's only July, most of the Oscar contenders come out in December, but I can't think of a better performance so far this year.

edit: yes I'm still pretending that Oscars are awarded based on how good of a job you did.

There should be a golden ascot award!

"In the morning I put on my tailored shirt, my spats, my top hat. Then I get my ascot."

horrified: "you get your ass caught?"

"I get my ascot"

"That must hurt."

I once did a musical with the line "You bet your sweet ascot I will." in it.

Oh jeebus, Ailleann. You are absolutely right. Thanks for catching that. I was so up in my uppitiness that it didn't even occur to me. Duly edited.

I think Ledger's performance is Oscar-worthy. I completely and utterly forgot that he was Heath Ledger, or even an actor at all. He completely drew me in, freaked me out as a psychopathic human in a way I haven't felt since Silence of the Lambs. In some ways, I actually think his performance out-classed Hopkins'.

We actually discussed the movie, and Ledger specifically, in my acting class today, focusing on the way he used his body. He leads with different parts of his body constantly, totally different, physically, in different cases. He actually made me believe that the Joker is a natural actor - witness how well the character emulated a thug in the first scene, the nurse, and so on, with completely different body language. But even when he was being "himself," the fact that he was able to move his limbs so fluidly without ever looking ridiculous, simply unnerving, is astonishing.