The Academy

Award nominations came in last week and, like every year,

there were a few surprises.

There was

no Spielberg epic to tear through all categories and even

the independent film suffered an off-year (Maybe it was

the curse of the Blair Witch). I have yet to see all the

films represented this year, but I have seen, heard and

read enough to make an educated opinion.

The

nominees for best film are "American Beauty,"

"The Cider House Rules," "The Green

Mile," "The Insider" and "The Sixth

Sense."

This one is

a toss-up between "American Beauty" and

"The Sixth Sense." Both films were directed by

first-time directors, featured strong performances all

around and had excellent original screenplays. I was

moved more by "American Beauty" but I

thoroughly enjoyed the thrill ride of "The Sixth

Sense." Go with "Beauty." If it wins a few

more of the categories it is nominated for, it will be

impossible not to give it Best Film.

The

nominees for Best Actor are Russell Crowe -

"The Insider," Richard Farnsworth -

"The Straight Story," Sean Penn -

"Sweet and Lowdown," Kevin Spacey -

"American Beauty," Denzel Washington -

"The Hurricane." Washington won the Golden

Globe for "The Hurricane" and the Academy likes

a role where wrongs are righted and love is the answer.

Spacey is a

formidable opponent, though. His performance in American

Beauty was as strong as he has ever given and he has won

an Oscar before.

My gut

feeling is that Washington takes it for "The

Hurricane," breaking up an "American

Beauty" landslide. On a personal note, my vote would

have gone to Jim Carrey for "Man on the Moon."

I guess the Academy wants Jim making dumb movies again,

though - someone to mold into the vacancy left by

Jim Varney's passing.

The

nominees for Best Actress are Annette Bening -

"American Beauty," Janet McTeer -

"Tumbleweeds," Julianne Moore - "The

End of the Affair," Meryl Streep - "Music

of My Heart," Hilary Swank - "Boys Don't

Cry."

Every year

either Streep or Susan Sarandon gets nominated, just to

make things interesting. "Music of my Heart"

was not that interesting, though, so Streep goes home

empty-handed this year. Hilary Swank won the Golden Globe

for her role as a girl living as a boy, which is not a

popular theme that will win the favor of people on the

Academy.

This one

goes to Bening. They probably started the engraving for

this one back in October. However, Julianne Moore had

three excellent performances this year and is deserving

of recognition for her body of work in 1999 ("The

End of the Affair," "Magnolia," "An

Ideal Husband").

The actors

nominated for Best Supporting Actor are Michael Caine

- "The Cider House Rules," Tom Cruise

- "Magnolia," Michael Clarke Duncan -

"The Green Mile," Jude Law - "The

Talented Mr. Ripley," Haley Joel Osment -

"The Sixth Sense."

I know, we

want to give it to the little boy, but this one is for

Cruise. He has never won an Academy Award before, though

he has been very deserving, and his performance as Frank

T. J. Mackey in "Magnolia" was one of his best

and certainly the year's best. Though very crude at the

beginning in the seminar scene, his scene with his

estranged father (played amazingly by Jason Robards) will

go down in cinematic history.

The Best

Supporting Actress category is filled with some of the

best new talent in Hollywood. The nominees are Toni

Collete - "The Sixth Sense," Angelina

Jolie - "Girl, Interrupted," Catherine

Keener - "Being John Malkovich," Samantha

Morton - "Sweet and Lowdown," Chloe

Sevigny - "Boys Don't Cry."

Jolie took

the Golden Globe and has certainly been everywhere and

everything the past few years, but my vote goes to

Collete. She took the role of Cole's mother in "The

Sixth Sense" and made it her own, more than just a

worried mother in a horror film. Her accent was dead on,

which will surprise you if you ever saw her in the

Australian hit "Muriel's Wedding." Let's hope

that we see lots more from all of these nominees though.

There are a

lot of first time nominees and directors in the Best

Director category. The nominees are Sam Mendes -

"American Beauty," Spike Jonze -

"Being John Malkovich," Lasse Hallstrom -

"The Cider House Rules," Michael Mann -

"The Insider," M. Night Shyamalan -

"The Sixth Sense."

Jonze

should get it for making a wonderfully imaginative film

and actually getting it made, but this one will probably

go to either Shyamalan or Mendes. "The Sixth

Sense" energized audiences, giving them something

they hadn't seen in quite a while - an intelligent

thriller. Mendes, though, found the beauty in suburbia

and in people's foibles and dysfunction. There are very

few films where a floating plastic bag can bring tears to

your eyes. I personally go with Mendes, but will applaud

Shyamalan if he wins it.

The last

category I would like to weigh in on is "Best

Song." You may have heard that "South Park:

Bigger, Longer and Uncut" got nominated for its song

"Blame Canada." Well, that's got my vote, but

the other nominees are: "Music of my Heart"

from the film of the same name, "When She Loved

Me" from "Toy Story 2," "You'll Be in

My Heart" from "Tarzan."

The

"Toy Story 2" song is really pretty and fit the

movie well, but "Blame Canada" is

representative of a really fun and exciting score.

"South Park" was the best musical of the year

and it is time to recognize the musical talents of Trey

Parker (who also wrote the music for "Cannibal: The

Musical").

The Academy

Awards will be presented March 26 on ABC. Billy Crystal

will once again host the ceremony. Check your local

listings to see where the nominees are playing.

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