In Contention

By Josh Spiegel

January 26, 2010

We both know what the buzzing sound in your suitcase was. How much longer must we keep up the charad

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This past weekend may have been a comedown for fans of the New York Jets and the New Orleans Saints/Minnesota Vikings, but for a few lucky folks in Hollywood, the awards season remained in full swing in Los Angeles, even as the annual Sundance Film Festival was the talk of most of the industry. The Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild, two of the more major guilds among all of the potential voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced their prizes this weekend. Now, we're beginning to see the probable Oscar winners take shape, let alone potential Oscar nominees. Who went out of the weekend with lots of enthusiasm behind them, and who went out wishing they could reverse the past? Essentially, who went out like Conan O'Brien, and who went out like Jay Leno? (Not that I'm picking sides or anything).

First, let's talk about the Screen Actors Guild awards. We're not going to talk much about the TV end here, but both the TV and film awards can be boiled down to this phrase: What a surprise. Make sure, by the way, to read that phrase in the most sarcastic sense possible, because the two-hour ceremony on Saturday night was as boring as boring gets, in terms of any suspense over who would win what category. For the TV fans, the typical shows and performers won. Like at the Globes, Glee and Mad Men were awarded the top prize for their ensembles. Like at the Globes, Alec Baldwin and Michael C. Hall won. I'm not saying that these actors don't deserve their honors (though I must comfort myself in being the only person on the planet who is not charmed to death by the people starring in Glee), but the awards themselves were not surprising.




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The case was the same with the honors given for acting in film. As at the Golden Globes and every award ceremony under the sun, the prizes for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress went to - say it with me out loud, kids - Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds and Mo'Nique for Precious. As I have been saying (and in this case, I am only one of many, many people saying so), Waltz and Mo'Nique should prepare Oscar speeches. They will be nominated, and only due to some major shock will either of them lose. In a few paragraphs down, I will discuss how accurate the Screen Actors Guild have been regarding its various awards when matched with the Oscars, and though their supporting categories haven't always matched up, this year, they will or whoever steals the category will be the talk of the town the night after the Oscars happen.

For Best Actor and Best Actress, the accolades keep coming for Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart and Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side. Bridges is easily going to get an Oscar nod for his role as the beaten-down country singer, and after winning here, at the Golden Globes, and at the Critics' Choice Awards, it seems more and more apparent that the voting community in Hollywood is ready to finally honor the Dude. Though George Clooney and Jeremy Renner, stars of Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker, respectively, are still likely candidates to be a spoiler winner, Bridges has a heavy amount of momentum. This may be a case where, unlike Mickey Rourke in last year's The Wrestler, the older actor making something of a comeback is going to take home the golden statuette come March 7th.


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