As overjoyed as I would be to see Philip Seymour Hoffman win for The Master, for the good of the future of movies I really hope Robert De Niro is named Best Supporting Actor for his work in Silver Linings Playbook. This is one of the two acting categories, along with Best Actress, sort of, that is far from a lock. De Niro is considered by some to be the frontrunner, although Waltz has been getting an armful of trophies and Tommy Lee Jones remains a critical favorite.
A win for De Niro, though, would be enormous. The last time he won was in 1981 for Raging Bull, and that statue was enough to earn him about 10-15 years of good film roles. Then they started to diminish, and before we knew it he was the Meet the Fockers guy. A win this Sunday could potentially be a reawakening for a man who reinvented movie acting, who once turned in six of the greatest performances of all time in the span of ten years. It’s one instance in which the Academy Awards could possibly have a real and beneficial effect on movies for years to come.
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