Best Supporting Actor Nominees

Next up is the Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role Nominees. And remember, I am going to present them in the order they are listed on IMDb.com.

Josh Brolin plays Dan White in Milk. Dan White is a conservative political rival of Harvey Milk. White was elected supervisor at the same time as Milk. White and Milk work together but Milk turns on White during a particular political situation and White feels Milk has wronged him ruined his career. Brolin is good at being the quiet man in the background of a burgeoning political powerhouse. It's always the quiet ones. Brolin is solid, but that's about it.

Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder. Lazarus is an Australian actor that is so much into method acting that he has a radical procedure do to appear black in his next movie. He even tries to live the life 24 -7. Every once in a while the Academy surprises me. This is not a traditional role that would get an Academy nomination in a typical year, hell, it probably wouldn't get nominated in most atypical years, but this year is different. This year has Heath Ledger. I sincerely hope the Academy didn't throw Downey a bone knowing that he probably wouldn't win. We need more good comedic performances recognized.

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Father Flynn in Doubt. Father Flynn is a priest who is accused of abusing a young boy. There is no evidence that he did it. Sister Alyosius is convinced he did it and is determined to remove him from the Church. Philip Seymour Hoffman, as usual, is very good at acting both guilty and innocent. He leaves the audience wondering. A cool bit of trivia: As with the play, Hoffman was the only one on the crew to know if he was guilty or innocent.

Heath Ledger plays The Joker in The Dark Knight. Neurotic, psychotic, criminal, evil, all these words could easily describe the Joker. Genius is also a word that can describe him. The Joker is the quintessential Batman Villain. Genius can also describe Heath Ledger's final performance. Brilliant would work too. Lets face it, this is a one man race. Everyone by now knows that Ledger died shortly after filming of The Dark Knight. He will get a lot of sympathy votes but he would have deserved the Oscar even with out them. This movie literally would not be the same with out Ledger as the Joker. You put anybody else in the role and this movie would be a $200 Million movie instead of a movie approaching a Billion dollars worldwide.

Michael Shannon plays John Givings from Revolutionary Road. John Givings is a mathematician, at least he was one until he had a nervous breakdown and was submitted to electric shock treatment. The treatments also left him with the ability to tell the absolute truth and see through anyone's motives. Now this is how you do a character that only has a short part of the movies. Shannon is able to become the conscience of the film and he did it in two scenes. Too bad he is going up against Ledger.

Tune in tomorrow for Best Actress.