The first thing you'll notice is the absence of Heath Ledger. I'm not being perverse. I've just placed him in the lead category instead. It's a gray area to be sure: Does The Dark Knight have three leads (Harvey Dent, Batman and The Joker), two leads (Harvey Dent and the Joker -- how weird is is that Batman feels like the least important character?), two leads (Batman and the Joker -- for historical accuracy's sake) or one (Batman, since it's his franchise even though he's reactive / sidelined this time). I recently watched the seventh Batman again and my problems with it remain (very jumbled plot, exciting yet hard to follow action sequences, faux profundities) but Ledger's work is explosive. He enjoys watching it burn.This time around guess which performance it most reminded me of? Brad Pitt in Fight Club. It was the sick laughter that did it, that frighteningly unmistakable glee in being beaten to a pulp...
"You don't know where I've been. You don't know where I've been."If you're talking Oscar nominations, I'm rooting for James Franco and Josh Brolin (Milk), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Robert Downey Jr (Tropic Thunder) and Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky) to be the lucky five. I know that Marsan, the NSFC winner, is not at all likely but if there's a plausible surprise, that's what I'd be happiest with. I view Philip Seymour Hoffman's Father Flynn (Doubt) as a lead role... and I don't generally root for those default nominees anyway. You know who they are, the ones that end up in the race just so long as they show up to work.
Return, discuss, and tell me who landed on your ballot. The more the merrier.
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