Jack speaks!

Jack and I are in a group of 50 movie lovers chosen by our local daily newspaper (we're lucky to still have one) that comments on 6 Oscar categories. We pick our favorites, not our predictions. Our ballots were submitted 2 weeks ago and the article will be in the Sunday March 7 edition before the ceremony that evening. I've been in it since its inception as a 25 person panel in 2006, and Jack joined two years later. It's a "lifetime commitment." Because there are so many of us, we won't all get our quotes printed, but you, lucky readers, get to read both of our ballots in entirety, slightly enhanced for this blog. For the record, I have not read his until right now (I like it a lot, as usual), and he will see mine online when I post it.

Heeeeeere's Jack:

Actress
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia): Another pitch-perfect performance by Ms. Streep, complete with platforms. Dan Aykroyd, eat your heart out!

Supporting actor
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger): Woody's second-best performance this year (behind Zombieland) shows he can shed darkness AND light on any character.

Picture
The best movie I saw all year was Zombieland, but since the Academy didn't deign to even nod in Z-land's direction, the following will have to do:
Inglourious Basterds: Baseball fans everywhere extol the virtues of the Louisville Slugger, and, finally, somebody gets to knock off Der Fuhrer. Not quite Zombieland, but still good.

Actor
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart): Bridges moves right into Bad Blake's skin and peels back several layers until we get to his core.

Supporting actress
Mo’Nique (Precious): Only a bitch-slap of Mariah Carey short of perfect, Mo'Nique's explosive portrayal is chilling.

Director
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds): Tough to make audiences squirm while depicting the good guys as they wreak revenge havoc on the Nazis, but Tarantino pulls it off.

And mine (yes, I re-used some lines from my blog posts):

Best Picture
A Serious Man: You don't have to be Jewish to love A Serious Man. Its delightful slices of dark humor, adult angst, and teen hi-jinks are baked into a crust of 1960's settings and music.

Best Actor
Morgan Freeman (Invictus): No one but Morgan Freeman could as seamlessly convey the gravitas, humility, and humanity of Nelson Mandela. It's evident that Freeman considers this the role of his lifetime.

Best Actress
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia): Always an expert at accent and dialect, Streep channeled Julia Child's voice and the body language of a 6'2" woman, making me love the French Chef even more than I did before. When Meryl's in the (movie) house, the rest of the actresses have to give up. Well, maybe not…she has won only twice with 16 nominations.

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds): One moment oily and flattering, the next driven and evil, smarter than his adversaries, Herr Waltz as the fluently multi-lingual Nazi "Jew Hunter" kept me on the edge of my seat, except for the parts that were too gory to watch.

Best Supporting Actress
Mo’Nique (Precious): Mo'Nique's scenery-chewing as an abusive mother kept me riveted even as I cringed from her character's despicable behavior.

Best Director
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air): Reitman is a good, old-fashioned, linear storyteller, whose fascinating 21st century characters fill the screen with their yearning and make us laugh at how close they are to ourselves. P.S. I voted for Juno two years ago. He probably won't win this year either. [If A Serious Man had been nominated I would have picked the Coens for best director and Up in the Air for best picture, although Jack makes a good case for Zombieland]