This is Oscar Week with the 80^th annual Academy Awards ceremony scheduled for this Sunday evening. In anticipation of this grand event, I will try to feature some movie and Oscar related articles this week. If you have been reading Kickin' it Old School on a regular basis, you will know that there are three Oscar-nominated films which I have seen and that I have high praise for each of them. Those three films include Juno, Michael Clayton and No Country For Old Men. They are all pretty outstanding in an otherwise weak year as far as quality movies go. If you read my January 30^th issue on No Country For Old Men, you would have read my major endorsement for the incredible performance of Javier Bardem in that film. As I said then, his performance as the sociopath "Anton Chigurh." was truly special. To quote myself I said, "When I say special, I mean Bardem's performance is both riveting and haunting and it might be as good as any I have ever seen." I still stand by those comments and I have no doubts that Bardem will win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor on Sunday night. When he wins, he will take the top spot for me in that category, which leads me into a Top 10 list. Before Bardem wins, which Best Supporting Actors would rank as my favorites up to this point? Here are OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 10 FAVORITE BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR OSCAR WINNING PERFORMANCES:
Honorable Mention. Robert DeNiro as "Vito Corleone" in The Godfather Part II (1974) - Though both Part I and Part II won Best Picture, only Marlon Brando received any other acting awards for any of the three films. These films were brought to life by a tremendous cast and though they received some nominations, they deserved more awards. Though I do not consider myself a major fan of The Godfather films, I do give them credit for their place in cinematic history and thus want to recognize the great Robert DeNiro with at least an honorable mention.
10. Tim Robbins as "Dave Boyle" in Mystic River (2003) - This film, directed by Clint Eastwood, featured an outstanding cast dealing with some very difficult subject matters. Sean Penn was awarded the Oscar for his leading role and with Robbins helped deliver a riveting story to the big screen.
9. Joe Pesci as "Tommy DeVito" in Goodfellas (1990) - Though I am not a big fan of these types of mafia related movies, who could forget the scene with Pesci's character asking "How am I funny?" and then proceeding to brutally pound a guy with a baseball bat? Pesci steals every scene he is in and was well deserving of this honor.
8. Morgan Freeman as "Eddie ‘Scrap Iron' Dupree" in Million Dollar Baby (2004) - Like Mystic River, this film is also directed by Clint Eastwood who always seems to get incredible performances out of his cast. Freeman is a special actor and brings a lot to this role and to this film. He also serves as the narrator (like in Shawshank Redemption) which adds a certain comforting feeling surrounding his character. Great performance in a great film, though I personally felt that Thomas Haden Church should have won this award for Sideways and probably would have ranked higher on this list if he had.
7. Alan Arkin as "Edwin Hoover" in Little Miss Sunshine (2006) - I really enjoy Arkin in every role he plays, so I was very happy to see him win at last year's Oscars. He plays an essential character within the story and, though it is a supporting role, I feel the film succeeds in many ways due to his performance as well as the performance of Steve Carell (who was also in a supporting role). If you have never seen this movie, give it a try. It is a little quirky, but still outstanding.
6. Edmund Gwenn as "Kris Kringle" in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - This is by far the oldest film to appear on this list, but since I have watched this movie nearly every holiday season since I was a child I know the performance very well. He is just a joy to watch as he brings Santa Claus to life without any special effects other than superb acting. Without a doubt, a special performance in a special film.
5. Robin Williams as "Sean Maguire" in Good Will Hunting (1997) - Despite stiff competition in the category, Williams was honored for his fantastic performance as a psychologist who works with a genius with emotional instability. I really think this film, written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, is fantastic in so many ways. One of the reasons is Robin Williams.
4. Kevin Kline as "Otto West" in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - A very quirky comedy that features many great performances, but none greater than Kline's. He had such great dialogue written for his character and that combined with Kline's amazing talent for physical comedy makes it truly special. If you have not seen this film in a while, I recommend you give it a try again.
3. Jack Palance as "Curly" in City Slickers (1991) - This film features a hilarious Billy Crystal as well as the funny Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby, but it is Palance's rough and tough cowboy that brings it all together. Who can forget his one-armed push ups he performed on stage as he accepted his Oscar? A great moment in Oscar history and a great performance in this very under-rated movie.
2. Kevin Spacey as "Verbal Kint" in The Usual Suspects (1995) - What an amazing character this is and Spacey takes the role and makes the most of it. This is one of my favorite movies and a lot has to do with the tremendous screenplay and surprising cast. I don't think this film gets enough credit and Spacey's performance is one of the truly best of all time.
1. Cuba Gooding Jr. as "Rod Tidwell" in Jerry Maguire (1996) - This is another one of my all time favorite films and much of it is due to the performances of Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding. Cameron Crowe created a great character and Gooding plays it to perfection. The same joy that the character shows towards the end of the film was also on display when Gooding accepted his award.

There is my top 10 with Javier Bardem soon to take over the #1 position. As I did some research for this list, I was reminded of several years where some spectacular performances were not awarded the Oscar. If some of these actors would have won, this list would have looked much different. Here are a few of the most obvious omissions:
1972 - Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan (from The Godfather) were all beat out by Joel Grey (Cabaret)
1979 - Robert Duvall as "Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore" (from Apocolypse Now) was somehow overlooked for Melvyn Douglass (Being There)
1992 - Jack Nicholson (from A Few Good Men) was bested by Gene Hackman (Unforgiven)
1994 - Samuel L. Jackson (from Pulp Fiction) was robbed by Martin Landau (Ed Wood)
1999 - Both Tom Cruise (from Magnolia) and Haley Joel Osment (from The Sixth Sense) were beat out by Michael Caine (from Cider House Rules)
2001 - Ian McKellen (from Lord of the Rings) was somehow beat by Jim Broadbent (from Iris)
I am not sure how some of those performances were not awarded in those particular years. It is definitely not a perfect process, but it still carries a lot of weight in the industry. Supporting roles in movies are essential to the ultimate success of the film and it is very meaningful that the Academy Awards takes the time to give them their due credit.

That will wrap up another issue of Kickin' it Old School. One of my next posts will take an 80's angle on the Oscars. Speaking of the 80's, did you all see who will be competing in the upcoming sixth season of Dancing with Stars? None other than Steve Guttenberg (the star of such 80's classics as Police Academy, Cocoon, Short Circuit and 3 Men and a Baby). I may have to tune in just to see the Goot! Thanks for reading and be sure to click on the Archives to make sure you have not missed a single issue of Kickin' it. Peace and much love.

Check this out: One of my favorite comedians is Jeff Dunham who is a ventriloquist. Here is a link to a compilation of some of his act.

Quote of the day: "A man looks in the abyss and there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment a man finds his character and that is what keeps him out of the abyss." -character Lou Mannheim (played by Hal Holbrook) in the film Wall Street

Download this: The Maroon 5 album Songs About Jane is, in my opinion, one of the single best albums from start to finish ever produced by any artist. I would recommend every song on the album, but will highlight just three of them right here... "She Will Be Loved," "Harder To Breathe" and "Sunday Morning"