Alan Arkin brotherhood

A brotherly pat on the back to all those on Oscarwatch.com's Final Oscar Prediction Chart who are predicting Alan Arkin to take the Best Supporting Actor Oscar -- The Envelope's Tom O'Neil, Award Speculation, Buzzmeter, Spencer Shannon, Toronto Star's Peter Howell, Indiewire's Eugene Hernandez, N.Y. Daily News critic Jack Matthews and Trailer Spy's Julie Stone. Hollywood Wiretap's Pete Hammond (who didn't send his picks into Oscarwatch, but he's standing by Arkin in his latest Hollywood Wiretap column)

Almost everyone else is sticking with Eddie Murphy, and two or three stragglers are picking Jackie Earl Haley.

Good things occasionally happen to bad people, and you just have to roll with this when it happens. If Murphy wins, it will be because the anti-Murphy contingent didn't rally around an alternative with enough uniformity. If you were to conduct an instant e-mail poll of all Academy members right now, Arkin would be the victor...but he only began to really surge over the last two or three weeks. The Movie Gods are, of course, foursquare against Murphy, but they were also pulling for Brokeback Mountain winning the Best Picture Oscar last year.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 22, 2007 at 12:29 PM

comment #1

Kristopher Tapley Author Profile Page says ...

She doesn't have me on there yet because I haven't finalized, but I'm going back with Arkin too.

Posted by Kristopher Tapley Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 1:12 PM

comment #2

gruver1 Author Profile Page says ...

Wells to Tapley: Good man!

Posted by gruver1 Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 1:32 PM

comment #3

Glenn Whipp Author Profile Page says ...

Jeff: Hard to get behind an actor who doesn't even stand out in his own movie. Steve Carrell? Sure. Paul Dano? Definitely. Arkin? He's nice and all, but there's nothing special about the performance.

Posted by Glenn Whipp Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 2:20 PM

comment #4

jeffmcm Author Profile Page says ...

"The movie gods"?

Posted by jeffmcm Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 2:34 PM

comment #5

MarkVH Author Profile Page says ...

Thank you Glenn.

Arkin is fine, but overplays a character that is (like everyone else in the film) too one-note. Didn't see Dreamgirls, but Wahlberg should win this. Haley would be fine too.

Posted by MarkVH Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 2:39 PM

comment #6

rupertpupkin Author Profile Page says ...

Go Alan! If Scorsese is finally gonna get his gold watch Oscar for The Departed, Arkin deseves it for a career of great supporting performances.

Posted by rupertpupkin Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 3:28 PM

comment #7

T. S. Idiot Author Profile Page says ...

Occasionally there are big surprises: Crash, A. Brody, etc. If Babel does have some momentum (and I hope it doesn't), I wouldn't be surprised to see Iñárritu over Marty and Barraza over Hudson, the latter helped along by the voters' guilt over the treatment of alien workers.

Posted by T. S. Idiot Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 4:44 PM

comment #8

Brigadier Pudding Author Profile Page says ...

I'm not getting my hopes up for any surprises.

Even with the Crash "upset", the winner of the Oscar pick-'em pool I was in last year missed one category (IIRC, best animated short). As a general rule (esp. as o late) the academy are an incredibly predictable bunch.

I have a sinking feeling it'll be straight chalk. Scorsese, Whitaker, Mirren, Murphy, and Hudson. With Babel being the "surprise" best picture winner.

Zzzzzzzzz...

Posted by Brigadier Pudding Author Profile Page at February 22, 2007 6:30 PM

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