No spoilers here, don't worry...

In the Bedroom is an anti-thriller. It has the subject matter and plot of a thriller, but the tone is strictly human. It studies the characters rather than the events.

The pace is casual, sometimes even lugubrious. It starts and stops at odd places, it stutters, pauses, waits, and then fades in and out. Solid payoff in the final scene. In fact, I'd say it has one of my favorite final scenes this year.

Yes, some great performances. We all know Sissy Spacek is good, so I'm glad to see she's been rescued from playing second fiddle roles like Nick Nolte's three-scene girlfriend in Affliction. I've always liked Tom Wilkinson, so it's great to see him working with material and actors like this. And I'm finally okay with Marisa Tomei's Oscar, so she can keep it.

-Tom

"And I'm finally okay with Marisa Tomei's Oscar, so she can keep it."

Didn't Happy Accidents help you any with that?

Amanpour

Not really. She was fine in that (although she did look pretty rode hard and hung up wet), but it was 'just' a romantic comedy. In the Bedroom is of a completely different calibre.

Actually, I'm kind of screwed now, because I was going to get eleven of my friends -- you were number seven, Amanpour -- to stage an elaborate heist to simultaneously steal Oscars from three actresses: Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, and Kim Basinger. But now that I'm letting Marisa keep her statuette, I have to find a third actress. Any suggestions?

-Tom, mastermind of Chick's Eleven

Can't think of a another actress off the top of my head, but I have a request of my own. Can you have one engraved with Best Supporting Actor and give it to Samuel L. Jackson for Pulp Fiction? He got screwed that year.

Thank you,

Chris

They gave Kim Basinger an oscar? Well, if that's so, then you might get your third candidate this year if they give one to Mariah Carey for "Glitter..."

"They gave Kim Basinger an oscar?"

I say the same thing to myself three or four times a day.

L.A. Confidential, Best Supporting Actress, 1997.

-Tom

Oh man, can you please take it from Gwyneth Paltrow?

Admittedly she didn't have any competition for the Oscar that year, but gee gods... Paltrow with an Oscar, that's just sad.

Hollywood's elite East-coast bias heritage really shows through. "We must reward the most uppity of films every year!"

If you want an Oscar, the ideal prototype would be a WWII love story about a gay man singlehandedly saving the Jews. Coincidentally, this has been done on the PC in the form of Wolfenstein 3D.

>I have to find a third actress. Any suggestions?

Cripes, could you ask an easier question? Every year there are tons of great actor performances that get ignored, and abysmal actress/supporting actress performances that get recognized.

First off -- Marisa Tomei is, in fact, terrible. She can go back to As the World Turns and return her Oscar on the way -- still an extremely viable candidate for number 3. Others undeserving winners:

2000: Julia, of course
1999: Angeline Jolie
1997: Helen Hunt - a far worse winner than Basinger
1991: Mercedes Ruell for Fisher King, which was actually a decent performance, but she's been so abysmal in everything that she's done since, that she retroactively should lose.
1990: Whoopi Goldberg
1988: Geena Davis (who may be pardoned because of the Fly and Thelma & Louise).

I also respect Jim's Paltrow suggestion.

The three worse would be:
- Tomei (still number one, easily)
- Sorvino
- Julia or Whoopi.

Please amend your actions accordingly.

Stefan

Make it Whoopi Goldberg and I'm in.

Amanpour...#7

Helen Hunt sucked SO much in "As Good as it Gets". Painful. My wife and I were absolutely appalled that she won. I nominate her.

At least Basinger had a decent performance in LA Confidential, though like Mercedes Ruehl, she hasn't done anything of consequence since.

Are there this many male actors who suck? Or is the academy just better at rewarding the RIGHT male actors?

Nah, gotta stick with Basinger. I've had a dislike of her (though, uh, not her looks) for years. She always comes off of as a pouty, difficult primadonna that never seemed quite in synch with the characters she was trying to play. She always struck me as someone getting by through convincing others that she was some sort of diva.

Helen Hunt may not be the most...varied actress, but she does have a charm, a charisma to her that is endearing. I say this having only ever seen her in "Twister" and an ancient episode of "Darkroom," BTW.

I could go with Julia Roberts as one of Tom's targets.

Whoopi Goldberg...Ah, yeah. Let's add her to the list. Her and Billy Crystal together on stage were enough to make me want to pummel my TV to make it stop.

Yeah, but Whoopi is at least intermittently funny. If we were talking Carrot Top or something, sure. With extreme prejudice even.

I'll admit Basinger is basically a bad actress who floats (floated, now, I guess, since there are "no roles" for older women in hollywood) on her looks. But for whatever reason, she was good in LA Confidential. Maybe the stars and moons were all aligned or something.

Helen Hunt actively annoys me. She has her one character she plays in every role, which is remarkably similar to her role on that damn TV show, which I disliked as well. I don't call that "acting".

Interesting. I loved that show...

But I won't be the one to defend her acting ability, as I've seen her in several movies, and never seen her play a different character than Jamie Buchman.

Eh, that Helen Hunt...

She's just an older version of Leelee Sobieski.

Like that's a bad thing?

...has to be a best supporting actress, as suggested by Basinger and Sorvino.

Gonna have to go with Anna Paquin.