Best Supporting Actor 2004: Results

5. Jamie Foxx in Collateral- Foxx gives a functional performance some of the time, but he also fails to capitalize any scene that requires more from him.

4. Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby- Freeman gives a painfully standard performance, that although it is not bad it always feels uninspired.

3. Alan Alda in The Aviator- Alda has very little to do but still his performance is effective as he shows both the charm and the cruelty of a career politician.

2. Clive Owen in Closer- Owen although has strong elements particularly in portraying the harsh bluntness of his character, but also lacks in terms of his onscreen relationships with his female co-stars.

1. Thomas Haden Church in Sideways- A very easy win for Church who easily gives the best performance of the five through his great achievement of finding a way to make what technically should be just a despicable character, a endearing one instead.

Deserving Performances:
David Carradine in Kill Bill Vol 2
Michael Madsen in Kill Bill Vol 2

Best Supporting Actor 2004: Thomas Haden Church in Sideways

Thomas Haden Church received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Jack Lopate in Sideways.

Sideways details the trip of two men through wine country just before one is going to be married.

Thomas Haden Church portrays Jack who is in many ways the exact opposite of his friend Miles (Paul Giamatti). Jack is almost always happy, even when he gets mad or sad it is only for a brief period, opposed to Miles who is almost always is at least a little bit moody. Jack is just about completely amoral, and seems to have absolutely no sense of decency, where perhaps Miles has a little bit of it. Jack does not seem to be overly smart, where Miles at least could be described as a pseudo intellectual.

Their dynamic is a rather strange one, but both actors do manage to make their "friendship" believable they are able to stand each other, but they are definitely of two different sorts. Thomas Haden Church has actually quite a difficult part in that Jack's actions are quite unlikable through the course of the film caused by his amorality, also there is the fact that it does not seem he even learns anything after what happens to him. Jack could have very easily come off as just a despicable character that you don't want to even see, but Church manages to make the unlikable Jack likable.

Church does this in a rather interesting way, in that he almost portrays Jack as a child, which is the perfect way to portray. Everything Church really does as Jack seems slightly childlike. Church is careful to infuse this childlike quality to Jack to just the right degree, without making Jack seem unrealistic. It is interesting though just the way Church manages to bring a childlike quality to everything he does. His want for his last week of "freedom", and just the way he listens to Miles talk about has just the same enthusiasm and impatience of a child.

The negative qualities of Jack though are the real challenge, and Church meets the challenge. Church does this firstly by being charming in his rather simple, in more than one way, fashion that always feels quite effortless. Again though when he does wrong, and he really does a lot of wrong it is the childishness of Church's characterization that keeps him from somehow seeming completely despicable. Everything he does bad is almost just like a spoiled child that really does not know any better, even though he should.

Even when he suffers the consequences Church shows Jack to act in a childish fashion finding someone else to blame, or when he finds no other option pleading like a crying baby for help. Because Church manages to be so honestly pathetic he actually comes off as oddly endearing. I also really like his scenes where he attempts to cheer up Giamatti's because Church shows such a senseless happiness in the role. Jack really is a rather challenging role but Thomas Haden Church brings the perfect sort of life to the role through his simple but very well handled characterization. Jack is a role that could been just a jerk, but Church succeeded in turning Jack into a lovable jerk.

Best Supporting Actor 2004

And the Nominees Were:

Alan Alda in The Aviator

Thomas Haden Church in Sideways

Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby

Clive Owen in Closer

Jamie Foxx in Collateral

WE BOUGHT A ZOO

WE BOUGHT A ZOO
Written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Cameron Crowe
Directed by Cameron Crowe
Starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Thomas Haden Church

In 2006, a man by the name of Benjamin Mee bought a zoo alongside his mother and his brother. He had no experience with animals and, in fact, his offer to buy the zoo was originally rejected based on his inexperience. The zoo had been closed earlier that year and it was Mee’s plan to refurbish and reopen to the public as soon as possible. His wife, Katherine, died after he and his family had already moved to the zoo but he soldiered on with his two young children and eventually brought the zoo back up to code. Mee’s story is unorthodox and inspirational and thanks to famed film director, Cameron Crowe, it has now been sucked of all genuine heart and humanity and turned into a ridiculous and laughable “true story” film called WE BOUGHT A ZOO.

Buying a ticket to WE BOUGHT A ZOO is less about buying into what actually happened and more into a Hollywood idea of what should have happened in order for audiences to understand the inspiration in Mee’s journey. On screen, Mee is played by Matt Damon, who cannot seem to choose a decent project these days. For the purposes of the film, Mee’s wife is already dead when we meet him. In fact, it is her absence in his life that propels him to buy the zoo in the first place. He is looking to find meaning in his life again and boy does he need it. Crowe paints Mee’s life as one big giant cliche - from desperate single mothers bringing him lasagna six months after his wife’s passing to his brother (Thomas Haden Church) making broad suggestions that he just needs to get back out there. Even his eldest son is painting gothic imagery in school so you know that things are not good. Hence, the zoo.

Thank goodness for Damon. He elevates past the triteness of every scene to reveal true pain and difficulty in dealing with the loss of his wife and the scary, new direction of his life. Crowe frames him in close-up so often, it is impossible to miss any part of his emotional journey but despite Damon’s best efforts, he cannot save WE BOUGHT A ZOO from Crowe’s completely crazy approach to the rest of the film. Almost every character other than Damon’s is an exaggerated farce. (You cannot convince me for one second that supposed zookeeper, Scarlett Johansson, knows anything about wild animals.) Perhaps this is meant to show how bizarre the world seems in Damon’s state of grief but it really only comes off as disingenuous and distracting. Benjamin Mee is a real person who really bought a zoo but all Crowe seems to see is the movie, not the man, and he barely has a handle on that as it is.

TIFF Review: EASY A

Written by Bert V. Royal

Directed by Will Gluck

Starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes and Thomas Haden Church

Olive: I used to be invisible. If Google Earth were a guy, he couldn’t find me if I were a ten-storey building.

What Ojai, California, high school student, Olive Penderghast, has to go through in director, Will Gluck’s EASY A to get her “A” cannot be described as anything remotely close to easy. That said, sitting back and watching everything she has to go through is one of the easiest things you’ll ever have to do. Not only does Glick make it easy for us to enjoy his second feature film, he makes sure we learn a thing or two while we’re in the midst of losing ourselves in hysterical laughter. Did I mention this is a teen comedy?

We are first introduced to Olive on her webcam. The lovely Emma Stone stares directly at us as Olive and tells us flat out that we are about to hear her side of a story, which she insists to us is in fact the right side of the story. She proceeds to tell us in incremental chapters about how one lie she told to her best friend in a bathroom about how she lost her virginity to a college boy over the weekend, spiraled out of control and ruined her life. She has a face you want to believe but we have no reason to trust her really. It is Stone’s conviction that ultimately sells it though; she is a sharp, young lady but her vulnerability is never disregarded and I can’t think of any reason why she would make any of this up.

EASY A is easily one of the funniest films I’ve seen all year. The entire ensemble, from Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as Olive’s ultra-open-minded parents to Thomas Haden Church as Olive’s favourite teacher, are hilarious and seem to be having the best of times in their roles. Essentially, the whole thing is infectious and leaves a lasting impression because it goes beyond the sharp, witty dialogue we’ve come to expect in any teen comedy effort to show us that intelligence and growth are not yet lost on the young.