> My concern is that Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman will split the arty drama vote, and Chicago momentum will catch Zeta-Jones up in the wake. Hey, it worked for Chicago's screenplay nomination.

True. This does concern me, as well as the chance of Moore splitting her own votes. But Soderbergh managed to win Director in 2000 despite a split in the same category, so it may not be the end of the world. I really can't imagine not voting for Moore or Streep in Supporting Actress though. Sigh.

> > Of course, the big glaring error is "Minority Report" getting shafted in this category.
>
> Complaints about Minority Report's final act (IMHO misplaced) are prevalent enough that perhaps this killed its chances. Then again, more likely it was just glossed over because it was a science fiction blockbuster.

Yeah, I think it's probably the latter. It's still a shame.

> > [Best Animated Feature] is quickly becoming stupid.
>
> Yeah. I *think* it's better than not having it at all, just because only Beauty and the Beast has *ever* had a good shot at any Oscars (outside the music categories), and now at least we can have something flawed instead of absent.

Yeah, we'll see. If it ends up reinforcing the idea that good animation = good childrens animation, then we're in trouble.

> I think the problem is more with America's mindset toward animation than the category itself. There is a disturbing mindset that animation is only ever for kids. For a while I was hoping that the influx of anime was going to dispel that myth, but, alas, the particular anime we import is mostly the silly kid stuff, which is even *more* disconnected from American adult audiences than the all-ages work of Disney and DreamWorks. Films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away get lost in the chaff.

Anime tangent: the fact is, there's simply not a lot of serious, dramatic, adult-oriented anime. All of the great anime I can think of off the top of my head is sci-fi/fantasy/surreal stuff. Live action sci-fi/fantasy/usrreal movies aren't particularly taken seriously by American culture: why should animated films be treated differently? And, quite frankly, most anime, even in Japan, *is* targeted at children and isn't serious. If it is serious, it has a tendency to be angsty stuff targeted at teenagers.

Japan has a live-action film industry that I believe still constitutes the bulk of what they go to see in the theaters (though I know Miyazaki's films are some of the highest grossing movies in that country). Most anime is produced for television or video release, and it really isn't taken incredibly seriously. Importing a representative sample of anime isn't going to change our minds.

What does need to happen, though, is for Disney/Buena Vista to stop dropping the ball on Miyazaki. There's no reason "Princess Mononoke," for instance, couldn't have done good, solid business in North America. It just lacked proper distribution and marketing.

> > Or "Adaptation" for the way Nick Cage and Chris Cooper completely altered their appearances?
>
> My understanding about Cage's work in Adaptation is that there *wasn't* really much make-up to effect changes, and it was pretty much all Cage's acting that distinguished his two roles. True, or am I missing something?

Well, between the two characters he plays (who are twins) there isn't. But the Kaufmann character doesn't look like Cage. He's overweight and balding (okay, so Cage doesn't have a ton of hair) and looks kind of haggard. The makeup is subtle but definitely effective.

Stephen