time is racing towards us till the huns arrive

so, i'm seriously thinking Meryl Streep is gonna be up for Best Actress this year for PRADA. i know, people think of her as being supporting in the movie, but people from Frances McDormand and Anthony Hopkins have won leading Oscars for less screentime. At the end of the day, it IS the performance that drives the movie, gave it great buzz and has made it a very big hit. I also could see Streep winning her long overdue 3rd Oscar come March (or is it Feb this yr?).

Streep's predictable competition is ASHLEY JUDD, who is doing the "Charlize/Nicole/Halle" thing where a beautiful woman in her 30's gets all grungy and dark and impresses people with their RANGE. Judd is starring in the film adaptation of Tracy Lett's hit play BUG. Supposedly, it is a strong performance (Judd has given one or two in the past, so I imagine this is possible).

Annette Bening is gunning for nomination #4 with RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. Susan Sarandon in 1995 (Dead Man Walking) was the last time a woman over 40 won. I'd like to see this change. Bening was Oscar worthy in very competitive years for The Grifters, American Beauty and Being Julia. Hopefully her time will come.

There also appear to be major performances coming from Cate Blanchett (3 leading roles this year), Helen Mirren (THE QUEEN, opening the New York Film Festival), Renee Zellwger (Chris Noonan's MISS POTTER), Nicole Kidman (the Diane Arbus biopic FUR), Anna Paquin (Kenneth Lonnergan's MARGARET), Kate Winslet (Todd Field's LITTLE CHILDREN) AND Judi Dench (NOTES ON A SCANDAL). Beyond those obvious contenders, there is another whole pack of maybes from Beyonce in Dreamgirls to Julianne Moore in Children of Men. Its looking to be one of the most competitive Best Actress races in years.

As long as they are deserving, I'm kinda hopeful the winner will be Bening or Winslet. This will be Winslet's 5th nomination, which may be some kind of record for someone her age (31 in October!).

ALSO, did everyone see that Jai Rodriguez DOESN'T think either Heath or Jake are cute or hot and claims he wouldn't look twice if he saw them in a bar. Some people should just keep quiet if they have nothing meaningful to say.

Love, Gibsonfan31