Picking the Oscars

The Southeast Missourian asked three former Everybody's A critic reviewers to give their best shot at predicting Sunday's Oscars. Rhon Abraham is a certified nurse's assistant from Cape Girardeau. Bob Clubbs teaches drama at Jackson High School. His wife, Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs, is an adjunct professor at Southeast Missouri State University. They live in Jackson.

Rhon Abraham

Whoo-hoo, Oscar time is here. The lights, the cameras but no red carpet this year. Acting like Joan Rivers on the sidelines is not only desired but encouraged. So as I sit down with a big tub of popcorn and sticky fingers on my keyboard, here are my Oscar picks.

Best supporting actress:Queen Latifah. Queen Latifah, Queen Latifah, Queen Latifah. She is in only one-fourth of the film, and you remember every scene she was in. Queen Latifah, period. (Did I mention her name?)

Best supporting actor: Chris Cooper. This was a tough one for me. I love Ed Harris in almost anything he does, but Chris really rocked in "Adaptation." How many actors can hold their own with Meryl Streep?

Best actress: Salma Hayak. If last year was the year of Denzel and Halle (Ha! You didn't think I remembered last year's Oscar winners), then this year is the year of the Latina. Salma is consistently underrated as an actress. She was very convincing as Frida.

Best actor:Nicolas Cage. Any man who can bring his inner geek to the foreground and embrace it is an actor with true range.

Best director:Pedro Almodovar, "Talk To Her." This is my dark-horse pick. I don't believe Almodovar will win, but I'm glad he has been nominated. I loved his earlier movies, "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" and "Woman on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown."

Best picture:"Chicago." As if there were any competition. The scene where Richard Gere sang (let's review: Richard Gere singing) as the puppet master was masterful! Inspired! Full of kinetic energy! OK, I confess I stole that last part from the studio's media kit, but I really did like the movie. It was filled with great tunes, great dance sequences and costumes to die for. I immediately went out and bought the soundtrack. Is there any better accolade than that? Bob Clubbs

Best supporting actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Chicago." If this woman doesn't win, my faith in the Academy Awards will be forever tarnished. Zeta-Jones was an absolute force of nature in "Chicago," opening the show with such sexy sizzle with "All That Jazz" and continuing to shine throughout the film. She played the role with such power that sometimes it seemed as if she were about to blast right through the screen. The artist formerly known as "Michael Douglas' wife" certainly won me over and deserves recognition.

Best supporting actor: Chris Cooper, "Adaptation." Cooper's was the finest acting work in "Adaptation." He made the eccentric orchid-obsessed John Laroche believable and even strangely likable. Cooper has turned in a string of fine supporting performances of late, and I think the industry will honor him this year.

Best actress: Nicole Kidman, "The Hours." It's all about the nose. Oscar loves a transformation, and Kidman definitely went through one to portray Virginia Woolf. Sadly, I think she'll edge out Renee Zellweger, who pulled off the impressive task of making mousy murderess Roxie Hart a compelling central character in "Chicago."

Best actor: Jack Nicholson, "About Schmidt." I'm hoping that Nicholson will pull a win, giving him a record total of four Best Actor statues. Nicholson has been displaying impressive depth in his character work, and hopefully the Academy will reward it. But then he'd follow it up with the curious choice of "Anger Management" with Adam Sandler.

Best director:Rob Marshall, "Chicago." Marshall took a film that nobody wanted to make and crafted an artistic and commercial success. His concept of having the musical numbers spring from the imagination of the main character's mind solved the unique problem of taking this inherently theatrical musical onto the stage. He should also be credited for taking a "what-was-he-thinking" cast and molding them into an impressive ensemble. The performances he elicited from Zellweger Gere, and Zeta-Jones were outstanding.

Best picture: "Chicago." This film embodies everything that the Best Picture should be: A great story, well acted, crafted under a strong directorial concept and tremendously entertaining. "Chicago" had me cheering in my seat. Hopefully this film's success will not only revitalize movie musicals but also encourage directors to make more bold conceptual choices.Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs

With all the political turmoil at the moment, it may seem frivolous to spend time thinking about movies and movie stars. But isn't this when we need some escapism the most? And darn it, I love the movies, and I love the Oscars! Since I was not able to see everything nominated, I have consulted the venerable Entertainment Weekly to help me be more objective about my Oscar predictions. And here they are:

Best supporting actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Velma Kelly in Chicago. Her performance defined "tour de force!" She embodied Velma Kelly in every head tilt, eyelash flutter and cigarette drag. I am especially hoping that Zeta-Jones will take home the statuette because she has commented on how daunting it was as an actress to prove that even though she had a baby at home she could still jazz-kick it up with the best of them!

Best supporting actor:Chris Cooper, John LaRoche in "Adaptation." He is an actor who can completely transform himself, physically and vocally, for a role. His performance was nuanced and three-dimensional, even though he was playing the sort of oddball it would be easy to go over the top with.

Best actress:My pick is Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart in "Chicago." Though I was skeptical at first, Renee completely won me over with her performance as the ambitious Roxie.

Best actor: Nicholas Cage as Charles and Donald Kaufman in "Adaptation." His work in this film is so good you almost don't notice it ... and the Academy may not either. Cage creates two completely believable characters without resorting to extreme physical or vocal tricks. So, he may very well lose out to the more histrionic performance of Daniel Day-Lewis in "Gangs of New York" as EW predicts.

Best director:Rob Marshall, "Chicago." I've been in straight shows and I've been in musicals. I'm not going to say that one genre is "better" or "harder" than the other because it's like comparing apples and oranges. However, you can't deny that turning this musical into a smooth-flowing yet flashy movie had to be quite a trick.

Best picture:"Chicago." This is what a best picture should be: a fantastic (albeit cynical) story that is well told with incredible performances and fabulous spectacle. I just think that this year's nominees lack the overall excellence that marks "Chicago." As I told my husband as the credits rolled when we saw it, "I want to see it again. And then I want to be IN it."