What the Flick

Only 3 days until the Academy Awards are announced here in LA on Sunday, March 5. Here's my take on two nominated films, TRANSAMERICA (Best Actress, Felicity Huffman) and MATCH POINT (Best Original Screenplay, Woody Allen). That leaves only MUNICH to be seen, which is on my last-minute agenda for tomorrow.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that MATCH POINT didn't receive more notice from the Academy. It's a deftly acted drama that entertains and raises interesting questions during post-theater drinks. The basic plot starts off when Chris, an Irish almost-pro tennis player (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), takes on a wealthy tutoring client, Tom (the very Britishly handsome Matthew Goode), who befriends his tutor and, in the way wealthy people sometimes do...

If you are doubting Heath Ledger's acting abilities, watch him in quick succession in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and CASANOVA. In his Oscar-nominated performance in BROKEBACK, Heath plays a man who is so hardened by life, who holds his emotions so close, that he can barely get words out of his mouth. He is honorable, wry in a Dick Cheney sort of way, responsible, and tragic -- but he ain't charming and smooth and adorable. Flash to director Lasse Hallstrom's telling of CASANOVA, where Heath plays the lead character as a....