Best Supporting Actor: Hal Holbrook

Another word on tomorrow's Oscars.  Other than all the JUNO awards, the one category I feel passionate about is the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role slot.  I know that Javier Bardem is favored and, yes, I saw NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and Bardem is great.  That said, as I previously pointed out in my Early Supporting Actor Standouts post, I really really loved Hal Holbrook's portrayal of Ron Franz in the film INTO THE WILD.  I want Holbrook to win and upset the Bardem prediction in this category.  I really want it!

It is totally beyond my comprehension that INTO THE WILD isn't up for a Best Picture nomination, it's even more difficult to understand why Sean Penn isn't up for Best Director, and it's most perplexing that Eddie Vedder wasn't nominated in the Original Song category. What gives?

The least the Academy can do is give the statue to the great Hal Holbrook. That said, here is a quote I pulled from Variety. This quote is from Javier Bardem himself:

"In 'Into the Wild,' that scene in the truck where Hal Holbrook is asking to adopt the young man, that is one of the best performances I've ever seen. It broke me into pieces. In life, as you grow and become comfortable in your own skin and create who you are, you can escape from what you are. Then the whole disguise falls apart and you are just a human being. With a mature actor, you see a face totally naked, someone who is just speaking and being in front of the camera, and that is so powerful. That explains why performing is an art, when somebody shows us the sculpture of the human soul. It hits you and makes you wonder what you are."