Part One: 1986 Retro Hollmann Awards

It's the first day of the 1986 Retro Hollmann Awards - a day late, but it did, indeed, take me a while to finally choose my Number One picks in each category.

The first nine categories will be presented here, beginning with Best Supporting Actor. If you'd like to know all the names of the nominees, do consult the complete nominations announcement.

And now - our first winner!

Best Supporting Actor

Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth
Blue Velvet

2. Daniel Day-Lewis in A Room with a View; 3. Andy Garcia in 8 Million Ways to Die; 4. Wang Xiao in A Great Wall; 5. Simon Callow in A Room with a View

A perfect outlet for Dennis Hopper's particular brand of intensity, Frank Booth is one of the most frightening characters in cinema. His sudden outbursts make him unpredictable - are they strategic, or the result of a truly diseased mind? Hopper suggests it's both, and they get worse as the movie continues, as Frank unravels. But then there's that look when he hears "In Dreams" - Hopper knows what that song means to Frank, you see it in his eyes - and it's a moment that haunts.

In second, DDL's "decadent" snobbery. Andy Garcia's drug lord, calm and collected until the unexpected occurs, in third. Wang Xiao as a poor Chinese teen jealous of his beautiful neighbor's American cousin in fourth. Simon Callow's gleefully indulgent vicar in fifth.


Best Actress, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, and more - after the jump.

Class of '86: Bette Davis Takes the Stage and Best Actor

Family's in town, so forgive the delay.

It's a little difficult to watch post-stroke Bette Davis get through her Best Actor presentation, but good Lord did that woman know how to hold the spotlight. Paul Newman wasn't present to accept the Oscar, but accepting on his behalf was Oscar winner Robert Wise - the President of the Academy! That's power, baby. But Bette's not about to be upstaged...

It's Newman's first win after seven previous nominations, and he would be nominated a ninth and final time for Road to Perdition. Many call this a "gold watch" Oscar, an honor for a body of work instead of the performance - but good Heavens, it's not like the performance is lacking! Still, it was a formidable slate of competitors: jazz musician Dexter Gordon making his acting debut in 'Round Midnight, Bob Hoskins as a whore's chauffeur in Mona Lisa, the previous year's Best Actor Oscar Winner William Hurt as a speech therapist for the deaf and hard-of-hearing in Children of a Lesser God, and James Woods as real life photojournalist Richard Boyle in Salvador.

Let's talk about them, shall we?

Class of '86: Shirley MacLaine's Spaceship and Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay was the first award presented this Oscar night, before host Chevy Chase even took the stage for his opening monologue! Instead, it was preceded by "Crocodile" Dundee star (and Best Original Screenplay nominee) Paul Hogan giving the traditional "keep the speeches short" warning - I watched it last week, but for some reason, the Oscars official YouTube page has taken it down. All that remains is his confusion about where to exit at the beginning of the Writing Oscars presentation, a prelude to further insanity:

It is legit crazy that Shirley MacLaine exited a UFO to present screenwriting awards. Her face when she exits! That cut to the crowd with Jane Fonda looking up into the audience as though to ask, "Who is laughing?" Then, God bless, Shirley's joking about writing and cave-painting and Hollywood. And then, the wall of nominees that looks like it should light up like a game board but does not.

Anyway, James Ivory accepts for Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, writer of A Room with a View. Deservedly? Read on, after the jump....

Class of '86: A Song, Some Dance, and Best Supporting Actress

The year is 1987, but the year being honored is 1986. That was the year the Challenger exploded, the year the People Power Revolution ousted Ferdinand Marcos and his wife from power, the year of the Chernobyl disaster. The Legend of Zelda made its debut, Geraldo opened Al Capone's vault, The Phantom of the Opera opened in London, and The Oprah Winfrey Show began airing in syndication. Oh, and Oliver North started shredding documents related to the Iran-Contra affair (where's that movie, by the way?).

In Oscar Land, meanwhile, we had other concerns. Like, is it possible to acknowledge with a wink and a nudge the crassness of the ceremony in the 80s, how it's been reduced to yet another dog-and-pony betting pool? Honey, not only is that a yes - you can sing about it:

But goodness, we are not gathered here today to talk musical numbers performed by Kojak, Arnold, and Burt Reynolds' BFF. Today, we talk about Best Supporting Actress. And honey, it was all about family this year: Southern cousins who don't get along, distant mothers honestly trying to give intimacy a shot, lonely English relatives who won't stop reminding you how sad they are, neurotic New York sisters who trade husbands - and, just for some variety, a hard-bitten girlfriend with secrets and pluck.

But there can only be one winner...

What kind of order is that for nominees, by the way? It's not alphabetical by name, nor by film title. It's like they picked it out of a hat. Meanwhile, Wiest does well by her co-stars and her character, thanking the members of her fictional immediate family: parents first, then the sister she gets along with, then Hannah herself.

Was Wiest the right choice? Let's talk, after the jump...

1986: Another 10

Another week, another ten films screened from the year 1986 - it's happening all month long, and on into the next. Journey with me...

My Beautiful Laundrette

dir: Stephen Frears

scr: Hanif Kureishi

Oscar Nominee: Best Original Screenplay

Raises the biggest question I've faced so far: would I rather spit champagne into Gordon Warnecke's mouth, or have Daniel Day-Lewis spit it into mine? I'd accept either, as I would a copy of the idiosyncratic score.

[nine more after the jump]