I think one of the main reasons they get so many Oscar nominations is that those roles require more actual acting. sure you could point out that theres a gimmick to the ‘impression’ element of it that gives it an unfair edge, but the people in them have to actually, well, act, instead of just being a variation of themself as is often the case in most movies. Theres more to bite into, the roles are bigger and more important, and in the case of some of the better ones I could mention, theres some depth/something to say that makes it more than just the story of a persons life.

Gandhi is a full story of his life, but theres so much about the pressure of one person being followed by so many who will follow his every word, but also distort or ruin what he meant to acheive, and Kingsley is doing more than an impression there – he’s a completely different person, and it works.

In the Queen that role was so damn juicy, Mirren had the only true STAR role of the ones nominated, and the story there focused on just one time in her life and the divide between tradition and the modern world.

Hoffman in Capote is so damn depressing, just again covering one part of his life and the conflict between personal relationships and the value of his craft. I mean, “Infamous” actually has the better Capote ‘impression’ going on, but Hoffman is considered the better of the two performances for the other things he brought to the table.

As for “Ray”, well… hmmm… its not as important a role, but Foxx really did an amazing job that felt more than a gimmick. His performance is light years above the value of the actual movie. Taylor Hackford did a shitty job directing, and if he got nominated for it than its a crime, because it is as cheesy and throwing on fake importance to the very extent Jay would expect it would. Lots of bad flashbacks to force emotion. I would say though, that although the world didnt change because of Ray, I’d suggest that Charles did really have more impact on the music industry than a lot of the other music biopics and documentaries claim of their own subjects. Charles’ impact wasnt a temporary trend, and he isnt just important for being the first person to change gospel music into soul.

The other major oscar stereotypes of course are that if you play a retarded person or someone going through the holocaust that you will get a nom… but I think it would be unfair to say Adrien Brody should be on one of your top 5’s to represent the entire practice of awarding for that sort of thing.

Great show overall, the actor/director thing was well explored.

A good movie opens with about a 6000-10000 per-screen average. NO COUNTRY? 43000!