Star Support
Politics mingle with lawlessness, A crisis of conscience squares up against a killer without, and an old man is left feeling all alone.Four of this years nominees represent that movie's only acting nomination - A testament to the value of a good supporting star? - We think so.
Tom Wilkinson, Hal Holbrook and Philip Seymour Hoffman are all eternally watchable thesps, but 2008's battle is a two-header between Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men and Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
The Assassination of Jesse James... was last year's finest film and No Country for Old Men is shaping up to be this year's, largely due in both cases to the performances of Bardem and Affleck.
Playing very different killers, their electrifying performances from both steal the films from under the noses of more established actors - in Affleck's case no less a star than Brad Pitt.
Both attack the roles with relish, but resist overplaying, transforming their psychos into complex, layered and memorable characters to treasure.
Both are also well served by excellent scripts with the beauty lying in the wordless moments of shiver-down-the- spine brilliance: Affleck wrestling with oceans of conflicting emotion before turning the gun on his hero, and Bardem patching his wounds after a gunfight.
Cannes' Palme D'or has occasionally been awarded to two movies of equal high merit - this year it would be understandable for the Academy to follow suit.
Just hope the Academy doesn't go all contrary and snub Bardem and Affleck altogether, or that they base their decision on the fact that pronunciation of Jesse James' full title twice would mean bumping an ad break.
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James
The younger Affleck steps into the limelight as the dangerous obsessive who did for the legendary outlaw.
Married to Summer Phoenix, brother of the late River Phoenix, Affleck is a noted animal rights activist and a vegan who has campaigned for PETA.
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
With a haircut as terrifying as his icy temperament, the Spanish actor's unstoppable hitman is an unflinching example of murderous intent.
The youngest member of a family of actors, Bardem's first role came at the age of six with the film The Scoundrel.
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
The man who was Capote steals the show as a shady CIA spook helping to broker a covert war in Afghanistan.
Known for injecting life into a number of supporting roles, Hoffman was handed his big break when he was spotted stacking shelves.
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
The veteran TV star gets a shot at glory late in life as the lonely desert dweller who befriends a young drifter in Sean Penn's wilderness drama.
The son of a vaudeville dancer, Holbrook served in the US Army and made his big screen debut in 1966 in Sidney Lumet's drama The Group.
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
The British stalwart is the conscience-stricken litigator whose actions have deadly repercussions in the slick legal thriller
Although this is his second Oscar nomination the actor from Leeds is probably best for his appearance in cheeky Brit-com, The Full Monty.
