Of Particular Interest

Oscar Contenders Open at Last

   Finally, this week, audiences will have the chance to see the much-hyped, much buzzed Oscar contenders. Friday, December 21 brings two big Oscar movies — Ron Howard’s critically acclaimed “A Beautiful Mind,” based on the life of John Nash, and Frank Darabont’s Jim Carrey starrer, “The Majestic,” an unashamedly Capra-esque film about a blacklisted writer who wakes up one day in a town that believes he’s a missing war hero.
   Both films take us back to a more innocent, yet somehow more sinister time in America, when brilliant scientists were being used for defense and writers were blacklisted for being (or not being) communists.
   While both films are expected to be major contenders, Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind” is the film that’s expected to be the frontrunner. “A Beautiful Mind” opens only at the AMC Century 14 and the Avco General Cinema Westwood.
   Christmas Day brings Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down,” and Miramax’s “The Shipping News,” as well the release of Todd Field’s “In the Bedroom” to a wider market. “In the Bedroom” is already sweeping most of the critics’ lists and is expected to be a major player come Oscar time, particularly in the acting department. Other films being released just under the wire to qualify for Academy consideration (most of them for only a brief two-week run) include: “I Am Sam,” starring Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer; Gillian Armstrong’s “Charlotte Gray,” Billy Bob Thornton in “Monster’s Ball,” and Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park.”