The Oscar race wouldn't be decided by how many "For Your Consideration" ads the studio could buy in the Hollywood trade papers. It wouldn't be affected by appearances on Leno (something the Writers Guild of America's strike has seriously hampered).
No, critics would decide on the one criteria that matters: What's up on the screen.
Of course, critics aren't perfect, and memories can be faulty. That's why it's a tradition among members of the Utah Film Critics Association for each member to make a "reminder" list, to jog other critics' memories of movies and performances that may have been forgotten over time.
Here's my "reminder" list in the four acting categories, which I hope both my fellow critics in Utah and Oscar voters will heed as the Oscar campaigns heat up.
Best Actor
* Ryan Gosling, "Lars and the Real Girl" - Not since Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" has an actor conveyed such emotion without making eye contact.
* Emile Hirsch, "Into the Wild" - Hirsch did the reverse-DeNiro, losing weight to portray wanderer Chris McCandless on his journey from suburban depression to the rough outdoors of Alaska. But it's Hirsch's emotive face that makes you want to join McCandless on his road trip.
* Michael Shannon, "Bug" - Shannon, as a delusional man dragging Ashley Judd into a spiral of psychotic self-destruction, tears up the screen in William Friedkin's little-seen thriller.
Best Actress
* Julie Christie, "Away From Her" - Christie won the Oscar for "Darling" in 1965, but her heartbreaking portrayal of an Alzheimer's patient rejecting her husband is worth another one.
* Marketa Irglova, "Once" - The Czech musician-songwriter, plaintively singing alongside Irish singer Glen Hansard, is the quiet heart and soul of this unique musical.
* Keri Russell, "Waitress" - A long way from "Felicity," Russell radiates charm and common sense as a pie-making waitress juggling pregnancy, an abusive husband and a crush on her obstretician.
Best Supporting Actor
* Robert Downey Jr., "Zodiac" - Sure, playing a coked-out reporter may seem like muscle memory for Downey, but he electrifies every scene of this police-procedural thriller.
* Ben Foster, "3:10 to Yuma" - It's easy to give supporting-actor nods to the guy who acts the craziest, but the wild-eyed insanity of Foster's outlaw character is in its own orbit.
* Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton" - As the lawyer with a troubled conscience, Wilkinson's soulful performance provides the humanity that prods George Clooney's title character into action and soul-searching.
Best Supporting Actress
* Leslie Mann, "Knocked Up" - Mann, as the married-with-kids sister to Katherine Heigl's pregnant single gal, is the funniest voice of maturity you've ever heard (not to mention the inspiration for director-writer Judd Apatow, her husband).
* Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" - A Broadway actress relatively unknown to moviegoers, Ryan is dynamic as the hard-living neglectful mom whose daughter goes missing.
* Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton" - Her jittery portrayal of a duplicitous corporate attorney (oops - a redundancy) chills you to the bone, and her confrontation with Clooney is one of the best endings in a movie this year.
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* SEAN P. MEANS writes the daily blog, "The Movie Cricket," at blogs.sltrib.com/movies. Send questions or comments to Sean P. Means, movie critic, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, or e-mail at movies@sltrib.com.
