By John H. Foote
In what looks increasingly how things will play out on Oscar night, there was were no real surprises at the Screen Actor Guild Awards last night in any of the film awards.
Laura Dern was a popular winner for her tough lawyer in Marriage Story, while Brad Pitt brought the house down with a superb acceptance speech making fun of himself when he took Best Supporting Actor for his popular role in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.
Renee Zellweger continues to rack up awards for her riveting performance as icon Judy Garland at the end of her career in Judy. Zellweger, away from films for a time, has made a huge comeback with this triumphant performance.
Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor for his stunning performance in the title role of Joker. Phoenix has been burning up the awards circuit along with the Zellweger since things got rolling in December and seems poised to win the Oscar next month.
Parasite, the very popular film from South Korea, won the award for Best Ensemble, while the Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon Robert De Niro.
The road to Oscar continues for all the winners.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
