Russell Crowe   Richard Farnsworth   Sean Penn   Kevin Spacey   Denzel Washington

Best actor

The nominees: Russell Crowe, "The Insider"; Richard Farnsworth, "The Straight Story"; Sean Penn, "Sweet and Lowdown"; Kevin Spacey, "American Beauty"; and Denzel Washington, "The Hurricane."

A very strong category. Each actor deserves his nomination, and recognizing Farnsworth's elegiac work in such an unassuming little film is a surprisingly insightful move on the Academy's part.

Crowe and Penn can both forget it. No one saw their movies, and Crowe's performance, especially, is low on attention-grabbing razzle-dazzle.

That leaves Spacey and Washington. Both men have won before, and it's been widely acknowledged that Spacey got the shaft when he was ignored for his gracefully nasty turn in 1997's "L.A. Confidential." Washington, on the other hand, is as consistently powerful as any actor in the business, and he's the only reason to sit through "The Hurricane."

I think Washington will win, but it's a coin toss since Spacey appeared in what amounts to an angry cartoon, a concept that slower voters can immediately grasp.

My vote: Denzel Washington. Spacey is fantastic, but he's on the verge of doing Kevin Spacey shtick. Washington's rage is more believable.

Where is he? It would have been easy to skip over Penn in favor of Bruce Willis, whose deceptive, muted work in "The Sixth Sense" added immensely to that film's unnerving tone. But let Penn have his nomination. He didn't get one last year for "Hurlyburly," and he deserved to win the whole thing. » Next category