Richard Jewell - 1 nomination

Supporting Actress - Kathy Bates

Richard Jewell follows the investigation following the bombing at the 1996 Olympics.  The central character, Richard, is an overly zealous security guard for hire.  He's had a difficult history in law enforcement, and has lost a series of jobs for overstepping his grounds.  He gets a job on the security team at the Olympics in Atlanta, and he is in heaven.  One night, he discovers a backpack loaded with a pipe bomb and works with the police to clear the area and save as many lives as he can.  He is lauded as a hero.  Until the FBI gets involved, sees his history, and begins to suspect that Jewell has planted the bomb himself so that he can save everyone and become a hero to the nation.  When an overly aggressive member of the media learns that Jewell is being investigated, she rushes to leak it to the world so that she and her publication will be first in the race to reveal what happened.  In the film, it is portrayed that she seduces an FBI agent to get this information, and if that's not true, I'd like to thank Clint Eastwood for the incredibly sexist portrayal of a woman who can only use sex to get the job done.  (If it's the truth, I'll apologize to Mr. Eastwood; if it's not, he can go screw.  No film would ever portray a male reporter attempting to seduce someone in order to get a story.  I guess that's the only way women can succeed.) . Thankfully, Richard has a relationship with an amazing lawyer who works tirelessly on Jewell's behalf, ultimately proving that the FBI had no case.

Kathy Bates plays Jewell's mother, and boy, is she her amazing, talented self in this film.  She is emotional, subdued, scared, proud, all the things a mother can be in this kind of situation.  I was not thrilled to see it, and only saw the movie because of the Oscars nomination.  After watching the movie, I did agree that she deserves the recognition; she was superb.  (And by the way, the entire cast was excellent.)

The film was fine.  Not great.  Not terrible.  Certainly not Oscars material.  If we are somehow now supposed to believe that this case is the epitome of our law enforcement agencies and the media, I don't buy it.  No question, Jewell's story deserves to be told, and the mismanagement on all ends is undeniable.  But the FBI never gets to tell its side of the story to the public.  The best of this film is that I'm certainly intrigued as to what was real and what was invented to make it an interesting story.  Here's a book I found upon which the movie is based, though I really love to read (though I'll never get to) the account from the FBI.

Here's the trailer: