The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, February 7

Hello, everyone!

Nike’s been busy.

Ramble of the Day

As has become custom for the Hoddle under my leadership, we’ve made it to the annual Oscars ramble. I will opine about the top categories, and of course, this is also an invitation for you all to do the same if you’d like to. (For reference: the list of this year’s nominees.)

Best Picture

As always for me, it’s a group of films I really liked and ones I didn’t (and as always, I’d include some over others, but we’re not having that conversation today). My top four, in alphabetical order: 1917, Little Women, Marriage Story, and Parasite. My favorite of this bunch, of the movies I saw in 2019, and now one of my top films of all time is Parasite. I’ll offer no spoilers but admit my enduring appreciation of the film. It’s as unique as they come, earned its status as a global sensation, and is a filmmaking masterpiece that will stand the test of time.

Best Director

I’m always going to pick the person who directed my favorite movie, so it’s Bong Joon-ho for me.

Best Actress

This is probably the most underwhelmed by a group of nominees in one category that I’ve ever felt — my favorite lead actress performance of the year, Lupita Nyong’o in Us, didn’t make the cut. I’m stuck between Cynthia Erivo in Harriet and Renée Zellweger in Judy, both who acted in imperfect films (especially the case for Judy) but really impressed individually. I’ll pick Zellweger, who needed to show a bit more range than Erivo did, and really nailed it.

Best Actor

I have not seen The Two Popes, though I will by the time the awards are doled out, but I can’t speak for it currently. It’s a really impressive group of contenders, though, especially considering some of the very good performances that didn’t make the cut. My top two are Adam Driver in Marriage Story and Antonio Banderas in Pain and Glory; both really broke my heart. If I have to painfully pick one over the other, I’ll go with Banderas — he’s so gripping in this story about a man who (spoiler alert?) goes from struggling to find a way to live to one who does eventually find them, and the movie is a must-watch for its beauty.

Best Supporting Actress

Like The Two Popes, I haven’t seen Richard Jewell, though this one I won’t catch in time (and also may never watch as a result). I really liked the work of Laura Dern in Marriage Story, Scarlett Johansson in Jojo Rabbit, and Florence Pugh in Little Women (who really steals the show in that one, in my eyes). My pick is Dern; it’s a role that I think others would have left sort of flat, but she really brought to life and fleshed her out perfectly. (This is partly because of Noah Baumbach’s script and direction, but of course Laura Dern can do these things). She deserves to be have the Academy Award winner title before her name, and proved so with this role (and just about all her others, really).

Best Supporting Actor

Again, I currently can’t speak for The Two Popes, but I more or less liked the work of everyone else. I was particularly impressed by The Irishman’s Al Pacino, but I think (at least in part) it’s because I’m not actually that familiar with his work. I also really loved Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood; I didn’t think I would at first, but I feel like he really did the work to be this really earnest man, which might be Hanks’s inclination, but Mr. Rogers isn’t actually his default. I’ll give the edge to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Brad Pitt, especially after reading this Vulture piece about how Pitt is so good at particularly complicated characters.

tl;dr: Parasite, Bong Joon-ho, Renée Zellweger, Antonio Banderas, Laura Dern, and Brad Pitt are my Oscars favorites.

Links of the Day

The Premier League will now extend any stadium bans issued to fans to league-wide bans.

Bournemouth gave a 17-year-old a lifetime ban after he admitted to shouting racist abuse during a match against Tottenham this season.

Wolverhampton banned a fan for four years after he racially abused Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham.

Serie A side Verona will give stewards small cameras in an effort to combat racism.

Today’s longer read: Suzanne Wrack interviews West Ham’s Gilly Flaherty battle with mental health and overcoming her struggles for The Guardian