the zeitgeist report

A beautiful photo gallery of the significant players in the films of 2005 from the NYTimes:

Around this time of year, acting in movies starts to feel like a kind of athletic event, with prizes awarded to the winners while the losers are reduced to being glamorous extras on televised award show after televised award show. By the time of the Academy Awards, which this year will take place on March 5, the spirit of the contest seems to take precedence over artistic achievement. This year, as in the previous two, The New York Times Magazine has tried to eschew this notion of competition by saluting the performances that moved, surprised and thrilled us, regardless of whether they were nominated for awards.

Reese Witherspoon seems to embody the spirit of the times as much as anyone -- she is funny, serious when she has to be, making an apperant good faith effort at having a "normal" family and she is probably smarter than she lets on.

Several of the actors have been drawn upon by the photographers.