Posted: January 27Updated: Today at 3:12 AM

MARY THERESE BIEBEL

After she watched a feisty maid give a mean-spirited society woman her comeuppance in “the help,” Yvonne Cooper of Tunkhannock walked out of the theater feeling certain.

“I thought, that lady who made that pie (Octavia Spencer, as Minny) should get Supporting Actress. She was awesome.”

Cooper, 70, is one of several savvy movie buffs who correctly predicted last year’s top Oscar winners in a Times Leader contest, and she typically bases her opinions on films she has just seen.

But, she admits, just as emotion and memories of an actor’s achievements likely influence voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, they carry weight with her as well.

“I loved Christopher Plummer in ‘the Sound of Music,’ ” she said, hinting she’d favor Plummer to win the Supporting Actor category for his role in “Beginners,” in which he portrays an older man finally coming out of the closet during his sunset years.

If you saw “Beginners” in Northeastern Pennsylvania, by the way, chances are it was during the 2011 Fall Film Festival at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock.

and if you’d like to see Glenn Close’s cross-dressing, Oscar-nominated performance in “Albert Nobbs,” which was released in major markets early last year, you may have to wait for another film festival to see it on the large screen.

“We’re trying to get that one,” said Jennifer Jenkins, director of theater arts at the Dietrich.

Meanwhile, as cinema fans await the Academy Awards presentation, which will air Feb. 26 on ABC, they can reflect on a year of films and just how good, or not so good, they may have been.

“It was awful. It made no sense whatsoever,” Elizabeth Parrish, 69, of Hanover Township said, describing “the Tree of Life.” She’s mystified as to how that movie received a best Picture nomination, alongside “the Artist,” “the Descendants,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “the help,” “Hugo,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Moneyball” and “War Horse.”

“I don’t think the caliber of films this year was as good as it usually is,” she said, giving “the Descendants” credit for “fabulous” Hawaiian music in its soundtrack but calling the movie itself “mediocre.”

“I loved ‘War Horse,’ ” she said. “I think it’s a touching movie, but I don’t think it’s necessarily an Awards movie, just a feel-good movie.”

Parrish, who also correctly predicted last year’s top Oscar winners in the Times Leader contest, expects to hear good things about “Hugo” this year. “any time Martin Scorsese is involved, that carries some weight,” she said.

She joins fellow-winner Cooper in praising “the help,” and she’d like to see Viola Davis (who played Aibileen) win for best Actress. but then Parrish has always liked Meryl Streep, too, and Streep has been nominated for her performance in “the Iron Lady.”

Decisions, decisions.

But it’s all fun.

As Cooper said, going to the movies offers “a little bit of an escape; it shows you how other people live.

“ I really like when a film is based on a true story,” she said earlier this week, as she and her daughter headed out to catch “we Bought a Zoo.”

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