Oscar gets it right

I predicted it a few months ago, and I'm happy to have been right: this is the best Oscar race in memory.

My top three films are up for Best Picture, and a fourth nominee is my #9. I haven't seen the other film (Michael Clayton) but I very much want to, and by all accounts it is a worthy contender — and not the sort of cringe-worthy stuff the Academy sometimes goes for.

My two biggest disappointments are the lack of nominees for Zodiac, without a doubt one of the year's best films, and the complete shut-out of Judd Apatow, who did such great work this year in different roles (writer, director, producer) on three great films (Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk the Line — I'm taking Amy and Dana's word on the worthiness of the latter).

The biggest snub — Jonny Greenwood in the Original Score category — turns out to have been a matter of eligibility. The Academy deemed his score ineligible because it contained elements of other composers' work. Yeah, yeah... whatever. I hope Michael Giacchino (who was snubbed for his extraordinary score for The Incredibles) picks up the award this time for his teriffic work on Ratatouille).

Nice to see Once get a nod for Original Song, though they could have had several nominated. Those songs were much better than the cute showtunes of Enchanted.

If I had my way, the winners from this group would be: No Country For Old Men for Best Picture and Director, Ellen Page for Best Actress, Daniel Day Lewis for Best Actor, Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor and Amy Ryan for Best Supporting Actress. Juno and There Will Be Blood would win the screenplay Oscars. No Country would take Cinematography and Editing and anything having to do with Sound. Ratatouille would win Score and Animated Film. No End in Sight would take Best Documentary. And the show would actually be written and broadcast because the strike was over.

There Will Be Blood

Date: January 19
Location: Muvico Palace

Paul Thomas Anderson has cemented his place as the finest filmmaker of his very talented generation with this extraordinary, mesmerizing turn-of-the-century saga about a sociopathic oil man's descent into hell. The most impressive thing about Anderson's work in There Will Be Blood is how little it resembles anything he's ever done before — it has none of the hip Scorsese stylings of Boogie Nights, none of the Altmanesque cross-cutting or brazen sentimentality of Magnolia. Instead it is a very straightforward (lack of) morality tale that brings to mind Citizen Kane more than anything else.

Plenty has been written about Daniel Day Lewis' wonderful work as Daniel Plainview — he is, and has been, among the finest actors alive, and he's doing his best work here. And just as much has been written about Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's amazing score. Anderson has always used music splendidly, from the 70s radio hits of Boogie Nights to Aimee Mann's song-score of Magnolia, and here he's allowed Greenwood to craft a score that practically becomes a character in the film. If he loses the Oscar, there's no justice.

I have no doubt that Anderson has crafted an American classic that will be watched, written about and studied decades from now. I personally gravitate more toward Boogie Nights and Magnolia, which have a brazen pop sensibility that I thrive on, but I'm blown away by the powerful classicism he taps here.

Once again, I'm thrilled at what a wonderful year for movies 2007 has turned out to be — the best of the decade so far, by far. It's interesting that my top six contains three dark, brutal, pessimistic films and three that are lighter than air. As for why There Will Be Blood wound up at #3, despite the "best of the year" level praise I've heaped on it — in a nutshell, when I walked out of No Country For Old Men, I immediately wanted to watch it again... when I walked out of There Will Be Blood, I immediately wanted to watch Juno.

Eastern Promises

Date: January 15
Location: Clifton Living Room

What a great year for movies this has been. So great that this powerful, absorbing crime thriller can't crack my top ten. Viggo Mortensen gives one of the year's best performances as a driver for the Russian mob caught up in some particularly messy business. Everybody talks about the naked steamroom fight scene, and it is indeed a doozy, but it's just one aspect of the extraordinary physicality Mortensen brings to this role. Between this film and A History of Violence it seems Cronenberg has found the De Niro to his Scorsese.

Overlooked Performances - Best Supporting Actress

The front-runners in this category are Cate Blanchett (absolutely deserving for her brilliant turn in I'm Not There) and Amy Ryan (equally deserving for her amazing character work in Gone Baby Gone). Also getting a lot of mention are Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), Saoirse Ronan and Vanessa Redgrave (both from Atonement). I have no problem with the first two — I haven't seen Swinton's film and Ronan was haunting in hers — but Redgrave's inclusion is a head-scratcher. She appears in Atonement for about five minutes total and, while she's quite moving, it's simply not "best of" fare. Ruby Dee (American Gangster) is also in the mix, along with Catherine Keener (Into the Wild), Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) and Jennifer Garner (Juno).

OK, that's all fine and good. But what about these four women, who I've yet to see given serious award consideration?

Allison Janney - Juno

She has a small role and fifth billing behind a quartet of amazing performers, but Janney still manages to steal just about every scene she's in. Funny, strong and smart, she plays the most sympathetic stepmom in recent memory.

Kelly MacDonald - No Country for Old Men

In a movie all about the evil (and good) men do, it was the woman who best embodied the film's soul. Forget for a moment that MacDonald has a thick Scottish brogue and somehow pulls off an authentic Texas accent — reward her depiction in just a few scenes of a character so innocent, devoted and tenacious that she proves herself tougher than all the tough guys circling her.

Leslie Mann - Knocked Up

In the year's funniest film, Mann delivered big laughs and quite a bit of drama, particularly in her 'driveway' fight scene with Paul Rudd as well as her meltdown outside a nightclub. With the film's runaway success, she once seemed like a sure thing for a nomination, but the trail has gone cold.

Tabu - The Namesake

This role could also be classified as a lead, as The Namesake is the mother's story even more than the titular young man's. Gorgeous Indian actress Tabu traces Ashima's path from an innocent experiencing America for the first time to the matriarch of a proud Indian-American family, before retiring to the simple life she always longed for. Beautiful work.

Golden Globes make things interesting

While the Golden Globes "ceremony" was pretty laughable (it consisted of Mary Hart and her cohorts reading the nominees and winners on a cheesy stage for all of 30 minutes) the results threw a bit of a wrench into the Oscar works.

The Globes really spread the wealth, handing out two wins apiece to a handful of films (Atonement, No Country For Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Sweeney Todd). The Best Picture winners were Atonement, getting a needed boost as its Oscar chances have been sagging recently, and Sweeney Todd, which has a fair chance at the Oscar.

Juno was "hurt" the most, losing not only the Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) category but in screenplay and Best Actress as well. However, the film is tearing up the box office, it's the one light film in the mix and it should appeal more to the Academy membership than the foreign press, so I'm guessing its Oscar chances are still quite good.

The biggest shock of the night was Best Director going to Julian Schnabel over the Coen Brothers — again something that can be chalked up to the foreigners voting for one of their own. This bodes well for Schnabel's chance at a Best Director Oscar nod and could mean the film itself has a chance.

The acting awards were more predictable, with Daniel Day Lewis, Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett and Javier Bardem taking home trophies. My guess is at least three of those winners take home the Oscar as well.

Paris Je T'aime

Date: January 12
Location: Clifton Living Room

It's been a good year for short films, from Wes Anderson's quirky Hotel Chevalier to Pixar's comic alien abduction film, Lifted and most notably, this collection of 18 short film by 21 directors, each set in a different Parisian neighborhood. Every one is worthy, and some are close to divine. My favorites were Tom Twyker's hyperactive look at a young romance starring Natalie Portman, Alfonso Cuaron's one-take street conversation with a twist starring Nick Nolte and Ludivine Sagnier, and Alexander Payne's deadpan love letter to Paris by a clumsily-accented American mail carrier abroad. The Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Walter Salles and a bunch of directors I'm not familiar with also turn in memorable films. The film works best as a sort of mix-CD of wonderful short films — and taken as a whole it's a splendid travelogue for the City of Lights (almost as effective as Ratatouille in that regard).

Writers and Directors Guild nominees

Over the past few days, the writers and directors have chimed in with their nominees for outstanding work in 2007. The director nominees often match up closely with the Oscars... the writers not so much.

One curious bit of information: A mistake by the writers guild led them to post the nominees in order of total votes, so the lists below reflect the descending degree of passion in the guilds for those titles. Good news for Diablo Cody and the Coen Brothers.

At this point, it looks like No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood are positioned very well for Best Picture nominations. Juno, too, is likely to show up there.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 22. I will solicit contest entries about a week before then.

ORIGINAL SCRENPLAY
Diablo Cody - Juno
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Tamara Jenkins - The Savages
Judd Apatow - Knocked Up
Nancy Oliver - Lars and the Real Girl

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Coens - No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sean Penn - Into The Wild
James Vanderbilt - Zodiac

DIRECTION
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
The Coen Brothers - No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Savages

Date: January 9
Location: Clifton Living Room

A sharp, downbeat little film that features two of the best actors working today, The Savages is easy to appreciate but hard to love. Phillip Seymour Hoffman turns in his third award-worthy performance of 2008 as a son dealing with his father's deteriorating mental health. Laura Linney, as his sister, is equally good in the showier role. These two should be in every movie released — they're that good. As for the film itself, I respected what it was doing and I found it very real and often quite powerful. But I can't imagine ever popping it into my DVD player again, and that hurts it a bit in my rankings.

Juno

Date: January 1
Location: Muvico Boynton Beach

I remember reading the Entertainment Weekly Fall Preview a few months back and at the end of the section for each month they had a little "Also coming out this month" blurb where they listed a bunch of titles not deemed worthy of more expansive coverage. Tucked away in there was Juno, wchich caught my eye because it starred three of my favorite actors — Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. 'That's interesting,' I thought. 'Will probably have to catch up with it on DVD.'

Cut to a few months later, and this little film is on dozens of top ten lists, it's lighting up the box office in limited release and it's considered a shoo-in for Oscar nominations in the screenplay and actress categories, with Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress in its sights. It just goes to show you, sometimes a movie can cut through the white noise and find its rightful spot in the conversation.

The movie this gem most reminds me of is Rushmore, one of my all-time favorites. It has a similar seasonal structure (complete with title cards), careful and witty shot composition, a Brit-pop soundtrack and — most important — a precocious, witty, wise-beyond-his/her-years teenage protagonist who is really masking a deep well of insecurity. Ellen Page's Juno McGuff is the female descendant of Max Fischer, and joins him in the pantheon of great cinematic characters. (She also represents the second such addition to the pantheon in 2007, joining Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men).

Page gives what may well be the performance of the year (look out, Marion Cotillard), selling the bracingly clever dialogue as completely authentic and heartfelt. Much credit, certainly, goes to Diablo Cody for penning the whip-smart script, but it's hard to imagine another actress embodying Juno like this. Cera, as always, has perfect timing and delivery. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are exceptional, in roles that are subtly different from anything either has tried before. And J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney, as Juno's parents, are funny, touching and real.

In addition to delivering huge laughs (Juno's introduction to lawyer Gerta Rauss produced my biggest guffaw of the year), the film is wonderful and surprising in a dozen different ways. The plot takes unpredictable turns that feel just right — I can't remember being so blissfully unaware of where a film was taking me. The path of Jennifer Garner's character, in particular, is unexpectedly touching.

And to cap it all off, the opening credits alone are worthy of a short film Oscar and two Belle & Sebastian tunes are featured on the superb soundtrack. Start to finish, this film is a treat. I can't wait to see it again.