In the Valley of Elah

Date: February 27
Location: Clifton Living Room

The Paul Haggis Redemption Tour continues. To make up for the atrocity that was Crash, Haggis first co-wrote the screenplay of 2006's excellent Casino Royale — a strong move, but he was a hired gun so it didn't quite count. In the Valley of Elah, however, is a full-blown return to auteur mode, and it's a splendid one. This is an anti-war film disguised as a murder mystery, anchored by a beautifully understated (and deservedly Oscar-nominated) performance by Tommy Lee Jones. Jones is the perfect actor for Haggis. He's incapable of insincerity. He plays a weary ex-military man, the father of an AWOL soldier, with such grit and dignity that he never becomes a conduit for Haggis' message. The message is there, no doubt, but it is completely earned. Charlize Theron does nice work as the detective working alongside Jones and small supporting roles by Jason Patric, Josh Brolin (what a year he had!) and James Franco all hit the right note. Once again I'm staggered by how strong a year 2007 was, and here's the latest example.

Best. Oscars. Ever.

The show itself was just fine. Shorter than usual, some nice speeches, a truly special moment when Marketa Irglova came back to deliver her lovely speech, some great jokes from John Stewart (the Norbit one was a favorite of mine).

But that's not why these were the best Oscars ever. No, it was because of the winners. If you had asked me for my personal Oscar lineup, regardless of the official nominees, I would have said this:

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Best Director: The Coen Brothers
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard
Best S. Actor: Javier Bardem
Best S. Actress: Amy Ryan
Best O. Screenplay: Juno
Best A. Screenplay: No Country For Old Men

So as you can see, the official winners matched my dream lineup in 7 of 8 cases. That has never happened. I have trouble even remembering a year when the Best Picture matched my #1 film (Schindler's List is the only one that leaps to mind) let alone almost all the major awards.

I am happiest about Marion Cotillard, who pulled off the one real upset of the night. I found Julie Christie wonderful in Away From Her, and I have a real soft spot for Ellen Page's great Juno performance, but Cotillard's work was transformative in the same way Daniel Day Lewis' was. And boy, is she ever cute.

I was also happy to win this year's small prize — which I can now reveal is a loaded Jaguar XF.

Across the Universe

Date: February 22
Location: Clifton Living Room

This goes down as one of the very pleasant surprises of the 2008 movie year. I'd read so many pans of this film that I expected a train wreck, good for some unintentional laughs. Instead I found it to be clever, earnest and lovely. Most of the credit belongs to The Beatles — honestly, how can you go wrong filling a movie start to finish with some of the best music ever committed to record? The versions of the classic songs performed here are wonderful, without exception. Who knew Evan Rachel Wood had such a hauntingly beautiful singing voice? All the performers (most of whom are unknowns) are impressive. And Julie Taymor, definitely one of the finest visual directors working today, pulls out all the stops — the film very much resembles Moulin Rouge in its go-for-broke heart-on-its-sleeve showiness. It has some cornball moments, and the naive kids lose their innocence in the age of Vietnam plot is a bit of a cliche, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Date: February 12
Location: Clifton Living Room

2007 could be remembered as the year of the Western, with astonishing films such as No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood topping critics lists and the Oscars. This gorgeous, meditative tale continues that trend. It's a shame it was lost in the mix (save for Casey Affleck's much-deserved Best Supporting Actor nomination). I've read and heard much criticism that the film is too "slow" — and I can see that, up to a point. It is definitely long, and more concerned with talk than action. But I was riveted from the first frame to the last.

The movie reminded me a lot of the book Manhunt, about the events surrounding Abraham Lincoln's assassination. It has a fascinating attention to detail, both of the period and of the circumstances surrounding James' murder. The events that follow the assassination were particularly fascinating (and new) to me.

Finally, major kudos to cinematographer Roger Deakins, whose work here is at least on par with his amazing work on No Country For Old Men. Deakins has been nominated by the Academy for both films and it will be a crime if he cancels himself out and the trophy goes to somebody else.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Date: February 5
Location: Clifton Living Room

Over the past several years, there's been a trend of great documentaries about the incredible competition and fascinating characters found in "geek sports" — spelling in Spellbound, crossword puzzles in Wordplay and now old-school video gaming in The King of Kong. This one could be the best of them, largely because it focuses on a single hero and a single villain locked in a heart-pounding battle for that ultimate prize, the highest score in Donkey Kong. At times it plays more like a work of fiction than a documentary — one player is so clearly the protagonist that the filmmakers even play the Rocky theme to highlight his comeback. It's great fun, but at the same time I wonder if they didn't go a bit far. Surely the "villain" isn't as cartoonish as he's portrayed here. And isn't it the responsibility of documentary filmmakers to deliver something close to the truth? That's a debate worth having, but this is a wonderful film regardless.