Monthly Archives: January 2008

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.