 "Photo: Ryan Littman-Quinn and Michael Saldarriaga")
The Oscars are back! Even though the writer's strike led to the cancellation of the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards will still be held as planned, with Jon Stewart as the host again. Although both actress categories and a few others are up for grabs, all the other categories are already pretty much determined. For the first time since Lord of the Rings swept everything four years ago, there is a very clear frontrunner that has dominated all the precursor awards, No Country for Old Men. This frontrunner and the true darkhorse, There Will Be Blood, give the race a very dark and gritty feel, which is something the Oscars rarely has. All the other nominees are typical Oscar bait and come every year in different forms, but these two American arthouse films will most likely win big this Sunday and will be remembered long beyond our generation.
Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will be Blood Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Should Win: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood Will Win- Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
He's satanic, crazy, ambitious, irrational, and downright entertaining. "I drink your milkshake!" will go down as one of the best lines ever. Daniel Day-Lewis will leave his mark as achieving one of the greatest performances in film history, playing Daniel Plainview, the misanthropic oil baron. The other four actors don't even compare - in most other years, they wouldn't even be nominated. Depp can act, but he can't really sing. Clooney gets a nomination because of his star power. Tommy Lee Jones does a good job, but he doesn't branch out from sticking his own personality into the role. Mortensen shows promise, but it isn't enough. Plus, Day-Lewis has won almost every award to date. Oh yeah, and all the other nominees want Day-Lewis to win.
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age Julie Christie - Away from Her Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose Laura Linney - The Savages Ellen Page - Juno
Should Win: Ellen Page - Juno Will Win: Julie Christie - Away from Her
This is a tough category, but Christie has most of the buzz (and the Screen Actors Guild award) that it takes to win. Marion Cotillard has received almost as much praise for her portrayal of the French singer Edith Piaf, and she has just won the British Award of Film and Television Arts. Then there is the young Canadian Ellen Page, who is in the only movie most of the Academy members have actually seen. Page has a lot of things going for her; she plays a very different character in the only movie that has a Best Picture nod. Cotillard faces the discrimination of being in a foreign film, and Christie has already won. Page is wonderful in the film and most people are rooting for her, but the odds are against her as she faces two tough actresses.
Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There Ruby Dee - American Gangster Saoirse Ronan - Atonement Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Should Win: Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone Will Win: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
This is easily the toughest category to predict because it is a race between all of them (well Saoirse Ronan doesn't really have a chance, but who's keeping track anyway). Cate Blanchett won the Golden Globe and her acclaim seems to be the only good thing said about that "experimental" piece. Plus, she played Bob Dylan, and not many actresses can pull that off. Amy Ryan is the critics' choice and did the best job playing the cokehead mother of a kidnapped toddler. Ruby Dee has only five minutes of screen time, but she certainly makes the most of it. Oh, and she won the SAG award. But, there is Tilda Swinton, who won the BAFTA and has currently generated the most buzz, so she will most likely pull off the victory even though Ryan deserves it.
Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Should Win: Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men Will Win: Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Like Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem has perfected a character that will only get richer with age. Every nuance of his role is done to perfection. The rashness in his voice, the evil glare in his eyes, and the stagger in his walk all let us know who he is from one glance. He can flip a coin and say, "Call it," and everyone in the theater knows what will happen if the poor little clerk calls it wrong. The other four nominees all do a great job also, especially Casey Affleck, who has created a career for himself in this year alone. Holbrook makes the most out of his limited role. Hoffman provides entertainment in a movie that is lacking it, and Wilkinson does his usual great work as he always does. No one can and should beat Bardem, who has swept all the precursors and redefined fear.
Best Picture
Atonement Juno Michael Clayton No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood
Should Win: No Country for Old Men Will Win: No Country for Old Men
You may hate the ending, but this one is simple. No Country for Old Men is the best film made this year and will be considered one of the all-time greats. Its ending is controversial, but many great films have survived with controversial endings. Chinatown, Vertigo, and practically every Stanley Kubrick film have done this, and those films keep audiences thinking for generations. There Will Be Blood is a film in the same class, but it will have to settle for the second spot this year. No Country has been sweeping the guild awards, the critic awards, and everything in between. There Will Be Blood has received some recognition too, but it may be too "different" for the Academy's taste. There is a rumor that the similarities between these two will create a vote split and make room for the much-loved Juno, which has the highest box office gross of the group.
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton Jason Reitman - Juno Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Should Win: Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men Will Win: Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
The Coens made a gripping thriller without music. That alone should give them the award. Even Silence of the Lambs had to have a creepy soundtrack to keep the tension going. The Coens relied on every other factor in their arsenal to give No Country the feel it needed. Hearing the sound of Anton's boots and seeing his shadow cover the light beneath the door is enough to place an audience at the edge of its seat. Paul Thomas Anderson would deserve this award in another year for his mesmerizing piece of art, but he won't and shouldn't get a statue this year. Schnabel had a clever and fitting vision for The Diving Bell, but he needs more than a couple of cool and different ideas to beat the Coen brothers. Jason Reitman and Tony Gilroy are just riding the success of their films.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men Christopher Hampton - Atonement Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Sarah Polley - Away from Her
Should Win: Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood Will Win: Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson should win this category mainly because he needs an Oscar and Joel and Ethan Coen will have more gold than King Tut's tomb by the end of the night. Anderson should also win this award because his film is the best adaptation; he took an Upton Sinclair novel and created a period masterpiece. The memorable line "I drink your milkshake!" was taken from a transcript he read that is dated from the 1920s. His screenplay simply best adapts the material he was given. The Coens adapted a novel that Cormac McCarthy wrote, intended to be a film. The Coens will win this one because they have won everything so far, especially in this category where they won their only Golden Globe.
Best Original Screenplay
Brad Bird - Ratatouille Diablo Cody - Juno Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton Tamara Jenkins - The Savages Nancy Oliver - Lars and the Real Girl
Should Win: Brad Bird - Ratatouille Will Win: Diablo Cody - Juno
Diablo Cody's Woody Allen dialogue is funny and clever, but Brad Bird did something different. He wrote a screenplay about a rat …. in a kitchen …. making gourmet food. With his previously Oscar-nominated screenplay, The Incredibles, Bird has redefined animated film from a medium for kids that adults have to see to a film for adults that kids can follow along with. Ratatouille's story and themes are truly remarkable and deserving of an Oscar outside of the Animated Feature category. Yet, former stripper Cody will claim this prize for writing the cute, funny, warm and fuzzy Juno because the Academy always awards the quirky independent movie in this category.
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