80th Annual Academy Awards Recap

 

The 80th Annual Academy Awards were held this past Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.  The show ran smoothly despite despite having a much shorter preparation time than usual due to the Hollywood writer's strike. 

The Winners of the night were:

Best Picture: No Country for Old Men

Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille

Best Documentary Feature: Taxi to the Dark Side

Best Documentary Short Subject: Freeheld

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men

Best Cinematography in Film: There Will Be Blood

Best Original Score: Atonement

Best Original Song: “Falling Slowly“, Once

Best Foreign Language Film: The Counterfeiters

Best Film Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Song: “Falling Slowly“, Once

Best Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Sound Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Animated Short Film: Peter and the Wolf

Best Live Action Short Film: Le Mozart de Pickpockets

Best Art Direction: Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street

Best Visual Effects: The Golden Compass

Achievement in Makeup: La Vie en Rose

Best Costume Design: Elizabeth: The Age

Sadly, due in part to the lack of any major blockbusters being nominated for major awards, this year's Oscars were the least viewed telecast since Nielson started recording the numbers.  But the big winners are fantastic films, even if their success at the box office hasn't been earth-shattering.

No Country for Old Men, the big winner of the evening, is a brilliant work by the Coen Brothers, telling the story of a drug-deal gone bad -- and the effects on various people involved in its aftermath.  It's a brutal film with some amazing performances... but the viewer needs to be prepared for the story to be told in a rather nontraditional way.  Exposition and explanation are largely absent... and that works to the film's benefit, though some viewers will find it difficult for that reason.

There Will Be Blood, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, was the other true masterpiece released this year.  Like No Country for Old Men, its a dark tale, but absolutely brilliant in its execution.  The story revolves around Daniel Plainview, as portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in one of the all-time great film performances.  Plainview is a self-described "oil man" back in the early 20th century who makes a fortune swindling a town out of the land rights to their oil rich property.  The story follows his business success and personal failures, which eventually drive him into a despair and madness that feels so true that it will chill you.

Juno, in stark contrast to the above films, is a charming comedy about teen pregnancy -- not exactly typical Oscar fare.  The script, though, by first-time screenwriter (and former stripper... er, "exotic dancer") Diablo Cody is extremely intelligent, with dialog far smarter than anything ever said in real life.  Despite the "smarter-than-you" dialog, there's a fundamental humanity in the film that pulls you in as a viewer, and really makes you like the characters in this film despite all of their (MANY) faults.

Michael Clayton is a very solid legal thriller that in a year with less truly amazing films likely would have done far better at the Oscars.  As it is, it largely took a back seat to the above films.  It's very much worth checking out, though, for the great performances and well-crafted script. 

One other film that is very much worth checking out is In the Valley of Elah, a story about a father searching for his missing son, who had recently returned from serving in Iraq.  Tommy Lee Jones puts in a fantastically restrained performance, and the film does a great job of exploring the culture of the military and the effect of war on soldiers, without being overly judgmental or political in dealing with the current war itself.

All of the above films except for There Will Be Blood have been released or officially announced for release on Blu-ray disc in the U.S.  There Will Be Blood, which is a Paramount release, has a trailer up on the Hollywoodinhighdef website stating that it is coming to Blu-ray... though no official announcement has been made.