80th Annual Academy Awards: The Winners
by Brian Eggert
2/24/2008
Shoddy CGI-animated opening. Frequent clip show-style memorials of past winners. This year’s Oscar show was a mixed bag, whose kinks would have been worked out had the writer’s strike not just ended two weeks ago. John Stewart had sharp lines, like his Gaydalf Titler bit, and he offered winner Marketa Irglova the chance to give her speech (despite being played off by the time-crazy orchestra conductor), which was a precious moment.
This year’s nominees were generally excellent, coming from 2007's uniquely stellar year in film. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood were top contenders. And while the former beat out the latter in its major categories, we can hardly protest the decision. Even if Michael Clayton or Atonement had won, I wouldn’t balk (too much). Yet, though I originally jumped on the Juno bandwagon, loving the film’s firecracker dialogue, here I am eating crow, tired of the buzz surrounding its thus-far unproven writer Diablo Cody. She’s written one script. Sure, it was a great one, but why not honor someone with a career of quality writing (I’m thinking of Tony Gilroy)?
There were occasional shocks, such as Tilda Swinton’s win for Best Supporting Actress or Roger Deakins’ two-fold loss in Cinematography. Then again, several assured winners received their due, like Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor and Ratatouille for Best Animated Feature. And even though my personal favorite film (There Will Be Blood) didn’t take home Director or Best Picture Oscars, how can I possibly argue against the Coen brothers receiving their three awards? Too long have they gone unrecognized for their contribution to at once entertaining and artistic cinema. No longer.
Below are the winners, along with the original live commentary. If you’re particularly disgruntled or pleased by the results of this year’s show and need to vent, feel free to email me and we’ll discuss it.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST PICTURE
- No Country for Old Men Winner
- Atonement
- Juno
- Michael Clayton
- There Will Be Blood
Though There Will Be Blood was the artistic favorite, the Coens returned to their darker roots to make this an artistic and commercial success, redeeming themselves after several years of poor material. Thinking about their film in those terms, it should have won. That said, I'm greatly disappointed that There Will Be Blood wasn't better recognized, however un-commercial it may be. But this was a very close second for my favorite film of 2007, so I can't really complain.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST DIRECTOR
- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men Winner
- Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
- Jim Gilroy, Michael Clayton
- Jason Reitman, Juno
- Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
With their career-long excellence, no doubt they deserve this. Thinking about their filmography, and the original, quirky culture they've created with their films, it's no wonder they've won. They're true auteurs. And I'm glad the Academy recognized that...
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Diablo Cody, Juno Winner
- Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
- Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
- Brad Bird, Ratatouille
- Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
I'm pretty sick of hearing about how great first-time writer Diablo Cody is. Juno was an enjoyable film, and well-written to be sure, but her celebrity is becoming sickening. How many times do we have to hear about how she was a stripper? I would have preferred the Oscar go to a more established talent, particularly Brad Bird. Alas, she wrote a comedy people loved in a big way (including me). And that's no small feat. But what about her next picture?
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men Winner
- Christopher Hampton, Atonement
- Sarah Polley, Away from Her
- Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Easily my choice for best, most faithful adaptation. Cormac McCarthy needs more of his work brought to the screen. While, perhaps, There Will Be Blood was a better script, Anderson diverted too much from his source material. Only the Coens were able to translate the brooding tone of the novel so expertly, and accurately, to the screen.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ACTOR
- Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood Winner
- George Clooney, Michael Clayton
- Johnny Depp, Sweeny Todd
- Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
- Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
No one expected any differently. Day-Lewis deserves this one, for the most impressive transformation of last year. Look at how quiet and tempered Day-Lewis is, and then look at his character, a wonderfully intense and brooding man. Still, I feel bad for Viggo...
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ACTRESS
- Marion Cotillard, La vie en Rose Winner
- Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
- Julie Christie, Away from Her
- Laura Linney, The Savages
- Ellen Page, Juno
Marion Cotillard was my favorite for this category; her range was incredible in this role, and unprecidented in her career so far. As she was the most deserving winner, her win was also shocking next to the buzz surrounding Page and Christie's potential win. If you haven't seen this film, go out of your way and treat yourself to one of the screen's most profound representations of a once-living person.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men Winner
- Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
- Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
- Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
While I'm vastly disappointed that Casey Affleck didn't take this one home, it's hard to argue with Bardem's creepy onscreen brilliance. It was easily one of the best performances of the year, in one of if not the best film of the year. Bardem was virtually the guaranteed winner. Good for him.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton Winner
- Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
- Ruby Dee, American Gangster
- Saiorse Ronan, Atonement
- Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
While Ruby Dee was considered the shoe-in, I've begun to appreciate Saiorse Ronan more and more, especially after seeing her first performance in I Could Never Be Your Woman; I had no idea Ronan was American doing a British accent, what's more a flawless one, in Atonement. Alas, Tilda Swinton was barely mentioned in the pre-show guessing game. What a shocker. Frankly, she deserves the attention. Her career thus far has gone fairly unnoticed by the general public. Perhaps this award will change all that...
_________________________________________________________________
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- Ratatouille Winner
- Persepolis
- Surf's Up
The other two didn't have a chance. Everyone knew that. Why didn't the other two nominees just give up? Brad Bird is an animation genius, writing and directing movies only animation could bring to the screen. What more can we look from a cartoon, which of course is so much more than just a cartoon?
__________________________________________________________________
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood Winner
- Roger Deakins, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Seamus McGarvey, Atonement
- Roger Deakins, No Country for Old Men
- Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Cameron Diaz is an idiot... learn your business, at the very least how to pronounce "cinematography".
What a shocking win. I was sure Roger Deakins was taking this one home, but regardless, Robert Elswit deserves his recognition in arguably the best-looking film of 2007. Virtually every scene of Elswit's film shouts with painterly brilliance. And yet, with two of the best movies, certainly the best-shot movies of the year, perhaps this one was stolen away from Deakins?
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ART DIRECTION
- Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, Sweeny Todd Winner
- Arthur Max and Beth Rubino, American Gangster
- Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, Atonement
- Dennis Gassner and Anna Pinnock, The Golden Compass
- Jack Fisk and Jim Erickson, There Will Be Blood
Tim Burton's dark visual sense finally gets the attention it deserves. An understandable win, as the art direction here is blantantly obvious looking at any scene in the movie. And while I prefer the subtle, dusty world of There Will Be Blood, no doubt Sweeny Todd better represents the requirements of the category.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
- Alexandra Byrne, Elizabeth: The Golden Age Winner
- Albert Wolsky, Across the Universe
- Jacqueline Durran, Atonement
- Marit Allen, La Vie en Rose
- Colleen Atwood, Sweeny Todd
If there was one film I didn't want to win, it's the off-key sequel to Elizabeth. Any of the other titles could have won without complaint. Granted, the costumes looked nice, but the movie is sub-par compared to its fellow nominees.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- Taxi to the Dark Side Winner
- No End in Sight
- Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
- Sicko
- War Dance
Some pretty depressing topics in this category, but few got me as riled-up as Sicko. Frankly, the others didn't stand out in my mind, and the winner certainly didn't boast anything beyond the others....
__________________________________________________________________
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
- Freeheld Winner
- La Carona
- Salim Baba
- Sari's Mother
Didn't see any of these unfortunately. Congrats to the winner.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST FILM EDITING
- Christopher Rouse, The Bourne Ultimatum Winner
- Juliette Welfling, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Jay Cassidy, Into the Wild
- Roderick Jaynes, No Country for Old Men
- Dylan Tichenor, There Will Be Blood
The Academy's love affair with this film is starting to frustrate me. When there's miraculous works of filmic artistry nominated, why has this average action movie won three awards?
__________________________________________________________________
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- The Counterfeiters (Austria) Winner
- Beaufort (Israel)
- Katyn (Poland)
- Mongol (Kazakhstan)
- 12 (Russia)
Few of these films have hit theaters in the states, making it impossible to have an opinion. Way to go Austria!
__________________________________________________________________
BEST MAKEUP
- Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald, La Vie en Rose Winner
- Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji, Norbit
- Ve Neill and Martin Samuel, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
When I think about even the possibilty of Pirates winning in this category, I get a little mad... the special effects in that movie were mostly CGI, not makeup. And at the very least, John Stewart made sure to point how bad Norbit sucked. La Vie en Rose was the only film that really wowed me with its makeup, and I couldn't be happier that it received its deserved attention.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
- Dario Marianelli, Atonement Winner
- Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner
- James Newton Howard, Michael Clayton
- Michael Giacchino, Ratatouille
- Marco Beltrami, 3:10 to Yuma
Any one of the other titles nominated could have won, but Atonement's clickedy-clack typewriter-based music was one of the few things that bothered me about that film. Wholly undeserved.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST SONG
- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, “Falling Slowly” from Once Winner
- Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, “Happy Working Song” from Enchanted
- Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz , “So Close” from Enchanted
- Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, “That's How You Know” from Enchanted
- Chris Trapper, “This Time” from August Rush
Though the category was dominated by Enchanted, the independent gem Once deserves this one, if only to honor the film's greatness. The lovely soundtrack was one of the best in recent years, certainly more from the heart than the music in the other two big studio pictures. Too bad they cut off Marketa Irglova before she could give her thanks... And then John Stewart did probably the sweetest thing and brought her back out after the commercial. What a great Oscar moment.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
- Peter and the Wolf Winner
- I Met the Walrus
- Madame Tutli-Putli
- Even Pigeons Go To Heaven
- My Love
I recently saw a block of these animated shorts. Peter and the Wolf was my favorite, as it was the only nominated title to evoke anything from me. Using stop-motion animation, there was a curious sense of humor, and of course great music...
______________________________________ ___________________________
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
- The Mozart of Pickpockets Winner
- At Night
- The Substitute
- Tanghi Argentini
- The Tonto Woman
I didn't get a chance to see any of the live action shorts. Kudos to the winner.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST SOUND MIXING
- Scott Millan, David Parker, and Kirk Francis, The Bourne Ultimatum Winner
- Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter Kurland, No Country for Old Men
- Randy Thom, Michael Semanick, and Doc Kane, Ratatouille
- Paul Massey, David Giammarco, and Jim Steube, 3:10 to Yuma
- Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Peter J. Devlin, Transformers
I guess Academy voters like their Jason Bourne movies. But it's sort of hard not to...
__________________________________________________________________
BEST SOUND EDITING
- The Bourne Ultimatum Winner
- No Country for Old Men
- Ratatouille
- There Will Be Blood
- Transformers
It's a big action movie, involving plenting of sound tracks to work with. Certainly that takes talent. Personally, I'd choose Ratatouille, as they're working from scratch.
__________________________________________________________________
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- The Golden Compass Winner
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Transformers
This was a surprise. Albeit a welcomed one. The Golden Compass was a wonderful, if not maligned film because of the (false) accusations of anti-religious themes. It was the underdog against two bigger, more successful films. Another happy win.
_________________________________________________________________