For maybe the second time ever I have seen all five movies that have been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. These are No Country For Old Men, Michael Clayton, Juno, Atonement, and There Will Be Blood. So, because you asked (yes, navigating to turdlog.blogspot.com, intentionally or otherwise, constitutes asking), here's what I think.
I hope either No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood wins. Partially because either would be a well-deserved lifetime-achievement-like award for the Coen brothers or P. T. Anderson. I also think they were the best two movies of the bunch, and I can't really pick my favorite between them.
Michael Clayton and Atonement were both very good, although I typically don't care for movies named after Oklahoma U. football players (so help me God, if I have to hear "touchdown, Jimmy Atonement!" again I'll . . .).
Juno was a solid movie, but easily the worst of the five. The complaint that the lead actress's dialogue is too clever for a teenager has been well-registered, but for good reason. It really makes the whole thing unbelievable. A good movie, but up against those four its victory would be a mini-travesty.
I'm not a betting man, at least for enough money that I'd miss a month later, but I'd bet NCFOM's gloomy surrealism takes it. But I'll be happy for any of the four. Ever since The Aviator lost to - what? Mystic River? - I've not considered the Oscars worth my brain activity, much less a turdpost, but a non-Juno selection tonight will go a long way toward setting things aright.
