The
Winners
The Winners
The Acceptance Speeches
The Full List of Nominees
Nomination Reactions
20 Wks to Oscar

The Oscar Quiz
The Fact Sheet
The Eligible Films

Art Directors
WGA Awards
PGA Awards
SAG Awards

The Scoreboard
Individual Lists

Actors
Javier Bardem
Marion Cotillard
Hal Holbrook
James McAvoy
Viggo Mortensen
Ellen Page
Saoirse Ronan
Amy Ryan
Tilda Swinton
Tom Wilkinson

INTERVIEWS

Directors/Screenwriters
Schnabel & Harwood
Tony Gilroy
Nancy Oliver
Sarah Polley
Alex Gibney
Michael Giacchino
Julie Taymor
Tim Burton
Giuseppe Tornatore

Digital Nation
Oscars and Iraq
by Gary Dretzka

Not surprisingly, perhaps, movies about the war in Iraq have failed to capture the attention of the movie-going American public, commercially or otherwise. In the competition for Academy and Spirit awards, theatrical releases inspired by W and Dick's Excellent Misadventure have been virtually ignored, as well.

20 Weeks To Oscar
Golden Days Before
They End
by David Poland

Still, the movie that has made the long haul and is still most likely to follow in its own precursor footsteps is No Country For Old Men.  It's the third Coen Bros film to score nods for the brothers, inarguably amongst the five most important American filmmakers to emerge in the last two decades.  It's their second Best Picture nominee.  It seems like the time is now.

Amazingly, it's been almost a month since we last polled the Gurus o' Gold, right after Nominations were announced. So something must have changed, right? Wrong!

The only film in the Top 2 of any category to move as much as 2 slots was Bourne, driven by its A.C.E. win. We can only hope that The Academy will be more adventurous. If The Gurus are right, No Country For Old Men wins 8 Oscars and There Will Be Blood will be the #2 winner by count... with 2 Oscars

Gurus o' Gold - Page 1
Gurus o' Gold - Page 2

Frenzy on the Wall
The Oscars are Here
by Noah Forrest

I'm still looking forward to this Sunday. It's a time to forget all that elitist bunk about how the right films weren't nominated or how the foreign language Oscar has a bunch of dumb rules (it really does) and just bask in the joy of film.

What follows are my predictions for all the Oscar categories, which will make me look either incredibly smart or incredibly dumb come Monday morning, so feel free to praise me for my prescience or berate me for my ineptitude.

20 Weeks To Oscar
The Ten Rules
Of The Season: Part II
by David Poland

Here are Rules 6-10 you might want to consider when you consider this wacky game of movie chess.

Timing Is As Important As The Film

It’s one of the lessons that we learn again every season.  Timing matters as much as any other element of the process. 

The Gurus o' Gold

We're running Gurus 2.0 early this week because both they are The Gurus are going to go one more round after the Globes noms on Thursday.
 
In the meanwhile, both groups now have the same Top 12 titles and the same exact Top Five, in order.  Small Guru world, eh?

Gurus o' Gold
Gurus 2.0

Oscar, Remember The Subtle Guys
by Noah Forrest

There are some kinds of performances that the Academy just doesn't nominate, the ones that hold pictures together but don't draw attention to themselves, the kind that seethe with quiet intensity bubbling underneath a façade of normal human behavior.

20 Weeks To Oscar
Wicked Wicked Season Picket
by David Poland

This is the nightmare month of the Oscar season on both the publicity and the media side of the aisle.  Los Angeles’ AFI Film Festival launches tonight with Lions for Lambs, which has a pretty strong consensus for it being dead on arrival in terms of award season.  But off we go, Cruise and Streep and Redford, oh my!

20 Weeks To Oscar
Cash and Carrion
by David Poland

The Los Angeles Times did a piece on Thursday that was a mixed bag of truths, falsehoods, spin, and reaction to one piece of mean-spirited, self-serving gossip mongering.  The story, by Rachel Abramowitz and loaded with on-the-record quotes, dealt with an alleged problem market for quality films this season. 

20 Weeks To Oscar
Round and Round They Go ...
by David Poland

Ass, cash, or grass ... everyone pays. Somehow, that sentiment strikes me as the theme of this year's Oscar race.  We are already deep into the race 20 weeks out.  Last year at this time - the first 20 Weeks column - all five of the films that would be nominated were already represented in the top nine.  The one that was not literally represented was Letters From Iwo Jima, with Flags of Our Fathers (which had not yet been seen) in its place.

Gurus 2.0

Welcome to Gurus 2.0.
 
As Gurus o’ Gold has gone more mainstream this season, we thought it would be a good idea to welcome some more voices that are every bit as serious about Oscar, but not quite as, uh, overexposed.
 
Will they concur?  Will they be wildly different in their opinions?  That’s what we will find out this season.

22 Weeks To Oscar
The Year Of "Where Do I Go From Here?
by David Poland

Iraq was a hot topic going into the early fall festivals... and then, one by one, the movies died or at least went comatose when put in front of audiences.  Rendition, In The Valley of Elah, Redacted, and a parade of docs that nobody much cared about.  (For some reason, Battle For Haditha didn't play Telluride, even though it is easily the best of the Iraq features to date... and without a movie star, it didn't get the media attention it deserved in Toronto. Likewise the best Rwanda feature to date, Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands With The Devil.)

24 Weeks To Oscar
You Know You Don't Know
by David Poland

The Oscar season has started, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

It's not that there aren't a lot of terrific movies out there.  It's just that there is nothing either screening at festivals now or in the near future that suggests that any movie is a lock for a Best Picture nomination.

25 Weeks To Oscar
Run Silent, Run Depp
by David Poland

Last year was the year of early hype Front Runner doing everything it was expected to do... except get nominated. So this year's trend will be Silence Is Golden... until that fails some film that seemed inevitable, so next year there will be some other trend.

Oscar's Winning Trivia

A Few Awards That Shoulda' Been Awarded

"The sketchy hosting aside, this was one of the coolest Oscar nights in years."

"An odd hybrid of thriller, Western, literary adaptation, and philosophical treatise, No Country should be remembered as one of the more sui generis Best Picture winners in quite some time."

52 Weeks To Oscar... Musing On An Evening... Sorting Out The Parade Of Nations

(In)Dependent Spirit Awards 2008
Juno Wins On Saturday... Can Relax On Sunday... Plus, Page, Hoffman, Blanchett & "Foreign Film," Once... And Some Indie Films Won Stuff Too

Jiminy Glick Live Hogs The Indie Spirit Awards Via A Netflix Promo... This Clip With Illeana Douglas, Who Talks Nolte Liquor & Wasseman Lick Her

Repurposing Clip Packages Prepped For A Non-Written Show?
Oscar YouTubes Itself
Including - David Niven On Shortcomings
While - Adrien Brody Mauls Halle Berry
With - Jack Palance's One-Armed Push-Up

Your Academy Sunday Times
"The bacchanal is like the large-chested blonde in the horror movie who always gets mauled first"
The Bagger Reminds You To Lighten Up And Enjoy The Oscars Already

The Real Tony Scott Sez He Could've Enjoyed No Show At All

Consider The Plight Of Non-U.S. Oscar Noms Who Talk All Day About Themselves At The Four Seasons

Talking To Stylists Because Stars Are Too Busy

The Nubs Of Oscar Snubs

Niche Bitch: USA Today Asks Why Small Fry Get The Oscar Glow

Backstage At The Oscar Show That Almost Wasn't

Cesars Go To Cottilard, Amalric, Secret Of The Grain, Persepolis, Lives Of Others

First Thalberg Award Up For Bid

Raymond Chandler Goes To The 1948 Oscars

Meet Stuart Samuels, Michael Clayton's Sugar Daddy

Annenberg Study Insists There's Oscar Gender Bias

"What can I say? I'm an Oscar man. What are you going to do, not enjoy the beauties in the room?"
Ja-a-a-a-a-c-k!

"I might get up and make a fool of myself and say, 'How can they be so stupid as to not choose my son?'"
Clooney's Parents Skipping Oscars For Tribute To Rosemary C. In Cincy

Director Philippe Mora Thinks Things Stink During Tinseltown's Dreamtime
And - An Aussie Take On WeinsteinCo's Truncated I'm Not There DVD, Freebied In Variety, With Only Blanchett Scenes

Upton Sinclair's Life In The Movies Before Striking Oil! With Blood

Next Year? "It'll be like The Return Of The Jedi."
Big Bad Baz Bumps Into Harvey: Oscar Bear In Winter

Falling Slowly-Est: Ebert's Catch-Up Four-Star Review Of Once Sees Print
Plus - Oscar Nom Glen Hansard: "I feel like a plumber at a flower show"
With - A Flashback To The Day Haing S. Ngor Won The Oscar

Making The Vanity Fair Oscar Party Ultra-Exclusive (No One, Not Even Greydon, Gets In) Saves A Cool $2 Million

The Most Downbeat Oscars Ever?

George Clooney's Oscar Picks

Generic Oscar Speech Offered With Vaguely Positive Sentiment

The 2007 Good-Enough-To-Eat Movies
And - Fancy Food For Yr. Oscar Party

5 Nonexistent Oscar Nominees

"You're leading with your face, of course you're going to get hit. How can you not? It's irresistible."
Jon Stewart Gets Only 8 Dailies Before The Show

Oscar's Quartet Of Femme Scribes

And Speaking Of Daniel Plainview's Hat...

If You Haven't Seen The Movies, Will You Watch?

Oscar Fashion Knock-Offs For Your Favorite Wiener Dog Or Chihuahua

As Ballots Come Due, The Bagger Sez He's On The Horn Trying To See If The Juno Best Pic Gesticulating Holds Up

Over At VF, The Reeler Proposes An Oscar "In Memoriam" Montage Pool

The Art Directors Like Compass, No Country, And There Will Be Blood, Too

It's No Country For Old Men For The Cinema Audio Society

Rookie Composer Michael Giacchino Has Hopes For Ratticus Oscarus
And - An Afterthought For 3:10 First-Timer Marco Beltrami

"If the Coens and Paul's movies had been run through the studio research process, they'd have been shredded. Their virtue is their spikiness."
P. Goldy Takes Notes From No Blood For Old Country Men Producer Scott Rudin

Alzheimer's Group Warns Oscar Not To Joke About Away From Her And The Savages

David Denby Cozies Up To Coens And Then Gives Them A Reactionary Slap
While - Chris Orr Sez Denby Is Inattentive
And - Pauline Kael On Blood Simple

Brad Bird's Going Live
And - Tom Wilkinson's Great Awakening
Plus - Behind The Academy (And Surfer) Love For The Penguins Of Surf's Up (Not Shared By Civilians)

Charlize Theron's Beauty Myth

Art Directors Nod Blood Fisk; Gassner's Compass And Gonchor's No Country

Mikey Phillips Defines Great Performance, With Four Oscar Nominated Ones (And Four Not)

Marfa, Texas: One Stoplight, 16 Oscar Nominations

Listing Memorable Oscar Moments

"Real Life Can Get Messy": John Anderson On Oscar's "Problem Child," The Documentary

"Not so long ago, the documentary feature category was among the snooziest, the target of jokes [saying] you couldn't lose by making a film about the Holocaust."
Scarin' Caryn James Dollops Cliches & BS In Strident, Negative Piece About Oscar Docs That Baits Michael Moore And Al Gore In Opening Graf

The Beverly Hills Hotel's "Oscar" Menus Boast Nasty Cocktail Concoctions

Is Oscar Night Another Superbowl For Ads (Minus Movie Spots, Which Aren't Allowed)?

Oscar-Nommed Katyn Moves Off Russian Release On Stalin's Birthdate; Story Of Soviet Slaughter Of 22,000 Polish Elite Might Be Seen As Political

Kristin Thompson Drinks Your Oscar Promo

Sam Raimi Drags Ellen Page To Hell

Novelist Ian McEwan Shines Upon Atonement

Cleveland-Born Octogenarian Oscar Noms Dee And Holbrook Hook Up

Juno Is A Tart; Michael Clayton Is Dover Sole; There Will Be Blood? Black Ink Risotto
Making The NYC Oscar Banquet Menu

But At Least She's Not Bitter ...
"I knew 'The Namesake' won't find favour at the Oscars. The culture and the ambience of the movie were alien to America. They live in an enclosed kind of society where their cultures and the way of life are all that matter to them"

BAFTAs Prematurely Post Winners On Site; When All's Done, Atonement's Best; Four For Ma Vie En Rose, Including Cotillard; Day-Lewis; Coens Best Directors & Adapted Script

Writers Gong Coens, Cody, Gibney

The Sunday LA Times Pours It On
"We Ain't Leadin' Anything, Buddy," Ethan Coen Says
And - Magnolia On Their Oscar Shorts Theatrical Package
With - Imagining A 65-Hour Version Of There Will Be Blood

The Rat Chomps 9 Annies

Red-Carpeting The BAFTAs In Snaps

Atonement's Joe Wright Is "All About Bums On Seats"
And - About 6,000 More Words With Julian Schnabel

The Times' Annual Oscar-A-Go-Go
Fitzgerald Vs. Hollywood
With - Hirschberg On 15 "Breakthroughs," Including Page, Affleck, Brolin, Rogen, Cotillard, Christie, Holbrook
Plus - Jake Paltrow Makes A Short About Their Inspiration
And - Ryan McGinley's "Shooting Stars," About Snapping Those Players
With - A 6-Minute Audio Slideshow Of S-McG's Portraits From The Pages

At Berlinale, Daniel Day-Lewis Rubbishes Archbishop Of Canterbury's Call For England To Adopt Muslim Sharia Law

The London Film Critics Love No Country And Control; Greengrass And Anderson, Too

Oscar Producers Nudge-Nudge: Running On Empty Here

Oscar-Nommed Screenwriters And Their Dream Scripts

Spielberg Gets His Lifetime Achievement Nod From The Visual Effects Society

The True Story Of The Valley Of Elah

English Journos Think Sweeney Todd Dabbled In The "Black Art" Of The Trailer, Hiding Its Tunes
While - A Music Critic Thinks Kids Will Have To Save The Musical
Plus - Readers Weigh In On Misleading Adverts

Ronald Harwood, On His 3rd Oscar Nom At 73, For Diving Bell: Happy To Be Here

Enshrining Keira Knightley's Glittering Green Dress From Atonement

P. Goldy Goes On A Mandate After Prodco's Juno Gets More Popular Than Free iPods

Grazing At The Oscar Nominees' Luncheon
And More Of Same...

There Will Be Blood's Nuttiest Phrase Came From A Congressional Transcript
USA Today's Scott Bowles Wishes He Knew How To Quit Your Milkshake
But - Who Drank It Up First?

It's No Country For The Producers Guild

Cracked.com Offers Up "Next Year's Oscar Nominees (If The Strike Doesn't End)

Defending Paul Dano Against The Onslaught Of Daniel Plainview

The Future Of Kazazh Film, Post-Borat And After Oscar Nom For Mongol

Arty, Arty Oscar?

Producers Give Another Blast Of Compressed Air To No Country

Why Would A Movie Reaching The Widest Possible Audience — Juno's Passed $100 Million — Be A Mark Against It?
And - The 7 Steps Of The Truly Great Teen Pic

Talking With TWB Blood's Set Decorator

Painter David Salle (Who's Also Directed) Writes About Fellow NYC Artiste "Julian"'s Diving Bell

5,829 Oscar Ballots Wing Their Way

Alex Ross Divines Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood Score

The Bagger Reports Academy Busks A Move For Once's "Falling Slowly"

"I drink your Glenfiddich, I drink it up!"
Anjelica Huston Salutes Her Father's Oscar Nom For There Will Be Blood
Plus - John Huston And Dennis Hopper, Beaming

"The Dude" Dowd Talk Sundance "Dumb Money" And "Indie Glut" To Anne-T

Eastern Promises And Shake Hands With The Devil Lead Noms For Canada's Genie Awards

Last Awards Show Standing... And No One In The Real World Noticed
"Stats based on metered markets indicate the (SAG Awards) show was down slightly from last year's."

"I drink your Sunny D! I drink it up! Slurrrrrrrrrp!"
The Reeler Deconstructs The Juno-Haters At VF

"The Coens are freaky little people and we made a freaky little movie, whether you like the ending or not."
SAG Nods Are In, Including No Country Cast, Bardem, Christie, Day-Lewis, Durning, Dee And The Huge Stunt Ensemble From Bourne

Ma Vie En Rose Nabs 11 Cesar Noms

The Bagger Murmurs Monday Machinations
Will Once's Heartbreaking Song "Falling Slowly" Join Jonny Greenwood's Brilliant Score For Blood, The Staggering 4 Months, 3 Days, And The Heartfelt Persepolis In The Major Modern Oscar Honor: Disqualification?
And - E&P's Greg Mitchell Digs Deeper (With Clips)

"In the bottomless well of performance that is Academy Awards night nearly everyone is, after all, an actor."
Nigel Andrews Loves The Oscars, The More Gaga The Better

The American Society Of Cinematographers Has Elswit's Blood On Their Hands

No Country For In Blood
The DGA Award Goes To The Coens

SAG's Moment To Shine

"Yet Academy voters clearly harbour a weakness for films that announce themselves as important or worthy. There Will be Blood and Atonement fit that definition perfectly."

It's Not A Snub If You're Not Eligible Is It?
The Score For There Will Be Blood
Eddie Vedder's Into The Wild

s The Twentieth Time A Charm For 19-Time Oscar Also-Ran, Transformers Sound Mixer Kevin O'Connell?

More Reactions: Mick LaSalle | Richard Corliss | Patrick Goldstein | Andrew O'Hehir

And So Begin The Oscar Prognostications ...

Hopes Are Dashed For A Scottish Best Actor

The Nomination Reactions: David Poland | Roger Ebert | Neil Smith | Shawn Levy | Dave Karger | David Gritten | Anne Thompson |

Odds Are On Already For Oscar

The "Anti-Folk' Musical Voice Of Juno, Kimya Dawson, Is "Totally Scared"

The Nominees For The First "Cinema Eye" Nonfiction Film Prize Are Announced

Newsweek's Oscar Roundtable

The Iowa Film Critics Go For ... No Country For Old Men

The BAFTA Noms Are In

A Survey Of How Diving Bell And The Butterfly Improves On Almost All "Artists' Films"

"I am certain that Joe Wright will be nominated and just about as sure that in 50 years he will be written off."
David Thomson Has His Way With The Best Director Category

Boston Cricket Peter Keough Goes To Hell For Oscar Heat

Behind The Lines With Shortlisted Beaufort's Joseph Cedar

Readers React To Chicago Music Critic's Slagging Of Juno (And Sidelong Slap At Colleague Ebert)
And - Jeff Lipsky Takes The Podium To Dis Juno In Favor Of His Own Flannel Pajamas

Oscar Foreign Shortlist Accentuates The Familiar (4 Prior Winners), Eliminates The Popular (4 Months; Persepolis)

Producers Guild Noms Diving Bell, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country, Blood

And The Reviews Are In: David Poland, Time Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Toronto Star

"I kinda didn't want to watch, it would just make me tense or nervous, so I went out to see a movie at four (o'clock) and I knew I wouldn't be home until it was announced. I knew if my phone was ringing when I walked into my hotel room that I would have won. And it was. Nobody calls a loser."
David Duchovny And A Few Other Reactions

Atonement, Sweeney Todd, Johnny Depp, Julian Schnabel, Julie Christie And Ratatouille Sweep Globes Press Conference

Over Waffles From Norm's On La Cienaga, The Bagger Predicts The "Globs"
And - Notes "There Will Be Financial Bloodletting"

"I said we sell plans for [derricks] up at the museum and all they have to do is buy them and that would tell them all the materials they would need."
Bakersfield Brags On Contribution To There Will Be Blood

Next Stargazing Opportunity Ahead: The Waivered SAG Nods

There Will Be Blood Gets A Best Picture From The Kansas City Film Critics And Sweeney Todd Picks Up Outstanding Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film

HFPA Once More Master Of Its Domain; Takes Reins Of Sunday Presser For Globe Checklist From NBC News And Opens Barn Doors To All Comers
Earlier - Why Are The Golden Globes "News" And Why Can Only The Network Getting Paid For It Cover The "Press Conference"?

The Art Directors Nominate For Period, Fantasy And Contemporary Films

The Central Ohio Film Critics Add To No Country For Old Men's Award Tally

Preemie Glenn Kenny Condenses His Persistent Musings On The Ending Of No Country For Old Men For The Times

"I just hope that the big guys who make big decisions up high in their corporate boardrooms and whatnot get down to honest bargaining and everyone can get back to work."
Academy Board Of Governors Member Tom Hanks Says The (Oscar) Show Must Go On

Writers Guild Nominates Juno, Knocked Up, Lars, Clayton, Savages, As Originals; Adapted: Diving Bell, Zodiac, Wild, Blood And No Country; Docs: Camden 28, Nanking, Sicko, Rape Of Europa, Taxi To Dark Side, No End In Sight

The Cinema Audio Society Nominates

"There will be no Writers Guild of America West show until the strike is over."

Fitting Oscar Shorts For Theatrical Pants

Ten Self-Amused Alternative Oscars Suggestions

No Country For Old Men Picks Up Another Best Picture From The Online Film Critics

Joe Queenan On The Coens' Choice To Make No Country Another Of Their Near-Period Pieces
And - The Bros Coen, Those "Elusive Pimpernels Of The Anti-Interview"

The First Major Guild That Tends To Match Oscar (Closing Saturday) Announces Noms
No Nomination For Old Man (Lumet)
DGA Goes Anderson, Coens, Gilroy, Penn, Schnabel

Queen Latifah Hands Out The People's Choice Awards

Ad Age On The Ad Revenue Angle Of The Globes Shutdown

The Critics Choice Awards Give It Up For No Country For Old Men

Five Pics Nordic Noodle For Oscar Nod

ASC Nominations

NBC To Twist News Arm For "Dateline"-Clip Show-Press Conference-Access Hollywood Party Gab Family-Style Buffet To Circumvent Coverage Issues Regarding Globes Picketing: Ad Millions Ensue

Consider A Cogent Argument From A Writer-Lawyer About How You Negotiate When You Strike Against A Monolith Of A Megacorp

Charlie Wilson's Got Legs

What Do You Do When You Don't Like The Other Arbitrary Awards Shows for Docs? Start Your Own, With An Even Cultier Group Of Selectors

Five Pics Nordic Noodle For Oscar Nod

National Society Of Film Critics Goes For Blood With Nods For Pic, Director, Actor, Camera; Also 4 Months, 3 Weeks; No End In Sight; Julie Christie

The Bagger Now Reports That Alan Rosenberg Is, Along With The WGA, Asking Actors Not To Attend The BFCA Critics' Choice Awards, Though There Are No Current Plans To Strike That Show

SAG Prez Rosenberg Gets Sucked Into The Position Of Administrating The WGA Strike Against The Tarnished Globes And The Pre-Show Call & Response Continues, Stating That Not One Of The 70-Plus Actors Nommed For Globes Will Show
The Envelope Confirms Yesterday's MCN Report That NBC Wants The Globes To Go On As Normal... And HFPA Does Not
Earlier - The Lastest Globe Spin... Show A Go, Broadcast A No

More BAFTA Nominees
Earlier - Bafta Announces It's Foreign Nominees