Awards
Page Index
* OSCAR coverage here
'07 FiLM BiTCH
Awards
by Nathaniel
R
Traditional
Oscar categories:
Majors
/
Acting /
Technicals /
Technicals 2
(Tally of Noms)
Special Categories: Extras
/ Extras 2 / Scenes
1 / Scenes 2
(Tally of Noms) / Movie Mixers (Poll Games)
Best
Picture
films of the year
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
4
Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days dir. Christian Mungiu (IFC Films) |
No
Country For Old Men dir. Coen Bros (Miramax) |
Once dir. John Carney (Fox Searchlight) |
Ratatouille dir. Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava (Disney / Pixar) |
There
Will Be Blood dir. P.T. Anderson (Paramount / Miramax) |
Brilliantly
realized. A tense economic, political and emotional study of a desperate
time, place and moment |
Chilling
and masterful, the best Coen since Fargo (and not an uninteresting
companion piece) |
Wisely
judged, bittersweet and entirely one of a kind. You don't "fall
slowly" so much as madly and gently |
Anyone
can cook. But few can make a movie this magical. God bless Brad Bird's
gourmet filmography |
Gushes
with mad genius. Two of them precisely. Flawed? Probably. Unforgettable?
That too. |
* |
||||
my
full top ten list ~year in review Medalists: 1. There Will Be Blood 2. No Country For Old Men 3. Once Nominees: 4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 5. Ratatouille Finalists: 6. Lust Caution 7. Zodiac 8. Michael Clayton Semi Finalists: 9. Atonement 10. Away From Her 11. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 12. Sweeney Todd discuss on the blog |
||||
Best
Director
the
chosen auteurs are...
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Paul
Thomas Anderson There Will Be Blood |
The
Coen Bros No Country For Old Men |
David
Fincher Zodiac |
Ang
Lee Lust, Caution |
Christian
Mungui 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days |
|
His
long straw drains the blood of past auteurs. But the oceanic life force
of Blood ? That's all his. |
True
masters of the craft. They don't even need a musical score to ratchet
up tension for this spellbinder |
The
men in this film are mini Finchers. Zodiac: the case / Zodiac:
the movie. Same obsessively detailed thing. |
Forceful
stirring direction that doesn't sacrifice nuance as it builds and builds.
It's got chi. |
His
unblinking eye sees everything. His sharp intellect refuses to reduce
what's seen. Can't wait for film #3 |
Finalists:
Tim Burton recaptures his magic --and controls it!
--to serve the tale of Sweeney Todd * Brad Bird
& Jan Pinkava have shaped and seasoned Ratatouille
into something both hugely entertaining and filling. * John
Carney knows just what to focus on in Once * Semi-Finalists: Joe Wright, Julian Schabel, and Andrew Dominick get a little carried away in Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and The Assassination of Jesse James... respectively, but it's not always bad to see the director's (showy) hand ...especially if they've given you so much else worth looking at. |
||||
Best
Original Screenplay
new
visions
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
4
Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days Christian Mungiu |
Juno Diablo Cody |
Michael
Clayton Tony Gilroy |
Ratatouille Brad Bird |
Year
of the Dog Mike White |
So
much telling time and place detail emerges, you'd think it was merely
recorded during the living |
Overwritten,
yes. But here's a truly new voice with heart: character arcs are never
lost or buried in jokes |
Negotiates
a tricky balance between character study, thriller, and legal drama,
w/out losing its themes |
Anton
Ego's monologue / review is a justly lauded tasty dish but there are
six other courses, too |
A
unique mix of tones: alternately funny, sad, wise, ambiguous and disturbed
mark its (original) territory |
 Finalists:
Tamara Jenkins writes a hilarious / sad sibling act for The
Savages * Craig Brewer's second film, the southern gothic
sexploitation drama Black Snake Moan is yet
more daring than his last (Hustle & Flow). Can't wait for
more of his original voice in film number four.Semi-Finalists: Once * I'm Not There * Eastern Promises * Lars and The Real Girl * Knocked Up |
||||
Best
Adapted Screenplay
borrowed
glories
 |
 |
|
|
 |
Away
From Her Sarah Polley |
The
Diving Bell and Butterfly Ronald Harwood |
No
Country For Old Men Joel & Ethan Coen |
There
Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson |
Zodiac James Vanderbilt |
Expands
the short story "The Bear Came Over
the Mountain" by Alice Munroe with grace and wisdom |
Beautifully
details the slim and poetic autobio"Le
Scaphandre et le Papillon" by Jean-Dominique Bauby |
A
wisely unaltered transfer of the cinematic "No
Country For Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy |
Transforms
"Oil!" by Upton Sinclair for his own themes
and concerns but keeps it exclamatory |
Messy
and detail heavy -- how else to adapt Robert Graysmith two "Zodiac"
books on the killing spree? |
| Finalists:
Jindabyne -Beatrix Christian transfers and expands Raymond
Carver's famous short story "So Much Water So Close to Home"
previously adapted in Robert Altman's Short Cuts * Atonement
-Christopher Hampton's take on Ian McEwan's brilliantly structured novel
of the same name) * Semi-Finalists: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -Andrew Dominick bravely wrestles with the massive novel (of the same name) by Ron Hansen * A Mighty Heart -John Orloff prepares Mariane Pearl's bio for the screen * Bug -Tracy Letts adapts his own awesome play for William Friedkin * Lust, Caution -James Schamus and Hui-Lung Wang expand the Eileen Chang short story into a stirring espionage epic * Hairspray -Leslie Dixon takes on the Broadway musical (and the memories of John Waters original Hairspray) and keeps the spirit and comedy intact |
||||
