Rawkblog 2008 Oscar Ballot

If this movie wins Best Picture I will lol for weeks

Best Picture:
Will Win: No Country for Old Men
Should Win: There Will Be Blood
For the longest time, No Country was my favorite movie of the year. It’s taut, efficient, and attentive to the most minute of details – Chigurh wiping his feet after walking out of the Moss home at the end of the film, for instance, is the only way we know he’s killed Llewellyn’s wife, Carla Jean. But then I saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s tale of power and corruption for a second time. What I thought was an episodic, disjointed film the first time around revealed itself as being subtle but masterfully developed. In each scene, Daniel Plainview evolves and devolves, gaining in money, men and techology, but slowly disintegrating as a human being. The brutal ending is the exclamation point on this epic tale of the dark side of the American dream.

Best Director:
Will Win: The Coen Brothers
Should Win: P.T. Anderson
It’s a toss-up, really, but the Coens – robbed once for Fargo – are long overdue.

Best Actor:
Will Win: Daniel Day Lewis
Should Win: Daniel Day Lewis
As I’ve already blogged, George Clooney was fantastic as a man pushed to his limits in Michael Clayton, but as Daniel Plainview, Day-Lewis knows no bounds.

Best Actress
Will Win: Julie Christie
Should Win: ?
I haven’t seen Julie Christie’s Away from Her, but she seems to be the front-runner. A film about Alzheimer’s is hard to vote against in favor of, say, a feel-good teen pregnancy comedy. Still, Ellen Page carries Juno, ridiculous dialogue and all, and Marion Cotillard was pitch-perfect as doomed singer Edith Piaf in the otherwise fractured, horrifically scripted La Vie En Rose.

Best Supporting Actor:
Will Win: Javier Bardem
Should Win: Javier Bardem
The look of twisted joy that appears on his face during an early murder scene in No Country – you know the one – is more than enough to make Bardem the lock.

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win: Cate Blanchett
Should Win: Cate Blachett
The Academy looooves Blanchett, as well they should. Her turn as Don’t Look Back-era Dylan was the highlight of Todd Haynes’ anti-biopic I’m Not There.

Best Animated Film:
Will Win: Ratatouille
Should Win: Ratatouille
Persepolis is a good movie in general, and an even better animated one. Its mostly stark black-and-white style occasionally explodes into vivid, colorful fantasy as narrator Marjane Satrapi travels from Iran to Western Europe and back. But it runs out of emotional gas as it nears its conclusion and too many of Satrapi’s coming-of-age antics pale in comparison to the heavier story of oppression that she initially escapes from. On the other hand, Ratatouille is both gloriously animated and well-told, a Disney-esque plot that brims with mature feeling.

That’s enough educated guesses for me, folks – I also hope Enchanted‘s three nominees split the vote and Once takes Best Original Song. What’re your picks? Leave ’em in the comments.