Final Oscar Thoughts
The waiting is almost over. Tomorrow evening they will open the envelopes and announce to the world who wins the Oscars. I will be the first to admit that this isn't exactly world shattering news. It will not change the course of the War in Iraq. It will not feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless. It will be an extravagant waste of a great deal of money for the movie people to pat themselves on the back for these great films, none of which did all that well at the box office, a kind of mea culpa for all the other films that DID make money that were less than poor.

But enough cynicism, after all I went to see these five fine movies and then some. I love the movies because they are our modern storytelling. There's that exciting moment when the lights go down on the final ad (grrr!) and the trailers start and then, the Main Feature Presentation begins. Life is on the Big Screen and away we go.

So there were the five that were nominated. There were at least three others that were as good as these (FAR better than at least one!) but who couldn't make it. None of them is the Best Picture overall, but they do belong with the others. I am talking about Children of Men, Dreamgirls, and Pan's Labyrinth. Why in heaven's name Little Miss Sunshine made the list and none of these did is a criminal act. Perhaps Children and Pan were too dark, too spiritual, or something else. Perhaps Dreamgirls was too African-American. It should win some awards and Pan should win Best Foreign Film, but that will have to suffice.

So then, the Five.

Little Miss Sunshine.
Let's get this one out of the way quickly, since I already gave away my opinion above. It's cute, it has a wonderful ending. It has some wonderful performances. But Best Picture of the year? It does have one of the themes of the good ones- a little child shall lead them. But with a stripper's legacy? Everyone but her loses their dream along the way and so they live their victory through her ability to snub her nose at the rich little girls all around her. Nice movie. Not the Best. Far from it. Of the Top 5, it is number 9.

The Queen
Helen Mirren makes this movie nothing short of spectaculor. The story is well presented in fine British understatement tempered by fine British overstatement. (Typical paradox of being British.) It is a movie that analyzes tradition versus modernization, monarchy versus democracy, and gives a nice nod to the way the British are still managing both. You walk out impressed. But mostly because of Mirren. It is my number 4, although Dreamgirls and Pan definitely surpass it.

Babel
Here is a powerful movie in spite of my daughter's dislike of it. (Sorry. This is my blog.) It does drag and may even have been able to be more powerful with some judicious editing. I don't mean that there has to be action all the time. (See Iwo Jima.) But I would love to know what Inarritu was thinking with the particularly long drawn-out scenes that in my opinion do little to move the story on. And yet- if a mark of a great movie is still talking about it a week later, this does fit the standard for me. (As do the next two.) I am still shaking my head over the bad-luck synchronicity that tied all the stories together, Yes, it was contrived. So what. The message was strong and clear- independent is not what we are. We are inextricably linked together. We just don't know it thanks to our ever-growing Tower of Babel. There may even be more to write about this one later. It could win.

The Departed
Hooray for Scorsese. He has made another masterpiece. He deserves the director's nod for this movie. The movie probably deserves the Best Picture. (I wish for a tie this year.) He has gotten marvelous perfromances galore in this movie. He has directed and styled and molded and done whatever magic he is capable of to tell one remarkable story. There's not a wasted scene or a wasted word. Nicholson says a lot of words- and they are all necessary for his character! Wahlberg doesn't use a lot of different words but says it all wordlessly at the end. It's not meant to be a message movie nor have a series of scenes that tell it all. No, it is a whole piece of great old-fashioned movie making. No one does it better than Scorsese. It is the front runner.

Letters from Iwo Jima
Oh but how much I wish for a tie this year. No one is better than Scorsese. But then again, no one is better than Eastwood. This movie is as remarkable a movie as Eastwood has ever made. Too bad movieland politics gets in the way too often. (Scorsese never winning, for example.) How Eastwood does this I will never know. The dull colors given light and intensity only in the fire of bombs or explosions. The incredible close-ups that get more from an actor in a glance than a hundred words. This movie is also prototypical Eastwood. It moves at its own pace. (Daughter again- it was too slow for her.) Can you imagine that- a war movie that is slow and deliberate with the building tension taking its toll on the soldiers. Whereas Inarritu could have speeded up some of his scenes, that would have ruined Iwo Jima. Not a scene was wasted or added. To speed it up would have taken away one of those tolls of war- the one that saps the human soul and spirit and replaces it with fear and instinct and violence. The violence of war was as graphic as any since Saving Private Ryan. A new war movie has been added to the greats.

If I had to choose between the two movies, I would have to go with Iwo Jima. I didn't think anything could have topped The Departed. In reality nothing does. But Iwo Jima is as great a movie as you will want to see this year. And so is The Departed. It isn't very often we have a choice between two such overpowering movies. It is an honor to both Eastwood and Scorcese and to the movie industry that allows them to make the movies they want to make.

So now we wait for tomorrow evening to see what the Academy voters have decided.