No Country For Old Men versus There Will Be Blood versus Juno versus...Ratatouille?

Oh, sigh.  Oscar season is officially over, leaving us with seven months of throw-away spring releases and brainless summer blockbusters until the official start of the festival/awards season in September.  As someone who writes and transcribes movies for a living, I unfortunately did not have the energy to see all of this year's contenders.  I am, however, quite satisfied having only seen the four I saw: Oscar favorite "No Country For Old Men"....the unfathomably epic "There Will Be Blood"...."Juno", a movie that got me where it hurts despite its hideous dialogue....and "Ratatouille", dear dear "Ratatouille".  

Did the academy get it right with "No Country"?  Many people say yes.  Eh, I say no.  Sure, "No Country" was a better movie than "Juno."  I'll give it that.  The suspense the Coen Brothers created was unrelenting and Javier Bardem was fascinatingly evil.  But it was a crime movie, a thriller, maybe a modern western.  A genre film.  It was great in spite of what it was at the core of its story - crime fiction.  

"There Will Be Blood", on the other hand, was an energizing look at the life of an evil yet vaguely likable man set in an era I have never been interested in yet found completely fascinating throughout the film.  It was sprawling and ambitious, yet totally focused and clean.  That ending!  Man, that ending.  The reception by the academy of P.T. Anderson's catalogue is beginning to make me think that Anderson truly is the next Altman.  Nobody knows what to do with him, what to make of him.  He's creating exactly what he wants to create and not exactly playing the game and because of that, great films are being overlooked for safe, familiar stories.  

But did I think that "There Will Be Blood" was the best picture of 2007?  Non, monsieur.  It's a shame that the Academy created the Best Animated Feature category (and it's also a shame that "The Simpson's Movie" didn't even get nominated.  Surf's up!).  I don't recall any film causing me to feel the way I felt after seeing "Ratatouille".  It was an absolutely flawless movie.  It was fun, it had a great point of view, the production values were exceptional (have you ever heard food SOUND as good as when the final dish of ratatouille was plated?  Never!), and the story was incredibly, incredibly well-written.  Best screenplay "Juno"?  Give me a break.  Brad Bird made a story about rats in a restaurant both inspiring and hilarious.  Then he made that story look like a Parisian dream baked inside a chocolate souffle.  And because this gem was created in a virtual environment, it can now only be appreciated in that box.  Thanks, Academy.

Not that any of this matters in the long run.  How many of the Best Picture winners are actually still revered as Great Movies?  Time will reveal the real best pictures of 2007.  

-Jenn