I entered the Oscars this year in fear that the most mediocre film of the year, Juno would be awarded the honor of Best Picture. Even Juno getting the nomination appalls me when there were so many worthy movies such as Into the Wild, American Gangster, and Sweeny Todd that were totally ignored. Though I couldn’t disagree more with at least one of the nominees for each category, I could not argue with the winners.

Joel and Ethan Coen stole the show winning four Oscars that were rightly deserved. No Country for Old Men is probably the best movie made in the last ten years. The only people who would argue with it winning over such movies as Juno and Atonement are people who either avoided seeing the movie simply because of its awkward title or have seen it but are incapable of actually listening to dialogue that doesn’t involve dry wit and bathroom humor.

Every moment in No Country for Old Men is as necessary as it is captivating. It is a movie that when you sit down and watch it there are no lulls, no points in the movie were you are safe to go to the bathroom and jump back into it like there are in There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton.

The Coen brothers were robbed in 1995 when their first masterpiece, Fargo, was ignored, and they are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

Another film in the mix was There Will Be Blood. This too was a very well made film and deserved recognition, but not necessarily for the awards it received. It received the award for Best Cinematography and I, among others, was shocked that Atonement was shafted from this honor.

The imagery in that film was astounding, leaving everyone who saw it in awe of the shear wonder of the nature surrounding the characters. Also, I was shocked to see that Into the Wild was ignored for the nomination. Anyone who has seen that film can stand by that statement.

The acting awards this year came as no surprise. Daniel Day Lewis gave the performance of the century in There Will Be Blood, and Javier Bardem has now catapulted himself into the league of Anthony Hopkins as the ultimate psychopathic murderer. Everyone knew these two would walk away with the golden trophy, but let’s not leave Tom Wilkinson and Hal Holbrook’s performances go unnoticed. 

Any other year Tom Wilkinson would have won the honor for his performance in Michael Clayton. He played a crazy, depressed loon to perfection, while at the same time allowing the audience to root for his cause.

In other words he was crazy enough for us to judge him, but sane enough to make us want to listen. Hal Holbrook played an adorable old man in Into the Wild. The emotion and truth he brought to that character was simply aesthetic. And even though he had only a few lines, you will never forget his words, “When you forgive you learn to love, and when you love, God’s light shines upon you.”

I still would have liked to see Emile Hirsch from Into the Wild be nominated for his performance over Johnny Depp. Though I respect Johnny Depp as the third greatest actor of our generation (behind Daniel Day Lewis and Sean Penn), his performance in Sweeny Todd was simply not Oscar worthy, it was good, but at the same time very static.

All in all I am thrilled with the decision making by the Academy this year. They got some of the nominations wrong, but the winners right, and that is really all you can ask for. Those who have not seen, or simply don’t understand No Country for Old Men, scoff at it, but ten years from now this film will be remembered as one of the greats.

Daniel Day Lewis’s performance will resound for the decades, and the shear beauty of Into the Wild will be well appreciated in the years to come. So those of you who are still whining about Juno not winning Best Picture, go out and watch No Country For Old Men. And for those of you who have seen it and say, “That ending sucked!” go out again and try actually listening to the dialogue of Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones.

Yeah I know, what a concept: listening for a change. American movies have to spell everything out for people these days don’t they? Films have to be filled with so much eye candy to catch the attention of the rotting brains of America’s youth, and it all started with an atrocity called Titanic.

The past few years the Oscars have been improving their taste as far as winners go, avoiding the free Best Picture hand outs to movies with special effects and pretty costumes.

Crash, The Departed, and No Country for Old Men are all outstanding films that have moved audiences all over the nation and the world. If you have not seen these films I highly recommend them, and as for the Oscars we are almost on the same page (the right page).