The Brett-Oskies: The Winners!

Well, the whole Brett-Oskies gag seems to have collapsed since I never had time to announce the winners before the actual Oscars. And to make matters worse (or better) I saw Michael Clayton last week which just about blew away anything else I saw this year. So here goes:

Best Picture
Juno
Michael Clayton
The Seventh Victim
Toy Story 2
Winner: Michael Clayton. Great movie. Excellent acting and a suspenseful plot I never knew where it was going next. Thoroughly entertaining. The Seventh Victim was a close second.

Best Director
Mark Robson, The Seventh Victim
Sam Fuller, Park Row
Robert Stone, Oswald's Ghost
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Winner: Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton. There's never a good reason to split up the top two awards.

Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Tom Hanks, Toy Story 2
Warner Oland, Charlie Chan in Paris
Winner: Warner Oland, Charlie Chan in Paris. I believed he really was Chinese.

Best Actress
Joan Cusack, Toy Story 2
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Kim Hunter, The Seventh Victim
Winner: Joan Cusack, Toy Story 2. What can I say? I love Joan Cusack in anything. Best actress working today. If I'm giving out awards I'm giving them to Joan Cusack.

Best Supporting Actor
Micheal Cera, Juno
Ken Howard, Michael Clayton
Keye Luke, Charlie Chan in Paris
Jason Bateman, Juno
Winner: By far the strongest category. Somewhere in the last few years Ken Howard has achieved Dabney Coleman or Charles Grodin like ubiquity. This is an awesome development. Great work in Michael Clayton but no Brett-Oskie. Jason Bateman was excellent in Juno saying so much was his silences and body language. But the Brett-Oskie is a difficult call between Cera and Luke both brilliant, unique performers. In the end I have to go with Cera since his performance was bigger. Still, I feel this isn't the last we've heard of Keye Luke, especially since I have a Charlie Chan box set just sitting on the shelf filled with his great work as Number One Son.

Best Supporting Actress
Janeane Garafolo, Ratatouille
Allison Janney, Juno
Elizabeth Russell, The Seventh Victim
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Winner: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton. I nominated Janeane Garofalo because I used to see her all the time when I lived in the East Village and I like to talk about it and Allison Janney because my wife likes he so much. Elizabeth Russell is haunting as hell in her role as the doomed neighbore but Tilda Swinton was even more creepy in Michael Clayton.

Best Documentary
Helvetica
Oswald's Ghost
Winner: Oswald's Ghost. I love type and I love the Kennedy assassination but the edge goes to Oswald's Ghost, which took the unique step of being a history of the history of the Kennedy assassination. And I love anything that has Jack Ruby in it.

Best Cinematography
3:10 to Yuma
Once
Winner: Once. I was watching 3:10 to Yuma and I kept thinking how much better movies in general look than the did thirty or forty years ago. The technical level is just amazing. Regardless, I loved the lo-fi look of Once.

So, there you have it. See you at the movie theater or on my couch.