Wednesday night Kevin and I saw “There Will Be Blood” at my neighborhood cinema. This completes my quest to see all of the Best Picture nominees for the 2007 Academy Awards.
I was captivated by “TWBB” and not just by Daniel Day Lewis’ performance. I very much appreciated the storyline and how it personalized the turn-of-the-previous-century’s history of how oil collection and production became a monopoly. But Daniel Day Lewis was great, as well, creating an intense characterization from the ground up.
Yeah. I liked this one.
Now that I’ve seen the quinella, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that “There Will Be Blood” will take the Best Picture Oscar. I’m not 100% sure of it; “Atonement” seems more like the kind of movie that the Academy chooses, but in my entirely un-expert opinion, I think they’ll lean towards “TWBB”.
However, of the five movies, I personally prefer “Michael Clayton”. It’s a more complex story, with interesting characterizations and plot twists that kept me engaged throughout. It’s a writer’s movie. It’s, frankly, a movie from the ground up; it’s in the minority of the top five – only it and “Juno” were written specifically for the screen. The others were all adapted from a novel. So in my eyes, “Michael Clayton” gets the personal nod.
Note I’m not hedging my bets by picking two movies. I really think that the Academy is going to select “There Will Be Blood”.
We’ll see how right I am on Sunday.