The Oscar Week Breakdown: Part VII of VIII

BEST PICTURE

Before I delve into this category I have to ask why the best film of 2004 wasn't even nominated. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is everything you could ask for in a movie: humor, drama, romance and best of all, intelligence. How many times have you heard audiences and critics complain about the lack of originality in today's movies? So here we have a movie that isn't a sequel, remake, book/TV adaptation or based on historical events. That's right, all of the movie's the characters were created by the screenwriter. It sounds like such a simple feat but none of the five Best Picture nominees can say that.

Eternal Sunshine has a wonderfully inventive concept, but the movie is so great because it's more than just a gimmick. Charlie Kaufman (who I'm rooting for more than any other nominee) creates a rich, honest love story to go along with his premise. The cast is terrific as well, as Jim Carrey has proven that he deserves to sit at Hollywood's grown-ups table. I could see why mass audiences might be turned off by such a layered film, but for academy members who see dozens and dozens of formulaic movies each year, I'm baffled as to why Eternal Sunshine wasn't deemed top a five movie.

As for the actual nominees, it's a breath of fresh air to finally have some uncertainty about the Best Picture prize. We pretty much knew that A Beautiful Mind would win, we were quite sure that Chicago would win and last year it was absolutely set in stone that The Lord of the Rings would win. Unlike the past three years there is no overriding favorite right now as Million Dollar Baby and The Aviator are a toss-up at this point. The former has the momentum but latter has more going for it on paper. The Aviator has more Golden Globe wins, more Oscar nominations (both of which are good predictors) and it "looks" more like a best picture. However, I just don't get the sense that is a beloved film. I think it's the type of picture where an Academy voter might say "I could sleep at night with this as our Best Picture, but I wouldn't mind if something better came along." Well, along came Million Dollar Baby and it is a better film. I predict that the voters will hedge their ballots by giving Scorsese Best Director and then awarding Best Picture to the people's champ.

Should win: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Will win: Million Dollar Baby