Wolf at Your Door

This year's Oscar-winning animated short Peter & the Wolf will be presented tomorrow night as part of PBS' Great Performances. In addition to the complete toon, which retells the familiar story of Sergei Prokofiev's classical piece through stop motion animation, the program will present a behind the scenes featurette on the making of it.

In related news, Peter & the Wolf and all of the other Oscar nominated animated and live action short subjects (including live action winner The Mozart of Pickpockets) will be released on DVD May 6. Click here to pre-order Collection of 2007 Academy Award: Nominated Short Filmsfrom Amazon.com.

Awards Watch: 2007 Round Up

First things first: take a look at this week's cover of Entertainment Weekly, picturing a close-up of the four acting winners' awards, and you'll see incontrovertible proof that Oscar is indeed gay. On the left, you can see Daniel's and Tilda's snogging away (they are British after all), while Marion's and Javier's get down to business right in front of everyone (those wacky, uninhibited Europeans).

Anyway ... Every year I keep track of the top award winners, tallying up the trophies handed out by the top 26 organizations, critics groups and industry guilds to get a clearer picture of what is indeed the Best Picture (et al) of the year. And, Academy Award winners notwithstanding, you'll be happy to know that, over the previous three years, Sideways, Brokeback Mountain and United 93 were indeed the best Best Pictures of the year.

This year, Oscar was more in step with the rest, with No Country for Old Men taking eight top prizes, the same amount for Best Actor victor Daniel Day-Lewis and screenplay winner Juno. However, the most wins for any film in any category goes to Ratatouille, with ten awards total. In the end though, No Country was the top winner, with five overall wins in all categories.

For the complete yearly round up for the awards season just past, including the top winners in all categories (with at least two wins) and a list of the 26 groups tracked, see the comments section below.

Oscars 2007: A Post Mortem

Diablo Cody shows her appreciation

It's the day after the Oscars, so of course everyone is whining about how long it was. News flash, people: it's the Oscars. They are always long. Get over it.

Personally, I was impressed with the evening. Maybe they should wait until the last minute to do the show every year ... last night's telecast had just the right amount of sure things and surprise wins to make it interesting, and Jon Stewart kept the show moving along with just the right amount of mockery.

As for my predictions, I scored exactly 2/3rds correct, with 16 out of 24. I nailed the Tilda Swinton upset, but missed out on Marion Cotillard's (who had a great weekend, also picking up France's César Award). And I grossly underestimated the appeal of The Bourne Ultimatum in the tech categories; the hit movie also scored well at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards the night before. (In related news, it should come as no surprise that a fourth Bourne is in the planning stages now.)

Some random thoughts:

• With the four wins by two Brits (Swinton, Daniel Day-Lewis), a French beauty (Cotillard) and a Spaniard (Javier Bardem), this was the first time since 1964's Oscars that every acting category went to a non-American.
• Rob Marshall is a very happy man today: both Bardem and Cotillard are starring in his upcoming film adaptation of the musical Nine.
• And one last thing about Bardem: if you weren't madly in love with him before, you are now. And he's such a nice son.
• Poor Amy Adams looked lost on that huge stage without even a choreographed cockroach to interact with during "Happy Working Song" (she looked great later though).
• As for the other Enchanted numbers: I wonder how long before Disney Theatricals gets the idea to make the movie into a stage musical?
• Duane "The Rock" Johnson in a tux. 'Nuff said.
• Uh, why the hell is the Jerry Seinfeld bee here? Bee Movie wasn't even nominated!
• John Travolta looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
• Where was Brad Renfro in the "In Memoriam" section? Not to mention Alice Ghostley, Michel Serrault and, most glaringly, Charles Lane?
• Viggo Mortensen: awesome.
• And finally: loved the gay shout outs from No Country for Old Men's Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin (maybe he's the head of the gay mafia?) and Freeheld's Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth.

So this brings this year's awards season to a close. And just think: only nine more months until it starts all over again ...

UPDATE: Others left out of "In Memoriam": Robert Goulet, Merv Griffin, Marcel Marceau, Tom Poston and Charles Nelson Reilly. And one more thing: do you think the Academy is regretting giving an Oscar to Jennifer Hudson yet? Girl can't even convincingly read a teleprompter ...

Oscars 2007: Best Picture

No Country for Old Men:

Producer Scott Rudin: "This is also for my partner John Barlow, without you, honey, this would be hardware. Thank you so much!"

Oscars 2007: Best Director

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men:

Joel: "Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids. In the late 60's, when Ethan was 11 or 12, he got a suit and a briefcase and we went to the Minneapolis International Airport with a Super 8 camera and made a movie about shuttle diplomacy called Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go. And honestly, what we do now doesn't feel that much different ..."

Oscars 2007: Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood:

"My deepest thanks to the members of the Academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town."

Oscars 2007: Best Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody for Juno:

"And most of all, I want to thank my family for loving me exactly the way I am."

Oscars 2007: Best Documentary Feature

Taxi to the Dark Side

Oscars 2007: Best Documentary Short

Freeheld:

Director Cynthia Wade: "It was Lieutenant Laurel Hester's dying wish that her fight ... against discrimination would make a difference for all the same sex couples across the country that face discrimination every day."

Producer Vanessa Roth: "And to all our supporters and families who believe that even a 38-minute movie could change minds and lives."

Oscars 2007: Best Original Score

Atonement

Oscars 2007: Best Cinematography

There Will Be Blood

Oscars 2007: Best Original Song

"Falling Slowly" from Once:

Glen Hansard: "Make art."

Marketa Irglova: "This song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are."

Oscars 2007: Best Foreign Language Film

The Counterfeiters

Austria

Oscars 2007: Best Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum

Oscars 2007: Best Actress

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose:

"Thank you life, thank you love, and it is true, there is some angels in this city."

Oscars 2007: Best Sound Mixing

The Bourne Ultimatum

Oscars 2007: Best Sound Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum

Oscars 2007: Best Adapted Screenplay

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men:

Joel: "I think whatever success we've had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are. We've only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy ..."

Oscars 2007: Best Supporting Actress

Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton:

"... And George Clooney, you know, the seriousness and the dedication to your art, seeing you climb into that rubber bat suit from Batman and Robin, the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch ... you rock, man."

Oscars 2007: Best Animated Short

Peter & the Wolf