Any fan of movies knows that this year was a great year for Oscars. For the first time in I think forever, when I looked at the list of nominees instead of scratching my head and asking the Academy what the hell they were thinking, I actually thought for the most part that they were pretty dead on. Tommy Lee Jones gets a best acting nomination for In the Valley of Elah? Wait, someone other than me saw that movie and thought he was brilliant too? Who’d a thunk it???

Of course Tommy Lee didn’t win. The two Best Actor categories were pretty tied up months ago. There were two very welcome surprises in the Best Actress categories though, which I was extremely pleased with. First was Tilda Swinton’s win for Michael Clayton, my personal pick in that category, and it looked like no one was more surprised that she won than herself. She was amazing in that movie. (I would have died if Ruby Dee won. Is anyone other than me confused as to why she is even in the running to win in this category?) If you haven’t already seen Michael Clayton, check it out. The second was Marion Cotillard’s win for La Vie En Rose. Now, I actually kind of hated that movie. I thought it was pretentious and poorly made, but there is no denying that Marion Cotillard gave one of those once and a lifetime performances. She’s amazing. No one would even be talking about that movie if it weren’t for her, so it was nice to see her win.