Awards Features

JUNO
Why it'll win: "Juno" elevated the teen pregnancy genre with a sharp script packed with wittily sardonic dialogue and created a young breakout star in Ellen Page. A surprise nom for director Jason Reitman could only mean this pic continues to garner plenty of steam.
Maybe not: Lacking the depth and drama of the other nominees, the Academy may have a hard time acknowledging this dramedy over its competition. Plus, as clever and snappy as Diablo Cody's dialogue was, some found the wisecracks overdone.
Critical quote: "Jason Reitman's 'Juno' is just about the best movie of the year. It is very smart, very funny and very touching; it begins with the pacing of a screwball comedy and ends as a portrait of characters we have come to love," says Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times.

MICHAEL CLAYTON
Why it'll win: Writer-turned-director Tony Gilroy has a lot of fans in Hollywood, helping to earn his complicated corporate thriller "Michael Clayton" seven Oscar noms. Plot forces us to examine how some of our greatest minds -- legal and otherwise -- are being used for, to put it mildly, unethical purposes.
Maybe not: While "Clayton" was highly admired and found a spot on several top-10 lists, it rarely reached No. 1. While everyone praises its well-written script and stellar performances, the passion for the film doesn't seem to be on par with those who are enamored of "No Country" and "There Will Be Blood."
Critical quote: "Deliberate, demanding and character-driven, 'Michael Clayton' flies in the face of what sells at the multiplex. I couldn't have liked it more. In a throwback to the 1970s, when master directors Sidney Lumet ('Network,' 'Dog Day Afternoon') and Alan Pakula ('Klute,' 'The Parallax View') thought moral inquiry was part of the job, this gripping thriller simmers with tasty provocation," says Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Why it'll win: The Academy choose "The English Patient" over "Fargo" back in 1997, and a case could be made that the Coen brothers should be given their due for what some consider an oversight. "No Country" was one of the best-reviewed films of the year, and this could be a chance to acknowledge their contribution to filmmaking. The eight noms (tied for most with "There Will Be Blood") is a clear indicator that the movie is making its mark with voters.
Maybe not: The violence may turn off some -- though that didn't seem to hurt "The Departed" -- and the hard-to-digest ending, which has left some scratching their heads, could derail the film's chances.
Critical quote: "A scorching blast of tense genre filmmaking shot through with rich veins of melancholy, down-home philosophy and dark, dark humor, 'No Country for Old Men' reps a superior match of source material and filmmaking talents," says Todd McCarthy, Variety.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Why it'll win: Director-writer Paul Thomas Anderson and star Daniel Day-Lewis have made a ferociously original film. For all the tentpoles and cookie-cutter pics that aim for nothing more than a huge opening-weekend gross, "Blood" succeeds in dare-to-be-great ambitions.
Maybe not: Like "No Country," "There Will Be Blood" demands audiences to engage themselves and not just sit back and watch, and the ending, when Day-Lewis' character is spiraling into mental illness, has its detractors. Unlike its competition, which are true ensembles, this is a one-man tour de force. Many could figure a Day-Lewis Oscar is enough.
Critical quote: "For a huge picture, 'There Will Be Blood' is exquisitely intimate, almost a collection of sketches. For a long, slow movie, it speeds. For a story set in the fabled bad-old-days past, it's got the terrors of modernity in its DNA," says Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly.