Best Picture of 2007

Atonement

PRO: This year's The English Patient, a safe and staid British film.

CON: Hollywood remembers, 11 years too late, that it kind of hated The English Patient; Jewish academy voters look in vain for Yom Kippur references.

Juno

PRO: The little indie movie that could, this year's Little Miss Sunshine, about a teenager who gives up her baby to a couple she finds in the pennysaver.

CON: Movie comes too late to be cautionary tale for Jamie Lynn Spears; Academy voters do not know what a Pennysaver is.

Michael Clayton

PRO: Old-fashioned, where-is-this-going, legal thriller has best little guy vs. big guy since Erin Brockovich.

CON: Legal dramas are supposed to have courtroom scenes; also, Clooney's cleavage a little disconcerting, unlikely to bring him Julia Roberts-style glory.

No Country for Old Men

PRO: Dark, suspenseful, chilling; widely admired as the Coen Brothers' greatest movie since Fargo.

CON: If we want to see a movie with bad haircuts and serial killing we'll go see Sweeney Todd.

There Will Be Blood

PRO: Oscar loves sprawling historical American epics; vampire branch of academy likes title.

CON: Most overly aggressive soundtrack since, well, Juno; You Will Be Bored.

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