I waited for a long time to see this film. I tried my hardest to finish reading Upton Sinclair’s Oil! before I saw this movie so I could do a book to film comparison. Unfortunately, between seeing all these movies, and writing about them, I fell behind in that very dense book and just couldn’t finish it. I still hope to, but in my own time.

Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a successful oil man who owns an independent company and tours the west with his son (Dillon Freasier) buying land and drilling for oil. He is tipped off to some uncharted land and begins to buy it up, all under the watchful eye of the church of the Third Revelation run by the young prophet Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). The first time I watched this film I had a screener, which is two discs, and I watched it on my small living room TV. It felt like it was hours and hours long and after it was finished I couldn’t begin to understand what all the hype was about. The second time I saw it, yesterday during my Best Picture showcase, I liked it more. It’s still not one of my favorite nominees, but I can see where people would want to honor it. It has a beautiful look to it, and the performances are wonderful. It was nice to see it in theaters because you pick up a little more of the sarcasm and swagger to Day-Lewis’ oil tycoon as the crowd laughs along with his often satirical remarks. However, while many loved the score I felt it was so over the top, loud, and in your face that I couldn’t stand it. The film’s pacing was just all wrong for me, and it could have used some major editing. I couldn’t love this film for all it’s problems, and I think that it will take home far less awards than people believe it will.

Nominations:

Best Picture
While I believed this to be neck in neck with No Country in the race before I saw the film, I can’t see how it would ever take the Oscar from the Coen brothers western now. There’s more excitement in the first ten minutes of No Country than you see in two and a half hours of There Will Be Blood. Because of it’s pacing problems and unnecessary length alone, it won’t take this award home.

Best Director – Paul Thomas Anderson
Not only do I not think he’ll win here, but I think his nomination should have gone to Tim Burton. Daniel Day-Lewis always turns in a phenomenal performance, so I can’t see how much influence PTA would have had over it. The decision not to trim the film down to a more manageable length and to leave in unnecessary scenes and beauty shots seems rather narcissistic, which is how I’ve always perceived PTA to be.

Best Actor – Daniel Day-Lewis
One of the many locks of the night, there’s no doubt in my mind that he will take this Oscar home. A tad over the top, in my opinion, but hey, that’s the price of being a greedy oil man.

Best Art Direction
It’s a beautiful film, but I don’t think this film has enough sets and charisma to take it home.

Best Cinematography
Here I think it will split the vote with other westerns No Country and Assassination of Jesse James, allowing the wonderfully shot Diving Bell and Butterfly to squeak through.

Best Editing
This nomination is despicable. A 3 hour film with horribly slow pacing doesn’t even deserve to be considered here.

Best Sound Editing
Though the score is loud, I wouldn’t say it’s well edited and I think films with better sound stand more of a chance here.

Best Adapted Screenplay
I didn’t quite finish the book, but I think this film diverted a lot in the second half from it’s source material, and not in a good way. No Country, a more direct and wonderfully written adaptation, stands a better chance here.