Michael Clayton was nominated in six categories, including supporting actress and best actor. The winner, a deserving Tilda Swinton, should have had her dress debugged. She can’t dress but she can act. And her win in this highly competitive category makes her a standout in a crowd, no doubt. Swinton’s performance as a bitchy, CEO-cum-lawyer type who falls apart after calling the shots behind the scenes was memorable. Michael Clayton, played by George Clooney, entraps her in a stunning climax. Kudos to Clooney for his performance in Michael Clayton and nomination for best actor. I enjoyed this movie from start to finish, another must-see.

The best actress Oscar was won by Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose. This category included many great nominees. Julie Christie, for one, played a woman facing Alzheimer's disease and was the critics' pic going in for the movie Away From Her. But it was the real life story of Edith Piaf as played by Cotillard that defied gravity, even without comparing it to other films. A perfect movie, a perfect performance, and a French masterpiece; if you missed it at the movies then catch the DVD. La Vie En Rose — ooh, la, la, as the French would say — was a must see.

Cotillard went to the Oscars and took home the statue for best actress and her film also won in the makeup category. And if you saw this film you would attest to the makeup artist’s uncanny transformation of this beautiful woman into a stressed out, drugged out, worn out singer by the end of the film; clearly demonstrated by the makeup and mental confusion that sets in towards the end of her strange life.

Best actor was found in There Will Be Blood — a film with two solid wins: best actor and best cinematography.  The acting award went to Daniel Day-Lewis hands down… no contest here according to most film critics. That gorgeous actor has been one of my favorites since I first met him in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He was nominated in this category in which the other nominees also gave well-reviewed performances. This was his second Academy Award. He also won many other honors before getting this nod from Oscar for his lead role in There Will be Blood. (They say he was in every single scene and lost himself in the role.)

Interesting... what does the 80th Academy Awards say about American actors and American film quality that so many Europeans are moving in on our acting turf? Maybe they know what Heloise has always known about foreign actors and films — they are the best. The gold standard if you will. Why? Because they invariably capture quality over quantity. Besides the European actors unexpectedly running the board, the night was pretty much a coin toss.