And then there was one.....

Once upon a time in the Eighties there were three great American film makers who stood comparison with anyone the rest of the world had to offer; Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Clint Eastwood.

Over the years Marty got obsessed with the fact that he didn't have an Oscar and seemed to be prepared to go to any lengths to get one. Eventually he got one with the overpraised The Departed - I know this because I was one of those who overpraised it. It's not that it wasn't good, it just wasn't great but at least it wasn't The Aviator so let's give him the Oscar and let him get on with his career.Sadly it hasn't turned out that way and we still await his next movie never mind his next great one.

Woody of course already had an Oscar but he seems to have turned out the same way. It's criminal to see the man who made Annie Hall and Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters bouncing around Europe for the cash to make films he wouldn't even have considered in his pomp. His latest Vicky Christina Barcelona is another to be watched through latticed fingers, whatever qualities it has are really only commendable in the sense that it's not Scoop or Cassandra's Dream. As he did in his British sojourn Allen confirms that he really only knows one type of character, even in a film set in Spain he manages to populate it with characters from the Upper West Side of New York. It's embarrassing to watch the film bounce around locations like a corporate for the Spanish Tourist Board - given the extensive narration I'm not even sure it qualifies as a film, possibly a narrated screencast. It makes you shudder with apprehension at the thought of his next film.

Meanwhile Clint Eastwood goes from strength to strength making films that are both conventional and challenging, a film about boxing that raises moral issues about euthanasia, a film about heroes that questions the nature of patriotism, and even a minor film like The Changeling raises questions about corruption and feminism.

Once upon a time there were three great American film makers - now we have one great film makers, and two makers of occasionally great films and there's a world of difference between those two categories.

What I did on my holidays

Did you know that the Oscars are barely six weeks away? Funny how things catch up with you quicker as you get older. I have spent the past few weeks catching up on award season contenders and my initial impression is that for the first time in a long time there may be some genuine competition this year. Generally by this time we have one film which has been annointed sometime before Xmas as the darling of the critics/chattering classes and it then processes regally amassing armfuls of baubles until Oscar night itself. Not so this year; there are a lot of worthy contenders and it is hard to make a strong case for any one film to the exception of others.

Doubt, for example, is not a great film but it has at least four Oscar-worthy performances. Similarly The Wrestler per se may not be worth a Best Picture nod but Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei will take a bit of beating. I think you might also say the same about Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon.

Revolutionary Road is the sort of film that makes it worth enduring the intellect-free expanse of the summer months to spend two hours of your time with this in the winter. A stunning piece of work that suggests Kate Winslet may not be overlooked for long. Ironically her greatest competition is herself in that she is also likely to be nominated for The Reader. Again this is an exceptional piece of work but the film haunts me for all the wrong reasons.

The acting is superb, the direction is marvelous, and although I watched it three weeks ago I can't stop thinking about it. There is a fatal flaw at the heart of this film; there is a moral equivalency between Nazism and the subject matter which seems entirely unbalanced - I can't give more details without spoiling it but would love to talk to you guys about it once you've seen it. And yet, and yet, and yet...this film will not leave me alone.

Defiance is another that has me thinking, not in any deep intellectual way, but simply that every time I see the trailer I remember more things I liked about it. It's unashamedly heroic which is rare in these cynical times.

Biggest disappoinments? Definitely Milk which is overly-romanticised hagiography and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which for all its technological marvels is overlong, flabby, and failed to engage me at almost any point.

As for hidden gems, I finally came across Brideshead Revisited which, despite the obvious problems of adapting such a monster of a book, still emerges quietly triumphant especially in the performances of the two leads.

Naturally all will be revealed on Oscar night and by that time you will have had the chance to put your money where your mouth is with the grand DFTV Oscar sweepstake. Watch this space!