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Oscar_bestdirector.appFooter = "John Hartl is the film critic for MSNBC.com.";
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Oscar_bestdirector[i-1].body = "Last year’s split between best picture (“Crash”) and best director (Ang Lee for “Brokeback Mountain”) could be repeated Feb. 25, when Martin Scorsese appears likely to collect the director award even if his film (“The Departed”) ultimately bows to “The Queen” or “Babel” in the top category.It actually happens fairly frequently at the Oscars, and it often suggests that the voters are happy to bestow best picture on a crowd-pleaser (“Chicago,” “Gladiator,” “Shakespeare in Love”), while reserving the director prize for more lasting and provocative achievements (Polanski’s “The Pianist,” Soderbergh’s “Traffic,” Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan”).
It’s become a kind of a tie, and it goes all the way back to the first Academy Awards, when 1927’s best picture prize was essentially split between “best production” (the blockbuster “Wings”) and “artistic quality of production” (the less popular “Sunrise”). That distinction was instantly dropped, but it lingers on in picture/director splits as notable as “Rebecca”/”The Grapes of Wrath,” “Chariots of Fire”/”Reds,” and “American in Paris”/”A Place in the Sun.” This year looks like more of the same.";
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Oscar_bestdirector[i-1].body = "
Scorsese has lost this award so many times that he probably can’t be denied again. The movie may be not be a masterpiece in the same category as “Taxi Driver” (for which Scorsese was not nominated), but it’s a vivid demonstration of his brilliance as a genre director and a handler of actors. What a cast — and look what he does with every one of them.
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Without benefit of Directors Guild or Producers Guild nominations, two-time winner Eastwood seems unlikely to score another Oscar for this box-office underachiever. Still, the Japanese-language companion to “Flags of Our Fathers” may be his finest film.";
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Here’s a movie almost everyone loves, so it’s entirely possible that Helen Mirren won’t be the only one rewarded for it. It’s been in limited release for months, yet it’s just catching on. If a sweep develops, Frears could be rewarded for a wonderfully varied career.
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Oscar_bestdirector[i-1].body = "
It’s been called this year’s “Crash,” so it can’t exactly be regarded as an upset if it wins something big. This is also the year when Mexican filmmakers have earned more Oscar recognition than ever before. Inarritu, however, may have to wait for another year even if “Babel” wins best picture.";
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Nominated for co-writing the script, Cuaron should also be nominated for his direction of this instant science-fiction classic about a terrorized race that suddenly can’t reproduce. What’s most memorable about the film is the way Cuaron sustains tension through a series of bravura camera moves, while giving Clive Owen and Michael Caine plenty of room to make us care.";
// END editorial data