Joe Wright

From now until the 2008 Oscars air on Sunday night, I'll be breaking down the five contenders for Best Picture, giving you the scoop on why each film could win and why it might not stand a chance. So far, I've taken a look at There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton. Today's Best Picture nominee is Atonement.

Pride and Prejudice director Joe Wright works his magic with another desperately romantic drama, this one taking place in England before and during WWII. At the age of 13, imaginative aspiring writer Briony misconstrues a situation she witnesses and brings grave charges against her sister Cecilia's (Keira Knightley) lover, Robbie (James McAvoy). The terrible repercussions of this false accusation haunt Briony for the rest of her life, causing her to seek redemption for her mistake through her writing.

To see what I think about this Best Picture nominee's chances, read more

In the days leading up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. This week, I'll be looking at the nominees for Best Costume Design. We've already taken a look at the costumes in Across the Universe, now let's turn our attention to Atonement.

I've gushed about the superb art direction in Atonement, and the costumes are a huge part of the beautiful overall look and feel of the film. Of course, the emerald green dress worn by Keira Knightley's character Cecilia during one of the most pivotal moments in the film has garnered a lot of attention, and will most likely draw in a pretty penny in the auction benefiting The Children’s Charity of Southern California.

But every one of the costumes in Atonement is carefully chosen. From the smart nurses' uniforms worn by Briony to Cecilia's delicate floral summer dress, the costumes lend an authenticity to the time period and help to paint this desperately romantic and tragic tale.

To see the rest of the gallery of costume images from Atonement, read more

Every week up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. This week, I'll be looking at the nominees for Best Art Direction, which encompasses the entire look and feel of a film from the scenery to the lighting. Yesterday I featured production stills from Ridley Scott's darkly evocative American Gangster, and today I bring you images from Atonement.

As a huge fan of Atonement, I think Joe Wright should win all kinds of awards for the way he beautifully captured the world described in Ian McEwan's novel. The scenes at Cecilia and Briony's family's estate depict the lush lifestyle of an upper-class family as well as the hazy heat of English summertime. The later scenes, especially of Robbie picking his way through the wreckage of war, are full of dark despair. The art direction in this film shifts between passionate, wistful, doomed and tragic, in keeping with what's happening in the story. Indeed, the visuals here are as great a part of the storytelling as the actual action and dialogue are.

For more stills from Atonement, read more

I haven't read Ian McEwan's 2002 book on which Atonement is based, so speaking from a strictly cinematic standpoint, Atonement is a stunning work of film. The story is told efficiently and with an eye toward capturing both the romantic beauty of the English countryside as well as the frightening cruelties of war. The winning combination of a tight script and brilliant direction by Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) pretty much makes everything else fall into place. The device of shuttling back and forth in time keeps things interesting, piquing our interest as to cause and effect (i.e. if this happens in the future, what happened in the past to cause it?). The performances are solid — particularly James McAvoy's, but mostly on the part of the women playing Briony at various stages in her life — though the actors most likely benefited greatly from such assured direction.

The story spans several decades, beginning in 1935 at the posh estate where Cecilia's (Keira Knightley) family lives and where the son of the housekeeper, Robbie (McAvoy), while still slightly removed because of his class, has mostly become a part of the family. Just as he and Cecilia begin to act on their attraction toward one another, Cecilia's young sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan as the young Briony) accuses Robbie of a heinous crime he did not commit, and he is sent away. Choosing military service instead of prison, Robbie is serves in World War II, and though he and Cecilia continue to love each other, their lives are never quite the same. As for Briony, the guilt of her mistake haunts her throughout her life, though she tries to achieve atonement through her writing. That's just the plot, though, so read more

Keira Knightley combined the latest trends with Ray Ban classics as she arrived in Venice yesterday. She wore a beautiful dress for the photocall of her period peice Atonement which opened up the Venice Film Festival. The buzz has already started about her performance but that being said, Keira does all that she can to avoid reading what the media has to say about her, for better or for worse. She said,

"Once you become famous you get completely dehumanized. I think people forget there is a person in there trying to deal with it. Partly the way you deal with it is by not reading, not looking and seeing any of it and burying your head in the sand. It is the only path to sanity."

We know Keira has dealt with some pretty bad backlash from the media about her weight, so we don't blame her for wanting to stay away from it. We just hope it doesn't make her quit acting altogether, because we'd miss her on the big screen.

Lots more of Keira along with Vanessa Redgrave, James McAvoy and more so read more