Bono sang that if "they don't know what you're doing, babe, it must be art."  If this year's Academy Award nominees are any indication, filmmakers knew exactly what hopes and fears would relate with film audiences this year.  Those themes?  Fear of an bleak, uncertain future.

"Roll out the black carpet," said the New York Times in a report Wednesday.  "A lineup of films bleak in tone and worldview will take center stage."

Four out of five of the best picture nominees are not whimsical affairs.  The bleakest, "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood," nabbed the most nominations (8 each).  "No Country" serves as an allegory for the battle of unwarranted hope versus inevitable death.  "Blood" tells the epic of how one man's search for oil and capitalist success strips him of his sanity and humanity.  "Michael Clayton" turns legal thrillers upside-down by proving good people can be villians and truth systematically adjusted.  "Atonement," while a more traditional film, centers its plot around the lies of a child and their neverending search to redeem themselves.

Who, in this day and age, still believes smear tactics are a tool to win an election?  Who still listens to them?

As found on the front page of yesterday's New York Times, McCain has been forced to use members of his volunteer staff to solely combat the negative adds run by groups like Vietnam Veterans Against McCain. 

As 'best of 2007' lists are now circulating throughout the internet, I am glad to see the film No End in Sight given a little bit of spotlight.  Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekley named it his 9th favorite film of the year, awarding it an 'A' grade upon its original release.  Richard Corliss of Time named it his 7th favorite.  And yet, at my local Hollywood Video, less than half a dozen copies of the DVD are hidden among the sea of straight-to-disc releases, none ever picked off the shelf.  Such is the trend for Iraq movies as of late, but as the war remains an issue of importance to all Americans, Glieberman raises a fair question in his list: "What, exactly, will have to happen to make them [watch this film]?"