This year’s Oscar derby has only just begun and already it has turned into the hilarity of This Is Spinal Tap.Remember Nigel Tufnel, the Spinal Tap guitarist who wanted his axe so loud he cranked his amp up to 11 rather than 10?Obviously guided by Tufnel’s enthusiasm, the National Board of Review this week broke with tradition by placing 11 films on its annual Top 10 list of the year’s best. The Coen Bros.’ No Country for Old Men was named Best Film of 2007, followed by 10 runners-up.The board used similar Tufnel math for assessing foreign films, naming six of them to its annual Top Five list. Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly won for Best Foreign Film, followed by five runners-up.It’s just another reason to snicker at the NBR, a dubious and mysterious group of New York film buffs, academics and popcorn munchers. They seek to hand out as many awards as possible, so they get a really good celebrity turnout to their annual banquet. But the NBR does help shape the long race towards the Oscars on Feb. 24, since it’s the first major group to sound off at year’s end. And you have to sympathize with the board’s plight this year in trying to narrow down the field of an extraordinary film year.A lot of people are comparing 2007 to 1999 as the being one of the greatest years ever for movies. But 1999 didn’t have anywhere near as many great movies as 2007, and in so many genres: there were quality comedies, dramas, romances, westerns, gangster films and teen flicks.Even with its bucket load of prizes for all manner of movies and performances, the NBR still managed to overlook a large number of award-worthy pictures and talent. The board showed no love for a veritable A to Z of films that critics have been raving about: American Gangster, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Charlie Wilson’s War, Eastern Promises, Enchanted, Hairspray, I’m Not There, Knocked Up, There Will Be Blood, 3:10 to Yuma, The Orphanage, Sicko, Superbad and Zodiac, to name just a few.Most of the films on that list would have made highly respectable NBR choices – maybe even all 14 for the NBR’s Top 10 – to turn up the Tufnel math even higher.And what about all the snubbed talent? For starters, there’s Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There), Amy Adams (Enchanted), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) and Daniel-Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood).Many of the films and names passed over by the NBR will get their due in the orgy of prize-giving to come, including the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.As my good friend Charlie Dickens says, this is the best of times and the worst of time for movie buffs. December always brings a bounty of celluloid riches and too few prize categories to slot them into.Every critic has the daunting task of compiling a personal Top 10 list from the 300-400 films viewed each year. But the job is more onerous this year than ever. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post, one of my fellow soothsayers on the Gurus o’ Gold panel at MovieCityNews.com, is making his year-end picks in two stages. He’s already published his Top 25 list of films for 2007, which he plans to narrow down to a Top 10. I’m sweating over my own Top 10 list for 2007, which will run later this month. There are probably at least 30 movies that I could put on it. Any ideas how I can do that, Nigel?phowell@thestar.ca
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