Great performances: Naomi Watts, luminously inconsolable as a mother who’s lost her whole family, in the otherwise hopelessly worked-over 21 Grams; Agnes Bruckner and David Strathairn in Blue Car; Bruce Dern in Monster; Nick Nolte in The Good Thief; Sarah Polley in My Life Without Me; Campbell Scott in The Secret Lives of Dentists; Oksana Akinshina in Lily 4-Ever; Cate Blanchett in Veronica Guerin; Zooey Deschanel in All the Real Girls; Shohreh Aghdashloo in House of Sand and Fog.
And finally, a big thank-you to all the dedicated artists whose naked butts made our season merrier: Nicole Kidman and Jude Law in Cold Mountain; Jack Nicholson (trust me, his teeth are prettier) in the aptly named Something’s Gotta Give; Maria Bello and W.H. Macy in The Cooler. Extra thanks to Diane Keaton for a flash full frontal that, if nothing else, will get her a bravery award from Women in Film — if the Calendar Girls don’t get it first.