Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. I'll be back on January 2. Until then, go see "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Atonement" and "Juno."

xoxoxo,

The GoldDigger

It was a year for revealing performances at the movies--perhaps because so many actors decided to bare all in their films. Actually, 2007 was a groundbreaking year for nude scenes. Now that cable is so full of scantily clad programming ("Tell Me You Love Me," "The Tudors," "Californication" and "Rome"), maybe Hollywood is trying to stay edgy. Or maybe our YouTube, paparazzi obsessed culture has made movie actors less squeamish about showing us everything for a role. Whatever the case, here's our top 10 list of the best nude scenes of the year:

1. Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises." The actor does a four-minute mobster fight scene completely naked. "In this age of screen grabs, I realize people are going to obsess about it," Mortensen told The GoldDigger last fall. "But it's not gratuitous." But wasn't he even a little nervous about exposing himself like that? "That's the advantage of working with a real actor as opposed to a star," said the director David Cronenberg, who took two days to shoot the scene. "We weren't worried about you seeing his balls."

We presented Cronenberg with the award for best nude scene of the year last week. "I think that's great, because as you know, most nude scenes involve sex," he says. "It was fantastic and it shows the depths of Viggo's commitment to the role. That was very hard to do. if you're doing an action scene in the nude, that means you can't be padded."

2. Natalie Portman, "Hotel Chevalier." Portman has been talking about not doing nude scenes for almost as long as she's been acting (she refused to take her role in "Anywhere But Here" until her character covered up). And as far as we can tell, she probably won't do another nude scene again. After the Wes Anderson short was released, she said, "The thing is--and maybe I've brought it on myself by talking about nudity so much--it's still the thing that people talk about more than the short. And that's the thing that makes me think maybe I shouldn't have done it."

3. Tony Leung and Wei Tang, "Lust, Caution." The sex scenes in Ang Lee's Chinese film are so graphic, the movie had to carry a NC-17 rating.

4. Angelina Jolie, "Beowulf." Sure, her character of Beowulf's mom is animated, but it's so lifelike that even Jolie herself felt embarrassed over her nude scene. "I was really surprised that I felt that exposed," Jolie said. "There are certain moments where I felt actually shy--and called home, just to explain that the fun movie that I had done that was digital animation was, in fact, a little different than [what] we expected."

5. Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." Did anyone in this movie keep their clothes on?

6. Bart Simpson, "The Simpsons Movie." America's most popular TV star made his big screen debut with a full-frontal nude scene.

7. Heath Ledger, "I'm Not There." Ledger also had a nude scene in the Australian film "Candy," released on DVD this year. "I'm fairly nude," he told the GoldDigger this spring about the "Candy" role. "I'm half nude. I jumped off the cliff in 'Brokeback Mountain' completely nude. That was a 45-foot drop in freezing cold glacier water."  

8. Emile Hirsch, "Into the Wild." His showy performance in the Sean Penn film might even land him an Oscar nomination.

9. Christina Ricci, "Black Snake Moan." It was the most revealing scene ever for the former child star, but she says it didn't feel that way. "A lot of times, you'll do a nude scene and it's such a big deal in the movie that even you call tell that it's like 'Oh, here comes the nude scene,'" she told Newsweek. "With this character, it's more like she has no reverence for her body whatsoever, so there's no thought about her body. So it's one of those things where I really had to have no connection to it. You know what I mean? So it's not really like you're doing a nude scene."  

10. Evan Rachel Wood, "Across the Universe." She showcased her talents as a singer, and more.

Honorable mention: Vanessa Hudgens from "High School Musical." She wasn't nude in the Disney Channel movie, but those leaked photos made her the most popular girl in her class. 

Unhonorable mention: It's a tie between Jack Black for "Margot at the Wedding" and Tom Hanks for "Charlie Wilson's War."

Nude couple: Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo. Runner up: David and Victoria Beckham. 

Most talked about nude stage scene: Daniel Radcliffe, "Equus."

So here we are, nearing the end of the year. We don't know if there's going to be an Oscars or a Golden Globes because of a writers' strike. But we do know who the likely Oscar contenders are going to be. Right? Well, not so fast. The Screen Actors Guild announced their nominees today, making this year's awards race the strangest in recent memory. (The Guild is the largest voting branch of the Academy, and a good predictor of the Oscars.)

Here we go:

Newsweek's film critic David Ansen has selected his favorite films of the year. Here they are:

1. "Syndromes and a Century"

2. "There Will Be Blood"

3. "This is England"

4. "The Lives of Others"

5. "No Country for Old Men"

6. "Knocked Up"

7. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"

8. "Away From Her"

9. "The Hoax"

10. "Sweeney Todd"

Just for fun, The GoldDigger decided to put together a list of my own. I'll probably change my mind in the next 10 minutes, but here's what I loved:

1. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"

2. "No Country for Old Men"

3. "2 Days in Paris"

4. "Atonement'

5. "Juno"

6. "Persepolis"

7. "La Vie En Rose"

8. "Eastern Promises" and "There Will be Blood"

9. "Lars and the Real Girl"

10. "Once"

The GoldDigger and NEWSWEEK's Joshua Alston debate the highlights and horrors of the Golden Globe nominations. Read the story here.

Saoirse Ronan, 13, was nominated for her first Golden Globe today as best supporting actress for "Atonement." The actress, who is Irish, was in Pennsylvania, where she's filming "The Lovely Bones," when she heard the good news. "I was actually in bed and the phone rang and then I heard my dad shout, 'Yes!!' and I ran out to him and gave him a big hug. Then he was jumping up and down."

Since we're going to hear plenty from Ronan as the awards season heats up--she's astonishing as young Briony--I asked her what she wants people to know about her. "I think the first thing is, I want them to pronounce my name. There have been loads of people saying, how do you pronounce your name? It's Saoirse, it would be pronounced Sersha [it rhymes with inertia]."

Is there anything else we should know? "I used to play with Polly Pockets when I was younger, and I used to go off on my own and make up little lives for each of them. They used to have little affairs with each other." Wait. Aren't Polly Pockets all girls? "They are all girls. But do you know Woody from Toy Story? I got a little toy from McDonald's when I was younger, and I've got Arthur, who's a cartoon character, and I used them as boyfriends. I don't play with them now. Don't put that in the article please."

"And also, I get my camcorder when I'm at home. I invite my friends over for a play date. They think they're on a play date but they're not. They're coming over to make a low budget movie. We have one that we wrote, my best friend Hannah and I, and we called it 'Ed the Baker.' It's about a baker called Ed and he has a child and a wife and his wife goes off to work one day and he's left with the baby. He comes outside, and the whole bakery is a mess and there are things that have been stolen. He calls the police, and then we realize he just wanted the insurance money. Hopefully now, anyone who reads this they're not going to take the copyright on me or anything."

"It's a really precious work of art. We've sent the script off to DreamWorks and Working Title." Really? "No, no! Don't believe a word I say. I'm Irish."

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated "Eastern Promises" as best drama, which even caught the film's director David Cronenberg off guard. The GoldDigger asked him where he was when he heard he was nominated. "Sound asleep," he says. "I tend to stay up late and wake up late. You know, I thought Viggo had a real shot at it. But I also knew it was an incredibly crowded year. There are a lot of strong, strong movies out there, so I really wasn't expecting a best picture nomination. So it's very exciting. It's two movies in a row of mine that have been nominated."

What's Cronenberg doing next? "I'm actually writing a novel for the first time," he says. About what? "I can't tell you, it's going to be a couple years before it comes out." But the director has been getting a lot of advice from his writer friends. "I'm taking everyone's advice and going by word count," Cronenberg says. "Don't get up until you've written a number of words. And don't write more than that. It's an interesting mentality. You try to make it everyday business, like digging ditches."

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its nominees for the Golden Globe Awards this morning. The Golden Globes are probably the best predictors of the Oscars you can find. In the last 23 years, 17--or about three quarters--of all best picture winners took home the Globe first. So let's look at the nominees and see what they mean for the awards season ahead.

The best picture nominees for a drama are "American Gangster," "Atonement," "Eastern Promises," "The Great Debaters," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will be Blood."  The fact that there are seven nominees shows how competitive a year it is.

In the musical/comedy category, "Sweeney Todd" is the expected winner opposite "Across the Universe," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Hairspray" and "Juno."

The best director nominees are Tim Burton ("Sweeney Todd"), the Coen brothers ("No Country For Old Men"), Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Ridley Scott ("American Gangster") and Joe Wright ("Atonement").

Daniel Day-Lewis will probably win best actor in a drama for his powerhouse performance in "There Will Be Blood." He's up against George Clooney for "Michael Clayton," James McAvoy in "Atonement," Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises" and Denzel Washington in "American Gangster."

The nominees for best actress in a drama are Cate Blanchett for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Julie Christie, who will win for her performance in "Away From Her," Jodie Foster for "The Brave One," Angelina Jolie for her underappreciated work in "A Mighty Heart," and Keira Knightley for "Atonement."   

Bet on Johnny Depp for "Sweeney Todd" in best actor in a musical/comedy--he and Day-Lewis are going to battle it out for the Oscar. But at the Globes, Depp is up against  Tom Hanks ("Charlie Wilson's War"), John C. Reilly ("Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Savages") and Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl").

The best actress in a musical/comedy category is the year's most competitive. In any other year, all five of the nominees could probably win. This year, it's a toss up between Amy Adams ("Enchanted"), Nikki Blonsky ("Hairspray"), Helena-Bonham Carter ("Sweeney Todd"), Marion Cotillard ("La Vie En Rose") and Ellen Page ("Juno"). Laura Linney was surprisingly left out for one of the best performances of the year in "The Savages."

Best supporting actor is race between Casey Affleck ("The Assassination of Jesse James"), Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Charlie Wilson's War"), who received two nominations, John Travolta ("Hairspray") and Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton"). 

Best supporting actress: Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There"), who was also nominated twice, Julia Roberts ("Charlie Wilson's War"), Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement"), Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone") and Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton").

Best screenplay: "Juno," "No Country For Old Men," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "Charlie Wilson's War."  

The nominees for best foreign language are "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (Romania), "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (France), "The Kite Runner" (Afghanistan), "Lust Caution" (Hong Kong), "Persepolis" (France).

Best score: "Into the Wild," "Grace is Gone," "Kite Runner," "Atonement" and "Eastern Promises."

Best original song: "Love in the Time of Cholera," "Grace is Gone," "Into the Wild," "Enchanted" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." 

In the animated film category: "Bee Movie," "Ratatouille" and "The Simpsons Movie."

The 65th annual Golden Globes will be broadcast on January 12, 2008.

But will there be an Oscar nomination? The movie premiered last night in New York at the Ziegfield theater. The GoldDigger told Daniel Day-Lewis, who was wearing a checkered suit, that he looked spiffy, and Mr. Day-Lewis wanted to know if that was a good thing. (It is.)

Day Lewis's performance as a studio executive—oops, I mean oil prospector—is the one to beat this year. But I think Paul Dano, from "Little Miss Sunshine," could also impress enough voters to slip into the supporting category.

The movie is long, at roughly 160 minutes, often brilliant and was catapulted into the best picture race yesterday, after the LA film critics named it the film of the year. It's also incredibly violent—are we really going to have "There Will Be Blood," "No Country For Old Men" AND "Sweeney Todd" all competing for the top Oscar. If that's the case, "Atonement" will walk away with the prize, don't you think?

The best surprise at the movies this weekend is James McAvoy's performance as the love-stricken Robbie Turner in "Atonement." What's even more surprising is that he's now considered a frontrunner for a best actor Oscar nomination. In the past, the Academy has tended to overlook younger male heartthrobs (Leonardo DiCaprio for "Titanic," Joseph Fiennes in "Shakespeare in Love"), although Oscar babes (Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted," Natalie Portman in "Closer") don't have the same problem. (Blame the largely male Academy membership.)  But you can expect McAvoy to make the final cut, along with, most likely,  Denzel Washington for "American Gangster," Johnny Depp for "Sweeney Todd," Daniel Day Lewis for "There Will be Blood" and George Clooney for "Michael Clayton."

McAvoy spoke to the GoldDigger. Here are 7 things you don't know about him.

(1) The Scottish actor recently received the Scottish BAFTA for "The Last King of Scotland." "For best actress, there was only one nomination," he says. "It was strange. She isn't even Scottish, she's English. Which is fine. But it's a shame we don't make enough films that we don't have a Scottish nominee in a Scottish film ... I've worked a hell of a lot. And I'm very lucky to have done that. Had I just played Scottish people, I don't think I would have been able to work as much."

(2) What he says about his love scene with Keira Knightley in "Atonement": "It was awkward and not particularly easy to do. But it was easier than usual. Partly because Keira is so nice and we trust each other. We choreographed it like a dance."

(3) He's tries not to listen to all the hype about himself. "I don't watch a ridiculous amount of E! News or TV and I don't read a lot of tabloid press. I'm blissfully ignorant of what's happening with my public persona. That's the way I like it. It's hard for an actor. We imagine and make believe enough as it is as a profession. You start make believing about your personality and your worth to the world, you can end up with a disproportionate image of yourself."

(4) In his spare time, he plays soccer twice a week in London, where he lives. "My life is the same as it always was," McAvoy says. "I try to play as much football as I can, or soccer as you guys call it. It's with 30 guys and me in a sports complex.

(5) His next movie is the action film "Wanted," with Angelina Jolie. "I did a lot of training for that job. I built muscle, but not too much. I was glad they finally offered a part to not an alpha male, but to someone who is relatively representative of the middle ground of humanity and someone who's relatively normal looking."

(6) Wait. James McAvoy thinks he's normal looking? "Oh well, I don't know. It's weird, man. Whenever I do an interview, people ask me what do you feel about your status as a f--king I don't know, somebody that people find whatever. I say, I feel like I'm a pretty average guy."

(7) But his past two costars--Anne Hathaway in "Becoming Jane" and Keira Knightley--weren't so average looking. "The question I get asked constantly about Angelina, Keira and Anne, ends with a bit of, you must enjoy that. It's strange. It makes you feels like, come on guys. I have been around people who are good looking before. Let's all settle down."  

Keira Knightley shakes my hand, and it's the coldest in the room. "I've been holding ice," she says, meaning a cup of ice water. But she's a warm conversationalist, with a jittery energy you usually see on the Oscar podium. "I read the script and told him [Joe Wright, the director] I fell in love with Cecilia. I [asked] to play Cecilia. He convinced me to play Briony." So then what happened? "It was very confusing," she admitted.

As Cecilia, Knightley gives a gorgeous little performance, and the character doesn't look so bad herself. "It was pretty important for us to create a glamorous person, to fully understand what she gives up," she said, adding that Wright helped design the green gown in the opening scenes. "After 'Pride and Prejudice,' he had seen me in so many dresses, he knew what looked good." Maybe he should design her Oscar dress, too?

With "Atonement," Christopher Hampton has written one of the most masterful adaptations of the year. (The other is "No Country for Old Men." See a pattern?) He had some good dish for the GoldDigger. Originally, director Joe Wright wanted Keira Knightley to play Briony at age 18. But Keira, who knew the director from "Pride and Prejudice," asked him to play Cecilia. Of course, the role of Briony at 18 went to Romola Garai. The role of Briony at 13 is played by Saoirse Ronan (pictured above). Both actresses nail their performances, although at one point there was talk of having the same actress play young Briony. "The single most appropriate decision was to acknowledge the first half of the movie was about a child and to ground the movie by having a child play the part," Hampton said. If this all isn't confusing enough, there's a third part, older Briony, played by Vanessa Redgrave. Which Briony will get nominated for an Oscar? The smart money is on Saoirse.

Really. We're about the enter the first big phase of Oscar season. It's December, and "Atonement" opens in limited release on Friday. It's the Hillary Clinton of the race. Everyone expects it to win, but will it? Like Ms. Clinton, the movie has had the clever strategy of laying low, allowing Barack Obama--I mean "No Country for Old Men"--to gain momentum and (they hope) peak early. Now it's finally time for "Atonement" to come out fighting like the champion it is. Will it succeed? The festivities began today, with a press lunch at the National Arts Club in New York. 

Inside, I spoke to Tim Bevan, the film's producer, who acknowledged the hush campaign for "Atonement." "It's always difficult when you have a film that people see so early," he said. "It's about keeping the lid on expectations." Bevan has seen "No Country," and he's a fan--after all, he did produce "Fargo"--though he went on to predict that the Coens's ambiguous ending will cost them best picture. "That ending is f--ing weird, isn't it," he said. "You want to see Josh Brolin get it." And with that gentle dig, ladies and gentleman, we've got a real campaign.

Josh Brolin has been toiling as an actor for more than 20 years. But until this fall, you wouldn't know that he could actually act. This is what's included on his list of roles-—most of them are supporting—on the Internet Movie Database: "Hollow Man," the 2000 Kevin Bacon movie, "Into the Blue," the 2005 Paul Walker movie, and "The Mod Squad," the 1999 Claire Danes movie. All of them tanked. But then something changed. Brolin appeared this fall in "In the Valley of Elah." He carries "No Country for Old Men," in a show-stopping performance, and he also does nice work as an evil police officer in "American Gangster."

Brolin spoke to The GoldDigger. My most pressing question was about his moustache.

The GoldDigger: Was it your decision to do the moustache in "No Country"?

Josh Brolin: Initially, it was mine. Ironically, when we were doing it, it was the same day Javier was doing his hair. I was on the left side of the trailer, and he was on the right. I had a goatee because of "Grindhouse." They said, "Why don't we cut off the goatee"? I said, "Nah, I'm thinking about doing a moustache." I knew a lot of country guys that had moustaches. Their fear was that it was going to look something like the Village people. I was like, "Nah, let's try different lengths."

Have you shaved it off?

Now? Yeah. I'm done with the movie.

But you also had a moustache in "American Gangster."

It's a different moustache in "Gangster." It's darker, bigger.

Is that real, too?

They're all real. I don't do that—a fake. I'd do it for a comedy, maybe.

Do you have a favorite movie this year, because you've been in three.

"Margot at the Wedding" is pretty good.

But you're not in that one.

Yeah I was. I'm just kidding. I don't have a favorite. I like all the movies, because they're all very different. Which did I like doing best? The Coens's movie, just because of my relationship, and I was on set as much as I was.

How many times have you seen "No Country"?

Five. I can't see it anymore. It's too many times. Plus, I saw a version that no one will ever see. It's the most pristine version of any film I'd ever seen. We used Lucas's stuff. I didn't want to see it after that.

Where was this?

I can't really say.

You can't?

I honestly can't.

Is it a secret?

It was until I mentioned it now. It was a one-time thing.

You're going to get nominated for an Oscar, don't you think?

I don't know. Can you imagine if I said, yes? You would tear me a new a--hole. I think the big surprise is that people are saying that about "American Gangster." "No Country" is such a unique movie, I understand the trajectory a little more. The "American Gangster" thing throws me. I go, wow! Look, man. If I ever had a dream, one of the reasons why I stuck with acting, is when Daniel Day-Lewis came out with "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "A Room With a View" the same week. I couldn't believe it was the same guy. The characterization is so different. I thought, God man, If I could do something like that in my lifetime, that would be a pinnacle for me.

What do you do when you're not acting?

Everything. I'm one of those guys out there constantly doing sh--. I trade, I surf, I race cars, I jump out of airplanes. Hang out with my kids. Take RV trips with my girl.

SPOILER WARNING: What follows is a discussion on the end of "No Country For Old Men." Don't continue reading if you haven't seen the movie yet.

I've got a little bit of a tin ear when it comes to the music world. But at the red carpet at last week's Gotham Awards, I asked some of the honorees to sing their favorite Bob Dylan song, in honor of "I'm Not There" (nominee for best feature), and the good majority of the people said ... No! Thankfully, a few stars at this shindig celebrating independent cinema were independent-minded enough to play along. The result has been into a six-part series—if PBS can do it, so can we-—that will play at the video player (below, at right) this week.

 And the award for best singer goes to ... Kevin Corrigan, from "The Last Winter," who (I'm sorry to say) pulled me into a duet with him. Stay tuned. Or, maybe, don't.