For me, two intriguing, if greatly different, films were the highlight of the 2004 Oscar year. They were Alexander Payne’s sly comedy, Sideways and Clint Eastwood’s modern tragedy, Million dollar Baby.

Sideways entered the Oscar race with five nominations and won one. Million Dollar Baby came in with seven nominations and went home triumphant with four wins, including Best Picture.

Eastwood’s film about a female boxer and her trainer was a special triumph for star Hilary Swank. Written off in some quarters as a one-trick pony after her win five years earlier for Boys Don’t Cry, the actress came roaring back with an even stronger portrayal of an emotionally scarred character with an unusual story. She proved that lightning could indeed strike twice by beating the same actress considered her toughest competition both times around.

Annette Bening, who had been nominated in 1999 for that year’s Best Picture, American Beauty, was nominated this time around for the comedy, Being Julia for which she was her film’s sole nominee.

Morgan Freeman, receiving the fourth of his five nominations to date, won as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Eastwood’s friend who looks after his gym in Million Dollar Baby. Eastwood himself picked up his second award as Best Director as well as Best Picture while losing on his second nomination for Best Actor. The film had also been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Editing.

One could correctly assume that Sideways would fail to win Best Picture when its star Paul Giamatti was overlooked once again in the Best Actor race. He had also been passed over for his acclaimed performance in the previous year’s American Splendor. Two of his co-stars, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen, were, however, nominated in support. Payne lost on his nomination for Best Director but won for Best Original Screenplay.

Martin Scorsese, Oscar’s perennial also-ran in the Best Director category, was the early favorite in the race based on his track record – he had received his fifth nomination for Best Director for The Aviator , his seventh nomination overall – and his film was the year’s most nominated film, having received eleven nods. On a technical level it was brilliant, but for some, including me, there was something a bit off about it including the performance of Cate Blanchett who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar playing Katharine Hepburn. Though a technically decent interpretation, it was for me just that, an interpretation. She failed to really “get” the character, although in truth it’s probably impossible for anyone to “get” a character as familiar to filmgoers as the great Kate.

The Aviator, based on the life of Howard Hughes, also won Oscars for Best Cinematography; Editing; Art Direction and Costume Design. It had been nominated, as well, for Best Actor (a surprisingly effective Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes); Supporting Actor (Alan Alda as a slime-ball senator); Original Screenplay and Sound Mixing as well as Best Picture and Director.

Rounding out the Best Picture nominations were two other biographical films, Marc Foster’s Finding Neverland about the life of writer J.M. Barrie and Ray about the life of pianist/singer Ray Charles.

Finding Neverland received a total of seven nominations including Best Actor Johnny Depp, whom many, including me, thought the weakest of the film’s principal players. Freddie Highmore received rave notices for his portrayal of the boy who inspired Barrie to write Peter Pan; Kate Winslet was perfection as the boy’s mother and Julie Christie was a wonder to behold as Christie’s haughty mother, the inspiration for Captain Hook. To be fair, it should be noted that Christie was nominated for Best Actress for another film, the science fiction drama, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which won for Best Original Screenplay. Finding Neverland won for Best Score.

Nominated for six Oscars, Taylor Hackford’s Ray won two for Best Actor Jamie Foxx in a spot-on portrayal of Ray Charles, and for Best Sound Mixing.

Other films Oscar liked this year included Hotel Rwanda; Vera Drake; Maria Full of Grace; The Motorcycle Diaries; The Passion of the Christ; Sister Rose’s Passion; Spider-Man 2; and The Incredibles.

Serious subjects, many of them quite controversial, were prominent among this year’s Oscar nominated films.

Genocide was the subject of Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda, whose three nominations included those for Best Actor Don Cheadle and Best Supporting Actress Sophie Okonedo. Abortion rights was the subject of Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake, set in 1950s London, whose three nominations included one for Imelda Stanton as Best Actress. Drug trafficking was the subject of Joshua Marston’s Maria Full of Grace, for which newcomer Maria Sandino Moreno received a Best Actress nomination. Walter Salles’ The Motorcycle Diaries, about the early life of Che Guevara, produced a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and a win for Best Song (“Al Otro Lado Del Rio”).

Most controversial of all was Mel Gibson’s ultra-violent The Passion of the Christ, which he insisted was a realistic portrayal of the Crucifixion. Nominated for three Oscars, it failed to win any.

The antithesis of Gibson’s film, Sister Rose’s Passion, was an Oscar nominated Best Documentary Film about the life of octogenarian Sister Rose Thery, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 85. An activist nun and teacher whose life’s work was her battle against anti-Semitism, she had a direct impact on the 1962 Vatican II declaration that the Jews as a people should not be blamed for Christ’s crucifixion. Her condemnation of Gibson’s film should have been the last word on the subject:

“There is no scholarship. It’s shocking. In that film there is so much hatred, so much violence you almost forgot what Jesus did. Jesus should have been dead by the time he got to the cross with all that they did to him. In that film you see little Jewish boys turned into devils, and the Jews were all wearing prayer shawls. The whole thing was made as if the Jews killed Jesus, and Pilate came off a saint.”

There was no controversy in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, the best of the three films based on the beloved comic character in the last decade. Nominated for three Oscars, it won for Best Visual Effects.

There was no controversy either in Brad Bird’s The Incredibles, which won for Best Animated Feature and Best Sound Editing.

All films discussed have been released on DVD in the U.S.

This week’s new DVD releases include The Tree of Life and the Blu-ray debuts of The Bad Seed and Scrooge.