CHECK IT OUT:

Tonight is the 2008 Academy Awards, highlighting the best and most influential movies released in 2007. Some will attend Oscar parties armed with ballot predictions; others will glue themselves to the tube at home to gawk at the gowns, the jewels, the hair, and the occasional ghastly fashion faux-pas. Celebrity watchers globally enjoy cheering the winners or conversely commiserating with the losers.

It might surprise you to find out that some of the current Oscar-nominated films are already available at the library. So if you’ve missed seeing them on the big screen, here’s your chance to pick up the DVD.

“Michael Clayton” has many nominations, including Best Picture. Among the honorees are: George Clooney for Best Actor; Tilda Swinton for Best Supporting Actress; Tony Gilroy for Best Director; and Tom Wilkinson for Best Supporting Actor. Discover this action-packed legal thriller about a middle-aged, down-on-his-luck lawyer who resolves messy problem cases on behalf of his corporate clients. The main thrust is what happens when the “fixer” needs to be “fixed?”

“Ratatouille” and “Surf’s Up” are children’s movies both contending for the Best Animated Feature Film. Decide which plot premise is cuter: Remy, the culinary rat who longs for recognition in the rodent-phobic, grand Parisian restaurant kitchen of Auguste Gusteau, or Cody Maverick, the young penguin from Shiverpool, who longs to win the Penguin World Surfing Championship.

“In the Valley of Elah” stars Tommy Lee Jones, who is up for Best Actor, playing a career officer searching for his missing son. Will he win it or will Viggo Mortensen get the nod starring as a Russian crime family’s London driver with conflicting alliances in “Eastern Promises”?

“Elizabeth: The Golden Age” focuses on Queen Elizabeth’s battle against the Spanish Armada, half-sister Mary Stuart’s perceived duplicity and Sir Walter Raleigh’s supposed adoration. Will the Best Actress Oscar go to Cate Blanchett as QE I? Or will it be awarded to the very French Marion Cotillard as chanteuse Edith Piaf for “La Vie en Rose?” Then again, maybe the ever-popular but reclusive Julie Christie as an Alzheimer sufferer in “Away From Her” will receive recognition for her portrayal.

In “Into the Wild,” veteran performer Hal Holbrook is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a film based on a real-life Emory College graduate’s cross-country trek, which culminated in an ill-planned excursion into the Alaskan wilderness.

“Gone Baby Gone” boasts a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Amy Ryan, based on Dennis Lehane’s story about a kidnapped 4-year-old girl in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, but the honor could go to Ruby Dee as the mother of a Harlem heroin kingpin smuggler and dealer in “American Gangster.”

Film art fanatics might also enjoy the photographic art and fine art on display at the 2008 Orange County Artist Juried Exhibition, Reception and Sale on Saturday, March 1 at the Central Library from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Meet more than 50 local artists showcasing original works with proceeds funding Newport Beach community arts programs. It’s all about art at the library!

CHECK IT OUT is written by staff at the Newport Beach Public Library. This week’s column is by Mary Ellen Bowman. Use your Newport Beach Public Library card to reserve these titles at www.newportbeachlibrary.org or call (949) 717-3800 and press 2.