Altitude readings

PEAKING

SOUL MAN: Think Lloyd Dobbs 20 years later. The new, mature John Cusack plays the sensitive card this year as a widower dealing with children in both “Grace Is Gone” and “Martian Child.” Will voters say, “Awwwww”?

CLIMBING

BONDING WITH BOWLING: Three new films have taken bowling out of the heartland and into the heart -- “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Dan in Real Life” and “Martian Child” all set key, touching scenes in the lanes.

TEA FOR THESE TWO: The Coen brothers famously credit their film editing to the pseudonymous Roderick Jaynes, an Englishman admired for his “impeccable grooming” and collection of “Margaret Thatcher nudes.” So who accepts the award if he wins for “No Country for Old Men”?

AT BASE CAMP

‘BEST’ LINE: So what’s the best reviewed movie of the year? Depends whether you’re a corporate fixer or a rat chef. Both “Michael Clayton” and “Ratatouille” have laid claim to the superlative.

PRINCESS POWER Could

“Enchanted’s” Amy Adams be the first to land a Disney princess in the best actress category?

LOOKING FOR A SHERPA

EYES HAVE IT: Robert Zemeckis’ “The Polar Express” failed to earn a best animated film Oscar nomination in 2005. From the dead-eye look of his CGI “Beowulf,” he may not be called on stage this year either.

ANYONE OUT THERE? “In the Valley of Elah” played to a near-empty house at an early academy screening.

SIDELINED: Will studios feel enough love for screenwriters during the WGA strike to launch pricey awards campaigns for them? Did they ever?