Oscar picks

OK, last week we saw the last of the best picture nominees, so I figure I'll give you my thoughts on the best of the year ...

Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire. This is truly an original work. It is exciting and fun and intriguing and funny and just freakin' awesome. And I even liked the dance sequence during the closing credits. (Side note: I will not be pissed if Milk gets this award because it was an awesome movie also, but if The Reader wins, I will seriously be pissed off).

Best actor: Sean Penn for Milk. I thought he was amazing. He was a completely different personality (which is why Rourke shouldn't win). He played a historical figure but he made the role something WAY more than an impression (which is why Landau shouldn't win). Richard Jenkins was awesome also, but Penn was better.

Best actress: Meryl Streep for Doubt. OK, I've only seen two of these movies. And Kate Winslet was good in The Reader, even though I thought the movie was boring and depressing. Plus, Kate was naked for much of it, which usually increases the chances I'll like a performance. But I thought Streep was amazing (except for the last 30 seconds of the movie which was incredibly cheesy, IMHO).

Supporting Actor: This is kind of a no-brainer. Heath Ledger should and will win. Duh. It was quite simply the best performance of the year. Period. I really didn't love the movie but he saved it for me. I will say that Robert Downey Jr. would have won in any other year. He was brilliant. People dismiss comedies too easily but every actor says it's harder to be funny than do drama. And Downey rocked it.

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christina Barcelona. I don't know if this is out on DVD yet, but you really should see it. Cruz steals every scene in the movie. In my mind, this is the second best performance of the year behind Ledger.

Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog. This was a HUGE movie. I can't imagine having the vision to bring it all together. Boyle did an outstanding job and deserves all the kudos.

Animated Feature Film: Duh! This one is easier to predict than Supporting Actor. The only thing I wish is that Wall-E had better competition so this award would really mean something because I thought Wall-E was a great picture.

Makeup: The only award Benjamin Button should win is this one. They did a great job in the aging process on all the actors.

Song: I am personally protesting this category. There are only 3 nominees and two are from Slumdog (I can't tell them apart). And the other is from Wall-E. My vote: NONE OF THE ABOVE. I loved the music in Slumdog and I think it should win for score. But where's Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler? And my personal fav of the year was "Pineapple Express" by Huey Lewis. The song rocked in a retro burnout way that was just freakin' fun. I just wanted to see how they would make the bong bubble sound on the Oscar broadcast. Oh, well.

Adapted writing: Slumdog ... loved it. Used a great skeleton for a script and made it come to life.

Original writing: I'm torn between Wall-E and Happy-Go-Lucky. I don't know how much of the writing goes into Wall-E for the first 30 minutes where there is no dialogue. I loved Happy-Go-Lucky and this is it's only shot at an Oscar, so I guess I'll go with it.

All the other categories I really don't care about.

OK, that's all I got. Now, I gotta go see another movie...