My Oscar Picks

Jamie and I have been hard at work seeing as many Oscar-nominated movies as possible before the big show tomorrow night. We're finally done. Won't see any more. It's been a lot of fun doing this with Jamie. It's meant an extra several date nights over the last month or so, but time well spent! (Thanks to Mollie for all the extra babysitting!)

We've seen almost all of the nominated films/performances. So for the first time, I feel I can make a truly educated guess at the winners. Here's my picks in the major categories:

Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire - Hands down! In my opinion, Frost/Nixon is the only other picture that came close to touching it. Slumdog all the way!

Best Director

Slumdog Millionaire - Have I mentioned I like this movie?

Best Leading Actor

Micky Rourke (The Wrestler) - Definitely the role Rourke was born to play. But for me it was a close race between Rourke and Langella (Frost/Nixon).

Best Leading Actress

Meryl Streep (Doubt) - Loved this movie so much! Streep dominates. You can't figure out if you should love her or hate her. In the end you sort of do both. Most people are picking Winslet (The Reader) to win this one, but I thought Streep's character was much more interesting.

Best Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) - Unbelievable performance. Look at it this way - another incredible actor played the Joker (Nicholson) and Ledger smokes him. I mean it's not even close. (And Nicholson's no hack!)

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams (Doubt) - I think this is the toughest category to pick. Great performances by all. But I thought Adams did a great job of demonstrating lost innocence as her character progressed through this film.

Animated Feature

Wall-E - It's not even close. Kung Fu Panda was funny, but Wall-E was funny, moving, and jaw-dropping.