It's Oscar Night

Five years after setting a goal of seeing every Best Picture nominated movie in advance of the Oscars, I have achieved that goal. I was stymied, of course, in recent years by the more important goal of avoiding all of the "Lord of the Rings" sequels. Finally this year I have a fully formed opinion that will allow me to curse or applaud the TV screen as needed. I rate them as follows:

5. Sideways
4. Ray
3. The Aviator
2. Million Dollar Baby

and the Oscar goes to...

1. Finding Neverland

Ironically, "Finding Neverland" was the movie I had the least interest in seeing. In fact I'm certain I would have skipped it had I not been on a quest to see all of the nominated movies. In the end I decided I liked it more than any of the rest. However, I seem to be all alone on this assessment. I've heard nobody, and I mean nobody, saying that they thought "Finding Neverland" should win, much less would win. In fact, on the Dave Glover show on Friday, there was much discussion as to why it was even nominated. The only thing that makes me feel not totally alone is that on rogerebert.com, "Finding Neverland" did not come in last among the readers polled, "Ray" did.

As for Best Actor, I've seen four out of five of the nominated perfomances so far. I have not seen Don Cheadle's "Hotel Rwanda" yet. Mind you, I've loved Don Cheadle in everything I've ever seen him in. But with that caveat, I'll pick Jamie Foxx in "Ray." This time Roger Ebert's readers are strongly on my side. The buzz is that Foxx has the Oscar locked up.

For Best Supporting Actor, I've not yet seen Clive Owen in "Closer" but I've seen the rest. I'm going to have to give it to Thomas Hayden Church for "Sideways." Morgan Freeman was good in MDB, but it was the same role he did for "Shawshank Redemption." For that matter, what movie has he been in when he's not the narrator? As a caveat, I thought Clive Owen was great in 1998's "Croupier," so maybe he'll do well tonight.

I didn't see enough of the Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress nominated movies, so I'll remain silent. And even though I've seen four out of five of the Best Director nominations, I don't know how much credit to give the director over any other contributor. Maybe I should give it to Scorsese for "The Aviator" since it was the most complex of the movies, therefore he must be the best since he pulled it off.

The show starts in an hour, time to make a pizza and settle in. And the Oscar goes to...