The Oscars are Fast Approaching...

Oh, Oscar season. Always an exciting time for movie fans, as well as the fashion aficionados that love to watch the celebrities strut their stuff down the red carpet. I can't remember the last Oscar telecast that I missed, but this year is definitely the first one in awhile that I'm not eagerly anticipating.

Don't get me wrong, there are a few compelling reasons to tune in to the 81st Oscars this Sunday night. For one thing, Hugh Jackman will be the host and that is cause for celebration. Jackman is sure to bring his Aussie wit and charm to the production and is sure not to disappoint the Hollywood insiders the way recent host Jon Stewart apparently has. Personally, I enjoyed Stewart's hosting, although at times he got a little too political. But it's Jon Stewart, and you expect that. His humor was refreshing after Chris Rock and Ellen Degeneres' less than stellar performances. While I haven't caught any of the Tony's that Hugh has hosted three times in the past few years, he has received stellar reviews. I expect good things on this front.

In more sobering news, the main reason I will tune into the Oscars this year is to hopefully see the late, great Heath Ledger win a much-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the Joker in last summer's blockbuster, The Dark Knight. Ledger completely owned this role and in so doing, dominated the best film of 2008. I never really thought anyone could surpass Jack Nicholson's turn as the Joker in the original 1989 Tim Burton flick, but Heath rose to the occasion by bringing his all. As a passing fan of the Batman comics, he really brought a lot of the nuance and inner conflict that the Joker on the page possesses. This is the greatest portrayal of Batman's greatest villain, even better than Mark Hamill's amazing Joker from the '90s Batman Animated Series. The sad fact that Ledger has been taken away from us so young, when he had so much potential for other memorable roles, makes the Oscars a special night. Hopefully, the Academy will honor Heath with only the second posthumous Oscar in Academy history, after Peter Finch for his role in Network.

The rest of the Oscar movies and storylines are not nearly as compelling. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I have not watched any of the Best Picture nominees with the exception of Benjamin Button. I know, I know, this really discredits me as a movie blogger. However, the only one of those movies I really want to see is Slumdog Millionaire and I just haven't had the time to go to the theater lately. I think the Academy is out of touch with its audience, which shows since they did not include The Dark Knight among the nominees and instead stuck the Holocaust film The Reader in there. Of course, I'm not suggesting the Academy should "sell out" by elevating a non-deserving movie to Best Picture status, but The Dark Knight definitely belongs there. Maybe its stigma as a "comic-book movie" lost it points in Academy voters' eyes. However, I consider on par with Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King;; a genre movie that overcomes its genre's (relatively) low status in the view of serious movie fans. Well, here's hoping for a Slumdog win, and I'll catch all the movies when I have the time and can accurately report on which is the most deserving Best Picture nominee.

Still, even without seeing much of the movies, I'm going to offer some Oscar predictions. They are as follows:

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis, Doubt
Animated Feature Film: Wall-E (Another movie which could have snagged a Best Picture spot)
Best Cinematography: The Dark Knight
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Martin McDonagh, In Bruges (Maybe I'm biased because I loved this one so much)
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz with Bashir,

And there you have it; my Oscar predictions. I'm not going to go into the "lesser" categories due to time and not really knowing enough about the nominated films. We'll see how my list stacks up to the winners on Sunday, February 22. I'm actually a little more excited to watch the Oscars now that I've written this. What do you think about my list? Anything you would change or am I completely off-base? Be sure to tune in Sunday night to find out!