Oscar preview

Tomorrow night my favorite comedian will be co-hosting the Oscars, Steve Martin. I've been a fan forever. I like Alec Baldwin, too, so I'm really looking forward to the telecast. Here is how I rank the movies up for best picture, all of which I've seen:

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Up in the Air
3. The Hurt Locker
4. An Education
5. Precious
6. District 9
7. Avatar
8. Up
9. The Blind Side
10. A Serious Man

Of course, I love Tarantino. What was so great about this movie was that it was classic Tarantino, but at the same time completely different from what I expected.

The Hurt Locker kept me right on the edge of my seat the entire movie. You talk about real suspense. I've heard some call it the best war movie ever. Hard to argue.

Up in the Air is my kind of movie. A real-life drama, with plenty of humor and a great story. And a great cast. SPOILER ALERT! I was convinced that Natalie would be tasked to fire Ryan from his now obsolete job. Instead, the movie left the ending a little up in the air.

I moved District 9 down a notch because of the extended shoot em up stuff near the end.

Avatar is the second best sci fi movie on this list. The plot fell into a very typical ending, with extended action scenes that were neither interesting nor particularly believable. The fact that the King of the World actually invented technology to make the movie, however, makes it an important film and moved it up a notch. We saw it in I-Max 3D, so it looked great. Without that, I'm afraid it would have been mediocre, at best.

The scene with the mom and the social worker in Precious was the most powerful scene I saw in any movie this year. Mo'Nique is as close to a certainty as you can get for the best supporting actress.

Up and The Blind Side were both great movies, but not best picture candidates. And I didn't get A Serious Man. I love the Coen brothers, but this was not an enjoyable or particularly good film. A Single Man, on the other hand, should have gotten this spot.

I'll be rooting for Carey Mulligan for best actress and Colin Firth for best actor. I won't cry if George Clooney wins, but Jeff Bridges will. Sandra Bullock or Meryl Streep will win for the actress award, probably Bullock.

Christoph Waltz will (and should) win for best supporting actor unless the academy goes sentimental and gives it to Christopher Plummer.

Best director will go to James Cameron or his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow. She would be the first woman to win the award, so I'll predict she does just that.