Never in my life have I seen so many movies that are deserving of a Best Picture nomination, and I'd even go out on a limb and say that most are deserving of the award. I've not seen "The Reader" or "Milk" yet, but Sean Penn (despite his stupid political comments) is probably the greatest actor to come out of Gen X (although Robert Downey, Jr and Johnny Depp have to be up there, too).

My favourites so far, ranked in order:

1. Gran Torino
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Dark Knight

Actually, depending on the day or time, I could easily flip-flop 2 and 3.  "Torino" is my fave because it has equal parts of humor, compassion, and intensity without overbearing acting. Clint Eastwood plays it just right the whole way through.

"Frost" could actually be second easily for me. The last ten-fifteen minutes alone should be shown in film classes.

"Slumdog" is the darkhorse fave. It's a tremendous underdog (no pun intended) story, and gives you a good look at the Indian caste system and how far apart the wealthy and poor are there. If there are any Americans within the view of this blog that believe that there is incredibly harsh disparity between rich and poor in this country, they should go see that movie and recognize just how good that we have it, even if you have almost nothing.

"Dark Knight" had tremendous acting, very intense. Just the right amount of violence to keep things moving along. The ending, however, left me quite dissatisfied and it was probably a little too dark for Oscar. No doubt Heath Ledger will get the sympathy Best Supporting Actor award, presented to his almost-widow Michelle Williams for that extra oomph of tear power.

No matter what, the celebutrons will be out in full force, ignoring the fact that many of their lessers are out of work and failing to make their mortgages - simply because their guy is in office now. Oh, but there will be plenty of bragging about their recycling habits and Prius driving.

How very, very comforting.