AURORA, CO – I have had the opportunity to see many of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies before the actual Academy Awards at the end of the month. I also wanted to prove to myself that I could write about something other than public policy. So here goes the first annual Adam George Oscar predictions and commentary…

I must begin by saying that I have not seen all of the year’s nominated films. For instance, I haven’t watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button because I’m not a big Brad Pitt fan. I also skipped The Wrestler because although Mickey Rourke seems terrific, these types of movies don’t do much for me. Anyway, this year was a very good year for movies. I can’t even remember the name of the Best Picture Oscar winner from last year. Can you?

The biggest hit of the year apparently is Slumdog Millionaire. The photography was beautiful, the actors – mostly children – were very good, and the story was interesting. This film is about a young Indian man who grew up without a penny to his name in the slums of Mumbai. It is described as a love story that spans time because the entire movie is based around a little Indian boy pining after a little Indian girl. The kids definitely had remarkable challenges to deal with as they tried to survive living in poverty on the streets. Circumstances kept the Indian boy and Indian girl apart through most of the movie, until the Indian boy, now a young man, won a chance to sit in the hot seat on the Indian version of the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? I won’t give away any spoilers, I hope, but the movie basically traces the young man’s life as the producers of the game show question his aptitude at giving correct answers to the questions. How can someone who came from absolutely nothing, with no access to education, answer so many questions correctly? That is the theme of the movie, and while it was a good movie, I certainly do not think that it deserves to win Best Picture – which it probably will at this month’s Oscars broadcast.

There are a few other movies released this year that deserve the Best Picture Academy Award much more, in this reporter’s humble decision, the first one being The Reader starring Oscar-nominee Kate Winslet. I have been a fan of Winslet’s since her role in Titanic back in 1998, so that may have something to do with why I liked this movie so much. I’m also a fan of WWII movies, which is what this film is based on. Kate Winslet plays Hannah, a former Nazi prison camp guard, who years later begins an affair with an underage high school boy. It would be nearly impossible to portray a child-molesting former Nazi in a sympathetic light, but Winslet pulls it off without a hitch. This movie is certainly more Oscar-worthy than Slumdog Millionaire, but I’m not a member of the Academy, and no one really cares what I think.

Another very good movie included in the Best Picture categories at most of this year’s awards shows is Frost/Nixon. Frank Langella – Whoopi’s ex – is phenomenal as former President Richard Nixon. Michael Sheen is just okay as famed journalist David Frost. I am a fan of all types of political movies, be they dramas like Frost/Nixon, or comedies like Dave, or My Fellow Americans. This film, especially for younger people like me who were lucky to have been born post-Nixon, shows a softer side of the only US president to resign. High school and college history books describe Nixon as a villain whom forever tainted American politics, and I am not going to deny that the man did awful things with his power. But as Kate Winslet made her character Hannah a Nazi pedophile you actually care about, Frank Langella portrayed Richard Nixon in a manner that made you realize – whether you hate Nixon or have moved on – that he was just a man. A man who made disastrous mistakes, even though he thought he was doing the right thing for the country. As someone who has made his career working for and with politicians at all levels of government, it was refreshing to see that Richard Nixon, in real life and as played by Oscar-nominee Frank Langella, did in the end regret his errors and tried to live out the rest of his life making up for his mistakes. Hollywood is chock full of vehement liberals who would rather drop dead than give Richard Nixon forgiveness, so Frost/Nixon has no shot at being chosen Best Picture. Having said that, I hope the Academy voters give Frank Langella credit for bringing Richard Nixon to life on screen. Of all the nominees for Best Actor, no one deserves it more than Langella.

The other much-discussed movie this year was Revolutionary Road, which re-teamed Titanic actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, whom I have already discussed. DiCaprio and Winslet play a married suburban couple living in the 1950s dealing with intense malaise because of their seemingly dull lives. I was not a big fan of this film. While it was very cool to see how Leo and Kate grew as people and actors, this was a very depressing movie that accomplished little more than giving me an appreciation for never marrying. Life is too short to be so unhappy, and this film absolutely proved that.

Now my favorite Best Picture nominee for this year is without a doubt, Doubt. The story centers on a Catholic school and church where a headmistress nun accuses a priest of molesting a young altar boy, who also attended school at the church. The movie stars some of the best actors of our time, including Best Supporting Actress nominee Amy Adams – a Colorado girl, by the way – as a teaching nun who struggles to believe that the Father could do something so untoward to a student of hers. Also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the same film is Viola Davis who has the unenviable job of portraying the disturbed mother of the alleged molested boy. There is a scene between Davis and the school headmistress, played by the amazing Meryl Streep that will make you cringe and cry at the same time. Streep is unquestionably the best actress around, and she should win Best Actress for the final scene in Doubt alone. It should be noted that Meryl also starred in this year’s Mamma Mia, and that may end up counting against her, but I doubt it, pardon the pun. I also have to quickly mention Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of the priest under fire. He is a tremendous actor, and it amazes me that he was able to alter his very deep speaking voice to play Truman Capote a few years ago. There is no film better this year than Doubt – not even the fan favorite Slumdog Millionaire.