As we inch closer to the Oscar hour, it’s time for the big one: the Oscars for the best film. The list opens with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a film based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In this movie, Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button who ages in the reverse order. Rumor mills are working overtime now that the movie was screened for Obama at the White House, the first movie to be screened since he became President. The contender giving Benjamin Button a run for the reverse-time clock is Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog has already won four Golden Globes and seven BAFTAs, which includes the honor of the Best Film. At the Oscars, it has nominations in ten categories! Wow, that’s huge, but three short of Benjamin Button. Get the hint?

Up next is The Reader. Based on a German novel by Bernhard Schlink, the film is about German concentration camps and life in those genocidal times. It’s dark and real. With five Academy Awards nominations, this could cause an upset. Unless Milk does it. Gus Van Sant’s film traces the troubles life and times of Harvey Milk, an openly gay man, as he gets elected as a San Francisco supervisor. Senn Penn could be the man of the moment. The round off comes as Frost/Nixon. A historical drama on the Watergate scandal, this one is about President Richard Nixon and British television broadcaster David Frost. This one could be the dark horse.

Opinion is grossly divided on this one. Kaitlin wants Benjamin Button to win (for obvious reasons!), Adrian wants Milk to win, I want Slumdog. Our opinions expressed, let’s wait for the curtain to go up! Happy watching!