The scene: An actor stands at a podium, clutching a shiny figurine, beaming with joy. He has just seen the toils of his life’s labor of love come to fruition in the form of the highest honor. Years of slaving away on hot sets, sleeping in cramped trailers, and signing strangers bosom’s has finally paid off. He has won the MTV Movie Award for Best Onscreen Kiss.

Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait for that pinnacle of award shows until the summer months, forced to settle for some guy named Oscar’s picks for big film awards. C’est la vie (French for “that’s the vie”).

I can never remember if the Oscars are the award show where that lady with the skeletal face and her daughter ooh and ahh over celebrities, asking them “Who are you wearing” and other questions that don’t make grammatical sense in English. But I’m pretty sure they are. In the past, I haven’t paid too much attention to them – sure I was psyched when Denzel won for Training Day in ‘0r, pumped for the Coen brothers’ Fargo win, and excited when Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won everything except Best Animated Short in ’04, but I wasn’t excited about the Oscars.

But this year, for one of the first times in a long time, I’m excited about the Oscars. I attribute my excitement to three things:

1. Great music is nominated. Sure, the academy left off Bruce Springsteen (Jersey Pride!), recent Golden Globe winner for “The Wrestler”, but they showed remarkable hipness with nods to M.I.A., A.R. Rahman, and Peter Gabriel.

2. Stellar films are in the running, and for the first time in a long time, I’ve actually seen most of them.

3. I’m excitable.

Now, I’m not going to claim that I am the most exited person on the planet about these Oscars. That honor goes to this guy. Nor am I the most knowledgeable (again, this guy). But I do write a column on a pretty great music blog where the readers know a thing or two about good flicks. So without further ado, my predictions for the 2009 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Awards of Merit for films released in the calendar year of 2008, better known as Los Oscars. It’s hefty as it is, so I cut out a couple of the tech categories where I make predictions via my dartboard.  I hope you don’t mind. Continue reading →