The following are my predications of what films and performances will be awarded at this years Academy Awards, along with who I want to win and what the underdogs are in each category. By underdog I mean those that have a slight chance and upsetting the front runners.

Best Picture:

Who Do I Want To Win? : The Hurt Locker is easily my choice for Best Picture this year. A powerful and incredibly well put together war thriller. No film really had as much of an emotional, mental and physical impact.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : With its PGA and DGA win along with the fact it received 9 total nominations I think The Hurt Locker has it locked. The only other film with any chance at winning is Avatar but that's all tech and money and the only real major award it has under its belt is the Golden Globe.

Underdog? : Either Up in The Air or Precious, both of their buzz was overcome by blue cat like humanoids.

Best Director:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Kathryn Bigelow did something incredibly tough and special with The Hurt Locker and no other director deserves a win more than her.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : Bigelow recently the DGA Award, 58 of the last 60 winners went on to win the Oscar, her film is being praised left and right and nominated in 9 total categories, I have no doubt that history will be made and Kathryn Bigelow will be the first female director to win the Oscar for Achievement in Direction.

Underdog? : The only other director with a chance at winning is Cameron.

Best Lead Actor:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Now that he was actually nominated I would like to see Jeremy Renner win, if not him than George Clooney.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : Jeff Bridges performance in Crazy Heart have been compared to that of Mickey Rourke's in The Wrestler, but will his Globe win be his only just like with Rourke? I don't think so, no other performance was really "special" enough to come and steal it from him so I say Jeff Bridges wins it.

Underdog? : I think the fact that Jeremy Renner actually got a nomination (thank god) and his film received so many others that he would be the only other lead actor able to upset Bridge or Clooney.

Best Actress:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Easily Carey Mulligan who put on such an amazing, charming and somewhat surprising performance. She is really someone to keep an eye on because she'll be back.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : Well I have not yet seen The Blind Side but it seems that with the buzz that's been swirling around Hollywood and her surprise nominations Sandra Bullock seems to be the front runner. I would not be surprised if she takes home the Oscar.

Underdog? : Not really an underdog but other than Mulligan and Bullock, Streep is easily the next in line. The Academy and Hollywood just loves her way too much and will throw nominations at her for even her mediocre performances.

Supporting Actor:

Who Do I Want To Win? : One of the most interesting characters this year, one of the most evil and sadistic movie villains in a while, Waltz deserved this award without question.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : Christoph Waltz, I would bet my house, dog and arm on this.

Underdog? : I'm going to go with Harrelson on this. I LOVED his performance, one of the best of the year and I'm very happy to see him get nominated and also surprised. For the Academy to actually recognize him for this I think he would be the only other actor with a chance at winning. Stanley Tucci being third (second if his film didn't get ripped apart by critics).

Supporting Actress:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Anna Kendrick was one of many reasons why I loved Up In The Air. She put on such a surprisingly funny, emotional and perfect performance, sometimes even stealing the scene from Clooney which is no easy task.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : I'm one of a few who actually didn't think she was really great in Precious, but Mo'Nique seems to be the front runner in this category. Oh well I guess.

Underdog? : For this I'm going with Vera Farmiga, Hollywood loved Up In The Air and clearly loved the performances, enough to nominated two supporting actresses. She really has no chance, as with the remaining two nominations but I would call her the underdog.

Best Animated Film:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Well I haven't seen all of these films, but if I were to choose it would definitely be Up. An amazing, mature and emotional film.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : Up. I see no way that it doesn't win, I mean it was the only animated film they considered to be a Best Pictures nominee so how can they then not consider it the Best Animated film as well?

Underdog? : The Fantastic Mr. Fox which was loved by critics and I think would easily have won this award if Up wasn't also nominated.

Best Foreign Film:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Up prophete (A Prophet) was such an amazing film and I think really deserves to win this.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : The White Ribbon seems to be the surest bet for taking home the Oscar in this category. I didn't like it as much as others did but it is still a good film.

Underdog ? : Honestly don't know much about the rest, and the lack of discussion/buzz surrounding them makes me think none have a chance.

Best Original Screenplay:

Who Do I Want To Win?: Inglorious Basterds. I thought Tarantino made a very unique and complex film with some fantastic dialogue and characters.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : Not as sure about this as the others but I think Basterds will take home the Oscar. The film received 8 total nominations, and other than Supporting Actor the only other category I see it being a top contender in is this one.

Underdog ? : Hard to say. Will it be The Hurt Locker which is clearly being considered one of the year's best, of A Serious Man written by the loved Coen brothers? Or Up, the animated film that touched all our hearts? With this list of nominees I think no one can really be sure what the Academy will chose.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Up In The Air would be my choice, I thought it was a very smart, clever and funny film with some great dialogue, conversations and it was all very relevant to the state of our country.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : I Think Up In The Air will take home this award, and it might be the only one it does.

Underdog? : Either An Education or Precious.

Best Achievement in Cinematography:

Who Do I Want To Win? : This is another of many awards I would like to see The Hurt Locker take home, if not this than Inglorious Basterds.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : The Academy will probably put most of its focus, and votes towards the visuals and look of Avatar so I see it being a front runner for winning this with The Hurt Locker close behind.

Underdog? : The White Ribbon.

Documentary Feature:

Who Do I Want To Win? : The Cove is the only one I have seen and no matter I still think it deserves to win. Powerful and sad documentary filmed in a thrill like $tyle that made its pace flow and your heart race.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : It has been winning every other documentary award so I think The Cove will easily win this one.

Underdog? : Food, Inc.

Visual Effects:

I want Avatar to win, it will win and there are no other films that stand a chance at winning.

Original Score:

Who Do I Want To Win? : Of those nominated I would go with The Hurt Locker's score which really fit the mood and tone of the film well, you might not even remember there being one but a quick listen on itunes and that will change.

Who Do I Think Will Win? : I have no idea really, there hasn't been much talk about scores this award season, so I think it will come down to the two top Oscar contenders with Avatar or The Hurt Locker.

Underdog? : Up.

So all in all I think the nominations this year were rather good ones. Of course we can all complain about what should have been nominated but in the end these were the final ones chosen and none REALLY upset me, mainly because the others I would have wanted nominated wouldn't have stood any chances at winning anyway, so just as long as the right films win I will be happy.

200, the number of blogs I have posted. 3, the number of years I have been a member of this site since Dec. 28th, 2006. 50, the level I currently hold. 17280, the number of posts in those 3 years and 50 levels. Looking at it from that perspective and I can't believe I have been so dedicated to this site or even lasted as long as I did. But with the community we have here it is hard not to stay.

For this occasion I have decided to post my picks of the Top 50 Films of the Decade. Yes, I'm one of those that considers '00-'09 to be this past decade

So, here they are:

1. Lost in Translation
2. Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain)
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. The Dark Knight
5. Up In The Air
6. The Assassination of Jesse James
7. Michael Clayton
8. Adaptation.
9. There Will Be Blood
10. Memento
11. Revanche
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
13. Pans Labyrinth
14. The Hurt Locker
15. Gladiator
16. Wall-E
17. The Bourne Trilogy
18. Gangs of New York
19. Frost/Nixon
20. Master and Commander: The Far Side of The World
21. Lord of The Rings: Two Towers/Return of the King
22. Inglourious Basterds
23. Traffic
24. Syriana
25. Cinderella Man
26. No Country for Old Men
27. Catch Me If You Can
28. Collateral
29. Moon
30. The Orphanage
31. The Constant Gardener
32. Revolutionary Road
33. 25th Hour
34. Rachel Getting Married
35. Juno
36. Road to Perdition
37. A Beautiful Mind
38. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
39. Minority Report
40. Little Children
41. Atonement
42. Children of Men
43. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissuo
44. Letters From Iwo Jima
45. Layer Cake
46. Junebug
47. United 93
48. Hotel Rwanda
49. Good Night, and Good Luck
50. Rescue Dawn

Thoughts? Complaints? Your favorites of the last ten years?

So other than that i hope everyone had a good New Years. I leave for Panama this Sunday for 4 weeks so I may not be on very often. I do not know the Internet situation for where I'm staying but I'll do my best to check in as much as possible.

I'm a bit late with this one. It was a game that I was very interested in when it was first released but just never got around to purchasing it. When I saw it for twenty bucks this past weekend I said what the hell. The following is my first video game review in a while.

I'm going to start with the bad because there is a lot I have to get off my chest.

The game is extremely repetitive. All you ever did was get the name of a new person to kill, go to that city, and search around to find investigation which always requires climbing some tall building. Then those investigations are either to pick pocket, interrogate, ease drop, or do work for some lazy informers. Then once you do two or three of these investigations you are able to kill the man you originally went there to kill...and you do this each time over and over and usually in the same cities more than once.

One thing that really bothered me was that none of the cut scenes in the game could be skipped. I mean it is bad enough that I do not care about the story and just want to kill the target, but I have to listen to them speak with some dialogue and speeches that were pretty bad. Also when you saved a citizen you had to listen to them say the same damn piece of dialogue as the others and you are not allowed to walk away...this while guards show up to see dead bodies all around you. To make matters worse is if vigilantes are nearby you are stuck looking at them for a brief moment when all you want to do is leave. The worse of all this is the scenes after you assassinate a target in which I will touch upon in a moment.

The camera got on my nerves a lot. Mainly when trying to counter and it would randomly cut to some low angle, often in some bush or tall grass and you couldn't see what was going on.


I think the game creators were having a laugh when they decided, for some ridiculous reason, to place drunk or sick people randomly to push you as you walk and they would often go out of their way to do this. I mean what is the point? It is just annoying, doesn't in any way add to the games difficulty and seems like some practical joke.

Speaking of jokes, how about the fact that the main character can not swim? An assassin that can not swim seems very useless to me. What's worse is you don't even get a chance to jump out of the water or grab a ledge, rather you just die instantly.

Another aspect of the game that was completely useless was the horseback riding. You only needed to do it once for each city and then you were able to just fast forward...but for some reason you still needed to ride to the outer gates of the original city. Why? I have no idea but they should have just done away with the horseback riding all together or at least given an option to never use them. I know there are places outside the cites, small towns and what not but I'm not one to go exploring in a game like this, which doesn't seem to have much in rewards so they should have thought of those like me because I know I'm not alone in this.

The whole game was just not as fast paced as I would have hoped, you either stay and fight which can take awhile or run which can not work out so well if you misjudge a jump, or he randomly decides not to grab a ledge. This plus cut scenes and I felt bored way too often.

The story was nothing special. I mean I got the general idea of what was going on in the game, but I did not care for the assassin or real world aspects. Oh and I should mention that I hate that it isn't just a game about an assassin and instead is about some sort of memory flash back the entire time.

The types of assassin kills are always the same for example you can not assassinate with just a knife throw because you need to be close up to do that hand dagger to the neck and listen to dialogue that once again you can not skip, which doesn't make sense seeing how there are guards around you when it happened. I wish there were more ways to kill your target; more options would have made it something worth revisiting.

I would also like to add that I did not like the main character, he looked cool but that was about it.

Okay, now for the good...

The sandbox element was fun, I liked being able to scale the buildings and run along the roof tops. I wish there were more cities to do this in though.

I liked the counter combat system although it is slow and requires perfect timing it was fun, I just wish that it worked all the time instead of him either not countering or hitting the guy instead of killing him.

Some of the assassin kills are cool, I wish more of them ended up being actual stealth kills, but when they did it made me feel really good...until the cut scenes.

The visuals were great, along with the setting although it lacked color and look very bland.

...and that's about it as far as the things I actually enjoyed.

In the end it just ended up being an often frustrating, head scratching and far too repetitive game that has an interesting premise and some good moments but nothing I would play through more than once so I'm very glad I waited for the price to drop so low and I will be doing the same for the second game, if I even bother to get it which makes me especially hate the ending. This will probably disappoint some other gamers on here, especially those that liked the game but I would give it a 5/10, not the worst game I have ever played but not a good one either. ...I should of went with Bioshock instead. I think hype played a really big role in my dislike of the game.