Let the fights begin! It's Oscar Season

Okay, I know I swore I would swear off the Oscars after this past year's Crash debacle (good movie, not great movie) but you know I'll be following anyways and have my own opinions (though still playing movie catch-up).

So National Board of Reviews picks are out as they are always first out. They rarely ever pick the winner but I usually tend to agree with their picks (at least up to about 2002). They also tend to go out on a limb more so than a few others and they add the top ten list (in no particular order) so that we can see what else was up there.

No huge surprises this year though. Does that mean it's a weak year or I've just seen all the best movies this year already (if they've come out already since Letters from Iwo Jima doesn't open until the end of the month). Hmm... wait a minute. Another Clint Eastwood movie that is moved up by months to squeeze into the current Oscar years contention (much like Million Dollar Baby which was supposed to be released the year after until they realised the weak movie year it was and they quickly moved it up and in the end, garnered them the Best Picture prize)? Damn.