I want to care about the Oscars

I love movies. Maybe too much, to the point where I'm not critical enough of the pieces that I'm watching. But often, I find no reason to not be entertained by the piece of escapism on my TV screen.

However, in the past I've always gone about the Oscars by simply rooting for the films that I'd actually seen, rather than what movies are actually best. This year, I have remedied the problem. I have obtained every film on the best picture list that I had not yet seen, and my goal is to watch them all by March 6th. If I find extra time, I'll look into the best actor/actress, supporting actor/actress lists to see if there are films there not on the other lists but thats a secondary priority.

My goal is simply to actually have an opinion about what movie is better than another, and to actually have seen the performances of the individuals up for the acting and directing awards as well.

The Best Picture list is as follows (X's mark the films I have already seen)

Avatar---------------- X

The Blind Side---------X

District 9--------------X

An Education----------X

The Hurt Locker------

Inglourious Basterds--X

Precious--------------X

A Serious Man--------X

Up -------------------X

Up in the Air----------X

I have all of them ready to go, including some of the ones I've already seen but I just want to re-watch and refresh.

One early prediction- I have almost no doubt in my mind that Cristoph Waltz will win best supporting actor for his role in Ingourious Basterds

I am really looking forward to seeing the films for this year. It looks like a pretty solid line-up and I am already having enough trouble choosing who I would pick just out of the handful that I've already seen (probably between Avatar and Ingourious Basterds, but Up in the Air is right there with the pack)

Update: Since the original date of this post I have finished up Blind Side, District 9, Precious, An Education and A Serious man. None affects my original contenders for best picture. The only one left to see is The Hurt Locker which I saved for last on purpose because it seemed the most interesting.