Seeing as I’ve actually seen all the movies in each major category (as opposed to certain fairies who run this site) I figured I’d add my own Oscar thoughts.  I won’t go through the whole list – just things where I disagree with Dan or have more to add:

PICTURE THOUGHTS:     
 Frost/Nixon – This wins my most overrated movie award.  How were so many people impressed by it?  It was enjoyable, well-done, and entertaining, but in my opinion vastly inferior to many other movies that didn’t get nominated for Director, Picture, etc.  Sure Langella deserves an acting nomination – his Nixon is awesome – but other than that it was hugely forgettable.
I liked all the others, but in my mind Slumdog rises above the rest with its unique, fairy tale, almost whimsical style.  The other three are fine, but nothing remarkable.  I liked Benjamin Button better the first time when it was called Forrest Gump (maybe too harse, Fincher gives it a lot more style than Gump had); Milk again has Van Sant doing a great job using editing flourishes to keep it interesting, but I found that it ultimately felt fairly inconsequential; and The Reader is one of Dan’s “people like it because it’s sad” movies.
At the end of the day my biggest problem is that there were plenty of movies I liked better than those nominated.  Sure, I understand that The Dark Knight and Wall-E are not going to get Best Picture nods (though if Beauty and the Beast can, why not Wall-E?), but I liked Revolutionary Road more than The Reader, The Wrestler more than Milk,  and Doubt more than Forst/Nixon (I guess you can leave Benjamin Button in).

ACTOR: Obviously Rourke, although Langella did a great Nixon.  I do differ from Dan on Sean Penn - after seeing him in 21 Grams and Mystic River I’m amazed that his character was so convincingly effeminate and foppish.

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Throwing up Robert Downey Junior is a pretty weak attempt by the Academy to look more hip and in-touch.  If they were making anything more than a gesture they would have nominated Dark Knight for Picture and Nolan for Director.  Ledger died so they’ll give it to him – I get it – although I wonder if they actually think he deserves it (by the way, I do).

ACTRESS: I disagree with Dan in that I liked Revolutionary Road and thought that Winslet was a much better character in that than in The Reader.  They might give it to her because she did two solid roles this year, although Streep (who is kinda like the Daniel Day-Lewis of women – well, maybe Cate Blanchett) is awesome in Doubt (as Dan said, everyone in Doubt is awesome – I just wish the movie was longer so I could watch those characters argue more).

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Both women in Doubt are amazing, but I’d give it to Adams.  Her whole loss-of-innocence shtick is phenomenal.  I liked Vicky Cristina Barcelona a fair amount, but I did not think Cruz was as amazing as people claiming.  Getting props for playing crazy is like getting props for playing retarded – it needs to be really, really good for me to think it’s worth it.

DIRECTOR:  Slumdog.  Just fucking do it.  Danny Boyle is an amazing sequencer (I invented that word to describe him) – the way he edits cohesive sequences (train station at the end, chase scene at the beginning, training riding scene in the middle, etc) is incredible, plus I love the little editing tricks and weird camera angles he loves to use.
Although I think Aronofsky deserves more credit for The Wrestler - he makes these flashy, almost avant-garde indie movies, gets shit for being weird, and then says, “Fine, I’ll make a totally normal, delicately directed character story” and it’s fucking fantastic.   The behind-the-back shots, the images he chooses to hold, all fantastic.

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED AND ORIGINAL): This is always my favorite category where movies that get shafted in the big categories pop up.  So that’s where The Wrestler, Wall-E, Doubt, and In Bruges were hiding (still no Dark Knight, the fuckers).  I’d give it to Doubt and In Bruges.  In category A. I think Slumdog and Button were more visual or directoral achievements, and Frost/Nixon and The Reader sucked.  In category O.  Happy-go-Lucky I fucking hated, Milk was better visually in my mind, and Wall-E was great but the In Bruges script was just so damn tight.

FINAL COMMENTS:
Dan thinks that comedies don’t get enough attention anymore, but I just can’t think of any I’d consider a Best Picture of the Year contender.  Not to fret, comedies, because I didn’t think this was that great a year for movies anyway.  Nothing got me the way No Country or Michael Clayton did (well maybe Wall-E, Dark Knight, and Slumdog, but only one of those got any Oscar attention).  And as I mentioned in the Best Picture category, I liked other Oscar-legitimate movies more than most of those picked as Best Picture nominees.  Hell, I liked Valkyrie more than two of them.  The only solution to this problem is for me to write a fucking great movie.