Loyal doesn't like shakey cam.

Although I would agree that Ultimatum is not as good as Supremacy.

And Transformers will likely take home the 2nd or 3rd most amount of Oscar awards this year by a single film

Juno's RT grade and avg rating are both higher than LMS's at the moment. It could be the darkhorse that turns into a huge contender after getting nominated and winning Comedy/Musical at the Globes. But "Atonement" and "There Will Be Blood" seem like "safer" bets at the moment.

TWBB is the film I'm backing - its trailer is the first one I have seen that seriously makes me feel like I'm watching the trailer for what will be regarded as a classic someday.

I completely agree with that. One of the best trailers I've seen period.

I think I'll end up backing TWBB too...

Dude, I got chills seeing Paul Dano twitch around as a crazy preacher-type.

Thanks for the list! I can't make the first Columbus screening but hopefully one of the next two I will.

Loyal, back Death Sentence and Beowulf. You will make Levy mad as hell, thus everyone else really happy.

It only is fun when he's serious about it and so far there is no Oscar contender this year that I hate

We need a "In the Valley of Elah" type film to really pull in the hatred.

There are murmurs around Hollywood that Haggis is pushing his soldiers-centered follow-up "Videotapes from Iraq" up to a December release.

Now that's just not even funny.

Positive Jon had me at "murmurs" lol

However, don't be surprised if we see some FYC ads for Death Sentence. It won't be the first time...

oh my god. i am retarded.

EDIT: Nevermind

whaaat?

Heh, sure. We all have our blonde moments. I just wasn't sure if you had picked up on the sarcasm or not, and were just being doubly sarcastic on top of it.

You should just back your #3 choice Into the Wild. While it may not seem obvious now, Into the Wild is a very strong contender that I'd consider a near-lock for a BP/BD nomination. Its campaigning momentum hasn't decreased since the film's release months ago, with radio spots as recent as last week. It will be getting a lot of wins or runner-up mentions in the upcoming critics' awards. Plus Sean Penn has huge support in the Academy, with influential friends from the likes of Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson.

Into the Wild's got a great shot at a Director nom, but Best Picture will be quite a struggle. With Atonement, NCFOM, and TWBB already locked in, there are really only two interchangeable slots, and ITW's 83% RT rating isn't convincing enough to push it in when films like Juno, Gone Baby Gone, Sweeney Todd, and American Gangster are getting equal or better reviews and, likely in all four cases, better box office. Not to mention a possible late-season threat by CWW if it turns out to be as good as its potential [not trailer] suggests.

I also need something to back. At this moment, the "serious" contender I've thrown the most weight behind is Into the Wild. I'm really depending on either Atonement or Sweeney Todd to be great in both my book and that of the Academy's. If it became the case with either of those (or for that matter, Juno or There Will Be Blood- both of which I'm really looking forward to), I'd have a surefire one to back.